Kiss of Darkness

by Loribelle Hunt

  “This sucks.”

  “Yeah,” Winter agreed. “It does. But we can’t let our guard down yet.”

  “I know.” Gia sent her a sardonic grin. “This is why they picked you.”

  “I’m not sure that’s such a good thing,” she answered wryly, then poked fun at herself. Really, what else could she do? Let her capacity for coldness, for repressing her feelings bring her down, bring all of them down, or treat it with self-deprecating humor? “Do we want a heartless wench in charge? Seriously?”

  Gia burst into laughter and that was all that mattered at the moment. A few seconds of normalcy. A few minutes when their world wasn’t upside down and inside out. Winter laughed with her. But it couldn’t last long and they both knew it. She spoke when the room was quiet again.

  “Benjamin’s place needs to be sanitized.” No one needed to see the horror of that place, and any evidence of the hybrids’ or demons’ existence had to be wiped out before it could be sold. “And we’ll need to gather the squad leaders,” Winter said softly.

  With a sober nod and an understanding wave of mental affection, Gia sat cross-legged on the end of the long conference table, reached for a notepad and pen, and started a list. Winter was struck by how quickly emotions, the focus of their worries, could change. How quickly personal loss could be pushed aside for the safety of others. At some point over the last few years she’d forgotten that, the reason she’d joined the Order in the first place.

  She took her first steady breath since the council put her in charge. The idea, the responsibility, still terrified her, but she knew she’d have help. Winter felt a ghost of a grin cross her face. If there was a secret to her success, Gia and Dupree were it. He oversaw the quadrant’s training and Gia kept up with all the details.

  “Let’s get a list of candidates to take over the northeast quadrant.” Gia and Dupree would stay with her as her seconds in command. “And find out where we stand on recruitment.”

  Recruitment levels had fallen off dramatically over the last few years. Modern humans were fascinated by the supernatural, but they didn’t believe in it until it was staring them in the face. By that point it was usually too late. Gia’s next words so closely mirrored her thoughts that she hastily checked her shields and sighed with relief. Still intact.

  “With as brazen as the demons have become recently there’ve been some sightings. We’ve just been watching those humans, making sure they don’t become targets later, but they’re a possible pool to pull from.”

  She nodded. “Get someone on it. Any news from the tech people yet?”

  They couldn’t go to human authorities, but they’d kept up with new technology as it developed and had their own research teams and labs in each region. The Order provided its own medical care and equipment, and the teams were made up of people who made that happen, but for the next few days they’d serve as a forensics team.

  “Nothing yet. Last I heard they were still out there shifting through body parts.” Gia grimaced, turning a little green. Winter bit her lip to keep from commenting. If the circumstances were different, she’d be teasing her old friend. How someone who was as efficient a killer as Gia could be so queasy was beyond Winter. Gia had been ribbed over it for years and quickly changed the subject.

  “When the team is done I’ll make arrangements to move the archive library. We need to find a more central location.” The archive library contained copies of all the Order’s histories, dating back to the founding. It was housed at the commander’s compound.

  “Start looking for one.”

  By tradition the commander’s compound was close to the city with the squad compounds spread out like wheel spokes around it. Under normal circumstances, she’d just take over the old place but that was impossible. It was compromised. Thankfully the Order had deep pockets and they’d be able to buy something appropriate as soon as they found one.

  “Anything else?”

  Suddenly overwhelmed and exhausted just at the mere thought of everything that had to be done, she leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes while Gia began discussing other members of the Order. Likes, dislikes, strengths, duties. Thank God, Gia was staying with her. Aside from being her best friend, the woman was an expert manager and she remembered everything. Unlike Winter. She would have been a much better choice for commander. Lifting her head, Winter narrowed her eyes.

  “Why me? Why not you or Dupree?”

  Gia snorted. “Dupree?”

  She had a point. Dupree was an exceptional fighter, charming when he wanted to be, but a loner to the bone who often went out of his way to irritate people. Not at all the kind of personality the council wanted in charge.

  “Okay not Dupree. What about you?”

  Gia blanched. “No way. I’m definitely more sidekick material. I don’t deal with the emotional shit as well and I do not want the responsibility. It’s all yours, babe.”

  “I don’t want it either,” she grumbled.

  Gia grinned. “You say that now, but if they’d picked one of the others you’d be challenging someone inside a week. You may not want it, but you wouldn’t trust anyone else to do it. And neither would we.”

  Damn. She hated to admit it, but as she mentally called up what she knew of the other quadrant leaders she was forced to admit Gia was right. Before she could frame a response, the door opened and Dupree strolled through, shutting it with a soft click behind him.

  Clasping his hands behind his back, with his feet braced apart, he gave her the heart-stopping grin that made most women fall at his feet. Lucky for her she was immune. Lucky for the rest of them he was hung up on a woman he was more interested in protecting than seducing. Using her telekinetic power, Gia sent the to-do list she’d made floating through the air and Winter caught it, then bent her head to study it. Pressing her lips together as she flipped through the pages. She tuned the other two out and studied the pages in her hand.

  “Commander.”

  She ignored him and focused on the task before her. The original list was followed by names of people Gia thought either needed watching or were possible candidates for Winter’s vacated position. Maybe if she tuned Dupree out, he’d go away. She almost snorted. Yeah right. He was nothing if not persistent.

  “Commander. It’s time to go.”

  Chapter Ten

  The moon edged over the tree line and the demons he commanded shifted restlessly behind him. They smelled the hot warm blood of the humans behind the wall a mere one hundred feet away. A siren’s call. Impossible to resist. He held his hand up, ordering them to wait. There were growls of protest, but none disobeyed.

  What remained of his human heart was horrified at his actions, but there wasn’t enough of it left to stop him. The demon side was in charge now and it lived for vengeance. For fury. For blood.

  He knew they would be preparing dinner inside, that others would be coming back to join in, so he waited, watched them return by twos and threes. When he judged the house full, he signaled to attack.

  They broke from the trees in one furious, bloody wave. The half humans inside fought of course, but they were no match for two dozen demons. He raged through with his underlings, leaving blood and gore and body parts behind him, searching for one man in particular.

  He found him in the arms room, shakily loading a shotgun. The man looked up when he entered, confusion crossing his face. “What are you doing here? We thought you were dead.”

  They were the last words he ever spoke.

  Chapter Eleven

  Winter sighed. Dupree knew her well and simply waited her out. Duty called. She looked up to catch him exchange a worried look with Gia, but ignored it, frowning as she glanced at the clock. It was way too early to leave. They must have changed the meeting time.

  “Well let’s get the show on the road then,” she said, mentally preparing herself to teleport to the Alliance meeting and face Marcus. It would be her first time inside the mysterious compound. She was dying of
curiosity. What was so secret no one was ever allowed in except for Alliance meetings? Catching Dupree’s headshake, she paused and arched an eyebrow.

  “The nightwalkers insist no one teleport. We have to drive,” he added.

  “Why can’t we teleport?” Gia grumbled.

  “They didn’t say. I didn’t ask.” Dupree shrugged. “We have no idea what kind of security arrangements they have over there. You wouldn’t want them teleporting into here,” he pointed out.

  He was right, but that wasn’t what he was thinking about. She bit back a laugh at the anticipation and glee she saw on Dupree’s face. Normalcy was good. Tall and broad, with skin as black as midnight, he was a valued member of her team, indispensable in a fight and cool under fire. But Dupree behind the wheel of anything motorized was more than a little scary. If they were driving, he was on his own.

  “I think I’ll ride with Gia,” she teased, catching the other woman’s eye.

  She grinned in response. “You’re not much better.”

  Winter shrugged. At least if she was behind the wheel, she was in control. As they walked to the huge underground garage, she studied her old friends. They’d all been initiated the same year. She never would have imagined back then she would one day end up a regional leader in the Order, still couldn’t believe the council had that much faith in her. She sure as hell didn’t. Okay, she was competent. Proficient. She’d studied and practiced, learned and excelled. What did it say about her that she’d made such a good killer?

  Not wanting to dwell on it, to confront what she’d become, she turned her gaze to Gia. The three hadn’t slept in how long now? Twenty-four hours at least. Gia had squeezed a shower in somewhere and left her midnight hair free, just brushing her hips. She was dressed in their usual uniform of loose black combat pants and boots, a tight black tank top clinging to her torso, with her weapons scattered around her frame. The demon dagger they all wore and assorted knives and handguns.

  Lately, the hard look in her eyes had softened somewhat and she was more likely to disappear during her off time. And yet there was no bond between her and her mystery man. Winter had asked about him again since their first conversation, but Gia was being surprisingly close-mouthed on the matter, shrugging it off as nothing but casual sex. If Winter wasn’t in such bad shape, wasn’t so close to the edge, she’d let it go. But Gia had found a way to save herself without bonding, and now more than ever, Winter needed that secret. It would have to wait a few hours though, at least until after she’d dealt with the Alliance.

  They reached the garage and Winter headed for the 1955 model Thunderbird she refused to give up despite everyone’s teasing. It was in mint condition, an apple-red two-seater bought new right off the lot. The last thing she and David had bought together. Gia slid in the passenger side and Dupree headed for his own car, one of the sporty new Mustangs. She had no interest in the new retro cars. They couldn’t come close to comparing to the originals. She turned the key and the engine purred. The radio was set to a new channel, and Godsmack blared from the speakers. Somehow, it seemed appropriate. She wouldn’t mind having a harsh talking to with God herself.

  Backing up, she headed down the long road that isolated the compound and turned toward the highway. Traveling through the woods, the nightwalker Lord’s home was only a few miles from hers. Marcus had been so close all this time and she hadn’t had a clue. It was irritating. To add insult to injury he was making them drive now. She’d have to go around the wilderness reserve that lay between his estate and her compound. There were no roads in between.

  Since it was a warm summer night, she left the hardtop off. Gia leaned back, quiet, and stared out the window. Winter had the impression her eyes were closed behind her dark sunglasses. She wished she could do the same. It had been a long never-ending day. Fatigue swept through her. She wanted nothing more in that moment than to sleep for two days.

  It was going to be a long drive and she didn’t have time for an Alliance meeting. The gatherings between the nightwalkers, the lupines and the Order usually took place just once a year, in January, and this one was taking place long before necessary. Why? The nightwalkers had asked for the meeting and given Dupree no explanation for it.

  The Alliance only existed because they all shared a common enemy. The nightwalkers and the lupines distrusted, almost hated, each other. There was ancient history there but Winter didn’t know the whole of it. No one quite knew what to make of the Order. Some of the hybrids managed to move in the lupine world with ease, accepted mostly because of her friendship with their alpha, Mitchell Grant, and the few mixed mated couples the groups shared. But the nightwalkers remained aloof.

  Over the last sixty years she had met only a handful, and those times had been in the heat of battle. Not a lot of opportunity to chat then. And lately there was the invasion of her mind. A pair of flashing blue eyes rose in her memory. Marcus.

  She sighed remembering that encounter, using it to strengthen her shields and steel herself against the coming meeting. She saw him so clearly in her mind’s eye that she was almost positive he was projecting the image to her. He was too gorgeous, tall and lean with flowing black hair and a chiseled face. It was the eyes though, those piercing blue eyes, that made her catch her breath.

  They swept her from head to toe. Dark. Hungry. Possessive. Her body clenched in response, exhaustion suddenly wiped away, and a smile teased the corners of his mouth. With Old World charm, he bowed at the waist and disappeared from her mind. She gripped trembling hands tight around the steering wheel until her joints popped in protest. She recognized what just happened as a challenge, a gauntlet thrown at her feet to warn her the hunt had officially begun. Resisting Marcus would be difficult and she tried to remember everything they’d learned about him.

  His identity had been hard to pin down, but once Mitchell had a name she’d done some digging of her own. Marcus. Whispered to be the most dangerous of the nightwalkers. Rumors about him flourished. The most interesting was that he was their Lord. Or maybe he wasn’t and his Lord couldn’t control him. They said he never indulged in sex. She almost snorted. A celibate nightwalker? That was too impossible to believe. Rumor was they fed off psychic energy during sex. To abstain would mean to starve, right? So no, she didn’t believe that particular rumor.

  She scowled. If he was fooling around with another woman while he was so busy teasing her into a ball of need, she was going to kill him. So on second thought, maybe there was a grain of truth to the celibacy rumor. He was really into tormenting her and while he was at it she felt his need, sensed that even as he denied her he denied himself too. God, why did you throw me into this confusing mess? He didn’t answer and she didn’t expect him to. They weren’t exactly on speaking terms.

  She forced her mind off Marcus as she turned on to the road leading to the nightwalker Lord’s home. As a squad leader, she’d never come to these meetings. She was dreading explaining her ascension, the events leading up to it. She’d blocked him from her mind so much of the day she doubted he knew yet. Mitchell wouldn’t have said a word, and Dupree hadn’t either when the call from the Alliance was routed from Ben’s old number to hers.

  Rage and the need for retribution sang through her blood. They were always careful to safeguard their sleeping and living areas. How had the demons discovered Benjamin’s compound? How did they kill so many hunters? The techs still didn’t have a complete list of who had been at the compound, but since the attack was shortly before breakfast it would have been full. She’d have to work that out later.

  She slowed when the Federal-style mansion loomed up before her, following Dupree’s car to a parking area off to the side. They left all their weapons in the trunk of the cars, except the trademark obsidian daggers each wore. She narrowed her eyes as they approached; the nightwalkers were searching people at the door. She’d heard enough about these meetings to know that was an unprecedented step.

  She recognized Baron, Mitchell’s beta, and smelled his out
rage. Once cleared he stepped back to greet her while Dupree spread his arms and grinned at the nightwalkers doing the search. Whatever he felt about the intrusion was carefully concealed. She exchanged a few words with Baron before he nodded and went into the house with Dupree. She and Gia went through the same routine and followed the voices down a long center hall.

  It was as elegant on the inside as out, like the understated class of an English manor home. She tried not to gawk, tried to conceal her discomfiture. Thick red-and-gold carpets covered the floor, Persian she’d bet, old and expensive-looking. There was a wide staircase on one side, winding up to the second floor landing, and she caught a glimpse of more stairs rising from there. Two chandeliers lit the huge area. She shook her head. If this was Marcus’s house, he was way out of her league.

  The meeting was being held in a dining room and they turned left into the doorway. She restrained the impulse to roll her eyes when she entered, and this time it wasn’t the décor, just as formal, just as expensive, that elicited a response.

  At one end of a long table, sat two nightwalkers. The lupines sat at the opposite end. She walked around the wolf side and sat in the chair in the center, back to the wall facing the door and equal distance from both camps. God forbid she give the appearance of being more closely allied to one group or the other. She was already becoming the politician a regional commander needed to be. What a depressing thought.

  Gia sat to her left between Winter and the walkers. Dupree closed the door and sat opposite her. As soon as the door shut, Mitchell leaned forward and caught her eye.

  “You doing okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Just peachy.”

  Not that she’d tell him if she wasn’t. Not here. Trust wasn’t a high priority in this crowd. She’d met him again yesterday and worked out a lot of her anger the old-fashioned way. It was their fiercest fight yet, neither of them holding anything back and she had the scratches to prove it. It wasn’t what she’d really wanted, needed—screaming sweaty sex—but it was a close second. Leaning with his back against a wall behind his alpha, she noticed Baron watching them closely. To anyone else his pose would have looked casual, bored even, but she caught his concern. He’d been afraid one of them would kill the other and it was a toss-up who the winner would be.