When Darkness Falls

by Amanda Perry

  Julianne giggles and steps into my arms as I stand up and step toward her. My lips find hers. The passionate kiss has her moaning into my mouth. Her hands start to fumble with my belt and I have to force myself to calm down before I rip off my jeans. She breaks the kiss to give my buckle more attention and I allow Julianne to undo it on her own and push my pants to the ground. The little minx quickly shoves my boxer briefs down with my jeans.

  I step out of my pants and kick them to the side. Hooking my thumbs into her panties, I push them down and help her step out of them. She is watching me with dark eyes and I can’t stop myself from taking her mouth in another searing kiss.

  JULIANNE’S POV

  Leviathan wants me, a lot. The evidence of this is pushed against my lower belly and I’m feeling brave. I move my hand slowly down his chest as he kisses me senseless. My thumb brushes against his tip and he inhales sharply.

  He breaks the kiss for a second and looks into my eyes. I know I have the same expression of want on my face that he has on his. He growls low in his throat and suddenly I’m in his arms and my back is pushed against the wall. Levi kisses down my jaw to my throat. I’m a bit surprised that he only nips and kisses my neck rather than biting down. It isn’t any less pleasurable, but it’s not what I expected either.

  “Are you sure about this?” he murmurs in my ear, nipping at the lobe.

  I moan and arch my body into his. “Please, I need you.” My voice is dripping with need and any other time I would be embarrassed, but I need Levi too much to care right now.

  Kissing my neck, jaw, then lips one more time, Levi carries me to the bed and lays me down on my back. He grins as he undoes the tie on the front of the baby doll top and unhooks it. My breasts are now fully exposed to him and he seems quite happy to have unwrapped his present.

  “You are so fucking perfect,” he tells me, his voice full of awe and appreciation as he looks at my body.

  “Please, Levi,” I whine, pushing my hips up and into him.

  Without further prompting, Levi lines himself up with my entrance and slowly rocks his hips. He goes farther in with each small thrust and at first, it’s uncomfortable, but then it starts to feel amazing.

  “I need more,” I groan, pushing up, trying to get him to go faster.

  Levi growls and presses his lips against mine. The kiss is desperate and unrestrained and perfect. I know when Levi has lost control because his thrusts become harder and faster. He isn’t trying to hold back anymore and I soar. It feels amazing and I feel myself building quickly.

  I break the kiss as the feeling of him inside me threatens to overwhelm me. I throw my head back, moaning loudly at the sensations coursing through me. Levi takes my right nipple into his mouth and gently bites down. It’s all I need to be pushed over the edge. I think I scream in pleasure, but my ears are ringing so I’m not totally sure.

  Levi pushes into me a few more times before growling as he finds his own release. His arms are shaking as he tries to hold himself up above me. I giggle and push lightly on his shoulder, encouraging him to roll over and take me with him.

  I settle on top of him and smile happily against his chest. “I love you,” I mumble, half asleep already.

  “I love you, so damn much,” Levi says with a sigh, sounding content and tired.

  I drift off to sleep with a smile on my face to the rise and fall of his chest under my head.

  34

  One day starts to fade into the next and before I know it, a month has passed. In that time, I have learned better control of my strength and reactions. I no longer try to hit people who come up behind me. I can sense who the person is by tuning into my surroundings without thinking. Levi and the others have been working with me daily since my change. They have been teaching me how to focus my hearing so I’m not overwhelmed as well. It has come in handy and I’m much more relaxed knowing the house doesn’t listen to Levi and me when we’re in our room.

  Since our first time together last month, Levi has been getting me alone any chance he can. I can’t say I have any complaints about this either. I have gotten a lot of use out of the outfits the girls bought for me. They really are the best sisters I never had.

  Today, the girls insisted on taking me for a spa day to “relax my overused muscles.” I almost panicked when Izzy said those exact words to me, but luckily Vivian chimed in and mentioned the training I have been doing with the family. My mind had gone straight to the gutter and Vivian unknowingly saved me from really embarrassing myself.

  “Do you have to go?” Levi whines and plops back on our bed in a dramatic fashion. I giggle as I pull my shoes on.

  “Levi, it’s like three hours. You will survive,” I insist, standing and leaning over him. “I will be back before you know it.”

  Levi sticks his bottom lip out and whimpers. “I can’t survive that long without you. It’s too long, love! I should go with you.” He sits up and starts heading for his closet.

  I roll my eyes and push him back down on the bed. “Not a chance, buddy. This is a girls’ day and I know for a fact you are no girl.”

  Levi waggles his eyebrows at me and smirks. “Prove it,” he teases.

  I grin and give him a chaste kiss before skipping out of the room. “I love you. I will see you soon.”

  “I love you, too!” he calls to me, his voice full of humor.

  When I reach the bottom of the stairs, the girls are giggling and rolling their eyes at me. I know they heard Levi and his pitiful attempt to come with us so he wouldn’t have to be without me. If I’m being honest, I don’t want to be without him either but I know it will only be a few hours and the girls really want me to go.

  “Ready?” Izzy asks, a knowing grin on her face.

  I simply nod and allow them to pull me out of the house. We make our way to the spa they go to a few times per month. This is my first trip to a spa and I have to say it’s amazing! It takes zero convincing when the girls ask me if I want to start coming with them on a regular basis.

  “That was heaven.” I sigh and plop into my seat at a small cafe Vivian suggested for lunch. “I’m ready for some food, though.”

  “It’s funny how hungry the spa can make a girl, isn’t it?” Nikki giggles, searching the menu.

  “What are you going to have, Julianne?” Vivian asks, setting her menu down.

  I frown at the menu and shake my head. “I think one of everything,” I tease. “It all sounds so good!”

  “Agreed!” Izzy chuckles, still searching her menu.

  With a sigh, I get to my feet. “I thought being... different, would mean no bathroom trips,” I grumble, causing the girls to laugh at me. “I’ll be back,” I tell them, excusing myself to the ladies room.

  Once I finish doing my business, I wash my hands and use my back to push the door open. It hits something and I gasp, swinging around to see what I hit. A man walking by has stopped and is holding the door. It’s obvious I hit him.

  “I’m so sorry. Are you all right?” I ask, my eyes wide and my hand on my heated cheek.

  The man turns toward me and glares, his eyes dark and dangerous. I take a few steps back. “I-I-I really am sorry, it was an accident,” I stutter, looking around for witnesses.

  The entry to the hall we’re standing in is being blocked by another man the size of a tank. He reminds me a lot of Brecken with the way he is built. I glance back at the man I hit and he is now right in front of me. I start to take another step back, but he grabs hold of my arms and pulls me back into the hall. I open my mouth to scream when I feel a pinch in my neck. The tank of a man had moved from the hall entrance and is now stood beside me, an empty needle hanging from his fingers. That must have been the pinch I felt.

  I want to panic, but my body feels heavy and my eyes close without my consent. I fade in and out as I’m picked up and carried somewhere before being roughly tossed onto a hard surface. I think I’m in a moving vehicle, but I can’t stay awake long enough to tell. My head is fuzzy and nothing
makes sense. I don’t understand where I am or who I’m with.

  It feels like hours before I can finally focus my mind again. I first become aware of multiple male voices talking in hushed voices.

  “I gave her enough to knock a human out cold for a few days,” one man says, sounding proud of himself. “She should wake in a few hours and have no idea what happened.”

  “Good, keep an eye on her,” a second man growls.

  After a few more seconds, I hear footsteps walking away, but I remain still. I try to use my other senses to figure out where I am. I’m lying on something hard and cold, like concrete. The air is cool and has a bit of a bite to it making me wonder if I’m in some sort of basement.

  I don’t hear anything close to me, but I can hear people walking around above me, so I know there is more than one level to the place I’m in. When I’m sure there is no one in the room with me, I slowly open my eyes and look around. I was right. I’m in some sort of basement and there is no way out that I can see. This is not good.

  35

  Leviathan’s Pov

  “We looked everywhere, B.” Izzy’s distraught voice floats through Brecken’s cell. “She went to the bathroom and never came back. We searched the entire restaurant and the area around it. I don’t know what else to do.”

  Brecken’s eyes never leave me. He knows I heard the entire conversation despite the phone not being on speaker. “Just come home, Izzy. We will figure out a plan together.”

  He quickly hangs up with Izzy after reminding her and Nikki to be safe and come straight home. The two of them would have no issues defending themselves against just about anyone. They were born into this world. Julianne, on the other hand, is still very new and has no idea how to fight off humans, let alone our kind.

  “Leviathan, you need to take a deep breath.” My mother tries to calm my rage, but it cannot be tamed.

  Julianne went out with Nikki and Izzy for a few hours and somehow winds up missing. Whoever took her either had a serious set of balls or they’re a complete moron. Nothing and no one will stop me from ripping them to shreds when I find them.

  Mother fucking son of a bitch! How can one girl get into so much trouble?! I don’t get it! I’m going to lock her in our room and never let her out when I get her back. And I will get her back. It isn’t hard to figure out the Ashford family took her. They’re the only ones with any sort of vendetta against our family. Somehow, they found our weak spot. I don’t know how, but they will pay for it with their lives. If they do anything to hurt her, I will make their deaths long and painful.

  Remus called our intelligence team the second he heard Izzy’s confession over the phone. He clearly had the same thought as me about the Ashford family being involved because he demanded their movements be tracked. It wasn’t long after he hung up that he received word from the team that they boarded a private jet shortly after Julianne was taken from the restaurant. Even though my blood is boiling with absolute rage, I am minutely calmed to know my family is willing to do anything to help me get Julianne back. They love her, too.

  Those Ashford fuckers thought getting her out of the country would deter my family from rescuing her but what they don’t realize is the lengths we will go to in order to protect one of our own. My family and I waste no time boarding a plane to Europe, heading straight for the Ashford’s royal family. They may expect us to make this sort of move, but they won’t expect us to bring half our clan with us. It took additional time that we didn’t have to organize it and call upon the members of the clan but we got it done. If the Ashford’s want a war, they are going to get one. No one fucks with my girl and lives to tell about it.

  JULIANNE’S POV

  It has been a week since I’ve been imprisoned in this basement and I’m slowly losing hope that Leviathan will find me. I haven’t had blood since my abduction and my body feels weak and sluggish. I’m starting to wonder if they are going to starve me to death. On top of that, I’ve become sick. I didn’t know demon shifters could get sick, Remus had told me we didn’t but he was completely wrong and I caught the worlds crappiest demon bug.

  “Here,” a male voice with a deep accent rumbles from behind me as I get sick once more in the tiny bathroom that I have access to.

  I turn around and see a man in his mid-thirties standing behind me, holding a blood bag in his hand. His dark eyes look kind and he seems a lot less threatening than the other people that have checked on me this week. I debate whether it could be poisoned and if it’s wise to take it. He must see my internal battle because he sighs and opens the bag, taking a quick swig.

  “Isn’t poisoned. You are too weak and you need this,” he insists, handing me the bag.

  I take it gratefully and drink it quickly. I can already feel myself getting stronger before I even finish the bag. The man leaves the room without a word and I think he is done with his check up on me, but he surprises me when he comes back with two more bags for me. He takes a drink of each in front of me before handing them off to me.

  “Thank you,” I whisper, sitting against the wall by the bathroom door in case I need to be sick again.

  “That should help with the sickness,” he tells me, sitting in front of me and crossing his legs.

  “I thought we couldn’t get sick?” I ask, tilting my head.

  He stares at me for a long time before shaking his head slowly. His brow scrunches in confusion. “You have no idea, do you?”

  “No idea about what?” I ask, feeling uneasy talking to this man I don’t even know.

  “Okay, this is going to take a lot of explaining,” the man says, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “I never wanted this life, ya know. I met my mate, Lilly, a long time ago. Long before the Ashford family took over our clan. She was a human, like you used to be. She survived the change, and before you ask, I gave her the choice.”

  I grimace because I automatically assumed he changed her without asking her first. “What does this have to do with me, and what is your name?”

  “Oh! Sorry, my manners!” He chuckles, then sticks his hand out to me. “Rufus Irvington at your service!”

  I grin despite my reservations and shake his hand. This man has been nothing but kind to me so far, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. “Okay, Rufus. Tell me what you know.”

  Rufus nods and takes a deep breath. “You are here for obvious reasons. They want to get to the Black family and these fucking idiots think you are their weakness. They are too stupid to pay attention. They think you are still human.”

  My eyes widen at his confession. They think I’m still human? What would happen if they knew the truth? Luckily, Rufus continues without my having to ask. I don’t think my voice would work right now.

  “You, my dear, don’t have to worry about them. When it’s dark, I’m going to help you out of here,” he tells me with a soft smile.

  “Why would you help me?” I ask, shock obvious in my voice. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful. I just don’t understand.”

  “I told you my mate was human. I was born a demon shifter and my blood is royal,” he explains, pausing and allowing the information to sink in.

  “Irvington! I thought your clan died out!” I remember the name from when Abe explained the Black’s history to me when I first met them.

  “My clan did. I changed my last name to Irving amongst the Ashford clan. I didn’t want to risk my life or that of my wife and children,” he tells me with sad eyes.

  “Children?” I tilt my head to the side in confusion. “You said your mate was human, so how do you have children?”

  He grins at me and shakes his head. “I’m of royal descent. That makes me a lot more powerful than most vampires. My wife is as stubborn now as she was as a human. The change affected her different than most. Her heart stopped and she was still for a long time. I thought she died. She scared the hell out of me when she started screaming and thrashing about. I assume her strong will is what helped her survive the chan
ge. It was worse for her than most. I don’t know how she did it, but she did and I thank her every day for coming back to me.”

  I remember Levi telling me how the change was different for me as well. The way Rufus is describing his mates change sounds like what I went through. How interesting. So, my strong will and stubbornness is why I survived? It’s a theory I suppose.

  “So, because you are royal, she can have kids?” I ask, still not understanding where he is going with this.

  “Julianne,” he huffs. “My wife started to get sick, like a human would with a virus, about six months after I turned her and we were married. I thought the worst at first. I looked high and low for the answer and it came in the form of a very old couple I knew. They are gone now, sadly, but their children are still around. Royals don’t often get human mates. It has only happened a handful of times. But in all of those incidences, the mates who survived the change were able to have children. The children grew and matured just like any other born demon shifter.”

  I nod my head in understanding. “Okay, so that is how you have kids.”

  “It’s also how you will have your child,” he tells me, his voice hesitant and gentle.

  My whole world stops. My child? No, there’s no way. I’m only seventeen. I can’t have kids. Levi was sure we would never have our own kids. I was sad, but he promised we would find a way to adopt if that’s what I wanted. I’m not having a baby, there’s no way.

  Then I remember we didn’t use any protection because we thought it was safe.

  Well, fuck a duck!

  36

  Rufus allows me a few moments to panic and freak out completely, before putting his hands on my shoulders and giving me a little shake.