Darkness Burning

by Delilah Devlin

  Miki pressed her nose to the silk and picked up a fading floral scent. Simon’s lady-friend was a visitor in his life, not a true companion.

  His choice of pets gave her pause. She gave the bird clinging to a natural tree branch perch in the living room a wide berth, because she felt uncomfortable beneath its constant stare. Something about the small raptor’s posture made it seem…more than a bird. Intelligence gleamed in its golden eyes.

  “We’ll be fine,” Miki said, “so long as you keep to your perch. Any beaks come pecking my way and we’ll have a problem.”

  Small and hawklike with a curved beak, the bird flapped its black-spotted brown wings, then settled down again to preen its feathers.

  “So long as we understand each other,” Miki murmured and continued her exploration.

  She wondered if she’d find Alex’s home as interesting, as filled with clues about his life and interests. Had he lived as long as it appeared Simon had to have collected so many ancient books and relics? She hadn’t thought to ask him.

  Recalling what little she did know made her grow appalled with herself. She was a reporter, a writer with a natural inclination to observe and question everything around her. It was how she’d accomplished so much since her awakening. Curiosity about her world, as well as the mystery that had made her, was what had fed her and driven her to explore.

  Yet she’d failed to learn so many basic facts about the man she’d made love with numerous times since they’d met last night. Since he was born to a vampire, did that mean he had family? Did they live nearby?

  Was he married? Did vampires marry? If he’d lived a long life, how many wives or lovers might he have had?

  How did he support himself? Did he have a job, or did he just frequent vampire parties and seek blood donors to fill his appetite to the exclusion of anything else? He’d slyly mentioned once before that those who lived long had the time to accumulate wealth—was he rich? Would he use that wealth to fund an endless orgy of blood and lust?

  Somehow, she didn’t think he was a hedonist. Something about him spoke of a man with a deep well of compassion and drive. When this was all over, when he’d conquered whatever demons he sought now, she’d have to ask him. Maybe she should make a list. The questions just kept coming.

  She wondered if he’d been as curious about her and what he might have thought about the lack of clutter inside her own small apartment. What had he made of her lack of “things” that defined a person? Since she was still rediscovering her own tastes, she’d refrained from decorating or collecting. Beyond the supplies and equipment she needed to pursue the one talent she’d uncovered rather quickly, her clothes and furniture were strictly utilitarian and comfortable.

  Maybe in the end there wasn’t really anything all that interesting to learn about herself. After all, she wasn’t a Born vampire or a re-hatched Revenant. Maybe she should just be satisfied she had a foot in the door into the adventure of a lifetime.

  After snooping through everything short of Simon’s underwear drawer, Miki strolled back into the living room, paused to pick up a candle, and settled down in an armchair with one of the tantalizing mystical books she’d pilfered from his library.

  Just when she was about to admit the archaic language stumped her completely, scuffling footsteps sounded from beyond the short hallway leading to the door of the apartment.

  Thinking it might be Simon, she set aside the book and started to rise.

  An explosion of noise—the crack of a splintering door, shouts as armed men spilled into the room—froze her where she stood. Before she even formed the thought that maybe she should run, a streak of gray flashed toward her, halting suddenly to reveal a man dressed in black SWAT-like clothing.

  She recognized him from the party. He’d mingled in the crowd, his dark, alert gaze sweeping over the many guests, but never resting long. Tonight, his dark brown hair was scraped back in a ponytail. His harsh, but handsome, features were set, emotionless; his eyes stared at her as though she’d been a curious insect—and just about as insignificant.

  A shiver bit her spine.

  He stepped so close that his boots touched the tips of her tennis shoes. “Where is the mage?” he asked in a thick Cajun accent.

  “Mage?” That’s what Simon is? “Not here,” she said, trying to catch a full breath, but he stood too close, looked too lethal for her to do anything but hold herself rigid and pray he didn’t take an instant dislike to her.

  He shot a glance over his shoulder at the men fanning out around the apartment. Already a couple were returning from the bedroom and office, shaking their heads.

  “Grab the goddamn bird.” His gaze narrowed on her. “Perhaps we should leave him our callin’ card.”

  The way he said it—low and rasping, a glint of true evil darkening his eyes while his lips thinned into a smile—had the hairs on her arms and neck lifting.

  A feminine hand slipped over the top of the vampire’s shoulder. The hand pulled him back, but he resisted. He shot an acid-filled glance behind him.

  Miki broke with the man’s eyes only to lock gazes with the woman who’d worn the crystal-studded blue dress the night before.

  The woman lifted an eyebrow and stared him down.

  The man backed up a step and the woman walked around him, leaned close to Miki, and drew in her scent. Her head drew back quickly, and she knelt, her nose skimming down Miki’s breasts to the juncture of her thighs.

  Shocked into stillness, Miki could only wonder at her crude behavior.

  Tension straightened the woman’s shoulders as she slowly rose. “There was a man at the estate last night. A vampire who remained aloof from the others. She wears his scent,” she said, her voice roughening.

  “Do you think he might be the daywalker?”

  She shrugged as though the answer didn’t matter. “Perhaps. But if he is, she might be the bait we need to trap him. Do not harm her.” Her gaze returned to Miki, narrowing.

  Miki felt as though she’d been marked somehow, that the woman’s pointed stare held more than curiosity—her enmity was a physical thing that washed over Miki in a hot-cold rush of dread.

  The dark-haired man flashed a feral smile. “We’ll bring her along. If she’s not important, at least we can have a snack.”

  Miki swallowed hard. The polite but debauched crowd she’d circulated in last night hadn’t prepared her for the icy reality of being at the mercy of vampires. She’d seen them move—she didn’t have any hope of escaping them. She knew their strength could easily overpower her if she resisted. She had no choice. Although she knew the wise path would be to keep quiet and not raise anyone’s hackles, her jaw came unhinged in her nervousness. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me where you’re taking me and why? I really do have a life to get back to—you know, friends and family who will be wondering what’s keeping me so long. They might even call the police.”

  But the one who’d spit out the orders was already storming out, the tall woman in his wake.

  “You gonna give me a clue?” she whispered to herself. “Guess not.”

  As another man dressed in black wrapped his large hand around her upper arm and dragged her forward, her only silent thought was, Thank God Alex isn’t here.

  Gabriella quivered with rage. The scent of sex clung to the human woman.

  Alex, the bastard, had played her. He’d made her believe he wasn’t like all the other vampire whores who fed and fucked whenever their appetites twisted their insides. But he’d left her, promised he’d seek her out—had let her believe he’d needed the release an old lover would give him.

  She should have remembered his tryst with the demon-whore—the one he’d seduced after he’d left her bed in order to get his hands on his precious stone. Alex pretended he held himself above his instincts, that the teachings of his monkish mentor had made him more discerning, less ruled by his baser nature. What a goddamn hypocrite.

  Outside the apartment building, she held back whi
le the Security Force escorted the woman and the mage’s familiar into paneled trucks. Pitch darkness shrouded their movements and hid their kidnapping from the other tenants in the building.

  Pasqual strode to the lead vehicle and shot her a questioning glance over his shoulder as he held open the door. “Are you coming?”

  Gabriella didn’t like Pasqual. Didn’t like the way he looked at her, as though he wished he could carve out her heart. Something dark and repulsive lurked inside him. She was glad she didn’t have to share another long, tense drive with him. It was time to shake her fur loose.

  “I’ve found a scent trail,” she said, keeping her anger with Alex banked. As volatile as she felt at the moment, she might let something slip to alert this cagey vampire that she knew more than she admitted. “I’ll follow it for a while. I can make my own way back.”

  “If you find him, what will you do?”

  “Deliver the message,” she said, with a small, tight smile.

  When the vehicles pulled away, she stepped into the walled courtyard beside the apartment building and stripped off the borrowed uniform. Alex’s scent was strong. She’d already noted where his car was parked, and she thought she had a good chance of following it to wherever he’d escaped. She’d find him before Inanna’s henchmen did.

  What happened after that was entirely up to how well Alex explained himself. The human couldn’t be important—she had to be a diversion, a sex toy. Surely he wouldn’t be so foolish as to elevate her to their world.

  Alex waited impatiently inside the Broussard home as his parents armed themselves. He wondered at the discipline they’d exercised these last strained months as they’d waited for the events that would cast their former selves into the eye of a storm they’d escaped when they’d crossed through a portal and landed in Scotland during the Middle Ages to bide their time and raise him.

  How had his tender mother resisted the urge to warn her foster parents and her college friend of the attacks that would take their lives? Instead, they’d waited on the outskirts of New Orleans, biding their time until no chance remained of them catching a glimpse of themselves as they stumbled through their harrowing journey to find each other.

  Simon had stayed in close contact with all of them crisscrossing his own path, using his memory, or perhaps the journals Alex suspected he kept, to ensure he didn’t meet himself coming or going. Simon wasn’t certain what might happen if their paths did collide, but he feared the consequences might be too great to risk satisfying his own curiosity.

  Rene entered the kitchen, where Alex had helped himself to coffee. His father’s stern jaw looked like granite as he closed the buckle on his utility belt and sank a handgun into the holster.

  “You know,” Alex said dryly, “bullets will only piss them off.”

  “It’s backup,” Rene bit out, lifting a short, tactical crossbow from the kitchen table. What he didn’t need to say was that their weapons would be the only backup they could expect.

  Alex knew from his father’s terse words and his jerking movements that he was worried.

  “I want to hit Simon’s one last time. To make sure he found what he needs for the spell,” Alex muttered, not liking how long he’d already been away. Miki should be safe, but she was probably frightened and questioning why she’d listened to anything he’d had to say.

  He hadn’t mentioned her to Rene and Natalie, telling himself there was time for introductions later.

  Natalie strolled inside, dressed in dark, close-fitting camouflage, as Alex and Rene were. “It’s odd. Seems like we’ve waited for this moment forever, and now it’s still too soon.”

  Rene hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “I wish you’d stay here,” his deep voice rumbled.

  Natalie slid her hand along his cheek. “Our son needs us both there. We’re going to be sorely outnumbered as it is.”

  Rene kissed her, his face slanting to capture her mouth.

  Natalie gave a sexy little moan that never failed to make Alex uncomfortable—no matter how many centuries he’d witnessed the passion that still sprang hot between them.

  “We’ll have Nic and anyone who stands with him,” Alex said, wrinkling his nose and wishing they’d leave their little displays of affection strictly private.

  Rene lifted his head and one dark eyebrow. “You’ve already gotten his promise?”

  “Of course not. The man’s every bit as stubborn as Chessa.”

  The two shared crooked smiles, both being intimately familiar with just how stubborn and volatile Chessa Tomas could be. “Sounds like you and Nic have bonded.”

  Alex shrugged. “Share a couple punches and a couple women—we’re brothers now.”

  Natalie raised an eyebrow. “A couple of women?”

  Alex winced at the slip. She already knew about Chessa. The last thing he needed was a twenty-questions interview all the way to Ardeal. “Ah…we should head out.”

  Entering the garage just off the kitchen, Alex pressed the button and waited impatiently for his parents to follow. When the door rose, Natalie and Rene filed out, heading straight for the car.

  “Merde!” Rene suddenly spat, pulling his weapon from his holster and crouching low, his gaze and weapon pointing toward the mouth of the garage.

  Alex glanced over his shoulder to find a wolf standing at the entrance. “Rene, no!” he said, reaching out to pull down his father’s arm. “She’s a friend.”

  “A friend?” Natalie asked, her voice tight.

  Alex approached Gabriella slowly, ignoring her menacing growl. “Gabi, sweetheart, why are you here?”

  His mother gasped behind him. Alex hoped she didn’t take aim on the wolf as well. She knew the whole story of Gabriella’s attempted assassination.

  Alex continued toward Gabriella, crooning softly. “I need you to transform, now.”

  Gabriella’s growl cut off and she shook her coat, her form stretching, morphing into her gorgeous human skin. She rose slowly, eyeing the pair behind his shoulder with undisguised distrust.

  Alex reached out and caught her hair, winding it around his fist and pulling her close. “Why are you here?”

  Gabriella shook free of his hold and took a step back. “I have just one question. Who is the woman you stashed at the mage’s house?”

  His whole body froze. “You’ve seen Miki? What the hell were you doing at Simon’s apartment?”

  Gabriella’s eyes glittered in the moonlight. “Who is she to you?”

  He thought about lying, but only for a moment. Gabriella deserved better. “She’s the mother of my child.”

  Gabi’s mouth opened, then snapped shut. Her back stiffened. “How inconvenient for you,” she bit out. “She’s been misplaced.”

  “What are you talking about? Dammit, Gabi. No games. What’s happened?”

  Gabriella stepped back, shaking her head and her shoulders.

  Alex lunged for her, taking her to the concrete. “Transform, and I swear I’ll let them kill you.” He straddled her naked body, holding her arms above her head.

  “You said you would seek me out. You led me to believe we would be something to each other.”

  “We are, Gabi. We’re allies. Friends.”

  “With fucking benefits?”

  Then he saw the hint of moisture welling in her gold-brown eyes. “I didn’t plan this, I swear,” he said gently. “I’m sorry, but you really need to get over it and quick. Tell me what the hell has happened.”

  “Why should I help you?” she asked, her voice ragged.

  “Because you still have your clan’s interests to uphold. We have a business arrangement.”

  “That’s all I am to you?”

  “It’s all I can offer you now.”

  Her lips trembled a moment before she drew them tight against her teeth. “I fucking hate you, Alexander Broussard.”

  “Hate me all you like. But fear me, too. You know what I am, but you have no clue what I can do to you and yours.”

&
nbsp; Gabriella swallowed, gasping beneath him as she struggled fruitlessly to ease from his grip. Finally, she fell still. Her head turned to the side, her eyes breaking with his gaze. “Inanna sent a patrol to capture you. I accompanied it, hoping to warn you. To somehow intervene.”

  “Was anyone harmed?”

  “The mage wasn’t there. But they’ve taken the woman and his familiar to Ardeal. I convinced Pasqual not to kill your girlfriend on the spot. Told them she might have value to you.”

  “Do they know who I am?”

  “Only that you attended the party under their noses last night.”

  Alex swept down and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”

  Her head turned, her gaze locking with his. “You’re welcome. Now will you get the hell off me?”

  “Will you promise not to run away?”

  “Are you inviting me to come with you?”

  “You said you wanted to see Inanna taken down.”

  Her slow smile this time was genuine. “That would be a hell of a consolation prize.”

  Alex grinned and climbed off Gabriella, then offered her a hand up. “You won’t need clothing. Just get in the car and we’ll keep the AC down.”

  Rene walked up behind him as Gabriella took a seat in the back next to his mother. “You trust her?”

  “Of course not. But she will help us to a point.”

  Rene shook his head. “And I thought Nicolas was a whoring bastard. When did you have time to screw a human woman?”

  Alex snorted, unwilling to spill the whole story with Gabriella so close. “You drive. I need to keep my eyes on Mother. Her trigger finger gets a little itchy around weres.”

  The ride back to Simon’s was made in total silence. Simon was waiting on the side of the street as they pulled up. His glance snagged on Gabriella, then returned to Alex. “I found what I need.”