“It’s definitely a distinctive aroma,” Darcy agreed as she reluctantly forced herself to pull on the heavy coat. It reeked of cigarette smoke, beer, and things she didn’t want to think about. A perfect means to disguise her own scent. And smelly or not, it was warm.
“I also brought you some food.” Gina dug through the bag to reveal a box of granola bars.
“Thanks.”
“Oh… I almost forgot. You remember that gorgeous mobster who came in the night you disappeared?”
Darcy grimaced. Did she remember? It was etched into her brain with full Technicolor detail.
“He’s pretty tough to forget.”
“No doubt.” Gina heaved a deep sigh. “What a yummy bit of eye candy.”
“What about him?”
“He came back a night or two ago and left this for you,” Gina said as she straightened and pressed the small object into her hand.
“He left a cell phone?”
“Yeah, he said that if you came back that you might want to give him a call on it.” A hint of envy entered Gina’s gaze. “Pretty romantic, if you ask me.”
Darcy’s stomach clenched. Despite the fact that she had left Styx with every intention of seeking out the werewolf, she hadn’t forgotten Salvatore’s strange, possessive manner or the numerous pictures that Levet had discovered in his lair.
What sort of man went around snapping photographs of strange women?
Weirdos, that’s who.
“Only if you’re interested in the psychotic stalker sort of guy,” she muttered.
“Hey, if you don’t want him I’ll gladly take him off your hands,” Gina groused.
“Trust me, Gina, you don’t want any part of this man.”
“Of course not.” The woman rolled her eyes. “What would I do with a drop-dead gorgeous hunk of a man who, for a miracle, isn’t gay?”
Damn. The last thing Darcy wanted was for her one friend to become entangled with the ruthless demons who now invaded her life. Unfortunately, there was no way to truly warn her of the dangers. Not without Gina assuming that she was completely nuts.
“Would you believe he’s a wolf in an Armani suit?” she hedged.
Gina frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just stay away from him. He’s… dangerous.”
“Oh my God.” Gina raised a hand to her mouth. “He’s a drug lord, isn’t he?”
Well, it was as good a lie as any, Darcy decided. “Something like that.”
“Typical.” Gina made a disgusted noise. “It’s just like my grandmother always says.”
“What does she say?”
“If something seems too good to be true…”
Darcy gave a humorless laugh. “You’re preaching to the choir, sister,” she muttered, her thoughts painfully turning to Styx and his ruthless manipulation of her memories. Her fingers curled tightly around the phone in her hand. “I have to go.”
“Where are you going?” Gina demanded.
“I’m not really sure.” She managed a stiff smile. “Thank you, Gina, and please promise me you’ll be careful.”
“Me?” The woman deliberately glanced around the disaster of a building. “I’m not the one playing hide-and-seek in a nasty warehouse.”
“Just promise me, please,” Darcy insisted. She would never forgive herself if Gina was harmed.
“Sure, whatever. I’ll be careful.”
With a shrug the woman turned and walked out the door. Within moments Darcy could hear the sound of a car starting and roaring out of the parking lot.
Alone, she sucked in a deep breath and stared at the phone with a large lump of fear lodged in the pit of her stomach.
This was it.
Flipping open the phone, she studied the one number that was listed under contacts.
She had the means she needed to contact Salvatore.
Now all she needed was the nerve to do it.
—
Salvatore was in his office studying the large stack of reports that had recently arrived from Italy.
It would no doubt shock the entire demon world to learn that Salvatore possessed a staff of the most talented scientists and doctors in the world. They liked to dismiss Weres as savage dogs without intelligence or sophistication. How else could they justify keeping the werewolves imprisoned and oppressed?
Salvatore was quite happy to keep them in the dark. Eventually they would learn just how wrong their assumptions were, but not until the last of his plans fell into place.
And for that he needed Darcy Smith.
The image of her fragile features had barely formed in his mind when, with a haunting sense of destiny, his cell phone broke the thick silence.
Frowning at the interruption, Salvatore automatically checked to see who would be bothering him at such an hour. His heart came to a halt as he recognized the number of his second cell phone.
The one he had left for Darcy.
After flipping the phone open, he pressed it to his ear even as he was hurrying from the room and motioning for Hess, who had been standing guard at the door.
“Cara?“ he said in a soothing tone. There was silence at the other end although his enhanced hearing could easily pick up Darcy’s ragged breath. “I can feel you there. Speak to me, Darcy.”
“I… want to meet,” she at last rasped.
Salvatore leaped down the stairs and then another set as his entire body hummed with electric excitement. He could sense the worried wariness in Darcy’s voice, but there was something else there as well. A hint of defiance.
Whatever her fear, she was determined to confront him.
Which could only mean the gargoyle had revealed the picture that Salvatore had planted for him to find.
“It is what I want as well, cara, although you will have to forgive me if I prefer our encounter to take place somewhere other than a vampire lair.” Salvatore took the last of the stairs and moved across the crumbling lobby. “You are welcome to join me at my own humble home. It may not be as elegant, but I can promise that you will be a most honored guest.”
“No. I want to meet somewhere public. Somewhere that I’ll feel safe.”
He wasn’t bothered by her sharp tone. She was an intelligent woman. It was only natural for her to be suspicious.
After leaving the building, Salvatore smoothly crossed to the waiting Humvee and slid into the passenger seat. Hess was just as quick as he took his place behind the wheel and turned over the engine.
“How many times must I assure you that I would never hurt you, cara?” Salvatore demanded, flicking on the GPS system. A smile touched his lips as the tracking system that he had installed in Darcy’s cell phone flicked to life. She was a good distance away in an abandoned warehouse west of the city, but she was well away from the protection of the vampires. “You are the most important thing in this world to me.”
He sensed her disbelief. And the fragile fear that clutched her. She felt vulnerable, and the least hint of threat would send her running.
“Will you meet me someplace public or not?” she demanded.
“I will meet you anywhere you desire,” he assured her softly.
“And I want your promise that you’ll come alone.”
Salvatore was slammed against the passenger door as Hess raced through the empty streets at a hair-raising speed.
“Now, cara, you must be reasonable. For all I know this is a trap being set by your vampire. I’m not entirely stupid.”
“Neither am I. There’s no way I’m going to let myself be surrounded by a pack of werewolves.”
“Then we must find a compromise. I am willing to do whatever is necessary—”
Without warning his soothing words were interrupted as she gave a low growl.
“You son of a bitch.”
Salvatore frowned. “As a matter of fact I am, but what has you so angry?”
“You’re already here, aren’t you? You were tracking me.”
His blood ran cold.
Which was saying something for a werewolf.
His blood was usually just short of an inferno.
“Someone is there?”
“You followed me into town, or you’ve put something into the phone. Dammit, Styx was right. You can’t be trusted.”
“Darcy, you must listen to me.” His voice was thick with urgency. “Whoever is in the warehouse with you, it’s not me, or any of my pack.”
“Oh yeah? Then how did you know I’m in a ware house, Salvatore?” she demanded. “Admit it, you’ve tracked me.”
Salvatore gave a low snarl. For the first time in his existence he struggled not to shift against his will.
If anything happened to Darcy…
“Cazzo. Si, the phone is being monitored by my pack, but we are still blocks away,” he confessed, silently attempting to judge how long it would take to reach the warehouse. “I do not know who is in the building with you, but you are in danger.”
“Why should I believe you?” She sucked in a gasp as a distant howl echoed in the background. “Shit.”
Salvatore’s every instinct shivered in warning. He recognized that howl.
It could only belong to a werewolf.
“Listen to me, cara. You must get out of there. Get out of there now.”
Her breath rasped over the phone. “This is starting to feel like a really bad slash-and-trash movie.”
Salvatore motioned Hess to even greater speed. “What?”
“You know, when the police call to tell the babysitter that the threatening calls are coming from inside the house?”
He gave a shake of his head, wondering if her fear had driven her nuts.
“I do not know this movie, but—” He bit off his words as a sudden static punished his sensitive ear. “Darcy!”
The static was cut off as the line went dead. Throwing aside the phone, Salvatore glared toward the cur at his side.
“Have me at the warehouse in the next fifteen minutes or I’ll eat your heart for breakfast.”
Chapter Thirteen
Darcy shoved the phone in her pocket as she warily studied the woman standing near the railing above her. Yowser. She didn’t look like the sort of woman who would prowl around filthy warehouses. Not with that tall, willowy frame and sleek black hair that framed a perfect oval face and slanted eyes.
She was more an exotic butterfly that should be drenched in silk and champagne.
Still, Darcy was smart enough not to be taken in by appearances. If the past few days had taught her nothing else, it was that the most beautiful, elegant creatures in the world were also the most lethal.
A fact that was only reinforced as the strange woman glided down the stairs. Yes, glided, Darcy acknowledged with a shiver. There was no other word for it.
The woman wasn’t human. Or at least not entirely human.
Darcy hastily backed toward the closest window. Having an escape route nearby seemed a handy thing. Not as handy as a gun, of course, but since she didn’t think she could pull the trigger even if she had one, the window was the best she was going to do.
“So, you are the mysterious, oh-so-fascinating Darcy Smith,” the woman drawled, her tone raising the hair on the back of Darcy’s neck. “I thought that your pictures must have been doing you a disservice, but I see you truly are as… common as I thought.”
Common?
Well, Darcy had certainly been called worse. But not with that precise hint of malice, or that very personal hatred that shimmered in the dark eyes.
Somehow she had managed to piss off this woman, and now she was determined to make Darcy pay.
“Sorry to disappoint,” she muttered. “Have we met?”
“You’d already be dead if we had met,” the woman growled, her dark eyes beginning to glow with a peculiar light.
Another chill inched down Darcy’s spine as she instinctively reached to touch the broken window behind her. She was beginning to recognize that distinctive glow.
The woman was a Were.
Which meant that Salvatore was lying through his perfect white teeth (a seeming tradition for demons of all persuasions). And that Darcy was in very, very deep shit. She might be able to hold her own against most humans, but she didn’t believe for a moment she could manage to fend off a ravaging wolf.
“I’m going to take a wild leap here and guess you don’t like me much.” Darcy attempted to distract the… thing prowling ever closer. “Do you mind sharing what I’ve done to offend you?”
A shimmer of energy could be seen glowing around the slender body. “You’re offensive.”
“Just overall offensive, or could you narrow that down a little?”
“You’re human.” She turned her head to spit on the floor.
Darcy gave a lift of her brows. “That’s it? I’m offensive because I’m human? Rather harsh.”
“You’re offensive because Salvatore would prefer you to me,” she hissed.
Well… cripes.
That’s all she needed. A psychopathic ex-girlfriend. One who also happened to be a werewolf.
Thanks a buttload, Salvatore.
Darcy covertly began to ease the broken window upward. She preferred not to have to plunge through the ragged remains of glass if she could avoid it.
She was funny like that.
“Then Salvatore doesn’t know you’re here?” she countered.
“Of course not.” The glow in the almond eyes became downright spooky. “The fool is so besotted with you that he would kill me if he learned I had so much as crossed your precious path.”
So, Salvatore hadn’t been lying.
A wave of relief washed through Darcy. Foolish, of course, when there was a very good chance she was about to be eaten by his angry girlfriend.
She pressed the window up a few more inches.
“And yet, here you are,” she said in a tight tone.
“He shouldn’t have sent me away. I may be a cur, but I’m not his bitch to be dumped and ditched.” The shimmer became more distinct as the air filled with a prickling heat. “He’ll pay for that.”
Darcy swallowed the lump in her throat.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Look, I’m sure this is all no more than a misunderstanding. I barely even know Salvatore.”
The window was nearly half open. Just a few more minutes. Oh please, God, give me a few more minutes.
“In fact, we’re practically strangers. Maybe if you went back to talk with him this could all be sorted out.”
“I intend to sort it out now.”
With a hair-raising growl the woman abruptly leaped forward, her slender form smoothly changing from human to wolf before Darcy’s stunned gaze.
Shock held her motionless for a heart-stopping moment. Being told that werewolves existed was one thing; watching a woman transform into a towering beast was quite another.
There was something oddly awe inspiring about the sight.
And something starkly terrifying.
Belatedly coming to her senses, Darcy barely managed to dive to the side as the Were landed only inches away. There was a frustrated growl as the Were turned her head to reveal the glowing red eyes and teeth that looked custom made to rip through flesh.
Oy. There was nothing human left in those horrible eyes. Nothing that could be reasoned with anyway.
Crab walking backward, Darcy kept her eyes firmly on the werewolf, who was crouching low as she prepared to leap again.
She didn’t have a clue how she was supposed to fight off the beast, but she did know she had to try. As much as she preferred a nonviolent solution to the encounter, she was smart enough to realize that it was going to be difficult to reason with a pouncing werewolf.
There was a low growl of warning and the animal was streaking forward. Instinctively, Darcy kicked out with both legs. It was a desperate act, but astonishingly she managed a direct strike to the werewolf’s muzzle, and with a sharp yip the werewolf halted to give a shake of her head.
Darcy was inst
antly on her feet and racing toward the far door. She didn’t really believe she could make it, but at the moment any amount of space she could muster between her and her attacker was a good thing.
It was sheer instinct again that saved her life as she felt a prickle run down her spine and with a headlong dive she was on the filthy floor even as the werewolf bounded over her head.
Her breath had been knocked from her lungs by the sudden contact with the cement floor, and it was only with an effort that she pressed herself to her hands and knees.
Beyond her she could see that the werewolf’s wild leap had landed her in the middle of a stack of rusting barrels. A handful had managed to tumble on top of her, effectively pinning her to the ground.
But not for long, Darcy realized. On the point of lifting herself to her feet, she noticed a short, metal pipe lying just a few inches away. Reluctantly she plucked the pipe from the ground as she straightened and continued her path to the door.
She had nearly made it across the warehouse when the scrape of claws on cement forced her to whirl around and confront the approaching werewolf.
“Crap,” she breathed, her mouth dry as she watched the long teeth headed straight for her throat.
Not allowing herself time to consider, she gave a swing of the pipe directly at the approaching head.
There was a horrid thud as the steel met the thick skull with enough force to send Darcy flying backward.
She collected several more painful bumps, but as she scrambled back to her feet, she realized that she had managed to stun the beast.
Maybe more than stunned, she acknowledged with a deep shudder.
Lying on her side with her eyes closed, the Were was bleeding heavily from a gash that ran from one ear to the curve of her muzzle.
A sickness rolled through Darcy’s stomach as she realized that she had hit the woman harder than she had intended.
She had always sensed she was stronger than the av erage woman, but to best a werewolf…
She really was a freak.
With a shake of her head Darcy forced away the absurd thoughts and, still clutching the pipe, headed for the door.
She charged from the warehouse, and as she headed across the parking lot she noticed a sleek sports car that was parked near a Dumpster.
Darkness Everlasting Page 16
