Paranoia (The Night Walkers) Read Online Free PDF

which direction it had come from. Slowly, I turned my head to face the back corner of the room. There he was, arms folded as he leaned against the wall, giving me that cold smile that was all too familiar even though I hadn’t seen him in months. He looked awful—one eye was swollen and bruised, knuckles caked with dried blood.
    “You … ” The word barely escaped my tight throat and wasteland of a mouth. My voice was a croaking thing that tried to bridge the gap between us and bring Darkness back into my mind where he belonged, where I could at least attempt to control him.
    But nothing happened. Darkness even seemed amused by my pathetic effort and his cruel smile spread further across his face. He wasn’t listening anymore, and at least for the moment, I couldn’t make him.
    Just like he’d promised, the last time he’d spoken to me the night before the fire, he’d gotten control again … and this time he’d made it a lot farther than Mia’s old backyard. This time he’d managed to cause enough trouble to land me in jail.
    “Well, looks like Sleeping Beauty is finally awake.” The rough voice came from directly across the room. I struggled to open my eyes wider and shift my attention to the stranger. My right eyelid refused to cooperate and started to throb when I tried again. Reaching one hand up, I gingerly touched the swollen skin around it and realized I had a nasty black eye and banged-up knuckles to match the ones on Darkness. Perfect.
    I groaned. Thor had scratched up my chin and cheek in the parking lot, but my eyes had been untouched. This was all new … gifts from my psychopathic alter ego.
    Through my one good eye, I tried to locate the voice talking to me. Since everyone was staring, it was hard to tell who it was until a massive bald guy wearing a denim jacket spoke and I recognized the voice:
    “Have sweet dreams, Princess?”
    I laughed under my breath at the bitter irony of his choice of words and shook my head slightly. Just the one move sent my world spinning, and my stomach clenched down tight in pain. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Darkness wincing from our shared discomfort. He closed his eyes and slid down into a sitting position. The next instant, Baldy lifted me by my shirt and pinned me against the wall. My vision dimmed around the edges.
    “Something funny?” he growled, his breath smelling like rotting meat. Someone outside the cell yelled for him to release me, but he didn’t even seem to notice.
    “No.” My voice came out as scratchy and raw as before. “But if you don’t put me down, I’m going to hurl on you and that might be a little funny.”
    Then I gagged, which added unintentional emphasis, and Baldy immediately dropped me, mumbling under his breath as he walked back to the other bench. I fell onto the floor and closed my eyes as I waited for the intense nausea to subside.
    “Maybe you should stop angering the locals.” Darkness’s words were soft, but they carried as though on surround sound inside my head.
    “Shut up.” My growled words were unintelligible through my tight teeth, but I knew he’d understand me anyway.
    “That’s why I stopped drinking. Got real tired of wanting to die the morning after.” A new voice spoke and I flinched away from it instinctively. “Easy now. I’d think, after last night, you’d at least know I wasn’t going to hurt you. Of course, don’t do me much good to stop drinking if I’m going to end up back in here anyway—but at least I’m feeling better than you.”
    Opening my eyes, I saw the older man in red flannel crouching over me. He extended a hand, and although he was missing half his teeth and I could see track marks up his arm, his face was kind. I gripped his hand tight and he helped me onto the bench.
    “I have a hangover,” I muttered, more as a question than a statement.
    The man wheezed as he took a seat next to me. “Yeah, I’d bet you do. When they brought you in last night, you were more