Two Polluted Black-Heart Romances Read online

  “It pleases me to see you in such high spirits, Sabrina,” Peter said with a charming smile. “After we’ve eaten, we’ll have our talk, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Good. Let me go check on our dinner. I’ll send out some wine…and some water for you, Moselle.”

  “Thank you.”

  “If there is anything you need, well, I’d say to text me on your new phone, but I don’t see how you can carry it anywhere.” Peter playfully gawked at Sabrina.

  “It’s back with my clothes next to the pool.”

  “Not too close to the pool, I hope.”

  Sabrina smiled and after Peter excused himself, Moselle shook her head.

  “What, Moss?”

  “I have never seen you flirt like that before. You’re normally much more bold and to the point. You really are fond of this man.”

  Sabrina nodded. “I am.”

  “And for the right reasons, I hope?”

  “My reasons are my own, Moselle.” Sabrina crossed her arms. “Please tell me you didn’t come all the way out here to lecture me. How many times must I say this, Moss? You’re not my mommy.”

  “I am not. But I am the woman whom will be hosting Cade and his clan tonight. What would you like me to tell them when they inquire about you?” Her tone turned sarcastic. “Shall I say Sabrina no longer wants to go out with you, Cade?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Cade went off, for fear the wraiths were hunting him too. Now he is coming back, with his family, in search of you.”

  “I…” Sabrina wrapped her arms around herself.

  “Yeah, we came here to warn you,” Jackson explained.

  “No,” Moselle stated firmly. “We came here to convince you to return with us to my home before they arrive.”

  “I…I’m not sure.”

  Jackson stepped closer to her. “You’re not sure of what, Sabrina?”

  “Why? Why would he leave and then come back with Nico?”

  “More than Nicodemus,” Moselle said.

  “He—he woke up the others?” Sabrina fidgeted with her bangle. “Did he wake her? Did he wake Dunyasha?”

  “I do not know.”

  “Fuck.”

  “What’s wrong?” Jackson asked as Sabrina gazed directly at the sun.

  “He’s gonna fucking kill me.”

  Run Out

  Sabrina shook all over. Even with her wings out, she felt cold. Hours ago, she’d wished Jackson were there, but now that he was—with Moselle and her bad news—she wished they’d never came. She even thought for a moment that she had been better off believing they were dead.

  “He’s not gonna kill you, Sabrina,” Jackson said, but his words lacked confidence. “Why would you say that?”

  “Why? Why did he leave me? Why did he go get his clan? Why does he need them to search for me?” Sabrina felt sick to her stomach.

  “He left because I called him.”

  “What?” Jackson turned his gaze to Moselle.

  “You called him?” Sabrina asked.

  “The night he left you, he came to the hospital because I called him,” Moselle revealed. “I did not know what to do. Everyone was dead and dying. I needed his help.”

  “Oh, so he helped you and Jackson escape the hospital before it collapsed?”

  “No. We left before he got there.”

  Sabrina had had enough. “Damn it, Moselle!” she shouted. “What did you start?”

  “I started nothing.”

  “Then what’s happening here? Why would Cade wake his clan mates?”

  Sabrina spotted movement around the side of Peter’s house. Not sure who it was, she began to withdraw her wings, but when she realized it was just Moselle’s guards she left them out.

  “I still hold a firm belief the wraiths are coming,” Moselle stated. “The hospital, your apartment, my home. If not them directly, then these events are a warning of their arrival.”

  “Moselle, I’m telling you, this has nothing to do with these wraiths you are so afraid of.” Jackson shook his head.

  Sabrina nodded and pointed at Moselle’s guards as they approached the pool. “Your guards are here, Moss.”

  “We cannot ignore what’s happening here, Sabrina. If not the wraiths, then something else seems to be targeting you,” Moselle said before she addressed her men. “What is it? You two were instructed to wait with the driver at the limo.”

  Both of Moselle’s guards ignored her and walked past the pool, their eyes seemingly glued to Sabrina.

  “It is her?” one guard said to the other. “Is that Sabrina London?”

  Sabrina smiled. She’d never imagined Moselle’s guards would have been admirers, but they looked like a couple of excited fans now.

  “Hi, guys,” she said with a wave. “You want an autograph or something? Don’t think I’ve ever met you two before.”

  “Sabrina this is not the time.” Moselle raised her voice and stepped to her guards. “Did you not hear me? I said—”

  “We heard you,” the guard who’d gotten Jackson coffee that morning said, “but we don’t take orders from you.”

  Moselle raised her hand and the two guards halted. “You have followed my previous orders well, so I will give you this one free demerit.”

  “Demerits,” the guard chuckled.

  “Moselle?” Sabrina asked as she stepped back.

  “Does this happen often?” Jackson asked Sabrina as he moved between Moselle and her. “I mean, these guys have swords.”

  “All the best bodyguards do,” Sabrina joked.

  “It has happened once before,” Moselle grumbled. “But I will not stand for it today. No. Not today.”

  The talkative guard nodded. “Today is a great day.”

  “In the name of my father, Anmet Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, I demand you hand me your scarabs and suffer the fates for disloyalty,” Moselle commanded.

  The two guards crossed their arms and smiled at each other. When they did, Sabrina noticed something.

  “Moselle,” she whispered. “I don’t see any scarabs.”

  “What?” Moselle sounded shocked. “Where are your scarabs? Show me the badges my father gave you when you were created. I demand you hand them over. Now.”

  “Seriously, Moss.” Sabrina could hardly contain her annoyance. “I don’t need all this drama you’re bringing. Maybe you should—”

  “Sabrina, stand back, okay?” Jackson said softly as he placed his hand on Sabrina’s stomach and gave her a nudge.

  “You have no clue, do you?” the talkative guard said as he began to vibrate. “No clue at all.”

  “Hand me your scarabs now!” Moselle shouted.

  “We infiltrated your home, zombie. Your big precious house, and you had no clue.”

  Moselle pointed a finger, her voice wavering. “How dare you?”

  The other guard spoke up. “We are the Tainted and we will be given our seat at the table.”

  “Or take it with force,” the talkative guard finished.

  “The Tainted?” Moselle repeated in a confused tone. “I…”

  The two men’s shaking reminded Sabrina of the man that had been electrocuted at her apartment only moments before Mira had vanished, weeks ago. The sight made her feel like it was all happening again. Mind slaves? They can’t be. I—I killed him. I killed Kintner.

  “What do you want?” Sabrina screamed.

  “Pollution destroyed them. But Pollution did not destroy them all,” the talkative guard said. “Now all will know it was we, we who finally ended the family.”

  His words chilled Sabrina to the bone. There was no way to tell what family the man was talking about, but by the way he hadn’t taken his eyes off her, Sabrina felt it must have been hers.

  “The Tainted will be equals. All of them. All of us.”

  There was a brief flash of light, and suddenly the two men spilled to the ground, as if vomited from two large water balloons. The odor that a
ccompanied the act was awful. Sabrina covered her mouth and nose, then gasped. All that remained of Moselle’s guards were two large puddles of yellow-green viscous fluid.

  “Fucking gross,” she spat.

  “Moselle,” Jackson sneered and then covered his nose. “I thought they all turned to sand.”

  “I did not do this.” Moselle turned her back on the puddles to face Sabrina and Jackson. “These are not my men. These are—”

  Up from one of the puddles stretched a long limb shaped similarly to an octopus’s arm. Like a whip, the tentacle snapped outward and wrapped itself around Moselle’s waist.

  Sabrina watched a look of surprise dawn on her friend’s face. Jackson charged forward, but another wiggling arm formed from the other puddle and struck him in the stomach, knocking him down at Sabrina’s feet.

  “Jackson?” Sabrina whispered as she knelt beside him. “What the hell are those things?”

  Jackson coughed. “You’re asking me?”

  “Sabrina. Jackson. Flee this place. Go now,” Moselle groaned as she tried to free herself of the thing around her waist.

  “W-what’s happening? Why are your guards—”

  “Not my guards. Spies for the Tainted. I know this.” Moselle struggled. “Last night in my journals. They’re—”

  Before she could finish, the tentacle coiled, swung around, and threw her toward Peter’s house.

  “Moselle!” Jackson howled.

  Moselle flipped end over end until she crashed into several pool chairs and slid backward into the water. Jackson jumped to his feet. Sabrina could feel the determination coming off him in waves.

  “Jackson, don’t!” Sabrina yelled. “Don’t leave me!”

  “I have to help Moselle,” he pointed. “She’ll drown.”

  “No, she won’t,” Sabrina snapped as she too pointed. “Look! Look at her!”

  Moselle pulled herself out of the water and collapsed.

  “Shit, Sabrina. How do I fight these things?”

  The two puddles separated into six and then twelve. Then, suddenly, one of the smaller puddles inched forward and, with a flicker, took the shape of large rat.

  “What the hell?” Sabrina jumped back. “What the holy hell are you?”

  “Listen to me,” the rat said to Jackson, his voice very much the match of Moselle’s talkative guard. “We could’ve killed you as you slept at the cursed undead’s home. We could’ve killed you just now—tore your guts out in front of your woman.”

  The small puddles separated again, there was at least two dozen now, and they had spread out in a semicircle around Jackson and Sabrina.

  “Leave, human. Leave now and live another day.”

  “What the hell are you?” Jackson parroted Sabrina’s question.

  “We are slimes and fungus, proud members of the Tainted.”

  “Are you what I saw before? On the streets near the sinkhole?”

  Sabrina watched the slimes separate again; they fully surrounded her now. “Jackson,” she whispered.

  “You did not see us,” the rat-shaped slime answered. “Few see us, but that will change soon.”

  “What?”

  “We were hidden,” a new voice spoke behind them. “We attached ourselves to your shoes, your tires, the underbody of your car…”

  “I brought you back to Moselle’s house…” Jackson’s voice sounded full of defeat.

  “And for that, and this”—the rat in front of him said as he pointed at Sabrina with his nose—“you have our thanks.”

  The many puddles of slime surged forward. Startled, Sabrina said the first thing on her mind. “Did the wraiths send you?”

  Sabrina was surrounded by laughter. How are these things, these puddles of goo, laughing at me?

  “Time’s run out, Princess of the Water Kingdom.”

  Several of the slimes tried to pass Jackson in a sudden surge forward, but he kicked them away, two and three at a time. “Stay back,” he shouted.

  The rat hissed.

  “Sabrina, get out of here!” Jackson yelled louder.

  She lifted off the ground, and as she did, several of the slimes leapt and attached themselves to her legs. For such small things, they were surprisingly weighty and prevented her from getting as much air as she wanted.

  “Get off me.” She kicked her legs. “Jackson, get them off me.”

  They moved about so much that Jackson had started to stomp on the ground in an effort to stop them. But after Sabrina called for his help, he leapt up and grabbed at her legs, freeing two of the slimes that had adhered to her.

  “Move away, Jacks! Cover your eyes!”

  He dove to the ground, but not before he seemingly aimed himself at the slime that looked like a rat. Sabrina scrunched up her face and turned slightly away. Gah-gross! He splattered that thing, she thought.

  At least seven feet off the ground now, Sabrina flapped once more as she made sure Jackson had covered his eyes. Then, she amped up the glow from her wings.

  “Get off me, now!”

  The first pulse knocked the slimes from her legs, but no sooner did they hit the ground than they, and others, launched themselves back at her. Her altitude dropped. Sabrina felt her toes brush the ground. Fuck this.

  “You blobbies asked for it!”

  She pulsed her wings again, this time with greater intensity. She knew the heat would be enough to burn anything that touched her this time, and the sizzle and white vapors confirmed it. Brown smoke quickly peppered the air as several of the slimes that were on her legs fell like burning paper.

  Jackson scrambled off.

  “Sorry.” Sabrina knew that pulse must have felt like a blast of hot air from an open oven.

  Back on his feet, he turned, eyes still covered. “I think I’m fine. You okay?”

  Sabrina lifted off the ground again, and this time she pushed herself over the ledge, where she would not be such an easy target.

  “Sabrina?” Jackson called out again.

  “I gave you a pass, and you try to squash me?” a voice called out from one of the larger puddles. “You can’t squash a slime, human. Nothing you can do can stop us!”

  Sabrina watched the puddles pool together. She knew she should fly off, but she didn’t want to leave Jackson behind.

  “Run to the house. Get Moselle. Go inside. Warn Peter.”

  Jackson uncovered his eyes and replied, “And what are you going to do?”

  “I’m gonna nuke this thing, but you can’t be here. You can’t watch this.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m fucking positive!” she shouted. “This thing turns itself into one big rat, or a hundred small ones, it doesn’t matter—its fucking dead.”

  “Sabrina—”

  “Go!”

  Jackson backed off at first. Sabrina held his gaze. She didn’t want to look away—he gave her comfort.

  “Go!” she shouted and waved him away. “Please.”

  Before Jackson could turn to flee, the puddle of slimes flashed and reshaped up into something large. Confused at first, Sabrina could not identify the shape, and was more concerned that she could no longer see Jackson behind it.

  “Jackson?” Sabrina called out.

  “Sabrina,” he replied. “What the hell is that?”

  “Pteropus,” the talkative voice said when it spread its large leathery wings.

  Sabrina shrieked.

  “Megabat,” another voice said.

  And yet another. “Flying fox.”

  “What do you think, fairy?” A collection of what sounded like thirty or more voices asked at the same time.

  Sabrina stared. She tried to cover her mouth, but her shaking hands went numb and her arms dropped. The monstrous thing had a wingspan of nearly six feet, large, shiny black eyes, and fangs like a wolf. When it swept its wings, it took flight.

  “I’ll kill you,” she declared. “I swear, I’ll kill you.”

  In no time, it had circled her. Sabrina tried to keep
an eye on it as it moved, but it flew faster than she could pivot around.

  “Not if we kill you first.”

  The bat flew away, only to turn and aim itself directly at her. Now, Sabs. Now.

  Sabrina amped up her wings and released a pulse of bright, burning light directly at the massive bat as it glided toward her. Sadly, her enemy was too quick. The collection of slimes swooped down under the energy she released, avoiding it altogether. Sabrina had never seen anything move so swiftly. Like some sort of guided missile, the thing sailed up, shot forward, and slammed directly into her chest.

  The impact forced the air out of her lungs and the spit from her mouth. Sabrina was caught.

  Who Knew?

  Jackson’s eyes watered and went blurry. It was hard to make out exactly what he saw. He thought he’d covered his eyes in time to block the intense light from Sabrina’s wings—the glare like a solar eclipse—but now he feared otherwise.

  He could smell burning hair and when he ran his hands down his arms they felt warm, his skin dry and stiff. He gazed back in the direction of the pool. Dive in. Cool off. Wash out your eyes… Then it dawned on him. I—I was wearing long sleeves…

  When Jackson squinted at Sabrina, his eyes focused better—the thing had wrapped itself around her like a giant net. His mind finally made sense of the shape. A bat?

  Sabrina fought it tooth and nail. Her screams, instead of ones for help, sounded to Jackson like ancient battle cries. It was a daunting sight. Sabrina tried her hardest to free herself, but the ugly thing had her pinned tight.

  All but her wings.

  The more she fought it, the more the massive bat clawed her and tried to bite her neck.

  She bobbed in the air before she began to lower slowly out of Jackson’s sight. The updraft—she said it was strong enough to hold her. But it’s not; not with that thing on her. She’s gonna fall.

  “Sabrina, move closer to me!” Jackson shouted.

  The way the slimes had adhered themselves to her chest and stomach, it looked like they groped her. And the way they hissed—there was no denying they took pleasure in her capture.

  “Fucking get it off me! It’s oozing. Oozing all over. I can feel it. It wants to get inside me!” she shouted.

  The bat titled its head. “Get inside and choke the pretty life out of you,” it said as it looked right at her. “Stop struggling and die!”