Edge Gelus (Orey Gelus Book 2), page 1
Edge Gelus
Orey Gelus
Book Two
Ebony Olson
Published 2023
Published by EbandMuse Publications Sydney, Australia
Copyright © 2022 by Ebony Olson.
Cover by Strange Angel Designs
Editing by Striding Ibis Editing
All rights reserved. These books or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
http://ebonyolson.com/
Contents
1. The Bruise
2. The Interrogation
3. The Touch of Death
4. The Unfurling
5. The Love of Family
6. The Wait
7. The Torture of Secrets
8. The Blackout
9. The Mate
10. The Funeral
11. The Weight Bench
12. The Quick Descent
13. The Gelus You Know
14. The Hunting Party
15. The Legacy
16. The Sight
17. The Bloodline
18. The Other Hybrid
19. The Understanding
20. The Formal
21. The Escalation
22. The Hall of Guilt
23. The Fallout
24. The Acceptance
25. The Summer
The Epilogue
Glossary
Join the Beautiful and Deadly
Afterword
Dark Fantasy / Paranormal Romance by Ebony Olson
Romance Suspense by Ebony Olson
About the Author
The Bruise
"Did you do it, or were you just running your mouth?"
"What?" Squinting into the darkness, I tried to make out the face hovering before me, but everything was blurry. I stumbled again, catching myself on the metal brace under the bridge. My heart raced in my chest as the wind buffeted against me. That was a long way down.
"Sophie? Did you do it?" the hollow voice asked again. My hearing was as distorted as the rest of me, and I couldn't even tell if they were male or female. I stumbled, trying to get to the wall and away from the edge, but I tripped.
"Did you do it?" they snapped, getting in my face, pain ripping at the back of my head where they grabbed my hair.
"No. Of course not," I cried. "All I know is the stupid slut got what she deserved."
They let me go. Climbing to my feet, I tried to dust off my knees. The world spun, and I stumbled towards the edge, grabbing the rail as the ravine below swirled in my vision.
Two hands latched onto my shoulders, yanking me back, making me lose my grip, and then hurled me sideways. "I guess that makes two of you."
The realization hit me that I was falling. I screamed and scrambled for anything to catch me, but there was nothing. No one. Just the wind deafening me, and then…
"Sasha."
Opening my eyes, I stared into dark grey-blue eyes. Blinking, Barden's face became focused, and I remembered who and where I was. Licking my lip, I released my white-knuckle grip on the blankets beside my hips.
"Hey," I cleared my throat and relaxed. "I thought Dad was picking me up?"
Sliding off the hospital bed, I went to grab my bag, but Barden snatched it out of my reach before I could. "Your mother insisted you wait for her to finish work, and she'd pick you up on the way home, so Gannix called me and suggested I bring you home instead. That way, you're not left waiting here all day."
"I prefer this anyway," I murmured, cuddling into his side as we left my hospital room. Passing the nurses' desk, I waved and said thank you for taking care of me the last four days, and then we pushed through the doors of the Head and Brain Injury ward.
A grey wing came out of nowhere, and I spun as I fell, and then my head cracked against the rocks.
I jolted.
"Sash?" Barden stopped and assessed me.
"Just a flashback. The doctor said it's normal," I assured him. When Barden didn't look convinced, I combed his messy dark brown hair out of his face, loving the feel of silk between my fingers. "I'm fine. They wouldn't let me come home if I wasn't.”
Grunting as if that was doubtful, Barden wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders and led me outside to where his mother's car was parked. "What happened to the bike?" I asked.
"Not today."
Accepting that answer, I dropped into the car and waited for Barden to get in and start the engine. "Please tell me you're taking me to your place? I don't want to deal with my mum right now."
"Your place. We need to talk first."
Frowning, I eased away as Barden started heading from the city where I'd been flown in the medivac–I'd been unconscious and missed the whole ordeal–back to our small town and the canyon we called home. "Okay, what's going on?"
"Yasmine's family wants to ask you questions. They're coming over this afternoon to 'see how you are’, but really, they want to interrogate you about what you saw. It's why your mum wanted to pick you up, so she could prep you for their questioning," Barden explained. His hands clenched on the wheels. "I hate to ask this of you, but I need you to lie."
Double blinking at the request, I studied Barden's face. He was stressed. "What am I lying about?"
"You said on the call to me you saw a wing. I didn't tell anyone. I need you to leave that out of your story, just like you did for the police. In fact, we need you to stick to the same story you told the police."
I considered the request and drew away from Barden a little. "Is there something I should know?"
Rubbing his lips together, Barden kept his eyes straight ahead. "A lot of Gelus live around the gorge. People you know and never realized are Gelus. Sophie Thinehart was one of them."
My throat closed at the mention of Sophie's name, but then the last moments of her life flashed behind my eyes, and it somehow made sense.
Barden stayed quiet while I processed that bomb. "The Gelus suspected one of the Orey killed Sophie," he added softly.
My mouth opened and closed, and that voice that was familiar and yet undefinable for me whispered in my ear just as it did Sophie's, "Stupid wingless bitch," right before they snapped her neck.
Flinching, I massaged my neck to make the feeling go away. It wasn't the neck-breaking, but the tingle against my skin, almost as if the murderer had something in his hands or was channeling magic when they did it.
"Why do they think that?" I asked, instead of admitting they might be right.
"The way she was killed. No human has the strength to harm a Gelus like that. So, her killer had to be another edge walker."
Edge walkers resided between the living and the land of the dead or Underworld. I'd grown up believing I was an Orey Witch, one type of edge walker, only to find out I was another type entirely. Talk about having an identity crisis. I wasn't sure what I was anymore.
"But why Orey? They only kill Execrable," I challenged. My bruised temple pulsed with pain, and I winced, closing my eyes and hovering my hand over the pain. It was still too sore to touch.
When I opened my eyes, Barden was watching me. Slowly, he turned his focus back to the road. His concern I was coming home too soon was a caress down my spine. Our mating made it easy for us to sense each other's emotions now, but it was still a weird sensation for me.
When Barden didn't answer my concern, I frowned. "There's a war, isn't there? Between the Gelus and Orey?"
Barden side-eyed me, his emotions a shiver across my shoulders. "What makes you think that?"
"When the Gelus knocked me down, Lorka told them I was Gelus and that I wasn't part of this war."
Inhaling, Barden rolled his shoulders back. "I didn't know you knew Lorka."
"I don't. My grandmother told me about him. When I saw him, I thought it was my dad, but then my vision cleared for a moment, and I realized they were very similar but not the same. It was a guess that the Gelus who saved me was my grandfather." I watched Barden for another moment. "Is there a war between the Gelus and Orey?"
Blowing out a breath, Barden's resignation stirred my stomach. "There is now."
"How is this going to affect us?" I asked, realizing that Barden was clearly on the Gelus side of things, but my family straddled the two.
Taking my hand, Barden squeezed it. "It won't. Your family and mine, we're not involved. That's why I need you not to tell anyone about the Gelus who knocked you down, or what you heard Lorka say. No one knows Lorka got to you first. Stick to what you told the police. You need to stay impartial here. Grieve your friend, but don't take sides."
"She wasn't my friend. Not in the end."
Squeezing my hand, Barden returned to his quiet as we exited the freeway and swung around onto the road to town. Before the bridge across the canyon, we turned onto the gorge road and descended down the winding road to the river and the small village here.
Ten minutes later, we were climbing the driveway to my family home. When we hit the flat of the front yard, Barden pulled to the side and parked in front of the front door instead of in front of the garage like usual.
"You're not staying?" I asked as the front door opened, and my dad came out.
A negative grunt was my answer, and Barden got out and handed my dad my bag. "I'm staying ov
My dad's eyes came to me. It's not like my family hadn't been to see me every day at the hospital, but Dad always looked sad when he saw the bruising on my temple. "I expected as much. Should I make dinner for you?"
"No. I shouldn't be here while your visitors are. They have never really liked me, and my being here might be seen as interfering," Barden explained. "Call me when they are gone, and I'll come over when I've finished work for the day."
He meant soul transporting. That was Barden's real job. He moved here and enrolled as a high school student to be in my life. I still hadn't worked up the guts to ask how old he really was yet.
When dad agreed, Barden hugged me and gently kissed the top of my head. "I'll be back tonight. Rest up. If having visitors gets too much, excuse yourself and go rest. Don't strain yourself to be polite. Your health is more important."
Releasing me, Barden basically placed me in my father's arms. "Don't let them twist her words, Gannix."
"I won't," he assured Barden as he put an arm around me. "Come on. Let's go inside."
Instead of going to my room, Dad led me to his study and sat me on the sofa. "I want you to stay near me for now. You rest. I'll get you some water and food, then you can curl up and sleep if needed."
"Dad?" I waited until I had his full attention. "How bad is it?"
Sighing, he dropped into the seat beside me. "Right now, none of the families have an issue with us. We hope it will stay that way, but your mother is the only person they consider Orey in this house now. If things get worse, being on the team may not be enough to convince them where our loyalty lies."
"Would the Gelus consider us traitors for still working with the Orey?"
Shaking his head, my dad clenched his hands together. "Barden assures me they don't. That they now know about you being Gelus as well improves their perception of us."
"Why?"
"Because you're nice to everyone, Sash. You've never hated or liked anyone because they were or weren't Orey, even when you thought you were," Dad explained.
"It's not like I knew they were anything other than Vestigial. I always thought Sophie was." My mind drifted to her last moments again.
Wrapping his arm around me, Dad hugged me tight and kissed the temple that wasn't black and shiny. "It doesn't matter. They consider you and this family neutral. Let's keep it that way."
As he got up to leave, I wet my lips. "I met Granddad."
Freezing, my dad turned wide eyes my way. "What? When?"
Barden hadn't told him. "When I found Yasmine's body, a Gelus who looks a lot like you came and fought off whoever attacked me. He told them I was Gelus, his blood, and not part of this war. I'm pretty sure it was Lorka."
Blinking at me, Dad ruffled his hair. "That doesn't make sense. For him to say you're his blood means he knows I'm his son. Why wouldn't he approach Savas or me? Why did he come to you?"
That's why Barden hadn't told him. He didn't want to hurt him. "Honestly, I think he's been watching us for a while. Maybe he only showed himself because I was in danger.”
Grinding his teeth, Dad nodded. "Let's not tell anyone. Especially not your grandmother. Not yet, anyway." He waited until I nodded agreement, then headed for the door. "I'll get you something to eat, then you should rest."
The Interrogation
"The Reids are here," my mother called as she walked to the front door. She was pissed that Barden picked me up instead of waiting for her. But when she came in and found me curled up on Dad's sofa with tears in my eyes, she'd kept her annoyance to herself.
Instead, she'd got my painkillers and left me to rest. Frankly, I would have welcomed the lecture. It could have kept my mind from the vision of Yasmine and Sophie's last moments replaying in my head.
"The Gelus suspected one of the Orey killed Sophie."
That couldn't be true. Could it?
Sitting up, I groaned with the effort moving took. My head smashing into a rock might have nearly killed me, but the clobbering I took from that wing had also left me sore. Thankfully, not as severely bruised.
As I got to my feet, the earth tilted a little, and my dad caught and steadied me. "I've got you," he assured me, then helped me to the formal lounge where Mum had set up for our guests. The Reids came through the door as we exited Dad's study, so they saw me needing his support.
"Sasha, you look very pale. Should you be out of the hospital yet?" Helena Reid, Yasmine's mother, asked with concern.
"The doctors said that Sasha just needed to rest and heal," Mum told Helena. "The fracture to her skull was one thing, but the concussion and how long she was unconscious really worried them. We've got a few key things we need to keep our eye on, but the prescription is rest."
We made it to the lounge, and Dad sat me down beside him while Mum fussed with offering drinks and finger food. Tired, I rested my head on my dad's shoulder. "I'm very sorry for your loss," I murmured, tears filling my eyes as I saw Yasmine's body falling before me again. Her scream pierced my head.
"Thank you," Helena choked out, her eyes also growing wet.
"Hey, you're home." Savas came in, followed by Vidal. He came over and kissed my head before taking the sofa on my other side. Mum took the single-seater at the end of the coffee table, and the Reids took the other three-seater.
"Have you heard anything from the police?" my mum asked.
Sipping on his whiskey, Jebidiah grunted. "They've got nothing. They keep asking about her mental health. Was she depressed? Was she on drugs? It's not half obvious that they just want to write it off as a suicide."
"Are you sure it wasn't?" my mother asked with a sympathetic tone.
Jebidiah snapped his eyes her way. "Yasmine was happy. She left no note, nothing to suggest it was self-inflicted. Ask your daughter. She was there. Did it look like suicide to you, Sasha?"
Lifting my head off my dad's shoulder, I blinked at Yasmine's parents. "I... I don't know."
"Please, Sasha. You were her friend for a long time," Helena appealed. Interesting that she knew to use the past tense. "What happened that day? What did you see?"
Staring into Helena's eyes, my own filled with tears again. "I heard a scream. I looked up, and a girl was falling from under the bridge. I saw her…" Closing my eyes, the tears ran free.
"It's okay, Sasha. What happened next?" Helena pursued.
"I jumped the rail and ran across the rocks. When I got there, I saw it was Yasmine. God, she looked so…" Dead. Her eyes stared at nothing, and her limbs weren't sitting how they were designed. A sob racked my chest. "I turned to get help and must have slipped on the wet rocks, because I fell and hit my head. I woke up a day later in the hospital and prayed it had all been a bad dream."
"Are you sure you slipped?" Vidal asked. "You weren't pushed?"
Frowning at the college-aged boy, I wondered if he'd been there. If he saw it too. "What could have pushed me? It was just me and Yasmine out there."
"You didn't see or hear anything?" Jebidiah pressed, bringing my attention to him. "Anyone yelling? Sounds of a struggle? Anything that doesn't fit?"
Shaking my head, I closed my eyes. Liquid splashed on my face. "Wake up!" Jebidiah yelled. "I asked you a question!" He stood over me, breathing heavily, his now empty glass in his hand.
My brother and dad were shoving him away while Vidal tried to back him up. "Dad, what the hell? She's got a concussion and can barely sit upright," Vidal scolded.
"Sasha, I'm so sorry," Helena was crying. "We should go. I'm so sorry. We should go."
Mum handed me a napkin, and Savas sat next to me, helping wipe my face.
"Alcohol," I muttered as the Reids ushered their angry patriarch out of the room. Everyone froze.
