by Katie Reus
Darkness Awakened
Katie Reus
Darkness Awakened
Copyright © 2013 by Katie Reus
ISBN: 9780989776646
Cover art and design by Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs
Proofreading by JRT Editing
Digital Formatting by Author E.M.S.
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.
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Years ago he ended things between them to protect her…
As leader of one of the fiercest werewolf packs in the south, Finn Stavros is in full battle mode 24/7. He has no choice—he’s one of the few beings strong enough to fight the Akkadian demons, whose mysterious escape from hell threatens the entire world. With the battle turning bloodier by the second, Finn is ready for anything…until his vampire long lost love shows up on his doorstep in desperate need of his help, sending his heart into a tailspin. He agrees to help her, unaware that she carries a shocking secret that will turn his life upside down.
This time, he’s not letting her go…
Vampire Lyra Marius curses the day she met Finn. The ruthless werewolf promised to love her forever, but he rejected her instead—before she could share her life altering news. Pregnant, kicked out of her coven, and cast aside by the love of her life, Lyra struggled to raise their rare shifter-vampire daughter Vega alone among humans. When the 16-year-old is kidnapped and used to fulfill a frightening prophecy, Lyra swallows her pride and turns to Finn for help. But how long can she fight her feelings for him and keep him from guessing the truth about who Vega really is? As they race against the clock to save their daughter, they must defeat the lethal threat imposed by demons infiltrating the human world and a hell gate that could not only reveal their existence to mankind, but destroy the world in the process.
Chapter One
Finn Stavros didn’t bother to wipe the blood from his blade before turning on another Akkadian demon emerging from the interior of the dark warehouse. Adrenaline punched through him, a hard and vicious surge as he faced off with this monster. He’d already killed two of the demons so that just left two more. He hadn’t planned to shift to his animal form tonight but it looked like he had no choice. He would be more powerful as a wolf and this fight needed to end quickly. Before any nosy or unsuspecting humans stumbled on them.
After following one of these wretched things from his casino, Finn had expected a fast kill. Not to stumble on more of them in this abandoned warehouse.
Dropping his blade to the concrete floor, Finn tensed as his body underwent the change. Gray and white fur sprouted as his bones and ligaments broke, shifted and realigned. The shift was short and momentarily painful, but gave way to a heady rush of raw power that pulsed through him. Seconds later, he stood on all fours, his clothes and shoes shredded around him.
As a born Alpha and leader of his pack, he had a higher element of strength and speed than his brethren. He might be only one hundred and fifty years old, but when he’d killed his treacherous uncle and taken control over his pack, Finn had absorbed his uncle’s strength as well.
The floor was cold beneath his paws and a sensitized awareness flowed through him in steady waves. Every sense was enhanced. The horned, clawed demon creature stared at him hungrily, but Finn would be the only thing walking out of this building alive tonight. These freakish bastards might have the ability to glamorize themselves to humans—making themselves look not only normal, but beautiful—but as another supernatural being, Finn could see their true form clearly.
Some days he really wished he couldn’t.
It was disturbing to see a human sidling up to these monsters completely unaware that they’d be the demon’s dinner.
Baring his teeth, Finn snarled at the reptilian skinned being with gaunt cheeks, glowing yellow eyes, clawed hands and clawed feet. This one was only six feet tall but some of them grew to seven feet. Like the last two he’d just killed. And he could smell them a mile away. Their putrid, sulfuric stench was nauseating. The past month had brought out too many of these things for him and his pack to ignore. At one time they’d been the stuff of nightmares. Like the boogie man; scary but in an abstract way. Not anymore.
Locked away in hell millennia ago, they didn’t belong on this plane of earth. After being caged for so long, it seemed as if they were consumed with a powerful bloodlust that robbed them of control once they started to feed or hunt. They were threatening the secret existence of all supernatural beings with their carelessness. Finn didn’t know what had released them from hell, but he planned to find out and make sure they were sent back where they belonged.
With a snarl, the creature extended its claws and advanced. Tensing his muscles and using all the strength in his hind legs, Finn lunged forward, bracing for the pain. He could take being sliced up by this thing. The key to killing them was doing it quick. The key to any fight was ending it quick. For some reason these demons liked to fight one on one. So even though he scented another one in the warehouse, it wouldn’t make a move until either Finn or the demon emerged from this battle victorious.
He flew through the air and ripped a chunk of its shoulder clean off. The creature howled eerily but swiped his claws down Finn’s side. The slashing pain burned through him as his flesh ripped away. But the sting only enraged his inner wolf more.
Growling low in his throat, Finn turned in the air before he slammed onto the ground.
Strike fast and hard.
He pounced again. This time he managed to clamp his jaws down on the creature’s throat. Biting down, he tasted flesh and blood. The thick fluid was foul, with more than a hint of sulfur in it.
He ripped through tendons and bone and jerked back, tearing off its head and killing it instantly. Before he could spin around, he felt the impact of the last remaining creature landing on his back. It sunk its claws deep into his ribcage.
Roaring, he twisted and tried to dislodge the thing, but its claws only pierced more deeply. Knives of pain splintered through his body, making his nerve endings scream, but he ignored it. He’d heal. This thing was going to die one way or another.
Rolling back, he used his weight to pin it to the ground underneath him. As it slammed against the concrete, the creature’s claws retracted, giving Finn the chance to dodge away.
Jumping to his feet, he lunged before it had a chance to rise. His jaws opened and clamped on the creature’s neck, severing its head in one clean stroke. Faster than he’d killed the first.
His heart raced as he swiveled in each direction, looking for more danger around the abandoned warehouse. Wooden crates were stacked in two separate corners. Above him a cobwebbed skeleton of steel stretched across the ceiling. Since these things couldn’t climb or fly like some vampires, he wasn’t worried about an aerial attack. Continuing to scan the darkness of the desolate building that was little more than a metal box, his in
ner wolf slowly calmed when he scented nothing else unusual. He was especially thankful he couldn’t scent any humans. These days it seemed that all of them had phones with video or camera capabilities and the last thing any supernatural beings needed was someone to record what had just happened.
As he shifted back to his human form, a new smell filled the air. He paused, ready to fight again, until the familiar scent of Gabriel, his pack Guardian grew nearer. He must have just arrived because his Guardian wouldn’t have let him fight alone. It went against Gabriel’s nature and pack law.
Ignoring the already fading pain, Finn picked up his shredded pants and searched the material until he found his lighter in what had once been a back pocket. He lit some of the clothes on fire then tossed them onto one of the creatures. It immediately burst into flames. An eerie reddish-orange glow burned unnaturally bright and fast as the fire devoured the beast. Soon there would be nothing but ash. Thankfully the creatures burned with lightning speed, leaving no evidence behind.
“If you planned to have fun tonight, you should’ve called me.” Gabriel’s heavy boots thudded across the ground as he quickly strode through the warehouse. As Guardian, it was his job to protect the Alpha of his pack at all times, but Finn didn’t like to depend on anyone.
If he couldn’t protect himself, how could anyone expect him to keep his pack safe? To maintain power in his region?
Finn didn’t turn around as he lit the other creatures on fire. “Last time I checked, I’m still Alpha.”
Gabriel sighed, a familiar sound. “You recruited me for a reason. To watch your back. What’s the point of being Guardian if I have no one to guard?”
Finn snorted in response, but the truth was, he had recruited Gabriel for a very good reason. Years ago when Finn had killed his own hateful uncle and taken over the Stavros pack, there had been a few who would have seen him overthrown. For the most part he’d weeded out his enemies, but his uncle had been Alpha for over a thousand years and his archaic ideals were still strong with some.
Gabriel had been a loner until Finn found him. The other wolf had been passing through Biloxi and had jumped into the middle of a squabble between Finn and a few vampires who’d wanted to move in on his territory. Finn hadn’t needed the help but ever since then they’d forged an unbreakable friendship.
Even if he technically didn’t owe his friend an explanation, he gave one. “I didn’t have time to call. I saw one of those things tailing a human female as she left the casino and tracked it. It left the female alone when it realized I was hunting it. Think it wanted to lure me into a trap.”
When his friend didn’t respond he grabbed the towel Gabriel extended and started wiping blood from his arms and sides. As Alpha, his healing speed was one of his gifts. His back and sides were sore but as he drew the towel away he could see the long slashes along his skin already mending. His medical kit was in his SUV but he decided not to bother patching himself up since the blood wasn’t flowing anymore. After he finished, he took an extra set of clothes from Gabriel and quickly pulled on the dark sweater and jeans. They all carried extra clothes in their vehicles and Gabriel’s assumption that he’d need them tonight was from previous experience. “How’d you know I’d be here anyway?”
“One of the girls at the front desk told me you’d left in a rush so I followed your scent. And you did have time to call. Or text.” Gabriel shook his head as he picked up what was left of Finn’s shredded shoes and fallen cell phone and keys. He tossed the ruined shoes into the fire.
Finn ignored Gabriel’s last comment. “How’d you get here?” he asked as they exited the warehouse.
A bright three-quarter moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the dingy alley. There were a few empty cardboard boxes propped up against a rusted old Dumpster, but no signs of anyone, not even the homeless. There was another warehouse directly next to this one and it was also currently unused. Made sense for the demons to be hanging out here, but his pack would have to pay more attention to the area now. His SUV was still parked in the dark alley but he didn’t see Gabriel’s motorcycle anywhere.
“My bike’s a block over. Wasn’t sure if you were fighting anyone and didn’t want to announce my presence if you needed backup. Besides, there’s no way in hell I was parking my baby down here.” He mock shuddered as he tossed the SUV keys to him.
Finn bit back a smile as he palmed the key fob. He briefly contemplated going back to the casino. But he had too much paperwork to catch up on and would be distracted there. “See ya back at the compound?”
Gabriel shook his head and grinned. “I’m going to head up to Howler’s for a while.”
Howler’s was the club on the bottom floor of Finn’s casino and since it was almost ten the place would just be getting busy. Even though he wasn’t required to, Gabriel liked to help out security on the weekends. He’d never said it, but Finn knew he liked to let out his aggression on drunk shifters looking for a fight. “See ya tomorrow, then.”
As Finn steered out of the alley, he glanced at his phone. Three missed calls from Spiro, one of the wolves he had running patrol at the compound tonight. Definitely not a good sign. He put in his hands-free earpiece and called him back.
Spiro picked up on the first ring. “Boss, we have a problem. There’s a vampire here who says she knows you and needs to speak to you. She’s injured two of our warriors and we’ve got her cornered by the edge of the house but…I get the feeling she’s letting us corral her. I’ve never seen a vampire move so fast. She said you two have a history together.”
Something tightened in his chest. Once he’d killed his uncle, Finn had searched for her for years; was still covertly searching for her. It seemed impossible, but… “What does she look like?”
“Long blonde hair, not very tall, great curves, grayish-purple vampire eyes—”
It hurt to breathe for a moment, but he made his throat work. “I’m on my way. Do not let her leave, but no one better injure her. They do, they die.” He ended the call and gunned the engine. He was only minutes away but suddenly it seemed like an eternity stretched before him.
Finn knew only one vampire that fit that description and he hadn’t seen the alluring woman in seventeen long years.
Lyra Marius.
The blonde-haired vampire with the unique grayish-violet eyes, sharp cheekbones and an adorable smattering of freckles over her nose had haunted his dreams for too long. She had an innocent quality about her that was refreshing. Having been raised to believe that all vampires were evil creatures it had surprised him when he’d first met her. Not a night went by that he didn’t think—fantasize—about her. His cock hardened as her familiar image flooded his vision and he inwardly cursed his lack of self-control. With her, he’d never had much of it. Then again, neither had she.
After they’d broken up he’d tried to keep tabs on her but she’d fallen off the face of the earth. The vampire and werewolf communities didn’t exactly communicate. Not openly anyway, and he hadn’t been able to find out where she’d gone. He’d hoped she’d been living safely among her own kind. With her royal family. Protected and treasured as she should be. But after killing his uncle he’d heard a rumor she’d left her coven. He hadn’t been able to validate it as truth or not. After that shred of gossip, there had been no word, not even a whisper of her, for the past seventeen years among any of his contacts. It was like she’d vanished.
It seemed too much to hope she was at his compound, but his heart rate increased just the same.
To see her again, to hold her again… His throat squeezed at the thought. Pushing her out of his life had been the hardest thing he’d ever done, but he’d had no choice.
Their affair had been short, intense, and completely forbidden. Vampires and werewolves were natural born enemies. They didn’t sleep together, much less fall in love. Until he and Lyra had. But eventually he’d had to face reality.
If his uncle had discovered his relationship with a vampire, he’d have killed Lyra o
ut of sheer spite. Even if Finn had broken from the pack and run away with Lyra—which he’d wanted to do—his uncle would have hunted them down and still had her killed out of pettiness. Not because he hated vampires—though he had despised them—but purely because of his hatred for Finn. From the moment Finn had been born, his uncle had made his life a living hell… Finn shook his head sharply.
Now was no time to dwell on the past. Vampires didn’t just show up unannounced onto werewolf property. And vice versa. If Lyra was at his compound she was there for a reason and he needed to get to her before things escalated and someone got hurt.
Chapter Two
Lyra’s fangs lengthened as she stared at the four shifters in front of her. A couple of the animals pawed the ground as if they might lunge, but she wasn’t too worried.
As a member of one of the royal families—exiled or not—she had the gift of flight. She couldn’t soar for hundreds of miles or anything, but she could quickly move across city blocks when need be. If she had to flee, she would. But right now all she wanted was to talk to Finn. She hadn’t even breached his compound.
After buzzing the main gate, they’d let her in. And then a couple of these young pups thought they could try to attack her? She gritted her teeth and snarled at them again.
Two of them took a few tentative steps back, but two stood their ground. With her back facing the sprawling mansion, she didn’t have to worry about an attack from behind. She didn’t sense anyone other than the four snarling pups in front of her. Lyra relied heavily on her extrasensory abilities, one that she shared with the shifters, and could usually scent those around her long before they got too close.
In an exclusive part of the historic city, Finn’s compound was gated, expansive and very private. A huge iron fence and thick trees surrounded the acres of property and the Greek revival mansion directly behind her, but apparently no one inside was civilized. She supposed she could leave, but she didn’t have anywhere else to go. After trying to call Finn’s casino and being told he was unavailable, she’d decided to come directly to him. She only lived a few hours north of Biloxi so as soon as dusk had fallen, she’d driven straight there. Contacting him killed her inside, but she had no choice.
