Jaci Burton - Taken by Sin

Just like always.

“I’ll be downstairs in a few minutes,” she said.

“Fine.”

He left the room, hoping she’d understand, that they could talk on the road, but he had a feeling that what had just happened had driven a wedge between them.

And just when they’d started to make progress. Now he had to figure out what happened to her tonight, what was going on in her head. Yeah, she’d killed a demon, but it had cost her.

Too much to talk about. Nothing resolved. Mandy’s issues, these new demons they’d discovered, not to mention the biggest issue of all: the two of them.

Now everything would have to be put on hold, because they had to go find Dalton and deal with him.

Shit.

Dalton sipped the steaming cup of black coffee and stared out the window at the gathering storm clouds marring the normally blue and orange sunrise. Thunder rolled from a distance. There’d be no doing anything outside today. He gave it an hour, max, before the storm arrived. The clouds were an angry gray, tumbling over one another, seemingly in a hurry to get wherever they were headed. They gradually obliterated the morning light and cast a dismal pall over the cheerful morning.

How freakin’ appropriate.

He opened the front door and stepped out, barefoot, wearing only the jeans he hadn’t bothered to finish buttoning. He hadn’t put a shirt on; the morning humidity was overbearing, another curse of the coming storm.

The weather suited his mood. Ominous, angry, expectant.

A lot had happened last night. Everything had changed. He couldn’t go back. Isabelle knew so much now. Did it even matter?

Loving her would change nothing, in fact would likely make things worse. Every decision he made from here on out would be affected by his love for her, and knowing how she felt about him.

And doing this alone, without the help of the Realm, of his friends, sucked. Last night as he lay awake in bed, he had actually thought about picking up the phone and calling Derek.

But in the end, he hadn’t been able to make the call, because a part of him wasn’t sure Derek would take his side, and he wouldn’t take that chance and risk Isabelle’s life.

It didn’t matter anyway, because the Realm was coming. It was only a matter of time. He sensed them drawing closer-both a comfort and something else to ratchet up the sense of urgency. His time was running out. Which meant he could either wait and hopefully enlist their aid, using the demon hunters to help him with Isabelle, or hurry it along without them so it would be done before they got here.

Part of him wanted it to be over.

A larger part of him wanted to drag his feet. He’d just found Isabelle. He wasn’t ready to lose her yet. And if this worked, he would lose her. Forever.

But wouldn’t he have what he’d waited all this time for?

Redemption.

He’d be what he was meant to be.

Because he wasn’t a human. He wasn’t supposed to be here, living this life, loving the woman sleeping in the house. He was stealing love from her, love he wasn’t entitled to. They had no future together; there was no tomorrow for them. Individually, there was a promise for a better life for each of them. But not together.

He heard her behind him, her soft bare feet padding on the dock.

“What are you doing out here?” She came up next to him, cup of coffee in her hand. Her hair was sleep-tousled, her eyes had a dreamy quality about them … and something else.

He put his arm around her. “Watching the storm come in.” He kissed the top of her head. “You okay?”

She nodded and leaned into him. “Had a nightmare. Nothing new there.”

He frowned, not liking that she still wasn’t settled. He smelled the tinge of rain in the air and the wind had picked up, whipping her loose hair against his chest. He steered them back toward the house, not wanting to end up caught outside in a storm again.

Once inside the house, they refilled their coffee cups and sat at the kitchen table.

“Tell me about your nightmare.”

She shrugged. “It was nothing, really.”

“You’re starting to remember them now, aren’t you?”

She lifted her gaze to his. “Yes.”

So her mental progress was moving along, which was good. “Okay, so talk to me about it.”

She inhaled, lifting her shoulders, then rolled her head from side to side, but she sipped her coffee and didn’t say anything. That meant the dream disturbed her. Or else he was in it, it was bad, and she didn’t want to tell him about it.

“Isabelle, you can tell me anything. I can handle it. It’s just a dream.”

“The demon in me felt like it was in control while I was asleep. It went to the Sons of Darkness. I saw all of them. Tase was surrounded by flames.”

She wrinkled her nose as if she found the mention of Tase unpleasant. He knew the feeling. He didn’t like dredging up the memories, but since his life had been all about dealing with the Sons of Darkness, he’d learned to live with facing his demons, both metaphorically and in the physical form.

“The others stayed away from him. For some reason, in my dream I didn’t avoid him. I went to him and he hugged me. I remember heat surrounding me, so strong it felt like I was burning alive. And yet I welcomed it. It’s what I wanted.” She rubbed her arms with her hands, as if she was trying to cool down her skin.

“Tase told me that you were using me. He said you were going to kill me as a way to gain your redemption, that I had to save myself and I shouldn’t trust you.”

His lips lifted. “Not bad advice, actually.”

She frowned and crossed her arms. “That’s not funny.”

“It has to be partly your own subconscious giving you these dreams, Isabelle.”

“Is it?”

“Do you think they’re somehow tuning in to what’s happening between the two of us, then giving you advice in your dreams? Don’t you think some of what you’re hearing has to come from your own misgivings? About where you are, what’s happened to you? About how you’ve felt about me?”

“I do trust you, Dalton.”

“But up until now you’ve known very little about me. You had no reason to trust me. Sure, the Sons of Darkness might be prodding you. But I think some of it comes from you, too.”

She leaned forward, laid her head against the palm of her hand, and took a sip of coffee. “I don’t know anymore. These dreams are so vivid, unlike any dreams I’ve had before. It’s like as soon as I fall asleep I’m transported, like I’m really with them. Every sense comes alive. I can feel everything-the heat, the crisp cut of their clothes when I touch them. I smell the acrid burning odor when Tase enfolds me in his arms. I shiver when I step away from him and am surrounded by the others, because they are completely the opposite of him-ice cold. It’s all so clear, no dreamlike quality to it.”

“I slept next to you last night, Isabelle. Or I should say I lay next to you all night, because I didn’t sleep. Trust me-you were there the entire time.”

She sighed. “I don’t claim to understand it, Dalton. You probably would better than me. I just know it feels so real. Like I’m there.”

“Are you thinking the Sons of Darkness have some kind of control over your soul-that they’re actually transporting you, just not physically?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. Is that even possible?”

“No. Trust me when I tell you that all of you was here last night. Just like when they come to you during the daytime, all of you is still here. They’re screwing with your head, making you doubt yourself-and me.”

She nodded. “The logical part of me understands that. But it’s so easy to believe in the darkness.”