Read Online Fear's Touch: A Darkworld Novella (The Darkworld Series) by Emma L. Adams - Free Book Online

clenched around my wrist. I gasped as my circulation was cut off.
    “Who’s wearing the uniform here?” he said, his lips barely moving, a gleam in his eye. “The police know nothing about the Darkworld, and you and I both know who the Venantium would believe. An unregistered’s word against mine? You’re a fool to even consider challenging me.”
    I wrenched my arm free. “You make me sick.”
    Fury penetrated every inch of me, and through it, I felt my connection to the Darkworld, cold and sharp as a knife. I’d never felt it this strongly before. In fact, I’d almost swear the anger came from
there
, not just from me.
    A flame jumped to my hand, though I hadn’t consciously summoned it. Heat swept through me, but I still felt the presence of that cold, savage place at the edge of my consciousness.
    Jude didn’t even flinch back from the flames, but his eyes hardened. “You are breaking the law, Miss Delaney.”
    A laugh escaped before I could stop it. “You can talk.” I didn’t let the flame drop but lifted my hand slowly, watching as his eyes followed its movement. “Sure you don’t want to tell me what your game is?”
    “You dare to threaten me?”
    My Darkworld connection burned. The flame leaped higher as anger sizzled under my skin. The voice in the back of my head protested, louder—
That’s not you! It’s not your anger! Stop!
    But I could no more stop than control my own shadow.
    The flames jumped at Jude’s face.
    Jude moved so fast he blurred before my eyes. Ice shot through me, colder than cold, and the flame died out. I choked and gasped, unable to move, my entire body locked in place. He pushed me and I fell, my back hitting the floor and sending pain radiating through me.
    I looked up at him, still unable to move. My elbows throbbed where I’d skinned them; my back felt bruised—and yet, I couldn’t do anything other than look up at his cold, unforgiving face.
    “I can do things you could never imagine, Miss Delaney,” he said, quietly. “Yes, I know your name. I know who your parents are. They’re traitors. Don’t try to move. You can’t. I’ll return with my supervisor in due course, and you can try explaining yourself to the Venantium’s Inner Circle.”
    He walked around me and began to head off through the student village. I twisted and struggled, trying to turn my head, shift my legs,
anything.
But nothing worked. The anger had disappeared entirely, and horror coursed through me. What had I done?
    “Wait,” I said, wincing at how pathetic I sounded.
    Jude didn’t even turn around.
    I lay there, helpless, locked in my own body. I couldn’t even turn my head, and the voice in my head screamed ever-louder. What would happen if other people found me here? How could I ever explain that I couldn’t move? Maybe if I got someone to move me—maybe Cyrus, Berenice,
someone
could help—but how?
    What the hell had possessed me?
    The word
possessed
set my heart racing. Those emotions weren’t even mine, I was almost sure of it. Whatever had happened recently, I wasn’t usually an angry person at all. I forgave easily, didn’t have time for grudges. Bethany and I had stayed friends for so long because I’d always been the one to give in when we argued. I don’t think I’d ever got into a fight at school, unless you count that time I kicked a guy in the nuts for groping me. Until the past year, I’d never longed for a fight.
    Could you channel someone else’s anger through the Darkworld?
    Did it matter? I’d take the blame anyway, because no one else could. I’d be locked up underground, never get to complete my undergraduate course, never get to live my life. And Jude would get away with it all.
    Bastard.
    After an agonizing five minutes, I heard someone walk past. Two of the people who’d been watching TV. Neither looked in my direction, and new panic blossomed inside me. I hadn’t noticed the slight shimmer in the air. He’d used Influence.
    No one would be able