Turn to Darkness (Offspring 5.6) Read Online Free Page B

coincidence.
    He handed her a bowl. In his chair, his head was at her chest height. Thankfully he never leered. “I did it for you, Shea.”
    She dropped the bowl, and it clattered in the porcelain sink. Her eyes wide, body stiff, she turned to him. Because he looked so matter-of-fact, she thought she must have misheard him. “What did you say?”
    “I killed him. Good thing, too. You heard that cop. He probably would have escalated. I cleaned the pictures he’d taken of you and letters he’d written out of his computer. I’m sorry I didn’t find that unmailed one or the other pictures the cop mentioned. I didn’t want you dragged into this.”
    She banged her hand against the faucet, turning it off. It felt as though cold water had been dumped all over her. The kitchen shrank so that all she could see was Darius, looking so pleased with himself. Like he’d just told her he’d fixed all the broken things in her house .
    She swallowed, choosing her words carefully. Keeping her expression blank, too. “How did you know the stalker was Fred?”
    “I kept an eye on your house. You said the guy left his presents at night, so I took up a vigil to catch him. And I did. He crept up to the house and peeked in your bedroom window. He couldn’t see anything; I checked to make sure. Your curtains were pulled tight.”
    Her hand went to her throat at the thought of not only Frankie peering in her window but Darius, too. The violation of it churned her stomach.
    “He was like a weasel, creeping around, trying the doors. Then he set the package you never saw on the door stoop. I followed him to his place and stalked him the same way he was stalking you, getting a feel for the layout of his house, where his bedroom was. When he fell asleep, I slipped into his house.”
    Darius morphed to the smoke he’d obviously taken the shape of that night. Those with Darkness could choose their shape. Tucker was a wolf, Greer a panther. She hadn’t seen Darius’s chosen “animal” because he usually didn’t go with the guys to the desert to run out their Darkness.
    Darius took the shape of a man, lean but muscular, though his essence was like black liquid. Standing way too close. “I knew he was dangerous, and that, despite the fact that you tried to hide it, you were scared. I felt such rage when I watched him sleeping in his bed, all pleased with himself for tormenting you. I couldn’t help myself, just tore into him. He saw me; that was the most satisfying thing. I told him why he was going to die.” Darius laughed. “You should have seen the look on his face. He thought he was having a nightmare. Even pinched himself. Then he pissed himself. I didn’t give him a chance to beg or scream. I—”
    “Darius, you shouldn’t have.”
    Water dripped from her fingertips to the linoleum floor, making a splat with each drop. She looked into his dark eyes, swallowing what felt like the sponge that was sitting in the sink.
    His energy bristled. “ ‘Shouldn’t have’? Are you kidding me? The guy was going to rape you. I saved you.” He pointed to his chest. “Not Tuck, not Greer. I’m the one who sat outside in the dark for hours waiting for the bastard.”
    Becoming a stalker, too. She wasn’t going to point that out, though. “I have powers. I’m not helpless.” She hadn’t known that back when those men held her down while the third one climbed on top of her, shoved his way into her body. She could have sent things psychically across the room. That would have ruined their mood. “You left yourself, and us, open for trouble.”
    He slammed his hand down on the counter. “You’re supposed to be grateful. Maybe you would have defended yourself, but you didn’t have to deal with that. I saved you. I took risks, yes, because when I saw what he was doing to you, what he was going to leave next, I knew I had to take care of the problem. For you.”
    He had murdered for her. Now he reached out, touching her cheek. She