A Glimpse of the Dark Side: Adult Paranormal Erotic Romance Collection Read online

  A Glimpse of the Dark Side

  By Eden Laroux and Sandra Ross

  Published by Publications Circulations LLC.

  SmashWords Edition

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  The following story is for entertainment purposes only. This book contains sexually graphic scenes depicting consenting adults above the age of 18 engaging in passionate sexual acts. This story is intended only for persons over the legal adult age. By downloading and opening this document, you are stating that you are of legal age to access and view this work of fiction. Mature readers only. Reader discretion is advised.

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  The publisher has used its best efforts in preparing this book, and the information provided herein is provided "as is." Publications Circulations LLC makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  THE MISSING LINK: JANUARY MORRISON FILES 1

  by Eden Laroux

  ***

  Chapter One

  "LORI, PLEASE DON'T do this!" January begged her friend. "This is so not smart!"

  "Oh Jan, lighten up, please," Lori retorted. "I'll be back before you know it; definitely before anyone wakes up," she added, after throwing a look in the direction of January's bedroom door. Just keep the window open so I can get back in."

  "Lori, if my parents find out that you sneaked out, they're going to tell your parents," January moaned.

  "Look, no one is going to hear me, and I'll be back before dawn. There's no reason anyone will find out."

  "Why are you even doing this? Who is this guy you're going to meet?"

  "I can't tell you just yet, Jan. But I promise, you'll be the first to hear all about it when I get back. You'll be pretty surprised, I think," Lori said smugly.

  "I still don't like it. You won't tell me where you're going and who you're going to be with and that's just not safe," January said, shaking her head. "What if something happens to you?"

  "Jan, calm down. Nothing is going to happen to me."

  Lori put her jacket on over her T-shirt and jeans and went to January's open window. She turned around and gave January a wide, bright smile as she hooked a leg over the window sill. For an instant, framed by the window, Lori stood out against the night like a white speck in a blurry photograph. For some reason, the sight unsettled January so much that a chill ran down her spine.

  Lori must have seen something on January's face, because her mischievous expression softened. Relaxing her grip on the frame of the open window, Lori assured her friend, saying, "Stop worrying, Jan. I'll be back before you have time to miss me. Promise."

  And with that, she slipped out the window and vanished into the darkness.

  January sighed and collapsed on the bed.

  This was typical Lori. She didn't understand the words "no" or "can't." She was always ribbing January for being too cautious, for not "letting go" enough. She did crazy stuff like this all the time and always seemed to land on her feet. Lori's a big girl. She'll be back, January thought. Still, January would have felt better knowing where Lori was going.

  She got in bed, determined to stay awake until Lori came back, but before she knew it, her eyes were getting heavy. She fought sleep.

  But it was no use.

  WHEN SHE OPENED her eyes again, the sky was still black.

  She sat up, relieved to see that Lori had kept her promise and returned before dawn.

  "Hey, you're back! Thank God!" January said.

  January shot Lori a look of mild impatience when Lori neither moved from her seat nor acknowledged Jan's relief. "Come on Lori! Why are you still sitting in the chair? You need to get in bed before someone comes to check on us."

  Lori didn't seem to be paying attention. She seemed to be looking through her friend. Her eyes were unfocused vacant, as if she just wasn't seeing January or the room.

  "Earth to Lori. Hello!"

  Lori slowly, finally, moved her head at January's voice, but her gaze fell just over January's shoulder. Her eyes were searching, lost.

  Something was wrong.

  When Lori spoke, it was in a faint, crackly voice that reminded January of an old phonograph record. "Jan... you were right. I should never have gone out. It's too late, now, though. What you've got to do now is find me. You're the only one who can."

  January felt the hairs in her skin rise.

  "Lori, what the hell are you talking about? You're sitting right over there in my desk chair! I don't have to find you because you're right here! But I'm glad you finally understand what a dumb idea it was to sneak out!" she said.

  Lori now seemed to be focusing on her, her eyes getting darker, her voice firmer.

  "Pay attention to what I'm saying, Jan! You've got to find me! No one knows that I'm gone except you. They'll all know pretty soon, but they won't know where to look. You've got to help them find me!"

  Just as January got up from her bed, Lori vanished. It was like she had never been sitting there at all.

  January stood there, stunned. How did someone just disappear?

  January suddenly felt cold and sick to her stomach. She got back in bed and pulled the covers up over her head. She could not stop shivering. It was a dream. It had to have been a dream. All she needed to do now was go back to sleep. But she couldn't.

  She lay there, awake, until daylight.

  Chapter Two

  THERE WAS A noise outside her door.

  "Jan!" Her mother was coming up the stairs.

  January sat up and steeled herself for the tongue-lashing she was about to receive.

  "Honey, Lori's mother is on the phone. She'd like to speak to her," Andrea Morrison told her daughter as she craned her neck to look for Lori in the bed. She turned back to January "Is she in the bathroom?"

  January looked at her mother miserably and tried to find something to say. "No, Mom, she's not in the bathroom. Actually, she's not here at all."

  Her mother frowned. "What do you mean she's not here?"

  January sighed and, wringing her hands, told her mother the truth. "She went out the window around midnight and said she was meeting someone. She promised to be back before dawn. I told her not to go and tried to make her stay here, but you know how stubborn she can be."

  "I see," Andrea said, her frown deepening. "So who was she meeting?"

  "I don't know. She wouldn't tell me. She said that she would give me all the details once she got back."

  "So you have no idea where she went or whom she was meeting?"

  "No, Mom. I'm so sorry! I know I should have come and got you but I didn't want her mad at me and now she's not here. I'm so scared!" January wailed.

  "Oh, honey..." her mother said as she hugged her. "This isn't your fault. I'll be right back, okay? I've got to go talk to her mother."

  The rest of the day was a nightmare that January wished she could wake from. The police came. She spent hours answering the same questions over and over. In the end, the only explanation she could offer them was
that Lori had gone out the window to meet someone.

  That night, after the police finally left, she fell into bed. Still, she was too exhausted to sleep. The window was open, like it had been last night when Lori had climbed out of it. The last image she had of her friend flashed into her mind again-Lori, smiling, framed against the swallowing blackness.

  She squeezed her eyes shut.

  "Jan."

  Her eyes flew open.

  Lori was sitting on the edge of her bed.

  January sprang up. There was no question now. This was no dream. All of this was terribly, terribly real.

  "Oh God..."she sank to her knees by the bed. "What is happening?" she whispered.

  "Jan," Lori said again. "Please. You're the only one who can hear me. You have to help."

  "Lori, what is going on?" January cried. "The police were here all day. The whole town is looking for you."

  "You have to tell them where I am. You have to find me. Can you do that for me, Jan? Please. There's nobody else."

  For a second, it looked to January like she was shimmering, like a heat haze billowing over pavement in the summer.

  "I don't know what you mean," January wailed. "I don't know what you want me to..."

  But it was too late. Lori was gone again.

  January collapsed on the bed, weeping miserably. It was horrible enough that her friend was gone, and that she was partially to blame, and now there was this... whatever it was.

  Was she going insane? Was it nerves? Guilt?

  Lori was so insistent that January could help her, that there was something she could do... but what?

  She cried herself to sleep, and didn't get up until morning.

  THE INVESTIGATION DRAGGED on for weeks with no results. The police questioned January again and again, but she could not tell them anything new.

  Lori kept appearing to her in flashes, usually in her room, where they had spent the most time together. Once, she came to her on the bench by the lake where they used to go after school, back when they were in junior high.

  Each time was the same-sad, garbled pleas to come find her, that January was the only one who could help- but nothing else. Lori was always gone before January could find out how she was supposed to find her.

  January stopped sleeping at night. She lived in constant fear of another visit from Lori. Her grades fell. She stopped going to meetings of the school newspaper and avoided her friends. They were understanding for a while; she had lost her best friend, after all. Then most of them moved on.

  She was at a table at the library one day after school when someone plopped down beside her. She leaped out of her chair and looked around wildly.

  "Geez," Aaron said. "Are you okay?"

  "I ... yeah, I'm fine," she stammered, and sat back down, trying to hide the fact that her heart was pounding in her chest like a kettle drum. "I thought you were ...you just startled me a little, that's all."

  "Sorry." Aaron looked at her quizzically. They had trig and history together. Actually they had been in school together since the sixth grade, but it was only recently that January began to notice that he was tall and graceful, that his hazel eyes were bright and friendly, and that they watched her more and more often.

  Lori used to tease her about him, calling him "the future Mr. January Morrison" and casting the two of them in hilarious, overblown stories of erotic adventure that made January laugh and cringe at the same time.

  The thought of Lori made her stomach clench, and any pleasure at Aaron's company withered away.

  "What's going on?" she asked, a little sharply.

  "Nothing much. I just thought you might need the trig homework," he said.

  "Why would I...? I thought I wrote it down..." She leafed through her notes, quickly realizing she had no recollection of writing down the homework assignment.

  Come to think of it, she had no recollection of being in trig class at all.

  Aaron watched her, amused. "Yeah, you were pretty busy staring out the window when Mr. Belmonte was assigning it."

  Jan sighed and rubbed her eyes. This was happening to her a lot lately. She took the slip of paper he held out for her.

  "Thanks. What were you doing staring at me in class, anyway, creepy?"

  "You had a booger in your nose. It was totally disgusting. I couldn't look away."

  She stared at him. Then she started laughing. She just couldn't help it. It was so unexpected that she looked at him in surprise as she giggled.

  Aaron's face lit up and, for a minute, he looked like he was about to say something else but stopped himself. "I'll see you around," he said, and got up to leave.

  January sat at the table for a few minutes after he was gone. On any other day, the conversation would have made her flush with excitement, but today it broke her heart. Because the first thing she would have done, of course, was to find Lori and tell her all about it.

  When she got home, her mother was waiting for her in the living room.

  "Hi, Mom," January said, trying to sound casual. She went to slip past her up the stairs.

  "Jan," her mother said. "We need to talk."

  January's face grew hot. "About what?"

  "I think we both know, honey." Andrea said. "Mr. Hendricks called today. He said you haven't been to Newspaper in weeks. You turned in a blank sheet for your quiz on Chaucer last week. That's not like you, honey. English is your best class."

  "I know, Mom, it's just... I've been a little tired lately. I'll do better, I promise. I'll talk to Mr. Hendricks tomorrow about making up the quiz."

  Her mother regarded her evenly. "Jan, I know that Lori's disappearance has been really hard on you." January flinched at that word ... disappearance. It was the same word everyone kept using-the police, her friends, the smarmy guidance counselor her parents had made her talk to. No one wanted to say what seemed so obvious to January... that Lori was dead. She didn't know why she knew this; she just did.

  "I have to tell you something, Mom," she blurted out, surprising herself. "About Lori, I mean. Something I haven't told anyone. She... I..."

  The words sounded crazy as they came out of her mouth, but at this point, she didn't care. Let them lock her away, if they had to; even living in a mental institution would be preferable to living in a horror movie.

  "I see her, Mom. I still see her."

  Andrea sighed. "Well, of course, honey. She was your best friend. That's not something you can just..."

  "No, Mom, I actually see her!" January interrupted. "She appears out of nowhere and scares the bejeezus out of me, and then just like that, she's gone," January said. "And the worst part is-she keeps telling me I have to find her."

  January kept talking and talking, even though there wasn't much else to say. It felt like a dam had burst inside her. She had not realized how lonely she was until now. And her mother listened carefully, without interrupting.

  "Well," January said when she was done. "What do we do? Start calling the mental hospitals?"

  Her mother was silent for a few seconds. She stood up from the sofa and began to pace slowly in front of the fireplace.

  "Honey, I'm so sorry," Andrea said.

  "It's okay if you think I'm crazy. I think I'm crazy."

  "No, I meant, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

  "Tell me... what sooner?"

  Andrea sat back down on the sofa. She motioned for January to sit down next to her.

  "January," she said, "You have a gift. All the women in our family do. I didn't tell you because you had never shown any signs, and I thought maybe it had skipped a generation." She stared at her daughter. "I've never heard of it being this strong, though."

  "A gift? What kind of gift?"she asked, confused.

  Andrea searched for the right words. "Well... it's a little different for everyone, but basically, we know things. Special things that other people don't know. All of us have it- your aunt Cathy, your grandmother." She paused. "Often, it means we can talk to the dead."


  January's mind reeled. So she was right. Lori was dead.

  "But ..." her mother paused, and something like fear flickered over her face.

  "But what, Mom? Tell me."

  "None of us has ever been able to see them."

  "Oh God..." January buried her head in her hands. She was a freak even among the freaks.

  "Honey..." her mother folded her in her arms. "I know this is scary for you. It was scary for me, too. But I promise, in time you will see what a special thing this is. I know it seems like you can't control it, but you'll learn how. I promise."

  January smiled sadly. "So, what do I do about Lori? She keeps saying I have to help her. How do I do that?"

  "When she shows up again, don't fight it. Concentrate on her. Think about the things that were special to you about each other. Real things. Things she might have said, or things she gave you. Maybe a joke you guys laughed about that no one else understood. It has to be something real, something that will strengthen your connection and keep her here."

  "And then...?" she asked, a little awed, a little in disbelief that this was really happening. That she was hearing what her mother was telling her.

  "Then maybe she'll tell you what she wants you to know."

  JANUARY WAS DREAMING.

  Lori was walking far ahead of her down a cobblestone street Jan didn't recognize. January was running after her, calling her name, but Lori got smaller and smaller in the distance.

  Just before she turned a corner, she turned around and looked back.

  "Jan, wake up." she said.

  January opened her eyes.

  Lori was sitting on the floor in a corner of her room.

  January felt her heart leap into her throat, but she closed her eyes and willed herself to calm down. Lori was looking at her, as if waiting for her to speak.

  January searched the room with her eyes.

  There was a picture of Lori and her on the shelf above her desk. They were dressed up as Western dance hall girls at a novelty photo kiosk at the amusement park. They were smiling, mugging for the camera. Three seconds later, a shelf full of feather boas would collapse on top of them, scaring them senseless.