Dark Lover
Sins of the Night
Delilah Taylor
Contents
1. Xavier
2. Violet
3. Xavier
4. Violet
5. Xavier
6. Violet
7. Xavier
8. Violet
9. Xavier
10. Violet
11. Xavier
12. Violet
13. Xavier
14. Violet
15. Xavier
16. Violet
17. Xavier
18. Violet
19. Xavier
20. Violet
21. Xavier
22. Violet
23. Xavier
24. Violet
25. Xavier
About the Author
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 Delilah Taylor
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Chapter One
Xavier
I’ve known the brutal reality of death since I was seven when I witnessed the murder of my parents in a shitty hotel room in the early hours of morning, well before the sun came up.
I’ve also always known that my end would probably resemble theirs.
Bloody. Painful. And somewhere inconsequential.
The middle of fucking nowhere across the Canadian border seemed as inconsequential as a guy could get.
I was closing in on a dark hill at the end of the stretch of road with the Shades following me. Too close for comfort. The headlights of two cars glowed in my rear view mirror. They were hanging back, likely waiting to see what I would do. Based on the distance, I guess I’d have about thirty seconds to regroup once I pulled over for a final showdown.
It wasn’t going to go well.
My right side below my ribs was searing with pain after I sealed my bullet wound closed with the cigarette lighter in the car. I’d passed out for a few seconds afterward, drove off the road, over a strip of gravel, and into the edge of a field. I came to just in time to veer back onto the pavement and pick up speed before I lost my narrow lead.
I was also dealing with the stinging pain from the second bullet hole through my thigh.
Fuckers.
They’d ambushed me and Violet back at the little hotel run by an elderly couple. When I saw them pull into the lot, I knew things were going to get messy, but I’d hoped for a better outcome than this.
Violet was still back there.
At least I’d led the Shades away from her and bought her some time. If she was able to break out of the hotel room, I prayed she had the sense to get in the car we’d stolen and drive off in the opposite direction. If the Shades killed me out here, they’d be piling my corpse in the trunk and taking off to track her down to bring us both back to the Vex.
That couldn’t happen. It wouldn’t happen.
Violet had to survive this. I was hell bent on making sure she made it out of this deadly chaos in one piece. She didn’t deserve the target painted on her back. That should have been reserved for her asshole business tycoon father, Jonah Wynn. He was the one who should go to hell to atone for his lengthy list of sins.
Like having my parents murdered.
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and peered out through the windshield as I closed in on the hill that rose up ahead.
My blood had dried on my hands, and my clothes were still damp with it. The car was a mess, with blood staining the beige leather seats, and covering the shifter knob. It was also splattered all over the door panel. It was a fucking crime scene in here. The scent flooded the small space, mingling with others.
Heavy copper. Bitter musk. Sweat. Anxiety.
The car abruptly dipped as the pavement ended and gave way to a gravel road. I fought with the wheel as the tires lost traction, but I refused to lay off the gas. I had to maintain my lead, find a place to make my stand, and face the Shades head on.
That was the only way they were bringing me down. Fighting.
I would not be the guy who took a bullet in his back because he was running away. I planned to take as many down with me as I could.
Brothers be damned.
As I flew down the gravel road, everything around me started to make a little more sense. I passed old wooden signs that were briefly illuminated by my passing headlights, and I realized the hill I was driving toward was the remnants of an old mine. If I was lucky, one of the tunnels would be open and I could park the car across the opening and use it as a barrier.
It was the best chance I had.
A spasm of pain attacked my side and little white dots appeared in my vision.
I growled. “Not now.”
The spasm intensified and my vision blurred.
Shaking my head furiously, I rolled down the driver’s side window to invite in the cold evening air. It broke over me, chasing away the dizziness and the blurry vision, which was quickly replaced with an icy cold that bit into my skin. My blood soaked clothes chilled me to the bone and my knuckles beneath the dried blood were white.
This had to end soon. Otherwise I’d end up doing the Shades a big favor by keeling over from blood loss all on my lonesome. They wouldn’t even have to waste another bullet on me before loading me into the back of one of their cars.
I left the window down, and as I closed in on the base of the hill, I distracted myself with thoughts of Violet.
With Violet brushing her teeth back at the hotel, wearing nothing but an open bathrobe.
And Violet rolling over in bed, smiling at me with her hair a mess and her eyes heavy with sleep.
Or Violet bent over for me, ass in the air, back arched, face turned up to the ceiling as she gave in to the longing that filled us both.
Violet begging me not to leave her alone in that room.
Me promising her I’d come back.
The headlights of the car suddenly lit up what I was looking for—an old abandoned entrance to the mine.
It was boarded up as I expected, but that wasn’t going to slow me down. In fact it might work in my favor.
I accelerated and the tires spat out gravel behind me. As the boarded up entrance loomed in front of me, I braced myself for impact and let out a hiss of pain as I broke through the wood barrier, absorbing some of the impact. Then I hit the brakes, turned the wheel to the left, and slid to a sideways stop at the mouth of the mine.
The boards were still intact around the entrance, which meant I had more cover than I’d anticipated. With the car parked sideways, I had even more protection.
I killed the engine and turned off the headlights, plunging everything into darkness.
With another wheeze of pain, I kicked open the door and stumbled out. It took everything I had to stay on my feet when the gravel called for me to just fall forward, face first, and rest. If I laid down, it wouldn’t take long for me to pass out. If I was lucky, I wouldn’t ever wake up, and all the consequences of the last weeks would be lost on me.
I’d be free.
But Violet would still have to meet her end.
I limped to the boarded up edges of the entrance and pressed my back to the damp stone wall to peer through a crack in the boards. I was out of breath after only eight
or so steps from the car to the wall.
Bad sign.
The other Shades had passed the gravel line and were only a quarter mile down the road. I had seconds before they were on me. Once their headlights shone on my car, my location would be pretty damn obvious.
The bullets would fly.
With a grunt and a sharp inhale of breath, I pulled my gun out of the back of my jeans. There were six rounds left. A bullet for each man coming down that road plus two extras.
In my state, I was fairly confident I’d miss at least two shots. Maybe three. My only other weapons were the two knives in the waistband of my pants and the smaller one on my ankle. I doubted I was going to get close enough to my targets to use them.
I could throw them, I suppose.
That was my worst case scenario.
The two black sedans came to a stop. One of their brakes squealed. The drivers parked with their headlights trained on the opening to the mine where I stood, but I was confident I was out of view where I had tucked myself into the corner.
My car on the other hand, was lit up like a prop on stage.
I’d left the driver’s side door open and the stark white light illuminated just how much blood I’d lost on the drive. Maybe they’d think I had bled out and was lying unconscious in the dirt somewhere nearby.
If I played it cool and kept my head down I might be able to use that to my advantage.
When gunfire erupted all around me I slid down the stone wall and covered my head. Wood shattered and shards rained down upon me, but no pain came, and I trusted the heavy wood to protect me. My car was peppered with bullets, and I could have sworn the spray of gunfire lasted a good minute.
In reality, it had probably only been about fifteen seconds.
The bastards had just wasted a lot of ammo trying to force me out.
I didn’t make a sound. My side burned furiously and I desperately wanted to sink down lower to the earth, but I didn’t dare. If my boots disturbed the dirt just a little bit, it might tip them off that I was still alive, and the only way they were going to gather the nerve to come any closer was if they were fairly certain I was dead. Or unconscious.
So I clenched my jaw against the burning in my side and my thigh and I waited.
And waited.
One of their boots scuffed the dirt.
“Come on out, Dyer! We know you’re in there, you fucking pussy. Face us like a man!”
I couldn’t place the voice. It was familiar, yes, but not familiar enough for me to put a name or a face to it. I pressed my head to the stone, closed my eyes, and exhaled slowly in an attempt to control the pain.
Quiet mutterings reached my ears and I strained to listen.
“Do you think he’s dead?”
“Dyer? Hell no. I won’t believe he’s dead until I see the bullet go through his head with my own two eyes.” I knew that voice. It was Ray, an older Shade with a good amount of experience under his belt, and a hell of a lot more kills than most of the others in the organization.
“But he’s seriously wounded. Look at all that blood.”
“Yeah. Come on, Ray. Let’s check it out.”
Ray’s voice came out in a snarl. “If you want to make it easy for him to kill you, go right ahead.”
Shut up Ray, I thought bitterly. He was foiling my plan. My only plan.
One of the other Shades was drawing closer to the opening I’d blown open with my car. “I don’t hear a damn thing. All that blood? And no noise? He’s done, Ray.”
“Watch yourself,” Ray warned.
I moved super slowly to turn and peer between a very thin gap where two planks of wood didn’t quite come together. I couldn’t see much, but the dumbasses were all standing in front of the headlights, casting long shadows across the gravel. It was easy to pinpoint where each of them was.
It was even easier to keep tabs on the bravest of the bunch who was inching closer and closer to the opening.
If he stepped through, he’d be lit up like a perfect target, and I could end him.
But I’d be giving myself away.
Fuck.
Once the Shade hit the ground, the others would be on me. And I’d be fucked. Royally and utterly fucked.
“Damn it all,” I hissed and plucked the smallest knife on my person out of the strap around my ankle. Then I pushed myself off the wall, held my position in a low crouch, and braced myself for shit to hit the fan.
Ray called for the Shade who was only two feet out of my range to keep his wits about him.
The Shade passed through the wood barrier and made his first mistake. He didn’t check the corners. He was young. Fresh. Too dumb and too new to be up against the likes of me. He didn’t stand a fucking chance.
I let the knife fly.
He let out a surprised yelp as the blade buried itself in the side of his neck.
Then, as he toppled sideways, the moron pulled the blade out.
And his blood gushed out of him like a fountain.
More gunfire ripped through the night and I lunged for the gun that had fallen from The Shade’s fingers as he fell to the dirt.
Chapter Two
Violet
The speedometer dared me to look down and check my speed.
I didn’t.
It was probably better if I didn’t know.
There was no way to tell how far or how close I was to Xavier and the Shades who were running him down. If I was lucky, I would catch up with them soon. But seeing how things had been going for the last couple weeks, luck was doubtful.
And if I was unlucky? Well, it didn’t do to think like that.
I’d gnawed the inside of my cheeks raw over the course of the five minute drive, and was still chewing madly at them when my car abruptly dipped down and skidded a bit to the right as the tires hit the loose gravel road.
“Son of a bitch,” I gasped, clawing at the steering wheel to keep the car going straight. I had to slow down a bit and cursed the assholes who hadn’t put a sign up to warn drivers that the pavement stopped so abruptly.
Once I was on a straight course, I picked up speed and raced toward the hill. In the darkness of the night, I couldn’t tell how close I was to them and had no idea what I was going to happen upon when I finally arrived.
Back at the hotel, Vicky had warned me that Xavier had been shot when he drove off.
Twice.
I shook my head. “He’s going to be fine. He’s probably seen worse than this.”
Biting back a sob, I shook my head. Trying to think positively under these circumstances felt ridiculous.
After driving for another minute or so, I eased my foot off the gas and started to slow down. I didn’t want the Shades to see me coming, just in case Xavier was already face down in the dirt and they were waiting for me. I killed my headlights and rolled forward, letting the car’s momentum carry me forward.
I gripped the steering wheel and sucked in a breath. “Here we go.”
There were two black cars parked at the end of the road. The entrance to a mine was illuminated by their headlights. I recognized the vehicle I’d watched Xavier drive off in parked in front of the mine.
I slammed on the breaks when gunfire ripped through the night, slapping a hand over my mouth as a little yelp escaped my lips. With trembling hands, I undid my seatbelt and fell sideways across the passenger seat as fear welled up inside me, white hot and paralyzing.
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.
There was nothing but this car to shield me from the bullets. I knew it wouldn’t do shit to keep me alive if a Shade turned his attention my way and opened fire on me. So far, the car hadn’t been struck and I felt sure they hadn’t noticed me yet. Only once before had I been this close to gunfire. At the hotel earlier on this horrible day. It was terrifying. The shots continued to rip through the darkness.
My palms were sweaty and my mouth was dry. Every fiber of my body screamed at me to put the car in reverse and get the hell out of there, but my heart will
ed me to do something else.
To stay.
To get Xavier the hell out there.
Because gunfire meant one thing and one thing only—he was still alive.
Clenching my jaw, I crept back upward in my seat. I slid forward, slumping so I could still reach the pedals and steer, but only my eyes peered through the steering wheel and over the dash. If they tried to shoot me, they would have a hard time landing a shot.
I just needed to get closer.
Then I could get him out of here and we could keep running. We could run and never look back. So long as he was alive, I could handle anything.
When did you start loving a hitman?
The thought hit me hard and fast as I took my foot off the brake and crept forward.
And why is he worth you risking your own life?
I shook my head.
Now was not the time for doubt. Or questions that had no simple answers. Now was the time to keep my attention on one thing and one thing only. Saving Xavier.
I crept forward. The tires rolled over the gravel and every inch made me quiver with terror. All it would take was for one of them to notice me.
With a stomach fluttering with nerves, I peered over the steering wheel to get a better look at the scene as I drove closer.
The gunfire was near the opening of the mine. I could hear men shouting. Someone was screaming. It was a high pitched wail of a sound that sounded more like a dying animal than a human, and I wondered what sort of hell Xavier had put that particular Shade through.
His pain made me glad.
He deserved to writhe in the throes of death for what he was and what he had done.
Doesn’t Xavier deserve the same fate?
Dark Lover: Sins of the Night Page 1
