Free Darkest Hour by Rob Cornell Page B

could kill her. Short of getting chopped into tiny pieces or vaporized by an explosion, she really would be immortal.
    Then you wouldn’t need the others. Wouldn’t have to suffer their judgments. You could singlehandedly destroy the vampire army. Their fear would turn to respect, admiration, even loyalty.
    Jessie dropped her fists and forced her fingers to relax enough to open. “You must think I’m a real douche. I’m not a power hungry psycho like you are. I don’t need all that.”
    Of course not. But how about a little self-determination? Or do you prefer letting your father lock you underground in the dark until he decides it’s okay to let you out?
    “I’m not falling for it, Gabe. Sorry.” The truth behind that last bit did sting a little, though. No hiding that sting from Gabriel either.
    He treats you like a child.
    “He treats me like a threat. And as long as you have free reign in my head, he’s right. You can teach me all you know about sun walking as soon as I figure out how to turn you off again.”
    The sound of Gabriel’s laughter sent a tremor through Jessie’s body.
    Oh, child, there’s no switching me off. Not anymore.

    The darkness peeled away like dry tar, thick and heavy. Kate’s head pounded. Her brain felt two sizes too big for her skull. The crick in her neck and the drool on her cheek came from her sitting position. The chair under her had a pathetic excuse for a cushion on the seat, but it felt better than the bare wooden frame digging into her back. The rope around her arms and torso tying her to the chair didn’t help with comfort. At least the plastic tie around her wrists had been removed. Kate never liked to overlook even the smallest of favors. Though life over the past couple years had done much to chisel away at her natural optimism.
    She sat in the center of a plain room, beige plaster walls and a white tile floor the only offered view. No other furniture besides her chair. Not pictures or paintings hanging on the walls. She couldn’t even see a door. If there was one—there had to be, right?—it had to sit directly behind her, because no matter how she twisted her head, she couldn’t find it.
    Despite the austere décor, the temperature was perfect, neither too hot nor cold. A good thing considering the final insult to this whole situation—Kate was completely naked.
    Mild temp or not, she shivered.
    What the hell had she gotten into?
    Last thing she remembered was the woman with the skunk stripe in her hair sneezing in her face. Sneezing? Yeah. And the gold dust that come out of Ms. Skunk’s nose stinging Kate’s eyes and sending her off to sleep.
    Kate snorted a laugh. The woman had claimed she was a pixie. So had that been her pixie dust?
    She squirmed against her restraints to test their hold. The rope burned and cut into her naked skin, offering no real give. She wasn’t leaving this chair until her captors decided she was. Craig would probably have some trick he learned from his secret life as monster slayer for the government, a way to pop loose a joint and wriggle free of the ropes. She wasn’t an ex-government agent, though. She was just a normal woman who wanted her normal life with her daughter back.
    Instead, every day seemed to pull her further away from anything close to normal.
    But this?
    Come on. She had done nothing to deserve this. Just more fallout from once falling in love with a man keeping too many secrets.
    “Let me out of here,” she shouted hard enough to hurt her throat.
    The air turned cool, so quickly it seemed like a response to her shout. Gooseflesh rose on her legs and arms. Her bare shoulders reflexively hunched against the sudden cold. The drop in temp had nothing on the icy clutch in her chest from what she saw next.
    A spectral green light coalesced on the wall in front of her. The light took shape as it grew. A translucent and glowing face formed, followed closely by a matching body as the apparition passed through the wall