Expecting Darkness: An Immortal Ops World Novel (Immortal Ops: Crimson Ops Series Book 2)

by Mandy M. Roth

  “Asshole of the Week?” Searc glanced down at Blaise and then up at Auberi. “Yer just trying to divert attention from when you were sparkling all over the city the other night. Nothing screams ‘badass super soldier’ like silver glitter. Yer lucky we do nae rename you Sparkles.”

  Auberi gave him a hard look. “I am still finding glitter in delicate places.”

  “Too much info there, buddy,” said Malik, putting his hands up. “None of us want to know about your junk sparkling.”

  “I could elaborate more.” Auberi batted his eyes.

  All the men shook their heads and yelled “no” at the same time.

  Auberi shrugged.

  Malik took a snapshot of Blaise on his phone as well. “This is just for me to remember this by. Though it may earn him an honorable mention for the Asshole of the Week award.”

  “Like you missing your eyebrows recently and sharing the award with Corbin?” asked Boomer, a smug look upon his face. “The eyebrows Striker drew on you were on fleek. You didn’t look like an evil villain in the least. Nope. Not one bit.”

  Malik growled.

  Searc snorted. He’d seen Malik afterward; permanent marker had replaced the man’s eyebrows. Apparently, when Striker was drawing them on, the vehicle they were in swerved or jolted, making his hand jerk. One brow had gone wickedly high, giving Malik the appearance of a supervillain. Malik had been less than thrilled, especially when he’d realized the marker didn’t wash off.

  “I greatly dislike all of you,” said Malik, his voice even, his gaze saying otherwise.

  Auberi grinned. “Liar. You had fun tonight. Admit it.”

  It had been a fun night, until they’d realized just how shit-faced Blaise had gotten. Thankfully, none of the fraternity guys would remember having a vampire feed from them. Blaise was good at his ability to mesmerize his food, regardless of what state of mind he was in, and Daniel, the stodgy Brit among them, who also happened to be their captain, had assured them all that no bite marks were left upon the boys. He had also guaranteed a van was called to drive them back to their house on campus. All would end well for them.

  The fraternity brothers would awaken late in the day with hangovers and the urge to eat more than usual. Other than that, they’d be fine. The same could not be said of Blaise. His behavior of late could only be labeled as self-destructive. Case in point, he was out cold in the center of the town square. Thankfully, it was a college town so no eyebrows had raised from those passing by, and Blaise looked as if he was in the same age group as the students. Locals who passed them simply nodded as if this type of thing happened nightly.

  It probably did.

  A marked police car drove by slowly. The human officer rolled down his window and glanced out at Blaise. “He okay?”

  “Nae if yer counting him being a moron,” returned Searc as Auberi nodded. “If that is being taken into consideration, he’s far from okay.”

  The officer snorted. “I’ve got a few buddies like that too. He’s not driving tonight, is he?”

  “No,” returned Searc. “I’m considering tying him to the roof of my SUV.”

  Malik grinned. “Oh, that’s a great idea. Let’s do that.”

  “Fun,” said Boomer, seeming all in with the idea.

  The police officer laughed. When Searc didn’t laugh as well, the look on the officer’s face changed.

  Auberi sighed and approached the officer to no doubt mesmerize him into forgetting he ever saw anything out of the ordinary. Auberi was with the man for a few moments and then the officer drove off, his gaze forward, never wavering back to them. Auberi returned and gave Searc a hard look.

  “What? Like it took a lot of work to influence him,” said Searc snidely. “Let’s go. We’ll come back for Blaise later.”

  Auberi glanced up at the night sky. “Leaving him would be unwise. When the sun rises, he’ll be ash.”

  Searc huffed, hating that Auberi was right. The oldest of their kind could tolerate indirect sunlight for brief periods, but most vampires he knew didn’t fare well in the light at all. Blaise would be all right for a very short period of time, but he’d not last forever in it by any means. “Then call him a cab. He’s likely to piss in my SUV.”

  “Searc.”

  “Auberi,” returned Searc, refusing to budge. “He’s yer brother. You see to his needs.”

  “Where is Daniel?” asked Auberi, glancing around. “He should be done loading the young men into the van. Do you think he’s now trying to romance an unsuspecting co-ed into his bed?”

  Searc laughed. “Och, that was you an hour ago and you know it. Christ, I do nae think she was old enough to vote.”

  “She was,” argued Auberi. “I saw her ID and everything.”

  Malik put his hands in his front pants pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet. “Was it fake?”

  “No. Well, I don’t think so.”

  “Was she old enough to buy alcohol?” questioned Searc, giving his longtime friend a knowing look.

  Auberi had the decency to blush. “It would depend on what country we were in. The one we are currently standing in, no. Not so much.”

  Unable to help himself, he laughed. “That is what I thought.”

  Auberi waved a hand dismissively in the air, letting his long dark brown hair fall over one shoulder. He wore a shirt that probably retailed for several hundred dollars, a pair of expensive dress slacks, and high-end shoes. He’d always been fancy. The French normally were. “You have forgotten what it’s like to have fun. There was a time when she would have been considered past her prime.”

  “And now she’s considered jailbait.” Searc knew it wasn’t really possible for them to date women their age. Immortal males far outnumbered females. And often, women who were in their hundreds preferred to date young supernatural males or human males. They didn’t much care for the baggage the men with centuries under their belts had. Searc couldn’t blame them.

  “No,” said Auberi, flashing a daring smile and showing fang. “She’s just over being considered jailbait.”

  “Splittin’ hairs there, old friend.”

  Boomer grinned. “I’m so glad I’m mated. I get laid all the time and don’t have to worry about any of this crap.”

  Auberi shuddered. “One woman all the time, no others? No thank you.”

  Malik laughed. “I’m with Frenchie.”

  “Me too,” said Searc.

  Malik eyed him. “From what I’m told, you haven’t been with anyone in years. Care to share why? Holding a torch for Auberi?”

  Instantly, Searc thought of his sire, Cormag. The man had a daughter whom Searc could not get out of his mind. Each time the opportunity for sex arose it was Jessie’s face he pictured, her full, rosy lips, her pale skin, her long red hair. His dick wilted at the idea of any other woman. He wasn’t sure why that was, but he was pretty sure he was broken. He glanced away, wanting to avoid answering Malik’s question at all cost.

  Auberi snorted. “Because he is obsessed with a woman who is also barely legal. Fine one to lecture.”

  “Och, I’m nae obsessed with Jessie,” he snapped.

  Auberi grinned. “I never said a name. You did.”

  His body heated. “I know who you meant. And I’m nae obsessed with her.”

  “Could have fooled me,” said Auberi with a shrug.

  Blaise moaned and opened one eye partially, drawing attention to him and away from talk of Jessie. When he spoke, it was in French, and Searc caught only part of what the sloshed vampire had to say. While Searc did speak French as well, he did not speak drunken French.

  Auberi apparently heard it all, because he tossed his head back and laughed. He then looked to Searc. “He wants to go to another bar for round two. He thinks the night is young yet. He also thinks you have a thing for Jessie.”

  Searc grunted. “I really need new friends.”

  “Why is Regnier still on the ground?” asked their team captain, Daniel Townsend, as he came around
the corner of the building nearest them. He paused as he got closer and sniffed the air. His gaze whipped to Blaise. “How is it he smells worse than when I left him less than an hour ago? Did you give him more to drink?”

  “No. He smells that way because he drank from those boys who consumed cheap beer,” said Auberi with a snort. “A lot of it. We think he might be pickled at this point.”

  “Cheap beer is the best kind,” offered Searc, knowing it would draw a look of horror from Daniel.

  “You Scots are always so unsophisticated,” said Malik with a half-smile. “I like my liquor like I like my women: smooth, refined, and expensive.”

  “I see why you and Auberi are close,” said Daniel. He was older than Searc, and everything about him screamed stodgy British aristocrat—exactly what Daniel had been in his life. Death had done nothing to change his mannerisms or nuances. It was amazing he’d bothered updating his wardrobe. Though there were days Daniel wore pieces that were clearly from historic London.

  Searc couldn’t judge that too harshly. He still preferred wearing a kilt to jeans. He had an endless supply of t-shirts, liking them better than fancy, high-end clothing. Of course, this horrified Auberi. The man had made multiple attempts over the decades to improve Searc’s fashion choices, even going so far as to enlist Daniel. Nothing stuck. Searc did use one of the fancy shirts they bought him to wash one of his sports cars. Auberi had been less than amused when he’d found out.

  “Auberi, pick up Blaise and put him in the back of the SUV,” said Daniel, adjusting the cuffs of his dress shirt.

  “I’m afraid I’m unable to do so,” replied Auberi, motioning to Searc. “He’s refusing to allow Blaise in his vehicle.”

  Daniel eyed him.

  Searc held his ground. “No. No way. He’ll either piss himself or puke.”

  Auberi laughed. “Or both.”

  “We can put him on the roof rack,” said Searc, finding his joke to the officer had merit after all. “I’d be willing to let him ride there. We can put a tarp around him or something to keep the sun from hitting him when it rises and to keep people on the highway from realizing we’ve a body on the roof.”

  “He will be less than pleased when he recovers,” said Auberi with a wicked smile. “And I’ll tell him it was all your idea.”

  “I’m fine with that,” returned Searc.

  With a shrug, Daniel eyed Blaise’s six-foot-four-inch frame. “Make it so.”

  “Aye, aye, captain,” replied Searc, drawing confused looks from his friends. Pop culture references were often lost on them. He tended to stay a bit more up to date on things. Nowhere near as much as Blaise, but more so than the other two men on their team.

  Boomer pulled his phone out. “I’m getting pictures of this then.”

  “How much have you had to drink on this night?” questioned Daniel, looking at Searc.

  Searc grinned. “One frat boy. I’m totally guid to drive.”

  Daniel touched Auberi’s shoulder. “Gather Blaise and let’s be on our way.”

  Auberi did as their captain requested, lifting Blaise’s limp form and tossing him over one shoulder. He glanced at Searc. “Have you rope to secure him to the roof?”

  “No, but we can use our belts,” said Searc, fully intending to strap the man to the rack. “And if he falls off, he’ll bounce. Probably. He won’t feel anything. He’s too drunk.”

  “This is why I did not select you as my end-of-life decision maker on my paperwork at PSI,” said Auberi.

  “Yer still pissed I suggested we push you into the light at the end to save time and money.” Searc waggled his brows. “We can take yer ashes, put them in small baggies, and pass ’em out to everyone as a keepsake. Oh, I wonder if your ashes will sparkle now too since you’re still finding glitter in delicate places.”

  “Ooo, good plan,” interjected Malik. “I’ll sprinkle them in my kitty litter.”

  Auberi flipped him off with his free hand as he held Blaise with his other.

  They were only a few feet from where they’d started when the overwhelming urge to stop came over Searc. It felt as if he’d been hooked in the gut, behind his bellybutton, by something mystical. Gasping, he paused in his step.

  “The Scot is staring off into space,” said Auberi, drawing Searc’s attention.

  “Do you nae sense it?” he asked, the pull nearly making him fall over.

  The men shared a look, but it was Daniel who spoke. “Sense what, exactly?”

  “The pull in that direction,” returned Searc, his fist clenching as the lure grew.

  “This a vampire thing?” asked Boomer.

  “I sense nothing of the sort,” supplied Daniel, something off in his gaze. “Does it feel tainted? Dark?”

  “No,” said Searc. “It feels…like…I have no choice but to go.”

  “Is Cormag summoning you?” asked Daniel.

  No sooner had the words left Daniel’s mouth than the overwhelming urge to find Cormag came over Searc. He swayed and reached out for anything to steady himself.

  Daniel was suddenly next to him, helping to keep him upright. “Searc? What is it?”

  “Something is off,” Searc said. “Cormag has nae summoned me in decades, and never with such force.”

  “Then we shall get you to him at once. Can you sense where he is?” asked Daniel.

  Searc nodded. “He’s at his main house, but is requesting I go to the nightclub he owns.”

  “Go. We’ve got this.”

  Auberi sighed. “I’ll phone for a car. Blaise can do all the damage he wants to that one.”

  “I vote we still tie him to the roof,” said Boomer.

  “I second that,” added Malik.

  Chapter Five

  Searc glanced up at the sign for Cormag’s nightclub. Sin had been hot and happening since it opened decades ago. If Searc didn’t know any better, he’d have thought Cormag made a deal with the devil. When the other clubs in the area went belly up, Sin managed to thrive. It also expanded then, taking over the club next to it. Cormag had purchased the other clubs in the district as well, turning some into restaurants and others into housing for up-and-coming young adults who wanted to live on the edge and be wild.

  Searc snorted, feeling like an old man as he entered the nightclub that catered to the supernatural. He was instantly rushed by thumping music and the overwhelming smell of arousal. His demon took note. It was exactly the type of place where his vampire side liked to be. The place was done in deep blues and vibrant reds. It was lavish but held an edge of danger to it. Just like Cormag.

  When he’d felt Cormag’s frantic summons, Searc had dropped everything to go to him. The men hadn’t spoken a word to one another in nearly four months, since Searc had called him and woke him from a dead sleep, positive something bad had happened to Jessie. And since Cormag had dismissed his worries and fears.

  Searc walked deeper into the nightclub. He felt static energy building, indicating he was nearing another of his line of vampires. Not just any member either—his maker, Cormag himself.

  As he moved through the crowd, he couldn’t help but hope Cormag’s daughter would be in attendance. He’d struggled with a strange pull to her for the greater part of six years now—from the moment she’d turned eighteen. He couldn’t explain it, nor did he try. He did stay away, knowing distance was key, but that didn’t stop the need to see her. The need to be sure she was okay. Or the fact that since she’d become an adult, he often thought of her when he was feeling randy and wanting to sate his manly needs. Try as he might, he could not seem to get his dick to work for other women. It was Jessie his mind conjured when his body needed something more, and it was his hand that had to get him off.

  Before Jessie had come of age, he’d been scarily protective of her. He wondered if it was because he’d been at Cormag’s home twenty-three years ago when a woman had shown up with a basket containing a baby and a rather colorful tale of the child being the master vampire’s daughter. But none of that
explained the current need to see her, the pull to be near her, and the way she made his body react. It didn’t explain why he’d woken four months back positive she’d needed him. And why he’d struggled with his demon side to keep from rushing to her. Or why he spent so much time jerking off to thoughts of her pale skin, her full lips, her wide brown eyes.

  Jessie Buchanan was quite possibly the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen, and he’d seen quite a few in his nearly three hundred years of roaming the earth. None compared to her. And dammit all to hell if she wasn’t the daughter of his maker. It wasn’t as if Cormag let her date anyone, let alone the one man who had been a thorn in Cormag’s side for centuries.

  Cormag trusted him fully and would have Searc at his back in a fight, but he’d never hand him his daughter. He wouldn’t hand Jessie to any man. Searc couldn’t be sure, but he’d once heard Cormag mention something about a nunnery in regards to his daughter.

  “Och, if you had a daughter, you’d be the same way,” he reminded himself before thinking of Jessie once more.

  She was driving him mad. Maybe she had siren in her DNA makeup. He knew she’d been part of the Asia Project, though at the time she’d come into Cormag’s life, none had known the full scope of it all.

  The Asia Project was a term used by PSI to label tests that had occurred some twenty to thirty years prior. While many had happened in Asia, there had been plenty spread all over the world. Women had been tested on while pregnant, their fetuses subjected to genetic manipulation and engineering. Once the mothers had served their purpose as brood mares, they were disposed of or went missing.

  The children had been dispersed by the bad guys when PSI and the Immortal Ops got too close to their operation. Most of the children had been sent to all corners of the globe. They were adults now and if they hadn’t yet come into their powers, they would soon.