Darkened Days

by C. L. Quinn

  Although she was still surprised he was in the basement of such a lovely house. Eventually she figured they’d get their own place. So it didn’t matter if his rooms were a disappointment.

  But they weren’t. Jacob opened a set of plain utilitarian metal double doors into a large room filled with light. The back wall was a long series of floor to ceiling windows and French patio doors. Beyond that a small patio filled with flower pots and bright blooms, nicely illuminated with colored landscape lights.

  “Oh, Jacob…”

  “I told you. I live in a basement, but it’s a walk-out, roomy, and nice. Wait until you see the bedroom.”

  He picked her up and carried her to the back and into another large room, sparsely decorated, but had an enormous bed.

  “Uh, look at that, didn’t have to wait at all. Here’s the plan. We close that door and don’t come out until tomorrow night.”

  “I’d love to, but people are going to expect us at second meal.”

  “No they won’t.”

  She was on the bed, naked, and so was he, in minutes.

  “You need to feed. I can’t wait until you take my blood into you. I want to feel you, to be inside you, while you drink.”

  Her body flushed pink as her respiration quickened. He stood before her, completely naked, muscled, his cock at attention, commanding hers. Just the idea of him inside her made her body ready. And the idea of drinking from him while he drove into her sent her past aroused to desperate.

  She grabbed him and threw him on the bed. Before she straddled him, she pulled the clip from her hair and it cascaded down over her shoulders and hid her breasts. Then she crawled onto the bed, moving a leg over his body to sit on him so slowly, he groaned. The slow movement allowed an extended view of her privates as she swung the leg high. His cock surged up as if seeking her and she dropped against his body with his cock behind her. He groaned again because he expected to be imbedded inside her body by now. But she lingered.

  Her fangs were out, she buried her head against his neck, but she didn’t bite. Traveling down his body, her hands woke nerve endings all along his torso, and just above his cock, which she could not reach from her position. Her fingers just grazed above it while her tongue moved all along his neck as if searching for a place to bite.

  “Little vampire.” He whispered. “You better get inside me now or I will take you.”

  “Not. Yet.” She whispered back. Continuing the torturous exploration, she moved down past his neck, onto his chest, across hard muscles, downward until she was just above his groin.

  Jacob growled now and dropped his head back to submit to her skills as he felt her fingers encase him, sliding up and down from shaft to head, and when her tongue landed at the tip, he grabbed the headboard of the bed to avoid bucking her off. She explored his cock from top to bottom with her tongue, slowly, quickly, then just before he exploded, she dropped down over him and pushed up to bite his neck. The puncture and blood draw seconds after her taking him fully into her made him shoot up, and he grabbed her so he wouldn’t spill her off as she sucked in his life-blood and he pumped his out into her body all at the same moment. He sat upright on the bed, his arms pulling her tight against him, her butt cradled on his thighs while he was still buried inside her. Every nerve in his body had fired, every muscle had tightened, and he was just now able to breathe again.

  Moments later she pulled back and sealed the puncture. Now, she sat on his lap, his penis nestled inside, his arms around her, fingers caressing her lower back, her arms around his neck. Their eyes met.

  “I’m in love with you,” she told him, volume low, almost a whisper, as if it were a secret.

  He brought his hands up and brushed the hair away from her face as he kissed her.

  “You better be. Because I’m never letting you go. I realized I was already in love with you just moments before that crazy vampire froze me in Paris. All I knew was that I had to get to you. You were mine.”

  Starla closed her eyes and wondered if there could ever in a life be a moment more perfect than this one. She decided there couldn’t be.

  They slept the rest of the night and all the next day in each other’s arms.

  Koen led Starla over to the buffet tables.

  “This is how we do it, very much like Ahmose’s set-up. We have two meals daily, breakfast and second meal, buffet style, lots of food. Except you’ll recognize everything here. I do have excellent chefs. My daughter and her family usually join us for our first meal. You will get to meet Cairine, my granddaughter. An extraordinary first blood child.”

  At that second, almost as if cued, the door swung open and a gorgeous redhead came in preceded by a hurrying toddler with long shiny strawberry blonde hair. The third person to come through the door was a large male vampire, dark skinned, very handsome. He reminded Starla of Ahmose. He pressed a kiss to the redhead’s neck as he pulled her hair back.

  “Ah,” Koen said. “Starla, this is Cairine.”

  The little girl arrived first, stopping in front of Starla with enormous green eyes. She put her hands up, making it clear she wanted Starla to pick her up.

  Starla just looked down at the beautiful child. She had no experience with children and wasn’t even sure she was comfortable with picking up this one. But the girl wasn’t accepting that. She whined and put her little hands against Starla’s legs.

  “You may as well pick her up, dear,” The redhead said. “Hi, I’m Park, mother of this little monkey and I’ll let you in on the secret with her. Do what she wants and everything goes easier. She’s actually a really sweet girl, but she can be demanding.”

  With a smile, Starla reached down and picked up Cairine, who put her arms around her neck and smiled up into her eyes. She put one pudgy little hand on Starla’s face and looked at her suddenly with a serious expression. Then she looked back at her mother.

  Park nodded and the toddler looked back at Starla and smiled again.

  A moment later when Eillia arrived with Daniel, who led her to a chair at Koen’s table, the little girl gave Starla a kiss on her cheek and then pushed away. When Starla put her on the floor, she ran to Eillia and laid her head against her rounded belly.

  “Kids,” Eillia said, with her hand on Cairine’s pale curls.

  “She’s truly lovely.” Starla said.

  Park took her arm and led her to the large table and pulled a chair out.

  “Here, sit next to me and Bas. Jacob and Bas have been close forever. He wants to get to know the lady who took his heart.”

  Bas stepped around his wife and came to Starla.

  “My turn. Hi, pretty lady. Jacob isn’t an easy man to get to know. That’s how I know you’re extraordinary. Welcome to the family.” He hugged her, and pulled back to give her a kiss on the cheek very like the one his daughter gave her.

  “Okay, family, eat.” Koen announced. “I have a call to make. Be right back.”

  After filling their plates, Starla stalled her fork before the first bite and looked at Park.

  “So your daughter’s a first blood vampire? She drinks blood?”

  “No, no. A first blood child is very much a human child until full maturity. They grow and develop quite normally until then. At a certain point, the spirit amulet engages and helps the vampire genome take precedence. And a first blood is fully mature. It’s an amazing transformation. I went through it myself.”

  Starla was silent. She completed the bite of scrambled egg and ate a curly French fry.

  Suddenly she said, “So my children would be normal. They would grow up like normal children.”

  Bas nodded, and answered carefully. “Starla, your children would be glorious, like all children. Are you reconsidering your choice?”

  “No. No. I made the right choice. The only choice. Jacob is my mate, I know that. I couldn’t live my life without him now.” She paused again. “It’s just that…” Again, she stopped and looked down at her plate. Quietly, she finished.

  “I
t’s just that I can’t stop thinking about them. I feel like I betrayed them.”

  Park put her hand on Starla’s in understanding.

  Eillia came over and touched both women.

  “Starla, honey, it’s really going to be okay. Hey, would you like to hear my news? Cherise came by before she and David left. Our son will arrive in ten days.”

  Congratulations filled the room for the next several minutes. Although Starla smiled, she was quiet.

  Outside the breakfast room in the corridor, Koen was upset as he paused in his conversation, his cell held too tightly in his hand in frustration.

  “Nothing? Son of a bitch! Okay. Well, failure isn’t an option, Johnson. Keep looking. A woman can’t just disappear. There has to be someone who knows her. Some camera that caught her somewhere in the airport. No stone unturned, you understand? Okay, I appreciate your efforts so far. Call me if you get anything at all.” He closed the phone and stared at the wall. He would find Alisa. And this time, he would never let her go.

  Starla had few clothes. And Eillia loved to shop. There were several little local places where they could find wonderful garments for Starla, so a few days later they headed out, with Daniel as escort, to pick up some things. Eillia was just too close to delivery to let her out of his sight.

  Jacob stayed behind to talk with Bas about security issues with the new villa that was still under construction. As Bas’s first lieutenant, it was Jacob’s job to oversee security. It felt wrong to let Starla out of his sight for a day, but he knew he needed to. If they were to build a life here, they couldn’t be afraid. Still, he worried the entire time. She hadn’t had the best luck out there as vampire. And even though he trusted Daniel completely, he knew there were a lot of things still dangerous in the cities for vampires.

  When Eillia called the household and told Koen they were going on to Paris for another day, Jacob paced, pissed that he hadn’t already chained that girl to his side.

  When they returned the next day, Jacob grabbed Starla and yanked her down the stairs. Pulling the doors shut to his apartment, he pulled her into his arms.

  “That is too fucking long!”

  “Jake it was just two days.”

  “It was still too fucking long. I missed you. I couldn’t sleep yesterday at all.”

  “Ah, baby.”

  He held her, just held her, for several long minutes, inhaled her scent and touched her skin. She’d never been missed like that before. Could there be a greater evidence of how much they loved? How badly they needed each other? How they belonged together?

  Bags and boxes of clothes and shoes were left abandoned on the couch in the living area while Jacob proved to Starla exactly how much he missed her.

  Above the villa, hidden in brush, surrounded by flowers that made a colorful camouflage, Ahmose watched the villa with the overly annoying Crystal by his side. He still didn’t want to do this. He still felt he had to. Through every preparation he’d convinced himself it was going to be fine. Although after spending two days in Crystal’s company, he felt sorry for Jacob. She was obnoxious, pedantic, and quite frankly, a bore. But this was in motion and even the small voice that kept telling him it was a mistake had been quiet for the past two days.

  Ahmose cast his magic, a little weaker because the moon was not at its fullest, but strong enough to do what he needed it to do. Make the household sleep. Crystal stood beside him with a grin that almost made him stop. He wondered what lurked in her mind, and he knew it wasn’t pure. But he had cast himself on this course, and he needed his children. So he finished the spell and looked at the excited woman at his side.

  “It is done. You can take him. Be cautious and quick. Do not disturb anyone you pass. The magic is tenuous and a first blood may be able to break through if disturbed. Remember to touch objects around the bed. It will leave your impression and they will know it was you. I cannot be implicated.”

  “I know. I told you, I’ll take the hit. I don’t care, they’ll never find me. As long as you help me maintain my freezing ability, I can keep him away.”

  “I accepted the deal. It will be done. Please go now.”

  Crystal didn’t even respond. She was just gone.

  Ahmose wanted to accompany her. He wanted to see Starla. But he did not want to risk his presence being felt in the household. Objects can echo a life force, especially something as prescient as a first blood’s home. So he stayed.

  It was dawn. Too light for vampires, but children of the moon could tolerate brief daylight. And he could protect Crystal and Jacob too, briefly. That’s how they would pull this off. She would be gone with him for hours before anyone would know.

  Moments later, Crystal appeared beside him with Jacob over her shoulder, wrapped in a blanket.

  She was winded, more out of elation and excitement than activity.

  “I have him!” She laid him carefully on the ground and pulled the blanket back.

  “He’s so beautiful,” she whispered in awe.

  Ahmose thought he might throw up.

  Instead, he leaned down and touched Jacob’s chest. He interfered with Jacob’s life force so he would be invisible to anyone else. Now, none of the children of the sun would be able to find him. He’d already done the same to Crystal.

  Then he turned to Crystal and although she was not first blood and did not have a spirit amulet, she had the ability to assimilate the first blood talent of freezing. He’d given her blood over the past two days and would give her a last taste now.

  “This will only work for about six months,” he reminded her.

  “That’s okay. I’m sure it will be long enough.”

  “All right. Let’s do it.” He dropped down on the cool grass. Crystal struck hard and fast. Tore a little in her greediness for the blood of a first. He was past caring. He was sick at heart for doing this and felt he deserved the brutal feeding. After several long minutes, she wasn’t quitting on her own.

  He didn’t like her. He didn’t trust her. And he thought eventually he would have to rescue Jacob. After his children were born. For now, though, he didn’t trust Crystal not to betray him, so once she finished and bundled Jacob up, placed him in a nondescript van, he went back to her.

  “Thank you for this,” she told him, an unwelcome hand on his shoulder. “It was the right choice for everyone. You deserve your children. And officially, I had him first. She kind of took him from me.”

  Ahmose knew that wasn’t true. Still, it was done. He touched her forehead, looked into her eyes, and wiped her memory of his involvement. Also any recall of his community or Africa.

  It was over. Jacob was gone from Starla’s life. He knew she would find her way back to him.

  He returned home to wait.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The sun dropped from a cloudless day and Koen’s household began to rouse.

  Eillia had to have Daniel help her roll out of bed, laughing. He knew she’d counted down every day since Cherise had told her when their child would be born.

  “Two more days,” she said, confirming he was right.

  Daniel swung her up into his arms and carried her to the bathroom, not because she couldn’t walk, but because he wanted his hands on her.

  “Sweetie, I am going to lounge in that bed for three days non-stop after this little guy shows up. I can’t wait to sleep on my belly again.”

  Daniel nodded. That was not the thing he couldn’t wait to do after the child was born. Eillia felt his heightened sexual response as she dropped her nightgown.

  “Soon, my darling. It will be sweeter for the wait.”

  He groaned. Said the woman who wasn’t sporting a painful hard-on.

  She stepped beneath the rushing waterfall of showerheads and he watched her. He couldn’t wait for their child to be born, but he couldn’t imagine not seeing the beautiful shape of his wife with their son nestled inside her in that softly rounded belly. He came forward and dropped on his knees to fit his hands over the mound and k
iss it gently.

  “I’m going to miss this.”

  Eillia sighed.

  “I will too. In a thousand years of living, I have never known love like this.” Then she put her hands on Daniel’s face. “Or this.”

  She drew Daniel up and kissed him, too.

  Her hand moved downward and slipped around his penis.

  “Now, what can we do about this?”

  In the breakfast room, Koen already had a heaping plate and was digging in. Eillia came in with Daniel, who seated her and went up to fill two platter-plates.

  A moment later, Starla hurried through the doors, still in the pale rose nightdress she usually wore to bed. Koen noticed the nipples pressing through the thin fabric, thought how lucky Jacob was, and how pissed he would be that Koen saw her like this.

  “Hi, everyone. Hey, any of you guys know where Jacob is? I’ve never awakened without him beside me, but this morning, I just woke up, and he wasn’t there.”

  Koen shook his head. “I am not aware of any appointments. You guys?”

  Daniel and Eillia shook their heads.

  “I’m sure he’s close by. Or he went to Bas’s villa. He still handles most of the security.”

  “But he would let me know. This doesn’t feel right.”

  Eillia lifted her head, her eyes closed. She was silent for several minutes. Then she pushed back from the table and walked slowly down the stairs to Jacob and Starla’s basement rooms. She paused before the door, entered, moved around the bed, lightly brushing her hand across the area, then stood in the middle of the room with her eyes closed again.

  When she opened them moments later, she sighed.

  “Starla’s right. He’s gone. Someone took him. That one that had him before. She has him again.”

  Starla fell to her knees. “I had an awful feeling about this. It’s as if something wants me to be unhappy. Like fate says I don’t deserve this. And Jacob is paying the price because he makes me happier than anything in my life.”