Midnight Sun

by Lyons, Rene

  Standing on the last step, she still had to look up at him. “What are you doing standing outside the church?”

  “What are you doing coming out of church?”

  Good question. Lex wished she knew. “I guess I needed God.”

  The same despondent look passed over him again. “Don’t we all?” His tone was about as sarcastic as the shirt he wore that read It’s all about the pain (the ink and the jewelry are just souvenirs).

  He looked like God was the last thing he needed. “I don’t know. Do we?”

  He actually seemed to think about that for a moment. “No. We don’t.”

  By the way he said that, Lex believed he was lying. Though whether to her or himself, she didn’t know.

  Maybe he didn’t know either.

  She stood close enough for him to hurt her if he was of a mind to. And though she knew the danger she placed herself in, she didn’t move away. Her curiosity about what he was and her attraction to him overrode common sense and kept her right where she was.

  Normally someone who played it safe, who hid in the corner while life was lived all around her, something in Lex rebelled at the idea of retreating. She wanted to touch his pale skin, wanted to see if it was as cold as it looked. He stood so still it was creepy. And were those fangs peeking out from behind his lips?

  He licked his lips. Yep. Those were definitely fangs.

  Everything Allie warned her about earlier tonight came back to Lex in a rush. Still, something forced her to remain right where she was. In harm’s way. She didn’t want to leave him alone, not after seeing the lost and lonely look in his eyes. It seemed almost cruel to leave him. Like she’d be abandoning him.

  “You’re scared.”

  Well of course I am. Did he forget he was a vampire?

  Yet a whispered voice assured Lex he wouldn’t hurt her. As the melodious voice resonated in her mind an itch began right above her navel. She gave it a quick scratch though it did nothing to ease it.

  “I know what you are, so yes, I’m afraid of you.”

  “Do you now?” One of his black brows rose in question. Then he looked at her all thoughtfully for a moment. “What am I, elf?”

  “You’re a vampire.”

  His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. “Someone’s been telling you bedtime stories, have they?”

  She swallowed hard when he leaned in close and inhaled the air around her. She swore she felt as if he was trying to push inside her mind. “Damascus isn’t your average town.”

  “No it’s not.” Since he was so close to her, she was able to smell the scent of patchouli that clung to his pale flesh. She never been overly fond of the scent, but on him it smelled wonderful. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

  His voice wove through her, wrapped around her and touched her as if his hands were on her. She shivered as a delicious thrill crept up her spine.

  If she weren’t careful she’d give in to the odd sensations awakening within her, drawing her to him. “I have to go.”

  “So soon?”

  She nodded, wondering if he was going to let her leave. “I have to get home.”

  He leaned in close. So close they were practically touching. “Stay,” he whispered seductively in her ear.

  Yes. Stay. She wanted to more than she was willing to admit. “It’s bad enough my sister is going to freak since I went out after she warned me not to. If I’m any later she’s going to kill me.”

  Lex didn’t understand why she was treating him so casually. The man was a vampire. He was the very thing Allie warned her about.

  The whispering in her head, a beautiful chorus of voices coming from somewhere far away, out of sight, told her she belonged in this moment.

  These were the same voices that led her back to good any time she thought to veer from the path of pure. But not this time, now, they were telling her to stay with a creature who was sin incarnate.

  Slapping a hand to her temple, she feared she was losing her mind.

  And the itch—Oh God, the itch on her stomach was getting worse every day. A burning itch directly over her navel that no amount of scratching could relieve.

  “Your sister is right. Bad things come out at night.”

  She let out a nervous laugh. “Does that include you?”

  “Especially me.”

  Maybe the lyrical voices were wrong.

  The movement of his hands caused her gaze to shoot a glance down, gaping in shock when his hand moved to cup his erection through his pants. His other hand, the top of which was branded, brushed through her hair. His touch was gentle, keeping her from running as her hair spilled over the pale flesh of his hand and arm.

  “You can’t begin to imagine the things I want to do to your body.”

  ‘Oh God…’

  No, she couldn’t imagine. She knew nothing of sex firsthand, having never even been kissed before. Those voices kept her body pure, yet now they drew her toward this formidable vampire. They compelled her to want things from him she’d never thought twice about with any other man.

  She wanted to know those things he wanted to do to her. Yearned for him to show her, to bring her body to life. The mere thought of his mouth and hands on her were enough to make her heady with needs she never knew burned within her.

  It took some effort but Lex remembered they were in front of a church and that he wasn’t merely a man. Yet when she finally gained the ability to move, instead of heading back up the stairs she stepped toward him. As if he knew how badly she craved his touch, his hand left her hair. His calloused palm felt rough against the flesh of her arm when he took hold of her.

  His touch came and went faster then the span of one heartbeat to the next. With fangs bared he let out a hiss that raised chills over her.

  “Christ,” he ground out between clenched teeth. “You’re Allie’s sister.

  Lex was not surprised this vampire knew Allie, since most of the nocturnal population of Damascus did. From what her sister told her, even they knew her as Crazy Allie.

  Pride rose in her, ready to defend her sister even at the cost to her own life. “Yes I am. And you better not call her crazy because she’s not,”

  “I know she’s not crazy,” he said quietly before sighing with resignation. “You have to go, elf.”

  Yes, I should.

  Too bad she couldn’t get her body to cooperate and walk her away from him.

  She asked his name with no expectation of him actually answering her, and was pleasantly surprised when he did.

  “Constantine Draegon.”

  “What an amazing name.” She rolled it over in her mind, liking the way it sounded. “Since you know Allie, I guess you know I’m Lexine.”

  He inclined his head politely, licking his lips again, as if he tasted the air around them. “Good night, Lex.”

  “Good night, Constantine,” she whispered back softly.

  The moment was suspended in time with them simply staring at each other. Finally, Lex turned and rushed down the block to where she’d parked Allie’s old car. Since the Passport wasn’t in great condition, Allie kept the old Dodge in case the SUV broke down, though the blue monstrosity was in even worse condition.

  Driving away, Lex felt as if something profound passed between her and Constantine Draegon.

  *

  Once the air no longer crackled with the intensity of her lifeforce the fingers squeezing Constantine’s dead heart eased their stranglehold.

  Bloody hell.

  Allie’s sister. How the hell didn’t he sense that long before she came out of the church? He should have discerned her bloodline long before he touched her. Something prevented him from detecting such a vital piece of information about her.

  He also hadn’t been able to push inside her mind. No matter how hard he tried, it felt as if he kept hitting a brick wall. At first he assumed she made a deliberate effort to hide her thoughts from him, but that wasn’t the case.

  Lex hadn’t kept him out of h
er thoughts.

  Something else did. The force blocking him was stronger than any supernatural power he’d ever encountered. Yet she seemed oblivious to it. He believed she truly had no idea what was inside of her. Nor, he assumed, did Allie.

  Bloody hell. This was going to add another complication to their already convoluted existence.

  The possibilities of what the power within her was were endless. As were the consequences to her for possessing it.

  Constantine lingered long after he watched Lexine Parker drive away, still feeling as if a piece of her was with him. The fact that she was Allie’s sister twisted his gut and had him cursing Fate.

  Seemed she was forever giving him the big cosmic “fuck you”.

  Pure. That’s what Lex was. Pure. He felt the innocence of her body with an intensity that nearly knocked him right on his ass.

  He wanted to taste that purity, take it into himself to know what it felt like to be so clean.

  He thought the last true innocents vanished from this world long ago. He’d been dead wrong. And then to have such purity wrapped in a package of striking beauty made it nearly too tempting to resist taking her right in the front of God’s house.

  Looking at the cross gracing the steepled roof of the brick church, Constantine wanted to believe the day would come when he’d step out of the shadows and into the glory of God’s love. Though it was doubtful. Creatures such as himself were doomed to Hell even before they took their first breath of life.

  Now Lexine—God Himself would come down to personally escort her home.

  With one last glance at the church, Constantine headed back into the shadowy park across the street. His run-in with Lex left his body hard and hurting. The bloodlust was quickly rising to a dangerous level. If he didn’t feed soon things were going to get ugly.

  With a bar located on the other side of the park, he always found one or two drunken women wondering around. Always good for an easy fuck and a quick meal, they’d do to slake the hunger and the sexual needs awakened in him by Lex.

  Even as Constantine took another woman, he knew he’d be seeing Lex. The image of her was branded into his mind as deeply and permanently as the seal on his hand.

  Eying a small group of women gathered around a bench in the center of the park, Constantine didn’t find any of them attractive. Not one of them whetted his appetites. Nevertheless, they were perfect.

  As they smoked and laughed, their words slurring drunkenly, he knew they’d be easy meat.

  He would pick one and use her until dawn began its ascent. His needs would be sated and he’d return to the Manor to wait out the day.

  Fuck it, why not take all three.

  Hell, he’d need them all to satisfy the lust and the hunger one tiny blue-eyed girl woke in him.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Jesus Christ,” Lucian hissed when he caught the unmistakable scent of fresh blood and death permeating the air. “Not again.”

  They were already too late. Another girl was dead and the renegades responsible long gone.

  “I smell it too,” Raphael announced, walking beside him through the thicket of trees. “What a reek.”

  Lucian tried not to smell the blood on the air, fought hard to block it out, but couldn’t. It drifted through him, letting him know beyond a shadow of a doubt when they found her it was going to be a gruesome sight.

  They were heading toward an old, abandoned house hidden deep in the woods. Houses like it peppered the countryside, many little more than crumbling lean-tos, which was why the Templars were having such a difficult time locating the renegades. The bastards were jumping from house to house, and as long as they cleaned their trail, it was nearly impossible to track them.

  Strictly by chance Lucian and Raphael came upon this place. They’d been heading back to Seacrest from a bar in Mount Pleasant when Lucian caught the subtle scent of human blood in the air.

  Since they had to go deeper into the woods, they left the Maserati on the side of the road and went off on foot. They didn’t get far before the stench of death mingled with the blood, causing Lucian’s gut to twist. He knew what they were going to find when they came upon the source of those odors.

  “Luc, look there.”

  Lucian’s intense stare cut through the dark. “I see it.”

  The boarded up windows were a good indication that vampires had been here. Following the metallic scent carrying on the warm summer breeze, it led them to the door of the house. Though neither Templar detected the stench of renegades, they weren’t taking any chances. Lucian kicked open the door, charging in with sword drawn. Raphael followed, battle-ready for what might await them within.

  As soon as they entered the house, their vampiric senses were assailed with the odors of blood, terror, sex, and death. The evidence of renegades was everywhere, clear they left mere hours ago. Their scent was still strong, mixing with the more noxious odors. The place all but hummed with the remnants of their energy and their victim’s fear.

  Lucian led the way to the bedroom, already stiffening with dread, knowing what they would find.

  Lying on a mattress was the naked body of a young woman. Her body was a map of pain, evidence she’d been tortured for a long while before finally given the release of death.

  From her matted blond hair right down to the blood smeared over her inner thighs, Lucian felt her suffering run through him.

  The only difference between her and the others was the look in her eyes. They held no terror, only a strange peace as they stared unseeingly at the ceiling. Her cracked lips gaped open, frozen on her last gasp. The entire left side of her throat had been viciously torn away by the monster who’d killed her.

  Lucian instinctively knew they’d found Amanda Driver.

  “Jesus Christ,” Raphael whispered in horror as he came up behind Lucian. “How long do you think she’d been here?”

  Seeing the condition of her body, Lucian wanted to hurt the bastards who’d done this to her. The need for retribution burned dangerously hot within him. “Too goddamn long.”

  He didn’t understand why he gave a shit about these women. God knew he’d seen the death of innocents before. Hell, he’d even done his fair share of killing. Yet with every one of these girl’s deaths he felt he lost a piece of himself.

  When he found who was responsible, he was going to bring a reckoning to them and send every last one of them to Hell.

  Raphael placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Come on, Luc, there’s nothing left for us to do here. Dawn is coming. We have to go.”

  “Go wait outside.”

  “Lucian…”

  Lucian ripped his shoulder out of Raphael’s hold and pulled his sword free of its scabbard in one fluid motion. His fury pushed him nearly beyond reason.

  Such a state of emotion was a dangerous thing. Even more so for a Templar, who was above the average vampire in strength and ability.

  Raising his sword and holding it above his head in a battle-ready stance, Lucian bared his fangs in a ferocious snarl. “Don’t question me on this. Get the hell outside. Now.”

  Raphael threw up his hands. “I’m going. But for God’s sake, Luc, you have to calm down. You can’t go back to that place again. Remember what happened last time.”

  Remember? How the hell could he forget? The night continued to haunt him even after seven hundred years.

  Though, he couldn’t rid himself of the blind rage that tore through him like a violent storm, Lucian lowered his sword. “I’ll calm down when I take the heads of the bastards responsible for this.”

  “I know, Knight. Believe me, I feel the same way. But right now, we have to get out of here before dawn comes. You’ll be no good to this girl if you’re ash.”

  The threat of the sun calmed him somewhat. At least enough to have him lowering his sword. He felt the coming dawn like a million pinpricks on his skin. Nevertheless, he couldn’t leave Amanda this way. After what she’d obviously suffered she deserved to be laid to res
t properly, even if her soul was gone and wouldn’t find peace until it was released to God.

  “Go wait for me outside. Please.”

  It had to be the “please” that finally got Raphael to give Lucian a few moments alone.

  As soon as he was gone, Lucian stabbed his sword into the floor. He tore down the cardboard that covered the windows. Amanda suffered long enough in dark.

  He sat on the mattress next to her, struggling against his emotions and the hunger her blood woke in him.

  He smoothed her dirty hair away from her face before running his hand down her smooth cheek. Her youth and beauty were radiant even in death. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find you sooner.”

  He wrapped her in the sheet with infinite care. When he lifted her off the blood-soaked bed he saw something that chilled him to the marrow of his bones.

  Written in blood beneath her on the mattress was his name.

  Goddamn it.

  As he suspected from the start, this wasn’t about the Daystar. This was about him.

  Lucian retrieved his sword and carried Amanda’s body outside. Raphael was waiting for him none too patiently. “Find wood,” Lucian barked, ignoring the incredulous look Raphael threw him.

  The sensation of the approaching dawn made him uneasy. Nervous. The prickling at the nape of his neck had him wanting to tear away the flesh to ease the discomfort.

  He didn’t want to be here, the one to have to lay another murdered woman to rest. After witnessing too much death in his time, he was tired of it. The pain and suffering he’d seen, the destruction, it all took a terrible toll on him. He longed for the indifference the others had. Wished for it with everything he was, especially now.

  His skin beginning to prickle as dawn inch closer, Lucian wished he were locked away in the dark where the deadly rays of the coming sun couldn’t touch him. Couldn’t burn him to ash.

  They’d all been to that party and Lucian had no desire to do that dance again. Not ever.

  With Raphael off finding kindling, Lucian laid Amanda out on the dirt. He wasn’t going to tell Raphael about the sick present left for him. The less Rogue knew, the safer he would be—or so Lucian hoped.