Page 55 of Black Curtain

God. The light hurt.

I looked down at him, and my vision swam… until suddenly I could see him.

Relief filled his expression as he looked up at me, then as he wrapped his hands and arms around me, pulling me down to him. We were kissing before I knew what he wanted. I lost myself there, lost in his lips, his light, his tongue. I forgot all about where we were, all the strange images and memories that flickered through my mind.

Kissing him both grounded me and made me not give a damn about any of it.

As we kissed, images flickered behind my eyes.

Those were strangely grounded, too.

I remembered our bungalow on the beach in Thailand.

He groaned softly as he kissed me, pulling at the dress I still wore.

His hands wrapped around my back, when a voice seemed to explode in my ears.

“Where the fuck are we? What is this? WHERE ARE WE?”

I lifted my head, panting.

The world tilted as I looked around. All of it came rushing back.

I remembered the cake, the cars, all our friends and family at the resort, the vampires, the airplane, Black being bit, the handcuffs. I found myself looking into Jax’s face, his purple eyes. His pupils were so dilated, I could only stare at him at first, lost in the strangeness of his face.

I realized he had Kiko in his arms.

He was shifting his body around, and I realized he was trying to protect her. He seemed unsure if I was something he needed to protect her from, or someone who could help him protect her from everyone else. I watched, fascinated, as he held her first in front of him, then moved his body so that he stood between Black and I and her… then moved again so that she was in front of him… then again so that she leaned on his side.

He looked all around where he crouched, trying to decide which side was the most dangerous. I followed his staring eyes and realized he was right, that everything was strange here. Everything was dangerous.

No wonder Jax was confused.

But Kiko was a badass. Why the fuck was he trying to protecther?

He should be working with her.

Hell, she should be protectingus.

Kiko laughed, delighted, then held up her hand.

When I held up mine hesitantly, copying her position, she gave me a sharp high-five.

Then both of us went back to assessing the room.

The vampires were gone, but we definitely weren’t safe here. Nothing was right here. I could feel it, the pervasive, cloying sense of wrongness. Realizing Jax was right, that we were definitely insomekind of danger here still, I crouched over Black, fighting to hide him from whoever might be watching.

“You’re making me paranoid!” Jax snapped at me.

“You’re making ME paranoid!” I snapped back.

“You’re both acting insane,” Dalejem said drily.

Kiko burst out in another laugh.

Still, her dark eyes remained shrewd as she followed Jax’s gaze to different corners of the strange house where we all found ourselves. All three of us, and Black too, gazed up the heavy wooden staircase to an upper landing, then up at a second landing above that. We took turns studying those floors, the rugs, the walls, the chandelier. Then I was looking at the wallpaper, the rug, the paintings, the ugly drapes on either side of the door.

I stared at an antique table, old light switches with copper buttons, a narrow hallway into what looked like a dining room.

---