A Glimpse of the Dark Side: Adult Paranormal Erotic Romance Collection

By Eden Laroux

From the popular short story series The January Morrison Files Psychic Series, In the Blood, Earthbound Angels, Wild Hearts, and The Whispering...

HAVE A SHORT PEEK INTO THE DRAMA OF DARKNESS...
Erotic and Paranormal Collection that Sizzles!!!

THE MISSING LINK
January is a psychic who can talk to dead people. But she considers it a curse because, really, who wants to see the dead? Years ago, she helped the police to locate the body of her best friend. But she wished she can also find murderers. But now, another girl is missing. And the FBI with handsome and enigmatic Det. Ashton Sterling is asking her help. As she help them find the girl before it was too late, she feels she also found a special gift in the man that someone like her can only dream about — romance.

THE VAMPIRE AND THE NIGHTWALKER
For Secret Lavalle, a psychic from New Orleans and a Nightwalker who can sense the undead, being stalked by a vampire isn’t something new. But after meeting the beautiful male vampire Kane Broussard, she encounters intrigue, fear, and excitement she thought she has lost for the mysterious a long time ago. Meanwhile, a newly undead is playing havoc in town. He is mistaken for a serial killer humans call the Blood Drinker, and Kane has to find him fast before his bloodlust opens the vampires to the discovery of humans.

ANGEL-AT-LAW
Simon Draco is a fallen angel, and his special ability to discern if a person is being truthful or false makes him an excellent lawyer. After learning to survive among beings he so belittled when in heaven, he discovers he can also fall in love. Beautiful and courageous Dreama Addison is everything he admires. If she only can see him as more than her father’s colleague, then he can fly without wings!

HER SAD EYES
Ralph and Alice met in a bar one night. After playing the most ancient game of flirting, Alice gives Ralph one of the hottest sexual encounters he has ever had. But one of Ralph’s gift as a psychic is being an empath. He senses darkness in Alice that the tingling of his skin can understand. Something is wrong with her. And answering to it will be his sure death.

SEEING IS BELIEVING
Foster parent Meg Suther’s new foster child Tony has an odd quirk -- he has an imaginary friend named Bruce. But after Meg reads a rhyme from one of Tony’s books, she is shocked to discover that Bruce is real! And he is handsome, charming. And mysterious. When Meg and Bruce find out the wish Tony uttered when he summoned Bruce from the fae world with the spell, will they run?

READER ADVISORY: This story contains contents that some readers may find objectionable, including sex and erotic themes...

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandra Ross
• Release date: Mar 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310611193

Eden Laroux

Eden Laroux was born on November 27, 1978, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a father who was a butcher and a mother who was a florist.Her mother, originally from Saint-Emilion in France, migrated to the US to become a textile worker.Eden Laroux was born as Emilia Domini. She had an elder brother, Calvin, and has a sister named Philomena.Her father, a second-generation Italian immigrant, left Emilia’s mother for a laundrywoman, who was also of Italian descent. He was a gambler and an alcoholic. It was learned later that he not only stole money from his employer, but also left the family with gambling debts to settle.Eden was 14 at the time, and the experience of being abandoned and deceived seared into her memory – a theme which showed up in most of her early literary works – sad poems and essays--and in her college years, short stories for various creative writing classes.Eden's brother Calvin chose to leave his own studies and worked odd jobs to supplement their mother’s income, which was obscenely meager, after their father left.Despite financial difficulties, Calvin pushed Eden to work for a degree, and through his and other people’s help, she was able to get a scholarship to attend college and study English Literature.Three weeks after Eden's graduation, Calvin - a closeted homosexual - was killed in a freak accident at work (stabbed by his partner in the middle of a long drive for an out-of-town furniture delivery). He had “come out” only to Eden. He and Eden had been very close, owing to their father’s leaving and their mother becoming undone and distraught.Philomena, Eden's younger sister, is the family’s joy and the family’s artist. While her formal training is in business (she is currently studying for a degree in finance and strategic management), she nevertheless finds time to also dabble in the visual arts – as a potter, painter, and, of late, as a furniture designer.Emilia chose to write under her mother’s name, Eden, as a tribute both to her mother's unconditional love and for her strength to overcome an enormous challenge of raising a family – all on her own.

Book preview

Chapter One

LORI, PLEASE DON'T do this! January begged her friend. This is so not smart!

Oh Jan, lighten up, please, Lori retorted. I'll be back before you know it; definitely before anyone wakes up, she added, after throwing a look in the direction of January's bedroom door. Just keep the window open so I can get back in."

Lori, if my parents find out that you sneaked out, they're going to tell your parents, January moaned.

Look, no one is going to hear me, and I'll be back before dawn. There's no reason anyone will find out.

"Why are you even doing this? Who is this guy you're going to meet?"

I can't tell you just yet, Jan. But I promise, you'll be the first to hear all about it when I get back. You'll be pretty surprised, I think, Lori said smugly.

I still don't like it. You won't tell me where you're going and who you're going to be with and that's just not safe, January said, shaking her head. What if something happens to you?

Jan, calm down. Nothing is going to happen to me.

Lori put her jacket on over her T-shirt and jeans and went to January's open window. She turned around and gave January a wide, bright smile as she hooked a leg over the window sill. For an instant, framed by the window, Lori stood out against the night like a white speck in a blurry photograph. For some reason, the sight unsettled January so much that a chill ran down her spine.

Lori must have seen something on January's face, because her mischievous expression softened. Relaxing her grip on the frame of the open window, Lori assured her friend, saying, Stop worrying, Jan. I'll be back before you have time to miss me. Promise.

And with that, she slipped out the window and vanished into the darkness.

January sighed and collapsed on the bed.

This was typical Lori. She didn't understand the words no or can't. She was always ribbing January for being too cautious, for not letting go enough. She did crazy stuff like this all the time and always seemed to land on her feet. Lori's a big girl. She'll be back, January thought. Still, January would have felt better knowing where Lori was going.

She got in bed, determined to stay awake until Lori came back, but before she knew it, her eyes were getting heavy. She fought sleep.

But it was no use.

WHEN SHE OPENED her eyes again, the sky was still black.

She sat up, relieved to see that Lori had kept her promise and returned before dawn.

Hey, you're back! Thank God! January said.

January shot Lori a look of mild impatience when Lori neither moved from her seat nor acknowledged Jan's relief. "Come on Lori! Why are you still sitting in the chair? You need to get in bed before someone comes to check on us."

Lori didn't seem to be paying attention. She seemed to be looking through her friend. Her eyes were unfocused vacant, as if she just wasn't seeing January or the room.

Earth to Lori. Hello!

Lori slowly, finally, moved her head at January's voice, but her gaze fell just over January's shoulder. Her eyes were searching, lost.

Something was wrong.

When Lori spoke, it was in a faint, crackly voice that reminded January of an old phonograph record. Jan... you were right. I should never have gone out. It's too late, now, though. What you've got to do now is find me. You're the only one who can.

January felt the hairs in her skin rise.

"Lori, what the hell are you talking about? You're sitting right over there in my desk chair! I don't have to find you because you're right here! But I'm glad you finally understand what a dumb idea it was to sneak out!" she said.

Lori now seemed to be focusing on her, her eyes getting darker, her voice firmer.

Pay attention to what I'm saying, Jan! You've got to find me! No one knows that I'm gone except you. They'll all know pretty soon, but they won't know where to look. You've got to help them find me!

Just as January got up from her bed, Lori vanished. It was like she had never been sitting there at all.

January stood there, stunned. How did someone just disappear?

January suddenly felt cold and sick to her stomach. She got back in bed and pulled the covers up over her head. She could not stop shivering. It was a dream. It had to have been a dream. All she needed to do now was go back to sleep. But she couldn't.

She lay there, awake, until daylight.

Chapter Two

THERE WAS A noise outside her door.

Jan! Her mother was coming up the stairs.

January sat up and steeled herself for the tongue-lashing she was about to receive.

Honey, Lori's mother is on the phone. She'd like to speak to her, Andrea Morrison told her daughter as she craned her neck to look for Lori in the bed. She turned back to January Is she in the bathroom?

January looked at her mother miserably and tried to find something to say. No, Mom, she's not in the bathroom. Actually, she's not here at all.

Her mother frowned. What do you mean she's not here?

January sighed and, wringing her hands, told her mother the truth. She went out the window around midnight and said she was meeting someone. She promised to be back before dawn. I told her not to go and tried to make her stay here, but you know how stubborn she can be.

I see, Andrea said, her frown deepening. So who was she meeting?

I don't know. She wouldn't tell me. She said that she would give me all the details once she got back.

So you have no idea where she went or whom she was meeting?

No, Mom. I'm so sorry! I know I should have come and got you but I didn't want her mad at me and now she's not here. I'm so scared! January wailed.

Oh, honey... her mother said as she hugged her. This isn't your fault. I'll be right back, okay? I've got to go talk to her mother.

The rest of the day was a nightmare that January wished she could wake from. The police came. She spent hours answering the same questions over and over. In the end, the only explanation she could offer them was that Lori had gone out the window to meet someone.

That night, after the police finally left, she fell into bed. Still, she was too exhausted to sleep. The window was open, like it had been last night when Lori had climbed out of it. The last image she had of her friend flashed into her mind again-Lori, smiling, framed against the swallowing blackness.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

Jan.

Her eyes flew open.

Lori was sitting on the edge of her bed.

January sprang up. There was no question now. This was no dream. All of this was terribly, terribly real.

Oh God...she sank to her knees by the bed. What is happening? she whispered.

Jan, Lori said again. Please. You're the only one who can hear me. You have to help.

Lori, what is going on? January cried. The police were here all day. The whole town is looking for you.

You have to tell them where I am. You have to find me. Can you do that for me, Jan? Please. There's nobody else.

For a second, it looked to January like she was shimmering, like a heat haze billowing over pavement in the summer.

I don't know what you mean, January wailed. I don't know what you want me to...

But it was too late. Lori was gone again.

January collapsed on the bed, weeping miserably. It was horrible enough that her friend was gone, and that she was partially to blame, and now there was this... whatever it was.

Was she going insane? Was it nerves? Guilt?

Lori was so insistent that January could help her, that there was something she could do... but what?

She cried herself to sleep, and didn't get up until morning.

THE INVESTIGATION DRAGGED on for weeks with no results. The police questioned January again and again, but she could not tell them anything new.

Lori kept appearing to her in flashes, usually in her room, where they had spent the most time together. Once, she came to her on the bench by the lake where they used to go after school, back when they were in junior high.

Each time was the same-sad, garbled pleas to come find her, that January was the only one who could help- but nothing else. Lori was always gone before January could find out how she was supposed to find her.

January stopped sleeping at night. She lived in constant fear of another visit from Lori. Her grades fell. She stopped going to meetings of the school newspaper and avoided her friends. They were understanding for a while; she had lost her best friend, after all. Then most of them moved on.

She was at a table at the library one day after school when someone plopped down beside her. She leaped out of her chair and looked around wildly.

Geez, Aaron said. Are you okay?

I ... yeah, I'm fine, she stammered, and sat back down, trying to hide the fact that her heart was pounding in her chest like a kettle drum. I thought you were ...you just startled me a little, that's all.

Sorry. Aaron looked at her quizzically. They had trig and history together. Actually they had been in school together since the sixth grade, but it was only recently that January began to notice that he was tall and graceful, that his hazel eyes were bright and friendly, and that they watched her more and more often.

Lori used to tease her about him, calling him the future Mr. January Morrison and casting the two of them in hilarious, overblown stories of erotic adventure that made January laugh and cringe at the same time.

The thought of Lori made her stomach clench, and any pleasure at Aaron's company withered away.

What's going on? she asked, a little sharply.

Nothing much. I just thought you might need the trig homework, he said.

Why would I...? I thought I wrote it down... She leafed through her notes, quickly realizing she had no recollection of writing down the homework assignment.

Come to think of it, she had no recollection of being in trig class at all.

Aaron watched her, amused. Yeah, you were pretty busy staring out the window when Mr. Belmonte was assigning it.

Jan sighed and rubbed her eyes. This was happening to her a lot lately. She took the slip of paper he held out for her.

Thanks. What were you doing staring at me in class, anyway, creepy?

You had a booger in your nose. It was totally disgusting. I couldn't look away.

She stared at him. Then she started laughing. She just couldn't help it. It was so unexpected that she looked at him in surprise as she giggled.

Aaron's face lit up and, for a minute, he looked like he was about to say something else but stopped himself. I'll see you around, he said, and got up to leave.

January sat at the table for a few minutes after he was gone. On any other day, the conversation would have made her flush with excitement, but today it broke her heart. Because the first thing she would have done, of course, was to find Lori and tell her all about it.

When she got home, her mother was waiting for her in the living room.

Hi, Mom, January said, trying to sound casual. She went to slip past her up the stairs.

Jan, her mother said. We need to talk.

January's face grew hot. About what?

I think we both know, honey. Andrea said. Mr. Hendricks called today. He said you haven't been to Newspaper in weeks. You turned in a blank sheet for your quiz on Chaucer last week. That's not like you, honey. English is your best class.

I know, Mom, it's just... I've been a little tired lately. I'll do better, I promise. I'll talk to Mr. Hendricks tomorrow about making up the quiz.

Her mother regarded her evenly. Jan, I know that Lori's disappearance has been really hard on you. January flinched at that word ... disappearance. It was the same word everyone kept using-the police, her friends, the smarmy guidance counselor her parents had made her talk to. No one wanted to say what seemed so obvious to January... that Lori was dead. She didn't know why she knew this; she just did.

I have to tell you something, Mom, she blurted out, surprising herself. About Lori, I mean. Something I haven't told anyone. She... I...

The words sounded crazy as they came out of her mouth, but at this point, she didn't care. Let them lock her away, if they had to; even living in a mental institution would be preferable to living in a horror movie.

I see her, Mom. I still see her.

Andrea sighed. Well, of course, honey. She was your best friend. That's not something you can just...

"No, Mom, I actually see her! January interrupted. She appears out of nowhere and scares the bejeezus out of me, and then just like that, she's gone, January said. And the worst part is-she keeps telling me I have to find her."

January kept talking and talking, even though there wasn't much else to say. It felt like a dam had burst inside her. She had not realized how lonely she was until now. And her mother listened carefully, without interrupting.

Well, January said when she was done. What do we do? Start calling the mental hospitals?

Her mother was silent for a few seconds. She stood up from the sofa and began to pace slowly in front of the fireplace.

Honey, I'm so sorry, Andrea said.

"It's okay if you think I'm crazy. I think I'm crazy."

No, I meant, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner.

"Tell me... what sooner?"

Andrea sat back down on the sofa. She motioned for January to sit down next to her.

January, she said, You have a gift. All the women in our family do. I didn't tell you because you had never shown any signs, and I thought maybe it had skipped a generation. She stared at her daughter. I've never heard of it being this strong, though.

A gift? What kind of gift?she asked, confused.

Andrea searched for the right words. "Well... it's a little different for everyone, but basically, we know things. Special things that other people don't know. All of us have it- your aunt Cathy, your grandmother. She paused. Often, it means we can talk to the dead."

January's mind reeled. So she was right. Lori was dead.

But ... her mother paused, and something like fear flickered over her face.

But what, Mom? Tell me.

None of us has ever been able to see them.

Oh God... January buried her head in her hands. She was a freak even among the freaks.

Honey... her mother folded her in her arms. I know this is scary for you. It was scary for me, too. But I promise, in time you will see what a special thing this is. I know it seems like you can't control it, but you'll learn how. I promise.

January smiled sadly. So, what do I do about Lori? She keeps saying I have to help her. How do I do that?

When she shows up again, don't fight it. Concentrate on her. Think about the things that were special to you about each other. Real things. Things she might have said, or things she gave you. Maybe a joke you guys laughed about that no one else understood. It has to be something real, something that will strengthen your connection and keep her here.

And then...? she asked, a little awed, a little in disbelief that this was really happening. That she was hearing what her mother was telling her.

Then maybe she'll tell you what she wants you to know.

JANUARY WAS DREAMING.

Lori was walking far ahead of her down a cobblestone street Jan didn't recognize. January was running after her, calling her name, but Lori got smaller and smaller in the distance.

Just before she turned a corner, she turned around and looked back.

Jan, wake up. she said.

January opened her eyes.

Lori was sitting on the floor in a corner of her room.

January felt her heart leap into her throat, but she closed her eyes and willed herself to calm down. Lori was looking at her, as if waiting for her to speak.

January searched the room with her eyes.

There was a picture of Lori and her on the shelf above her desk. They were dressed up as Western dance hall girls at a novelty photo kiosk at the amusement park. They were smiling, mugging for the camera. Three seconds later, a shelf full of feather boas would collapse on top of them, scaring them senseless.

January smiled at the memory.

And then others came in a sweet, sad flood.

She let them come... Lori dressed up as a pirate for Halloween, sneaking into the boys' bathroom. The trip their families took to New Orleans together, where Lori goaded her into eating a raw oyster, then held her hair all night as she threw up. The necklace Lori made for January from sand dollars when they were in sixth grade, still hanging from a nail on the bedroom mirror, worn smooth by the departed years.

Tears fell from her eyes, but she brushed them away.

Hi, Lori, she said to her friend for the last time...

Chapter Three

THE POLICE DETECTIVE stood by the fireplace and watched January as she talked. His partner was sitting on the couch, taking notes in a very official-looking notepad.

Have Morrison mom and girl committed, January thought, and stifled a mad giggle.

She didn't think laughing right now would work in her favor, considering what she and her mother had just told the detectives.

So you're telling me that Lori Daniels' body is buried under an abandoned Volkswagen in a vacant lot just northwest of Holly and Industrial Roads, said the detective with the notepad. And you know this because, he checked his notes, you have some kind of connection to... he stopped.

You can use the word 'ghost' if you want to, January's mother said. Please, detectives, can you just go look? If we're wrong, we're wrong. She shrugged her shoulders. Can you really afford to ignore any leads at this point?

The detectives exchanged glances. Look, Mrs. Morrison, the other detective said, not unkindly, It's not as simple as that. Lori's family still suspects that January had something to do with this. They're pushing for a full investigation of you and your daughter. Until now, there has been no cause for that, but surely you can see how your new ...information... changes things. He turned to January. Things are about to get very complicated for you, January. Are you sure you want to go ahead with this?

January's mother looked at her. Your call, her steady gaze seemed to say.

January stared back at the detective. I'm sure, she said. Please, find her.

THEY FOUND LORI'S body exactly where January said it would be.

Every detail was spot-on. Everything she'd told the policemen were seen or found in the crime scene. By this time, Jan was already too numbed to think of what-could-have-been. She had already accepted Lori's death, and she just wanted to go home, to be at peace.

But everything changed after that. Lori's family had already blamed January for Lori's disappearance and now they became relentless in trying to connect her to Lori's death. There were months of interrogations and meetings, grueling rehashes of the same threadbare information. The discovery of Lori's body had not yielded any new clues as to the identity