Catching Temptation (In Darkness She Fades (Book 1) (9 page)

One of the boys says, “The
recruiters are back.”

“What recruiters? You mean like
military recruiters?”

The crowd laughs, except for
Victoria. She stares out after the twins, who make it to shore and rev up their
engines. They disappear into the forest.

“Chevy, go to shore. Get
Temptation’s clothes and bring them back to the island,” Victoria says.

“Awe, come on–”

“DO IT!”

“All right, all right. Dang,
don’t go all psycho on me.” Chevy jumps back into the chilly water and heads
for shore.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re not coming with us.
You’ll have to walk home.”

“So why are you bringing my
clothes to the island? I can easily go back to shore and get them myself.”

“I don’t need the twins getting
pissed off at me. If you walk back the way we came, you won’t get home until
one in the morning. Swim over to the other side of the lake and walk straight
through the woods. You’ll cut your walking time in half.”

“What’s your problem? It’s not my
fault you allowed Herald to treat you like a slut–”

“Everything was perfect until you
showed up! They only like you because you can see those nasty goblins,”
Victoria kicks a rock. “
I
was the only one who could see them and
I
never tried to find them like you. You broke the law! They should’ve killed you
for it!”

“I never sought those goblins
out; Herald and Chevy took me to see them.”

Victoria blanches. “What?”

Taken aback by Victoria’s shock,
I ask, “You mean Herald never took you into the forest to see the Goblin King?”

Victoria’s shock dissipates and
anguish replaces it. “I didn’t need to see the king to know he is a monster.”
She turns around and lifts her hair. Four long scars, similar to claw marks,
streak across the back of her neck.

No. My mind cannot process the
evidence before me. “What happened to you?”

Victoria drops her hair. “Last
year, on Halloween, he cornered me in the old theater house. Jenkins still
doesn’t know how he managed to do it, but the king said I had to leave the
twins and come with him. Ha! As if I’d be stupid enough to fall for his false
concern. I spat in his face and tried to run, but he grabbed my neck. Cut me. I
escaped but he didn’t follow. I don’t think he could leave that room in the
theater. Jenkins was happy with me. He loved me.”

Chevy returns to the island with
my surprisingly dry clothes in his hands. He tosses them to me. “Let’s get back
to town.”

Victoria pushes me out of the way
and dives back into the water with the rest of the crowd. The sun begins to
sink behind the tall pine trees.

“Lovely,” I mutter as the others
reach the shore and drive off. Raising the clothes up over my head, I wade into
the water. The water reaches my neck. I doggy paddled to the opposite shore. “I
swear I’m knocking her out when I get to school, Monday.”

Stumbling up onto shore, I stop
at a dead log. Putting my clothes back on, I rejoice at my decision to wear
slip-on shoes today, instead of athletic shoes or boots. At least my clothes
are not soaking wet. Tightening the tribal belly-dancer skirt around my waist,
I decide against putting my shirt back on, since my bra will only soak it. The
curvy shoreline leads me to the far edge of the woods. Sunlight disappears
before my eyes and darkness embraces the forest. I bet I still have a couple
miles to walk. In the shadowy woods, I count my footsteps. I lose track when
the splashes of the lake water disappear and the swishes of the trees replace
the water’s melody. The creaking of brittle tree branches mixes with the animal
noises in the forest. It makes for a creepy path to walk alone. I mentally
conjure up lyrics for a new song to subdue my rising panic.

I don’t want to, be seen by
you...

Because I’ve fallen,

Broken down in this crippled
life.

Forsaken,

From all the others, I’m not
their kind.

I’ve fallen from your light.

An hour passes and still there is
no sign of the town. I cannot even see evidence of artificial light in the
clear night sky. Only the annoying fireflies buzzing around the forest presents
me with a shred of light. My toe still hurts from stumbling over a large pile
of loose rocks a short distance from the lake.

This does not seem right. I
should have reached the town by now.

A soft light and the rumble of
voices reverberate from the other side of the hill. Perhaps the campers can
give me a ride back into town.

At the top of the hill, I face my
worst nightmare. Goblins, of all shapes and sizes, roam around the base of the
hill. They hobble in and out of cliffs with hollow openings. A little stream
runs through the middle of the goblins’ cove. Decorative stones on the ground
mimic pathways from cave to cave. Little lanterns line the stream, illuminating
the bright water.

I bow behind an old tree and suck
in a breath.

A screeching sound erupts past
the goblins’ cove. Stretching, I peer through the branches. I cannot see very
well, so I grasp the lowest tree branch. I climb until I get a good view of the
roaming bodies. Masked goblins run over the hill screaming, “Recruiters in the
forest! Recruiters in the forest!”

A bulky figure emerges from the
largest cave entrance. The disfigured face of the Goblin King shines in the
lamplight. “What’s going on?”

“Me lord!” A crooked goblin steps
forward and bows. “Recruiters be in the forest and Jenkins be leadin’ ‘em.”

The king’s eyes reflect the
flames of the lanterns. “I want every goblin out here and ready to fight.
Jenkins does not leave alive!”

“Wait, me lord. There be one more
thin’.” The goblin grins. “Temptation be lost somewhere in the woods. That’s
why they be here. I heard ‘em talkin’ ‘bout her travelin’ from de lake.”

The king’s gleeful expression
roots a rush of panic into my heart.

“Remorse!” An older,
noble-looking goblin steps forward. Remorse’s face mirrors the goblin I met on
my way to the theater house. “Seek Temptation out and don’t allow her to
escape.”

“Yes, me lord–”

“Silus!”

On the hill where the goblins
previously emerged, stand the Jenkins twins in their demon forms, along with a
group of humans.

“Do you have her?” Jerald asks.
“If you laid one disgusting claw on her, I’ll–!”

“You know, Jenkins, I find it
astonishing you can’t control this one. Is she a bit too headstrong for you? Or
could she possibly see through your caring disguise?” The Goblin King’s claws
grow. Those same claws created the markings on Victoria’s neck. I cannot help
but wonder if the king would do the same to me if I refuse him.

“I assure you, Temptation headed
into the goblin forest blindly. She’s loyal to me and isn’t the least bit
interested in you, Silus.” Jerald’s nails arch into sharp points. He flexes his
fingers. “Temptation’s mine.”

“Oh?” The king taps a claw
against his misshapen mouth. “Did you already mark her? I don’t recall seeing
anything on her neck or shoulders.”

Without thinking about my
actions, my hands clutch the tree until blood drips from my fingers. I try to
breath out the stress and panic, and loosen my grip.

“You know neither of us can mark
her until Halloween. I’d kill her if I tried before–” Jerald stops.

The goblins are acting the way
hounds do when they catch a scent of their prey. Their ears bend and rotate,
probably trying to catch a sound of my beating heart. Their noses twitch,
smelling for the source of my blood. I quickly wrap my hand in my shirt I still
carry.

“She’s somewhere close by.” The
king says, while never taking his eyes off the Jenkins twins. “Remorse, take a
regiment of goblins and find Temptation. The rest of you remain here with me.”

“Stay out of our way, hybrid
beast, or I’ll start murdering your goblins.” Herald’s chrome teeth mirror a
ray of moonlight.

The king lunges, charging into
Herald.

Herald howls an earsplitting
screech and sinks his fangs into the king. Goblins flood out from the caves and
move into battle with the humans accompanying the Jenkins twins.

I spy a small window of
opportunity to escape. Leaping down from the tree, I hit the ground and then
sprint back the way I came. As I circle around the hill, I can see the battling
bodies of humans, and creatures in the distance. Blood spatters the leaves and
colors the water. One of the humans slams a thick branch on an older goblin’s
leg. The crack from the breaking bone sounds like a gunshot through the forest.
The goblin’s otherworldly cry cripples my hard emotions toward the creatures.
The human stands over the goblin, ready to bash the creature’s head into the
forest floor. The goblin’s massive head lunges forward. He sinks his prickly
teeth into the recruiter’s leg. The man screams and bends forward. Before my
heart can create another beat, the creature slashes the recruiter’s throat.
Blood pools out from the man’s neck. He drops to the ground with a gurgling
gasp.

I force my limbs to shift. Legs
moving in the direction of town once again, the screams fade when I reach the
third hill. I can see a faint light ahead and the wall. The welcome sight
jumpstarts my adrenaline. Sprinting to the wall, I almost fall over when a
small body jumps in my path.

“Hold on there, Girlie!” The
goblin, Remorse, says. “Me master be wantin’ ya. He’d be very mad at me if I
let ya escape again.”

I sprint past Remorse. The wall
is a few feet away.

“Aw!” I fall into a mud pit.
“What is this stuff?” I cannot move forward. It reminds me of trying to remove
gum from a sidewalk; it keeps sucking me back in.

“Stop strugglin’, Girlie. That be
mud with ah spell on it. The one who can get ya outta there be me master. Not
even Jenkins could free ya.” Remorse swivels and runs back in the direction of
the goblins’ cove. “Me master should be pleased. Sit tight, Girlie.”

Planting my feet into the base of
the mud pit, I try to push forward, but the sticky mud sucks me back down. Up
above my head, I spot a low tree branch. Twiddling my fingers on the branch, I
am able to grip it. The branch in both hands, I begin to pull myself upward.
The mud tugs at me; stretching my body out. Gritting my teeth, I heave myself
up. My thighs rise out of the sticky muck. The mud sucks me in even harder. A
sick sensation of my skin ripping apart makes me scream out in pain, but I do
not surrender.

A thick arm encircles my waist,
while an inhuman hand uncurls my sore fingers from the branch. “Shh,” the
Goblin King whispers. “It’s all right. You can get out of it.”

The mud slackens and falls off my
body. It rolls off my clothes the way water rolls off metal. I am clutching the
king’s arm while he elevates me out of the cursed mud. Hot tears start to form
behind my eyelids. I bite my tongue to stop myself from experiencing a
breakdown.

A rough hand strokes my hair.

I finally look into the eyes of
the monster I have heard so many horror stories about.

“I’ll not keep you here,
Temptation. This is my prison. Not yours. I’ll give you your freedom.”

“But then – why did you order
your goblins to capture me if you’re just going to let me go?”

“You were watching us in the
goblin cove, weren’t you?”

I trail my scratched fingertips
against the king’s dark fabric. It is coarse and brutal to my abused skin.

He studies my movements. “I
wanted you captured, because you have a right to know the truth about us. About
me. I can’t waltz up to your doorway and simply tell you.”

“But you have,” I say. “Or at
least your goblins have. I’ve seen them in different parts of town, even in my
bedroom.” I do not release any more information to him. I do not want anyone to
know about the monster man who stops my suicide attempts or his visits to my
bedroom the first day I came to Rosewood. Plus I am unsure of how the king
would take it or what he would do to him.

The Goblin King rubs my back in
small circles. His claws brush my wild hair from my forehead.

“Why can’t you show up in my
room?”

He chuckles and then says, “Well
I’m glad to know you’re eager to have me in your bedroom.”

I lower my gaze so my hair
shields my face.

“I’m afraid I don’t have the
strength for using magic anymore. My goblins can still travel to specific areas
in Rosewood, but I wanted to speak with you, face to face.”

“W-What truth did you want me to
know?”

“I’m sure Jenkins–”

“Why do you call them Jenkins?
They’re two different people.”

The king smirks. “Are they?”

My eyebrows pucker at his
puzzling answer.