Page 38 of Lay Me Down
The second is the darkness they’ll unleash to protect them.
We make it outside to the back porch, and even the sun isn’t as bright. The air tastes stale, like it hasn’t touched life in hours. My hands shake as I pull my phone from my pocket, and when I find the correct contact, I don’t hesitate to press the green button.
“Who are you calling?”
I don’t answer Ser right away. I’m not sure that I can. I’m still breathing heavily, and the tightness in my chest only grows stronger with every ring of the phone. Finally, it clicks, and his burly voice slides through the phone like our saving grace.
“Ashia? This is a surprise. Is everything alright?”
I take in a trembling breath and swallow harshly to suppress a sob. The relief alone from hearing his voice is overwhelming, and while I know I’m about to unleash a demon from hell’s gates, I also know it’s completely necessary. The monster that’s akin to Damien’s has been buried for so long, and as selfish as it is, even if it’s never tamed again, we need it.
“John…” My voice cracks. How do I tell him that Damien is in trouble? That I don’t have any idea where he is? How am I supposed to tell him that his last living child is missing?
“Ashia,” he says grimly, like he already knows what I’m going to say. I hiccup softly, still trying to contain my cries. It hurts. It all fucking hurts. My entire body is radiating with this pain, and I don’t know where it’s coming from. It’s like it starts in my chest and then slithers its way through my veins. “Are you at home? Do you have someone with you?”
“Yes, sir,” I choke out.
“John? What’s the matter?” I hear Damien’s mom speak in the background. Her voice is soft and already filled with worry, like she can already feel John’s demons gearing up for battle.
“Listen very carefully, Ashia. Donotleave that house until I arrive. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Be there soon.” The call ends, and I pull the phone away from my ear. My eyes fall onto the background, and my heart breaks when I see our picture. He’s holding me so tenderly, like his entire world fit in his arms, and I crumble at the sight. A flood of despair crashes with a wave of anger, and they clatter togetherinside my chest. My stomach falls while my heart is being torn apart, and it feels like my lungs have pushed out every breath I’ve ever taken.
He's gone.
My heaving chest pulls in a harsh gust of air, and my throat strains as I release a wail into the forest behind our home. It burns, but the pain is nothing compared to this heartache. It’s like every beat of my heart is a stab with a knife, and no other pain could ever compare. I can barely feel Ser’s arms as she hugs me from behind, and her skin feels icy, like I’ll never embrace someone’s touch again. This world has no warmth left for me. It’s nothing but a wasteland. I’m slowly dying in the cold and soulless void that only exists when I don’t have Damien, and I can already feel myself start to wither away.
In the blink of an eye, I found outexactlyhow Zeke feels.
And I’m not sure I can bear it.
Chapter 15
Carter
Thank God I get a moment to myself. This day has been exhausting. Between D going missing, Zeke trying to kill Satori, then stopping John from killing Satori once he arrived, and managing to get everyone back over here to the Attic…it was a terrible time. Everyone is on edge, and I can’t shake the feeling that something horrible has happened. John can feel it, too. Just when I thought I had seen the darkness in Damien’s eyes, of course his father had to prove that there’s always something more terrifying.
Holy hell, Ash about gave me a stroke. The moment we heard her scream, we all raced outside with guns drawn, thinking someone had hurt her. She wasn’t, at least physically. The pain on her face and in those sobs would’ve broken any grown man, though. I haven’t seen Zeke so frantic since the day Taylor died, and I could see the worry on his face when he had to carry her back inside. Even Serena cried some, and she had to talk to me about possibly giving Ash a dose of diphenhydramine to calmher down. Thankfully, it wasn’t needed, and she and Zeke got Ash to settle down enough.
The Attic is in chaos, and everyone knows something big with D is going down. We haven’t shared details with everyone yet, but we might have to soon if we don’t find him. I know what the protocol says to do. That’s what Ishoulddo. It’s what the old me would’ve done, but I can’t now. There just isn’t a world where this organization exists, and Damien doesn’t.
I’ve gone over hours of surveillance feeds, and I have facial recognition scanning street camera footage, but nothing is picking up D after he left the Attic. The cameras see him leave, and then nothing. He’s not seen again anywhere. The clock is ticking, and we’re running out of time. Our chances of finding him after twenty-four hours go down significantly, and each minute that passes only heightens my fear.
A stampede of letters, numbers, and flashing images fly across the screen. The lights are super bright, and the non-stop flickering is giving me a headache. It could be because I’ve done nothing but stare at this damn screen since before we drove over to the Attic, but I can’t look away. If the roles were reversed, Damien wouldn’t eat or sleep until he found one of us. He proved that with his wife. I can’t waste a second.
I’ve never felt this level of worry before. Damien has put me in some messed up situations, but this is by far the worst. He’s gone—vanished without a trace. I should’ve asked where he was going earlier, but I never thought to. Normally, he just tells me. So, when I told him I’d see him at the house, I figured he would say something if he was planning on going somewhere else.
I finally take my eyes off the screen and look towards D’s office, knowing Serena is inside with Ash. She’s a wreck, and rightfully so. She needs him just as much as he needs her, and I don’t know what to do. D? I’m used to him. He lashes out and starts committing arson when he’s away from her for too long,and all it takes is some talking down to at least get a little break. But that dead look in Ash’s eyes? I don’t know how to help with that. Satori has been shoving this ‘Damien left on his own’ idea up our asses every chance he gets, and it’s only making her more upset.
That only triggered John. He went on some rant about her and Leanne both not leaving his sight, but the three of us argued with him. If D is anything like his father, then John is going to want blood. A lot of it. Ash doesn’t need to be around that, and if he’s too occupied with torturing someone, how do we know he’ll be able to protect her if need be? The protocol sayswetake care of her.Wewatch her. One ofusis to be by her side at all times until we get him back, and when I privately shared that protocol with him, John finally backed down. If Damien’s wish was for him to protect her in an event like this, that’s what he would’ve done.
I’m sitting across from my normal seat at the conference table so I have a clear shot of the office door. There’s nothing behind me but the wall, and I’m sure to keep my chair pushed back enough to ensure no one tries to slip past me. No one should see what is flying across my screen right now. It would only make Ash more upset, Zeke would blow a gasket, Alex would give me some long, stern talk about loyalty, and it would only boost Satori’s already too-good-for-shit ego. As much as I hate this, I have to do it. Satori’s theory makes sense, and that thought makes me want to bash my head into a wall.
The fact that he’s right doesn’t sit well with me.
I don’t trust him, and I know Damien sure as hell doesn’t. That doesn’t change the facts, though, and as an analyst, I’m bound to look at them as gospel.Damienwas logged in when his permissions were deactivated.Hisusername gave the command. His phone was on at the time he left the Attic, but somehow, it’s turned off now. The video feed to the house was looped back to make it appear like nothing was there, and theloop started ten minutesafterD left the Attic. There was no security breach. No unauthorized activity. Nothing. None of it makes any sense, and all the signs point to him leaving.
