Moonshadow (6 page)

Diana winced in bladder pain and made her way to the stairs—she had to find the bathroom on the second floor.

No, I’m not going upstairs—not again.
She didn’t want to see Darien’s stupid face. A twinge of bladder pain made everything else fade from her mind and she climbed the staircase.

Avoiding the study door like she might contract the plague by walking too close to it, she eventually found the other bathroom. There was still a line, but one Diana could handle. After waiting her turn and taking care of some much needed business, Diana made her way back down the stairs. About halfway down, a sight made her freeze—Darien. She instinctively drop down behind the banister, even though anyone could still see her.

Why’d he leave his precious study to be with the rabble?
He was in the corner of the parlor talking to Andrew. Whatever the conversation was about, it had Darien’s full attention because he didn’t seem agitated by his surroundings.

Diana peered through the banister to study him further. Though engaged with Andrew, his eyes were searching for something that was pushing the crowds from his mind.

He’s looking for me.

Diana shook her head. No—that wasn’t possible. She’d had too much to drink and was seeing things that she wanted to see.

Did she want Darien to be looking for her? No she didn’t—she wanted nothing to do with him. In fact, she was trying to figure out how to worm her way outside before Darien saw her.

Knowing that she probably looked ridiculous and obviously wasted, Diana snaked her way down the rest of the steps, and then crouched down into the crowd of people before making her way through the kitchen and out the back door.

Once she sat down in her chair across from Eric, Diana sighed deeply in relief. She had avoided another potentially awkward confrontation.

“I’ve never seen someone so relieved to go to the bathroom before,” Eric said through a chuckle.

Before Diana could comment, her skin began to crawl like she had just fallen into a pile of maggoty rubbish—something was terribly wrong.

Looking beyond Eric, she spotted Lani in the midst of three muscular guys standing to the side of the pool-house. As with Darien’s extreme tension earlier in the evening, Diana must have sensed their vile intentions towards her roommate. Gazing on their wicked grins, the sense of filth intensified and Diana started scratching at her arms.

“Are you cold?” Eric asked, slightly concerned. “We can go inside if you want.”

“No, I’m fine.” Though she wanted to run to her roommate, she knew Andrew would be back shortly to drive them away. There was no need to cause a scene.

After a several minutes though, Andrew never returned and Diana grew more agitated, barely paying attention to her conversation with Eric.

Panic set in when she noticed one of the guys drop something into Lani’s drink when she wasn’t paying attention. Diana quickly rose to her feet but she was too late.

“Lani was just drugged,” she said to Eric in a panic. “We have to do something.”

Eric stood up along with Diana and surveyed the scene for himself. “Tony Huffman.” He said the name like a curse. “That bastard is at it again. He and his football cronies pull this shit all the time.” With Diana at his side, Eric walked with purpose to Lani’s aid.

With swift movements, Diana insinuated herself between Lani and the football players and took her roommate by the hand. “Come on Lani, we have somewhere we need to be.”

Lani, having either reached her limit long ago or already feeling the effects of whatever was slipped into her drink, seemed very confused and disoriented by Diana grabbing her hand.

“Huh?” she asked. “I thought we were going for a swim.”

“Yeah,” said one of the muscle-bound thugs. “This one wanted to go skinny dippin’ and we were all gonna have some fun.”

“No one likes your idea of fun, asshole,” Eric said while taking Lani’s other hand. “One day your dad won’t get you out of it, and your large cell mate will show you how much fun it is.”

Before Eric took two steps away with Lani, Tony’s fist collided with the side of his head and he fell to the ground; the sucker punch knocked Eric out cold.

Horrified by the scene, Diana wasn’t fully aware when another football player grabbed her by the arm and threw her away from them. She landed hard on the ground, her hands scratched and grass-stained, with the wind knocked out of her. As she gasped deeply for air, Tony kicked the unconscious Eric hard in the ribs, then picked him up and threw him into the pool.

“Have a nice swim, prick.” His laugh was despicable.

Her mind flooding with panic, Diana pushed herself to her knees. Lani was drugged and in serious trouble, and Eric had just been thrown unconscious into the pool and could be drowning. Diana did the only thing she could—she screamed for help with all she had within her.

In moments, all eyes were on her and Diana could feel the combined fear and anger rushing off of Tony and his friends—she had spoiled their fun. Diana clenched at her stomach as Tony began to approach her—his vileness was making her sick. He raised his arm to backhand her across the face, like he had no doubt done many times in the past when girls displeased him, and Diana clenched her eyes shut.

A sound of flesh striking flesh resounded in Diana’s ears, but the impact never came.

She opened her eyes to see Tony’s fist clenched in Darien Shepherd’s tight grip. Diana’s astonishment was broken when she heard a sudden splash of water and turned her head to see Andrew rising out of the rippling pool with Eric in tow.

Tony’s eyes were enraged. “Mind your own business, asshole.”

By contrast, Darien’s eyes were filled with an anger of a different kind—anger fueled by righteous judgment. He looked on Tony like a vicious animal that needed to be dealt with.

The football player brought his knee up to collide with his opponent’s middle, but with swift fluid motions, Darien dodged and was quickly behind Tony with his arm wedged behind his back. Tony continued to struggle like a madman while Darien placed pressure on his arm; the animal refused to admit defeat. Finally, with a blunt object that Diana hadn’t noticed in Darien’s other hand, he knocked the football player out. Tony fell to ground with a thud.

Darien turned his head around to face Tony’s two friends but they had already run off, leaving a fearfully confused Lani sitting on the ground against the wall of the pool house. Quite certain that Tony was out cold, Darien tossed his weapon into the grass; it hit a rock and shattered like it was made of thin ceramic.

Diana was struck by the oddity of such a brittle object knocking a football player out cold.

She shook her head and then held it in her hands; it was too much to think about right now. Her eyes went to Darien. He bent down, heaved the unconscious football player over his shoulder, and then carried him towards the side of the house where he tossed him into a pile of trash bags with the rest of the garbage.

With genuine concern in his eyes, Darien quickly returned to Diana’s side and extended an outreached hand. “Are you alright, Miss Selene?”

Not quite sure if she was or not, Diana nodded reluctantly. “I think so, but my roommate isn’t. They drugged her.”

“Mongrels,” Darien seethed under his breath. “Let’s see to your friends.”

Diana grabbed a hold of Darien’s hand, and as he helped her to her feet, a strange sensation quickened to life just behind her temples and quickly coursed its way throughout her extremities. It felt as if the light of the bright summer sun was coursing through her veins. When he finally let go of her hand, the sensation slowly seeped away until Diana was left feeling empty and alone.

What’s happening to me?
Her feelings were so much more potent and overwhelming than usual. Diana shook it off for the time being—she had to make sure Lani was alright.

Taking her gently by the arm, Darien escorted Diana to where Lani sat on the ground. Andrew had managed to get Eric out of the pool and propped him up beside to her.

Diana’s eyes went wide with panic—Eric wasn’t breathing. All the remaining heat left Diana’s body and she felt colder than she’d ever felt in her life.

With a strange sense of calm, Andrew closed his eyes and placed one hand in the small of Eric’s back and another on his chest. In moments, Eric suddenly spit up the water that had been sitting in his lungs and began to cough. Diana sighed in relief as he started coming around; he also looked to be in a great deal of pain.

Andrew slightly probed his chest with his hand and Eric winced. “Ugh—I think that bastard broke a rib or two.”

“At least you didn’t drown,” Andrew said through a smirk. “But not bad for putting yourself in between three big-sixers and a tomato.” He put his arm around Eric’s middle. “I better get you to the local Urgent Care, let’s get you up.” With strained pain, Eric got to his feet.

Darien nodded to his brother. “I’ll see to it that the ladies are taken care of.”

With a gentle demeanor, he crouched down to the ground and scooped Lani up into his arms. She was so out of it that she barely registered what was happening, but by the trembling wide eyes and queasy look on her face, Diana could tell she was going to get very sick, very soon.

“I need to get Lani home so I can take care of her,” Diana said to Darien. “I think she’s in for a long night.”

Darien considered her words a moment before shaking his head. “You can stay here for the night. It will be better for the both of you.” Without giving Diana time to register his offer, Darien walked to area with the largest concentration of partygoers, and with Lani still cradled in his arms, yelled out in a strong commanding voice, “This gathering has come to an end! The authorities will soon be here and I highly doubt the majority of you are consuming alcoholic beverages legally.”

In a very quick response to Darien’s declaration, everyone left their drinks and scuttled out of the backyard in a rush.

Once inside the house, Darien tried to make a similar announcement but the music was much too loud for everyone to hear him. Diana was also quite surprised, and rather disgusted, to find that hardly anyone in the throng of people seemed to care about Lani’s condition. A guy carrying a barely conscious girl in his arms must be a standard sight at the typical college party—whether or not they had been drugged.

With Diana following close behind, Darien pushed his way through the sea of people until he arrived in the parlor, where large speakers stood connected to a silver laptop on the nearby table. Holding Lani in one arm, Darien reached down and placed the palm of his hand onto the keyboard. As Diana considered the curious way Darien was trying to close the music program, she was startled by the sudden sparks that erupted from the computer as if the motherboard had just fried. The sudden silence throughout the house brought all attention onto Darien as a plume of smoke began to rise from the laptop.

“Leave.” His forceful gaze matched the commanding tone in his voice.

Without protest, every person in the house poured out of the front door like water through a spout.

Mesmerized by the smoking computer, Diana couldn’t help but be reminded of what had happened to her cell phone earlier in the day. Darien Shepherd and technology apparently didn’t mix very well. Her grandmother had experienced similar problems in the last years of her life. Diana’s father had just about refused to let her near his entertainment center—she had a way of breaking things just by fiddling with them.

Once all were gone, Diana was saved from the awkwardness of the silent, and very empty house, when an elderly lady in a simple maroon dress began descending the staircase to join them.

“Your evening is finished so soon Endym—” her words caught in her throat when she locked eyes with Diana. “Darien sir, forgive me. I wasn’t expecting you to still be entertaining guests.”

“It’s alright Marjorie,” he replied with a warm smile. “These two ladies require aid and will be staying here this evening. Can you prepare a room for them?”

The elderly woman’s kind smile was most welcome. “Of course. This way dears.”

The three of them followed Marjorie up the stairs, Darien still carrying Lani, to a room at the opposite end of the long hallway from Darien’s study. The guest room was just as beautiful as any of the other rooms in the house and was probably three times larger than her dorm. The walls were lined with flowery Victorian wallpaper and the room was dominated by the large four-post bed against the far wall. It looked quite comfortable with its plush comforters, thick mattress, and too many pillows. At the foot of the bed sat a small sitting couch. Exquisite carpets lined the wooden floorboards and on the walls hung old portraits of various people, none of which looked at all like relations of Darien and Andrew.

While Diana looked the room over, Marjorie prepared the bed for them. After Darien gently laid Lani down, she quickly rolled over onto her side in the fetal position—she was definitely not alright. When Lani began to hold her belly tightly, Diana knew her roommate’s real troubles were going to begin very soon. Diana sat down on the bed and gently caressed her friend’s head.

Darien noticed as well and had a genuine look of concern on his face. She was surprised by how gentle he had been with Lani since the moment he had picked her up. Diana never once sensed he felt annoyed or put out by any of her troubles. He seemed sincerely concerned for her well-being. His current attitude was a stark contrast to how he had been acting earlier in the evening. Diana would be lying if she said she wasn’t the least bit confused by his actions.