Read Online The Darkness Within by Jaime Rush - Free Book Online Page A

There were four cars parked in the driveway. The sun had set, leaving a color-splashed sky to fade into night. Del tried to find comfort in that very ordinary sight as she stepped out. As if she didn’t have enough to deal with, she was about to meet Tucker’s comrades. She was afraid to ask how much they knew about her.
    “It’s nice,” she said, walking beside him up the flagstone path to the front porch. The yard, like many in the area, was a sea of rocks interspersed with sculptured planting beds. “I like it.”
    “I found it a few months after I left your place. It was abandoned then, and the other house wasn’t there yet, so no one noticed or cared that I was living here. I wasn’t running drugs or anything.” His voice lowered as they reached the front porch. “Just becoming a monster in the shadows.” He glanced at her, maybe to see her reaction to that.
    She kept her expression neutral as she took in the place. “So this is where you went.” No air conditioning, no soft bed, but he’d had a roof over his head. She looked out over the miles of vacant land. “I can see why you chose the area. Lots of room to . . . run. I’m assuming you now live here legally.”
    “Bought it as soon as I could muster up a down payment.”
    He had a home. When he opened the door and gestured for her to walk in, she saw that he had a family, too. Three men—one in a wheelchair—and one woman sat in the living room, breaking out of what looked like a tense conversation.
    The woman, close to Del’s age, launched to her feet and threw herself into Tucker’s arms. “You’re okay.” She squeezed her eyes shut, as though absorbing him. Then she leaned back and took him in, brushing her fingers over the scrapes on his cheek. They disappeared. Completely, magically disappeared. Del stared, but no one else seemed to think it was miraculous or even out of the ordinary.
    The woman’s eyes were way too big for her small features, fringed in thick lashes, and she wore not a stitch of makeup. Her long, blond curls were clipped up in a ponytail, and her sweats hung on what appeared to be a small frame.
    Del felt a twinge of . . . well, it couldn’t be jealousy, but it was a damned uncomfortable feeling as the girl smoothed her hand over every scratch and healed it. “I was so worried when Greer told me about your call.” Only then did she turn to notice Del standing there. Her expression changed, shuttering. “Who are you?”
    “Did you . . . heal him?” Del asked instead of answering, because she couldn’t get her mind around what she’d seen.
    She shifted her gaze to Tucker, as though checking with him before answering.
    He nodded. “This is Delaney. Her mom’s the one who took me in for a while and told me what I am.”
    They seemed to know at least that much. Maybe he hadn’t told them he’d been kicked out.
    He squeezed the woman’s shoulder affectionately. “This is Shea. She can heal, though she’s not supposed to waste it on bumps and bruises.” He gave her an admonishing look. “She psychically takes on the injury herself. Speaking of, Del, you were hurt, too.”
    She waved it off, her wrist stinging at the movement. “I’m fine. I’ll wash up later, put some stuff on it.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Absolutely.”
    He gestured to the guy in the wheelchair. “That’s Darius. Next to him is Greer. And that’s Cody with his hand in the potato chip bag, which is where it usually is.”
    Cody, with his teen-idol looks, smirked at him before nodding to her.
    “Is she one of us?” Greer asked, coming closer, his gray eyes an odd juxtaposition to his warm Native American coloring as she’d expected. Tucker’s half-brother then.
    “Yes, but she doesn’t have Darkness.”
    How many of them had it? Del supposed she’d find out if she stayed around them long enough.
    She took them all in. “Nice to meet you.”
    “You, too,” Greer said, and then turned to Tucker. “So what’s going