Her Dark Sins Read online

  Her Dark Sins

  Book One

  Paragons of Justice Series

  By T.R. Tells

  Copyright © 2020 T.R. Tells

  All rights reserved.

  Dedication

  To my editors, Amira Elm and Shamon Williams for being fun and open-minded People that made this book possible—as well as believing in Hira’s story. To Farhana Parker, my wonderful cover designer in creation of this book (and its predecessors), always making sure that I was satisfied and happy. Lastly, but certainly not least, to my mother for always asking me and encouraging me about the projects I’m always working on—my true supporter and thankful to have her as my mother!

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Prologue

  "No matter what happens, the truth will prevail. Remember that, Hira."

  That was the last thing my father said to me before he died of a heart attack. I never forgot those words, but somewhere along the line of grief and misery, I managed to lose my true path in life.

  I thought that things would improve as I got older, but as the saying goes:

  Everything happens for a reason.

  ***

  It was Friday night, and I was looking my best for my movie date with Alessander. I was in front of my mirror finishing applying black eyeliner around my hazel eyes, when there was a knock on the door.

  "Yeah, I'm decent," I called out, putting on black matte lipstick. The door opened to reveal my older brother, Omari. He was leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.

  "Alessi is here. He's waiting in the living room."

  I rolled my eyes and looked at him in the mirror. "Please stop calling him that. That's so juvenile," I said as I reached for my silver dangling earrings.

  "Yeah, well, I've been calling him that since you two were kids, so I'm not stopping any time soon. And why do you look like that?" My brother looked me up and down with a frown.

  I turned around to face him, my hands on my hip. "What's wrong with what I have on?" My baby blue dress was a flowing angel skirt with long sleeves. I wouldn't need to wear my blue pea coat since it was in early June.

  "Uh, what's wrong with it is you're revealing too much skin. Nah, that's not gonna do, you've got too much chest showing." Omari strode over to me, shaking his head. He looked like our father when he did that. They had the same dark brown skin and thick brows, which accentuated his disapproving manner.

  "Omari, seriously? You can’t even see anything. Mom and I bought this together at the mall. You should be worrying about what Nikki is wearing," I protested, bringing up his baby’s mother. Omari grabbed the top of my dress to pull it up.

  "She does what she wants, as long as it has nothing to do with my son. You're my sister, therefore, I care about you more. You know there have been reports at the precinct about sex trafficking and kidnapping going around Chicago, right? And I've seen reruns of To Catch a Predator. Ma'am, can you please take a seat?"

  I smacked his hand away. "Okay, Boomer. If you don't stop, you'll start being the predator soon. I’m going to be fine. Alessander is with me, and you know he won’t let anything happen to me."

  There was another knock. We turned around, and our mother came into my room. "What's going on here?" My mother was a natural beauty. We shared the same brown complexion, but I envied my mother's silky brown hair that was soft and manageable, while mine was thick and curly.

  "Mom, Omari isn't letting me leave the house cause my outfit is inappropriate. Tell him he's a loser and needs to get a life," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and squaring my eyes at him.

  "Now that's not nice, Hira. And Omari, you know I wouldn’t let her leave this house in anything provocative, but also she’s a young adult and you have to give her room to breathe."

  "Except, Mom, she and Alessi are two hormonal teenagers. They’d rather do the nasty instead of watching the movie. Yeah, I know how it works."

  I furrowed my brows and turned to him, snorting in laughter. "The nasty? What are you, ten?”

  Walking past my brother and mother, I went downstairs. I saw the back of Alessander's low cut top fade as he was waiting at the bottom of the steps.

  "Hey there, stranger. You ready to go yet?"

  Alessander jumped up at the sound of my voice, his eyebrows raising as he was caught off guard by my appearance. "Wow... you look amazing, Hira—I mean, you always do but—"

  I slowly nodded and smiled. "Yeah. I'm taking a break from pants and sneakers for a while."

  Alessander approached, then leaned down to kiss me. I could smell the faintest trace of his coconut aftershave.

  I turned away from Alessander to my mother. "Bye, Mom!"

  My mother stood at the top of the steps. "Now, you know the rules, Alessander."

  "Mmhm, I do, Mrs. Night— 9:30."

  "And not a minute after, either," Omari said, lingering behind our mother.

  Alessander waved at Omari. "Nice to see you too, Mari.”

  I shook my head, and Alessander opened the door.

  ***

  "At least Omari will be working late tonight," I mumbled, looking into the mirror to apply my lip gloss.

  Alessander laughed. "Yeah, brothers will always act that way no matter how old you get. I remember Benny used to do the same thing whenever Juniper wanted to go out with any boy she dated."

  Benny had passed away in the line of duty when Alessander was fourteen. His sister, Juniper, lived in New York as head manager of a clothing line.

  "Yeah, but Benny was cool."

  "Hey, I've got something that will take your mind off things. After graduation, a few seniors and I are planning a trip to Florida."

  "Oh, my gosh. Please say we’re going to Disney World. I don't give a damn how old I am—I’ll go there and be proud to say it. I don't think anyone in their life will have seen every single attraction. It's impossible."

  Alessander laughed. "That's a strong possibility, yeah. Plus, I get to see you acting like a kid again."

  "Ain't no shame in that. Least I'm not like some soulless people on the planet who banished their childhood years ago."

  We continued to laugh and talk about our plans after graduation when a police siren sounded in the distance.

  "What? Why is there a police car following us?" I asked, looking at the rearview mirror. I hoped that they would pass by, but the car’s high beams shined directly at us, blinding me. I looked over at Alessander, who already turned his wheel to pull over. "We weren't even speeding!"

  "It's probably nothing serious, Ira. Let's just see what the officer wants."

  I slowly nodded, then looked at my surroundings.

  We were the only ones on the dark street, there weren't many houses, and there was only one street light on the road. My stomach started to flips, and that usually meant something terrible was going to happen.

&
nbsp; Nothing's going to happen. The officer is probably just going to tell us the backlights are out. The car had been Benny's, and it had recently started to fall apart.

  From the rearview mirror, I could see the shadow of a man slowly approaching the car. I blinked several times because it looked like there was another shadowy figure behind him. Only this time, the shadow had lanky arms.

  What the hell?

  But the shadowy figure disappeared, and the man’s flashlight shined directly at us, making it hard to see his face until he got to Alessander's side.

  Alessander rolled down his window. "What can I do for you, officer?"

  I couldn't see the cop’s eyes through his black sunglasses, and he had a faint scar that started from his ear and stretched across his cheek. He had a frown on his face, and he continued to shine the flashlight in our eyes.

  "Where you going there, son?"

  "I'm just taking my girlfriend out to a movie and dinner, sir. It's our anniversary. There isn't a problem, is there?" Alessander asked, unperturbed. I didn't know how he was so calm. My hands were clenched into fists.

  I spied a name tag that read E. Amoré.

  "We weren't speeding or anything, Officer Amoré," I said. I didn't want to cause any confrontation, but I knew we had rights.

  My insides were in knots. All of a sudden, something started to form above the cop’s head. My eyes squinted; it looked like an indigo cloud.

  What the hell is that?

  "Alessander, I have that bad feeling again," I whispered to him. He didn't say anything to me and focused his attention on the officer, unaware of the floating cloud above the officer’s head. Why couldn’t he see it?

  Alessander reached his hand toward the dashboard. "Let me just get my license and regis—"

  My heart dropped in my chest, and my blood went cold. The shadowy lanky figure had returned, and it was looming behind the officer. My eyes widened, and I was far too petrified to let either man know a monster was in our midst.

  "Can you step out of the car?"

  "What?" both Alessander and I said at the same time, pulling me away from the creature's red eyes and stitched lips.

  The cloud above is head started to enlarge.

  "Why does he need to step out of the car? We aren't suspected of anything."

  "Sir, I won't tell you again. Step out of the car."

  "Alright, alright, I'm coming," Alessander said, holding one hand up as he opened the door. Still, I watched as the cop yanked Alessander out of the car, making him fall to the ground.

  "What the fuck!" I yelled, unbuckling my seatbelt. The officer ordered me to stay inside, but I was already out of the car.

  "Get back in the car, Hira!" Alessander shouted.

  "What? No. You didn't do anything. This cop has no reason to be harassing us. What jurisdiction does he have to stop us for? We didn't break any laws!"

  My throat burned, and that gut-wrenching in my stomach intensified.

  "Your car has tinted windows, and drug dealers most often have them."

  "So you're going on stereotypes? That doesn't make us drug dealers!"

  Alessander, however, tried to stay as calm as possible. "Officer, you can check my car, the trunk, whatever. There are no drugs whatsoever, I promise you."

  "That's what they always say." The officer glared at me, letting me know I shouldn’t move, or I would regret it.

  Something passed by through my peripheral vision. I blinked once, and noticed the shadowy monster was gone. What the hell is going on here?

  Alessander called me over to him, pulling me away from my thoughts. His body rested on the side of the car, and he didn't move so he wouldn't provoke the cop. "Everything is going to be okay, Hira. Don't worry, baby."

  Officer Amoré had walked to his car, where he was radioing the station. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but when he turned back around— likely to see if we had moved—the expression on his face immediately changed.

  His complexion paled and his eyes widened, as if he’d seen a ghost.

  Before Alessander could take a step forward and ask him what’s wrong, the officer pulled his gun from his holster.

  Instinctively, Alessander stepped in front of me.

  “Hey, what are you doing!” Alessander shouted.

  Officer Amoré backed up, sweat pouring down the side of his head. “S-Stay back, I’m warning you!” He shouted, but the way his eyes flickered, it was like he was looking directly past us.

  A pounding sensation slammed into my chest as my fingers grabbed fistfuls of my dress. I slowly turned around to see the scariest thing I’d ever seen in my life. The shadowy creature that had been lurking behind the cop now stood behind me, had dark gray skin, an oblong, twisted face, and a mouth that looked stitched together. They swayed from side to side with their lanky arms hanging low, and their feet widely spread apart.

  A scream would’ve passed my lips, but the boom of a gunshot echoed throughout my eardrums. As if in slow motion, I turned and saw Alessander trying to move out the way, but the bullet pierced his chest, sending him backward into the side of the car.

  I stood by the driver's side and stared at his unmoving body. Fat tears came to my eyes as dark crimson blood seeped through his shirt. An animalistic cry erupted into the sky.

  It took me a moment to realize that the animalistic cry had been coming from me, screaming Alessander's name and crawling over to him. "Alessander!" I cried, pulling his body close to me.

  I snapped my head up at the officer’s fearful expression. "What did you do! He didn't do anything!" spit flew from my mouth, and snot ran out my nose, but I didn't care.

  "Alessander... Please, please don't go. Don't leave me!"

  Alessander's eyes were half-closed, and I wasn't even sure if he heard me or not. He moved his lips and said something inaudible.

  "Alessander, please! You can't... Just hold on. Please hold on!" I begged. "Go call help!" I yelled at the officer, whose face now changed. His mouth was agape, seemingly shocked. He ran back to his police car.

  I looked back down at Alessander, caressing his cheeks. More tears rolled down my cheeks, but I didn't bother to wipe them away. "Don't worry, Alessander. H-help is on the way."

  Alessander whispered, mouth filled with blood, and his eyes closing "Please... don't... blame yourself." He began to cough, making more blood pour from his mouth.

  I pressed my hand on his chest, remembering that I was supposed to apply pressure. "J-Just hold on Alessander. Please, talk about...talk about our trip to Florida. Remember? After graduation?"

  "Florida..." he said weakly. There was more coughing. I could feel the oozing warmth of his blood leak between my fingers. "I... I... was going… propose to you... Will you—"

  "What?" I exclaimed. I wasn't sure if I had heard him right.

  "...Marry me?"

  I was sobbing, tears flowing faster. I nodded. "Yes. Yes, you know I will." I leaned into Alessander and kissed him deeply. I didn't care about the coppery taste that smeared my lips.

  "I...love you…." The last part of his words sounded far away and distant. His eyes finally closed.

  "Alessander? Alessander!" I yelled. No response. "No, Alessander, please! Please, I need you!"

  I shook Alessander's limp shoulders, my sobs turning to hiccups.

  A bright light shined behind me. At first, I thought it could’ve been paramedics, but when I turned around, the white light looked like a beam shot from the sky. A sudden blast pushed me backward and slammed me against the side of Alessander's car. I gasped from the sudden force and collapsed to the ground.

  My vision slowly darkened as the beam of light disappeared, and then I blacked out altogether.

  ***

  When I woke up, cascading lights surrounded me. I thought I must’ve been in my room. Then I remembered the shot that had been fired and the monster that no one but Officer Amoré saw.

  “Alessander!”

  I searched frantically, but all I could see
was an unfamiliar blue checker-floored room. There was nothing else, except for the bed that I had been resting on.

  “Oh, good, you’re finally up.”

  My eyes looked over toward the sound of the voice and saw a small child on my left-hand side. I’m not sure why, but I had a feeling that they were neither a boy nor a girl, but something else. They had pale skin, almost white, large black eyes, and short, layered jet-black hair. They wore a white shirt, black pants and were barefoot.

  There was nowhere else this kid could’ve come from. So where had they been just moments ago?

  “How did you get in here?”

  The child’s cherub cheeks were like a chipmunk’s when they smiled, revealing a dimple on the right side. “I’ve always been here; you’re only now coming into your senses.” Their soft, melodic voice rang clear in my head.

  I didn’t know what to think of this child, but maybe they would have the answers I needed.

  “...Do you know where we are?”

  The child raised a single brow and twisted their lips to the side. “We are somewhere in the in-between of your conscious state of mind.”

  My heart ached in my chest, and did a light palpation as I slowly let the words sink in. I spoke softly,

  “What happened to me? To Alessander? To—”

  “—the officer that saw that monster?” The child finished for me. “He’s in a state, just like you are.”

  “And Alessander? What about him?” I gasped, leaning forward in the bed. The child bobbed his head up and down.

  “He’s fine, for now, you three were saved by that beam of light; before that monster managed to steal your energy.”

  “The monster… ” I recalled the lanky-armed creature with piercing red eyes and stitched lips.

  I shivered.

  Where had it come from? Why was it that only I could see it?

  “It wasn’t that officer’s fault, you know,” the child said, pulling me from my thoughts as if they could read my mind. “Sometimes, humans let their negative emotions get the best of them, and it creates Apathy Syndrome; thus, creating a physical manifestation of your negative self.”

  “But how is it that I was only the one to see it? And then the officer saw it moments too late.”