Page 4 of Darkness Falls

I shake my head and try to bring myself back to the moment with my girl.

"Kyler. Please. We need you to fight." The voice persists, but I don't want to hear it.

Everything is perfect. Callie loves me. I look up at the ceiling and tilt my head when I see a flash of light fly past. Everything around me changes again. The gray room morphs into darkness. I spin around to find my wanderer, but she's not there anymore.

Chapter 2

Barrett

Ineed to figure something out. Every lead I stumble upon ends up being a dead end, and it's all starting to piss me off. I'm frustrated as fuck and feeling things I haven't felt in a long time. For the first time in years, there are moments where panic threatens to overtake me. I have to get this shit under control and focus on getting our girl back. I'm a damn mess without her.

It's up in the air as to when Kyler will wake up. Dr. X had to put him in a medically induced coma after surgery to prevent complications. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to stabilize enough to be taken off of the coma meds. Now, we just have to wait. It could be a few hours or a few days; there’s no way to know for sure. It's been four days, and Seb has fully convinced himself that Ky isn't waking up. Leave it up to him to be so morbid.

He hasn't been able to leave Kyler's bedside, the guilt eating at him from the inside out. For some reason, he thinks this is all his fault. He’s convinced he failed us, which simply isn’t true. The only person at fault for this is Callie's piece-of-shit father.

Ping. An alert sounds on my phone, and I pull it up to see an encrypted message. It's from a number I don't recognize, and instantly, alarm bells ring out. Since I’m working in the security room under the pool house today, I connect my phone to one of my computers before opening the message to see if I can track it. When I click the screen, the letters appear one at a time.

Unknown: I know what you're looking for. I think the two of us could benefit from one another.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown: You want her back. I can help.

Me: Where the fuck is she? I'll hunt you down and slit your throat if you touch her.

Unknown: That's not the way to make friends, Barrett.

Me: I don't give a fuck about being friends with you. Tell me where my girl is.

We've been trying to get confirmation that Callie is actually at Rogue's compound since she was taken from us. Seb is hell-bent on not storming the place until we have proof they're not keeping her somewhere else.

I try to runa trace on the incoming messages, but they’re bouncing all over to different IP addresses. Whoever this person is, they know what they're doing. There’s no way I'll be able to catch up with them before the conversation ends.

Me: Who are you?

Unknown: I already told you. I'm a friend.

Me: I don't have friends. They always turn out to be liars.

Unknown: I'll help you if you help me.

Me: How do I even know you know where she is?

Unknown: She is with Damien, of course.

Me: Who is Damien?

Unknown: Sorry, you probably know him as Julian.

Julian? The guy she was dating before we took her? I think back to Callie’s story about how her father expected her to marry someone named Damien at eighteen. She ran away before it could happen. If Damien took her, there is a good possibility they are going to try the same shitnow.

Hearing them talk about Damien having my girl pisses me off. I don't want to work with whoever this is. I want her back in my arms while I burn the compound to the ground, but I can’t exactly do that without knowing where she is. I need more information, and right now, this is my only avenue to get it.

I've run into too many dead ends on my own. As much as I want to kill whoever is on the other end of this computer screen, the fact is, I need them to help bring Callie home. Life doesn’t have the same spark without her here.

Me: Julian was the guy she was dating before we took her?

Unknown: Yes. He’s been working for her father the entire time.

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