Into the Dark (Until Dawn, Book 3)

  Into the Dark

  Until Dawn, Book 3

  J. N. Baker

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by J. N. Baker

  Cover Design by Covers by Combs

  Edited by Tina Winograd and Shannon Page

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For my high school English teacher, Mr. Pronoitis.

  Thank you for scaring me into being the best writer I could be. And also for not failing me. That B+ in your class was like a best seller title—hard earned and worn with pride.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Coming Soon

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Two weeks.

  That’s how long it’d been since I’d last seen his face.

  It felt like a lifetime.

  I watched as Josh emerged from the trees, making his way toward me. He wrapped his arms around my middle and I breathed him in. He smelled like heaven—ironic, since I was sure I was going to Hell.

  His breath scalded my skin as I dug my fingernails into his back, unwilling to let him go and so afraid to lose him again. My hands slid to the nape of his neck, fingers tangling in his brown locks as I held him against me.

  Deep down I knew I had to savor every touch, every kiss, every word. I had to treat each moment as if it were our last because it probably would be.

  “I thought I’d lost you forever,” I whispered into his solid chest.

  “You’ll never lose me,” he replied, his rich, deep voice washing over me like warm honey. A sigh escaped my lips. How I’d missed that voice. Josh tilted my head back and stroked my cheek with his thumb. “Never.”

  And then his mouth was on mine and I was alive again.

  I stood on my tiptoes and molded my body to his, desperate to eliminate any space still lingering between us. Close wasn’t nearly close enough. I needed more. So much more. As if reading my mind, Josh’s hands plunged into my hair as he deepened the kiss, his lips moving over mine with a hunger that lit my blackened soul aflame.

  I wasn’t the only one who knew our time was limited.

  He kissed me until I couldn’t see straight, until I couldn’t think straight. Until nothing else in the whole godforsaken world mattered. And nothing else did. It was just us. It was just him and me and this one fleeting moment.

  “Please,” I whispered against his lips. “Please, don’t leave me again, Josh.” Just saying his name filled my body with longing…and despair. I couldn’t bear to lose him again. Not again.

  “Never,” he said.

  “Promise?”

  “Promise,” Josh echoed, kissing the corner of my mouth ever so softly. “I will never leave you, Zoe,” he continued. “I’m always right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

  I placed a trail of kisses along his jaw and down his neck. He wasn’t quite as warm as I remembered, but I didn’t care. He could have come back with a peg leg and a parrot and I wouldn’t have given a damn so long as he was back. I could ignore anything if it meant having him back in my arms once more.

  If only it were that easy.

  Josh pulled back slightly. He looked down at me with those ice-blue eyes, empty and lacking the life I once remembered. No more than an inch between us—it could have been miles. I trembled in his arms.

  “Y-you’re leaving me again,” I said, choking on my words. It wasn’t a question.

  I’m sorry, Zoe.” He placed a soft kiss on my forehead and I cried out in pain. “One day you’ll understand,” he breathed. “One day.”

  I collapsed to my knees, yanking the dagger from my chest. My blood was hot as it dripped from the tips of my fingers. I watched in horror as Josh disappeared into the darkness—as the man I loved disappeared yet again. And I remembered that man was never coming back.

  Never.

  The dreams where I was dying were the best I’d ever had. Never mind they were the only dreams I had. After all, seers weren’t supposed to dream. But those dreams were that much more special since I got to see him again. Josh. Thanks to Baldric and his winged beast, that was the only way I’d see Josh for the rest of, well, forever. And forever was a long time.

  Oh, the joys of immortality.

  I sat up in the large four-poster canopy bed and exhaled a shaky breath, rubbing sweaty palms over the thick blankets draped across my lap. Glancing over my shoulder, I looked longingly at my pillow. The temptation to go back to sleep was great. It wasn’t that I was tired; I just wasn’t ready for the dream to end. I never was. The more I slept, the more chances I had of dreaming. The more I dreamed, the more I could be with him. The possibility of seeing his face was often the only thing that got me through the endless nightmare I lived.

  But if I fell back asleep now, he wouldn’t be there. My dreams of him were few and far between. And I never saw him twice in one night. The only thing waiting for me if I closed my eyes again was darkness.

  I threw back the covers and swung my legs over the side of the bed, the heat emanating from the nearby fireplace warming my naked shins. I closed my eyes and let the warmth fill me. It was one of the few good feelings left in the world.

  Brushing cold fingers across my chest, I sighed. Was it wrong that I longed for the dagger to be there? It was stupid, I knew, but I craved that pain. Hell, I’d actually come to enjoy it. A fleeting moment of pain in exchange for a few minutes back in his arms. It was well worth it.

  My fingers faltered as they slipped between my breasts, trailing over the white sunburst nestled there. The strange marking had shown up after my “ascent” at Stonehenge, replacing the black marks of the Chosen that once covered my body. Its appearance also coincided with the first vision I’d had of Josh trying to kill me, along with a rather electric new ability I was still trying to figure out how to use.

  All of which seemed to intrigue Baldric for reasons I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. He already wanted me for himself. The new marking and power only seemed to fuel his fire. Lucky me.

  My hand fell away from my breastbone as I stood. The cold floor was a sharp contrast to the warmth of the room, sending goose bumps racing across my skin as I inched closer to the crackling fire, closer than most would go. I wasn’t afraid to be burned by the flames. Things like that weren’t as scary when you knew you’d heal. Physical pain was a momentary, fleeting thing. Heartache was a different matter entirely.

  I stared into the orange and yellow flames as they danced together, my mind drifting back to Josh. It had been two weeks since my last dream. The once-
visions-turned-dreams didn’t fool me anymore, not really. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew they weren’t real. Josh was dead. He had been for many months. That didn’t stop me from wishing they were real, though. Hell, from wishing they were still the visions of a future yet to happen instead of dreams I wasn’t supposed to have.

  William once told me that a seer’s visions always came to pass, no matter what. Back then, the thought of Josh trying to kill me both confused and terrified me. But at least when I was having those dark visions, it meant Josh was alive. I’d take him trying to kill me any day over him being gone.

  But much to my dismay, William wasn’t the know-it-all he portrayed himself to be. Because with Josh’s death, that particular vision would never come to pass. Now it was no more than a forbidden dream of a man I couldn’t have.

  Whoever said life was a bitch had no idea how right they were.

  The details of the dreams varied slightly, just as they had when they were still visions and Josh was still alive, but they all ended the same. Josh killed me. One quick jab to the heart with his dagger and it was all over.

  The Josh from my dreams was different from the Josh I remembered. There was an intensity about him that sent a chill racing down my spine in a way that wasn’t altogether unpleasant. And his eyes, those ice-blue eyes that once held such warmth despite their color were so cold and empty, as if he were a mere shell of his former self. And then there was the whole killing me thing.

  I didn’t give a damn. I was just happy to be with him, to be reminded of what his face looked like, of how his voice sounded, of how his lips felt against mine. If I were being honest with myself, I was scared that time would slowly erase him from my memory. After all, forever was a long fucking time and the worn photograph I kept folded under my mattress would only last so long. The mere thought of not remembering him…it was what I’d come to fear most.

  As I turned away from the fireplace, I noticed the absence of a head of fire-red curls on the other side of the wide bed. Annie, our yearling reverse telepath who’d quickly become one of my closest friends after Josh’s death, had been rooming with me since we’d come to England. Over the past couple months, I’d woken to find her gone more often than not. She told me she was training but I was worried that William had lured her into his room. That was fine as long as that was what she wanted.

  Annie bore a striking resemblance to William’s late wife, Gwendolyn. As in, they were damn near identical—just like myself and the late Seraphina. Since the moment William laid eyes on Annie, he thought she was destined to be his. To the point that he’d assumed she would happily stay with him in his room. I’d had a feeling that Annie didn’t feel the same “fated mate” pull William did, at least not yet. Which was why I’d invited her to stay with me. We’d been roomies ever since.

  Her ever-cheerful presence was a blessing in the darkness, and I’d learned to count my blessings, however few there may be.

  Still, I knew our arrangement wouldn’t last forever. Alec had been honoring my request for more time. He knew I was battling my own demons. After six years, I probably should have been over it. But some nightmares didn’t go away that easily, sexual assault being one of them. Alec had been so patient with me. He was a good man, my “mate.” I was drawn to him. The pull between us was strong. And yet, it wasn’t nearly as strong as the pull I’d felt toward Josh…

  A sigh escaped my lips as a familiar guilt crept in. I moved around my bed in search of my clothes. I needed air. I got dressed quickly, pulling on my boots and grabbing my sword from where it rested against the wall before heading for my bedroom door.

  The scrape of the heavy wooden door against the floor broke the silence as I pushed into the narrow corridor.

  “Zoe?” a deep voice said to my right. I turned to see Alec’s head popping out of his own room—the room right next to mine. He’d insisted on being close. “Are you okay?”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m fine. Just couldn’t sleep is all.”

  Alec stepped out of his room and closed the distance between us in three long strides. He pulled my body into his, wrapping his arms around me. His long fingers stroked my back and I relaxed into his warm embrace, resting my head on his chest.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked again, his sexy, subdued accent caressing my ears.

  I breathed him in, suddenly missing Josh’s scent. A pain shot through me followed quickly by another twinge of guilt. “Yes,” I said finally, “I’m sure.”

  Alec put a finger under my chin, forcing me to look into those pools of warm honey. Before I could melt, he said, “You’re thinking about him again.”

  I went still in his arms. “What?”

  “I said, I know you’re thinking about him. You miss him.”

  “Who?” I could barely get the word out.

  “You know exactly who I’m talking about, Zoe,” Alec said, keeping his voice surprisingly calm. “Josh.”

  There was no point in lying.

  “I…yes, I miss him. We were friends for a long time…since grade school,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking and failing. “I miss Cindy too,” I added, perhaps a little too quickly. Thinking about the friend I’d killed brought a new wave of fresh pain crashing into me. Sometimes, when I closed my eyes, I still saw her there…hanging from the tip of my bloodied sword.

  “You don’t have to explain it to me,” Alec replied, pulling me from my dark thoughts. “I understand. I’ve lost many people in my long life—Trent, my own brother…” He trailed off and I knew he was thinking about the two men, one who died fighting beside him, and the other who died by his own hand.

  “I have no doubt that more will come and go just the same,” Alec continued after a moment. “It’s an unfortunate part of who and what we are. We’re forced to watch those we care about wither and die around us, one by one, while we live on—”

  “Forever,” I finished for him. It was a word that defined my very being. Alec wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. Everyone else around me, all those I cared about, would die eventually, even Cody. Alec and the other Chosen were the only constants in my life now, aside from the small handful of vampires I’d come to trust. I was Chosen. I was literally designed to live forever.

  William once told me there were only three ways for one of the Chosen to die. The first and simplest was decapitation. Good luck getting that close and living, though. The second was to forfeit the ability to heal, something I was all too familiar with, seeing as I’d done that after the battle against Baldric’s legion. William knew it too.

  The final way was to be stabbed through the heart by another Chosen. I’d assumed it was a way for the seven to keep each other in line. If only William or one of the other originals had run a blade through Baldric’s blackened heart when he’d turned on them instead of banishing him. I couldn’t help but wonder where I’d be now if they had—where Josh would be.

  Oh, those damned “what ifs.”

  “I hate seeing you in pain,” Alec said, his thumb running along my jaw, not unlike how Josh had in my dream. “This is why I told you to let go before it was too late. The more you hang on to human relationships, the harder it will be when they’re gone.”

  I sighed, stepping out of his arms, putting some space between us. “Lucky for me the only two humans I was close to are both dead, huh?”

  “Zoe…”

  “It’s fine, Alec,” I told him. “I’m fine. And I’ll make sure in the future to be more careful about forming any unnecessary human friendships. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  Alec opened his mouth to speak but I stopped him. “I’m going to take a walk.”

  “You need to get some rest,” he protested, taking a step toward me.

  “I won’t be long,” I assured him. “I just need some air to clear my head.”

  Alec stared at me for a long moment before saying, “I don’t have to tell you to be careful. You know the nights ar
e dangerous.”

  It’s always night now, I wanted to say. Instead, I forced a smile for his benefit. “Not nearly as dangerous as I am.”

  Alec chuckled before leaning into my personal space, his musky scent invading my nostrils. His lips grazed my ear, making me shiver, and I leaned into him. “Dangerous you are,” he whispered, one finger skimming along the top of my shirt. He turned his head, his lips finding mine as he backed me into the stone wall.

  He pressed his body against mine as he deepened the kiss, one hand finding its way to my covered breasts. Alec’s already hard body seemed to grow a little harder and my breath hitched in my chest.

  Without warning, Alec pulled away from me, a smirk dancing on his lips. The bastard knew the effect he had on me.

  I blew out a breath and pushed past him. “Go back to bed, Alec.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to join me?” he called after me, humor in his voice.

  I flipped him off as I made my way to the spiral staircase and his laughter rang out behind me, surely waking anyone with sensitive ears.

  “Zoe,” he said as I reached the stairs. I turned back to find the laughter gone from his eyes. “He gave his life to protect you. I’ll always be grateful to him for that at least.”

  With that, Alec slipped back into his own room, leaving me alone in the darkness.

  Despite the darkness, the castle was rather peaceful at “night.” The few who roamed the ancient halls did so in silence so as not to disturb those still fast asleep in their beds. It helped that most of them were of the fanged variety—sneaky fuckers, much like us. They thrived in the dark. At least they were on our side, a good thing since they made up nearly half our group.