Darkest Risings

by S. K. Yule

  “I’m scared. I only just found you. I—”

  “Hey! You have always been the strong one.” Lindsey smiled. “Answer me this. If I wasn’t in the picture, would you try with Aldin? No lies. Give me the truth.”

  Wilhemina thought hard about it. There was only one answer. “Yes.”

  “That’s that then.” Lindsey clapped her hands together. “Willy, love is not easy to come by. If you truly love him, if you truly believe you have something special with him, don’t let him get away.”

  “I know little about him and all of this vampire stuff. Do you think he’ll want me to be like him?”

  “That seems to be the going tradition with life mates.” Lindsey shrugged. “You do know that Ebony, Avril, and even Geri are vampires right?”

  “Holy shit!” She thought about their flawlessness and couldn’t believe she’d been such a naive ninny. She wondered how she’d ever made it as a journalist or reporter when she hadn’t been able to see what was right under her nose.

  “Yep. It’s pretty easy to spot a vampire once you’ve seen one. They are all perfect. Makes me want to puke. Imagine eating whatever you wanted whenever you wanted without gaining weight. Barely needing any sleep. Looking twenty-something when you are hundreds of years old. Must be nice.”

  “What about the drinking blood part?” Wilhemina cocked a brow up.

  “I guess that would be gross.”

  They both laughed.

  “Willy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Go find Aldin.”

  “Did I tell you how wonderful it is that you’re back? No one but you has ever called me Willy. I missed you more than words can express, Lindsey.”

  They hugged.

  “I missed you too, sis. Now go find that man of yours.”

  Lindsey was right. They were sisters, and nothing would ever keep them apart again. If Aldin loved her—and she hoped he did though he hadn’t said those words to her—he’d never try to keep her from Lindsey. She slid off the bed and rummaged through the dresser drawers to find something more suitable to wear than sweats and a t-shirt. She didn’t want to ask the man she loved if he loved her in return while looking like a slob.

  She picked a long, black skirt that fell just past her knees and a dark blue, billowy blouse. It reminded her of the outfit she’d been wearing the first night she’d met him. After taking a quick shower and dressing, she hugged Lindsey again, and laughed as she gave her the thumbs up before she left the room.

  * * * *

  Aldin kept a careful vigil on the warehouse from atop the building two blocks south. The first battle would take place within a matter of hours. No one had had come up with any obvious magical plan to assure they came out on top in this war. The best chance of victory in any battle was to know your enemy. They were at a severe disadvantage where that was concerned. Their only and obvious choice had been to hunker down, watch, wait, be smarter than their opponents and kick ass when it came to it—and it would definitely come to it.

  The tension in the air was palpable, and the gnawing deep in his gut warned him that something terrible was going to happen. He prayed to whatever God might be listening that they all made it out alive after this skirmish.

  Adding to his own stress, he hadn’t seen Wilhemina for nearly two days. The last time was when he’d been about to confess his love for her. After they’d been interrupted, he’d kept his distance. He’d been afraid she’d reject him, tell him she no longer wanted to be with him because of what Marilena had done to Lindsey. He’d been a coward and had avoided contact with her altogether.

  The distance hadn’t dulled what he felt for her, hadn’t made anything any easier. Being away from her had only made the ache in his chest grow stronger minute by minute. He was near crazy with needing her. He wanted to touch her, make love to her, hold her in his arms while her nearness soothed him like nothing else in the world could. He may very well draw his last breath tonight—that probability doubled with his distraction—and she’d never know how he felt about her.

  The rest of the hunters were positioned in various places around the parameter of the warehouse. The air was heavy and wreaked of the impending shit storm blowing their way. According to the prophecy, the uprising would not be quelled until he and his brothers came into their true blood powers. The possibility of them coming into those powers became bleaker by the minute.

  If Wilhemina wouldn’t accept him as her viata amant, if Lindsey wouldn’t accept Uriah as hers, they had no hope. Ragnor had insisted that Uriah and Aldin tell Lindsey and Wilhemina of the possible consequences their refusal to embrace their mates might bring, but Aldin and Uriah both balked at swaying either of them with such dire circumstances. However, the oppressing nature of the outcome if they lost the battle was now making Aldin rethink telling Wilhimina.

  Yet if she accepted him only because of the uprising, could he live with knowing he’d played a part in forcing her hand in the matter? His soul screamed yes, but his heart screamed no. He wanted her to choose him because she wanted to, because she loved him, not because she felt she had no other choice.

  “Aldin!”

  He scanned the area quickly when Ashe’s voice slid through his mind. Nothing seemed amiss or out of place. “Something wrong?”

  “Yes! Get your fucking emotions under control. They are swamping me down here.”

  Son of a bitch. If Ashe could feel his turmoil over Wilhemina, the rest of the hunters would be able to. Which meant Trinidad may very well detect their presence.

  “I lost focus for a minute. It won’t happen again.”

  How embarrassing. He and his brothers had been on countless stake-outs together and he’d never lost focus. Not once.

  “Damn it, brother. Nothing is set to go down here for hours. Go take care of your ‘problem’ and get back here. We need your full attention tonight. I won’t risk your life or that of the others because of your distraction.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I’ve been where you are, brother. Trust me when I say you are not fine. The same kind of distraction over Ebony nearly cost me my life. Go settle things with Wilhemina and come back. We can’t do this without you, but we need you focused.”

  He remembered the night a couple years back when Ashe had nearly bled out from an injury suffered by a drifter. He and Ebony had been having problems and it had nearly cost Ashe his life. Fortunately, Ebony had still been human and had freely given her blood to save him.

  While irritated that he’d been caught with his pants around his ankles, he couldn’t deny that Ashe was right. He wouldn’t want to go into battle with a distracted hunter either.

  “I’ll be back in two hours.”

  “Take three for God’s sake.” Uriah’s annoyed voice pinged through his mind.

  He took a deep breath and shimmered back to his room. “Wilhemina! Where are you?”

  Since he had no intention of letting anyone but Wilhemina know he was at the mansion, he called to her using minti conversatie.

  “I’m right here.”

  He spun to find her sprawled on his bed. Instant need shot through his veins, and he ached to cover her body with his own and slide deep into her silky soft wetness. The dark blue color of her blouse enhanced the fiery red color of her hair and showed the perfection of her creamy skin. He slid his gaze lower to see the long, black skirt that had ridden high on one leg, exposing the curve of her lower thigh.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I came looking for you. I guess I fell asleep waiting. I’m sorry for invading your private space, but I didn’t know where else I might find you.”

  He walked to the bed and sat beside her, not missing the way desire flared in her eyes as she watched his approach. His cock twitched in anticipation, but he had things to say before they could make love.

  “Honey, you can come to my room any time you like. You don’t need an invitation. Besides, I was looking for you as well.”

  She scoote
d to the edge of the mattress and sat next to him. He smiled when her feet dangled off the side. His reached the floor with room to spare. She was tiny, and that made his need to protect her even stronger if that were possible. She was delicate and could be hurt easily. Humans were fragile, and even though vampires could die, it would take a lot more to get rid of him than it would her. He needed her to understand that he couldn’t lose her.

  It was time to lay it all on the line. It was time to tell her that he loved her, that he wanted her to accept him for what and who he was, that one day he wanted her to be like him so he didn’t have to worry as much about her fragility and vulnerability. Though he doubted the day would come that he’d stop worrying about her. He wanted to spend forever with her, and he was sure that the term forever meant something completely different to him than it did to her.

  Whatever she decided, whatever happened, he was resolved to have a clear mind when he returned to the fight. He only hoped that clear mind came with the relief that Wilhemina was his.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Wilhemina couldn’t help but notice the aura of lethalness that clung to Aldin. She wasn’t afraid of him, but the air of danger that swirled about him was particularly daunting. Yet it somehow added to his sex appeal. She inwardly rolled her eyes. How many women had she chastised for going for the “bad boy” type? She eyed him again.

  His black leather pants, black t-shirt, black duster, and black boots, plus the fact that he was a vampire, knocked him right out of the “bad boy” category and firmly ensconced him into the deadly, hands-off, sexy-as-hell, don’t-fuck-with-me man category. He’d been intimidating at Drake’s the first night she’d met him, but had he been giving off the dark vibes emanating from him now? She would have probably run out of the bar screaming when he’d approached her. Maybe. Probably. Not.

  If there was one thing she was sure of where he was concerned? He would never harm her. She didn’t get the impression any of those wicked vibes were directed toward her, but something was wrong. She could feel it, could practically cut the tension around him with a knife. His full lips were set in a thin line, and his big frame was taut.

  He said he’d been looking for her. That had been a surprise since he’d avoided her for the past two days. Maybe he’d changed his mind about wanting to be with her.

  “You were looking for me?”

  He nodded.

  “Why?”

  He stared at her for what seemed like ages before grunting and pinching the bridge of his nose. “We need to finish our talk.”

  She nodded this time. “We do, but we can do it some other time if you have something else to do.”

  “No. We can’t do it some other time. I need to talk to you, and I’m fairly certain you won’t like most of what I have to say. I didn’t want to tell you before because I don’t want you to feel pressured into making a decision you aren’t ready to make.”

  “Okay.” A knot of dread began growing in her stomach.

  “I know you are aware of the prophecy.”

  She nodded.

  “It’s complicated. The one thing we know for certain is that the only chance we have of winning is if Ragnor performs the ritual to bring us into our true blood powers. Without the ritual? It doesn’t look good.”

  “How come everyone is putting such faith in Ragnor? Couldn’t he be mistaken?”

  “Since he is the King of Vampyre, I don’t think so.”

  “King of vampires? Seriously?” This was starting to sound like a bad movie.

  “Seriously. As in the first vampyre—v-a-m-p-y-r-e—to exist.”

  “Why with a ‘y’?”

  “It’s an old term that has evolved over the years. Most vampires as well as humans use the--v-a-m-p-i-r-e--spelling today. Although the King of Vampyre is a term referring to one specific individual so it would be disrespectful to rename him for evolution’s sake.”

  “So that makes him your father in a weird sort of way, I guess?”

  “In a weird sort of way, yes, but in a biological sort of way as well.” Aldin chuckled.

  “Good God,” she muttered. “How old are you?” she asked quietly.

  “Older than dirt, honey.” He grimaced.

  “Seriously. Tell me.”

  “Closing in on the seven hundred mark.”

  “I’m going to save that to process later because I don’t think I can wrap my mind around that at the moment.”

  Suddenly, the conversation with Marilena after she’d been reunited with Lindsey, and the one she’d overheard in the hallway before Aldin and Uriah had gotten into a fist fight—before she’d been knocked cuckoo—came rushing back to her. “Holy shit,” she murmured.

  “What’s wrong?” Aldin frowned.

  That was when her stomach completely dropped out. She placed a shaky hand over her tummy to try to quiet the butterflies, but they weren’t listening. She stood in hopes of calming them.

  “Are you okay, Wilhemina?”

  “Yes. But you’ve never explained to me about these drifters that are involved in this uprising against you.”

  Aldin pinched the bridge of his nose again before sighing.

  “Shadowdrifters—we call them drifters—were once vampires,” he started.

  She listened as he spun an unbelievable tale about souls being traded to Satan in exchange for the eradication of feelings of joy, kindness, and happiness. While she doubted her ability to ever fully understand why anyone would do such a thing, the realization of the danger that was facing Aldin and his family—hell, for all of them for that matter—suddenly sank in. Terror slid through her veins like acid, and she fought hard to keep from hyperventilating.

  If drifters didn’t sound terrible enough, the horror of what Trinidad was capable of doing—was trying to do—could send a grown man sobbing into a dark corner. How had Aldin and his brothers fought these vile things for so many years and come out unscathed? The butterflies dancing in her stomach turned to a black swarm of wasps.

  “The blood the other night on your floor?”

  He nodded.

  “That wasn’t from a nose bleed was it?”

  “No.”

  “And you get hurt like that often?”

  “We’ve all been hurt, Wilhemina. It comes with the territory.”

  She barely made her way to the couch before sliding down onto the cool leather.

  He followed and immediately sat beside her before pulling her against him. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. It just dawned on me the direness of the situation. I’m your life mate and Lindsey is Uriah’s. Unless we both accept you as such, none of you will be able to come into your powers. Those horrible things might win, and we will all be doomed.” Ignoring the shakiness in her legs, she stood once again and began to pace. “I worked as a journalist, for crying out loud. My job is to put two and two together and come up with twenty. This time, I had all of the facts right under my nose and didn’t bother to see them for what they were. Good thing I gave up that job. I guess I wasn’t good at it after all.”

  Aldin went to her and stopped her now frantic pacing by drawing her against his chest. “You’ve had a lot to deal with the past few days. It’s understandable. With adjusting to your sister’s sudden return, the existence of vampires, and what was happening between us? You were preoccupied. Besides, you didn’t understand what drifters are or what they are capable of doing until now.”

  She looked up at him. “Did you come to force me to be with you so you can come into your powers?” She suddenly pushed away from him. “Please tell me Uriah is not going to try to force my sister to be with him? Could you do that?” Fear built inside her, churning the bile in her stomach. What if right now Uriah was forcing Lindsey to accept him as her life mate against her will? Fear turned to full-out panic, and her heart raced frantically.

  “Hey.” He pulled her to him again. “No one is forcing anyone to do anything. That’s not how it works.”

  “You could, though, c
ouldn’t you?”

  He looked down at her and shrugged. “I’m not going to lie to you. Technically, I guess I could compel you to accept me, but I’m not sure if that would work. While I’ve tasted you twice, you only gave me permission one of those times. We would not become mated until the third bite with a blood exchange. Unless you agree to be turned, it cannot happen. I honestly do not know if I compelled you to give me permission if the change would take or not.”

  While that knowledge didn’t completely alleviate her fears, it helped some. “And you don’t think Uriah will try compel Lindsey to accept him?”

  “No. The subject has already come up, and we both felt the same about it. Neither of us wanted to force our life mate to accept us.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?”

  “I didn’t want you to feel obligated to be tied to me. I am a selfish man, Wilhemina. If you choose to be with me, I want you to do so because of me. Not because you are backed into a corner. I’m aware you were having doubts about us. I didn’t want to force you to make a decision you were not ready to make. All I want to do is make you happy and protect you. I need you, Wilhemina. And I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner, but…I love you.”

  Tears immediately pooled in her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks. He wiped them away with his thumbs. “You should have explained to me and Lindsey the possible dire outcome our decisions to accept our life mates or not might have on everyone.”

  “Don’t cry. It kills me when you do that. If you don’t want to be with me, that is your choice. Prophecy or not. If you decide not to accept me, I’ll try my hardest to understand. But be forewarned. Until I draw my last breath, I won’t stop trying to convince you that you need me as much as I need you.”

  He loved her. She hugged him to her and the leather of his duster creaked. “I’ve dreamed of you saying those words to me, Aldin.”

  “I would have said them sooner, but I wanted to be sure of how I felt. I’ve never been in love.” He slightly pulled back and cupped her face in his hands. “Right before I met you, I thought I had fallen in love, but I’d made a horrible mistake. Then I saw you, and I was confused beyond reason.”