Night Reigns

by Dianne Duvall

  A sensation of fear poked at the edges of his consciousness. Slowly lowering the towel, he strode back into the bedroom and paused to seek its origins.

  Ami was slipping into a nightmare. He recognized the pattern.

  Seth reached for the too-short sweatpants Marcus had loaned him and made a mental note to pop over to David’s for a change of clothes on the way back from Keegan’s.

  Pants on, borrowed shirt in hand, Seth headed down to the basement at immortal speed. He slowed and drew the shirt on as he approached Marcus’s closed bedroom door.

  The well-oiled hinges made no sound as he opened it.

  Marcus lay in bed beside Ami, propped up on one elbow.

  Ami lay on her back, limbs stiff, arms at her sides as though held down by manacles. Every once in a while she would jerk minutely, small twitches that broke Seth’s heart because he knew well what caused them. No screams erupted from her lips. But her breathing occasionally hitched with silent sobs.

  “What is it?” Marcus asked him, preternaturally quiet, as he stared down at her with concern.

  Seth strode to the bed. “She dreams of her captivity.” Placing the tips of his fingers to her forehead, he guided the dream away from the pain and toward happier times.

  The stiffness left her. Sighing, she curled onto her side and rubbed her cheek against her pillow. Her breathing grew slow and even as she slipped deeper into sleep.

  Withdrawing his hand, Seth met Marcus’s gaze. “She had such nightmares often in the months after we found her, but they gradually stopped. I had hoped they wouldn’t return.”

  “What did they do to her, Seth?” Marcus asked bluntly. Dread and anger battled for dominance in his brown eyes.

  “That isn’t for me to tell.” Seth left the room on silent feet and returned upstairs to fetch his boots. Opening one of the guest bedroom’s dresser drawers, he found a clean pair of socks. They, at least, should fit.

  “I need to know,” Marcus insisted, striding through the doorway in a pair of hastily donned sweatpants as Seth sat on the edge of the bed.

  “You’ll know once you read the files,” he replied and drew on a sock.

  “If smelling the sedative revived her nightmares, what the hell do you think seeing those files will do?” He paused, brow furrowing. “Wait. Do you think telling me what she is did it?”

  “No. It was the sedative.”

  Marcus began to pace. “I need to know what happened to her, what they did.” When Seth opened his mouth to refuse, Marcus stopped him. “I can’t read those files in front of her, and I can’t leave her alone until this is all resolved. Seth, if you loved her the way I do, if she were your woman, wouldn’t you need to know?”

  Hell yes. Seth had needed to know without the intimate connection to her. Which was why this wasn’t the first time he had looked into her dreams without her knowledge.

  He drew on the other sock. “I’ll tell you how we found her. Nothing more.”

  Marcus nodded and sat in the chair across the room, visibly bracing himself.

  “Ami didn’t scream aloud when they tortured her or experimented on her. She screamed in her mind,” he began, shoving a foot into a dirt-encrusted boot. “David and I traced her cries telepathically until we located the facility in which they kept her, then broke in. We found her in a lab that was a bit like a hospital operating room. She was naked, uncovered, splayed out on a sturdy metal table that was bolted to the floor.”

  Marcus clutched the arms of his chair.

  Seth pulled on the other boot. “Her arms and legs were restrained by steel manacles. Her head was strapped down, leaving her completely immobile. Men in surgical scrubs and lab coats surrounded her. Her body was emaciated and littered with small burns, puncture wounds, cuts, and contusions. Two of her fingers had been removed. Two of her toes as well. No wounds were bandaged.”

  The wooden arms began to crumble beneath Marcus’s grip, disintegrating into dust.

  “Her chest had been cracked open, and one of the men was using small electrical paddles to shock her heart. She was not in cardiac arrest. She was not sedated. No numbing agents were used. She felt everything they did to her.”

  Marcus’s eyes glowed a brilliant amber. His fangs descended, the tips showing as he rose with a curse.

  “Don’t,” Seth cautioned.

  “Don’t what?” Marcus growled, shaking with fury.

  “Don’t throw the chair. You’ll wake her.”

  Cursing, Marcus began to pace. “We have to kill them. And I mean all of them, Seth. We can’t let them get their hands on her again.”

  “I know. I’m on my way back to Keegan’s now. Chris thinks someone is watching them, so we may already have a lead.” Laces tied, Seth stood. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Marcus reached out and took his arm. “Seth ... her fingers and toes. How did you save them? Did you find them and reattach them?”

  “No. They grew back on their own. Ami’s ability to heal is remarkable. Her body’s regenerative abilities rival my own.”

  Shaking off Marcus’s hold, Seth teleported himself to Keegan’s laundry room.

  Ami sat on the sofa, body still, mind racing, wondering what—if anything—Seth had learned at Montrose Keegan’s place. He had been gone for hours with no word.

  “Don’t do that,” Marcus murmured beside her.

  Ami looked at him. “Don’t do what?”

  “Don’t hide what you’re feeling from me.”

  She frowned. “I’m not. Am I?”

  He ran a hand over her hair, rested his arm across the back of the sofa, brushing her shoulders. “If you’re nervous. . .” He shrugged, pursed his lips. “Fidget. Pace. Squeeze my hand. Aggravate Slim. Shoot something. Do whatever will make you feel better.”

  She glanced down, only then realizing how still she had been sitting, and smiled wryly. “Sorry. Old habits. Sometimes I forget.”

  The smile he produced seemed strained at first, then turned sly as he slid over and pressed up against her side. “If you ... need something to take your mind off things,” he teased in a leering voice, and waggled his eyebrows, “my body is yours to do with as you please.”

  “Really,” she replied, interest peaked.

  He spread his arms wide. “Entertain yourself as you will. I am yours to command.”

  Grinning, Ami rose onto her knees, slung one leg over his thighs and straddled his lap. “So.” When she touched her index finger to his soft lips, he drew it into his mouth and teased it with his tongue.

  Her heartbeat quickened. She trailed her fingertip, now damp and tingling, down his chin and his warm throat to the neckline of his black, long-sleeved T-shirt. “If I told you to take this off, you would?” she queried.

  The shirt was on the floor behind her in a trice.

  She gave him a wicked grin. “I like how this is going.” Leaning in, she touched her lips to his.

  Marcus inhaled deeply. “I love your scent,” he murmured between kisses.

  She drew the tip of her tongue across the seam of his lips.

  His warm brown eyes flashed amber. Parting his lips, he drew her in. “I love your taste.”

  She kissed him deeply, her whole body flaring to life. “Does it bother you,” she asked breathlessly, “that you can’t bite me when we’re ... you know ...”

  “Making love?”

  She nodded.

  “No.” He slid his hands up and down her thighs.

  “But your fangs descend.”

  He smiled. “They always do when I’m in the grip of strong emotion. And the love I feel for you when you touch me or when I’m buried deep inside you ...” He leaned forward and took her lips in an all-consuming kiss. “You turn me inside out, Ami, expose all my secrets. You make me burn. And I’ve been cold for so long.”

  Her breath caught. “Marcus.” Ami wrapped her arms around his neck and forgot everything but the way he tasted and felt as their mouths merged.

  Marcus found the hem of her black
turtleneck, then slipped it over her head.

  Ami smoothed her hands over his muscled chest and gave his nipples a provocative pinch.

  He hissed in a breath and clutched her hips, drawing her forward until the heart of her was wedged up against the thick erection straining against his jeans, her thighs spread wide.

  He abandoned her mouth, trailed his lips down her tender neck and over her collarbone. Gooseflesh rippled over her arms.

  “I like this,” he growled.

  Ami raked her hands through his hair, gripping fistfuls of it. Her heart pounded as he drew his tongue along the edge of her bra. “What?”

  “I like you on top,” he murmured, sliding his hands behind her and burning a path up her back to unfasten her bra. “We haven’t done it this way yet.”

  “We can ...” She gasped when he drew the flimsy material off and palmed one of her breasts. “We can make love like this?”

  “Absolutely.” He laved her other breast with his tongue, sparking heat that made her writhe against him. “Just the thought of it ... you riding me ... slow and steady ... fast and hard ...” He groaned. “Touch me, Ami.”

  Eager to oblige, she slipped one hand between them, caressed the hard muscles of his stomach, then dipped her fingers beneath the waistband of his pants.

  A gasp sounded behind her.

  “Whoa!”

  Ami shot a startled look over her shoulder as Seth, Roland, and Sarah turned away. Gasping, she released Marcus’s soft locks, yanked her hand out of his pants, and hastily covered her breasts.

  “Damn it, Marcus,” Seth said, “she’s like a daughter to me.”

  Marcus scowled as he helped Ami don her bra and shirt. “Well, maybe next time you’ll call ahead,” he grumbled.

  “This is our house after all.”

  Ami stared at him as she scrambled off his lap. Our house? Did he really think of it like that now?

  Roland laughed. “So says the man who failed to knock and walked in on Sarah and I making love in the living room.”

  “It wasn’t your house,” Marcus pointed out.

  “You still could have knocked.”

  Marcus grabbed his shirt off the floor and pulled it over his head. Instead of tucking it in, he left it loose, but it did little to conceal his arousal.

  Smiling, the tips of his fangs visible, he shook his head and mouthed, See what you do to me?

  Ami bit her lip, unable to stop an answering smile as she settled back beside him.

  “Okay,” Marcus said, “You can turn around.”

  The trio did.

  Thank goodness they hadn’t arrived a few minutes later, or they likely would have caught her and Marcus naked, bodies joined.

  “What happened at Keegan’s,” she asked, trying to will away the flush she felt heating her cheeks as Roland and Sarah sank onto the love seat catty-corner to them.

  Seth took the armchair across from her. “There were three men watching Chris and his cleaning crew. All were human and bore a striking resemblance to special ops soldiers.”

  “Did you read their minds?” Marcus asked.

  “Yes. They’re former military who believe they have been recruited for a top secret mission involving national security. Each yielded the same name for a commander. Chris is looking into it now.”

  “What the hell is Montrose Keegan’s connection?” Roland asked.

  “I don’t know. Neither did the three soldiers. And I couldn’t get anything from Keegan himself. He truly is brain-dead.”

  Ami hated to bring up a name that sparked such heated reactions, but ... “Does Bastien know anything about this commander?”

  Sarah placed a calming hand on Roland’s knee.

  Seth shook his head. “Keegan never mentioned the military to Sebastien. Nor did he ever try to bring someone else into the loop. Sebastien adamantly believes Keegan was working alone when he knew him.”

  Seth’s voice suddenly filled Ami’s head. Ami, do you have to be in a person’s presence to lock onto his or her energy signature, or can you glean it from someone else who has been in contact with him?

  I have to be in the presence of the person himself. “So, are we still going after the vampire king and his men today?”

  “Absolutely,” Seth said aloud. “This needs to end before they recruit more vamps.”

  “And before they can expose our existence,” Sarah added.

  Roland covered her hand with his own. “If you know who provided Montrose with the sedative, why not just bomb the lair and have done with it?”

  Marcus nodded. “Why do we need to take the vampire king alive?”

  “You know how paranoid vampires are,” Seth said. “Almost as paranoid as this one is.” He jerked a thumb toward Roland, who reached up and scratched one stubbled cheek with his middle finger. “If the vampire knew about Montrose’s new friend, he may have watched Montrose’s home and followed the man back to his base or home after he delivered the sedative.”

  “It would certainly save us some time if the vampire king knew where we could find him,” Ami mentioned. “If this group is top secret, even Chris’s connections may not be able to locate them.”

  Seth agreed. “We really need to follow every lead we can at this point. So, once Ami leads us to the king—”

  Roland scowled. “You know where the vampire king’s lair is?”

  “Nnno,” Ami said slowly, guessing what would come next and already wondering how to answer. “Not really.”

  “Ami,” Sarah asked, her face lighting with excitement as she leaned forward, “are you a gifted one?”

  Should she tell them? Ami glanced at Seth, undecided.

  As with the origins of the gifted ones, Seth believed the fewer who knew the truth about her, the safer all concerned would be.

  Telling Chris had been unavoidable. A necessity.

  Telling Roland and Sarah ... not so much.

  But Marcus and Roland were like brothers. Ami didn’t think it fair to ask Marcus to keep the truth from Roland after all the two had been through together. And it would be nice if she could cultivate a close friendship with Sarah, who was a friendly, feminine face in this sea of testosterone. Ami really liked her.

  “That’s not an easy question to answer,” Seth stalled. Perhaps he was uncertain as well. Or maybe he had read Ami’s thoughts, though she didn’t think he would intrude.

  Roland’s brows lowered in his typical scowl. “How difficult could it be? A simple yes or no will suffice.”

  “Roland,” Marcus said, drawing everyone’s attention, “not now.”

  To Ami’s surprise, Roland nodded thoughtfully. “As you will.”

  Seth consulted his watch. “It’s half past noon already. We need to head over to David’s so you can gear up in the protective suits.”

  “Oh, hell no,” Marcus objected. “Those suits chafe like hell. I’ll just wear the regular sun-protective clothing.”

  “Me too,” Roland agreed.

  “It won’t be enough,” Seth countered.

  “It blocks 98 percent of UVA and UVB rays. We’re old enough that that will do,” Marcus insisted.

  Seth shook his head. “It’s midday, and we don’t know how much time you’ll have to spend in the sun while Ami tracks down the lair. You’ll either wear the suits, or I’ll replace you with the d’Alençons, who won’t bitch and moan about it.”

  Ami breathed a silent sigh of relief. There were probably just as many open fields in North Carolina as there were pockets of forest. She didn’t want to watch Marcus burn and blister if they ended up having to cross several of them to save time. The odd rubber suits would protect the immortals completely so they could be at full strength when they reached the lair.

  Nevertheless, the men grumbled as they all rose. Forming a circle so Seth could teleport all of them at once, they prepared to leave.

  Sarah met Ami’s gaze and rolled her eyes.

  Ami grinned back. Yes, she hoped she and Sarah would soon be good friends
.

  “All right then,” Seth said, resting a hand on Ami’s shoulder. “We’re off.”

  Marcus had to admit he was glad Seth had insisted he wear the damned rubber suit.

  They started out in a van. Seth drove since the sun pouring in through the front windshield wouldn’t harm him. Ensconced in the passenger seat, Ami listened or felt for the vampire king’s energy signature (Marcus wasn’t quite sure how that worked) and gave Seth instructions.

  Head west. Now northwest. Now west again.

  Throughout the long drive, Marcus sat on the bench seat behind her, one gloved hand stretched forward to clasp her shoulder, lending support and, frankly, needing the contact while Roland’s eyes bore holes in him.

  When the road ended, all of them clambered out and trailed after Ami’s small form as she took off into a forest broken by many clearings bathed in blinding sunshine.

  Did Seth always have to be right? It really got old after a while.

  So does everyone around me always being wrong, Seth’s smart-ass voice commented in his mind.

  Marcus gave him a mental finger.

  Golden rays warmed the rubber mask he wore as Ami led them across yet another clearing. Much like a ski mask, it covered his hair, face, and neck ... pretty much everything except for his eyes. Wrap around sunglasses shielded those. Miniscule holes allowed air passage into his nose and mouth, but Marcus still felt as though he were suffocating and drowning in sweat. The day was unseasonably warm for winter.

  Of course it would be. Anything to make this more uncomfortable. Like a child, he had wanted to ask at least a dozen times, Are we there yet?

  But Ami, as always, made everything better. Just walking beside her and holding her hand eased some of the discomfort. He only wished he could remove his glove and feel her soft cool flesh against his.

  Shade once more wrapped its welcome arms around them as they entered the trees again. A collective sigh of relief swept through the group.

  Ami stopped, closed her eyes. Her fingers tightened around Marcus’s. “We’re getting close,” she whispered.

  “Only silence beyond this point,” Seth murmured, moving to flank Ami’s other side.

  From the corner of his eye, Marcus saw Roland tighten his hold on Sarah’s hand and carry it to his lips for a kiss despite the heavy material that separated them.