Page 37 of Fractured Souls
I would know. I’d been there a few times in my existence, and I had a feeling that Lorcan had as well.
“I can’t hear them as well as I normally do,” she said, and I knew without her having to say that she was referring to their desires.“Your power is muting most of it.”
“Good,” I said decidedly, because some of the thoughts were bad enough to make you physically sick, and the desperate, clawing urge to escape through vices that almost all of them exhibited was enough to drive someone into their own depression.
“I get what that feels like, though,” she murmured. “That’s how I was before I came back to Arizona.”
I’d heard rumors about that time, and I knew she had a reputation for partying and a bunch of other shit I’d discovered while researching her—but I also knew that half of that could be false, a story created by humans because they desired her to be those things. So until I heard it from Lorcan herself, I was hesitant to believe it.
“How youwere?” I asked, trying to not push her.
“I wanted to die, but I couldn’t,” she said, her eyes looking glossy as if she were about to cry. The idea sent panic through my chest. “I couldn’t find a way out—”
Her words cut off as she seemed to gather herself, and I nodded in understanding. She didn’t need to continue—I knew exactly how she felt because I had been there a million times before. I also knew that it was probably good that I hadn’t come across her until now, because I was aware of one or two ways, outside of the dark ones, that could result in a siren’s death.
Ways that I had nearly implemented myself. And the idea of losing Lorcan, even if I had told her by accident, was fucking horrible… So yeah, I would keep those to myself.
Although Lorcan appeared to be mostly past that. There was a strength that radiated from her now, one I didn’t think could easily be extinguished, even if she thought it weak.
“I’ve been there as well,” I confessed as we turned a block, the path coming easily to me as I was pulled by the strong magic that still radiated off the crypts.
Instantly, though, I was on high alert because it was becoming more crowded the farther into the kingdom we walked. We passed the back of a club letting out drunk and stumbling patrons, and I moved Lorcan to my other side, trying to shield her with my body as the others tightened around us.
I had a feeling they’d wanted to be part of our conversation—they always got concerned when Lorcan talked about her past, as if speaking it would bring it back into existence—but I knew that it would take far more than that to extinguish her hope.
People like Lorcan and I didn’t find hope easily, and when we did, it was impossible to remove…which is why I was struggling so hard to not give into what Lorcan inspired. The hope that someone like Lorcan—fuck,onlyLorcan—could care about me.
“Hey!” a raspy voice called out. “Don’t just walk past us! This is the best club—” The man vomited all over the cement as we continued past, Lorcan’s nose wrinkling in disgust. I didn’t blame her, and I could tell you that it wasnotthe best club in town. In fact, there was no such thing as the ‘best’ anything around here.
“How far are we?” Cash demanded.
“One more block,” I assured him.
And it was actually less than that. As we turned another corner, ignoring the obnoxious crowds gathered along the road, we finally approached the black iron gates of a graveyard. For whatever reason, the dead were the only ones who were given respect here—maybe because so many others craved the same fate.
The grounds were well kept and the gate sturdy. I looked down at the golden lock and pressed my hand around it, a blade slicing into my palm.
“Fuck,” Lorcan hissed, looking down from where she was studying the high hedges and landscaping that shielded most of the graveyard.
“Come on,” I said to all of them. “The crypt is in the far back.”
Away from all the chaos and darkness.
Which was good, because if she was related and able to get into the crypt…well, we didn’t need anyone else knowing about that. It would bring far more trouble than we could handle right now.
CHAPTER13
Lorcan
I didn’t really havethe words to describe how I felt about this place.It wasn’t ideal.Which was the biggest fucking understatement of the century.
I was really glad that Zander was shielding me with his magic because I had a suspicion that the thoughts, desires, and dark needs that would pull at my subconscious wouldn’t begoodby any stretch of the imagination. In fact, my biggest fear was that they would send me into a spiral or make me so incredibly sick that I couldn’t focus on what needed to be done. I didn’t consider myself to have a weak stomach by any means, but this also wasn’t a normal place.
The Kingdom of Day was so much darker than the Kingdom of Night, the brilliant sun shining down on everyone and highlighting their vices and twisted motives. It was a complete free-for-all, and that meant no one held back, from what I could tell.
This was probably the worst place for someone like me to be.
Luckily we wouldn’t be here long, and when Zander grunted as the knife from the gate sliced his flesh, the doors opened silently. Somehow it seemed everyone on the street was distracted and looking away, something I had a feeling was the result of Desmond and his illusions. So we slipped through quietly, and the noise from outside was completely cut off as the gates slammed shut.
