Burn the Dark

by Nicola Rose

  Burn the Dark

  Elwood Legacy 2

  Nicola Rose

  For my boys - all three of them!

  For making my life complete. I have everything I could ever need. Love you all x

  Copyright © 2018 Nicola Rose

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Whilst the towns/cities are real, all other names, characters, businesses, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental.

  Contents

  Playlist (find on Spotify)

  Reader Warning

  1. Alex

  2. Jess

  3. Jess

  4. Jess

  5. Jess

  6. Jess

  7. Jess

  8. Jess

  9. Alex

  10. Jess

  11. Jess

  12. Alex

  13. Jess

  14. Jess

  15. Jess

  16. Jess

  17. Jess

  18. Jess

  19. Jess

  20. Jess

  21. Alex

  22. Jess

  23. Jess

  24. Jess

  25. Jess

  26. Jess

  27. Jess

  28. Jess

  29. Jess

  30. Jess

  31. Alex

  32. Jess

  33. Alex

  34. Jess

  35. Jess

  36. Jess

  37. Jess

  38. Jess

  39. Jess

  40. Alex

  Also by Nicola Rose

  Also by Nicola Rose

  Acknowledgments

  Afterword

  About the Author

  “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.”

  Og Mandino

  Playlist (find on Spotify)

  Run – Snow Patrol

  One Step Closer – Linkin Park

  Sonne – Rammstein

  In The End – Linkin Park

  I Still Believe – Tim Cappello

  Take Me To Church – Hozier

  Jar of Hearts – Christina Perri

  Just Give Me A Reason – P!nk, Nate Ruess

  Going Under – Evanescence

  Apologize – Timbaland, OneRepublic

  Starlight – Muse

  Black – Pearl Jam

  Call Out My Name – The Weeknd

  Wicked Game – Chris Isaak

  Behind Blue Eyes – Limp Bizkit

  The Reason – Hoobastank

  In My Blood – Shawn Mendes

  Teardrop – Massive Attack

  Reader Warning

  This book is intended for adult reading - it contains coarse language and explicit sexual scenes. Some scenes might be considered triggers.

  1

  Alex

  Gone.

  They were gone.

  She was gone. How was it even possible for a human girl to evade me? I should have been able to feel her, to hear her… hell, she’d thought about me every single day since we’d met – her thoughts had been tormenting me around the clock. I hated her for that. Hated having her inside my head, distracting me.

  Yet now, in this complete silence, it was like a part of me was missing. I hadn’t realised just how much I needed that sassy little British voice running through my mind. I’d been complacent. I’d toyed with Jess and Zachariah like it was all a game that didn’t matter. Just a bit of fun to torment my brother.

  She meant nothing to me, and yet she also appeared to mean everything. Whatever these feelings were, I should have acted sooner. She was the key to unlocking Zachariah’s Beast, which in turn would grant me the Legacy bond. She was the crucial pawn in our game.

  In essence, I’d fucked up. She’d been right there for the taking and I’d failed to act strongly enough. Zachariah’s complete destruction had been within my grasp and I’d let it slip away.

  This would be dealt with immediately.

  Just as soon as I could fucking find her.

  2

  Jess

  I used to consider myself a nymphomaniac; just one of the many labels the doctors and shrinks gave me over the years. ‘Nymphomaniac with self-destructive tendencies,’ they’d said. I was pretty pleased with that diagnosis at the time. I mean, I had to be every guys’ dream girl, right?

  Wrong. Turned out being a certified nympho wasn’t much to shout about. It didn’t make me their heaven, it made me their hell. For Zac, especially so. The one guy out there that I wanted to fuck more than any other and yet this was something he struggled with, in an epic way.

  Of course he wanted to pleasure me, in fact, I guess he could claim dibs on the strongest urges – but doing so caused him a great deal of pain and fear, and put me perilously close to death. Yet still I pushed and pushed, always asking him for more, always desperate to get my hands on him. I couldn’t help it, even he admitted that. He blamed it on his magical vampire lure. I blamed it on his ridiculously hot inked-up body, with those mesmerising and brooding amber eyes.

  You see, when a vampire longs for your blood so much, not just longing, but fated – when he finds his sanguine mate, aka Me – he’s supposed to claim them, in life and death. My blood was apparently so appetising that even being near me was a struggle, let alone fucking me.

  Anyway, I decided it was a misdiagnosis. If I was truly a nymphomaniac then how could I have survived all these months in his company with so little sexual relief? OK, truth be told I was barely holding my shit together; the mere sight of this man filled me with more starved, sexual desire than I’d had in my whole life put together, and yet I found myself constantly rejected.

  I told him once – how it was torture. He scoffed, got mad, and put me in my place by explaining that I didn’t know the meaning of the word torture; try being in his boots, with the burning agony consuming his soul, and the Beast whispering words of satanic desire into his ears.

  Still, I suppose the self-destructive part of the diagnosis was accurate. Why else would I spend so much time sitting there dreaming of becoming a vampire, and/or fucking Zac’s twin brother Alex?

  Yes, that’s right. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, I also seemed to be lusting after the other Elwood vampire too. Except Zac was love and Alex was just a crazy desire. Something that I was happy to use the ‘magical-vampire-lure’ excuse on. I was just a defenceless human girl, powerless against his supernatural hold over me…

  But if Zac would just learn to trust himself more, life would be a lot easier. It’s not that vampires can’t drink from humans and let them live. The bite alone doesn’t kill, or turn them into a vampire, unfortunately. But Zac’s desire for me was too overwhelming; he didn’t think he’d be able to stop.

  Even though he did. He drank from me after the Wiccan hunter tried to kill us all. I nurtured him, brought him back to life with my blood, and you know what? I freakin’ loved it.

  And… he didn’t kill me! He did stop. However, this is my stubborn, eternally-brooding vampire boyfriend we’re talking about. He was convinced that next time I wouldn’t be so lucky. Oh, sure, after the eve
nt he’d promised that between my legs was where he belonged and that he would stay there, regardless of the pain and the risk.

  Then the Bael made a play for us and reality came back to smack us in the face. Zac went right back to Mr. Reserved and now we’ve had to leave his island of South Padre.

  We’re on the run. Something he swore he’d never do.

  But falling in love can change everything.

  The last time I was in Mexico I was fleeing from South Padre in a blinding panic after finding out that Zac was a vampire. I was scared, exhilarated, and totally unsure of what I should do. So I’d resorted to my usual defence mechanism of running away from my problems.

  And here I was, running again. This time with the vampire by my side, right where I’d always known, deep down, that he belonged. We were also running from something far bigger and far more dangerous.

  Well, technically the running had halted, it was more like hiding. We’d run to a ‘safe’ place suggested by Eva, and had then spent the last few days arguing about what to do next.

  Eva is originally from Mexico. She has properties of her own here, but we couldn’t risk going to any of those.

  “This witch friend of yours,” Zac said to Eva, “You’re sure she can put up enough masking spells to keep us hidden?”

  “For the time being,” Eva shrugged. “But honestly, I don’t know for how long. It’s draining. Her coven won’t help, they hate us. She’s doing this as a personal favour to me, paying off a debt. She needs help if she’s to keep it up long term.”

  I heaved a sigh and they both turned impatiently as I raised my eyebrows and gestured to myself.

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Jess. You didn’t even know you had witchcraft in your blood until a week ago. You can’t learn something so skilled,” Zac grumbled.

  “Well, I apologise for my delusions of grandeur, Oh Mighty Vampire. I might not have known exactly what I was, but I did cause a building to explode once, and a magical sand creature to rise up and attack a man. Maybe I’m stronger than you think?” I kicked my feet out in front and folded my arms.

  “I didn’t mean that. It’s just… don’t get ahead of yourself.”

  “It has to be worth a try. I have to start somewhere, don’t I? Why can’t this witch—”

  “Sofia,” Eva interrupted. “She has a name.”

  “Why can’t Sofia give me some training, if she’s willing? I might not learn masking spells, but there must be something she can teach me. I want to learn, I need to understand how to control my powers and use them effectively.”

  “It’s too dangerous. I don’t trust witches and I don’t want you spending time with her.” Zac tried to shut me down with his ‘I’m in charge tone’ and even Eva bristled at it.

  “She’s helping us, at great risk to herself,” she barked.

  “So she claims, but witches are back-stabbing whores who only care for their own kind.” Zac stared Eva down, waiting for the comeback, while I glared at him for effectively calling me a whore.

  “You don’t think I should learn to protect myself? Do you want to keep me helpless so you can be my defender?” I changed my approach.

  “She’ll try to draw you into her coven and turn you against us.”

  I laughed out loud. “You’re afraid she’ll corrupt me?! I’m not a teenager, Zac. Besides, trying to entice me away from your arms is a ridiculous notion. We both know there isn’t a single person or thing in the world that could do that.”

  His mouth set in a grim line. I knew what he was thinking. Alex. He was thinking that Alex could lure me away.

  There was a knock on the door and Leon entered. His blonde, wavy hair hung about his boyish face, framing the full cheeks and blue eyes, making him look like a harmless, frat-boy surfer, rather than their Cell’s darkness hunter. His head was filled with monsters and demons, yet he carried himself with innocent charm.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” he coughed. “I’ve sensed a shift in the direction of the Bael. They were heading away, but they’ve turned back toward the border.”

  “Looks like that cloak might be slipping already.” I stared hard into Zac’s unwavering eyes. “I’m going to Sofia whether you like it or not. Let me try to help.”

  He huffed in response and a little energy zing tickled my palms at the thought of its release.

  Sofia’s home couldn’t have been more understated. I don’t know what I’d expected, but it wasn’t that. I guess I thought a powerful witch would live somewhere more… opulent. Or at least somewhere comfortable with modern day luxuries.

  The living area was so confined that it felt far too restrictive to contain three vampires, the witch, and myself. The power-play between them sucked away all the air, leaving me wanting to push open the one small window so that I could breathe easier, especially since the room was also filled with thick smoke from the roll-up that hung precariously in Sofia’s lips. There was something off about the smell, not like your regular smoke, this had a tang of something else, something spice-like.

  She sat in the only cushioned chair, near the window, observing us with a loathing that she didn’t bother to conceal, even with her bland pleasantries upon our arrival. It was abundantly clear that Sofia was only helping us because of her relationship with Eva. Although I think her verdict was still out on me. She was curious, watching me with darting glances whenever Zac stopped speaking and allowed her to look away.

  He was seated on a hard, wooden stool – too small for him. He hid his annoyance by slouching over himself, elbows on his knees and hands dangling between his legs, a nonchalant air of authority.

  Sofia was having none of that. “Need I remind you that it’s you who needs my help?” she spoke with the cigarette bobbing in her lips, never leaving her mouth. Crossing her legs, she mirrored Zac’s dismissive posture. Her face was friendly enough; big eyes and full lips, but something stern lay underneath the mask.

  “What makes you say that?” he asked.

  “The distrust oozes from your every pore.”

  “Given the history that wrote my destiny, I’m afraid I don’t have much respect for witches.”

  “Ah, yes.” Her eyes wandered back to me. “The Morena coven. They’re pretty much a thing of myth and legend. What a surprise Jess was to our community.”

  “Tell me what you know of her ancestry,” Zac demanded.

  Sofia raised her eyebrows. “I think you mean, ‘tell me what you know… please?’”

  “Zac’s on edge at the moment,” Eva intervened. “Tactfulness isn’t at the forefront of his mind. Perhaps I should do the speaking on his behalf?”

  Zac merely shook his head and picked at invisible lint on his jeans. Sofia loosened her shoulders and stubbed out the roll-up in an overflowing ashtray, immediately plucking another from a tin and lighting it. She took a lengthy drag and blew the smoke in Zac’s direction before continuing.

  “It’s widely believed that the Bael destroyed all ties to the Morena bloodline. They killed every single remaining member of that coven. They wanted the Elwood heirs in their possession, without any risk of the Legacy being undone by more Morena witchcraft.”

  Zac shifted in his seat and exchanged wide-eyed looks with Leon. “The Legacy can be undone?”

  “No one knows, but in theory it’s a possibility, and that was a risk they wouldn’t allow. It’s been decades since they wiped out the last witch, or thought they had. I don’t understand how Jess has slipped through the net, but I assure you that every coven is looking into it and wants answers. And you can bet the Bael are going to start slaughtering to find those answers too.”

  “We’ve done everything to try and keep them off our trail, but they appear to be heading this way,” Eva said carefully.

  “My wards are still strong. They can’t trace you.”

  “Well, something has alerted them.”

  “Maybe you’ve been seen? They have scouts everywhere,” Sofia tensed, taking the roll-up into her fingers and flicking ash on t
he floor. “It’s not like you don’t keep sneaking out to… feed.”

  “Perhaps. Or maybe you’re not as powerful as you think?” Zac couldn’t resist joining the conversation again.

  “Do you want my help or not? Because with the amount of shit I’m taking from my own coven over this, I can tell you that walking away is my preferred option.”

  “Will you train me?” I blurted.

  “What?” Sofia’s eyes narrowed, her free hand reaching to toy with the long, black hair that was pulled into a tight, no-nonsense ponytail. Everything about her appearance was plain and simple, or at least, she made an effort to be that way, like she was trying to hide herself. But the baggy denim and oversized t-shirt couldn’t cover the sharp edge to her appearance.

  “Zac’s bigotry toward you is his own issue. He’s dating a witch, and not just any witch, but one from the coven he loathes the most. He’s going to have to get over it.” I avoided meeting his eyes while I took a breath, and also resisted the urge to cough and flap away smoke. “I want to learn. I’ve spent my life not knowing what I am, afraid of what I might do by accident. It’s about time I took control of it.”