Protector of Midnight

by Debbie Cassidy

  “And Rivers?”

  “Surprisingly, his affinity is air.”

  “Why surprising?”

  “Rivers is a siren. He has sea dweller in his blood line like Roan so water should be his thing, but it isn’t. He can pretty much make anyone do what he wants with a few words uttered in the correct timbre.”

  “That’s disconcerting.”

  Ryker’s smile grew brittle. “Yeah, it is. But he’s been forbidden from using that particular ability so you don’t need to worry.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why he’d been forbidden when Ryker continued.

  “And you’re probably wondering about me?”

  Oooh, interest piqued. “I can’t lie. I’m intrigued.”

  “I’m an empath.”

  I knew that. “And...” I made a winding motion with my hand.

  He shrugged. “That’s about it. I can sense emotions, intentions, sometimes I feel others pain. To be honest, it’s uncomfortable at the best of times, and so I keep my shields up.”

  “You have shields too?”

  He cracked a smile. “Nothing like yours. I can’t mask who I am. But I can block out the unwanted sensory stimuli.”

  “And what is your elemental affinity?”

  “Air.” He traced the pattern on the duvet with his finger. “I don’t use it much anymore though.”

  There was more, he wanted to say more, and I held my breath, waiting, sensing there was something important he needed to say. The urge to drop my shields and taste his intentions was strong but I bit it back. It was invasive and it would probably destroy our budding friendship.

  Friendship.

  That’s what this was. This fresh, safe bond we seemed to share. A secure heat bloomed in my belly.

  “I spoke to Bane,” Ryker said. “You’ll train until you have a handle on the daggers and your abilities.”

  “I can do that.”

  “You’ll be training with him.” He looked up at that moment, capturing my gaze, and absorbing my shock. His brows snapped low over his eyes. “Be careful. Don’t test him. Don’t push him.”

  He was asking me to go against my very nature. My smart mouth had a mind of its own most the time. “In that case, you’ll need to get me some duct tape.”

  “What? Why?”

  I gave him a flat look. “To tape my mouth closed. What do you think?”

  “Serenity, I—”

  “Look. I get it. You’re looking out for me, and Bane is pretty damned scary, but I am not going to cower every time he raises his voice. That isn’t who I am, and I won’t turn into some meek little mouse to please anyone. If Bane wants me here in the Protectorate, then he’s just gonna have to take me as I am. I’ll respect him, but I’ll expect the same in return.”

  “I want to argue with you, but you have valid points. Just be careful.”

  “I will.” I cracked my shields just a tiny bit and his agitation was a soft lapping wave. Cassie had been right about him being a worrier. Time to change the topic. “You never did finish explaining about the house. What were the creatures who scared off the scourge?”

  His brow crinkled as if he was taking a moment to arrange his thoughts. “They call themselves the Breed. They’re minor nephs who can transform into hyenas and they preyed on the humans of Midnight not under the protection of a primary neph house.

  “I thought you said that minor nephs can only do stuff like telekinesis and read auras?”

  “The Breed are an exception. They command the power of transmutation and they hunger for human flesh both to consume and to use carnally.” His lip curled in disgust. “Being affiliated to a house provides some safety, but even then they’ve been known to take humans.”

  “So, what is a house?”

  “There are only two in the city: House Mort and House Vitae.”

  A skitter ran over my scalp. “Death and life?”

  You know Latin?

  Latin? “Was that Latin?”

  His eyes narrowed. “Yes. Mort and Vitae mean death and life.”

  “Oh...Um...I guess I do then. I must have heard the words somewhere, sometime.”

  He was looking at me strangely, and I just wanted him to stop. “So, who runs these,” I made bunny ears with my fingers, “houses.”

  Primary nephs. The Sanguinata and the Lupin. The Sanguinata have a serious red blood cell deficiency and require regular infusions of human blood to survive, and the Lupin’s females have an infertility issue so they require human females for surrogacy purposes. The only problem is, not many of the humans survive childbirth.”

  “So, why risk it? Why not just ally with Sanguinata?”

  “It’s not that simple. The houses have an agreement. They recruit humans once a year and they hold an annual game to determine which house gets to recruit. By my count, Lupin have won two years in a row, and humans wanting protection have little choice. They either sign up to the available house or remain unprotected and the prey of the Breed. It was even taken to the Midnight district council and made legal to deter any sly recruitment outside the annual drive. If either house tries to recruit without authorization, they forfeit the next year’s games.”

  “What about the scourge? Does affiliation protect from them?”

  Ryker smiled smugly. “That’s where the Protectorate comes in.”

  I was beginning to get a better idea of how Midnight operated, but being told wasn’t the same as being out there and learning from experience. If this district was going to be my home, I needed to be on the streets.

  “I need to get out there, Ryker.”

  “Just do the training, Serenity. You’re strong.” He reached for my wrists, and smoothed his hand over the ink. “You have an Aether affinity.”

  I looked up sharply. “He told you?”

  “He didn’t have to. The daggers chose you.”

  “I don’t know if that’s actually true. I don’t know anything about Aether.”

  “Just give it time. Give yourself time. You were meant to be here. I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you at the SPD, and then you confirmed it with your actions at the motel. Just give it time.”

  A yawn ripped through me, and Ryker chuckled. “It’s been a long day. Get some sleep.” He stood and pulled up the covers, indicating I get under them. It felt normal, natural for him to tuck me into bed and turn down the lamp. He smoothed a hand over my head and a sense of calm and wellbeing seeped into my bones. “Sweet dreams, Serenity.”

  ***

  Bane circled me, his huge intimidating frame cutting off any escape.

  Two weeks we’d been at this. Two weeks of training, talking and more training. I was ready, so ready to get out there and patrol. There was no way I was bringing him down, and so we’d focused on stamina, evasion and trying to get in the odd hit. The daggers never made an appearance.

  I bounced on the balls of my feet. “Look, just let me out there, and let me play it by ear. I’m not a newbie. I know what I’m doing.” I grinned, flashing him a dimple. “I’ve even got Rivers talking to me.”

  He snorted. “Well, that’s it then. You’re ready for anything,” he said sarcastically.

  Frustration stabbed at my brain. “Oh, come on. What more do we have to cover?”

  “This isn’t Sunset, woman. This is Midnight. There are things out there your sheltered mind couldn’t comprehend.”

  “Really? Like what? I know about the houses, and the Breed and the scourge. I’ve done my homework, Bane.”

  He snorted in derision, continuing to circle me, thighs bunching and flexing beneath the material of his yoga pants. My temper flared. “You know what? I think you’re working with Abbadon after all.”

  His body went super still. “Don’t say his name.”

  But my anger and frustration had shoved me into push-the-buttons mode. My agitation made me forget Ryker’s warning. “You’re working with him, and instead of him keeping me locked up at his mansion, you’re keeping me locked up here.�
�� The anger was a real writhing thing now, fueled by the relative inaction of the past couple of weeks, and just general fuckedoffness. “You’re a liar, Bane. A fucking liar.”

  And then he lashed out and hit me. Like seriously hit me. The blow sent me flying across the room, and landing hard on a mat. The air smashed out of my lungs and my face throbbed twice before the pain registered.

  What the... I reached up to touch my lip and my fingers came away bloody.

  “You fucking talk too much.” He ducked his head and barreled toward me.

  There was murder in his eyes—the serious desire to do some damage. Hot potent adrenaline flushed through my limbs and the daggers settled in the palms of my hands. I rolled as he lunged. He hit the mats and spun, knuckles grazing the mat, body in a crouch and I saw him for what he was.

  A monster.

  “Yes,” he said. His tone was deadly. “Yes, you see it now. You see the truth.” His violet eyes gleamed in triumph, and something else, something that I couldn’t define. “I’m not your friend, Harker. I’m not your fucking buddy. You don’t get to question me. I’m your fucking boss.”

  I was already in a defensive stance, daggers at the ready.

  He picked up a mat and threw it at me. I lashed out, swiping with my blades. The mat cleaved in two and fell to the ground.

  He nodded, and the light in his eyes ebbed.

  What the heck?

  He pulled out of his attack crouch, and the aggression leached out of his body. His features smoothed out, and a shadow fell across his brutal face. “Go put some ice on that.” He turned his back on me and walked away.

  ***

  I held an ice bag wrapped in a tea towel to the side of my face, and leaned against the kitchen counter. My cheekbone ached and throbbed and there’d be a nasty bruise, but it should be worse right? Bane was strong, his fist could have, should have, broken me.

  The clip of boots on stone was followed by Cassie’s tousled head. She caught sight of me and faltered in the doorway, and then she was striding toward me, her face contorted in concern.

  “What happened?” Cassie pinched my chin and turned my face so she could examine the bruise. “Damn, Serenity. Did you charge a wall?”

  “No. I just pissed off Bane.”

  Her eyes widened. “He hit you?”

  I rolled my eyes trying to make light of the situation. “We were training, after all. Some bumps and bruises are to be expected.”

  I pressed the ice to my face, and blinked back tears of pain and shame focusing on my words which had come out strong and level. It wasn’t like I’d never been in a scrape before. I’d taken my fair share of blows and given back just as hard, but for some reason, this one stung.

  “But... He hit you.” She shook her head, her lip caught between her teeth. “I can’t believe he’d intentionally hurt you.”

  “Yeah, and neither did I...” Neither did I! Oh fuck. We’d been training for two weeks and the blades hadn’t manifested once, and Bane didn’t ask why. He hadn’t needed to. It was obvious I hadn’t thought he would seriously hurt me. I hadn’t felt that my life was in danger. But the daggers were a part of me. They were my weapon. If I hadn’t had a chance to use them then the training would have been incomplete. He needed to know if Abbadon’s assessment of them coming out to protect me was true. Was that why he’d kept me base bound?

  “What is it?” Cassie asked.

  “I think he was trying to make me fear him enough to bring out the blades.”

  She clenched her teeth. “Fuck that. There are other ways to test the bloody daggers.” She gingerly touched the side of my face.

  “Ouch.”

  “You need to heal.” She gnawed on her bottom lip. “Siphoning power feeds you right? Do you think you can use it to heal?”

  “I don’t think it works that way. I guess if I absorbed someone’s healing power then maybe.” I shrugged.

  “Go find Ryker. He’ll put you to rights.”

  Ryker’s room was a floor above mine. I knocked softly and waited. The door swung open. Ryker took one look at me and his expression went flat. The kind of cold that was deadly.

  “Who did that?”

  “I was training with Bane.”

  His jaw ticked. “He hit you? On purpose?”

  I held up a hand. “Yeah, but I think he could have hit me much harder. It brought the blades out and that’s what he was aiming for, I think. I had to feel threatened for it to work.”

  He ducked his head, shoulders rising and falling. “There are other things he could have tried.”

  “Look, it’s all good. Can you just patch me up? Cassie said you could.”

  “Come in.” He stepped back, letting me into his inner sanctum. The room was decorated in shades of cream and brown. It was a man space lined with bookshelves stocked with interesting looking tomes.

  “You like to read?”

  “Books are an escape that I enjoy, yes.”

  “Um, could I borrow a couple?”

  His eyes lit up. “Of course.”

  “Awesome.”

  He turned me to face him and raised a hand to hover over my cheek. “Close your eyes.”

  I did and the sensation of pins and needles spread across the side of my face. It was an uncomfortable sensation but not painful, and then it was over.

  “All done.”

  I opened my eyes to his smiling face. His fingers caressed my cheek but the motion wasn’t sexual, it something else. And there was no pain.

  “Thank you. I got to go. I have a session with Drayton.”

  “Have you eaten?”

  “I’ll grab a bite in a bit.”

  “You’re tired, Serenity. Tired and fed up, but keeping fueled up will help.”

  “I look that bad, huh?”

  He averted his gaze. “I’ll bring you some soup.”

  It was his empathy thing. He was picking up on my exhaustion, my irritation and frustration. On impulse, I stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

  His swallowed hard and smiled. “Course. You’re one of us now.”

  ***

  I’d just let Drayton into my room when Ryker arrived with the soup he’d promised.

  He placed the bowl on my bedside table. “Make sure you drink it. It’s excellent soup.” He shot Drayton a serious look. “Don’t work her too hard. She needs to rest and recharge.”

  “I’ll be fine.” I stifled a yawn.

  Ryker raised a brow as if to say, see, I told you. God, he’d been like a mother hen the past week. But the truth be told, I liked it. It was nice to be the one being looked out for, for a change. He left us to it, albeit reluctantly.

  “You’re good for him,” Drayton said.

  “Who? Ryker?”

  “Yes. I actually caught him smiling the other day.”

  He smiled all the time for me, but maybe that wasn’t something Drayton wanted to hear. Wait, did he think Ryker and I were... “We’re friends. That’s all.”

  Drayton blinked at me in surprise. “Oh, I know that.”

  “You do?”

  He strolled toward me. “Shall we begin?”

  I nodded.

  “Drop the shields.”

  Why did it sound like he was asking me to take my clothes off? I lowered the barriers. His chest rose and fell and he smiled. Then his power slammed into me, and every nerve ending in my body was alive with need. The darkness unfurled wanting to feed, fuck, whatever it took to get the hit it needed. His power, his charisma was a drug.

  “You want it.” His tone was breathless.

  “Yes.”

  We’d done this before. He would flood me with power, surround me with temptation and I’d resist, training the hunger, training the darkness. I would take but only as much as I needed. Except this time, I was tired. Bane had worn me out and it had been almost a week since I’d fed the hunger. My cambion side wasn’t going to be denied.

  “Stop.” I turned my head t
o the side, as if that would stop his power from pressing against me, stroking, and stoking a fire that shouldn’t, couldn’t be set alight.

  My heart fluttered in panic as I felt the lethal edge of my hunger for the first time—a razor sharp edge wanting to slice and devour. I needed to put the shields up. I tugged with all I had, but they wouldn’t budge.

  “I can’t, Drayton.” Another wave of sexual need hit me. “There’s something wrong.”

  He moved closer, his dark eyes alight with gold swirling flecks. “You can, Serenity.”

  He didn’t get it, he didn’t understand. My body bucked as heat flooded me and then my body was no longer my own. It belonged to her, the darker side of me, the one I’d kept locked away for far too long, her sigh was a purr and then her fingers, my fingers were grasping Drayton’s shirt and pulling him close. Her lips, my lips claimed his, tongues entwining as I drew, and drew, and drew.

  Drayton moaned into my mouth and my back slammed up against the wall, as the full length of his body pressed up against me. He ground into me, his hardness pressing up against my abdomen, fueling the hunger. His power, hot, sensual and core melting, flooded my veins.

  And then he was torn off me.

  “What the fuck!” Ryker stood like a wall between the two of us. Drayton lay on the ground, his eyes dazed, his mouth bruised.

  “That was... wow.” He looked past Ryker, and locked gazes with me, and fuck, if I didn’t want to shove Ryker out the way and climb on top of Drayton. To rip off his jeans, free him and take him. But the hunger had been sated, these thoughts were all mine. My shields came back on line and I wrapped my arms around myself. What had I just done? I’d practically assaulted the incubus.

  Drayton tried to stand but lost his balance and slid back to the ground. “Head rush,” he said.

  Ryker held out a hand and hauled him up, clinging to him to keep him upright. “I’ll be back,” he said over his shoulder. He led Drayton out the door.

  My face was on fire, my pulse all over the place. So, that’s what it felt like, to feed fully. To take what my body needed. How long would it last before I needed another hit? Because after experiencing that I didn’t think I could go back to starving myself again. No. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t the kind of monster whose world revolved around feeding. I’d fought too long and too hard to give in to this darkness now. It would bend to my will. It would wait and be fed when I was ready to fucking feed it. But this, being cloistered wasn’t helping my resolve. Back in SPD, I’d had a life, an actual job, action to keep me on my feet and keep the darkness at bay. I needed to get out there. If I couldn’t patrol, at least I could get the lay of the land, familiarize myself with the terrain.