Dark Child of Forever (Dark Destinies Book 3)

by S. K. Ryder

  “Um. Sure.”

  Dominic made quick and liberal use of the shower in Jackson’s suite before donning the same boots and black leather jacket together with a pair of Jackson’s jeans and a fresh T-shirt. Damp and reeking of the hotel’s floral soap, he made his way to his suite, Jackson trailing behind.

  At the end of the hall near a fire exit, he spotted anther of Isao’s younglings, his oldest. With his wild, russet hair and broad face, Kostya looked a little like a taller, brawnier version of Serge and was almost as old, too.

  He barely had time to acknowledge Kostya’s small bow of greeting before Cassidy opened the door and pulled him into her arms. Purple smudges of exhaustion shadowed her eyes. “Mon amour,” he whispered as he tucked her close against his chest and inside his soul. Mon coeur, mon tout. A sense of peace brushed his mind as he buried his face in the loose knot of hair she had piled on top of her head. A sense of comfort and completion. A sense of home.

  “Dominic?”

  His mother stood behind Cassidy, her features drawn with anxiety and a touch of displeasure. She believed he was returning from a business trip, one that had taken far too long given the current family crisis. Only when she didn’t come forward to greet him, did he realize that he had forgotten to conceal his true appearance. She was seeing him—staring at him—the way he truly was. Gaunt, pale, and not quite human.

  “Maman,” he said, releasing Cassidy.

  Garrett, standing back, nodded a grim-faced greeting.

  She reached for his face, her eyes searching his. He caught her hands in his own. “Maman. Are you well?”

  “What . . . what happened to you?”

  For a long, long moment, Dominic didn’t know how to answer that question. Then he reeled from the shock that he even considered answering it.

  Cassidy gave him a mental nudge. Do something. Just a small compulsion. Set her mind at ease and tell her you know where Genevie is. Then let her get some rest.

  He didn’t.

  He couldn’t.

  He couldn’t utter one more lie or spin one more deception. Not to her. Not to himself. “Je suis mort,” he whispered. “The son you knew is dead.”

  There was a soft, collective gasp from Cassidy, Jackson and Garrett. His mother’s blue eyes, always so strong and confident, narrowed with doubt and the shadow of something Dominic had never seen there—fear. “What are you talking about?”

  Dominic brought her hands to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. She grasped his fingers as though reaching for a lifeline, unaware that this lifeline was about to pull her to the bottom of a sea she never knew existed.

  “Don’t do this,” Garrett said under his breath. “She’s suffered enough.”

  “Oui. She has,” Dominic agreed. He guided her to the sofa and sat, pulling her down beside him. “She has suffered lies and questions without answers. And she will suffer them no more.”

  Dominic laid out his story before her. The tale of how he, her beloved son, chef at the family restaurant, and celebrated playboy in a carefree world of sun and pleasure, drew the attention of the ancient Kambyses. He told her of his turning. He told her of the subsequent torture he endured. He told her of his escape and the solace he found with Cassidy. He even told her of how he came to take Kambyses’s place in the world of night. And he told her about Adilla and Esteban and how they challenged him and almost killed him. The only thing he did not tell her was his part in the deaths of his father and sister, which, together with his disappearance, had destroyed her world.

  Then he told her about Genevie. “She is safe for a little while longer, but she has become a bargaining chip in a power struggle that I will not lose, no matter the price. She will survive. As a mortal. That I swear to you.”

  Francesca had listened to every word with a face that had gone blank of all expression. No shock. No surprise. No reaction beyond the occasional glance at the others in the room. Now that he was done, she slowly pulled her hands from his grasp, brushed a knuckle over her lips and cleared her throat. Her face might be carefully schooled, but her heartbeat was not. Dominic heard it racing out of control. When she had collected herself, she looked up at him. “Why would you tell me such things, Dominic?”

  His eyes stung. “Because you deserve to know the truth. And because I am so very tired.”

  “So you believe this then? You truly believe you are . . . a vampire?”

  “I truly wish I were not.”

  “I see.” She glanced around. “And you? Cassidy? Garrett? You believe this as well?” They let their silence speak for them. She didn’t listen. “Why would you encourage him like this? He is sick. You are taking advantage of a sick mind.”

  “Maman,” Dominic tried, reaching for her hand.

  She grabbed his wrist hard before he could say anything more, her fierce tone dropping low. “Listen to me, mon fils. You are not well. I don’t know how I missed this until now, but you are not well. Maybe it is drugs, or maybe a virus really did get to you and made you think such things, but you need help. And I will help you. Do you understand?”

  Dominic’s mouth pulled into a bitter smile. There she was, his mother. Never one to suffer defeat. Always charging into the situation, taking control. “You cannot fix this.”

  “Don’t be absurd. You are delusional and these people are letting you believe it because they want to get their hands on your money.” She leaned forward, voice going soft, earnest. “You are not a vampire, mon chérie. There is no such thing. You are just ill. You can be helped.” She grasped his hand harder. “You can be helped.”

  Please. Compel her to forget this conversation and let her go, Cassidy begged.

  Very slowly, Dominic let the vampire rise to the surface, darkening his eyes until the whites disappeared. The sharp points of his teeth emerged. His mother blinked, straightened.

  “There is no help for me,” he said, sounding a touch inhuman. “My only salvation lies in acceptance of the truth. By me and by those I love.”

  “You selfish bastard,” Garrett grumbled.

  Dominic looked at the man who had begged him to turn him because he didn’t want to die. “You would know, of course.”

  Color suffused Garrett’s wan face. Even with the blood, he was not holding up well. His disease would get the better of him before much longer.

  Dominic held out his hand to Garrett in silent invitation. The old hunter’s mouth flattened. He stared at Dominic, stared at what he would become—and walked forward. Sitting on the coffee table in front of Dominic, he placed his left wrist into Dominic’s waiting hand.

  “Garrett?” Francesca asked. “What is this?”

  “The selfish fucking truth,” he snapped hoarsely. To Dominic he added, “Get on with it then.”

  Dominic did.

  In full view of all that remained of his past life, he sank his teeth into Garrett’s wrist. Closing his eyes, he sampled the blood, only dimly aware of the silent grief streaming down his mother’s face.

  Chapter 26

  Don’t Move

  Francesca Marchant was nothing if not practical. It took her all of fifteen minutes to process the irrefutable evidence that her son was no longer human. The shock Cassidy had expected lasted only half that long. After that, she nodded to herself as though coming to a decision, wiped the moisture from her face with a handkerchief, and started asking pointed questions. How strong was he really? How immortal? What were his limitations? Who was this vampire who dared to kidnap Genevie? And what would Dominic do about getting her back?

  “Everything I can,” he promised. He reached out a reassuring hand to her, but she pulled back a little before she caught herself, and Dominic stayed his hand. Cassidy felt the sting of disappointment in his heart. His mother may appear to accept the situation, but she was far from comfortable with it.
She sat between Dominic and Cassidy, stick-straight with wary tension.

  “Staying in the area and waiting to try this stunt again at sunset was out of the question,” Jackson protested when his uncle questioned him on his tactics. “Dominic was barely awake. I wasn’t about to risk—”

  Garrett raised a placating hand. “Easy, Jack. I wasn’t there. You secured both of you. That’s what counts. But that doesn’t change the fact that we need to get back there with some element of surprise.”

  “Why are we not calling the police?” Francesca insisted. “Genevie is being held captive. The authorities need to be informed.”

  For a moment everyone was silent. Then Cassidy, whom Francesca seemed to gravitate to now, said, “You’d be condemning them to death.”

  “We would have to tell them that they would need to leave before sunset, of course.”

  “Do you think they would believe you?” Cassidy asked gently and watched the woman’s composure waver.

  “Cassidy is right, Francesca,” Garrett said. “We can’t risk getting ignorant humans involved.”

  She fingered the handkerchief in her lap. “Then what will you do, Dominic?”

  Her son leaned forward, elbows on his knees. He had taken off his jacket, and the navy blue T-shirt he wore did little to hide his still-thin physique. Some lines were the usual hard muscle, but mostly they were bone. “I cannot risk traveling by day again. I need to be there and at full strength right at sunset without alerting the human guards that anything is amiss.”

  What he didn’t say but what Cassidy felt slither in his thoughts was that there would be no hope for Genevie otherwise. Assuming Adilla hadn’t changed his mind about her and she wasn’t already dead.

  “We can transport you,” Jackson suggested. “Fly you out while you’re sleeping.”

  Both Dominic and Cassidy gave Jackson a long look.

  “Fuck. You know you can trust me.”

  “I do, chèr. But I don’t trust all the others along the way who would see you transporting me. Any number of them could be under Esteban’s command.”

  “Even if we fly at night, we would have to take the jet to Calgary,” Garrett reasoned. “That’s an hour and a half. Add another two hours on the road, and the night is half over.”

  “What if he wakes up on the plane?” Jackson suggested.

  Dominic raked the fingers of both hands through his damp hair. “Still too long. I must be there at sunset.”

  Silence descended as everyone fell into their own thoughts.

  Francesca was first to speak. “And if you are there right at sunset . . . can you defy all these vampires by yourself? Are you that strong?”

  Dominic gave his mother a weary sideways smile. “It is only two of them I need to worry about, and as long as I get a day’s rest, I will be strong enough.” To emphasize this point, he conjured the illusion he had been showing her before, the version of him she remembered—strong, tanned, and human. It vanished moments after she inhaled sharply, the effort to maintain it too great and no longer necessary. “They will submit or die. The rest will fall into line.”

  You hope, Cassidy said. He didn’t argue. He knew it was a gamble. The others could turn on him as easily as submit, especially Bhavanur and Markandeya who were just as old and strong as Adilla. And two hundred vampires were two hundred vampires. Regardless how powerful Dominic was, there would be only one of him.

  “What we need is to get you there during the day,” Jackson said. He stood with his arms crossed, staring out the window at North Vancouver glowing on the bay’s far shore. “And we need to do it as inconspicuously as possible.”

  “Oui. You could bag me and drive me back there.” He said it with a straight face, but Cassidy felt the reluctance behind the words.

  I would come with you, she let him know quickly. Watch you.

  He made no reply.

  “That’s what I was thinking. But not in the SUV.” Jackson turned away from the window to face them. “We need to be completely under the radar. Totally unexpected.”

  “I’m listening,” Garrett prompted.

  Jackson raised his hands and lowered them, palms up as though presenting his idea on a platter. “RV.”

  Cassidy’s brows lifted.

  Dominic smiled.

  Garrett nodded.

  Francesca looked between them. “I do not understand. What are you saying, Jackson?”

  “RV. Recreational vehicle,” Garrett explained.

  “I saw them all over the road when we drove out there,” Jackson elaborated. “And there’s a campsite on the access road to the village. We’d have every legitimate reason to be there. And there would be bunks in the back. Dominic could be bagged in one, and I could grab a nap, too. Not to mention not having to stop to get food.”

  “Savant,” Dominic murmured. “This could work.”

  “It’ll work a lot better if you have someone you can trade off driving with,” Garrett said. “Count me in.”

  “And me,” Cassidy added. “You’re not driving his unconscious self around during the day without me.”

  Dominic gave her a sharp look that felt like a slap to her brain. You stay here.

  “What do you mean, I stay here?” she retorted, stunned.

  Francesca’s head swiveled to her. “What?”

  “I’m definitely not staying here while you go running off into danger again.”

  “You will be safer here,” Dominic countered. His words and his thoughts echoed each other. His hollowed eyes grew adamant.

  “You will be safer with me near you.” She was reaching, and she knew it. There wasn’t much she could do for him beyond being close enough to touch his mind. “I won’t spend another day not knowing what’s happening to you or if you’re even still alive.”

  “You go there, you become a target, Cassidy.” Dominic all but growled the words. Francesca stilled, suspended in the growing tension between them. “That salaud Esteban had his teeth into me. He could have pulled anything out of my addled head before I passed out. You may not be safe even here.”

  Cassidy got to her feet. “So much more reason for me to come with you then.”

  “So much more reason for you to get on a plane and go back to Florida,” Dominic snapped, getting up as well. His wild hair fell into his drawn face, giving him the look of madness.

  “Not happening.” She tipped her chin up in defiance. “I belong with you. I’m coming with you.”

  “Fille naïve! Why can you not see that I cannot focus on what I need to do if I have to worry about you?”

  “Foolish vampire. Why can’t you see that if anything happens to you, I would sooner be dead?”

  “Because this is not about just you anymore, Cassidy. Your responsibility needs to be to the child you carry.”

  She sucked at the air with shock as her hands flew to her belly. Suffocating silence followed. How dare you. Every eye in the room raked over her. This was definitely not how she had planned to announce this bit of news.

  Neither had Dominic. He dropped back into the sofa and put his head in both hands. Désolé, mon coeur.

  Cassidy closed her eyes. He could be sorry all he wanted, but not only was the news out now, his comment also confirmed what she already suspected. In the eyes of those around her, including the man she loved, she had been reduced to the status of a vessel for a being no bigger than a grain of sand.

  Francesca was the first to speak. “Is this . . . is this true? Cassidy, you are expecting a child?”

  Cassidy swallowed hard and opened her eyes. There was no point denying what two different vampires, a conspicuous absence of her usually timely period, and this morning’s pregnancy test confirmed. “Yes. I am.”

  A tiny frown marred the skin between Francesca�
��s shaped brows as she no doubt sifted through a storm of new information. “Then Dominic is correct. Of course, you must take care of yourself and not rush into danger.”

  Cassidy’s hands curled into fists, and a small cry of sheer frustration burst out of her. “I didn’t sign up for this.”

  Garrett exchanged a look with his nephew, and then considered Dominic as he scratched at his chin. “Would I be totally out of line if I asked how this—” an open-handed gesture at Cassidy “—happened?”

  “The suppressant?” Jackson wondered with quiet awe.

  Dominic nodded. “The child is mine.”

  Francesca’s head snapped up. “What? This is possible? Even though you are—” She stopped, uncertain.

  “Not human, Maman. No, it should not be possible. But the suppressant that lets me . . . function during the day seems to have made it so.” His smile broadened, becoming adorably sheepish. “I am to be a father.”

  “Congratulations,” Jackson said.

  “Merci, mon ami.”

  “I’ll be damned,” Garrett muttered.

  Francesca reached for Cassidy and pulled her down to the sofa beside her. Then she clasped her hand in both of hers so firmly Cassidy thought she might need to fight to get it back. “This is a miracle then, non? A miracle child of my lost son.”

  She opened her mouth, but didn’t have the heart to speak in light of what she saw in Francesca’s face. All the hard edges softened, and her smile was as watery as her eyes. “A miracle from God.”

  A grain-sized ball and chain with the weight of a world, Cassidy corrected.

  Dominic’s mind brushed against hers in warm apology. With a deep sigh, she capitulated. She would have gladly battled the vampire for the right to join him in danger. But against the mother determined to latch onto a ‘miracle’ grandchild, Cassidy knew she had no chance. The light in Francesca’s eyes told her that the woman would sooner lock her into a room before she let her out of her sight, much less risk her life.