Page 20 of Night's Fall
He wasn’t fleeing.
The other one was a sacrifice.
This one…
He was here to do just this.
“No!”Ishrieked, tucked protectively in her broad breast, powerless to stop her.
The weapon fired.
And all turned black.
Ijerked awake, feeling hot, sweaty, scared.
All familiar.
Too familiar.
My bedroom was not dark.Withthe half-wall, continuous slant of windows that connected to the roof allowing the city lights to drift in, it was never dark, unlessIactivated the privacy shields.
I didn’t like to do that.
Not anymore.
The alley they’d dragged me in had been dark.Dank.Reeking.
I used to set privacy at sixty percent whenIslept, soI’dhave the city, butI’dstill have that cocoon of night.
Not after the incident.
Not after she was gone.
I needed the light.
I fell to my back and rubbed my chest with my hand.
The phantom wasn’t there with me.Ithadn’t made itself known since we left the club.
As bittersweet as it was, alone in the dark of night with memories assaulting me,Icould use her.
The nightmares came too often.Iwas beginning to worry it wasn’t healthy.
My gals were worried too.
Gayliliel had suggestedIspeak to a counselor.
Catla had suggested a visit to a clinic for a memory scrub and went so far as to talk toMr.Truelockabout it, whereupon he agreed to pay for it (he really did like me…andGayle).
I couldn’t scrub that memory though.Ashideous as it was, it was the last moment we had together.
It was her doing what she did for me.
It was her taking care of me.
To her dying breath.
My own breath hitched, andIsent three cats flying asIpulled the covers off me.
