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

  "Does anyone else have access to the museum during off-hours?" Ash asked.

  "Just Brian, the groundskeeper, but he's not working today."

  "Can you call him please?"

  Armitage made a call and waited. "Brian, it's Hank. I need you to call me as soon as you get this." He hung up and shrugged his shoulders.

  They went up the stairs into the museum's main chamber. It was a small, square room with dusty floor-to-ceiling windows-the observation room of the control tower. January had the impression of standing in midair. Outside, she could see the mall grounds, the pink and yellow beachfront condos, and beyond that, the rolling gray of the Pasquotank River.

  "Take a good look around," Armitage said. "Normally it'd cost you $5.50 to be up here, so enjoy it."

  January wandered around the room, past photographs of airplanes and pilots-tall, square-jawed, unsmiling men in flight jackets and wide pants. Some of them looked barely old enough to shave. Bronze plaques explained the stories behind the people and the planes. There were models under glass, airplane engines, a few paintings, and even some historical clothing. It was the kind of place Mr. Morgan would have loved.

  Her eye fell on a huge, wall-size photograph. It was taken in color, although the airplane in it was very old-a beautiful bomber, gleaming silver in the sunlight. A pilot in vintage clothing stood next to it, with a group of smiling children posed around him. They were holding a banner, reading "15TH ANNUNAL NORTH CAROLINA AIR SHOW."

  January looked at the plane more closely. Painted on its nose was a buxom pinup blonde from a long-departed era of beauty. She was smiling coyly over her shoulder. The imaginary breeze ruffling her green dress revealed a stunning derriere in lacy white underpants. Her glossy hair was pinned back by a pink bloom.

  Next to her, in a beautiful cursive script, coiled the word 'Eglantine.'

  "Ash," January whispered. He was across the room, but appeared at her side immediately. "She's here," January said. "She saw this picture."

  Ash looked around quickly. On the wall opposite the photograph was an electrical closet. Ash called Mr. Armitage over to unlock it. Inside was a mass of unidentifiable machinery, piles of equipment and a large storage box with lift-up lid and an old-fashioned lock.

  Ash looked at the floor. "Has anyone been in here recently?"

  Armitage shrugged. "Well, yeah. Brian needs to get in here all the time."

  "Can we get into this storage box?"

  Armitage fumbled with his cartoonish ring of keys. He tried one, then another.

  "Hm..." he said. "I don't think I have a key for this. I'm not even sure I've seen it here before. Brian might have brought it in."

  Ash looked around. He picked up a heavy steel bar and began to smash at the lock. January winced at the sound. If Lianna was in there, she would be terrified.

  After the third clang, there was a low moan from inside the box.

  "Lianna," Ash called. "Is that you?"

  There was another moan. "Help me..."

  "We're going to get you out. Hang on," Ash said.

  Three more clangs and the lock smashed into pieces. Ash and Armitage pried the top of the box open.

  And then Ash reached inside and lifted out a small teenage girl in a ripped dress. January recognized the mop of blonde hair from the photographs in Lianna's room but nothing else because the girl's face was pitifully covered with dirt and bruises. She was barely conscious.

  When she saw Ash, she started to weep.

  January looked inside the storage box, horrified. There was barely any room to move... and Lianna had been in there for over a week! It was a wonder she was even still alive.

  She felt her face get red and flushed. She knelt down next to the girl.

  "You're safe, Lianna" she said to her. "We're going to get you home."

  Lianna looked up and through her haze, she seemed to recognize January. "It's you," she said. "I know you, don't I?"

  January smiled "Yes. We've met. Just... not here."

  Lianna's eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness.

  Ash was on the phone calling for an ambulance. January walked over to the window. A green Ford with a rusty door was pulling into the small parking lot.

  "I think Brian's here," she said to the others.

  A man of about thirty got out of the Ford. There was something familiar about his face, but she didn't have time to think about it, because as she watched, the man looked at the other cars parked around him, then backed slowly toward his car and got back inside.

  "Oh," she said. "Ash, I think he's..." January started to say, but Ash was already gone. She watched him appear in the parking lot just as Brian's green Ford was screeching away, pulling out onto the main road.

  Ash stopped, pulled out his gun and leveled it at the car.

  Just then another car, its engines suddenly roaring to life, shot out of nowhere, barreling head-on toward the Ford. The Ford swerved wildly into the oncoming lane, lurched across the road and smashed into a telephone pole.

  Agent Talbot leapt out of the other car and ran toward the pole. She and Ash converged on the Ford, guns drawn. January saw Ash shout at the car, something short and harsh.

  Brian appeared, his hands in the air.

  A soon as January got a good look at his face, she felt her stomach clench.

  "That's... that's Brian Dayne," she said.

  "Yeah, that's his name," Armitage said, "Do you know him?"

  January nodded, feeling very faint as she involuntarily touched one very cold cheek. "I went to high school with him."

  Chapter Eleven

  "HE CONFESSED TO everything," Agent Talbot said. "He saw her at the mall a few weeks ago, and liked the way she looked. Got her info somehow, followed her home, spied on her for a few weeks, and put together a way to get her out of the house."

  She was recapping the early events of Lianna's kidnapping for January's benefit. They were sitting in the visitors' area of the hospital where Lianna had been recovering for the past day. Lianna was well enough to talk now, and the agents had had a chance to take her initial statement.

  Apparently, Brian had hacked Lianna's email and forged a fake note from a boy she liked, asking her to meet him. "Not only that," Agent Talbot continued, "but we were able to connect him to at least three murders over the past fifteen years..." she paused. "Including, of course, Lori Daniels."

  January nodded, dazed. She had already put two and two together when she saw Brian's face. She remembered him well from high school-a shy boy, not sociable, but friendly enough. Very interested in mathematics and computers. He didn't have many friends, and she vaguely remembered talk of some kind of tragedy in his family-a car accident, or maybe even a suicide. He had had a crush on Lori, had asked her out several times, in fact, but she had turned him down as nicely as she could.

  "I just can't believe that he murdered her," January said. "Lori, I mean."

  "I don't think he meant to," Agent Talbot said quietly, "He had written her a letter to come meet him that night. He wasn't trying to trick her. But it sounds like she thought the letter was written by someone else- a boy she liked better. When she saw Brian, she was disappointed and that made him angry. Lori's murder was an accident, but it changed him." She opened a file folder and showed January pictures of Brian's other victims. They all looked like Lori. "The other ones were not accidents."

  January felt numb. She turned away from the pictures. She couldn't look at any more pictures of Lori.

  Agent Talbot put the folder away. "The only thing we can't figure out, though, is why he kept Lianna alive so long," she said. "He killed all the other girls within days, but Lianna was with him a whole week."

  A nurse walked over to them. "Which one of you is January?" January lifted her hand.

  "Lianna would like to speak to you," the nurse said. "Please, keep it brief-she still needs a lot of rest."

  When January walked into Lianna's room, the Morgans were there.

  Mrs. Morgan stoo
d up, came to January and hugged her without saying a word. January held her as long as the older woman needed it.

  "Mom, Dad," Lianna said from the bed. "Could I just talk to Ms. Morrison alone, please?"

  Mrs. Morgan let January go, and she and Mr. Morgan left the room.

  January sat down by the bed. "You can call me January, you know. Or just Jan. I think we're pretty well-acquainted by now."

  Lianna smiled. The hospital staff had cleaned up her bruises and combed her hair, and she was looking more like the lively young girl in the photographs in her room. She had a sweet, lovely smile. "I didn't want my parents to hear what I'm about to tell you," she said. "I don't want them to know how close they- how close I came to- " She paused, not knowing how to continue. Her eyes told January that she didn't want to give words to the thought. January nodded her encouragement.

  "The thing is," Lianna said, "he was going to kill me. I know he was. I could feel it, the way I've always just been able to feel things sometimes.

  "But then, when you started talking to me in my head, it was like you woke something up. I didn't just feel things anymore, I could see and hear what he was thinking." She shook her head, frustrated. "I'm not explaining it very well. It's not like seeing or hearing. I just knew what was going through his mind, in a way I've never been able to before.

  "I knew what he wanted. I knew what would make him mad. I knew what I had to say to keep him talking." Her face started to crumble and her voice became unsteady. "To distract him so he wouldn't..." she started to cry.

  January reached out and put her hand on the girl's own. "It's over," she told her. "You're safe."

  Lianna got control of herself and nodded. "I'm different, though. I can still do it, you know. Read people. I can read everyone now. Is that normal? I mean, even for someone like me?"

  January smiled. "Well, the first thing to get used to is, there is no 'normal.' Everyone who has these abilities is a little different. Just like all people are different from each other. It sounds like you had some kind of ability all along, but it just hadn't fully appeared yet. It's going to take some time to get used to it. To figure out how to control it."

  "How do I do that?"

  January shrugged. "Through a lot of trial and error. I was lucky- my mother was like me, but even she couldn't do some of the things I can." She took the girl's hand again. "And it sounds like you are far more talented than I am. Maybe when you've had a chance to put all of this behind you, we can keep in touch. I can help you with anything you need... but I have a feeling you will do just fine on your own."

  "You really think so?"

  She smiled. "The most important thing is to have people in your life who love you and understand you. They will give you all the help you need."

  There was a knock on the door. Ash poked his head in. "Sorry to intrude," he said. "January, I think we've got everything wrapped up here. If we get in the air pretty soon, we can have you home by nighttime." He looked at Lianna. "How are you feeling?"

  "Much better, thank you, Agent Sterling," Lianna said. "I just wanted to make sure I had a chance to thank January before you guys left."

  Ash nodded and looked at January. "We couldn't have done it without her," he said.

  January continued to stare at the door after it had closed. When she turned back to Lianna, the girl had a big, smug grin on her face.

  January grunted. "Hard to keep anything secret around a budding psychic."

  "Oh please," Lianna laughed. "It didn't take any special powers to figure that out." Then she looked at January seriously. "He wants to protect you, but he knows you don't need it." She smiled. "That's why he likes you so much."

  January flushed deeply. "Are you sure I didn't awaken your hidden powers as a noseypants?"

  "I mean it, he really likes you. Like, a lot."

  "Okay, okay!" They said goodbye and hugged, and January returned to the visitors' area, where Ash and Carrie were waiting to take her home.

  Chapter Twelve

  "I THINK IT'S about time to have a drink," Agent Talbot declared. "Who's with me?"

  "I'll pass, thank you." Ash had his laptop open on the little table between the airplane seats. He was typing furiously.

  Agent Talbot shrugged. "Suit yourself. More..." she stopped to read the neon-colored bottle she was holding, "...Rad-Berry Blast Cooler for me. Where'd they get this stuff, a sorority fund raiser?" She shook the bottle at January invitingly.

  January smiled. "No, thanks, I think I'll just try to get some rest."

  "Wise words," Agent Talbot said. "For all of us. Ash. The case is over. Take a break. You can type the report tomorrow."

  He ignored her. "January, we're going to make a quick landing in Virginia to drop off the slightly inebriated Agent Talbot, so she can endanger pedestrians and small wildlife."

  "I'll have you know my sister is picking me up at the airport," Agent Talbot said. "I figured if I was down here, I might as well drop in on her." She switched to a loud stage whisper. "She's kind of a basket-case, but she's a lot of fun."

  "Are you finished?"

  "No. I will also have you know I once did an undercover assignment at WVU, so it takes a little more than a cup of bubbly fruit juice to knock me off-kilter."

  "How much will it take to get you to stop talking?" Ash turned back to January. "Anyway, after that I will make sure you get home safely."

  "That sounds good," January lied. She thought about her dark house, the lights she had set to turn on and off every night with a timer. The breakfast dishes from the other day were probably still in the sink, along with the cup of tea she never had a chance to finish when the agents had shown up at her door.

  She looked at Ash. In the half-dark of the cabin, she could only see half his face in the blue glow from his laptop screen. She had felt more alive with him in the past few days then she had felt in years. She didn't want that to end.

  They were in the air again twenty minutes after Agent Talbot had bid them goodbye. Carrie had paused to exchange good-natured barbs, with Ash deadpanning over the rampart of his computer, before she finally exited the plane. Jan had watched the two agents with interest and amusement.

  Ash finished typing and closed up his laptop ten more minutes into the flight. He studied her, this time.

  "Well," he asked, "how was your first stint as a Special Consultant to the FBI?"

  "Wonderful. Terrible." She looked at him. "I don't know how you do this every day. I don't think I would survive."

  He looked out the window into the blue darkness. "After a while you just don't know any other way to live. You don't see anyone else except other people who do the same thing. And eventually, you don't want to." He stretched his arms and yawned. "But at least New York is a friendly town to live in, such as it is."

  She smiled. "What about Agent Talbot?"

  He looked at her blankly. "What about her? Oh. Oh!" He grinned. "Carrie is..." he paused to think, "...too much like me. In our line of work, sometimes one of me is more than enough."

  "What!? She is nothing like you."

  He gave her a brief amused glance. "Appearances can be deceiving. She can be stubborn and cranky, and she would find a way to do her job even if no one was paying her." He shrugged. "She's just a little better at negotiating the outside world than I am." He looked at her. "Can I ask you something?"

  "Of course."

  "What did Lianna tell you when you talked to her?"

  January flushed, thinking of the last thing Lianna had told her. She hadn't been able to think of much else since then.

  "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Ash said.

  "No, no," she said. "I do. She told me why Brian didn't kill her when he had the chance," she said. "When I reached out to her with my mind, somehow it sent her abilities into high gear. She was able to read him. She manipulated him into keeping her alive." She looked down at her hands. "Without her talent, she'd be dead right now."

  Ash leaned over the table a
nd looked in her eyes. "You saved her life," he said simply.

  She nodded. "I did, didn't I?"

  He sat back and smiled. "And that's why we do it."

  January's heart was racing in her chest. She steeled herself and looked at Ash. The flash of the airplane's wing light lit up his face. He was so beautiful it hurt to look at him.

  She knew there were some things in life that was just worth the risk-taking.

  "Ash," she said. "When you take me home tonight, I would like you to stay with me. Will you do that?"

  His eyes told her what she needed to know before he even said a word.

  THEY WERE ALREADY kissing when January fumbled the door open. They fell against it, their mouths melting together, their tongues exploring. She had wondered since she first laid eyes on Ash what it would be like to kiss him, and the reality was so much sweeter than she could have dreamed.

  He was kissing her all over, stroking the back of her neck, nuzzling her lips, her ears. She leaned her neck back for more, loving the heat of his lips on her body, giving herself up to the sensations. He picked her up and she wound her legs around him, feeling light as a feather in his arms.

  He carried her into the bedroom and placed her gently on her back in the bed.

  "How did you know which door it was?" she asked, between kisses.

  "Detective," he said, his mouth too busy to say much more. He moved his hands under her blouse, sliding upward to her full breasts, kneading them as he cupped each one. His hands moved behind her back and unhooked her bra in one smooth gesture. His fingertips slipped underneath and brushed her erect nipples lightly, sending shocks of pure pleasure through her body.

  She made a strangled sound in her throat that almost broke their kiss, but she held on because separating herself from his mouth wasn't something she was prepared to do just then. She heard his breathing grow deeper, her pleasure fueling his need for her even more.

  She pulled at the buttons on his shirt, tearing it open, feeling the smooth, powerful chest underneath. The feeling of his skin against hers was pure pleasure, and she wriggled out of her bra and blouse completely, wanting him to see her, to touch her. His hands moved down over her body to her hips, and she began to move against him slowly, back and forth, feeling the massive hardness there.