Fade Away: A Paranormal Romance (Faded Paranormal Romance Series Book 2) Read online

  FADE AWAY

  M. L. Ray

  Fade Away: A Paranormal Romance

  Faded Paranormal Romance Series Book 2

  Copyright 2019 M. L. Ray

  © 2019 M. L. Ray

  License Note:

  All rights reserved. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

  If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to purchase their own copy online where they can also discover many other works by this author.

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  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Thank You

  Prologue

  Seattle

  Present day…

  Kabir was sitting at the head of the dining table when Camille returned to him, victorious. “She’s dead,” the dark-haired vampire told him, “it worked. I watched Geller stab her to death. It’s done.”

  Kabir closed his eyes and breathed in deeply—an unnecessary act for something as dead as he was, but he found it cleansing anyway. He imagined Gaia’s suffering, the pain, the agonizing, brutal way to die. He remembered the way her soft flesh would cleave under his blade—he imagined Geller would have enjoyed that too. “And Geller?”

  Camille snorted a little. “As you suspected, Thorn and Yoon got there a little too late to save her, but Yoon dispatched Geller in seconds. It was actually rather beautiful to watch. There was nothing left of Geller.”

  Kabir opened his eyes and smiled at Camille. “When are you going to admit you love that beautiful Korean boy?”

  “Yoon is no boy, Kabir. And…” Camille sighed and shook her head. “If it’s Thorn’s fate to always love and lose Gaia, it’s mine to love someone who never loved me.”

  Kabir sat back, tapping his finger against his chin. “We could look into forcing him to—”

  “No.” Camille’s chin lifted. “I don’t want anyone who doesn’t want me.” Her eyes softened. “But thank you for considering it.”

  Kabir smiled, stood and came to her. He put his hands on her shoulders. “You have been instrumental in helping me make sure Gaia dies. Yes, we lost Dwayne and Orlando, but to be honest, I was growing tired of them. You, on the other hand, are indispensable.”

  He touched her face then turned away. Camille knew she was dismissed then. She turned to go and was halfway to the door when she heard Kabir’s agonized gasp.

  Camille whirled around to see Kabir’s knees give way and he crumpled to the ground, heaving, his body wracked with spasms. “Kabir!”

  She ran to him but he pushed her away violently. As she watched, his eyes turned black then to the brightest silver of the brightest star in the sky. Camille winced and turned away; the image burned on her retinas as she heard him gasp.

  “She’s alive…”

  Chapter One

  Thorn Compound

  Just outside Seattle, Washington

  Yoon stared out at the rain that was lashing the windows of the compound. Thankful, finally, that the storm was the only thing raging now, he barely felt Jae put his hand on his back.

  “Hyung?” Brother?

  Yoon turned to him and saw the confusion in his own eyes mirrored in Jae’s. “How’s Gaia?”

  “Asa managed to get some morphine and venom into her system, though lord knows how. He scanned her—whatever is keeping her… sentient. Her blood is still flowing, blood and venom as far as he knows.”

  “She’s a wraith.” Yoon didn’t bother to hide the heartbreak in his voice. He felt Jae’s hand move to his arm and squeeze it.

  Jae shook his head. “No. We would feel it. So far, Gaia says that even before she was stabbed, only Lana felt a change in her, felt something dark. Even Harry sensed something but didn’t have the reaction Lana did. This is something new entirely, Yoon. Gaia is…”

  “Sleeping.”

  They both turned at the sound of Asa’s voice. Behind him, an exhausted Eshe carried a handful of empty blood bags. Yoon’s fangs pulsed with hunger—none of them had fed in the days since Gaia’s rebirth. That’s what they were calling it—her rebirth.

  Asa was slowly losing the haunted look he had worn since they found Gaia in the university lab, brutalized and dead. Ted Geller had stabbed her so viciously that a human Gaia would have stood no chance. But then… they all knew Gaia hadn’t been quite human when she died. Asa had tried to change her, turn her into a vampire and it hadn’t taken. But it had so changed her body chemistry that no-one outside the vampire world would have mistaken her for anything but human.

  But Gaia herself had known different. A scientist through and through, she and Asa had profiled her blood samples before and after the attempted change. Afterward, she had no red blood cells. None. And yet her heart beat strongly, blood still pumped through her veins. It was inexplicable.

  Asa nodded at the twins. “She’s sleeping, just like a human. Jesus…” He sat down heavily in the chair. “And she can communicate now. At least, she can write down. Her voice is refusing to come back.”

  “She probably wrecked it screaming.”

  They all shuddered. When Gaia had woken from her death slumber, she had screamed in such unbearable agony that it had been devastating to hear, let alone imagine what pain she was in.

  Thankfully, after Asa had made her look at him, had held her head still as Yoon, Jae and Eshe had tried to give her some pain medication, Gaia had calmed, her gaze locked on Asa’s, her eyes, now a beguiling silver and navy instead of the warm dark brown they were used to, were full of confusion and terror.

  Yoon, shocked into a stupor, had listened to Asa talk softly to her, reassuring her that they were there, she was safe, they would help her. It was all going to be okay.

  Lying to her. Even though Yoon knew it was for her own good, to calm her panicked and terrified soul, it still rankled with him. Asa never lied; it just wasn’t in his nature.

  If Yoon could have cried, today would be the day. He sighed heavily and Asa looked up at him, smiling faintly. “Yoon, it’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”

  And Yoon could almost believe him.

  Chapter Two

  Gaia feigned sleep until Asa left the room. He’d been by her side constantly since she woke and she could see he was weak from lack of feeding. So, she ‘slept’ until he left the room and she hoped
he would hunt. As soon as he left though, she opened her eyes. Closing them brought back the memories, every slice of the knife through her tender flesh, the bloodlust in Ted’s eyes, the fear on poor Dean Robert’s face when Ted was killing her, then his lifeless eyes after Ted snapped his neck.

  Ted was dead now, she knew that. She heard everything, from the time Asa picked up her limp, dead body, to Yoon taking Ted apart with his bare hands to the traffic on the interstate to the wind moaning high up in the Olympic mountains. Her mind sorted all of the cacophony into each distinct sound, but it was terrifying and overwhelming that she was able to do so. When her body knitted itself back together, the pain was bewildering.

  But worse, oh, so much worse was the strange feeling of not belonging in this body. Gaia Sullivan was dead, and now she had become something else, something… other. Not a vampire—she had no desire for blood or for any human food. She sat up now in the bed, pulling up the t-shirt Asa had dressed her in. There were no signs of her stabbing on her abdomen; instead her skin looked smooth and a deep, rich olive, almost with a light gold glow to it. She prodded her belly—still soft, not the hard, marble skin of the vampire. She felt the movement too, so whatever else had changed her nervous system was still operational.

  That wasn’t a surprise. Now she was awake, the agonizing pain had faded into a low-grade ache, annoying but manageable, but as she had woken from being… dead—she groaned to herself, burying her face in her hands—the pain had been overwhelming.

  Now, though, it felt like bad period cramps. Something told her, however, that she wouldn’t have to cope with the real thing anymore. She slid out of bed and padded to the bathroom, noticing her gait, her entire movement was different. Curious, she sped up. In less than a second she was outside of the building.

  “What the actual fuck?”

  She’d passed through solid walls. Turning, she tried again and was inside, in the living room with four very surprised vampires. Asa stood and came to her as Gaia tried to reconcile what was happening to her. “Hey… hey, sweetling.”

  She looked up at him with frightened eyes. “Asa… I just passed through walls. The super speed I get because… wait, no, I don’t get it. I don’t understand any of this.”

  Asa cupped her cheek with his cool palm. “I know. None of us have seen this before. None of us.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “What’s happening to me?”

  Asa couldn’t answer her. She sighed, leaning into his touch, feeling him brush away the tears that escaped with his fingertips. “Lana… what did you tell her?”

  It was the first time she had dared to ask about her sister. The last time she’d seen her, Lana was sobbing, holding Harry to her as she watched Ted Geller take Gaia captive, knowing he was going to kill her.

  Asa nodded slowly. “She knows you’re being cared for, that you were injured, that there was something in the lab where you were attacked that was a possibly infectant.” He grinned wryly as Gaia pulled a face. “I know but we had to tell her something or she would have insisted on seeing you.”

  “I should call her, at least.”

  “That’s a good move.” Yoon was at her shoulder then, and for a brief second, he leaned his forehead against Gaia’s. It was like a balm on her fractured soul. “Salanghae.” I love you.

  “Nado neoleul salanghae.” I love you too. To Gaia now, the twins, Eshe, Sasha, Pollo and Mannon were as much her family as Lana and Harry. She saw Asa watching them and smiled at him. “I’m okay, my love. I need to talk to my sister.”

  “Of course.” Asa shot a look at Yoon, who nodded, and led the others from the room. He drew Gaia to him. “I’m so sorry this happened. I should’ve protected you better.”

  “You couldn’t have. Kabir wrongfooted us at every turn and who knew that he’d turned Ted?” She shuddered at the memory of Ted’s animalistic bloodlust. “He really wanted to kill me. I doubt anything would have stopped him, even if he hadn’t been turned.”

  “He wasn’t fully turned. If he had been, Yoon might have come back with a few scratches.” Asa grinned widely then. “But I doubt it.” His smile faded. “Seeing you like that… bleeding…”

  “Baby, that’s what’s been bugging me. You say I was bleeding red blood, correct? But how could I have been? We saw my samples after you tried to turn me. There were no red blood cells. So how I was bleeding out red blood?”

  Asa shook his head. “Sweetling, I cannot tell you. It’s almost like…” He broke off and shook his head. “But no, that’s not possible.”

  “At this point, nothing is impossible. I’m in love with a centuries old vampire, the object of another’s murderous obsession and I’m standing here talking to you after being gutted.” Gaia gave a short, disbelieving laugh. “So, go for it.”

  Asa sighed. “It’s something I’ve only ever heard of in myth.” He grinned as she rolled her eyes. “Hear me out. Even vampires have fairy stories, so to speak.”

  “So?”

  “There are beings we call shadow wraiths; some call them mirror wraiths. It’s almost as if…” he sighed, “it’s like there are two beings, both in the same body. When a body is turned, it splits into the two creatures. Sorry, not creatures, beings.”

  “Terminology doesn’t bother me, Asa, just get to it. You think I’m one of these shadow wraiths?”

  He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know, because as I say, there’s only been rumors. But it goes that the body splits into two… within the same body, one part still human, one vampire or another creature whoever is doing the turning. It could be an answer. I just don’t know.”

  Gaia rubbed her face. “So, I bled like a human, died as a human and came back as?”

  Asa looked as lost as she felt. “Sweetling…”

  “I need to call Lana,” she said suddenly. “Whatever I am, I still have my family to think of.” She hadn’t meant to sound short with him but she felt frustration bubbling up inside him. Asa handed her cell phone to her.

  “I’ll give you some privacy.” He brushed his lips against hers and Gaia felt a jolt of pain. She hid it well.

  Alone, she sat on the living room floor, cross-legged. Her body looked the same, except for the sheen that now pulsed from her skin. Her eyes… that was a different matter. She had looked into them in the mirror and wondered what the hell had happened to them. Still, colored contact lenses would help fool Lana…

  “Jesus.” She shook her head and before she could talk herself out of it, she called Lana.

  “Gaia?” Lana sounded breathless.

  “It’s me, Lah.”

  Lana burst into noisy sobs and Gaia’s eyes filled with tears. As they fell, she swept one into her mouth. Salty. Just like a human. “Oh, Lah. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

  She waited for Lana to recover herself. “What happened to you, Gaia? We were so terrified that Ted… Asa told me that Ted took you to the lab, that there was an accident, that you were hurt… none of it made sense. I thought Ted… he had a knife.”

  Gaia slid a hand unconsciously onto her belly. She sucked in an unnecessary breath before speaking. “He was going to stab me, yes, but he decided… he decided he wanted to torment me first. Trouble was, Ted was never very good at chemistry.” She thought quickly. “He smashed a bottle of chlorine. We were both overcome by the fumes but Asa and Yoon got me out before I inhaled too much.”

  There was a silence on the other end of the phone. “Asa said it might be infectious which is why we stayed away. Inhaling chlorine gas isn’t infectious.”

  “He knew I was in a bad way,” Gaia said quickly. “There were some complications and the hospital wanted me to be isolated. That’s why he told you that. Believe me, Asa would never keep us apart unless it was vitally necessary, Lana. I promise.”

  Another silence. “How are you now? You sound different.”

  Oh god… “I’m still me. I’m getting there. Asa told me you and Harry are staying in the city?”
/>
  “We are. Asa booked us into a suite at the Four Seasons. I told him it was too much but he insisted.”

  Gaia smiled to herself. “Nothing too much for my family, Lah. How’s Harry doing?”

  Lana sighed. “Still traumatized, but not by being held. He was scared he got you killed. God, Gaia, it was heart breaking. He blames himself.”

  “Oh god… is he there? Put him on, let me speak to him.”

  She heard Lana moving through her room and quietly speak to her son, then Gaia heard Harry’s voice. “Auntie Gaia?”

  “Hi ya, kiddo.” Gaia’s voice trembled and she heard Harry sniff.

  “Are you all right? I’m sorry, so sorry that I let that man…”

  “Listen to me, Harry Sullivan. What Ted did, it’s not your fault, do you understand me? It was his and his alone. I’m okay, darling, I’m just worried about you.”

  Harry began to cry then. “You sound strange, Auntie Gaia. Your voice sounds different.”

  “I promise I’m the same, sweetie.”

  “You sound…”

  Gaia’s chest was clenching with pain. “Like what, darling?”

  There was a long silence. “Like… a shimmering bell.”

  The relief was palpable—she had been so terrified that he would say that she scared him. Instead, she laughed. “Oh, sweetie. It’s probably just the phone line. I love you, you know?”

  “I love you too. Mommy wants the phone now.”

  “Night, night, bubba. Sleep tight. I love you.”

  Lana sounded more collected when she came back on the phone. “When can we see you?”

  “Soon, I promise. A couple of days at the most.”

  “Oh, Gaia… promise me you’ll tell me everything that’s going on. I’m… I’m so scared that something is going to happen to you. Like I’ll never see you again. Every time you walk out the door, it’s like the last time.” She started to cry. “I can’t lose you too, Gaia. Not after Mom and Dad and… I would die, do you understand that?”