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Chapter 10

       "Where have you been?" The eerie calm in Adriel's voice as I burst through the front door was nearly as terrifying as that freak knowing about the man in my dreams.

       "I'm sorry." My breath was still coming out in short pants as the fear from before spread panic through my veins.

       "You're sorry? Do you have any idea what time it is? You were supposed to be here an hour ago."

       Adriel was pissed. I could see it in the way he stood at the bottom of the stairs, his body nonchalantly resting against the banister, strong arms crossed over his chest. It was the ice in his eyes that had me hesitate against the door. No matter how badly I annoyed him, he's never given me that look before.

       "I got caught up at school. I'm sorry." I didn't want to lie, but I also didn't think telling him I went to see a 'psychic' was a good idea either.

       "Your last class was at two, Larkin. I needed you to be here for Raffie." His words cut through me as I tossed my keys onto the bureau and kicked off my shoes. "How am I supposed to trust you when you can't do the one thing I ask?"

       "One thing? Adriel, you ask me to do shit all the time, and I always do it!"

       "Asking you to stop cussing around my sister and clean up after yourself is common sense. I needed you to be here today. I trusted the fact that you would be." He pushed away from the staircase, fury replacing that icy indifference as he stepped towards me. "So, what am I supposed to do when the sitter calls me, freaking out, because she has to be at her band concert, and you're not answering your phone?"

       "I—I...." I was at a loss for words. I didn't realize what the time was when I left. I thought only minutes had passed, not an hour. But I knew he had every right to be mad, I let both him and Rafael down. That was the last thing I ever wanted to do.

       "I had to leave work early so Angie could go. I'm the boss. I shouldn't be leaving early because you're an immature teenager who can't handle any fucking responsibility!" His words ripped through me like the jagged edge of a knife. I had to take a shaky step away. I've never seen him that mad before, at anything. A clenched jaw and a few had words were one thing, but yelling... I've never heard him yell before, especially not at me.

       "I'm not immature—"

       "Then stop acting like it."

       I pressed my back flush against the front door in some kind of form of stability. I had no idea why he was this upset. He's never been this upset when I missed plans before. "I'm sorry—"

       Adriel cut me off with a scoff and tore a hand aggressively through his dark hair. "Do you have any fucking idea how worried I was? You weren't answering your phone, I had no idea where the hell you were, and I thought— I thought...." His voice trailed off, but the tension in his shoulders didn't seem to subside.

       "I never meant to worry you. I thought I had more time." Which was such a pathetic excuse, and I knew it was too, but there was nothing else I could offer him. I could see images flash through my mind at his words, images of a twisted bent over car and a decrepit bus stop. This went beyond my being late. He had been worried about me.

       "I really don't want to hear it." Adriel let out a hard sigh as he turned to face the living room, those dark eyes focused pointedly on anything but mine. "I can't—I don't want to be near you right now." My heart seemed to drop to the pit of my stomach at those words.

       "Adriel—"

       "I couldn't find you!" All words died off my tongue as I watched the fire in his eyes turn molten, then slowly choke the light from them. "I'm serious. I need you to leave me alone for a while." Adriel turned with a shake of his head and stalked slowly back up the stairs. He didn't look back once.

       I let my body slide down the cool glass of the front door, shaky breaths escaping my lungs as I forced down the knot in my throat. I wouldn't cry. Not over this. Adriel didn't make me leave when I killed his parents, he hadn't let me leave. He wouldn't push me away because of this. But that didn't stop the hollow ache in my chest.

       This day really was turning to complete shit.

-&-

       "Larkin..."

       Wind brushed across my shoulders, tangled my dark curls, and kissed my cheeks. I tilted my heard curiously to the side. There was music in my ears—a soft dark lullaby gently carrying all thought away.

       "Come to me..."

       Something wrapped around my chest and pulled, urging my feet to follow the lyrical dark path. A twig snapped in the distance and the music died away until there was nothing but a soft lull urging my eyes closed—urging me to give in.

       "Come to me."

       When I opened my eyes again, he was there. The man from my dreams. He was still clouded in shadows, but I could just barely make out the rough outline of clothes, of dark jeans and a jacket, though that was as far as the details would go. Yet despite that, I knew he was smiling at me, his hand held outstretched in invitation.

       "We have places to be..." The shadowed man said, but his voice seemed different. More disembodied than before with an urgency lacing his words. I didn't move closer. He never tried to urge me anywhere, and always seemed as curious as I was about what I was dreaming. This time was different. I shook my head and took a step away. That hidden smile fell.

       "We must go."

       No, no I didn't want to go.

       The man stepped towards me, which I matched with a receding step of my own. "I don't want to." I said to the shadows as the forest thrummed to life. I liked it here. I didn't want to leave. So often I hated wherever my mind took me, but this place was nice. This place was soft, and warm and it sang. Sang to me. No one ever sang to me. Why would he want me to leave?

       He took another step forward, his hand still outstretched. "We must go now—"

       "Larkin." I turned at the voice, at the feeling of warmth and sunshine despite the darkness radiating from him. He was there, behind me, completely shrouded in shadows, no ounce of light or detail to be seen, but I felt an immediate sense of ease. Like a curtain had been lifted from my mind, I knew that the other one was a fake. A dark creature sent to fool me.

       Those midnight black eyes washed curiously over me, slowly rolling over every inch of my body—as if he were checking for something the naked eye couldn't see. Then that gaze flickered to the other shadow being, and I watched fire burn to life in cracks between the darkness. Like burning coals in a fire.

       "You are lucky she is not hurt."

       "She's mine! They promised!" That disembodied whisper from before turned to oil, and I spun back around as the creature took a threatening step forward. The black of its eyes once used to fool me were now as red as rubies in the setting sun. I took hurried steps away from its outstretched hand as talons began to break through shadowy skin.

       An arm wrapped around my waist, solid and strong, despite the iridescent shadow of its being, and pulled my back into his iron chest. "No..." The shadow man said as his other hand traced a tauntingly slow path along my bare arm and over the sleeve of my white dress. "She's mine." I didn't know whether to shudder or whimper as his tongue traced a slow sensual path along the side of my throat.

       I couldn't move, couldn't speak, or even think as his free hand reached up to cover my eyes. "Close your eyes, beautiful." His voice was that usual low erotic lull in my ear, so much like the singing from the forest before. A dark song meant only for me. I did as he said, though I couldn't see anything besides the shadow of his hand.

       I didn't want to know what happened next, especially when the screaming started.

       It wasn't until his hand and the heat from a body that didn't exist disappeared that I bothered opening my eyes again. There was nothing left of the creature, nothing but black dust floating away on the breeze, and a scorch mark left on the Earth. I could smell the stench of burning fur and tried not to gag.

       I turned away from the sight and could just barely make out hands shoved into pants pockets of the man before all detail disappeared. "I am sorry." He said a quiet moment later. "For that—thing ruining your dream. It was supposed to be a good one."

       "It was."

       "You like this place then?" Those pitch-black eyes, like a moonless night without an ounce of light, glanced around the sunset lit forest.

       I nodded.

       "Good." He seemed to nod, before turning without another word.

       "Wait!" I called after him, though I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to say. He paused, and the shadows surrounding him slid across strong shoulders and down his back. "Thank you." I wasn't positive but I could have sworn he smiled.

       "It is never my intention for you to have nightmares, Larkin." Then he just disappeared, right into thin air, and I wasn't at all sure he was ever really there. Dreams with him usually ended much—differently.

       I turned back towards the trees, waiting for screams and a burning fire to rip through the leaves, but none came. Even the burning mark on the earth slowly disappeared as that dark music started again. I sat down on the grass, my back and head resting against a rough tree. I closed my eyes and let the song wash over me.

       Yes, I liked this place very much.

-&-

       The next time I woke, I had no idea where I was.

       It was cold, and dark, and something kept crumbling beneath my fingertips. Leaves. I was outside.

        I jerked into a sitting position with a start. What the actual fuck—I must have slept walked again. Despite the bell on my door and the motion sensors, I had walked completely out of the house, down our street and to... well, I had no idea where the hell I was. I climbed hastily to my feet and spun around in a panic.

       Trees. There were trees everywhere, from what I could make out through the soft light of the rising sun. "No... No, no, no, no." I could feel the panic rising in my chest, and my fingers pulled viciously at the curls in hair. I wanted to scream in frustration, to hit my hands against a tree or my own head as if that would somehow fix everything. What was wrong with me? Why did this keep happening?!

       I glanced around for something, anything, that would help me figure out where I was, but came up with nothing. Only darkness and trees. I was still in my pajamas too, a tank-top and short-shorts that did little to nothing in stopping the frigid morning air. Despite a pair of, now dirty, fluffy socks I wasn't wearing any shoes, and there was no cellphone in sight.

       I let out a ragged, lung shuddering breath, and wrapped my arms tightly around myself to keep in whatever body heat I could. A plan. I needed a plan. It was still too dark to maneuver through the trees, but the sun was slowly starting to rise. I would just have to wait to try and follow the path back from where I came, or—or something. God, this was awful. The dreams weren't ending, only getting worse, and the sleepwalking just got way too out of hand.

       Why hadn't the chime woken me? Why hadn't the sensors gone off? Maybe they did but I was just too far gone to hear them. But then, why didn't Adriel hear them? There was no way he could be that mad at me, no way he would willing ignore the alarm going off. No matter how angry, he wouldn't just ignore everything and let me wander off.

       Would he?

       We hadn't spoken for the rest of that horrible evening. I stayed away like he wanted me to, even though doing so while he was so furious tore me up inside. He was the one person in this world I cared about disappointing. The only one whose opinion matter. And he wouldn't even look at me. I had stayed in my room for the rest of the night, even though when I opened the door to go to the bathroom, a sandwich and paper plate had been waiting outside my door. He had put food together. Even infuriated, Adriel still took care of me.

       No, no he wouldn't ignore the sensors.

       I was so lost in thought, trying to ignore the eerie sounds of the animals skirting around in the underbrush, that I hadn't noticed the sun light the trees until its warmth brushed against my skin. I blinked up at the pink and orange sky that was just barely visible through the treetops. There, barely visible through thick branches and leaves, was the college's clock tower. My heart stammered at the sight, and not because being here meant I had slept walked across the entirety of Deshua.

       I didn't look behind me as I headed in the direction of the school. I wouldn't turn around and see it. The mountain I knew for a fact that was at my back. That would make it too real. If I could just pretend it was some random patch of forest that I had unconsciously stumbled into, I could deal. But that mountain—no I refused to believe it had anything to do with this.

       Turns out I hadn't wandered too far into the trees, and I quickly cleared the forest. But my feet ached from the hidden rocks and branches I kept stepping on, and parts of my skin began turning blue from the cold. I didn't care though. All I wanted was to get to a phone and call Adriel. I paused at the thought.

       He was already pissed at me for yesterday, did I really want to add onto it with this? It would just upset him more knowing the sensors hadn't gone off, or how far I had walked away from the house. It would just be extra stress he didn't need to deal with. Besides, despite being sore and cold—and insane—I was perfectly fine. There was nothing else to do about the sleepwalking, short of tying me to my bed that is. Which I was definitely not up for.

       There had to be an Uber or something in this God forsaken town. I just needed to find someone with a cell phone—

       "Larkin?" I never thought I would be thankful to hear that voice, but as a bright flash of blond caught my eye, I felt relief course through me. "Oh my God, Larkin. What happened to you?"

       "Can you take me home?" My teeth chattered as I pulled to a stop in front of a bewildered looking Luke. Any hint of that golden boy smile was gone, and despite the dark glasses covering his brown eyes I could tell they were wide in shock.

       "Take you home? Are you okay? What are you doing out here? Its freezing and you don't have any shoes—"

       "I know." I muttered and squeezed my blue fingers into my bare arms. "Please just... take me home." I didn't care if he gave me the creeps, or if every hair on my body stood on end when I was close to the guy. He was the only thing that was familiar then, and I needed... to get... home.

       "Whoa there." Pale slender hands reached up to grasp my upper arms in support as my body swayed. "You need to go to a hospital, not home. How did you even get out here?"

       "N-no hospital." I was stammering now, I knew it too, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I couldn't even pull away from his grip. I was so tired, and cold, and my head hurt. "Just home..." Everything was starting to spin.

       "Easy." Luke grumbled as I sagged against him. I was falling to the ground, hard, and the heavy grunt he let out as his arms kept me from hitting solid rock wasn't at all reassuring.

       "Okay... alright. I'll take you home." His voice was surprisingly soft, despite the hesitation ringing there. "But I still think I should take you to the hospital." I could only shake my head as he adjusted his grip and hauled me into the air.

       "56 Haniel Drive." I mumbled pass raw lips and tried not to make it obvious I was clinging to the heat radiating off him. Later I would worry about giving a guy who gave me the creeps my address or letting him take me home—if that was what he was doing—but at that moment I didn't care.

       I was so out of it that I could have sworn he held me against him with one hand and texted something into his phone with the other, but then I blinked and both arms were wrapped around me. Great, I could now add hallucinating to the catastrophe that was the pass few days.

       I vaguely remember him putting me into a warm car, a smooth ride through the neighborhood streets of Deshua, then finally to a stop at the front of the Markos' house. The sense of relief that raced through my veins nearly chased away the horror from the night before. Nearly.

       Movement caught my attention, and I lifted my head enough to see the black of Adriel's hair as he placed his work bag in the SUV. My heart fluttered. I didn't even care that he was still probably furious at me. Just the sight of one of those familiar flannels made warmth chase away the fear.

       "Is that your—?"

       "Adriel." I sighed and leaned my heavy head back against the window. "That's Adriel." Luke didn't say anything else but nodded as he stepped out of the car. Adriel turned at the sound of the door closing, and those blue eyes narrowed at the college kid walking around to the passenger side.

       Luke opened the door I was hunched against as Adriel's voice brushed against my ears. "What are you—Larkin?" The shock resonating through his tone as Luke pulled me from the car did little to ease my headache. The sound of his toolbox slamming into the ground as it fell from his hand ricocheted like a gun shot. But then he was there, tearing me from Luke's arms, those dark blue eyes wide in worry.

       "What happened? What's wrong? Are you okay?" I stood against him, his hands clutching tightly at my arms as that frantic gaze glanced over every inch of me. He must have noticed what I was wearing, and the blue tint of my skin, because he left me standing long enough to rip his flannel off, wrap it tightly around my shoulders, and pull me back into his chest.

       Then those eyes turned to the blond who had taken me home and turned to ice. "What the fuck did you do to her?" A cursing Adriel was so not a good thing. Luke seemed to take a decent step away from the fuming man cradling me almost desperately to his chest, his hands held up in surrender.

       "I found her like that, stumbling out of the woods by the university."

       "You better pray that's what happened—"

       "He brought me home, Dri." Those dangerously cold eyes snapped down to mine and his arms tightened. So much for not wanting to stress him out further. I sighed and pressed into him, my fingers curling into the soft fabric of his flannel and t-shirt. Home. It was good to be home.

       A warm, calloused, hand urged my face up until that gaze was scouring every detail of my own. "You sleepwalked again..." It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway. Adriel's jaw ticked shut, and his hand dropped back to my waist as he shot Luke one last look.

       "My apologies. Thank you for bringing her home." It was the closest to an 'I'm sorry' that I ever heard him give anyone besides myself.

       Luke lowered his hands before shoving them into his jacket pockets. He gave Dri a nod, before glancing down towards me. "Get better, Lark. I'll—see you around the school." I could only give him a polite smile in thanks before Adriel gathered me closer to his chest and turned for the manor. He didn't wait for Luke to get back in his car.

       There was a stiffness in Adriel's movements as he rushed us through the front door, the solid wood banging shut heavily behind us. "I don't know how this happened." He mumbled more to himself than me, as he carried my still trembling body quickly to the second floor. "I checked everything before I went to bed. The sensors and locks were all fine..." I let him keep muttering to himself as he sat me down on the bed and bent to take off my now destroyed socks.

       "I can do that..." I started softly, though one hard look from those blue eyes had my mouth zipping shut. Well, if he was that set on taking care of me, I wasn't going to be the one to stop him.

       I sat huddled in on myself on the edge of my bed and watched as he turned for my dresser and pulled open my pajama drawer on the first try. He ignored my raised eyebrow and set a t-shirt that was two sizes too big for me, and had stolen from him a year ago, on the bed as well as a new pair of shorts.

       "Put those on while I go call into work, okay?"

       "No, you don't have to call into work. I'm fine. I just need to sleep for a little bit—" My words died at the look that took over his handsome face. His 'no nonsense I'm not budging on the matter' look. I sighed and reached for the clothes. I never won when he gave me that look.

       Adriel left my door opened just a crack, and I stood slowly to my feet as he raised his cell to his ears. "Yeah, its me, I'm not coming in today—" I took the cold ruined pajamas off as quickly as my still chilled fingers would allow and pulled on the fresh ones. The urge to sigh as soft fabric brushed my raw skin was immense, and I pulled his flannel back on before slipping under my bed's blankets.

       I must have dozed off at some point because I didn't hear Adriel come back in, and barely felt the gentle hand he brushed over my forehead then through my hair. "I'm going to take Raf to the bus stop... I'll only be a moment, okay?" I could hear the hesitation in his voice but managed to nod before falling back asleep. I was too exhausted to worry about sleepwalking again.

-&-

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