Nightfall (Devil's Night, #4)

by Penelope Douglas

“Did you see prissy little Fane yesterday on the beach?” he asked Kai. “Girl has some swagger now. Tell me that’s not going to be sweet.” Kai made a face. “God, you’re a loser. What college guy comes home and continues to chase high school tail? Grow up.” “I saw you looking, too,” Damon shot back, flipping him off. They must’ve seen her at the beach yesterday. “Besides, that tail is Michael’s,” Kai pointed out. “He just doesn’t know it yet, so don’t even think about pulling that shit while he’s away.”

“Here to see my coffin?” he joked. I looked behind him, seeing the bed. “It looks comfortable.” His eyes turned warm, but then he dropped them, looking hesitant. Tears pooled in my eyes. “I’m fucked up,” I choked out. “I know.” He nodded. “But if you come in here, I’m not fixing you.” He was just as fucked up. Tomorrow wouldn’t be any brighter for either of us. “Just fix it for tonight,” I whispered. Dive and destroy and show me how to get lost. Just for tonight. He moved to the side, inviting me in, and I closed the door behind me. An obnoxious junkie. At least Sid could play a guitar.

“All this time?” Aydin breathed out. “All these months and all the fights. All the times you lost, it was on purpose?” “You don’t have what it takes to be me,” he told Aydin, his deep tone sending chills up my spine.

Wrapping a rubber band around my flashcards, I tossed them on the desk and picked up the lid of the jack-o’-lantern and put it back on top. I stared at its face. “Emory Scott loves Will Grayson,” I murmured. My throat ached with tears. I’d never told him I loved him.

“We made mistakes,” Kai argued with him. “We would never do that again.” “Speak for yourself,” Damon fired back. “The role of the villain is only determined by who’s telling the story.”

I climbed over Rory’s body and gently stepped out of bed, looking down at the two beautiful guys and their sleeping forms. A serial killer on one side, and the son of a terrorist on the other. Man, my parents would be proud. What were they both going to do after we got to Thunder Bay? They couldn’t go home. Would someone be coming for them? For Will?

I spotted a courier outside and opened my mouth to tell the guys I’d see them in a while, but then, all of a sudden, a punch landed in my gut, and I hunched over, barely registering Damon moving to Kai, and then Michael next. He threw a punch across Kai’s jaw and landed an uppercut right in Michael’s stomach. “Ugh!” Michael growled as I winced. “Man, what the fuck?” Kai barked, rubbing his face. I looked up at Damon, the pain in my abs like a knot tightening over and over again. He inhaled a deep breath, fixing the lapels of his suit jacket. “I’d rather not walk in on my sisters in some weirdo, bacchanalian sex fest ever again,” he stated. “Understand?” He didn’t wait for an answer. Spinning around with his lips tight, he stalked off the train as the rest of us tried to stand up straight again. Shit. He saw that last night? Fuck. “I keep forgetting those are his sisters,” Michael said, rubbing his stomach. Kai started laughing, shaking his head. “Crap . . .” We all started laughing, an image of him walking in and then promptly back out replaying over and over again in my head. How had we not seen him? Poor D.

Both Banks and Winter had been pregnant when I went to Blackchurch. I’d known what was happening at home. It was so hard to see their sons for the first time. I should’ve been there. I hadn’t been there.

“We should have helmets!” Damon called up. Helmets? Pussy. “For the kids, I mean!” he clarified. “You know they’re going to use this a lot.” I nodded. Okay, that made sense.

“Hey, it’s Rika,” I heard Erika say behind me. “I need you to get to the fire station and borrow an engine. Bring it to the Cove and hook up the hoses. We’ll need it. And hurry.” There was a pause as whoever on the other end answered her. “Thank you,” she said and hung up. I shot a look back to our mayor. “I can’t commit arson and purposely put civil servants at risk, Will,” she explained. “Lev and David will contain the fire.”

“Are you sure this isn’t an impulse thing?” Alex asked. “Are you sure he’s sober?” Damon asked her instead. “Shut up,” I griped. I realized that my life decisions could be characterized as questionable, but not every crazy thing I did was because I was drunk. Just some things.

“We’re going to light up the fucking sky, because Michael Crist is marrying Erika Fane in two days!” I smiled, holding my hands to my mouth and howling into the night. Laughter and more howls went off around the park, and I heard Rika yelping with excitement. I lit my flare and looked to Alex. “Are you sure?” she asked, lighting hers. “I know what this place means to you.” “It was one night.” I looked up at the Ferris wheel. “I need my life to be more than one night.”

The wind blew and the heat of the fire covered my face, and I closed my eyes, not sure if I wanted to cry or smile. Michael Crist, Kai Mori, Damon Torrance, and Will Grayson were going to have their secluded, seaside resort, because we lasted, and we were going to build something that would, as well.

A single police officer, dressed in black in a thick jacket for the chilly October evening, talked on his radio as he looked around the park and the flames. He noticed me, stopped talking to whoever he was talking to, and I could almost see the sigh. “Will Grayson,” he said. “My favorite pyro.” I pulled off my hat and gave him a smile. “Baker. How’s the family?” “Growing.” He nodded, stepping toward me as I stepped toward him. “The wife is on baby number three.” “Yours?” He cocked an eyebrow, looking unamused. I smiled wider. “Are you going to make me handcuff you?” he asked. I shook my head. “There are some people I wanted to say hi to anyway. Let’s go.”

“Will’s been arrested.” Micah tossed me some clothes. “He started a fire at the Cove.” Huh? “The Cove?” I held the clothes to my chest, trying to make sense out of what they were telling me, my chest slowly constricting. He started a fire at the Cove? And he was now sitting in jail? Son of a bitch. I growled, shooting off the bed. “One day! Not even one day back in town and he’s back in a cell!” I unhooked my overalls and pulled on the black, long-sleeved shirt. “Ugh!”

Damon didn’t explain. Taking out his phone, he dialed and held it to his ear, the other line ringing. “Mayor Fane?” he teased to Erika, I assumed. “Two idiots are drag racing around Thunder Bay. Can you call the station and tell all units to report to Delphi heading east?” he asked and then clarified. “Alllllll units.” I heard her voice on the other end. I couldn’t tell what she was saying, but it sounded like an angry ferret. “Don’t be a douche,” he said, picking at the cord of his hoodie. “What else do you do all day anyway?” More angry chatter. “Suck me,” he mumbled, and then she said something else, and then he said, “Yeah, your mom . . .”

“How did you know I was the one who knew how to hotwire a car?” Micah asked. “Because you’re the one with shit to prove to your loser old man,” Damon retorted. “We can smell our own. Now, both of you, hurry up.”

“Um . . .” someone said, and I blinked, noticing the car had stopped. “Okay, wow. I . . . um . . . I’d love to watch this, actually,” Damon called out, “but Winter will consider it cheating if she’s not here, too. I’ll go ahead and walk home, and you fucking owe me, Will.” Damon opened the door, the rain coming down hard now, and got out, closing it again.

“Marry me, Will Grayson.” I rushed up and hugged his back, wrapping my arms around him. “Can you marry me? Can I marry you?”

“I’m marrying you,” I whispered. He nodded. “’Bout time you caught up.”

“I loved you last night,” I told him. “And I loved you this morning. I’ll still be here. I’ll still be me tomorrow and every day after.”

Kai’s wife set aside her laptop and stood up, offering me her hand. “Nikova Mori, but everyone calls me Banks.” “Banks,” I repeated. But then I remembered. “Nikova,” I said to myself. And then to her, “Nik? You’re Damon’s sister?” She looked surprised, nodding. “That’s right.” And then Rika chimed in again. “And so am I, actually.” Huh? But she waved me off. “It’s a long story. We’ll explain later.” She and Banks weren’t related, though, were they? Or else that train thingy was a whole lot weirder now.

Turning, she looked at us, taking Winter’s hand as she gazed around the room. “I love you guys, you know? I love to fall, but I don’t want to do it alone.” Her chin trembled. “Thank you for being my family.”

“We’re two of a kind, you know?” I told her. “Both too stubborn for our own good. He came after you, but your heart had steeled, and there was nothing to do except keep putting one foot in front of the other and never look back, right?” I knew her because I knew myself. We were the same. Tears welled in her eyes, and she shook her head to herself. “I would’ve liked to make love to him just once.” “So why didn’t you?” “Because he wouldn’t pay for it,” she shot back, her eyes full of pride. Pain hit my heart.

“I love how it feels,” she said, her voice wispy. “I almost don’t want to wear it. He won’t have patience for the buttons, and it’ll end up in shreds on our bedroom floor.” Banks laughed, and I snorted. How does someone so soft and gentle fall in love with Damon Torrance, for crying out loud. But . . . I guess after seeing him completely under her spell in the train kitchen, she was exactly his type.

I’m gonna kill her. She’d had Emmy for the last thirty-six hours. No warning. No discussion. No explanation, other than some excuse about needing one last girls’ night as a single woman. I hadn’t talked to Em, because Rika took all their cell phones, hiding with Alex, Banks, Winter, Emory, and Ryen at Delcour since yesterday morning. I mean, what the fuck? I just got her back, and fear was nipping at the corner of my brain, worried that she’d change her mind about marrying me if I couldn’t periodically remind her how hot I was.

Misha plopped down next to me, and I took a swig from my water bottle. “You’ll see her in an hour,” he assured me. I took another drink. “Rika could’ve warned us she was taking all the women overnight.” “It gives you a chance to miss her.” “I’ve missed her long enough,” I retorted, watching Michael tie his shoes and then tip back the bottle of Kirin. “I’m done missing her.” “You think if you don’t see her enough, she’ll have time to change her mind?” “No.” Yes. My cousin was smart.

Pulling over a duffel bag I had laid on the chair, I pulled out a green Army of Two mask, as well as a black one painted with white bandages to look like a mummy. I handed them each one. Micah eyed me, looking confused. “For later,” I said. “It’s Devil’s Night.” Their eyes widened, remembering what Emmy had talked about, and they exchanged a look, laughing under their breaths. “Seems like you and your friends are the law in Thunder Bay,” Micah said. “Just the opposite.” I took a drag. “There are no bedtimes here.” Rory tossed his mask back on the chair. “Is anyone coming after us?” “Undoubtedly.”

“No cars?” I asked, noticing everyone just kept walking. Michael shook his head. “I don’t need to be carted to the altar,” he announced. “I want to arrive in style with my friends. This is how it started, and this is how it continues.” Kai grabbed his shoulder as we stepped out onto the road. “Always.”

A howl pierced the air, and I looked over, seeing Michael holding his hands to his mouth, his roar carrying down the street and up into the trees. “I’m marrying little Rika Fane, motherfuckers!” Michael yelled, and we all followed, belting our battle cry into the night.

“You know they might start without you if she wizens up,” I told him. “Remember when we kidnapped her mom, stole all her money, and burned down her house? That was good times.” “What the fuck?” Rory spat out. “You’re not serious.” But Michael scoffed, defending himself. “Damon suffocated her with chloroform, threw her over his shoulder like a sack of flour, and took her to sea!” “We were bonding,” Damon retorted. “You’re just jealous.” “I’m just glad your ‘bonding’ didn’t go under the clothes before you knew she was your sister,” I fired back. “Can you imagine?” Damon hooked my neck, yanking me down, and I laughed as we play-fought for a moment. “I’m starting to feel like we need to grab this girl and Emory and run,” Micah mumbled to Rory.

Misha passing Damon the rest of his half-empty beer, and Damon happily swallowing the rest. I loved watching their interactions the past couple of days. Misha was the only child now after Annie passed. Neither one of them had a brother, and if Misha’s dad married Damon’s estranged mother, they would be technically related. They got in each other’s faces a lot over the years, but a bond was forming. I guess the older you get, the more you realize how much you need others. It would be nice for Damon to have a brother.

Making our way through the people, old friends and new residents, I spotted the current basketball team in their school jackets all piled on the roof and hood of a Hummer, the one in the front tipping his chin at me when I made eye contact. The captain, I assumed. Kind of cute of them. Being here for this like we were every year for McClanahan. Someone was teaching the kids right.

It was time. “Michael,” Kai whispered. I looked to Kai, all of us following his gaze out toward the street and the start of the pathway leading up to the gazebo. She stood there, and my throat swelled with a lump, and for some fucking reason, I was about to burst wide open. Shit.

Michael stood frozen, his chest rising and falling hard as he watched her, looking almost in pain. Her jaw flexed the closer she got, and I saw tears glisten in her eyes, because it was all too much. Once upon a time, she was a kid who blew our minds and ran with us all night. She hadn’t changed.

“Michael and Erika,” the officiant started again. “Damon and Winter. Kai and Nikova. William and Emory.” We all looked at her, air filling my lungs and feeling Em’s eyes on me. “Are you happy?” the judge asked. And I blew out my breath, breaking into a low chuckle, all of us laughing within a moment. The judge nodded, needing no further answer. “I’ve been proud to watch you grow here, and I’m excited to see everything that comes next.”

But then, all the girls opened their palms to reveal the bands they had for us. I looked down at it to see silver rings emblazoned with a crest I didn’t recognize. A skull hovering above a bed of grass where a snake laid. Antlers stretched out of the bone against a black background.

“Michael and Erika?” the officiant continued. “Do you promise that no matter what you do, you do it as one?” They smiled at each other. “We do.” “Damon and Winter?” the judge asked next. “Do you promise to give your very best to each other?” “We do,” they said, their voices strong and sure. “Kai and Nikova?” My heart hammered inside me, and my pores cooled with sweat. “Do you promise that the other will never be alone?” the judge asked. “We do,” they answered, and I could hear the smile in their voices. “And William and Emory?” I looked down, holding Em’s eyes. I was going to lose it, I was so nervous. “Do you promise to believe in each other and stand together?” I gulped. Hell, yes. “We do,” we replied. The officiant paused for a moment, then continued, “Do you promise to put the family first?” “We do,” we all answered. “Do you promise to never break these promises?” I grinned down at her. “We do.”

“Michael and Erika, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” “Whoo!” I heard someone yelp, and we all laughed as Michael and Rika kissed. “Damon and Winter?” the judge said. “I pronounce you husband and wife.” He took her face and kissed her, still going even after the judge moved on. “Kai and Nikova, I pronounce you husband and wife.” “Come here,” Kai said, crashing his mouth down on his wife’s. She giggled.

“Aydin and Taylor,” I said. They nodded. The train went under Deadlow Island. I didn’t know how they’d gotten that far, or if they had help, but the tunnel could’ve certainly connected to Coldfield and the Cove tunnels, as well. Michael shook his head. “Two nights ago . . .” They’d been here for two days. Motherfucker. “And they just announced their presence,” Kai said, staring off at the black cloud dissipating into the air off the coast. The town swarmed around us, people hopping into their cars, while others chatted wildly. “Get out of your dresses,” Michael told the girls. “Everyone meets at Coldfield in thirty minutes! Go!”

The girls had filled me in last night on everything I’d missed over the years—Delcour, the Pope, Pithom, Evans Crist, Gabriel Torrance, and everything the guys did wrong—and right—in their quests for vengeance. And Trevor. I’d known he was dead but not the extent of his demise. It all should’ve scared me. It was a lot to take in. But I couldn’t help it. Something bubbled up inside me as Will drove, and I couldn’t believe how running wasn’t even an option. Even with the fear knotting my stomach, I didn’t want to be anywhere else.

“Stop looking at me,” I said, facing forward. “I’m coming, and you’re not stopping me.” I knew he was worried about the mess he’d gotten me into, but he was forgetting that this was all my mess, too. I didn’t run anymore.

Misha and Ryen jogged up, dressed in street clothes and ready to rock. Will narrowed his eyes at his cousin, pausing. “What are you doing?” But Misha just reached down, pulling out a black mask with a blue stripe. “This belong to anybody?” Will dropped his eyes. “You don’t have to be here, man. You don’t have to be involved.” Misha stared at him. “Yes, I do.” He strapped his mask onto his belt and dug back into the bag, pulling out a white one for Ryen. Will gazed between them, a smile slowly forming at his cousin diving into the fray with us. “And my wolfpack, it grew,” he said, choking on fake tears, “it grew by two.” “Shut up,” Ryen told him.

Will grabbed one more mask out of the bag, a yellow one with blood around the mouth and eyes. “They could be distracting us,” Micah told him. “Drawing us out there, so they can destroy the town while we’re running around in circles.” “They have nothing to gain,” Will told him. “Their beef is with us. They want to confront us. They’re not going to make it hard for us to find them.” Then he held the mask out to me. “Real monsters don’t wear masks,” I teased. He shrugged. “Real monsters might not care about being identified, either. No mask, no fun for you.” Aw, my man. Layin’ down the law. God, it turned me on. I reached in and pulled out a black one to match his white one instead, both with a thick red stripe down the left side. “I like this one,” I said.

But before I could leave, Will grabbed me, pulled me into his arms, and lifted my mask, kissing me hard and deep, his tongue making me moan. I love you. “Don’t get hurt,” I whispered against his mouth. I nodded. He gazed into my eyes. “I’m marrying you.”

Martin. He stood at the entrance, across the food court, dressed in jeans, a black pullover, and his dark hair perfectly coiffed. He stared at me with his hand in his pocket. A smile reaching his eyes that he didn’t give away across his lips. My spine tingled, seeing the challenge in his gaze. “Emmy!” Rika called. “Emmy, let’s go!” He stared at me. I couldn’t move. My lungs constricted, one foot ready to retreat, and another wanting to charge over and beat him until my hands were bloody. A cry lodged in my throat. I can’t move. And then, a small hand slipped inside mine, the cold skin rough with dirt and grime. I looked down, swallowing as I saw a little girl looking up at me. Who . . . ? “Let’s go,” she whispered.

“I’ve seen what your species likes to do to women down at that cave on the beach,” she told him. Rika gasped, covering her mouth, but I caught the smile underneath as Alex laughed out loud. “You saw that?” he asked, wide-eyed. The little girl gave Michael a once-over up and down. “Hmph.”

Evans nodded. “Rika became mayor, Kai’s been revitalizing Whitehall, Damon is Rika’s heir, not to mention he’s grooming Banks for national politics . . .” he listed off all of his concerns. “And Will discovered Coldfield, and now controls the underground transit system between Thunder Bay and Meridian City. I mean, if you had a playbook of how to make me sweat, that would be it.” He chuckled. “I bow to you. You’ve impressed me, Michael. I wish I had you at my side.” “But that’s not what you and I were made for,” his son replied. Evans shook his head. “No, you’re right. But you are in over your head.”

“I promise you,” Michael said. “I won’t tell my mother any of this after you’re gone. She’ll never have to know.” “It’s not for you to protect me, Michael,” someone spoke up. Slowly, we turned around, the two masked figures I didn’t recognize standing on both sides of Kai as they pulled off their masks and pushed down their hoods. Christiane Fane stood on the left, tears filling her eyes, as Delia Crist, Michael’s mother, stood on the right, her light brown bangs hanging in her eyes. Kai shrugged, looking apologetic. “The kids are safe,” he assured. “I couldn’t stop them. Sorry, man.”

Christiane stepped forward, not taking her eyes off Evans as she walked straight for him, her blond hair—like Rika’s—pulled back in a low ponytail and her frail, quiet form looking too skinny to pick up a peanut. She stopped in front of him, both of them locking eyes, and then . . . she whipped her hand across his face, sending him stumbling to the side. The crew behind them tensed, and I balled my fists, ready. He breathed hard, blinking and looking shocked, and then stood upright again, facing her. She slapped him again, the same cheek, but the only part of him that moved this time was his head twisting to the side. His jaw flexed, and I didn’t even care she wasn’t screaming at him for what he did to her husband and the years of torture since. She hit him again and again, and I almost smiled. He grunted after the fifth one, sucking in angry air through his teeth. “Get the bitch off me,” he finally growled to someone. Martin hurried to grab her, and we stepped forward, but just as Christiane raised her hand to slap him again, Damon shoved Martin back, telling him, “Don’t touch her.”