Kiss of Darkness

by Deborah Cooke

  Petra was changing color. She’d been pale when he’d seen her at the gates, as pale and ethereal as a ghost. But now, he watched a flush of color suffuse her cheeks, spreading from her reddened lips to make her look as rosy as she had when she was alive. Her eyes became the rich dark brown he remembered, her hair looked thick and dark and lustrous. Her lips were red and her skin was warm. She caught her breath in obvious surprise, shook off his embrace, then backed away.

  “What have you done?” she demanded, her fingertips rising to her lips.

  “Proved you wrong, I think. You look alive again.”

  Petra’s hands touched her cheeks, then ran over her body. It was clear she didn’t believe what she saw or felt. “You can’t do this. It’s not possible.”

  “I have done it.” Damien winked at her. “Maybe you’ll have to write a new song about it.” He reached for her hand. “Let’s go.”

  “It’s a trick,” Petra said, snatching her hand away from him. “Terrible things happen to the dead who try to leave the underworld. You’re trying to convince me to make a mistake.”

  “I’m trying to save you.”

  “It’s too late for that!”

  “Then let me save my son!”

  “You can’t,” Petra began and then she suddenly fell silent. Her face paled as if she’d had a shock. She turned away from him so abruptly that Damien knew she was trying to hide something.

  “What’s going on? What happened?”

  “Nothing.”

  She was lying and he knew it. “Something happened,” Damien began to argue, and Petra suddenly spun to confront him.

  “Why did you leave me?”

  “You know why.”

  “I can guess why.” She folded her arms across her chest and challenge lit her eyes. “I want you to tell me.”

  “Because of what you are, what you can do.”

  “You’re afraid of me,” Petra asserted.

  Damien took a deep breath, knowing that he had to be completely honest with her to win her agreement. Petra had always been perceptive. “Yes. But I think it’s smart to be afraid of someone who can kill you.”

  “I’m not afraid of you and you can kill me,” she countered immediately. “Does that make me stupid?”

  “It’s not the same thing...”

  “It’s exactly the same thing,” Petra corrected. She leaned closer, tapping her finger on his chest. The darkfire sparked at the point of contact, sending a burst of heat through his veins that made him want to silence her with a kiss. “The difference is that I trust you and you don’t trust me.”

  Damien didn’t know what to say to that, because it was true.

  “Wait a minute,” he said, snapping his fingers. “You saved me from Cerberus. You didn’t have to do that.”

  Petra arched a brow. “No, but I’ve just wanted to tell you what I think of you for a long, long time.”

  “I’m thinking it won’t be complimentary.”

  “Are other women complimentary when you abandon them, pregnant with your child?”

  “You’re the only one. There’s only one firestorm. And it wasn’t like that.”

  Petra’s lips tightened. “I beg your pardon, but it was exactly like that. I was there. You left too quickly for me to explain exactly how I felt about your choice.”

  “What about your choice?” he demanded in exasperation.

  “I did what I had to do.”

  “So did I!”

  Petra snorted her skepticism.

  Damien swore under his breath, then pointed back toward the world they’d left behind. “You turned everyone in that village to stone while I was gone!”

  Petra was unrepentant. “And you never asked me why.”

  “Could there possibly be a reason to justify that?”

  “Obviously, I thought there was.” Her eyes were shining in brilliant and alluring challenge. If anything, her reaction told Damien that he’d been right to leave her.

  Even if she was right that he’d never asked why. The darkfire skipped between them, almost daring him to ask a question.

  To take a chance.

  He heard his voice rise in his own defense. “Well, you’re wrong.” He jabbed his thumb into his chest. “My kind are charged with defending humans, as one of the treasures of the earth. Turning people to pillars of stone is a violation of that sacred duty.”

  “Even if it’s only for a day?”

  Damien blinked. “One day?”

  Petra nodded, obviously enjoying his discomfiture.

  Only one day. That meant it was temporary, not permanent. Damien surveyed her, wondering what else he didn’t know. “You never told me that.”

  “You never asked,” she replied archly.

  “I was surprised. Who wouldn’t be?” he demanded. “You never told me what you were!”

  “I thought you knew. I thought you’d guessed.” She leaned closer, challenging him again. “Aren’t dragons supposed to see more clearly than normal men?”

  “But I’d never heard of an Earthdaughter.”

  “So, your lack of education was my fault?”

  “You don’t understand...”

  “I do understand, and that’s the problem. I could have imagined you might be surprised.” She scoffed at him. “But I never expected you to be afraid. You’re a dragon, for the love of Zeus!”

  Damien had to avert his gaze to hide his reaction, but he wasn’t surprised that Petra noticed. Her fingertips landed on his arm, and her gaze brightened.

  “Aren’t you?” she asked, her voice so low that he knew she suspected the truth.

  Damien turned away, having no intention of confessing his weakness to her.

  “A dragon could have easily finished off even a three-headed dog,” Petra said, as clever and determined as Damien remembered. “Why didn’t you shift shape?” She smiled. “Was it a ploy? Did you want me to rescue you?”

  “No.” Damien glared at her. “I don’t want to owe you anything. I take care of myself.”

  “Really? It didn’t seem to be going very well.”

  He exhaled in irritation. “I didn’t shift because I couldn’t.”

  Petra’s smile was cool. “Don’t feel badly, Damien.” He was shocked at how his heart skipped when she said his name. It sounded like music on her lips, but then, he’d once thought everything did. Her next words surprised him again. “Everyone has to sacrifice something to come to this place.”

  He sobered as he studied her. “Even you?”

  “What do you think?”

  What if both of them had lost their powers?

  That would change everything. Damien could have stayed with Petra if she hadn’t had powers of her own, if he’d been the one to defend them and their roles had been clear.

  He realized there was a question he should have asked on the day they parted. “Why did you do it? Why did you turn the villagers to stone?”

  “Why are you asking now?”

  “Because I really want to know. Because I was wrong to not ask you before.”

  Petra lifted a brow, the pleasure in her eyes making Damien catch his breath. “They were saying that you were unnatural. They were saying that you had been touched by the gods and that you would bring ruin upon them. They blamed your arrival for the crops failing and the storms that had come that year.” She leaned closer, her gaze hot. “They were going to surprise you, trap you and burn you alive.”

  Damien was shocked. “I could have defended myself...”

  Petra was dismissive of the idea. “You would have been vastly outnumbered, and even if you’d gotten away that time, they would just have attacked again. They would have waited until your guard was down or you were asleep or otherwise vulnerable.” She straightened, her eyes shining with determination. “I learned young that the way to stop this kind of nonsense is to instill fear. So I did.” She looked him up and down. “I did it for you.”

  “But only for a day?”

  “A day and a night. T
hey wouldn’t have forgotten. They never did, actually.”

  “You protected me.” Damien was humbled—until he remembered what had happened after he left. “Was that avalanche for me?”

  Petra’s lips quirked. “What avalanche?” she asked with completely unconvincing innocence. She looked so mischievous that Damien almost forgot how terrified he’d been.

  “The one that came out of the mountains unexpectedly, right when I was approaching Delphi after leaving you. The one that nearly killed me.”

  “Oh, that avalanche.” She failed to keep control of the smile she’d been hiding, which only annoyed Damien.

  “You could have killed me.”

  “Could being the operative word.”

  “You have the ability to control rocks and earth...”

  “I am an Earthdaughter. I told you that before.”

  “So, you did start an avalanche to kill me when I left you? All that shows is that I was right about you. The prophecy was about you...” He took a step back, but Petra pursued him with purpose.

  Her voice dropped to a whisper as she jabbed a finger into his chest. “If I’d intended to kill you, you’d be the one trapped in this place, not me.”

  Damien didn’t know what to say to that. He had perfect control of his own powers, and could kill or not depending on his own choice.

  At least, he’d had control before his powers had disappeared.

  He’d been so shocked by that sudden avalanche—and so hard-pressed to get out of the way—that he hadn’t realized Petra had been similarly in control.

  “I thought you just started it,” he said cautiously. “Then nature took its course.”

  Her lips tightened. “I finished it, too. To do any less would be irresponsible.”

  Damien was so shaken by the way she challenged his assumptions that he couldn’t hold her gaze. “I don’t even know what you can do.”

  “So, you ran away, abandoning me and your son, rather than finding out.” Petra’s tone was scornful. “Some dragon you are.” She pivoted and began to march deeper into the underworld, leaving Damien searching for a good answer to that. “But then, you aren’t one anymore, are you?”

  Annoyance shot through Damien at the reminder and he shouted after her. “Why did you take the ferry early?”

  Petra spun to face him, an answering anger making her eyes flash. “I didn’t! Your son was too stubborn to be born.”

  “He came by that honestly,” Damien muttered.

  “He did!” Petra replied. “Like father, like son.” She turned to walk onward as Damien struggled against his guilt.

  “It wasn’t my fault!” he roared, not entirely certain that was true.

  Petra just gave him a pitying glance before she continued on her way.

  Damien set his teeth and strode after his mate.

  This argument wasn’t half done.

  Chapter Three

  Petra felt alive again.

  It was a strange, intoxicating feeling, and one that was more than welcome. She tingled. She felt warm. She could feel her heart beating and the blood coursing through her veins. She was keenly aware of Damien, not just because of his kiss, and recalled all the pleasures they’d shared.

  She wanted to experience them all over again.

  It was because Damien had kissed her. She’d forgotten the little glimmer of hazel in his eyes, the way his eyes looked so seductive after he’d kissed her, the little smile that quirked the corner of his mouth. She’d forgotten how strong and sure he felt, how safe she felt in his embrace.

  She’d forgotten just how good it had been between them. Just as before, his kiss confused her thinking, made her forget everything except the power that drew them together. One taste of him only left her hungry for more.

  What if she’d been right the first time and destiny was on their side?

  They couldn’t have long to make amends. Petra guessed the influence of Damien’s touch upon her in this realm was temporary, just as the shedding of his blood would only allow him to communicate with the dead for a short period of time. She knew this newfound vitality would fade, but she wanted to make the most of it while it lasted.

  The most incredible thing was that she’d felt the baby move.

  Petra had chosen to take the ferry because of her dawning conviction that something was wrong with her son. He’d become still in the womb and as the days passed and her labor didn’t begin, she’d been afraid. She had no one to talk to—after the turned-to-stone incident, the villagers had kept their distance—and no experience of childbirth herself. She’d decided that she had to be with the Mothers and on the third day that the baby had been still like a stone in her belly, she’d left. He’d been still ever since.

  Until Damien had kissed her.

  Petra already doubted her recent impression. It couldn’t be possible. The baby was dead, just as she was.

  And yet, and yet, Petra didn’t feel dead anymore. Her skin didn’t look as if she were dead. What if her son could be saved? The prospect was enticing. What if Damien could take him back to the world of the living? She couldn’t deny her son that chance, yet she had to somehow ensure that Damien could be relied upon to not abandon his infant son just as he’d once abandoned her.

  She heard Damien following her, that familiar purpose in his step. The measured sound of his footfalls made her smile. He was relentless in pursuit of a goal. He had an agenda and he would stick to it. She liked his kind of determination, even if he did sometimes infuriate her enough that she called him stubborn.

  In bed, she’d called him persistent. She bit back her widening smile before Damien saw it. He had been an amazing lover, but the last thing this dragon needed was encouragement or anything that would feed his confidence.

  “Petra, we have to talk about this...”

  He was right.

  Maybe for the wrong reason, but he was still right.

  Petra spun to face Damien, seeing his expression turn wary at her unexpected move. She lifted a hand and that blue-green spark flickered at the end of her fingertip, just as the brilliant orange light of the firestorm had once lit between them. She reached to him, and the spark jumped, illuminating a brilliant arc of light before it exploded against his chest. He blinked and took a half-step back, as if startled by the impact, then kept walking toward her.

  “What’s the light?” Petra asked.

  He tried to dismiss the question. “What difference does it make? We need to talk about getting out of here...”

  Petra was sure the spark was part of that. “This light is drawing us together. It led me to the gates and it’s awakening memories. I feel like it’s trying to remind us how good it was.”

  “Before you tried to kill me,” Damien noted. He paused before her and smiled slightly as he looked down at the glow of blue-green growing brighter between them. “Except you didn’t, really.”

  Petra smiled at him and their gazes clung for a long hot moment.

  “Is it part of your plan to win my compliance?”

  “As if it could be so easy,” Damien murmured, his tone rueful, then smiled at her. He winked at her, clearly not disliking that they argued so much, and Petra’s pulse skipped. “Darkfire is beyond my control,” he said then and she believed him. “It seems to be mimicking the firestorm.”

  “Does it usually?”

  “No.”

  “It’s the wrong color.” Petra had to admit that its effect upon her was similar. She felt edgy, excited, filled with a desire and even more aware of Damien than she had been before. She was watching the curve of his mouth, the glint in his eye, the way he moved and spoke. She ran her tongue over her lips without meaning to do so and tasted the sweetness of his kiss again, felt herself burn with wanting.

  Damien’s gaze met hers and Petra couldn’t look away. She couldn’t swallow and she couldn’t breathe. Her heart was pounding and her skin was heating.

  It was a wonderful feeling that left her yearning for more.

 
; “What is darkfire?” she asked.

  “It’s a force associated with the Pyr, but an unpredictable one.” Damien’s brows drew together as he tried to explain it. Yet again, Petra appreciated that he never had disguised the truth about himself or his kind from her, and had never compromised an explanation. “It’s said to create possibility where there was none, and turn assumptions upside down.”

  “Magic,” Petra whispered, watching the light grow, and feeling the answering desire within her multiply.

  “Chaos,” Damien said.

  “Second chances?” Petra guessed.

  “Some think so.”

  “And you?”

  “I think it opens doors that were closed.” He shrugged. “For better or for worse.”

  “Like the gates of the underworld.”

  Damien nodded. Petra’s hand fall to her ripe belly as the baby moved.

  When Damien watched her gesture, Petra surveyed him. He was changing somehow. The blood in the cloth he’d tied around his leg was growing dark. Where she’d struck him, the skin had bruised, but now looked oddly dark. Maybe it was that the rest of his complexion looked so pale. Maybe he was dying because he was in the underworld or maybe he’d given some of his life force to her. Either, he didn’t look as vital anymore and she didn’t want him to be trapped here like her. She feared that they were running out of time and didn’t want his quest to fail.

  Not now that her son was moving again.

  “If we have a second chance, that means we made a mistake,” she said. “That means we have an opportunity to choose differently.”

  Damien folded his arms across his chest. “I believed I was right to leave you.”

  He looked so self-assured that Petra could have decked him again. “I just explained to you why I did what I did, that I did it for you.”

  “It wasn’t up to you to try to save me,” he replied, as stubborn as ever.

  “We conceived a son together. We were partners.”

  “No,” he insisted. “It was my task to protect you...”

  “Would you say that to another Pyr who saved you from danger?”