Page 1 of DaR (Darverius, House of DaR #1)

Chapter One

RICK AND KIRA

“ Come on, honey, or we’re not going to make it!”

“ Hold your horses, I’m coming. I want to walk through the house one more time. I swear I feel like I’m forgetting something. Lord , you’re always in such a hurry, and you know we’re leaving way too early anyway!”

“ The house will be fine. You have checked it and the suitcases twice. If we need something, I’m sure there are people and stores where we’re going. And I’m getting impatient. I have a date with a hot, half-naked chick, so move it woman!”

“ Watch it mister, don’t make me play hard to get!

” I giggle like a young girl when he kisses me on the forehead then spanks me on the butt as he walks away.

I look around the kitchen one more time, checking that I unplugged the coffee pot for the tenth time.

I pick up my purse and head toward the back door, double-checking all the locks as I go.

The door is shut and locked. My purse, tickets, and phone are in my hand.

I shake off the feeling that something is wrong and head out to the truck.

Stepping off the porch, I see Rick reach down and pet the cat on the head as he tugs the last of our luggage behind him.

I smile when he starts singing to himself.

Whatever song he heard last is always the one stuck in his head.

He is the light of my whole world, and everything still revolves around him even after all this time.

Our lives have been crazy these past couple of years.

You would think that now that the kids are finally grown, with families and lives of their own that things would have calmed down, but we seem to never stop.

This two-week cruise to the southern Caribbean is a well-needed vacation.

Just like the rest of the world our lives are flying by, and we need some serious ‘us’ time.

We are halfway to the airport when I reach down to grab my purse to double-check our tickets.

“ Honey , chill. I don’t know what has your panties in such a twist, but we will be fine!”

“ I have no idea what has me so worked up this time either. I reckon I’m just really looking forward to this, so I’m afraid something will mess it up!”

“ Sweetie , as long as we’re together, I could give two shits about where we end up!” Rick squeezes my leg and I let out a long sigh .

We check into the airport and I get that ‘told you so’ smile when we walk right through security with no problems. We sit down and I try to wait patiently for the boarding signs to change. Of course, we are way too early as always. Being patient isn’t one of my strong suits.

Bored already, Rick starts looking through the magazines on the side table and finds one about the flight down to our boat. He is quiet for a few minutes when I hear him snicker.

“ What ?”

“ Oh , it’s nothing, honey. I just noticed we are going to be flying right through the Bermuda Triangle .” He smiles at me with a weird look on his face.

“ Great , there goes our luck,” I tease him.

He starts to say something back when I hear them call for our flight.

It’s finally time to start boarding. Rick stands up first, then reaches his hand down to help me up out of the chair.

I kiss him quickly on the cheek. With a big grin on his face, he reaches down for our carry-on and off we go.

We head to our gate, skipping like two teenagers.

I’m so excited, I have been bouncing out of my skin all morning.

We’re gonna lay on the beach and play in the water.

Hopefully , we will stay up late, sleep in, have room service, and not have a worry in the world for the next two weeks.

We make our way to our seats and of course they are clear in the back of the plane.

I stand back and wait for Rick to put the luggage up above us.

Then he slides past me to the window seat, grabbing a boob on the way.

I shake my head and smack at his hand playfully, laughing as he sticks his head in the window as soon as his butt hits the seat.

Even though we’re in our forties, he’s still like a little kid looking out the plane window.

Once I get settled and the stewardess finishes her speech, I feel the plane start to speed up. Rick reaches over and kisses me like he always has at the beginning of every flight we have ever been on. “ Remember , if we don’t make it, I love you.”

“ You say that every time!”, I tease him back. “ And I know it’s just my extremely pleasing personality, or maybe it’s my butt that really hooked you all those years ago. But yes, I know you love me! So , no doom and gloom are allowed from here on out. We are headed for fun in the sun!”

The plane takes off and the flight attendant tells us to relax and enjoy the ride.

I get out our earphones and my Kindle . Rick takes one side of the earphones, and I take the other as we listen together to the music he flips through on his phone.

I turn my Kindle on and get ready for a long trip.

Rick interrupts me from time to time to show me something “so cool” outside.

The stewardess announces different things as the journey continues, like we have just entered the Bermuda Triangle , or other landmarks along the way.

The flight has been so smooth that when the plane takes a sudden drop, my belly feels like it hits my throat .

“ Wow , that was sudden.” I see Rick angling his head upward, trying to look up higher through the window.

“ Honey , what is it? Do you see something?”

“ I’m not sure. The sky has been clear and a beautiful blue the whole way, but all of a sudden there is a large shadow over us. And I swear it looks like it’s getting bigger.”

The plane starts to shudder and I grab Rick’s leg. It all happens so fast that no one has time to respond. The plane comes to a dead stop right in the middle of the sky, hovering in mid-air. I’m jerked so hard forward that I hit the seat in front of me, falling to the floor.

Rick reaches for me then pulls me back up against him, brushing my hair out of my face. I had just caught my breath when we hear the passengers in the front of the plane start to scream. A few people rush to the windows, trying to see what the massive shadow is that has settled over us.

A loud screeching sound starts, and I see sparks pouring down from the ceiling.

Before my mind can comprehend what is really going on, the top of the plane is ripped wide open, peeled back like a sardine can.

Something jumps from the hole in the roof and into the middle aisle.

The very first thing that crosses my mind is: that thing is not human .

I look at Rick , who tightens his arms around me, and I can see he is as shocked as I am.

Three more creatures fall from the sky and into the plane.

And I mean, they are like creatures out of some sci-fi movie.

Damn , did I hit my head? This is my second thought.

They’re so tall they have to duck down inside the plane even with half the roof torn off.

And for the love of God , I swear I counted four arms. For some reason, I don’t notice much of anything else about them but those damn extra arms. Those creepy-ass arms immediately reach out and start grabbing the women in the front of the plane, simply tossing them through the hole they have created in the ceiling.

Throwing them into the sky hundreds of feet off the ground like rag dolls, their screams of terror echo throughout the plane.

The largest of them grabs a teenage girl, pulling her away from what I assume is her mother.

She fights against it, punching and kicking, trying anything to get away from the monster holding her.

I watch in horror as one of the arms stabs something into her side, and she immediately goes limp in its grasp.

It doesn’t even look as it throws her upward with such force she hits part of the torn ceiling, and a piece of the jagged metal tears her head completely off.

Her mother’s agonizing cry breaks my heart.

Then a splash of something wet hits my face bringing me out of my trance.

I instinctively reach up to wipe my face off, and when I look down my hand is covered in that girl’s blood.

A scream bubbles up in my throat as I realize, dear God , I’m in a real-life horror movie !

There is blood everywhere! Apparently , the other two arms I haven’t been paying much attention to have some sort of knife or weapon embedded into the skin. They are stabbing the men and taking the women.

I finally hear Rick yelling at me trying to get my attention.

“ Kira , you have to hide, now! Come on, you need to try and get under the seat on my side, and hurry before they see you!” I shuffle around him, throwing our personal bags out of the way and into the aisle.

Rick takes the blanket I brought with us and covers me up, then I can feel him stacking our bags on top of me.

He is trying to disguise me underneath all of the blankets and backpacks.

Some of the passengers are fighting back trying to defend themselves.

I’m absolutely terrified but most of all, I just want to pull Rick down underneath this blanket with me.

Unfortunately , I know in my heart that Rick would never hide while these things hurt the people around us.

It’s in his nature to fight back; his honor is one of the things I love most about him.

I’m so scared my body is shaking, and my teeth are chattering. All I can hear are the women screaming and the anguished moans of the men as they are tortured and cut to pieces. I hunch down as far as I can, trying to make myself as small as possible, and that’s not easy at my height.

I make a small hole near the bottom of the blanket so I can still see Rick’s feet.

I can hear him yelling at the men to get up and fight back.

Suddenly , the sound of a fist hitting flesh surrounds me.

It takes everything in me to stay still.

I want to help, but I know it will get Rick hurt.

He is cussing them out with every breath as he tries to block them from our seats.

I see Rick falter and fall to his knees in the aisle.

Before I think about what I’m doing, I reach out for him.

Then something pulls me up by the back of my head and lifts me straight up into the air. I immediately grab the arm holding me up by my hair, clawing at it as I try to free myself from its grasp.

I scream Rick’s name as I fight the monster that drags me away from my husband.

Rick turns at the sound of my voice, his eyes searching for me in the chaos.

Before I can yell out a warning, I see his body lurch forward.

When I look down, all I can see is a gray arm sticking all the way through his stomach.

I scream, my mind not truly believing the horror right in front of me.

Fighting the arms holding me tightly, I watch as he falls slowly to the floor.

Rick tries to crawl forward, his arms stretched out toward me as he fights to save me, right up to his last breath.

And I watch my whole world crumble in front of me in slow motion.

My mind refuses to believe any of this is real.

Multiple hands pull at my body and I fight them with everything I’ve got.

I have to get back to Rick . An explosion knocks me loose from the monster holding me.

Just as I get my legs under me, the compression from another explosion knocks me to the ground.

The smell of jet fuel floods the cabin. The plane shudders underneath my body and I can feel the blistering heat sear my exposed skin.

Fighting my surroundings, I crawl my way back to Rick .

Something sharp stabs me in the leg as I am about to reach his hand.

My vision starts to turn black and it’s like I’m standing in a long tunnel.

All I can see are his sightless eyes staring back at me.

I welcome the darkness enveloping me because I no longer have a reason to return to the light.

They have taken him from me and he was the only reason I had to hold on.