Mastering Darkness

by Kate Wendley

  Her eyes were wide and intent on him and his story. “And then what? Wait, are you telling me the truth or are you just pulling my leg?” Her expression soured and it was adorable. Everything about her was lovely, but he was starting to worry about her.

  He held his right hand up. “I swear it’s the truth. Pete just started talking, ordering people around and mumbling things as if he were still at work.”

  “How’d you know his name?”

  He studied her face as he spoke. She had the most beautiful, delicate features. “We kept asking him until he finally told us. It was like he could barely hear us. Finally he just disappeared. We haven’t heard from him since.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “A few years now.” Fifty one to be exact.

  Kaia frowned. “What did it feel like to be in the room with him?”

  “Feel like?” He thought about that. “Well, if I remember right, it did seem to get quite a bit colder when he finally appeared.”

  “Did you get chills down your spine? On the TV shows they say they feel a tingle on their neck sometimes.”

  He cocked his head. “Hmm. It’s a little hard to remember. I may have. I guess the whole situation was a little odd so I don’t know if what I felt was Pete or just my imagination playing tricks on me.”

  Kaia nodded casually and sat back in her chair.

  Anthony still felt like he was missing something. “Do you feel things sometimes?” Her expression didn’t change but her heart sped up. He could hear it plain as day.

  She caustically smiled. “Doesn’t everybody get a chill down their spine every once in a while?”

  He felt like a fool. He knew what was going on now and why she’d started this conversation. She felt power in the air on a frequent basis and tonight she felt his as he had his sound barrier around them.

  She was a sensitive, someone who could feel supernaturals when they used their power. Sensitives usually grew up feeling things and thought it was normal, but sometimes the feelings drove them a little crazy, those that never found out about the real supernatural world anyway. If she truly didn’t know about their kind, ghosts would be the next logical supernatural explanation, especially with the popularity of the shows on TV right now. Ghosts were a somewhat accepted myth and always had been. Vampires and werewolves were a little more farfetched for the average human to believe in.

  Just to be sure, he carefully watched her while he let a little of his power pulse through the air. She visibly shivered and rubbed her arms as if to chase the cold away, a dour expression passing quickly over her.

  It made Anthony angry. How dare Ethan make her so confused? And why in the hell did he think it would be a good idea to have a human living at Wild Woods? Then again, maybe she was playing him, but… he didn’t believe that. Not with how upset she seemed at what she was feeling. If she knew about their kind, she’d already have put this together in her mind. He had no doubt she was smart enough to figure that out on her own.

  He reached across the small table for her. She stilled and looked at his outstretched hand, then into his eyes. Her heart beat wildly as she slowly put her warm hand in his. They gazed intently at each other for a time, a feeling of absolute bliss overcoming him.

  Until Ethan intruded. He flung power at the back of Anthony’s head. It was more of a slap, really, but he got his point across. Kaia lightly gasped and visibly shivered again.

  Anthony let some of his power out of his sound barrier, but not all of it. “Does the thought of ghosts being real make you nervous?”

  She cocked her head at him as her eyes narrowed in contemplation. “I don’t know. I mean, I guess I believe they could exist.” She shrugged. “I don’t think it makes me nervous, I’m just curious how some people become ghosts and not others.”

  “What if there were other things in the world that you never knew were there? Do you believe there could be?”

  She furrowed her brow. “What do you mean? Like what?”

  He studied her face carefully. “What if werewolves were real? Or vampires? What if faeries really existed? There are so many different Native American stories about creatures that are a mix of man and spirit, or animal. What if we weren’t the only things humanoid in the world?”

  She smirked mischievously. “I’d be a werecat so that every full moon I’d turn all furry, then curl up in front of a heater and go to sleep all toasty and warm. I could be my own blanket.”

  He burst out laughing at that. “You like cats?”

  “Actually I’m a little bit allergic to them.”

  That made him laugh even harder. After they both calmed down he tried to seem casual as he prodded her for what he really wanted to know. “So you wouldn’t mind if there were other things out there that you didn’t know existed?”

  Her expression turned contemplative. “I suppose not. I mean, as long as they’re not evil and trying to kill people.”

  His heart dropped. “Evil? As in God and the devil? You’re religious?”

  She pet his hand as she said, “I should rephrase that. Evil as in malicious. As long as whatever it is isn’t trying to destroy the human race, I think I’d be ok with finding out something different than me existed.” She curiously asked, “How about you? Would you like there to be other intelligent life forms out there? Do you believe in UFO’s and extraterrestrials? Have you been abducted by aliens?”

  He took a nice, relaxing breath and felt good being here with her. It was nice to have a woman to talk to, someone to flirt with and just be himself with. Mostly himself, anyway.

  “I think I have enough to keep me busy without worrying about life outside this city, let alone outside this planet.”

  He mentally sighed when he felt another push of power from Ethan. Kaia shivered at the feeling of it, so he completely let down his sound barrier and gave her hand a little squeeze. “Perhaps we should find a warmer place to go next time.”

  She coyly said, “You’re cold, too.”

  He teased, “Perhaps it was a trick to get you to hold my hand.”

  She chuckled at him and he felt good, or at least as good as he could feel knowing Ethan and his family were watching and listening to them.

  She yawned then, and he took advantage of her tiredness. He didn’t want to give up his time with Kaia, but he was at his limit with Ethan’s taunts tonight.

  “Maybe we should call it a night. I should let you go home and get warm.”

  She gave him a pouty smile, but nodded.

  He more intently said, “I enjoyed our night tonight, Kaia.”

  “Me too, Anthony.”

  **

  Anthony could feel Kaia’s anxiousness on the walk back to her car, but under it all, she was tired, and with so many people watching and listening to them, he just needed to get her back to her car and gone from here.

  She was parked along the road near the gardens, and they stopped beside her vehicle.

  He caressed her hand. “I’d like to see you again.”

  She nodded, wide eyed and intent on him, her heart beating quickly. “I’d like that.”

  He chuckled and kissed her hand. “If it’s all right, I’ll need to call you to make plans once I reschedule some things.”

  “Of course. I don’t want to get in the way of any important meetings you might have.”

  For the briefest of moments, he forgot that he was the Master of Atlanta, he forgot that he was vampire, and he forgot that he was a murderous monster. At this very moment he was just a man who absolutely needed this woman in front of him. “Nothing is more important to me right now than getting to know you better. Absolutely nothing.”

  She looked stunned at that, then smiled and blushed a lovely shade of pink.

  “Don’t worry about my meetings, my sweet. I can accomplish plenty in the hours I’m not with you. You’re not imposing in the least. Quite the contrary.”

  She nodded, flicked a hungry glance at his lips, then pulled her gaze away. His entire b
ody went tight at the thought that she wanted him just as bad as he wanted her.

  Sounding tired but happy, she said, “Ok. Goodnight Anthony.”

  A soft breeze brought her sweet scent to him more strongly and he reveled in it. “Goodnight my sweet. Drive safely. I look forward to talking again, very soon.”

  He watched Kaia pull away from the curb and leave him for the night, then turned to face Ethan and his family waiting for him in the shadows.

  Chapter 9

  Anthony’s good humor vanished as he turned around and punched Ethan. He didn’t put all his muscle into it, but enough to get his point across.

  He snapped, “If you ever put your hands on me again, we’ll take this juvenile squabbling to the ranch and settle this between us once and for all.”

  Fury lit up Ethan’s eyes as he wiped at a drop of blood on his now healing split lip. His glare could cut glass, but he didn’t make a move to retaliate.

  Anthony continued seething through gritted teeth, “And if you have something to say about my scar, don’t hide behind a human woman to do it. Be a man and say it to my damn face.”

  After a brief pause, Ethan curled his lip at him. “Your scar isn’t what irritates me about you.”

  Surprised at his admission, Anthony shot back, “Then what is it, Ethan, because I’m weary of this guessing game.”

  Ethan snarled in disdain. “Look at you, pretending to be a human again. You’ve been slipping, oh Master of Atlanta.” He mock bowed at him, then growled out, “You really think you can date Kaia right now? You were putting her in a trance back there!”

  Anthony narrowed his eyes at him. He could never get him to answer the question about what his problem with him was. “I’d think carefully about what you’re accusing me of, Ethan. Are you prepared to challenge me? For the rights to this territory? From what I’ve seen, the last thing you want to do is be responsible for families, young and old. You have your little set up at Wild Woods for the forty or so able bodied adults that can do your bidding, day and night, or just hang out and do nothing. There are thousands of supernaturals here who need more guidance and structure than what I’ve ever seen you provide. So I ask you, are you challenging me? Because if not, I don’t want to hear lies about me coming out of your mouth ever again.”

  Ethan glared daggers at him, but said nothing.

  “I’ll take your silence as a no to the challenge. And as for Kaia, she said she has no significant other. Is there more to your relationship with her?”

  Ethan looked frustrated beyond belief, but finally said, “No. We’re just friends.”

  Anthony hammered on in a clipped tone, still very annoyed. “Why does a human live at Wild Woods? And especially one that you aren’t initiating into our world? Are you keeping her as a pet?”

  A look of pure rage came over him. “Don’t hurt her. She’s innocent.”

  Anthony angrily balked, “It’s not my intention to hurt her.”

  Ethan glanced away and quietly snarled, “Why you? Why does it have to be you?”

  He bit out, “Believe me, I wish she were not one of your close, personal friends.”

  Ethan turned back and sneered at him.

  Anthony immediately spat out, “She’s a sensitive Ethan. You’ve got that poor woman thinking she feels ghosts.”

  Ethan’s eyes went wide.

  “Exactly how long has she been living like that? How long has she been at Wild Woods?” Dropping his voice in fury, he asked, “How many times have you put her in a trance?”

  Ethan grit his teeth and took an angry breath through flared nostrils. He abruptly turned to leave as Anthony said, “And how many more like her are at Wild Woods?”

  As Ethan disappeared into the shadows, he growled out, “She’s the only one.”

  Mostly to himself, Anthony asked, “Why?”

  Ethan disappeared without another word. Christopher watched Anthony with unreadable eyes for a time before leaving as well. Patrick looked nervous when Anthony turned his gaze on him. He anxiously inclined his head and hurried away, leaving Anthony alone on the quiet street.

  His thoughts ran in circles as he walked to his car. If she was the only human at Wild Woods then she was something special to Ethan. And dammit Ethan was right. He had been slipping lately, but he hadn’t done anything to harm humans, or alert them to their kind… had he? He stewed for a time as he tried to decide what to do, plopping into the driver’s seat of his car as he stared absently into the night.

  He could give this all up now and not have to worry about what was going on with Kaia and Ethan and her living at Wild Woods, but now that Kaia had awoken the man inside him, he wasn’t ready to go back to feeling cold and inhuman again.

  The memory of her warm hands on him made his body burn up. It’d been so long since he’d felt a woman’s comforting touch. He looked out over his dash as he half remembered Kaia and her soft ways, her feminine voice and lovely smiles, and half remembered that he was actually an emotionless, cold blooded killer. She was human, warm, soft and innocent, and he was… what? What was he? Was he evil?

  If he was evil, what was Ethan? Anthony sincerely doubted Ethan was a pristine, innocent vampire, and he’d already brought Kaia partway into their world. Would it be so bad for Anthony to bring her the rest of the way? Didn’t he deserve a chance at happiness, too?

  He pulled his cell phone out and called Zach.

  **

  “You want Ethan’s number? Why? Are you nuts?” Everyone knew Ethan had never been friendly with Anthony.

  He glumly said, “She lives at Wild Woods.”

  “What?”

  “Kaia. My date. She lives at Wild Woods.”

  “I thought you said she was human.”

  “She is.”

  “Hold on a minute.”

  Anthony waited for Zach to go somewhere private so that others couldn’t hear their entire conversation with their oversensitive hearing. He finally heard a door close and then it was quieter.

  “They’ve got a human at Wild Woods?”

  “You didn’t know?”

  “Of course not! Did you?”

  “No. I certainly would’ve thought twice about asking her on a date if I had.” He sighed. “I need to call Ethan and talk to him again. Do you have his current number?”

  He heard papers shuffling. “Yeah. Here it is.”

  Anthony memorized it. “Thanks Zach.”

  “Good luck buddy.”

  **

  The phone rang a few times before the line picked up. “This is Ethan.”

  His tone was sharp and gruff, which wasn’t totally unexpected.

  Anthony tried his best to keep his temper calm. “Ethan, it’s Anthony. I want to apologize for my outburst this evening. Kaia’s a friend of yours so I understand your concern for her wellbeing.”

  There was a long silence and Anthony checked his phone twice to see if the line had dropped, though he could still hear background noises. Mostly traffic and sounds of a breeze blowing across the phone on the other end of the line. He wasn’t in a hurry to have another fight with Ethan so he gave him some time before he carefully said, “I didn’t know she was your friend when we met last night. Had I known−”

  Ethan cut him off sounding oddly tortured. “Please don’t hurt her.”

  He more quietly said, “Of course not.”

  “You killed that vampire, Jim, didn’t you.” It was a statement, not a question.

  Anthony frowned as he focused on a laughing couple walking hand in hand down the sidewalk towards his car. If Ethan thought to school him again on how to be a Master just because Anthony wanted to date Kaia, he had another thing coming.

  “I am Master of this territory. I do what I need to do to keep everyone safe and I will not apologize for, nor explain my actions. Not even to you.” He clenched his teeth. Dammit he was tired of this man.

  Ethan was surprisingly silent for a time, and his next words caught Anthony off guard.

  “I
t’s time for her to know. She should know. She won’t expose us. You can bring her into our world, that is, if you two keep seeing each other.”

  He frowned in confusion. What the hell? Had he missed something? Nothing was ever this easy with Ethan. Maybe this was still a game between him and Kaia.

  “I’m not intruding on a personal relationship between you two?”

  Ethan angrily spat out, “Of course not. We’re just friends.”

  He scowled at his tone. “So she actually lives at Wild Woods?”

  Ethan’s irritated groan added even more confusion to this conversation. He dragged his words out in exaggeration. “Yes. She lives in the apartment next to mine. You have permission to see her and to come over if she invites you. Good night.”

  Anthony stared at his phone for a time after Ethan hung up on him. This was too suspicious. It was out of character for Ethan to yield to him like this. When it came to anything besides the safety of their community, Ethan never made life easy for him. And, human or not, since Kaia lived at Wild Woods, Ethan would think of her as one of his family. As he should. So why was he practically handing her over to Anthony after being so upset that they’d been on a date together?

  He blew out a breath and decided he’d deal with one thing at a time. Right now, no matter what might or might not be going on, he still wanted Kaia. She’d quickly gotten under his skin and made him yearn for her. She was bold and sassy, yet down to earth and feminine. It was her kindness and affectionate ways that lulled his cold vampire nature and lured the man inside him back out into the open.

  She made him feel at ease with her openness and the feeling that he could be himself around her. With every other woman he’d ever been close to, or thought about getting close to, his focus had been so much on how to cover his scar and not let them see it. Or in the case of the supernaturals, he was too suspicious of their actual motives for wanting to be with him that it was a huge weight off his back to not have to worry about any of that with Kaia. With her he felt like they were very quickly forming a deeper relationship, and it felt… strange, and… wonderful.