Page 43 of Morning's Light

She moved to the voice box instead, pressing the button for Israel’s apartment and blocking out the gagging sounds from her friend at the door.

It took longer than she expected, hoped for, but Israel answered, interrupted sleep in his tone.

“What?” he asked, somewhat nastily.

“Israel…”

“Aisanna? You better have a damn good reason for showing up here without calling.”

She sighed and ran a hand over her forehead, smearing some substance she’d rather not think about. “I have a very good reason. Will you please let me inside?”

“Why should I? You have a home. Go there instead.”

Wow, endearing. Classic Israel. “I’d rather not get into it with Freddy listening out here. Unless you want the whole building to know. I’m pregnant!”

She used the female excuse to her advantage, the surprise acting as her ticket inside.

Israel said nothing, just buzzed her inside moments later. Aisanna shot a triumphant look at Freddy the doorman and swiveled around him, making sure to graze close enough to have him shirking away in disgust.

She hurried to the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor.

The machine dinged and opened its doors to reveal the fifth floor, no different from the others aside from a brass plate with the number five. Aisanna trudged down the worn multicolored carpet as she’d done a thousand times before and stopped beside apartment 8C. Intricate purple and green wallpaper in muted hues adorned the walls of the hall and reminded her of a scene from The Shining.

She knocked on the door and the door opened almost as soon as her knuckles left the wood. Israel leaned against the threshold half-clothed and sent her a well-practiced come-hither grin. He worked on occasion, i.e. whenever he felt like it, as a volunteer firefighter. Aisanna still wasn’t sure what he did for money, or whether he caused more fires than he put out.

He wore a set of flannel pajama bottoms with little red and orange flames running up the legs. A white tank top completed the ensemble.

“Are you serious?” He gestured toward her outfit. “Lady Gaga can pull off the garbage look. You can’t. I don’t want to let you inside, pregnant or not. Does that make me a bad person?”

Aisanna peered around his shoulder at the sweet sight of carpet and the lingering smell of coffee. “I’m not pregnant. Please, let me in so I can get to the shower. I…I had a rough night.”

“Why should I let you in? Do you have any idea how much my carpet cleaning bill will be?”

“You are a barrel of laughs today. I’ve lost the last twelve hours of my life and woke up in a dumpster.” She shifted to hide the scars on her arms and chest. “It’s been a bad couple of weeks and I need a shower. If you don’t mind.” She peeled an orange rind off her shoulder and held it out to him.

Israel sneered and stepped back. “If you get garbage on anything—”

“I’ll end up on my hands and knees playing maid for you,” she supplied. “Yeah, I got it.”

He left her alone as she showered. She sank into the heat of the jets and let her head drop to the tile. Whatever happened to her last night, she remembered nothing. A few fleeting images here and there that, when she tried to focus on them, slipped away like oil on water.

Dirt and debris floated down the drain and she watched the swirl of it.

The last thing she remembered was watching Elon drive away like he was being chased. The pink camellias—and their meaning—were burned into her mind. After that…there was nothing but an endless sea of black and a voice echoing in the depths of her mind.

Her voice? If not hers, then who did it belong to?

She was being used, and she knew why. Somehow, Darkness had managed to get hold of her. Had taken her out for a night on the town, with Aisanna a passenger to her own life.

Lather bubbled on her skin and she scrubbed, scouring her body with heat and soap until she cleansed herself of the sins permeating her cells. Nothing she did was enough. The sense lingered after she rubbed herself to the point of rawness. Her skin turned pink and sensitive until the slightest touch tingled unpleasantly.

A single sob escaped her throat and she sank to the shower floor to draw her knees up and rest her head there. The spray continued to beat down in a torrent of scouring pellets, like acid rain, anything to beat away her memory of the past night.

Or rather, lack thereof.

Never in her wildest imaginings would she guess Darkness was capable of taking over one of them while the veil still stood. Cause mayhem beyond the usual, sure. Make life a living hell, absolutely. But possession? The eclipse was more than a month away. Was the veil shredding faster than they all knew?

If Darkness could possess her body, what else could it do? Force her to rob a bank or blow up a house? To kill someone? The list went on, each possible scenario worse than the one before.

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