Death of Darkness

by Dianne Duvall

  Seth smiled. “Then we’re good. Would you be averse to these three having another playdate in the future? Adira and Michael’s parents have been worrying about them not getting enough socialization. Taking them to the playground has become more tricky—if not risky—since their abilities have begun to manifest themselves.”

  Ben responded with a slow shake of his head. “As long as the kids get along, I think that would be okay.”

  Seth addressed the toddlers again. “Children, would you like to play together again soon?”

  Michael and Aaron both nodded.

  Adira pushed herself to her feet. Sand coated her shoes, clothing, and hands as she moved around Michael and crossed to Seth. Reaching over, she took Leah’s hand and put it in his.

  Leah laughed and scooted a little closer so he could rest their entwined fingers on his knee. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  While Adira rejoined the boys, Ben stared at Seth’s and Leah’s clasped hands. “Yeah. Another playdate sounds good.”

  When the playdate ended, Seth wanted to follow Leah home and confirm she truly wasn’t angry with him for hiding he was different from her. But calls began to come in as soon as he returned Adira and Michael to David’s place.

  Vampire numbers continued to increase at an alarming rate. It was almost as if Gershom had mind-controlled every damned vampire on the planet and instructed them to turn as many humans as they could. That meant more vampires went out trolling for victims each night. More battles ensued between immortals and vampires. More serious wounds required Seth to heal them when two immortals took on a dozen vampires. More missing person cases inundated the network and had to be dealt with to keep authorities from finding out vampires had nabbed the missing man or woman. More vampire victims’ deaths required creative camouflaging by the network so they would be labeled accidents, muggings, or the like. And when some crime scenes made vampire attacks impossible to conceal through other means, Seth had to telepathically alter memories.

  He also worried that more vampire activity would increase the chances that another gifted one would be transformed, not necessarily at Gershom’s instigation but by sheer happenstance. If such occurred, Seth would need to reach him or her before Gershom could get wind of it and increase his private army.

  Seth teleported from country to country, problem solving, aiding Immortal Guardians overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and reading the minds of every vampire he could. None provided even a hint of where he might find Gershom or the missing immortals.

  When night fell in North Carolina, Seth waited until Leah’s shop closed, then asked Zach to field his calls long enough for him to go see her. He wasn’t like younger men today. He didn’t want to text her or talk to her over the phone. He wanted to see her in person and watch every minute change in her facial expression so he could determine how she really felt about him being different.

  The blinds on the shop’s windows were all closed, but light shone behind them. No music played. Nor did conversation carry to his sensitive ears.

  Drawing in a deep breath, he rapped on the locked door.

  Brittney opened it. “Hi, Seth. Are you here to see Leah?”

  “Yes.”

  “Cool. She’s in the back room.” She stepped outside. “I was just leaving.”

  He offered her a brief bow. “Then I bid you good night.”

  “Good night,” she said with a smile. “Go on in. I’ll lock the door behind you.”

  Seth did as requested and listened as she locked both locks. The heels of her pumps clicked on the sidewalk as she walked away.

  Silence descended.

  He couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. Leah had seemed fine with his being different while at the playground. But some of that could have been a friendly facade donned for her brother’s benefit.

  “Well?” Leah called after a minute. “What are you waiting for? Get your handsome ass in here.”

  He grinned, relieved. Her tone was teasing, not angry.

  Opting to keep his coat on, he strolled through the store to the back room.

  Leah sat at a desk, staring at a computer screen that displayed a spreadsheet of some sort. “Give me two minutes,” she mumbled, her tone distracted, “then I’ll be done.”

  Seth leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. She wore glasses tonight. He had never seen her do so before and wondered if she needed them for reading and close-up work the way many humans did once they reached their forties. The frames were black, reminding him of those that had been popular in the sixties. Her long hair was pulled back in a slightly disheveled bun. The jeans and blazer she’d apparently changed into before going back to work hugged her beautiful figure.

  She had, as Sheldon would say, a real sexy-librarian thing going on that heated Seth’s blood. The longer he watched her, the more he wanted to touch her, to peel that blazer off, loosen her hair, and—

  “Finally,” she announced with a sigh. Closing the file, she removed her glasses and spun the chair around to face him. When she looked at him, her eyebrows flew up. “Hi.”

  “Hello.”

  She studied him for a moment. “Something on your mind?”

  Aside from a deep desire to strip her naked? “You aren’t angry.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “Why would I be angry?”

  “Because I hid that I was different from you.”

  Smiling, she rose. “I have news for you, Seth. You didn’t hide it very well.”

  He straightened, staring at her in surprise. “You already knew?”

  She chuckled. “Yes, I already knew. It was pretty obvious.”

  “How?” He’d been so careful.

  Closing the distance between them, she took his hand. “Hold that thought.”

  A now-familiar tingle raced up his arm as Seth twined his fingers through hers, happy for any excuse to feel her skin against his.

  Leah activated the alarm system, then led him over to the stairs.

  He tried very hard not to stare at her perfect ass or notice the alluring sway of her hips on the way up but failed miserably. Damn, that was tempting.

  Fucking Gershom. If it weren’t for him and the threat he posed, Seth would kick caution to the wind, lift Leah into his arms, and take her to bed. If they made it that far. Her sofa was closer. It was way too short for him, but he could make it work.

  Once inside her apartment, she led him through the living room. Seth stared longingly at the sofa as he imagined the many ways he could take her on it. Or hell, the many ways she could take him on it. He wouldn’t have to worry about it being too short for him if he were sitting down and she straddled him.

  Tearing his thoughts away from that delectable image, he followed her down the hallway and into the guest bathroom.

  Once there, she faced him and looked up at him expectantly.

  She seemed to be waiting for something.

  Seth shifted. “What?”

  Her full lips quirking in amusement, she released his hand, gripped his biceps, and turned him to face the mirror.

  Seth looked at his reflection. “Oh shit.” His eyes bore a bright golden glow.

  She laughed. “You look a little panicked.”

  Closing his eyes, he tried to darken them. Unfortunately, when he opened them again, his eyes were still as bright as could be. “I’m sorry. I thought I had more control than this.” He usually did, but it seemed to abandon him whenever he was with Leah. He slid her a glance and found her still smiling. “How long have you known I’m different?” How long had he been inadvertently dropping his guard around her? David would understand the significance of that as well. Seth had married the last human woman around whom he’d dropped his guard.

  “Since the night you left so abruptly when Tessa was spotted.”

  That long?

  His emotions had been running high that night. But he was old and powerful enough to maintain control when in the company of mortals. At least, he had been until he’d met L
eah. He motioned to his face. “This doesn’t unnerve you?”

  “No.” Stepping closer, she stared up into his eyes. His pulse leapt when she pressed a soft hand to his cheek. “One, because I think they’re beautiful.” A statement that—accompanied by her touch—only increased his desire to drag her into his arms and finally find out what those tantalizing lips of hers tasted like, something that no doubt made his eyes glow brighter. “And two,” she continued, “because Ben and Aaron aren’t the only members of my family who are different. My dad and his dad are, too. Or at least Grandpa was before he died. So I’ve been around people who are different ever since I was a child.”

  “Your stepfather is a gifted one.” Seth mentally traced her brother’s lineage back to her grandfather.

  “Yes. Aaron inherited his telekinetic abilities from Dad. Ben has telekinetic abilities, too, but his are different. I don’t know how to explain it other than to say he can… manipulate matter, I guess, is the way to describe it. He can change things, reshape them.” Which was why Ben was one of Chris’s tech geniuses. “And my grandpa could dreamwalk.” She smiled. “After we moved to North Carolina, he used to find me in my dreams all the way from Denver. I thought it was the coolest thing ever… until I met you.”

  Seth smiled. “You’re good with different.”

  “Yes, I am.” Stepping back, she took his hand again and led him to the kitchen. “I like that you call them gifted ones.” Once there, she spun him away from her and tugged his coat off his shoulders.

  “The term seemed appropriate,” Seth murmured, glad he had removed the weapons he normally stashed in his coat before coming. When her fingers brushed the back of his neck, more of that delightful tingling awareness shot through him. He silently cursed himself. As long as she kept touching him, even casually, there was no way he’d be able to get his eyes to stop glowing.

  Leah hadn’t caught on that desire was most often the cause of the glow when they were together, had she?

  She hung his coat up in the laundry room. “Would you like something to eat?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “Good.” Her lovely face brightened with barely leashed excitement. “Okay. Since you apparently aren’t going to mention it, I will. How do you disappear into thin air the way you do? Curiosity has been killing me!”

  Seth gaped at her. “What?”

  “The disappearing thing. How do you do it?”

  Astonishment rippled through him. “You know I can teleport?”

  “Is that what you call it? Teleporting? Like in sci-fi movies?”

  “Yes,” he answered weakly.

  “Then yes, I want to know how you teleport.”

  Was there anything he hadn’t inadvertently revealed to her? Shit! How could he have been so careless? “I just picture where I want to go and…” He shook his head. “I go. I don’t really know how it works. It just does. I can also follow phone signals, tracing them back to their origin and teleporting directly to whoever calls me.”

  “That is so cool.” Curling her fingers around his biceps, she tugged on his arm. “Show me—show me!”

  He grinned, amusement eating away at his dismay. She was so damned adorable. “All right. But you’ll have to release me.”

  She did.

  Seth teleported away.

  Chapter Eleven

  Leah gasped. One moment Seth stood in front of her. The next he was gone.

  She waved her hands back and forth through the air where he had stood, searching for… well, she didn’t know what. But he was actually gone!

  He reappeared in the next breath.

  She let out a little squeak of surprise, then laughed in delight. His hair, shoulders, and thick eyelashes were dusted with fat snowflakes. In his arms, he cradled a white rabbit.

  “That is so freaking cool!” she practically shouted.

  Laughing, he handed her the bunny.

  Leah cuddled the soft little creature close. “Is it wild?”

  He nodded. “I startled him with my sudden appearance.”

  She stroked the pretty creature’s fur. “He doesn’t seem scared at all.”

  “I calmed him. I’m an empath, too.” His smile grew. “Would you like to come with me when I return him home?”

  “Really?”

  He nodded.

  “Hell yes!”

  Grinning, he looped an arm around her waist and drew her close.

  Her pulse leapt at the feel of his strong, muscled body pressed against hers.

  “You might find this a little disconcerting.” It was the only warning he issued before everything went black.

  Leah felt a momentary weightlessness, like that she sometimes felt in an elevator. Then bright light exploded around them. Her shoes sank into snow until it reached her knees. A frigid breeze blew fat snowflakes into her face and frosted her breath.

  Shivering, she stared at her surroundings in awe. The sun shone overhead, battling clouds and bathing breathtakingly beautiful mountains in patches of golden light. She didn’t know where they were, but the thin air told her they were high above sea level.

  The rabbit in her arms squirmed.

  Leah set him on the snow as her teeth began to chatter.

  Instead of racing away in fear, it hopped toward the snow-coated trees nearby as though nothing had happened.

  Seth wrapped his arms around her, warmth radiating from him like a furnace.

  “How can you b-be so warm when I’m f-freezing my ass off?” she asked, snuggling closer.

  “I can control my body temperature.”

  Damn. What couldn’t the man do?

  Darkness engulfed them once more. Leah gripped the front of his shirt and squeezed her eyes shut as that odd weightlessness swept over her. Heat replaced the cold at her back. The sound of ocean waves accompanied it.

  Opening her eyes, she turned her head. She and Seth now stood on a lovely beach. Pristine white sands. Water so clear you could see the bottom far beyond the point water lapped against the shore. No tourists were in sight. Nor were structures of any kind. Just palm trees and a few seabirds trolling for tasty morsels along the water’s edge.

  Tilting her head back, she stared up at the powerful man who held her. “I know I said this once before. But wow, Seth. You’re my new best friend.”

  He laughed.

  The snow that coated them swiftly melted, dampening their clothing and hair.

  Leah stepped back and turned toward the ocean. Taking his hand, she strolled along the water’s edge. “I don’t know how you can be so stressed when you can come to places like this anytime you want to,” she murmured with a smile.

  He shook his head. “The enemy I now face is a formidable one.”

  Neither protested when waves crept over their shoes.

  “Speaking of which…”

  Leah looked up at him, squinting against the bright sunlight. He didn’t speak for a long moment as he seemed to wage internal war with himself.

  “Yes?” she prompted gently.

  He looked out over the ocean, then shook his head and stared down at his boots.

  “You can tell me anything, Seth,” she reminded him.

  He met her gaze. “I want to spend more time with you.”

  Her heart began to beat faster within her breast. “I want to spend more time with you, too.”

  His pensive expression softened a bit. “Your friendship has come to mean a lot to me.”

  Despite what she’d told her brother, Leah wasn’t sure friendship was all she wanted from Seth now. She thought about him all the time, loved his company, and couldn’t seem to keep herself from imagining him running his hands all over her body.

  “But my enemy poses a serious threat to you.”

  “I know,” she said softly. He had made that very clear.

  “There are other things you should know before you decide whether or not you wish to continue seeing me.”

  She couldn’t imagine him telling her anything that would
change her mind. “Okay.”

  “Let me take you home first.”

  “Why?”

  He forced a smile. “So you can boot me out the door if it proves to be too much.”

  Leah wanted to say something light to ease his worry, but those somber dark eyes of his warned her he was going to drop a serious bombshell. “Okay.”

  Seconds later, they stood beside the sofa in her apartment.

  “You should remove your wet shoes,” he murmured.

  “Okay.” She toed off her running shoes. “You should, too.”

  “They’re waterproof.”

  “Oh.” Bending, she removed her wet socks, then carried both her shoes and socks into the laundry room. When she returned, Seth motioned to the sofa.

  “Have a seat,” he said, a request rather than a demand.

  She did, feeling a little twinge of anxiety. This was going to be big, wasn’t it?

  When Seth didn’t join her, she patted the cushion next to her. “Sit with me. You’re making me nervous.”

  Seth sat beside her but didn’t take her hand.

  Leah took his instead, needing the contact. He was really starting to worry her. He looked grim as hell.

  “Tell me what you think I need to know,” she encouraged him gently.

  He stared down at their hands for a moment. “Forgive me if I bungle this. I’m fairly certain I will.”

  “Okay.”

  “You know I’m different.”

  “Yes.”

  “But you don’t know how different.”

  Nervous butterflies fluttered in her belly. “How different are you, Seth?”

  “Teleportation, empathic, and telekinetic abilities aren’t the only gifts I bear.”

  She was fine with that. “What else can you do?”

  He shook his head. “The list is a long one. My gifts are numerous. Some are remarkably strong, and some are weak from disuse.”

  “Like what? Can you dreamwalk like Gramps?”

  “Yes. I’m also telepathic and bear healing, precognitive, postcognitive, and psychometric abilities, to name a few.”

  She stared at him. “A few? You mean there are more?”