Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 03]

by Embracing Darkness (epub)

  “Rest is for the weak. I’m anything but. See…standing on my own two legs. I’d do a little gig for you but I’m pretty sure I’d fall flat on my face if I tried. You look pretty.”

  She glanced at the plain yellow shirt she’d borrowed from Trinity and the faded blue jeans and shrugged. “Trinity was kind enough to lend me some of her stuff. How did you get down the stairs?” She added as she made her way towards him.

  “I teleported.”

  Her jaw dropped. “You can do that now?”

  He laughed and leaning in, kissed her. “It was a joke to avoid how I really took the stairs.”

  “Did you crawl again?” The guy really was a stubborn fool.

  “Nope.” He beamed. “I slid down on my ass, which, by the way, has a great deal of feeling to it now.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. He sounded so chipper, so…different. “And the crutches?”

  “They slid down first. They were my look out to make sure it was safe for me to come down. How are you feeling?” he whispered the last.

  “Fine. I told you not to worry about what happened,” she whispered back. “You didn’t drink that much from me.” She turned to Trinity now. “How are you feeling?”

  “Perfectly fine. Cooper gave me a thorough check up no more than half an hour ago. I am completely healed up.”

  “And very much knocked up.” Basil grinned like a proud father to be, taking hold of Trinity and planting a very loud kiss to her mouth.

  “Do you mind if I ask a question of you, Trinity?” Raven asked.

  “Sure.”

  “First, I didn’t even know vampires could get pregnant but apparently they can. So how is it you’re more than six weeks along when you told us that you couldn’t have gotten pregnant before three weeks ago?”

  “Three weeks ago I was killed while trying to stop the king from killing Basil. Long story short, I went to the Realm of Mystic—vampire heaven—and was granted a second life, with new powers to help take out the king. I had to have gotten pregnant after I came back,” Trinity explained.

  “I was so grateful to have her back that I couldn’t keep my hands off of her,” Basil supplied, beaming at Trinity.

  “But how is it then that you’re more than eight weeks along?”

  “Vampires gestation period is faster than the average human,” Cooper piped in from his spot near the corner of the room where he’d been silently standing since Raven had entered the room. “Our metabolism is faster, which enables us to heal quicker and have cells generating faster than the average human. Most vampires carry to a term of twenty-eight weeks but I’m suspecting that with Trinity being enhanced by the queen she might carry less.”

  “I’m not enhanced,” Trinity admonished. “You make me sound like a freak.”

  “By enhanced I meant stronger than the normal vampire and gifted with special abilities. Look how quickly you recovered from your wounds. It’s astonishing.”

  “Way to suck up, Cooper.” Basil shot him a sly grin.

  “I think I get it.” Though Raven couldn’t wait to witness it personally. “It’s a good thing Cooper decided to take the portable ultrasound unit. We’ll need to monitor this child frequently.” And she couldn’t wait.

  “Okay, so now that we’ve established that Trinity is a freak, can we get back to hooking up the alarm system?”

  “Don’t make me pound you, Jonah,” Trinity warned him but all he did was smile.

  “Can I help?” When all eyes shifted her way, Raven cleared her throat. “With the alarm. I’d love to see how it works. It sounds so fascinating.”

  “Great, we have another geek. Sure, the more the merrier.”

  “Stop calling me a geek, Basil, or you’ll find yourself waking up on the wrong end of a fist one of these days.”

  “Look at me quivering in my boots.”

  “Stop it! Jesus, the two of you are worse then children.” Trinity rolled her eyes. “You should go on patrol, Basil. See if you can pick up where Chaos might be hiding and we’ll deal with the alarm.”

  “Yes, dear.” He kissed her slyly.

  “Oh, can I go along?” Gypsy asked. “I’m clueless when it comes to technical crap and I could use some fresh air.”

  “The three of us can go,” Dante informed her, putting his arms around Gypsy and kissing her head.

  “We need you here, Dante. Manpower. She’ll be fine with Basil,” Trinity justified when Dante pursed his lips.

  “Behave yourself,” Dante warned with a kiss to Gypsy’s lips.

  “I always do. Come on Basil. Let’s go kick some ass.”

  Basil gave a pathetic look as he walked out the door, Gypsy at his side.

  “Now, let’s get this baby running,” Jonah said rubbing his hands together.

  ***

  “Just you and me, sexy, all alone in the dark, hunting down bad guys.” Gypsy slipped her arm through Basil’s.

  He smartly plucked her fingers from his arm and pulled away. She was nice enough but he had no desire to fulfill her fantasy of a threesome. Though she hadn’t stated so to him directly, he’d heard her enough times talking to Dante about it. He wondered if Jonah knew she had designs on him as well.

  “Let’s get something straight, Gypsy. I’m a one woman man.”

  “That’s nice, considering you cheated on Trinity.”

  Basil stopped short, turning to her with a narrowed look. “And you think that because I cheated—which was for a good reason—that I will succumb to your wiles and have sex with you?”

  “Oh, I know you only did it to save Trinity and that’s not what I was thinking. I think you’re a hunk and I just want to know what it’s like to fuck you. But I understand that you don’t want to. I can deal with it.”

  “You’re an odd creature, Gypsy Dawn.” Shaking his head, he pulled out a cigarette. It wasn’t often enough that he was able to enjoy a smoke, now that Trinity was pregnant. He was still reeling by the fact that he was going to be a father. And a damn good father he was going to be at that. Not like the one he’d grown up with. He was going to love his child unconditionally.

  “That’s what Dante says too. You’re telling me in all the centuries you’ve been around that you never once had a threesome?”

  He blew out a long lazy stream of smoke that lingered in the still air. It might be nice to have a breeze now and again. He missed the breeze. And oddly enough, he missed the sun, mostly the sunset. “In my youth,” he justified.

  “Oh, and now you’re all old and grown up,” she snorted, picked up a pebble and tossed it in the air, catching it in her palm as she walked beside him. “Whatever.”

  “Can we stick to the job at hand here?” He’d rather not discuss his sex life with her or hers with him. “What do you think of Raven?”

  She tossed the pebble in the air and caught it with her other hand. “She’s nice enough. Not very talkative.”

  Said the woman that rarely was quiet. “Aside from that, what do you make of her?”

  “She seems dedicated to Jonah. If you’re thinking that she’s in cahoots with Chaos, I’d have to say no. If she was, why hasn’t Chaos found us yet?”

  She had a point; still…he had to ask. A figure up ahead caught his attention ad he went into stealth mode. Putting his hand out to silence Gypsy, he pointed up ahead. Then he vanished. He left her standing there and amazingly, she was silent. He set himself down directly behind the vampire. “Boo.”

  The young woman spun around, her eyes wide with fear.

  “So…what brings you to these neck of the woods—no no, don’t run.” He caught her when she tired to bolt. “I just want to talk.”

  “I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was just out for a stroll. I haven’t been able to get out for weeks. I just wanted some time alone.
”

  “Yeah, and why is that? Why haven’t you been out in weeks?”

  “Chaos wouldn’t let us out. He wanted the women to stay behind to prevent us from being taken. He didn’t want to lose his breeding machines.”

  “Breeding machines?”

  “He said if he couldn’t make any new vampires himself he could at least have the ones under his power give birth to new ones.”

  Chaos really was desperate. “So what’s changed? Or did you escape?”

  “Haven’t you heard? Chaos isn’t in charge anymore.”

  Basil tilted his head. From the corner of his eyes he saw Gypsy heading towards him. “What do you mean, Chaos isn’t in charge anymore?”

  “Fritz drugged him and took him away. No one knows where but he says he plans on keeping him locked up until he can think of something else to do with him. Personally I think spearing him in the chest would be a good idea. Can I go now? I wasn’t hurting anyone. All I wanted was to be alone for once.”

  Basil released her and the woman scurried off into the darkness. Now wasn’t this an interesting turn of events.

  “You think she was serious?”

  “Either that or she was a plant to make us think Chaos is out of our hair. I’ll need more proof before I let my guard down. And I need to know who this Fritz guy is. Hopefully, Raven can help with that.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  There was nothing better than standing on your own two feet. Sure, the crutches were helping him, but he was standing, and he could take steps even if his feet slid more than lifted. It was progress. And…he was able to move his hips. He was going to take great pride in showing Raven how much he was able to move them later when they would head to their room. But right now he wanted desperately to get down on his hands and knees and help Dante connect the sensors to the alarm system in the wall. But Jonah knew it involved being able to move around and he just wasn’t that mobile yet.

  Instead, he took a seat in a chair, plopping the laptop on his lap and prepared to key in the access code to engage the new connection when it was ready. They’d already been at it for two hours and all that was left to do was connect the final wire and code it in.

  “You enjoy this shit?” Dante asked drawing Jonah back from his thoughts.

  “What’s not to enjoy?”

  “Where do I begin? Damn it!” Dante shook his hand, blood seeping out of a thin cut on his finger. He held it up, looking from Jonah to Trinity. “Anyone want to suck on this for me?”

  “Stop being an ass and finish the job.” Trinity booted him with her foot.

  “Party poopers.” Sticking his finger in his mouth, he sucked on it for a few seconds then went back to work.

  “You really love your job.”

  Jonah looked over at Raven who sat beside him, her face glued to his screen. He wasn’t too sure if she was gluing herself to him out of curiosity of what he was doing, or watching him to make sure he wasn’t pushing himself too hard. Either way, he didn’t mind having her beside him. “I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

  “It shows. You have a lot of passion for it.”

  Everyone jumped when a vampire literally flew through the open window. Looking over at Trinity, Jonah saw the concentration on her face. She had he vamp suspended in mid air while she sauntered over to him. She really was scary when she used her new powers.

  Dante jumped up and backed away. “Jesus, woman, warn a guy before you do that.”

  “What were you doing outside?” Trinity blasted the vamp.

  “I was walking. Jesus, how the hell am I hanging in mid air?” the vamp barked.

  “How is she doing that?” Raven whispered to Jonah.

  “Trinity has phenomenal powers. She can also freeze people in their spot. Not a good feeling, trust me on that,” Jonah advised.

  “You were just walking?” Trinity asked the vamp skeptically.

  “Yeah, and last time I looked it wasn’t against the law.”

  “He’s one of Chaos’ men,” Raven supplied.

  “Was, one of Chaos’ men,” the vamp corrected.

  “What do you mean was? You out on your own now?”

  He glared at Trinity as he spoke. “Chaos isn’t in charge anymore. We have a new leader and he’s gonna change everything.”

  “Is that so? And why is it Chaos isn’t in charge anymore,” Trinity inquired.

  “Fritz has him locked up and drugged. And before you ask me where, I don’t know. He didn’t tell any of us. Can you let me down now? This is really freaking me out.”

  She set him down with a thud and he tumbled down onto his butt. He instantly ran for the window and jumping through it, ran off into the dark.

  “So…what about that?” Dante asked cautiously inching his way back to the window. He did a quick glance outside, then jumped and screamed when Basil appeared before him. “Christ!” He clutched his chest, panting. “I don’t live forever like you vampires do. Shit, my heart is pounding. Oh, hi, babe.” He beamed at Gypsy when she stepped through the window.

  “Aw, poor baby. Want me to kiss it better?” Gypsy purred in a seductive voice as she cuddled up against him.

  “I see you had company.” Basil jerked a thumb out the window.

  “With some interesting information,” Jonah piped in, staring at his computer screen. “You gonna finish connecting that, Dante?” He waved a hand at the window.

  “As soon as my heart settles down.” Crouching back down on the floor, Dante continued what he’d been doing before they’d been interrupted.

  “What sort of information?” Basil turned to Trinity for answers.

  “Apparently Chaos isn’t in charge anymore and some guy named Fritz is and he has Chaos locked up somewhere. Not sure how much I believe the guy though.”

  “Our vamp said the same thing,” Gypsy supplied from her position on the floor beside Dante.

  “Your vamp?” Trinity turned to Basil.

  “We met up with a female who has apparently been kept locked up while in Chaos’ control. He has this bright idea of having the females pump out the future race of vampires. In any case, she told us essentially the same thing. Chaos is gone and some guy named Fritz has taken over.” He turned to Raven now. “Ever heard of this guy?”

  “Yeah. He was at the farm house doing guard duty.”

  “For Chaos?”

  “And me. They didn’t want to have me running off on them, not that I would have but that’s neither here nor there. When Daniel was captured by you all, he made Fritz his second in charge.”

  “You knew my brother?” Dante inquired and when Raven tilted her head he expounded. “Danny is my brother.”

  “Oh…well, yeah, I knew him but not well,” she explained and Dante went back to his job of connecting the wire.

  “The question is, why would this Fritz guy want to take Chaos out?”

  Basil shrugged to Trinity’s question. “The better question is…are we being handed a line?”

  “Huh?” Dante grunted. “Got it!” he exclaimed, bouncing up from his spot on the floor.

  “Perfect. I’ll activate it and then we can give it a test run.” With his face glued to his laptop screen, Jonah halfheartedly listened to the conversation around him while he worked.

  “What if Chaos is planting people out there to tell us he’s been captured in hopes we’ll lower our guard?” Basil wondered.

  “And if our guard is lowered, he can sneak in and kill me.” Trinity added.

  “Not on my watch.” Basil comforted Trinity by pulling her into his arms and placing one hand on her belly.

  “Then its business as usual. And we’re live,” Jonah announced lifting his head to everyone in the room. “Who wants to test it out?”

  “You want one of us to tes
t it?” Dante asked skeptically.

  “I won’t know if everything is calibrated properly until someone walks through the window.” Jonah explained.

  Dante shook his head. “I was the guinea pig last time.”

  “This alarm isn’t like the one at Basil’s. You won’t be jolted. All that will happen in you’ll trip the sensor and set off the alarm.”

  “Still ain’t happening, man. Find a different guinea pig.”

  “Oh, for pity’s sake. I’ll do it.” With a shake of his head, Cooper headed out the door. He stood before the window, then stepped inside. Everyone including Jonah jumped when the alarm rang out loud enough to rattle bones.

  “That is fucking loud,” Trinity yelled with her hands over her ears. “It works, now stop it.”

  Jonah clicked a few keys and the alarm shut off.

  “Thank you.” Trinity lowered her hands. “Okay, so that should work. I need to eat. Let’s meet up at my place in four hours and we’ll decide what to do next.”

  “Works for me.” Taking Gypsy’s hand in his, Dante sauntered off.

  “Thank you, Cooper,” Jonah called out and received a nod as Cooper headed upstairs with Trinity and Basil.”

  “Is there anything else you need to do?” Raven inquired still looking at the laptop.

  There was something he needed to do, but it wasn’t on the computer. “Everything is connected and ready to go. Care to join me upstairs?”

  “Will you rest for a while before we have to meet at Trinity’s?”

  He set his laptop on the mangled desk beside him then grabbed his crutches and stood. “As a matter of fact, I was just thinking of lying down for a while. Care to join me?”

  “I could use a few hours sleep. How are we going to do this?” she asked, pointing to the stairs.

  “I’ll figure it out when I get there. Can you grab my laptop please?”

  She scooped it up and followed him to the stairs.

  He turned around, leaned one crutch against the wall, then lowered himself to the bottom step. “My goal is to be able to take these steps normally by next week.” He bummed his way up the steps.