Mastering Darkness

by Kate Wendley

  And scary.

  He called her as he thought about their almost kiss tonight. The phone rang twice.

  “Hello?”

  His heart sped up at the sound of her voice, and his nervousness surprised him.

  “Hello Kaia. It’s Anthony.”

  Her tone immediately sounded more tender and happy. “Hi.”

  “I see you made it home ok.”

  She chuckled. “Yeah, and it’s definitely warmer here.” Her voice was like a warm, soft blanket wrapped around him, reminding him of how relaxed he felt when he was with her.

  The tension in his shoulders eased, his voice now matching her more sedate tone. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t realize it was going to cool off so much tonight.” Though he knew it wasn’t the temperature that had her shivering earlier.

  He absently rubbed a tickle on his cheek and her scent caught his attention. He took a careful breath as he looked around his car, smelling her very faintly all around him. With a start he realized her scent clung to him because she’d kept herself close to him all night tonight.

  He inhaled deeply and felt like she was there with him as she spoke softly and sweetly in his ear. “Oh, it’s not your fault. I didn’t think it’d be so cold, either.” She paused, then said, “I want to apologize again for Patrick and Ethan. I don’t know what got into them.”

  “No apology needed. Truly.”

  “Well, that was still uncalled for. And, I know I already said this, but Ethan and I are just friends. There’s nothing more to it and never has been.”

  He liked the sound of her voice and wanted her to keep talking, but he really didn’t want to hear any more about Ethan. He truly wanted to believe there was nothing going on between them, but he had a growing suspicion that Ethan had unrequited feelings for her. Maybe Anthony had a competitive streak he wasn’t entirely aware of because in the back of his mind all he could smugly think was that Ethan had lost his chance. Kaia was dating Anthony now.

  “I enjoy spending time with you, Kaia. Very much. I’d like to see you again. Could I take you to dinner tomorrow night?”

  “Yes.”

  Her quick response made him chuckle, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit that it did wonders for his ego. “Wonderful. Does seven thirty work for you? I’ll pick you up. I hope you don’t mind that I won’t be able to actually eat with you. If that bothers you we can do something else.”

  He thought he could still hear a smile in her voice when she said, “I’m not bothered as long as you don’t mind watching me eat.”

  “Not at all, my sweet, not at all.” He took in a deep breath, loving the sound of her voice in his ear. “Do you like Indian food? There’s a lovely restaurant called India Star about halfway between Wild Woods and Midtown. I hear their food is excellent.”

  “That sounds great. I’ve never been there.”

  “Then it’ll be a new adventure. One of many I hope.”

  There was a brief pause before she said with a lilt in her voice, “I hope so, too.”

  They said their goodnights, him somewhere along the way realizing that he’d been calling her ‘my sweet’ off and on since they’d first met. He was amazed at himself for how natural it felt to be calling her a pet name, and amazed at her for taking it in stride and even seeming to like it.

  If only she wasn’t one of Ethan’s…

  **

  Kaia dropped into bed feeling good about her night. Anthony was different from anyone else she’d ever dated and she hoped that meant he’d stick around longer than other guys had. He took it pretty well when Ethan and Patrick tried to crash their date, too, which still ticked her off that they’d done that, but he didn’t seem to read anything into it that wasn’t there.

  His maturity seriously turned her on, and she thought it was sweet that even though their hormones were on overdrive with each other, he hadn’t really tried anything with her.

  She almost freaked herself out when they got to the café, though. She had that weird tingle on the back of her neck as soon as they walked in. She tried to talk to Ethan about it once, but he acted irritated about it so she never brought it up again. She felt it at weird times, though, and drove herself crazy wondering what it could be. She even started imagining it could be her parents trying to contact her from beyond the grave. She knew that was silly, though, and besides, she didn’t believe in ghosts… she didn’t think.

  She sighed and tried to forget about all that and thought about Anthony instead. He was intense and completely sexy. The fact that he seemed so nervous with her, touching her so delicately and being such a gentleman all night made him even sexier. He was completely innocent and genuine. She liked that. Now she just needed to get him to relax more around her…

  She dozed off to sleep with a smile on her face, feelings of hope and love making her feel cozy and warm.

  Chapter 10

  Anthony didn’t see Zach or Sebastian in the club when he got home, so he went into his office and shut the door to have some time with his own thoughts. He barely even had to think about putting a sound barrier up to block the noise of the club before it was up and giving him solace.

  He stopped in his tracks halfway to his desk. A large, dark brown spider sat in front of his keyboard. It was a lot bigger and more menacing than the ones they’d been battling here at home for a while, now. Sometime after his father left to travel, over seventy years ago now, they’d developed a problem with small spiders here and there. They were mostly just puzzling, and didn’t bother anyone in any other way besides always seeming to be around. But this one…

  He frowned and stepped towards it, intending to kill it with his bare hand, only to stop short when it quickly disintegrated before his eyes. He stared in confusion at where it’d been, then absently looked around, freezing in shock at what was happening in his office.

  Wispy spiders scuttled into the room from everywhere… minute cracks in the walls, under the door, the ceiling… absolutely everywhere. They rushed in, quickly disintegrating as they were sucked into a hazy, windless funnel taking shape in the middle of the room. He stumbled backwards towards his desk to put some distance between him and whatever this thing was. Power. It was pure power. But why hadn’t he felt it until now?

  He let go of the tight control he always kept over his own power and readied himself to use it against this unknown foe. He tried to sense who it might be, but it was difficult to get a read on the creature’s aura. “Show yourself you coward!”

  The energy continued to build, and he tensed when his sound barrier was shredded. He hadn’t known it was even possible for someone to do that to him.

  A much stronger barrier quickly replaced his own, and he immediately had the suffocating feeling of being trapped in this small space. He raced to the door and opened his senses as wide as he could to get a feel for what was going on in the rest of the club, but a powerful force blocked him from anything past this room. Even the door handle was beyond his reach, feeling like the threshold of a human’s home, something a vampire was powerless to penetrate.

  Dread and anger filled his soul as he whirled back around, imagining the worst for what was happening to the rest of his family. Too many vulnerable people could get hurt tonight.

  Nameless faces of families, children, and the elderly flashed through his mind, but it was the crystal clear memory of Kaia’s smiling face that threw him into a desperate rage to dispose of this creature. And getting angry felt better than worrying about the incredible power he felt growing uncontrollably in front of him.

  Anthony latched onto his fury that someone had invaded his home without his permission, and focused it. He was Master here and this thing was going to find out just what that meant. He threw power at the funnel as fast and sharply as he could, but the bodiless mass just absorbed his attacks and kept on growing. He quickly switched tactics and reversed his assault, focusing on pulling energy out of the funnel this time.

  He didn’t see whatever hit him. He only fel
t the sharp ache of his entire body slamming backwards against the force field that trapped him in his office. Stars danced in front of his eyes as his slid down to one knee. His senses were stunned and the back of his head throbbed mercilessly. He could feel his body healing, though, and then he’d battle this trespasser again.

  As his vision cleared, the hazy funnel in front of him started to look vaguely like a woman. Her rich, smoky voice seeped unhurriedly into his mind. ‘Do not do that again. I’ll forgive your temper only once.’

  So it was a woman. That wasn’t much information, but it was something. And he’d irritated her, possibly even hurt her. He forced himself to stand up, then watched in awe and growing fear as her body filled out, her nakedness eventually being draped with a long, sheer slip. Her dark, gauzy dress was draped atop an ivory skinned, barefoot body that was slender and as toned as a wild animal’s might be. Her shoulder length dark hair was coarse and messy, tangled here and there. Everything about her was wildness and nature in all its glory and uncaring harshness.

  She watched him with her whiskey colored eyes as she continued to absorb the ghost spiders that were still flowing in through every visible and invisible crack, though they were slowing in their intensity.

  He stared in morbid fascination while her almost pure white skin began to glow with a healthy radiance he’d never seen before on someone so pale. He was in awe of how beautiful she was in her own primitive way, but he was wasting time gawking at her when he should be contemplating how he’d free himself from her trap. His gut told him she was more dangerous than anyone he’d ever faced before, so he needed to concentrate.

  Her voice was sensual and wild at the same time when she said out loud, “There’s no need to contemplate freeing yourself, my son. I’m not here to fight with you. I’ve only ever been here to protect you.”

  When he realized her limbs were almost completely formed, he thought if he was going to try to take her out he better do it soon, before she figured out how best to protect herself.

  That same invisible force slammed him against the solid force field again, and he dropped hard to his knees. He was powerful, though, and his mind and body quickly healed, just in time for him to recoil in horror as the woman lunged at him, her form changing shape a hundred times before his eyes.

  She stopped inches from his face with fangs extended and the blackest eyes he’d ever seen. Her skin had morphed into leathery flesh and she had huge, bat-like wings that brushed against the ceiling, walls and bookshelf in his small office.

  His heart hammered in his chest and he finally understood what it felt like to be terrified of just looking at someone. Was this what others in the family felt like when they looked at him?

  Her hideous screech sounded like a cross between an incredibly loud cicada and a rabid animal. After her burst of rage, she rasped out in a more human voice that was equally harsh and in a pitch that hurt his ears. “I am your Vampire Mother and you will show respect to your mother.” She stepped back and he was slammed to his knees again, then forced to bow before her.

  She was his vampire mother? He’d never heard of such a thing, much less known of any vampire that could transform their body like she could, or have the incredible level of power she had.

  For the briefest of moments, while he found himself unable to move, thoughts of Kaia floated through his mind and he had a powerful desire to make it through tonight so he could see her again. He wasn’t giving up the fight with this creature, but he’d never found himself at the mercy of someone stronger than him, and that worried him. He was Master of the Atlanta territory because he was the most powerful person around. If others were invading his territory… He couldn’t even think about what that meant for his family.

  The bat creature that was supposedly his mother snorted like an angry animal. She squeezed Anthony painfully tight with an invisible hand of power, then huffed and let him go. Anthony kept his eyes down, but snuck a peak at her clawed toes as she slowly shuffled from side to side, her nails making clicking sounds against the hard cement floor.

  He froze when her wings folded in closer to his body, and he worried she’d try to wrap them around him while he sat here still unable to move. His power flowed freely around him, but no matter how hard he tried, she held him tightly, effortlessly, and there was nothing he could do about it. She was powerful, there was no doubt, but his main fear now was how to get the situation under control so the family wouldn’t get hurt. His own safety was an afterthought.

  The Vampire Mother snorted again, but this time it sounded like she might be chuckling. Her wings swiftly retreated and a horrible sounding laughter filled the air before she finally stepped jerkily out of his personal space. Eventually she stilled and he watched in awe as her clawed toes morphed back into the glowing white skin of her human feet.

  “You’re a good Master, my son. Come. You may rise.” Her lighthearted tone didn’t match her smoky voice, which was completely opposite of the creature’s scratchy rasp.

  With his body finally free, he cautiously looked up at her. She’d fully regained her human form, and watched him closely as he slowly stood.

  She was a few inches shorter than him, but his height was the only advantage he seemed to have, so he tried for diplomacy instead of brute force. “Forgive me for offending you, ma’am. I wasn’t aware I had a vampire mother.”

  She slowly smiled, her expression ending in a smirk. “No, you wouldn’t know that. I don’t make myself known to all my children. Very few, actually.” She gave him a sly look, then started lazily walking around the room. Her fingers trailed over his desk, his bookshelf, then over his books on business and investing. She pulled one out, flipped it open, then carelessly shoved it back onto the shelf.

  “I am known to those I care for as the Spider Woman, the protector. I am known to others by my given name, Laufeia.” She looked pointedly at him then. “I gave of myself to create your kind. I am your mother.”

  Her gaze was intense and he wasn’t sure what she wanted from him. Perhaps an emotional reaction to her admission. He’d heard much more creative stories than hers about how vampires had come to exist in the world, though, and whatever she thought she was here to protect him or the other vampires from was beyond him. She certainly didn’t protect Jim from getting killed.

  Laufeia narrowed her eyes and said with a hint of a smile, “I protected you, my son. I protected the majority of my children from being found out by the humans by bringing that man and his family here. You’re the Master of Atlanta, are you not? I trusted that you’d do what was necessary to make sure most of my children were kept safe. And I was right. You care about your brothers and sisters.”

  He scoffed at her logic, and was dismayed that she was right. He did care about his family enough to kill to protect them. It irritated him that she was so smug about it, though, but mostly it irritated him that she knew so much about him…

  She held her hand and arm out like she was modeling something, then said with a sly look, “Of course I know a lot about you. I’ve been everywhere in your home for years now.” He jerked back when her entire arm morphed into a thousand spiders. She chuckled, and instantly her arm was just an arm again. She let it flop to her side.

  “I’m not lying about being your mother. I protect those I care about, and my children are what’s most precious to me. You are precious to me.”

  Unsure what to say to end this strange siege, silence grew between them until she eventually resumed looking through his few things scattered around the room. Something about her movements and the look in her eyes gave him the impression she was tired.

  She cocked an eyebrow. “I suppose I am, though not too tired to put you in your place.”

  He jerked back when she was suddenly just inches in front of him. It shocked him that he hadn’t even seen her move. No one he’d ever come across was faster than him. No one.

  She cocked her head and eerily smiled, then slowly reached up and pet his hair, looking fascinat
ed by it. She let the long strands slide through her fingers, then ran her gaze down his body, eventually taking his hand in hers. An uncomfortable shiver ran through him and he fought with himself over wanting to jerk away from her touch. When her power seeped over him and held him firmly in place, he tensed and realized there had never really been any choice in the matter.

  “I thought when your father left that I’d be needed here. However, you’re a self-made man, are you not? The road was bumpy at times, but you found your way as Master.”

  She’d been here since before his father left? And he’d never noticed her here?

  She stared at his hand and said, “I’m leaving now. I need to feed and only the motherland can nourish me properly.”

  Her eyes lit up when she looked back up at him. “You take such good care of my children, Anthony. Even the naughty ones. It was a pleasure to see them all gathered in their beds, day after day, all under one roof. Your roof. A mother does so love to keep her eye on her little ones, and because you’re such a good Master, I’m giving you a parting gift to aid you in your responsibilities. I’ve only given a small amount of my power in creating your kind, but you’ll soon have an additional power.”

  A shiver of deep dread overcame him as he stood helpless in her grasp once again. And deep down he was also reluctantly starting to believe everything she was telling him, but it threw an uncomfortable spin on what he thought he knew about himself and this world. Logically her story sounded ludicrous, but her aura was smooth and even flowing while she effortlessly held him in place like no one else had ever been able to do. Not even his father, his maker.

  She gave him a knowing smile, then forced his hand palm side up and touched the center of it with her pointer finger. His eyes went wide when a tiny spider formed on her fingernail and quickly scurried to the center of his hand. She smiled in fascination as she attentively watched the little creature, gripping Anthony even tighter with her power when he tried to free himself. His heart thumped harshly in his chest as he stood unable to move while he was forced to watch the little spider tunnel into his skin. There was a sting followed by an itchy feeling before it disappeared inside him, and the wound completely closed itself afterwards thanks to his vampire healing powers.