Page 16 of Stalked By Shadows
“You back with me?”
Had I gone somewhere? I thought of the memory. Maybe not a memory, but a full flashback. “Fuck.”
“He’s back,” Lukas’ voice shouted from somewhere beyond the lights.
“I’m sorry,” I said immediately to Micah. I looked down at us. Was the blood his? Had I hurt him?
“I’m not moving until they lower their weapons,” Micah shouted back. “Fucking police.”
“Did I hurt you?” I hoped I hadn’t hurt him, but we were coated in blood. My jeans and the back of Micah’s shirt seemed to be coated. I also felt the heat of something running down my cheek. Micah held on tight enough that I couldn’t really move. At least I could breathe again. “What did I do?”
“Nothing. You fell and hit your head.”
“I’m bleeding?” Was that why my left brow throbbed?
“Yes, but it’s not bad. Probably won’t even need stitches, just bleeding a lot.”
“Head wounds always bleed like you’re dying.” It didn’t explain all the blood we were covered in. “Are you okay?” I tried to turn my gaze from him to see beyond, but his hands tightened on my face.
“Look at me, okay?”
I blinked at him, my heart doing a little lurch. “Did I hurt someone else?”
“You didn’t do anything. But you also don’t need that memory. So focus on me, okay? Your brother is coming. He’ll sort this out.”
I focused on Micah’s face, a tremor of panic starting in my hips, a subtle shaking, and beginning to spread outward. It was a familiar reverberation of my spine that often spread into a full-on panic attack which would leave me gasping for breath and reality all at once. I had to fight to stay still when the urge to run filled my gut. The feeling of kneeling in congealing blood made my gorge rise and with it the morbid fascination of my brain to explain why, to see…
“You said I’m beautiful, right?” Micah said as my eyes strayed from his.
“Yes,” I agreed, attention snapping back to him. I could almost see his freckles in the dark.
“Then keep your eyes on me. Wait for Lukas with me.”
“Okay.” I thought for a moment about the few seconds before the flashback had taken hold of me. Something had been there. Something, not someone. “Something was there,” I whispered almost inaudibly. “A shadow…” With no face.
“Shh,” Micah hushed me, still holding me tight. “Five things, right? You feel me wrapped around you? You see me? Hear me?” He pressed his lips to mine again for a few seconds. “Taste me? Smell me?”
“Yes,” I breathed, focusing on him. I heard arguing, the lights shifted a little and then Lukas squatted beside us.
Micah made me turn my head to look at him. “See, here’s Lukas.”
“Hey, little brother,” Lukas said looking relaxed and normal. “I need you and Micah to step out for a few minutes. Okay?”
I tried to look back again, but Micah held my face in a grip that belied his small size. “You don’t need this memory,” Micah said.
I blinked at him, brain starting to come back online. Someone was dead nearby, and it wasn’t pretty. I could tell that much from the blood and smell of open bowels. “Did I do…?”
“No,” Lukas said firmly. “But we need you two out. I’ll have someone drive you to the station. They’ll collect your clothes and your statements.” He glared out into the darkness, raising his voice, “No one is shooting anyone here tonight.”
Shooting? Was that why Micah was wrapped so tightly around me? Were they threatening to shoot me? Unarmed, injured, and confused? On my knees, bleeding, and they were threatening to shoot me?
“Slowly put your hands behind your head,” Lukas instructed.
It took effort to release my grip on Micah, almost physically hurt to let him go. I did as Lukas said, moving very slowly and putting my hands up. Several cops leapt in and ripped Micah away from me, forcing me to the ground and cuffing me. What the fuck?
They hauled me up and dragged me out, a wall of blue standing between me, Micah, and whomever had died. The lights thankfully washed out all the dark shadows as they led me through the maze of tombs and out of the cemetery, to shove me in the back of a squad car. Micah was led to another. There was a sizable crowd lounging around, kept back by yellow tape and a few police officers. Lukas appeared beside my door and tapped on the window.
“Cooperate,” he told me through the glass. “I’ll be there soon.”