Resisting Darkness

by Kate Wendley

  She got that damn sassy look on her face again and said, “Beautiful butterfly was your nickname for Sonya. I’m a different person.”

  A happy shock ran through him. She knew too much for this to not be real.

  “I know this is confusing, but I’m Harmony now. That old life isn’t me anymore.”

  He went absolutely still when she reached up and delicately ran a finger around his earlobe and down the side of his neck. Sonya used to do that all… the… time. Harmony had never once done it, not until now.

  He stared in shock at her, not daring to say anything that might push her away. When she started to look worried, he finally said, “Kitten?”

  A coy smile lit up her tear stained face and he hugged her tightly against himself. “Stay in Atlanta. I need you here with me. I love you. I always have.”

  She whimpered and tilted her head, the words barely out of her mouth, “Of course I’m staying,” before he bit into her.

  Her blood never tasted as sweet as it did now that he knew she was his, and it drove him insane with the need to break her Maker’s bonds to her.

  Harmony gasped in pleasure, and his body clenched at the sexy sound of her voice, but right now wasn’t about making her feel good. His teeth in her neck allowed him to capture her blood, her life force, inside him and create the link he needed to send his power as a Master back into her. He focused on that link to search out the hold Samson had on her.

  He was infuriated to find her body riddled with an intricate spider web of that man’s power. No other man should have his hands on her. Never again. Not his beautiful Son−… Harmony. She was Harmony now.

  He threw power into her and battled every single thread of the complex web Samson had obviously spent years building upon. His hold on her was stronger than Ethan had expected, but Ethan was powerful, too, dammit, and he angrily realized he needed to stop assuming he was irreproachable and start acting like the Master he was.

  He focused all his energy on attacking Samson’s bonds and replacing them with his own. Samson didn’t like it and fought back through his links to her, but Harmony was physically too far from him. His power was something to be reckoned with, though, and it licked at Ethan’s aura, searching for a weakness in his attack.

  Samson couldn’t sustain his defense for long over such a great distance, and soon the incredible hold he had on Harmony gave way under Ethan’s steady, unwavering barrage. Once the ties began to weaken, it was nothing for Ethan to completely overwhelm and annihilate all traces of Samson’s magic.

  Ethan took his time to create as strong of a bond to Harmony as he possibly could before releasing her from his bite. When he had his wits about him again, he realized he’d been holding her in a death grip. He eased up, but didn’t let go. He never wanted to let her go again.

  “Your Maker is powerful. He didn’t like me taking you over.”

  She languidly smiled. “He’ll just have to deal with it.”

  “You need to feed.”

  She nodded but didn’t look like she minded him holding her. “I’m sorry for all the times I was upset at you.”

  “Don’t be. I don’t care about any of that. I just care about you.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. “I know. You crazy, stubborn, lovable man. I can’t believe how long you held onto your love for Sonya.”

  “And I can’t believe you found me after all these years. I’d say we’re even.”

  There was movement to his right and he flicked a glance at the crowd. Many vampires were congregated nearby, looking like Harmony and Ethan’s drama was a play for them to watch. George looked shocked, his face finally crumbling and tears starting down his cheeks. Anthony looked like he wasn’t sure what to believe.

  Ethan locked eyes with him and couldn’t help a smile. Anthony inclined his head and immediately turned away, seeming uncomfortable with all the emotion of the night. He was much more in his element as he started busily directing the group to clear out the pool and tear down the structure. Loner vampires eagerly waited to be allowed to take care of the blood, something that made Ethan cringe. He never understood why they lived the way they did, always desperate for their next feeding rather than joining a family and getting free blood every night.

  Seth and Nala sat together away from the crowd. He felt guilty for not caring more about them earlier, but he was glad the entire ordeal seemed to have worked out all right for Nala.

  Satisfied that his friends were all alive and well, he turned his attention back to Harmony. He stroked her cheek and said, “This is going to be confusing for a while, my love.”

  She gave him a pouty smile, her eyes tired with her need for blood after he’d taken so much. “I know. Let’s figure it out together.”

  He pulled her into him and whispered, “Come inside. You can heal yourself through me.”

  He didn’t have to ask her twice. She got a gleam in her eye and he knew if he asked he’d see delicate fangs in her beautiful mouth. Just the thought of them made him desperately anxious for her.

  They were in his bed, their bed, within minutes. She fed from him for a short time until she obviously felt better because she very quickly stripped him of his clothes. For the rest of the early morning they alternated between making frantic love, then talking, laughing, and crying before doing it all over again. They finally wore each other out just before sunrise, and Harmony fell asleep.

  Ethan lay beside her, alone with his thoughts for a few more minutes before he, too, would be pulled under the sun’s daytime spell. He thought about how quickly things had changed between them, but also about how his uncontrollable thoughts and memories of Sonya now made sense. His head had been trying to tell him something this whole time, and now that it was clear he’d subconsciously known Harmony was Sonya all along, he felt overwhelmed with emotion.

  He kissed Harmony on the forehead as he fought the sting of happy tears, finally content in life once again as he fell asleep in the arms of the only woman he’d ever loved.

  Epilogue

  Anthony checked on Daniel every night for the next couple weeks. He remained in Ethan’s family, Christopher taking on most of the responsibility for teaching him how to become a respectable vampire. Daniel seemed to have lost all his memories of his time as a spirit guide, and according to Christopher that was a good thing since Nala wasn’t comfortable with every intimate thing he might know about her otherwise.

  Harmony also lost any short lived memories she had of being Sonya in a prior life, and she and Ethan looked very happy together now. Ethan even thanked Anthony again for all his help.

  Back at home Anthony was slowly getting used to having his father around. Thankfully Daphne kept his father busy for the better part of most nights by making him take her out to the best restaurants and shopping centers in Atlanta. He’d heard from Zach that she even wanted him to buy a house in the city. She wanted something more spacious than their extremely meager quarters in the vampire basement, and somewhere more luxurious than the apartments upstairs where the shifters lived. Anthony got the impression from his father that he’d rather stay living right here in Brookhaven, though. He seemed quite happy with life at home, starting each evening by sitting at the end of the bar nearest the vampire hall so he could greet vampires before they left the club for the night.

  The family accepted his father back into the fold fairly seamlessly. He was social enough to quickly make friends with some of the shifters, and the vampires that knew him and had a good relationship with him in the past all seemed pleased to have him back, or at the very least didn’t mind. The newer vampires, and those that had never cared much for his father weren’t quite as happy about his attention on them, but they’d never dare be rude to him, not with the air of uncertainty about who was actually in charge of the family now that he was back. Anthony didn’t care for it, but he also didn’t press the topic with his father for the time being. He had something much more important to worry about right now. Kaia.

  H
is father attempted to make peace with her, but they were from two very different worlds. In a tone Anthony was sure was meant to be nice, as far as his father thought, anyway, he’d more or less told Kaia he was sorry for hurting her, but really, any woman worthy of his son’s hand should look and act more fitting of the position of the Master of Atlanta’s bride. When she asked what he meant by that, he scornfully gestured to everything about her. She told him to go to hell and Anthony had to fight not to laugh out loud at the whole situation. Kaia was exactly the woman he wanted by his side for the rest of his life and his father would just have to learn to deal with it.

  Thinking about Kaia being vampire excited him, but thinking about actually turning her made him nervous. He’d never turned anyone before, and Kaia wasn’t the person he wanted to practice the skill on. He refused to trust her to anyone else, though, and especially not since whoever turned her would be her Master. He was Master of Atlanta and could break the bond after her turning, but it didn’t guarantee that her true Master would entirely lose their link to her, even if they no longer held power over her. It infuriated him enough to know that Dag had a link to Kaia. He refused to share her with anyone else.

  And she was finally getting more comfortable with the idea of being vampire, especially when he started telling her what things were like for him in the beginning. He didn’t leave anything out, not wanting her to feel like he was keeping things from her again even though he guiltily was. Just not about her turning.

  He didn’t tell her about things that were changing for him lately, not since the Vampire Mother gave him her so called gift. He didn’t tell her about Gaia talking to him during Daniel’s birth, and he definitely didn’t tell her that she was currently Dag’s thrall. He felt bad for not sharing all that, but she seemed preoccupied enough with the enormous change coming up in her life, let alone the physical and mental fortitude it would take for her to gain control of herself after her transition.

  Tonight they were on a date. He wanted her to have time doing normal things before she turned. Once she became vampire he wasn’t sure how long she’d have to stay on house arrest while she learned to control her new abilities. It could potentially be months. He’d gone stir crazy back when he was turned and wanted to help make the process as easy on her as he could.

  They were partially recreating the first time they met as they meandered through the parking lot towards the front door of Peach’s Books. Kaia looked happy and carefree, and he wished he could say he felt the same, but he was driving himself insane worrying he’d do something wrong during her turning and accidentally kill her.

  He let go of Kaia’s hand as he held the door open for her. His senses went on high alert as he followed her in, a shifter he didn’t recognize stocking shelves near the front of the store. Anthony briefly paused, caught off guard seeing a strange jaguar here. The man was Asian, maybe mid to late twenties, and much too thin. His wide shoulders pulled his worn t-shirt snug across his chest while the rest of it hung loose and baggy over his just as worn out jeans. Anthony didn’t even need to rely on his ever strengthening sense of people’s auras to see something was unhealthy about him. His movements were too shaky and uncoordinated, not the smooth, fluid way cats usually moved. And the light shadows under his eyes weren’t just from one night of little sleep. They looked like they’d been worn in over much too long a period of time.

  Zach would want to know immediately that another jaguar was in Atlanta. Unlike Sebastian, who had way too many wolves to keep track of, even if he wanted to, Zach kept track of every jaguar in his territory. With only fifteen people in his pack, including himself, that was a lot easier for him, and being in the minority of the supernaturals in Atlanta also made him fiercely protective of everyone under his care. A stranger in his midst was something he’d want to see to personally.

  To Anthony’s surprise and alarm, Kaia headed straight for the man. She smiled radiantly as she said, “Vince! How are you?”

  Anthony would be a little jealous at her happiness to see the man if he weren’t so worried about her safety around an unhealthy shifter. She was human and fragile… a shifter was powerful, and with as shaky as Vince was, Anthony would rather be safe than sorry. He tried not to look like he was hurrying as he quickly stepped past her and put himself between the two.

  Vince turned their way. “Kaia! What’s up? Long time no see. We were talking about having to close the store down since you haven’t been in to buy anything lately.”

  Kaia chuckled and Vince wearily smiled at them both.

  She said with pride in her voice, “I’ve been a little busy. I’m engaged now. Meet my fiancé, Anthony.”

  Fiancé. Anthony liked the sound of that.

  **

  Vince was always surprised by who people picked for their lovers. Kaia was a pretty blonde with a nice, down to earth personality. Anthony was a pale man with a huge scar on his face, and he didn’t look like the easy going type. Vince cynically figured Anthony must have some other positive traits that he couldn’t see just by looking at him.

  Kaia was a somewhat regular customer he’d gotten to know over the years, and she’d always seemed like a nice person. A nice human. He’d even entertained asking her out a couple times, but since he wasn’t all the way human, or all the way shifter, not to mention his health problems, he’d given up on dating. His parents were both full blooded shifters, so he’d inherited the gift of super strength, but with his shakes and general clumsiness, dating humans didn’t always work out so well. He had to be too careful around them, besides having to hide the fact that he was a supernatural. And since he’d never date an actual shifter, there you go. But he could at least be happy for other people when they found love in their life, so he smiled and said with honest sincerity, “Congratulations. You look very happy.” She beamed at him, so he stepped closer and gave her a quick hug.

  Her fiancé, Anthony, didn’t seem any more easy going than he had a moment ago, so Vince put his hand out for him. “Hey man. Good to meet you. Congratulations on your engagement.”

  The lucky bastard shook his hand and Vince tensed.

  “Nice to meet you Vince.”

  Vampire. The man had to be vampire. His hand was just a little too cold and a little too stiff. Vince had only been face to face with a vampire a couple times, and both times he’d felt a cold, hard energy around them. Anthony’s energy didn’t feel like that. In fact, Vince didn’t feel anything from him, but he definitely wasn’t human, and he wasn’t a shifter either.

  He focused on a different sense instead, taking a deep breath in through his nose as discreetly as he could. Kaia’s energy was warm and she smelled like a living, breathing human. The sweet tang of blood pumped through her body and was almost sharp to his oversensitive nose. Anthony smelled like crisp night air, and if anything was pumping through his veins, Vince couldn’t hear it or smell what it was. He was definitely vampire. But did Kaia know that?

  He stepped back from them both, Anthony now attentively watching him. Shit. He avoided looking into the man’s eyes because he wasn’t sure if vampires played dominance games like shifters did, or how easily they could bespell a person. He wasn’t actually shifter enough to have the instincts to sense some things, like subtle magic, much to his mother’s grief. Both his mom and supposedly his dad were werejaguars, but Vince had never been able to shift into one. Because of that, growing up, his mom spent a lot of time teaching him how to act around supernaturals so he didn’t end up on the wrong end of trouble.

  He’d long ago given up wondering why he was this hybrid thing and just worked hard to pretend he was human. He wasn’t used to dealing with vampires, though, and even shifters didn’t usually bother wasting their time trying to put him in his place. With his near constant fatigue, let alone his bad shakes whenever he was too hungry, which seemed to be always, he wouldn’t be much of a victory to gloat over. It wasn’t exactly an ego boost for him that he was never seen as a threat, or even as an equal to a sup
er, but luckily he had bigger worries in life. Like paying for food and shelter and feeling well enough to get to work every day.

  He tried to put a little distance between himself and the happy couple, but he was too curious not to ask, “So how long have you two been dating?” It bothered him that Kaia was dating a vampire. She was a nice girl. He wasn’t so sure about vampires being nice. Had Anthony bespelled her into being his fiancé? It made him sick to his stomach to think of what he might be making her do, but he’d heard enough of his mom’s stories about things she’d experienced growing up to know he shouldn’t get involved with games of magic, power and vampires.

  Kaia still looked way too happy when she said, “A few months now. We met here, actually. Hey, how’s your mom? Did she get that job she was trying for at the insurance company?”

  Vince tensed. He didn’t want a vampire to know anything personal about him, and he for sure didn’t like how still Anthony stood. Every time he moved it was like he was purposely trying to seem human. Each of his movements were particular and exact, not the more natural movements of someone with an actual pulse. Didn’t Kaia notice that? He mentally sighed. Maybe not. She was human after all.

  He vaguely said, “No, that didn’t pan out, but she’s doing good. She took a different job instead. Not the one she wanted, but it has more flexible hours so she can work around her other job.” He shrugged, then picked up some books to hopefully give them the hint to leave him alone now. Whether or not Kaia had been bespelled by Anthony, he had no idea what to do about it, so he just wanted the personal talk to stop.

  Of course, as soon as he picked up some books, his shakes made him drop one. He reached down to pick it up, then dropped another one. Dammit. He felt Anthony’s eyes on him but refused to look at him.

  Kaia thankfully said, “Well, it was nice to see you again. We’re going to poke around for a bit.”