Volatile Breath of Darkness

by Candice Stauffer

  by a nasty group of corrupt vampires back home that sank my favorite ship a few months ago.

  You plan on sending it all the way to Russia?

  Oh damn. This is not good.

  What?

  How the hell did they get all these barrels down here? When did they do it?

  Barrels of?

  Gasoline. And there are barrels of some other chemical. I have no idea what it is. No human or team

  of humans managed this with so many people living here. We’re dealing with immortals. Make sure you

  get everyone away from the house. You might want to clear the block.

  You can’t get it out of there?

  No. As a whole it’s too damn much for me to safely shift it out of here. I cannot break it up to send it

  off in sections because there are hundreds of wires going everywhere. I am serious. They are all over the

  place. This is the most insane attempt to build a bomb I have ever seen.

  I’ll be heading in your direction. I have to make sure the neighboring homes are searched in case

  Brianna is in one of them. Hold on. Carl’s cousin just sent a partial address for the mom. She could not

  track down anyone who knew the house number but it is on Kent Avenue.

  So is the shelter.

  I know. I am sending everyone your way right now.

  Keep me posted. And you had better hurry your ass it up. We have hot wires.

  Though it would not be fatal Adam knew the explosion would do enough damage to ruin his mood

  for the day. Weighing the overall importance of the human female trapped upstairs verses Nikolas’ mate,

  he made the decision to leave and search as many of the neighboring homes as possible before the bomb

  went off. He did not want the woman to die any more than he wanted her to survive. She was nothing to

  him since he did not know her. If not for the possibility of Brianna being in a home close enough to be

  destroyed by the bomb he would have done all that he could to save the woman’s life.

  The moment he stepped outside it was obvious that Joseph had managed to get word out about the

  bomb while they were talking. The bus had left with the residents of the shelter and the authorities had

  moved back a good distance. They’d just started to create a barrier with their cars and yellow crime scene

  tape. Choosing to start with the house to the left he planned to shift inside, but then a burning sensation in

  his eyes, nose and throat caused him to pause. It was quite painful, but it was not as alarming as the

  sudden sensation of suffocating that gripped him. Then, confusing the hell out of him since it was

  completely unfathomable, he felt panicky.

  It only took a few seconds to make sense of what happening. The symptoms belonged to someone

  else. He looked up at a window on the third floor of the shelter. The woman he had decided to leave

  behind was being suffocated by smoke. Staying merged with her after he left her was not a purposeful act,

  but neither was failing to end it. To stop the ordeal so he could get on with his plan to search for Brianna

  next door he cut the link. Just as he had expected her emotional distress as well as her physical symptoms

  caused by breathing in smoke immediately left him. What he had not anticipated was the colossal surge of

  fear that caused the beating of his heart to accelerate to the extent that the crushing pain it generated

  brought his hands to his chest.

  Before he had a chance to attempt make sense of what was happening rage erupted and devoured the

  fear. All at once, without giving it any thought at all, he placed a hedge of protection around the woman

  and aggressively took hold of her mind in order to monitor her. Knowing that it was caused by her

  awareness of his presence in her mind, he smiled at the sound of her startled gasp. Entering the home, he

  began to make his way toward her. Using his mind he made sure she could feel him, the real him not the

  civilized gentleman he had pretended to be, getting closer with each step he took. In response her heart

  began to race. That’s right. I’m coming for you.

  Able to easily monitor her thoughts he knew that she was shocked by the clear sound of his voice in

  her head. Since alarming her was his intention he felt no remorse. He continued to listen to her thoughts.

  Hearing his cruel voice and feeling the enormous power and darkness of his presence moving purposely

  through the house to get to her she began to explore her options. She could stay in the bathroom and face

  the monstrous creature that was coming for her or she could open the door and let the fire take her. Either

  way she died. It was a matter of figuring out which way was the most merciful death.

  The thought of her choosing to burn to death rather than face him did not exactly make him proud of

  the way he was treating her, but he refused to feel any amount of guilt over it. She started it. He had

  intended to walk away from her. He would have left her to her fate. She stopped him. She made him turn

  back around. She stirred and provoked the beast to come to her. She did not have any right to suddenly

  decide that she would rather burn to death rather than face him. He made sure she heard his laughter

  mocking her. You have one option. The one I have decided to give you. You will face this monstrous

  creature.

  Some small part of him tried to reason with him to be gentler and kinder with her, but there was no

  possible way he could do that even if he wanted to. The woman had let loose the callous predator that he

  had fought long and hard to lock away to prevent its merciless darkness from completely overtaking his

  soul again. He could never subdue it before he reached her. He did not even want to try. When reasoning

  failed, a voice from his past reminded him of the vow he made to end it if this were to ever happen again.

  The vow meant nothing to him now. Nothing other than satisfying his wants and needs while he was in

  his true state of being. No reminder of what he had once become, or what he had done could ever triumph

  over him now.

  Her decision and follow through were so instant, that he failed to prevent her from taking hold of the

  doorknob and severely burning her hand. Her scream of pain and of realizing that she truly did not have

  an option ripped through him as he prevented the door from opening and shoved her away from it. In all

  his life he had never felt the intensity of anger burning in him. The stupidity of you entertaining the

  thought of choosing to die in a fire rather than come face to face with me was forgivable. Actually doing

  it was…it was… the reason he had vowed to end it if this ever happened again.

  The facade of having a human like nature that allowed him to live among mortals without drawing

  unwanted attention to himself vanished. His true identity, a powerful and ferocious warrior led by the

  merciless and savage instincts of a dragon, had risen to the surface to take whatever it wanted. He would

  have eradicated anything or anyone unlucky enough to make any attempt to prevent him from reaching

  her. He truly had become a monster. There was no excuse for the way he’d purposely frightened her while

  knowing that keeping her alive had nothing to do with rescuing her from a terrible death. Whether she

  lived or died had not matter to him. He had wanted to know what power she possessed that enabled her

  wake him up by making him experience fear as if it were his own. That was all he wanted.

  With a wave of his hand he opened the bedroom door. A burst of flames shot out at him and engulfed<
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  him as he walked into the room. Everything from the floor to the ceiling was set ablaze. His gaze fixed on

  the bathroom door that she had resorted to using as her last greatest defense against suffering more of his

  cruelty. The thought of her deciding that the fierce heat of fire and smoke was a more merciful death than

  what he had in store for her made him sick. He’d even make her walk through the house rather than shift,

  to quickly end the ordeal. Knowing that he had encouraged her to believe it, made him feel so much

  shame that he wished the fire had the ability to devour him.

  My behavior has been appalling in too many ways to list them all. Encouraging you to be afraid of

  me is an unforgivable offense. I know right now, hearing me in your head, only adds to your fear of me,

  but if I show up in there with you I think that would be even more alarming to you. Feeling her anxiety

  grow with each second that went by he decided to get it over with. I am going to come in now.

  Her body was tightly wedged between the toilet and the tub. Her eyes went wide as he took form a

  few feet in front of her. He realized she was holding her burned hand in her other hand. The fact that he

  was the only reason she was suffering from it was something he would never forget or forgive himself for

  doing. The ability to heal another’s wound had never been an easy task for him. For some it was simple

  and for others it was a challenge. He would not be able to ease her pain and heal it unless he could

  convince her to allow him to touch her. Why would she? The only kindness he had given to her was the

  barrier that kept the air around her cooler and free of smoke.

  “Would you like to get out of here?” Moving slowly to avoid her viewing his movement as

  aggressive he knelt down in front of her.

  Her eyes no longer rounded as if she were in a state of shock or just plain afraid had narrowed and

  focused on his as if she were preparing to attack him. He had about two seconds to think of ways to coax

  her into trusting him to take her out of the house when he heard and felt the explosion. Placing a

  protective hedge around her in record time he managed to lift her up and get her into his arms just as the

  floor blew out from beneath them. One thing was certain he was going to have to remove her memories

  and replace them with something a little more believable for humans.

  Using a cloaking spell to avoid being seen he brought them to the ground just behind the police line.

  The moment her feet hit the ground he felt her get ready to run the instant an opportunity presented

  itself.

  “You won’t have any reason to run. I won’t make any attempt to stop you, but before you go I need

  to take a look at your hand.”

  Her eyes narrowed a bit as she held his gaze. She appeared to be mulling over his request until her

  expression started to ever so slowly change. It was downright obvious that she was pissed off. “Look at

  your own hand.”

  He held his hands up. “They didn’t get burned.”

  The way she glared right into his eyes caused him to feel a bit awe-struck. To be entirely honest he

  had to admit that it also scared him. She longed to do some serious bodily harm to him. “Why do you

  want to see it?”

  “It will be easier to show you than to explain.”

  “I’m betting that’s a sentence you say often.”

  “Not really. I am usually much more discreet. May I see your hand?”

  She held her hand out for him. “Are you trying to convince me that you are a nice person?”

  “No. After being so unkind I would like to do one nice thing for you.” He immediately started to

  impart healing energy into her hand.

  ***

  Hanna decided she wasn’t going to let him get away thinking he could lie to her. “Cut the crap. I know

  why you want to make sure there is no sign of it.”

  “Why?”

  “You think that wiping my memory clean will be more effective if you get rid of anything that could

  trigger a flashback. It saves you from having to go to the trouble of tracking me down later and killing

  me.”

  “It’s an interesting theory.”

  “Not as interesting as the method you use to weigh the importance of one life verses another.”

  “It was nothing…”

  “I know it was nothing personal. I would never expect a being as awesome and powerful as a demon

  to have any reason to care whether a lowly human lives or dies.”

  “You know I am a demon?”

  “Wow. You aren’t just awesome and powerful. You’re also pretty dang intelligent. I can’t say that’s

  a quality very many of you possess.”

  “How are you familiar with my kind?”

  “How about you ask me after you erase my memory?”

  “Why?”

  “I was just hoping that once you finished doing it you would leave me alone as long as I pretend it

  worked.”

  “I can easily take your memory away.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Sure you can.”

  “You are not a pleasant person.”

  “Luckily your opinion doesn’t matter to me.”

  “You don’t appear even the slightest bit intimidated right now. You knew what I was back at the

  house. You were so frightened of me that you were willing to burn to death to avoid facing me. What has

  changed?”

  “When you entered the bathroom and didn’t kill me or torture me until I begged you to kill me, I

  knew you were not one of the Evolved.”

  “Is it a group?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “It’s not?”

  “It’s an extremely large group of idiotic demons that are determined to take over the world. If you

  are a demon and you are not with them you are considered their greatest enemy. They believe other

  demons are the only beings that possess the power and strength to stop them.” She pulled her hand away

  from his and turned her back to him. She lifted her shirt and looked over her shoulder to watch him. She

  wanted to see his reaction to the barcode tattoo given to her the night of her abduction. “They scan it to

  access whatever information they’ve gathered or considered important about me. I suppose it’s also meant

  to mark me as their property.”

  He tilted his head as he stared down at it. Then, as if to get a better look at it, he crouched all the way

  down to his knees. “I don’t like the Evolved.” He was so close that she felt the warmth of his breath on

  her lower back.

  “You don’t know them.”

  “I know they marked you.” She flinched when he touched the tattoo and she was zapped by a burst

  of what felt like electricity. “It’s more than a barcode. It contains a tracking spell.”

  “That explains how they keep finding me.”

  “Would you like me to remove the tattoo and the spell?”

  “That’s a no brainer. Of course I do.”

  He laughed. “I didn’t want to assume. Making assumptions about a woman is reckless.”

  “Very funny. I doubt you ever consider safety before you decide to do anything.” She felt him press

  his entire palm against the middle of her back.

  “Would you believe I asked out of respect?”

  “Nope, not even a tiny bit.” Startled by the heat his hand started to generate, she paused. “I am sure

  you hoped to make yourself appear respectful to me.”

  “Don’t be troubled. You are going to feel power in the form of
heat coming from my hand. The

  temperature will significantly increase before the process is completed. It will reach the point of being

  uncomfortable, but it will not hurt you. How do you know I am so awful? You have just met me.”

  “I know your gender.” Her muscles went ridged and started to twitch uncontrollably. At first it didn’t

  hurt, but then all at once every muscle in her body cramped. The pain was excruciating all over, but the

  worst was centered where his palm was pressed to her lower back. She opened her mouth to scream, but

  she wasn’t able to make a sound.

  He reacted to her distress instantly. “Damn it.” Keeping his hand flat on her back he managed to

  stand up, turn her around and wrap his other arm around her to prevent her from falling. “It will be over in

  a few seconds. We can’t stop. I wasn’t expecting the spell to be able put up such a fight.”

  Keeping her entire body compressed against his as she experienced the strangest sensation of him

  reaching into her soul and pulling whatever was attacking her out of her. Just as his hand radiated heat on

  her back his entire body pushed it into hers. All at once he released his breath with a hiss as his muscles

  bunched and his arms tightened around her and the brunt of her pain disappeared.

  She lifted her head to look up at him, but since she was so close she ended up staring at the underside

  of his chin. “You forced the pain to leave me and enter you.”

  “It’s the best and fastest way to get it done.”

  “Stop it. I don’t like it.”

  “Too bad. I am not giving it back to you. Besides,” he released her, “we are done.” She took at step

  back. “Turn around. I want to have a look.”

  She showed her back to him. “Is it gone?”

  “Yes. Tell me more about the group.”

  She dropped her shirt and faced him. “They believe that they have altered their DNA by pumping

  blood from various beings into their systems to make themselves superior. They plan to eradicate any

  demon that refuses to evolve with them. My personal belief is that they want to do away with the ones

  that refuse because they want to avoid being forced into a war they might not survive. Once they reach a

  certain point of evolving they need a constant and readily available supply of human blood to prevent