Darkness Falls

by A C Warneke

  “Just a few more days, Feryn,” she whispered to the empty room. “And then I’m coming home.”

  Gingerly, she stripped off the rest of her clothes and climbed into the crappy shower. The water pressure was pathetic but the water was warm and she was able to wash away the stress of the past couple of days. After a shower, she’d go to Nadine’s house and try to talk with her brother again. Maybe he’d had enough time to cool down and would actually listen to what she had to say. He’d probably yell at her some more and condemn her to even deeper pits of Hell. Groaning, she didn’t want to think about her brother and the difficulties he was going to have, the difficulties he was causing.

  Her phone rang in the other room and hoping it was her father, she hopped out of the shower with shampoo still in her hair. Naked, she raced over to the phone, stumbling over a stupid chair and hitting her shin on the corner of the bed frame. Her eyes were starting to sting from the bubbles sliding down her face by the time she reached the phone. Breathlessly, she picked it up and answered, “Father?”

  But she had been too late and there was no one on the other side. Cursing, wiping the bubbles out of her eyes, she looked at the number to see who had called but it came up as unlisted. Throwing the phone down in disgust, she stalked back to her still running shower. Luckily the water was still warm as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair and body. When the phone started ringing a second time, she groaned as she hurriedly washed the conditioner out of her hair and turned the water off. Listening in frustration as her phone stopped ringing, she hoped whoever it was would call back. Hopefully it was Gustav.

  Wrapping a towel around her body, she walked over to the curtains and drew the blackout shades closed, plunging the room into darkness. Then she crossed over to the bed and sat down to wait, checking out the bruise that was already forming on her shin. As she picked up her phone, she once again dialed the number Nadine had given her.

  “You’ve reached Benny’s Sub Shop. Sorry we missed your call but feel free to leave a message and we’ll get back to you when we can.”

  Grinding her teeth, she bit out, “We need to talk, damn it. Call me.”

  Hanging up, she stared at the stupid phone and willed it to ring but of course it didn’t. As she waited for nearly an hour, she became frustrated when it didn’t ring. Glancing over her shoulder, she stared longingly at the shower. In the years since the end of the hostilities, long showers had become a luxury that she frequently indulged in, one that she really needed at the moment. It didn’t matter how crappy the shower, as long as the water was warm and she could close her eyes and let her troubles melt away for a few minutes.

  She stood up and threw her traitorous phone onto the bed, dropping the towel as she headed back to the shower. As warm water slid over her skin, a wall of hot flesh and bone pressed against her back and Feryn’s arms wrapped around her. His breath was hot against her ear as he whispered, “Don’t open your eyes or I’ll disappear.”

  “You’re not here?” she asked in surprise since he felt very real.

  “No.”

  “How?” She relaxed against him as his hand swept over her stomach and cupped her breast.

  “You’ve fallen asleep,” he whispered, trailing hot kisses along the nape of her neck, sending barbs of awareness and pleasure down her spine until she shivered. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

  “I tried but I was in the shower,” she murmured, realizing Feryn was exactly who she wanted and needed in that moment, even if only in her dreams. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too.” His tongue was doing something wicked to her earlobe and his fingers were toying with her nipple. His other hand slipped between her legs and touched her most intimate flesh and she nearly combusted on the spot. “Come home.”

  “I’m almost ready to come back.” Her words came out as a moan as he hit a particularly sensitive spot and she slammed her hand against the wall in front of her to keep steady. He wasn’t really there so he wouldn’t be able to stop her from falling. “I just need a few more days.”

  “It’s killing me being so far away from you,” he crooned, sliding two thick fingers into her empty body, rubbing his thumb over her aching clit. As he slowly worked his fingers in and out of her body, he pressed his erection against the curve of her butt and rocked forward. “And it’s not just the sex I miss.”

  She almost smiled until he slipped his finger from her and filled her completely with his thick erection in one swift move. Her back arched and a low scream came from the back of her throat as pleasure exploded outwards. Light flashed behind her eyes and she felt as if she were floating, making her desperate to open her eyes to see if Feryn was truly there.

  Squeezing her eyes shut even tighter, she softly chanted, “He’ll disappear if you open your eyes. He’ll disappear if you open your eyes.”

  “I could be there in a heartbeat if you want me,” he purred.

  “You’re only a dream,” she managed to say through bloodless lips as her body slowly returned to normal. “And even if you weren’t, I still have to find my father. It’s too important.”

  “If you’re certain,” he trailed off, pressing a tender kiss to the side of her neck. After her hesitant nod, he murmured, “Go to bed, Malorie. It’s unwise to sleep in the shower.”

  Her eyes shot open and she spun around but he wasn’t there and it hurt far more than she expected even though she knew he had been a dream. She tried to close her eyes again but the water had grown too cold and without the heat of Feryn she was freezing. Shivering, she turned off the water and wrapped another too-small towel around her body and went into the other room. Opening up the new package of panties that she had picked up the day before, she pulled them on and finished getting dressed.

  It was then that she realized that the lights were off and it was her mark that was illuminating the room. Touching the swirling design in wonder, she watched as the light slowly faded and she was plunged into darkness once more. Was there more to her dream than she realized? Had Feryn been there, at least in spirit?

  Hopefully her father would call soon because she really wanted to return to the island, to Feryn and to Toby.

  Sipping the cup of hot tea, Malorie sat in her car across the street from Nadine’s house. Squinting against the late afternoon sun, she sighed as she thought about her time in the old neighborhood. They had lived here for a couple of weeks before that fateful day when Nadine came across the street and welcomed her into her home. The house that she had lived in had been torn down at some point and was replaced with a small park, which was a vast improvement. Still, it was a little sad that another piece of her past was gone.

  She hoped Hunter would call because she was worried about the stubborn boy. Watching from across the street wasn’t going to help him adjust to everything she had told him. In the back of her mind, she hoped that her father would call and he would be able to deal with Hunter. Her father would know what to say, what to do, to calm the boy down because God knew Malorie wasn’t having any luck.

  After another dark memory of how close Feryn came to ending it, Malorie found she couldn’t return the Aradian compound just yet because she wasn’t ready to face her mate. Her emotions were too close to the surface and she didn’t want him to think she pitied him, not ever. Her heart still trembled in her chest at the thought of losing him, of never knowing him.

  “What are we doing?” Jiro asked, suddenly appearing in her front passenger seat.

  Startled, she jumped and spilled hot tea down the front of her t-shirt. Glaring at Jiro, she growled, “Bastard.”

  Chuckling, he handed her a towel that he must have pulled from his ass because she certainly didn’t carry a towel around in her glove compartment. But it was dry and she was wet so she used it to sop up the liquid, glad the tea hadn’t burned her too badly. “Seriously, Mal, what are you doing?”

  “Nothing,” she said defensively, plucking the damp material away from her skin and grimacing. “What does it lo
ok like I’m doing?”

  “Spying on that house across the street,” he answered, nodding his head towards Nadine’s house. “Are you?”

  “Pshaw,” she snorted, ignoring Jiro’s probing gaze by fumbling with her now empty Styrofoam tea cup. “Why would I do something like that?”

  “Well, you’ve been sitting here all morning and I was just curious.”

  “I’m just sitting here thinking,” she answered. “Trying to figure out where to go from here since New York was a bust.”

  “And why is it that you’re no longer in New York?” he asked, arching his eyebrow.

  “Because it was a bust,” she repeated slowly. Her brows drew together as she realized something very important, something she would have realized sooner had Jiro not caught her off guard and made her spill her tea. “Where’s Toby?”

  “With Jack….”

  “What?” she practically screeched, her skin crawling and her heart racing. “Are you insane? Until last week he was a vampire. What the hell, Jiro, I trusted you with my son.”

  “Malorie….”

  “Send me back,” she demanded through clenched teeth. “Send me back now.”

  Heaving a sigh, he waved his arm and a black hole opened up next to her car door. Without sparing him a second glance, she pushed the door open and stepped through the tear in reality. In her anger, she had forgotten how awful the trip through Netherspace was but she didn’t care since she had to get back to Toby. As much as she wanted to trust Jack, she couldn’t, not yet.

  Closing her eyes didn’t help so she concentrated on her son, on his smile and his hugs, falling into the nothingness instead of fighting it. It felt like dying and she hated traveling this way. If she was going to have a life outside of Feryn, she was going to have to figure out some other way to travel between dimensions because this way was awful. It scrambled her brains and turned her insides out and while it didn’t necessarily hurt it felt unnatural and she didn’t think it was something she would ever get used to doing

  The sun blinded her eyes as she landed on a rough surface. Desperate to release the energy building up within her and tearing at her skin, she buried her fingers in the sand but nothing happened. There were no seeds nearby.

  “Malorie?” a familiar male voice whispered as a warm hand touched her shoulder.

  Sensing a vessel to release the energy, she curled her fingers into the soft material of his shirt and pulled his head down to hers, blindly searching for his mouth. His lips parted and she kissed him, pouring her excess energy into his body, tangling her tongue with his as he fell onto his back and brought her over him. As the power lessened, she continued to straddle his body, her mouth still smashed against his.

  Strong fingers wrapped around her shoulders but they weren’t pushing her away. A groan came from the back of his throat and she realized that while his lips and taste were familiar, they weren’t Feryn’s. Jerking free, she stared down into the pleasure-glazed eyes of Jack and let out a horrified gasp, hissing one word, “No.”

  His dreamy expression twisted as his back arched and he grabbed his groin, crying out in pain and ecstasy, “Oh, Jesus. Fuck.”

  Looking down between their bodies, she saw the stain spread over the front of his swim trunks as he came all over himself and she realized that she was responsible. Horrified by her actions, she pushed away from him and fell on her backside, looking around and seeing Toby’s confused expression and Feryn’s furious glare. Pain rippled across his handsome face as he turned around and stalked away from her.

  Scrambling to her feet, she chased after him, grabbing his arm and making him face her. “Feryn.”

  “Welcome back, Malorie,” he ground out, avoiding her eyes as he looked over her head.

  “Look at me, damn it,” she growled, reaching up and grabbing the back of his head. He fought her so she punched him in the gut, which didn’t really affect him but it did make him look at her. “You don’t know what it’s like for me to go through the Netherspace and when I come out, I’m barely aware that I’m human.”

  Finally, he lowered his head and looked at her with guarded eyes so she continued on, “I have to discharge the energy build up or I’ll go mad. If you had gotten to me first I would have kissed you instead.”

  “So you would have kissed any random stranger?”

  Heaving a sigh, she shook her head, “There was a familiarity about him.”

  “Fine,” he bit out, his eyes frosty as he looked at her. “But why didn’t you tell me that Jack was back?”

  “When have I had a chance?” she demanded to know, throwing her arms out to the side but not backing down an inch. “He showed up after you left and then I headed out in the morning, like we agreed.”

  “I had to find out from my brother when he asked me to babysit your son. Yet the moment Jiro leaves, you showed up,” he growled, his aura expanding outwards and crowding into her space. “Do you not trust me to watch Toby?”

  “What?” she asked, confused by his question. “I didn’t even know you were here. Jiro just showed up and I demanded he send me back because I thought he left my son alone with my dead husband.”

  “Malorie,” Jack groaned from behind her.

  “What?” she growled, spinning around to glare at Jack and freezing when she saw that he was curled in on himself. He was clutching his stomach with one hand and pressing the other against his crotch. Her eyes widened as she stared at the twisted pleasure-pain expression on his face.

  “What did you do to me?” Jack panted as his body jerked. “Jesus, Mal, what have you done?”

  Helplessly, she turned to Feryn for answers but he was gone and she didn’t know what to do. Staggering over to Jack’s side, she kneeled down, realizing that Toby was there, too, concern and love etched on his tiny face. Cautiously, she took Jack hand in hers and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  Jack barked out a humorless laugh as he glanced at Toby before answering, “I went from flaccid to orgasmic in a matter of heartbeats, Mal. The only problem is it’s not going away.”

  Toby stood and walked a few feet away to a grove of banana trees, returning a moment later with a handful of rich soil. “I found a seed.”

  “Toby,” Malorie said, wondering what her son was doing. But Jack seemed to understand, scooping the dirt into his hand and closing his eyes. A moment later, a plant burst upwards and Malorie fell backwards onto her ass, staring at her ex and her son. “What? How?”

  Letting the plant drop, he looked at Malorie as pain still twisted his face, “It’s not enough.”

  “Jack….”

  “You can’t tell anyone,” he pleaded with painful breathlessness.

  “I won’t,” she promised, looking at Toby and seeing the satisfaction in his small face. How had Toby known Jack was a Breeder?

  “It hurts, Mal,” Jack wheezed.

  “Jack,” she breathed, her words cut off when Feryn wrapped his hands around her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. Then he swept his arm around Toby and lifted her son into the air and pressed Toby’s face against his neck. In the next moment, there was a gorgeous, female Aradian kneeling next to Jack, making quick work of Jack’s clothes. It took only a moment before Malorie realized the blond Aradian was making love to Jack, taking him into her body as she leaned forward and pressed her teeth into his throat.

  “No!” Malorie cried, grabbing the woman’s slender shoulders and trying to pull her off Jack before he could be converted back into a vampire. But the Aradian didn’t budge, no matter how hard Malorie fought.

  The woman gasped as she pulled her teeth from Jack’s neck, her eyes rolling up as she licked her lips. “His blood is exquisite, unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. Thank you.”

  “Feryn!” Malorie cried when it became obvious the woman was ignoring her as she sank her teeth back into Jack’s throat. Feryn was covering Toby’s face as he walked away with her son so she had no choice but to follow to discover what the hell he thought he was doing. “Feryn, why?
”

  “She’s not going to convert him,” he said deliberately, sounding almost offended that she would think otherwise. Turning around to face her, she saw the hurt in his eyes at her lack of trust as he shook his head, “It was obvious your dead husband was suffering and it seemed only logical that an Aradian would be able to help, since it seemed sexual in nature.”

  “Of course,” she said dryly, wondering how his logic worked. Reaching up, she gently touched Toby’s back and didn’t quite meet Feryn’s eyes as she murmured, “Thank you for protecting Toby.”

  He was silent for a long moment and when she finally looked at him, he was studying her with inscrutable, brilliant green eyes. Gently, he ran the tip of his finger along her jaw as he whispered, “Do you really think I would do anything less?”

  She shook her head no, knowing he would do anything for her but also knowing he had his own idea of why she was so wary. Ignoring Jack and the Aradian, she murmured, “I don’t want Jack to lose his life again and I’m frustrated because I’m no closer to finding my father and now I have even more reasons to find him.”

  Cupping her cheek, sliding his fingers into her hair, he smiled down at her, “I’m sure he’s fine.”

  She had to smile at his words but, of course, he didn’t understand. Waging an internal war, she debated whether or not to tell him about Hunter, knowing that to do so would be to condemn the poor boy to a fate he might never want. But how could she keep something so huge from her mate? There was also Jack, though she had promised not to say anything just yet. She opened her mouth when the purr of her car drowned out the sounds of sex on the beach and she turned around as Jiro came to a stop in the small parking lot, a broad grin on his face and a sullen passenger in the front seat.