Into the Darkness

by Delilah Devlin

  She’d been kidding herself there would ever be a time for them. He’d never really let her close, never shared the intimate details of his life.

  Sure, they’d spent half their waking lives in each other’s company. But she couldn’t claim to really know him.

  However, she did know he didn’t particularly like preternatural creatures. He distrusted what he couldn’t explain. Over time, he’d come to tolerate her well, despite the fact she had a second strike against her.

  Rene hadn’t wanted a female partner of any kind. Ever.

  It had taken deliberately choreographed incidents to prove her physical abilities. Without revealing the true extent of her powers, she’d cultivated a relationship with him built on mutual respect. Eventually, he’d come to trust she wouldn’t let him down or get in his way.

  Tonight had dashed her hopes he’d ever see her as a potential lover. After this, he’d have eyes only for Natalie.

  Over the years, she’d taken lovers for blood and sex, but she’d carefully avoided entanglement. Although the hurt that kept her heart apart and untouched was decades old, she’d been unwilling to risk it again.

  Until Rene.

  Despite his sometimes coarse manner, at the core he was a gentleman with a deep streak of integrity she admired. More than once she’d wished she had found someone like him for her life mate the first time around.

  The truck slowed and bumped onto a gravel road.

  “Almost home,” Nicolas murmured. “Time to get these two to bed. Sure you know whose bed you want him tied to?”

  The sly humor in his voice set her teeth on edge while his words conjured a vision that pricked her sensual awareness, making her shift on the thinly padded seat.

  The thought of Rene stretched across pale sheets, his hands and feet in manacles, tightened her body and sent a flush of heat across her cheeks.

  Nicolas tsked. “He’s not for you, but maybe you’d settle for something else, eh chère?”

  Chessa stiffened and lifted her chin. “Why? You offering?”

  A single eyebrow rose like a dark wing. “I’m not nearly so brave as that.”

  “You think a man needs courage to be with me?”

  His glance swept down her body, and he lifted his shoulders in an indolent shrug. “I think he needs many things to take you on. Courage is only one of them.”

  Chessa snorted. “That almost sounds like a compliment.”

  “Just telling the truth.” He tilted his head toward the floor. “Our baby girl’s a lot like you. She’s got courage in spades. She’s not even fully cooked, and she tried to take me.”

  Chessa didn’t want to hear about any virtues Natalie Lambert might possess. She was ready to hate the woman’s guts. “Sounds like a fool to me,” she muttered.

  When his smile widened, she realized she’d given him exactly what he wanted. She bit back a curse at his soft laughter.

  “I think it’s a very good thing you’re not the one charged with her safety.”

  “I know my duty,” she bit out.

  His smile dimmed, and his gaze bored into hers. “Yes, but you have yet to learn your place.”

  Pure, intoxicating fury blasted through her. “And where might that be?”

  The white flash of his wicked smile had her wishing she’d bit her tongue rather than rise to his bait. “Princess, if I have to tell you, you’re not ready for the answer.”

  His laser wit always had a way of flaying her self-control. Just once, she wished her temper wouldn’t flare so readily in response to his jibes.

  She’d give anything to be on the sticking end of the skewer. “Shut the fuck up, Nic.”

  CHAPTER 6

  As soon as the van pulled to a halt, the back doors swung open. Familiar faces appeared in the opening, but their gazes clung to the sleeping Natalie. They reached eager hands inside to pull at her feet, sliding her down the metal floor.

  While they lifted the woman out and carried her away, Chessa braced herself not to feel. However, the cloying humid air with its accompanying scents of honeysuckle and roses was already stifling.

  The view beyond the metal doors appeared no different than she remembered. The shining crushed shell and pebble driveway was perfectly edged with soft green grass and short shrubs. The tall oaks draped in Spanish moss shaded the pristine porches of the house, sentinels against the faint light of dawn glittering on dew-capped leaves and lush red blooms.

  She hated returning to Ardeal. Resentment stiffened her shoulders, and a hollow ache settled in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to run, to get as far away from here as she could—back to New Orleans, another world away.

  She especially didn’t want to spend time with the residents from “beyond the forest.”

  Perhaps Natalie would draw everyone’s attention away, and they’d leave her the hell alone.

  “Let’s get this one inside,” Nicolas murmured. “Our girl might wake up in need of a snack.”

  Chessa lifted her chin and did her best to ignore his needling reminder of whose hunger Rene would serve.

  Nicolas squatted next to Rene and lifted his shoulders from the ground, while another set of eager hands reached inside to grab his feet. Together, they carried the sleeping man away, leaving Chessa alone in the back of the van.

  She peeled the Velcro tapes from the top of her heavy Kevlar vest and shrugged out of the garment, feeling only marginally lighter.

  “Welcome home, damu,” a soft, throaty voice called.

  Chessa drew a slow, deep breath and turned on her seat to face the dark-haired woman with the infinite, soulful eyes. “Hello, grand-mère.”

  “Come,” she said extending her hand. “We must get inside before the light becomes unbearable.”

  Chessa held out her hand and let Inanna help her to the ground. When the other woman’s grasp tightened, she allowed her to continue to hold her hand as they mounted the steps of the veranda.

  “The house is buzzing over the new arrivals. Such a miracle. Thank you for bringing her to us.”

  “You’re welcome,” Chessa said, although her throat closed so tight, she felt choked.

  “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I’m not staying long.”

  Inanna’s smile—secretive and sly—raised Chessa’s hackles. “You’re here, now. Perhaps you will find a reason to linger.”

  The heavy mahogany doors stood open, and Chessa let herself be swept inside. Nothing had changed here, either. Heavy, dark old-world furniture stood like sentries against cream-colored walls. High ceilings with lazy, lapping fans looked cool and elegant. Through open doorways off the marble-tiled foyer, the rooms looked inviting—large sofas, scrunched pillows in jewel-toned velvets and damask and plush pale carpeting. Everything bespoke money and privilege, but the message was subtly powerful.

  This was Inanna’s home—dark and light—as secretive as her existence, yet warmly inviting to her family—a very large and incestuous family.

  “I have a job to get back to,” Chessa demurred, feeling like a scruffy urchin next to the ancient one’s easy elegance.

  “But your partner remains here—”

  “He made his bed.”

  Inanna squeezed her hand and led her through the dark marble-tiled foyer and up the curved iron staircase. “He will need a friend.”

  “He’s got Natalie. She’ll fill his life from now on.”

  “Since he’s your partner, my guess is he’s every bit as headstrong as you. He may fight his destiny.”

  “Then he’ll be destroyed,” Chessa said, trying not to let emotion block her throat, again. He wasn’t her concern anymore.

  Inanna paused on the upper landing outside the specially prepared room. “Nicolas is alone with them, now. Do you trust him to make them comfortable?” she asked, suppressed laughter sparkling in her black eyes.

  Chessa gritted her teeth and tugged away her hand. “I’ll just make sure he doesn’t take a bite of his own.”

  “You do t
hat. Join me for dinner tonight?”

  Chessa’s eyebrows drew together, and she didn’t bother hiding her impatience this time. “I won’t be here,” she said, and turned on her heel. She shoved open the door to find Nicolas slowly unwinding the sheet from around Natalie’s lush little body.

  A low murmur of admiration escaped his curved lips. “Lovely—cream, tipped with berries. Delicious, don’t you think? A veritable feast for our policeman.”

  “Just get her on the fucking bed,” Chessa growled.

  “Such an appropriate descriptor.”

  “Asshole,” she muttered.

  His soft laughter skittered down her spine, raising goose bumps. “A favorite destination—how’d you guess?”

  Chessa clamped her lips shut—not willing to give the man any more ammunition. Instead, she knelt beside Rene, unsnapped his shoulder holster, and quickly stripped it away.

  Next, she undid the button at the top of his jeans and slid his zipper down, ignoring the slight tremor in her hand. Her fingers slipped between the waistband and his warm skin and pushed the pants down his hips and over his buttocks. If she lingered a moment too long, it wasn’t because she enjoyed the hewn muscles of his ass and flanks.

  When his flaccid cock was revealed, she swallowed hard against a moan of yearning. She raised her glance to Nicolas and found him staring back.

  His cheeks were taut, his mouth a thin, tight line. “He’s not for you.”

  “Never thought he was,” she said, swallowing to moisten her dry mouth. “Besides, none of this is your business.”

  Nicolas fluffed a pillow at the head of the bed and raised Natalie’s shoulders to slip it beneath her. Then he smoothed back the sleeping woman’s hair from her face. His head canted and he combed his fingers through the ends. The blonde curls clung to his fingertips. He let them drop onto her breasts and arranged them to frame her pink nipples.

  Chessa couldn’t help noticing how attractive the other woman was. She was a perfect counterpoint to Rene’s raw masculinity. Her stomach sank as she compared Natalie’s body to her own lean frame.

  “He’ll enjoy all this softness,” Nicolas taunted, drawing one long finger from her breast over the curves of her ribs and lower, finally twirling his fingers in the pale curls between her legs.

  “Stop it.”

  Nicolas’s eyebrows rose, but he drew back his hand. “Let me help you get him onto the bed.”

  Before she could utter a protest, Nicolas lifted Rene’s naked body and deposited him beside Natalie. He made quick work of latching the manacles to his hands and feet.

  Then he stood back and studied the pair lying side by side on the mattress. “Something isn’t quite right.” He knelt on the mattress and tugged Natalie closer to Rene, aligning her body so that her front draped his side. “What do you think? Better?”

  “Quit being an ass. Let’s get out of here.”

  “No, no. We want them too horny to think when first they awaken.” He lifted Natalie’s slackened hand and laid it over Rene’s cock.

  Chessa’s back grew rigid. “I said that’s enough.”

  “Too coarse, do you think?” He pushed Natalie’s hand up Rene’s belly to his chest.

  Now, Natalie appeared to be caressing the solid muscle above his heart. He drew her knee over Rene’s thigh and climbed back off the bed.

  “What do you think, Chessa?” he asked, a devilish smile stretching his lips.

  She narrowed her gaze at him. “I still think you’re an asshole. Now, get out of here.” She waited for him to precede her to the door, and then paused to look over her shoulder one last time.

  Rene and Natalie looked like lovers. When they awoke that evening, they would start the journey toward being so much more than that together. She walked back to the bed and drew the cover at the foot of the mattress over their bodies, then left without looking back.

  Chessa closed the door behind her and gasped when she was pressed back against the closed door.

  Nicolas leaned over her, so close the musky scent of his arousal was impossible to miss.

  For once, she felt an answering curl of desire deep inside her belly. It scared the shit out of her. “What do you think you’re doing?” she said, gritting out the words.

  “Nothing you won’t enjoy. I promise.”

  Chessa was honest enough with herself to admit the thought of a mutual suckfest did have its appeal, but not with this man. He was too damn sure of himself. Too damn smug for a Revenant.

  She shoved at his chest, but his heels dug into the carpet. As his head lowered toward hers a low groan escaped her throat.

  His mouth was softer than she’d expected. His lips suctioned hers in drugging little circles that soon had her following his slow, sinful movements.

  When his tongue licked the seam between her lips, she opened, eager to feel him stroking inside.

  He tasted like toasted pecans and sweet maple syrup—well, not really, but he did taste like a rich dessert—the kind that inspired toothaches.

  Chessa broke the kiss, keeping her eyes closed as she fought against her body’s response to his lean, hard-muscled frame and the thick cock riding her through her trousers.

  If she’d been looking for any old fuck…

  “Let me go,” she ground out.

  Nicolas’s hands stilled where they’d been massaging her ass. His lips glided along her cheek, then nipped below her jaw. The sharp edge of his fangs scraped over the pulse pounding at the side of her neck. “You sure, petite? I could be gentle…or I could be an animal. Whatever your desire.”

  The bastard hadn’t a clue what she needed. His seduction was just another game. “Get your hands off me, or I’ll break every bone in your body.”

  His soft laughter gusted against her hair, but he drew back, his body no longer plastered to her front, yet still close enough to heat the space between them.

  She shoved him back a little further and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, scowling at him the whole time. “I detest you.”

  “But Little Princess, you want my cock, don’t you?” His gaze dropped down to the one place their bodies still met. He dipped his hips, lifting her momentarily off her feet, suspended between the wall and his hard cock. “So much anger inside you. You need release. Someone to tweak your valves.”

  Even with the rock hard pressure grinding into her pussy, she couldn’t help the snort of laughter that caught her by surprise. “Tweak my valves?” She couldn’t help it, laughter bubbled up inside.

  “Not romantic, hmmm?” he said, a wry smile quirking one side of his lovely, symmetrical lips. How had she never noticed how perfect they were? His hands rose to flatten against the wall on either side of her shoulders.

  Surrounded by him, she felt the crotch of her panties dampen, and her heart sped up. “I’m not looking for a lover, Nicolas,” she said, so desperate now for him to release her, she let him see her trepidation. “Not now.”

  His head canted and his look turned probing. “When you are ready…”

  She nodded quickly—anything to halt his efforts to seduce her.

  He closed his eyes for a moment, then stepped back, letting her slide down and lifting his hands away in mock surrender.

  Chessa swallowed hard and straightened her shoulders, wary of him as she’d never been before. Turning away, she raked back her hair, refusing to meet his glance. “The room is ready?”

  “My team has everything prepared. Now it’s all up to the baby vampire.”

  Natalie roused slowly and snuggled closer to the source of the warmth beneath her fingertips and cheek. It was Rene. Even before she opened her eyes, she knew she lay beside him. And in the moments before the muzzy grayness receded, she remembered.

  After being accosted by the black-haired devil, she’d felt the sting of a needle entering her neck. She’d been taken from Rene’s bedroom by a group of armed men, recalling hazy images of men wearing black masks, and then remembered nothing.

  She peek
ed beneath her eyelashes to see whether they were alone now. Her eyes widened. She didn’t recognize the bedroom or the bed they lay in. Dusty blue-glazed walls surrounded them. A canopy of gauzy white fabric obscured the ceiling. They lay on the softest cotton sheets she’d ever felt, covered with a pillowy duvet in the same cloudy blue decorated with purple flowers.

  They appeared to be alone.

  She rolled to her back and swallowed against a faint nausea—her stomach was a little unsettled, perhaps the aftereffect of the drug that had knocked her out.

  Beside her, Rene hadn’t moved a muscle.

  She leaned up on an elbow and touched his face. “Rene,” she whispered. “Wake up.” Still, he didn’t move.

  She swept back the coverlet and was shocked to see they were both naked, and he was restrained by metal cuffs. Why wasn’t she in a similar state?

  Her stomach rumbled. Nausea raised bile in the back of her throat. She was ravenous.

  Rene’s throat lay exposed, his pulse throbbing softly as she brushed a fingertip over it. She remembered his taste and warmth slowly filled her.

  Rene was still asleep. He might never know…

  Alarm tightened a cold fist around her heart that her first inclination was to take her meal from him. She backed away from him on the bed. Although she’d done it before, she knew she’d feel as low as a snake later if she took him when he was completely vulnerable.

  She crawled off the mattress and searched the room for something to cover herself. She pulled a lacy throw from the end of the bed and wound it toga-style around her body before padding toward the door.

  Pressing her ear to the wood, she listened for movements on the other side, but found only silence. She wrapped her fingers around the doorknob and tried to turn it, but discovered it was locked.

  She was torn. Although starving, she wondered whether she should bring any attention to herself. Their capture and Rene’s imprisonment only emphasized the fact that danger was afoot.

  She paced the room, searching for an exit, but discovered the only other door led into a well-appointed bathroom.