Spark: One of Us Series Read online

  Spark

  One of Us Series

  Kim Faulks

  J.C. Hart

  Cover Art by

  Jacqueline Sweet

  Copyright © 2018 by Kim Faulks

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.

  Contents

  Newsletter

  Spark - One of Us Series

  1. Spark

  2. Spark

  3. Finley

  4. Pitch

  5. Spark

  6. Finley

  7. Spark

  8. Spark

  9. Pitch

  10. Finley

  11. Spark

  12. Finley

  13. Pitch

  14. Spark

  15. Finley

  16. Spark

  17. Finley

  18. Pitch

  19. Spark

  20. Finley

  21. Spark

  22. Pitch

  23. Finley

  24. Spark

  Shield

  Newsletter

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  Spark - One of Us Series

  Book Three

  The ticking in my head won’t stop.

  Like a bomb…ready to explode.

  My dad has called me Spark since the day they found me wandering down a dark country road when I was nine years old.

  I was raised with questions.

  Why does lightning strike when I’m around?

  But my parents aren’t just any parents. My mother becomes a Senator, and starts asking questions.

  They don’t want her…they want me…

  And as the storm gathers outside I fight with everything I have.

  Until the unthinkable happens.

  The ticking in my head stops…

  And death comes for those I love.

  I’m on the run now, hunted by the things I’ve done.

  Three who will fight to the death to protect me.

  And I’ll tear power from the sky to protect them as well.

  Spark

  Lakeside, 2005

  The car jolted and bounced, making my teeth gnash. Sharp edges pierced my lip, filling my mouth with the taste of blood.

  Black all around me, against my eyes, my nose—my mouth.

  The fabric sucked tight as I breathed.

  Shallow breaths…shallow breaths.

  Plastic ties around my wrists cut in as I moved.

  A whimper tore from my chest like thunder.

  I was used to the sound. Used to the screams, used to the pain, and the memories. Used to the others…but not here.

  Here, I was all alone.

  Tears soaked into fabric, turning the cloth cold against my face. I tried to swallow. Tried to muffle the sound. But the whimper slipped free.

  The girl with the purple hair filled my mind…I’m your friend, she whispered, fingers outstretched, reaching out of the darkness. Don’t look at them…look at me, right here…right here…that’s it.

  “I’m not going to tell you again.” The snarl came beside me. “Shut the fuck up.”

  The grip tightened around my arm, fingers dug into muscle to find bone. There they lingered…there they hurt, until the ache throbbed all the way to my fingers.

  The smothering scent of his cologne filled my nose. Blue Water. The name took flight, and was lost again.

  “I-I’ll b-be a good girl,” the words thick and ugly on my tongue. “Please, please, I’ll b-be a good girl.”

  “This the place?” The other voice came from the front of the car.

  Silence for a second. Tires crunched, slower now.

  “It’s good enough,” the man beside me answered.

  My body snapped forward. His arm gripped tight as we pulled to a stop. Car doors opened, one at the front and one to the side.

  Cold air cut through me as boots echoed…thud…thud…thud…drifting away and then behind the car.

  I wrenched my head right and left. Panic boomed like thunder in my ears, until the door beside me opened. “Do not move. You understand me?”

  The black cloth skimmed my face as I nodded. Hands gripped my wrists, ties cut into my skin, and then freedom. My arms trembled at the release, fingers were light, so light I could fly.

  “Do not touch me,” the man growled, his voice close to my face. “Don’t talk to me, don’t turn your head toward me. You make one move toward me and I’ll shoot. Do you understand?”

  Goddamn freak, another snarl cut through my mind. Familiar words. Forgotten words. Goddamn freak. Get rid of you…get you away from me. They can have you…pick you apart…dangerous anyway…why not kill you as well.

  My head trembled with a nod. Don’t move…don’t move…don’t move…Hands gripped harder, pushing me. “Slide against the seat, that’s the way. Over there, step one foot out, and then the other.”

  Cold metal kissed the tips of my toes, and then there was nothing…nothing but air. Nothing but emptiness…

  I stilled, foot dangling out of the car.

  A rocky cliff took flight inside my mind. They were going to shove me from the side of the car until I fell. They were going to push me to my death. Teeth chattered, toes curled, drawing back inside before I was yanked forward.

  Hard stones under my feet, biting, piercing, scraping my skin. Not a cliff…not a cliff. Relief washed through me, until a hand hit the top of my head. Strands of my hair pulled taut as he yanked. Cloth slipped against my face, black bled to grey. The faint moonlight all I had to see. The hand at my arm pushed, making me stumble…and the car’s engine came to life once more.

  “Walk,” the man snapped.

  I jerked my gaze over my shoulder.

  Blue eyes, cold eyes met mine. A flare of something familiar, and with it a shard of pain, twisting, pinching at the base of my skull. I stared at him, at his hard jaw, at his face, his pointed nose, his pale lips.

  “I said, walk,” he snarled. “I’ll be watching.”

  I froze. There was a blanket in my mind, an emptiness where my past waited…where everything waited. I tried to push past the darkness, tried to remember why I was here, and the pain cut deeper, gouging, just like the man’s fingers against my arm.

  I took a step and glanced to the road, then at him over my shoulder. He just stood there, cold, unfeeling. The corner of his lip curled in a snarl. For a second, I thought I knew him, that his name hovered on the end of my tongue.

  His hand dropping to his waist, where the silver gleam of a gun shone.

  Fingers caressed the gun.

  He’ll kill me—the other man slid behind the wheel—they’ll leave me here to die.

  Stones bruised my feet. Still I kept walking, one slow step after another, and turned back to the road. Tears blurred the moon high in the sky. I shuddered, and wrapped my arms around my middle.

  The sleeves of my nightie skirted my palm. I clasped my hands tight, holding on to the edges as the car door opened and then slammed shut behind me.

  Step after step even when the crunch of gravel echoed as the car reversed and then left. I walked…walked until
my feet burned and then turned numb…walked until my breaths were icy daggers tearing through my lungs.

  Darkness crowded the edges of the road…bushes seemed to whisper and move, stretching out with spindled fingers to scratch me as I passed.

  Light washed over me. Harsh, cruel—blinding.

  They were coming back…coming back for me. I could already feel his hand tighten around my arm, steel hurting my wrists.

  I would’ve done anything to stay in that car, anything to stay alive. But now the shackles were free…I was free… I stumbled toward the side of the road as the hungry growl of the engine came closer. My toes skimmed rocks and pebbles. Pain flared deep. I scanned the side, where the brush snagged my nightie with thorns.

  Lights blinded me, until I couldn’t see.

  I’m not here…not here…not here.

  I held my breath and closed my eyes as the car swept past in a heartbeat, leaving me stranded in the darkness once more.

  Darkness was something I knew. It was my escape.

  I turned as tires skidded and wrenched open my eyes. Red lights flared from the rear of the car as it came to a stop.

  They didn’t see me…didn’t see me…

  White lights replaced the red, and the whine of the engine echoed…getting closer…and closer, until the car stopped in front of me. My knees trembled, breath burned through my chest as the doors opened.

  “Jesus Christ, I told you it was a child,” the man snarled as he came closer. I didn’t lift my head…didn’t look him in the eyes. “Hey, hey there, are you lost, honey?”

  Can’t see me…can’t see me…

  “Sweetheart,” the woman murmured. “Do you live nearby?”

  “Look at her, Leah. She’s damn well half frozen.” Desperation leaked into his voice.

  He shrugged off his jacket and stepped closer. I lifted my head then, staring into his eyes as he slowly lifted his jacket and draped it around my shoulders. He knelt in front of me, staring into my eyes. “Honey, can you talk to me?”

  The woman stepped closer. I looked at her…gold around her neck shone in the glow of the lights. Her gaze skimmed my clothes and stilled on my feet. “Seth, she’s bleeding…her feet.”

  He dropped his gaze and then winced. “Honey, we need to call someone to help you. But we can’t do that here. Do you think you could come with us?”

  “Seth, no. She’s a child.”

  But he wasn’t listening. He was staring straight into my eyes. “We need to get you off your feet. Now I can carry you to the car and we can take you to where we live, just down the end of this road. But I don’t want to frighten you. Okay, honey? I don’t want you to be scared. Is any of this making sense to you?”

  My teeth chattered, gnashing together, filling my mouth with the taste of blood.

  “Can you nod sweetheart?” He lifted his hand, fingers skimming the outside of the jacket. “Just nod you can understand what I’m saying.”

  “I’m calling the Sheriff now, Seth. We can’t pick a child up off the side of the road and take her to our place.”

  He stiffened, eyes flaring bright—just like a spark in the sky. I felt that spark…felt it deep inside. He rose, took a step, and with one swift movement caught the back of my knees with one hand as the other went around my back. “I’m taking her, Leah. Now you can help me, or you can just stand there with your damn phone in your hand.”

  He swept me past her, heading toward the white lights and the open car door. The man was warm, holding me carefully. My head bounced and jolted, until I couldn’t hold it upright any longer. I drooped against him, breathing in his sweet scent.

  We neared the car. There was the clunk of a door handle before the smell of fresh leather. I closed my eyes, curling my knees high as he laid me against the seat. Seconds slipped by. My pulse so loud now. It was all I could hear.

  Strange car.

  Strange people.

  I tried to think, tried to remember the moments before.

  Before the men in the car.

  Before the girl with the purple hair.

  Darkness…that’s all that waited for me. Darkness and the faint flicker of light somewhere deep in my mind. A spark of power, and it was that tiny flare I held onto…it was that neon light that called me.

  The thud of car doors echoed, one to my right and the other to my left. Then we were moving, rolling carefully along the road filled with rocks. I squeezed my eyes closed.

  “We’ll get you warm in no time,” the man murmured from the driver’s seat. “Get those feet looked at. Get you back home.”

  Cloth slid against the seat as the woman turned. I opened my eyes to find her glancing at me, and then to the man. That look said it all. Confusion, worry…a flash of annoyance.

  I pulled my knees closer as the man drove down the bumpy road, then he finally turned. The car bounced and jolted. I lifted my hand, palm smothering my mouth, smothering the sound.

  “It’s okay honey,” he murmured. “It’s okay.”

  Soft words…warm words…Seth, I tried his name as the car climbed, crunching stones under the tires until we stopped.

  He was out of the car first, closing the driver’s door with a soft thud. Quiet. He was being quiet for me. The woman followed, the slam of her door louder.

  He was a dark shadow in the night, slipping away until lights came on at the front of the house and then returned.

  I flinched as he opened the door, and cowered as he lifted his hand. Dark eyes sparkled, catching every flinch before he held my gaze. “I’m not going to hurt you, sweetheart. You’re safe with me.”

  He stayed like that for a second, hunched over—eyes imploring. I closed my eyes as he brushed my arm once more and then gently slipped his hand under my knees.

  I froze as careful hands dragged me along the seat before he lifted me from the car.

  She was there, ready to close the car door behind us. Orange lights flashed on the car as the locks engaged, and then we were moving, climbing wide stairs to a darkened house.

  White and yellow lights sparkled through the open door, like stars in the night sky. He swept me inside and then into a kitchen.

  “I’ll call the Sheriff.” She strode past, grabbed a phone, the numbers beeping softly as she pressed buttons.

  “Let’s have a look at these feet, hey?” He lifted me onto a cold stony bench. The frigid touch seeped into the backs of my thighs.

  He scanned my nightie, the cotton thin against my thighs and then lifted his gaze. I could see him now, see him so clearly. “Did someone hurt you, honey?” He waited, lips parted as though he tried to find the right words. “Did someone take you from your bed and hurt you?”

  My lower lip trembled. His face blurred under my tears. I tried to close my eyes, tried to swallow the wetness down, but it slipped free. His fingers were so gentle, barely touching my skin until he captured my heel in his warm palm.

  “He’s on the way,” she said moving closer. “Seth, did you hear me?”

  His voice had a growl it didn’t have before. Husky words raw and dangerous slipped free. “I heard.”

  Her heels clacked against the floor as she stepped closer. “What it is…what’s wrong?”

  My eyes cracked open. I watched him as he gently placed my foot down and moved to the sink. Paper towels unravelled with one jerk of his hand. She glanced toward me, and then stepped closer, reaching out to touch his elbow as he hit the tap and water gushed out.

  “She’s wearing a nightdress, Leah. A damn nightdress.” He shot a panicked look at me over his shoulder, and then forced a sad smile.

  She jerked as though slapped and glanced at my body, missing nothing as she scanned my clothes and then my feet. Her throat muscles flexed as she swallowed. “I’ll get the first aid kit.”

  He was striding back now, forcing that sweet, sad smile once more. “Get these all fixed up and you’ll be good as new. But I wish you’d talk to me…I wish you’d tell me your name.”

  His fingers tr
embled this time. He knew. Somehow, he knew what I was.

  And what I could do.

  They all trembled when they touched me.

  Every one of them.

  Before they screamed.

  I lifted my hand as he bent, dabbing the sodden towel against the arch of my foot. I swallowed that power inside, holding back the rage, and the hunger to brush his head. Strands of his hair rose, following my fingers.

  He jerked his gaze high, eyes widening.

  “Not sure what dressings there are,” the woman muttered, walking back into the kitchen. “I should’ve had it restocked after—”

  Her words stilled…as did his breath.

  His hair stuck upright as I drew my hand away. Tiny sparks between my fingers, a trickle I couldn’t yet control. But I would soon…very soon.

  The first aid kit slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a bang.

  They’d scream now. They’d scream and reach for their gun.

  Just like they always did.

  “Won’t hurt you.” The words slipped from my lips. Just a mumble…not a warning…a promise.

  “Jesus fucking Christ,” she muttered.

  But he never swore…he never screamed. He never reached for his gun.

  He dropped his gaze to the tiny flicker of electricity between my thumb and my finger and slowly rose to his feet. I wasn’t sure if he’d heard me.

  “Won’t…won’t hurt you.” I tried again.

  Kind eyes flared, just like the power in my hand. He licked his lips, a hard whisper slipping free, before he swallowed and tried again. “I know you won’t sweetheart.”