Edge of Night

Excerpt

Darkness enshrouded Gwen's consciousness. The night closed in around her.

She felt a shiver of unease course down her spine. She was in a dark alleyway, and two men stood at the end. They were still too far way to make out anything specific about either of them. But both men had a magnetism that drew her toward the end of the alley.

Her footsteps echoed in the silent night. It was odd that there were no other sounds, no people, no traffic, nothing except the click of her heels on concrete and ice and her nervous breath.

Snow flurries swirled around her. She knew her skin would be cold to the touch, but she felt warm, almost overheated.

"Hello, Gwen."

The voice echoed off the walls around her, and she couldn't tell which man had spoken. And while she was scared there was something about the voice that soothed her.

"How do you know my name?" she asked.

"We know a lot about you." This voice was scarier. It made her want to turn and run. Unfortunately she still didn't know which voice belonged to which man.

"One of us will be your salvation and the other will be your death."

She shivered and it had nothing to do with the temperature.

"It's up to you to discover which one is which."

It was as if they followed a script. The voice changed with each sentence.

As she reached the end of the alley, both men came into focus. One was as light as the other was dark.

The man to her right was dressed in black. His leather pants glistened in the moonlight. His tee shirt was black with a red slash across the front. Black hair was cropped closely to his head, and he had a black goatee surrounding a frown.

He was the perfect image of a bad boy. He'd be so obvious as the one that would bring her death.

The other man was his exact opposite. He had curly blonde hair and dimples. Good God, dimples. He smiled broadly at her, and she couldn't help but smile back.

The other man growled. Or was that just a sound of the night? She couldn't be sure.

The blond man wore a light blue shirt and khaki pants. His stance was much more casual. Somehow, the blackness of the night didn't seem to touch him. There were no shadows, no mystery around him.

Her salvation?

The shiver that coursed up her spine made her think otherwise. She'd prefer to have no further dealings with either man.

"Why am I here?"

"Because you're the key," the blond man said, his eyes blazing.

"Key?"

"You're the key to everlasting night. Or everlasting day."

As soon as the words were out of the darker man's mouth, lightning flashed and the wind picked up. She was battered by flying debris. Blowing snow stung her skin. Colors swirled in front of her eyes.

"You will die, Gwen. You're the key, and you will die."

The evil voice screeched in her ears. Whether it came from one of the men or someone else entirely, she wasn't sure. She turned and ran back down the alley. It was pure luck she didn't slip on the ice and break her neck. She had no idea where she was going except away. Away from the evil behind her.

The voice continued to echo in her ear.

"You will die. Light will rule."

The cold wind continued to batter her. Tears streamed down on her face.

She wasn't going to get away. She couldn't. The wind was too strong, the voice too determined. Too evil.

Her lungs burned, and she couldn't run anymore. This was it. It was going to be the end.

Greasy tendrils lashed against her skin. The evil was almost upon her. This was her death, but where was her salvation?

"Wake up, Gwen."

Her eyes popped open, and she bolted upright in her bed to see the blazing overhead light of her bedroom. She had no idea who belonged to the voice that woke her, but she would be forever grateful. The nightmares were getting worse. She wiped the sweat from her brow and fell back on her pillow.

It was going to take a while for her pulse rate to slow and her breathing to return to normal.