Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 04]

by Charming the Darkness (epub)

  She knew that, and neither would she, still… “Want to know what we’re having?”

  “I already know.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Cooper told you?”

  His smile lit up his handsome face. “I dragged it out of him. So Felicity Rose it is.” He laid his hand on her belly and the baby kicked.

  Trinity laid hers over his. “Are you sorry she isn’t a boy?”

  “Never!” He laid his cheek on her belly. “I am going to take great pride in spoiling daddy’s little girl.”

  Laying her hand on Basil’s head, Trinity knew he’d do exactly that.

  ***

  The shower had felt good but it hadn’t done anything to ease his anger. Or his nerves. Who could blame him for being nervous when he was running water only inches from the damn electrically charged window. He’d stood sideways in the damn shower, staring at the window, attempting to wash himself.

  Starla was definitely going to pay and pay hard.

  Drying his hair, Danny glanced into the mirror at his foggy reflection. Using his fingers, he combed through his hair, scattering water droplets behind him that hit the wall and slid slowly down to the floor. He could probably use a shave, but that could wait.

  His main priority now was breaking the hell out of the house and away from Starla’s hold. The instant she’d opened the bathroom door to allow him out he was going to make his move. And she wasn’t going to know what hit her.

  “Yo, Starla! You wanna let me out of here now?” He didn’t dare hammer his fist or attempt to kick the door to get her attention. He’d done enough funky dancing for one lifetime.

  “Back away from the door,” she called out.

  The smile that rose on his lips was filled with deviousness. “Okay, I did.”

  “Liar.”

  “I’m as far back as I can get. My heels are touching the tub.”

  “Bull!”

  “Fine, don’t believe me. Leave me locked up in here but you’re the one that’s going to suffer more than I am. This is the only washroom in the house.”

  “Shoot!”

  His smile widened. Victory was his. “How long can you hold it, Starla?” he taunted.

  “Okay. Fine!”

  Like a cougar waiting to attack, Danny stalked the door, watching it with steady eyes. When he saw the doorknob rotate he inched just a bit closer. The door opened and he seized the opportunity.

  He yanked the door open, she screamed, he grabbed hold of her by the neck and shoved her against the wall directly behind them. “Stupid move, lady. You should have frozen me before opening the door.”

  “I can’t hold two spells at once,” she panted, glaring at him in wide eyed fear.

  “Well, that just sucks for you, doesn’t it? Now, which do I want first? Your body?” He skimmed his free hand over her breast, taking a moment to enjoy it by giving it a light squeeze before sliding his hand down her chest to her crotch. “You are hot!” He cupped her and took great pride in watching her eyes widen a little more. “Or do I want your blood.”

  He bore his fangs and was ready to scrape her neck when he felt his body lock up on him. “Damn it!”

  She shoved him back. He bumped into the wall, then like a wooden plank he fell flat on the floor, coming to a rest on his side.

  Damn that hurt.

  She knelt down beside him, leaning her face down to meet him. “I said I couldn’t hold two spells at once but you failed to take into account that I released the spell on the door.” She stood up, gave her shirt a tug then walked off.

  “You can’t just leave me like this.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  “Starla! God damn it, Starla, let me go.” He heard the TV click on and the volume raise. He laid there on his side, his hands frozen in the pose they’d been before she’d zapped him, and the one that had touched her crotch could still feel the heat.

  If he didn’t get laid soon he was going to burst.

  Chapter 7

  “Is it a full moon out tonight or what?” Dante called out over the ruckus of party music blasting from someone’s stereo system as he ducked the blow that a burly vampire threw at him.

  “Must be.” Basil slammed his fist into the werewolf charging at him. All the crazies were out tonight. “This is the third were I’ve hammered and they keep coming.”

  “We don’t want you here, Basil,” a beast cried out from the crowd.

  “Yeah, well, that’s just tough shit because I’m not going anywhere soon.” Lifting his leg to the side, Basil kicked the beast as it charged him. The groan he let out was minimally satisfying, but when the beast tumbled backwards and was impaled by a board sticking out of a broken down shed, Basil felt satisfied.

  “Behind you, baby,” Gypsy warned Dante as she ran at full speed toward the vamp headed toward Dante.

  Dante turned just as she slammed the stake into the young man’s chest, sending him to dusty heaven. “Thanks, sweetness!”

  “Anytime.” She leaned in, nipped his lips for a quick kiss, then spun around, ready to fight. “Man, fighting gets me hot!”

  “Everything gets you hot, Gypsy. Just keep your mind on the job,” Basil chastised her, taking on the next animal that came his way. He wished now he’d called in a few of his men to help patrol this sector. But instead, he had two of them guarding his home which seemed to be constantly invaded by one lifeform or another. The others were scattered about throughout the city, patrolling and attempting to prevent the newcomers from taking over what didn’t belong to them. Eventually the sun would return and with it the greater population of Jacob’s Cove. He wanted to return home with his love and daughter with their property somewhat intact.

  And last and most importantly, he had four men on the Digital Domain protecting Trinity and unborn daughter along with Jonah and Raven. Basil wished he could be the one to protect his family all the time, but he knew he was needed on the streets as well. He’d done a poor job once, ruling his people, and look what had happened? His arch enemy, Chaos, had abducted five virginal girls and used their blood and their life to bring forth the most heinous of all vampires.

  The king.

  His father.

  Basil hadn’t been able to stop the ritual, or stop his father from rising. Though Trinity had been the one to banish him back to his tomb, Basil often wished he’d been the one. He had after all, killed the love of his life. But despite Trinity coming back from the dead, Basil was still enraged with his father for killing her in the first place.

  So here he was, five months later and the city was still encased in darkness, the night creatures ruling his town and Basil doing his best to control them.

  It was not going well at all.

  “This is getting us nowhere,” Basil shouted and knew if he didn’t control the situation now, they would be outmanned in no time. “Take cover.”

  “Shit!” Dante shouted.

  “What?”

  “Just trust me.” Dante grabbed Gypsy by the arm and began a dead run away from Basil. “Keep your eyes closed and your mouth shut.”

  “What’s going on?” Gypsy panted as she was tugged along.

  “Ready?” Basil shouted out above the noise, his body primed for what he was about to do.

  “As we’ll ever be,” Dante shouted back as they dove behind a car.

  Closing his eyes, Basil focused on the earth and everything around him. He pulled in the energy beneath him, absorbing the power. Then let it loose.

  The vortex formed only feet from him, but he stood stiff as if it had no effect on him whatsoever. The bystanders however, were not so lucky. One by one, bodies were flung about by the power of the tornado Basil had created, tossing them as if they were no more than a children’s toys. There were screams, howls, cries. Metal crunched, glass shatter
ed, and wood splintered. In the span of only three minutes, the vortex destroyed everything in its path.

  When he was through, Basil tamed the beast and calmed his mind, body, and soul. When the vortex was finally gone, the space around him looked as if it were a war zone just blasted by enemy fire.

  “Sweat Jesus!”

  Basil turned just as Dante and Gypsy headed toward him and, to his relief, neither was injured. But he still asked, “You two okay?”

  “We’re good. They, however…” Dante pointed to the mess of bodies and debris scattered about four feet around them, “…are not. That is one scary ass piece of power you’ve got there, Basil.”

  “How do you do that?” Gypsy wanted to know, her mouth gaping.

  “I focus on the earth’s energy and use it to my advantage. I want to get back to the Domain and make sure everyone’s all right there.” Not waiting for them, Basil started off toward home.

  “When you told me what Basil did to Jonah’s shop I didn’t really believe you. But seeing what he did just now…shit!”

  “Told you he was powerful.”

  Basil smiled inwardly. He was powerful. Then the smile faded. If he was so powerful, why hadn’t he been able to take out his enemy yet?

  ***

  Fritz watched as the prisoners were taunted and tortured. He so enjoyed watching, more so than he did participating. He didn’t mind playing his hand at torture when necessary, but watching was less messy. How was it a vampire could have an aversion for blood? It was something that had baffled Fritz for years. Though he had to live off of the substance to survive, he preferred not to drink it like his fellow bloodsuckers. Instead, Fritz had his blended into food and drinks. As long as he couldn’t see it or taste it he was happy.

  He hadn’t drank from a human—or vampire—since his first days as a vampire and he planned to keep it that way. There was no law that stated a vampire had to drink the blood from the vein.

  He watched as one of his men stepped out of the room they were holding the human’s in, saw him wipe his brow as if he were sweating form his efforts.

  “That one, in the corner, keeps trying to talk us down. Thinks he some sort of therapist.”

  Fritz angled his head to his left, acknowledging Devon’s comment with a careless nod. Devon was desperately trying to finagle himself into Fritz’s good graces, he was sure, to ensure him the position of second in command. The man was in for a rude awakening. Fritz had no intentions of claiming anyone as his second in command. He knew better than anyone, what happens when you give that kind of control to one person. They eventually they turn it on you and take over. That’s precisely what he’d done with Chaos.

  “It doesn’t matter how much we pound on him, he just keeps talking. Saying things like, he understands our plight and how hard it must be for creatures like us to fit into the real world and shit like that. It doesn’t matter how hard we hit him, he doesn’t give up.”

  Fritz could see that. The young man…what was his name again…Darren…Douglas—Dusty, yes, that was it, Dusty. He had defiance in his eyes, and determination. Did he think he could convince them not to hit him or not to turn him? If that was the case, he could hold his breath because the inevitable was coming. He would be turned.

  “The compound is beginning to fill up. We need to start telling the newcomers to find homes elsewhere.” For weeks now the night creatures had been showing up at his door, begging to be allowed in, allowed refuge. Fritz had no idea why. They’d come to Jacob’s Cove for the darkness and now something was spooking them into wanting to take cover. Could it be that Basil and his gang were out more and more, patrolling, scaring them into believing he could do them harm—which Fritz knew he could. Basil was one scary motherfucker when he unleashed his powers. Still, Fritz couldn’t explain why they wanted to come to him for protection. He had no beef with Basil or Trinity and had told the newcomers on more than one occasion that he would not fight Basil or Trinity. Not that Trinity had been present much these past few months. Fritz suspected she was keeping to herself for fear that someone close to Chaos would take her out for his sake. Fritz had no desire to kill her, he actually liked her, or liked what he’d seen and heard about her. But he knew Chaos wanted her dead and since Chaos was missing perhaps she was afraid he was just hiding to lure her out.

  He wasn’t about to tell any of them that he had Chaos drugged up and that Chaos couldn’t harm anyone.

  “I can do that. I’ll get them out of your hair, Fritz, sir!”

  Fritz grew tired of the man sucking up but to acknowledge that he had no intentions of making him his second in command would only open him up for trouble. So he kept silent. “Thank you, Devon.”

  As Fritz walked off he wondered if it was too ask for the brownnoser to happen to fall upon misfortune and end up dead.

  Chapter 8

  Danny was positive fury was painting his face a bold, killer red. His face certainly felt hot. If he’d calculated correctly, he had been lying in his awkward position for the better part of two hours now. He heard the TV blaring, and several shows had ended and new ones begun. But every time he called out to Starla, she hadn’t responded. Had she left him?

  Then he heard the footsteps nearing him and if he could angle his head back he would have been able to look at her as she approached him. But no! She had him frozen so that nothing in his body aside from his face, eyes, mouth, and voice worked.

  Damn bitch!

  She stepped into his line of sight and he was rewarded with a glimpse of her snatch from the baggy shorts she wore. His temper eased like a slow wave heading out to sea.

  “Have we learned our lesson?”

  Her voice was like a soft caress aimed directly for his dick. Slowly he sent his eyes cruising up her long gorgeous legs, past the scrumptious hot box of hers and over her hips, to those mounds of delectable flesh he so desperately longed to taste, and finally up to her face. Those dark eyes of hers glared down at him and all he could think was, “Fuck me now.”

  “What?”

  He jumped inwardly and from the expression on her face he determined his thoughts had not been so much inwardly as blurted out, “Shit!”

  “Obviously you haven’t learned a thing—”

  “Starla,”

  “I think I should leave you laying here for another few hours and then maybe you’ll learn.”

  “No! Stop! Okay, that was uncalled for but, damn it, you stand over me and I get a glimpse of all that pink between your legs and you don’t expect me to have sex on the brain. Please! I am a man.”

  “Who looks very much like a boy. And what do you mean you caught a glimpse of—oh my!” Her head snapped down to her crotch and her hand darted between her legs. “How rude!”

  “Hey! I’m frozen here with no other choice but to look up when you stand in front of me. Not my fault your shorts are cut so high and are so baggy in the leg that I can see your—”

  “Don’t!” she warned him sternly.

  “Oh, don’t play all innocent when I know better.”

  She crouched down to a more level viewpoint with him. “You don’t know anything about me.”

  “I know you like to wear thong underwear,” he challenged with a slant of his eyes. “And you don’t mind parading yourself half naked in front of me.”

  “I was not parading!” she insisted.

  “Right,” he snorted in response.

  “I wasn’t. And so what if I like to wear thong underwear? Doesn’t give you the right to gawk at me.”

  “When I have nothing else to look at…yeah, it does. Especially when it’s practically in my face, which I really wouldn’t mind right now.” His eyes drifted to her breasts with a desirable glint.

  “You’re sick.” She stood up in a huff, arms crossed over her chest.

  “Yeah, stand up
baby, I like that view.”

  She growled, threw her hands in the air, then marched toward his head.

  When she knelt down at the top of his head he wished his eyes could roll all the way up to the top. “What are you doing?” She slipped her hands under his arms and hoisted his upper body off the floor. What the hell was she doing to him now.

  “Setting you back in your chair.”

  He smiled brightly, savoring the sweet taste of victory. Then she plunked him down on the chair hard, with about as much gentleness as a person tossing a stone. Even when she rearranged him so he was faced forward and sitting somewhat straight she was rough. Guess she was pissed at him. Well tough shit.

  “How long do you plan on keeping me like this?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Bitch.”

  “Bite me, “ she snarled.

  “Oh honey, if I only could.”

  Her eyes narrowed to small slits until Killer jumped on his lap and instantly began making himself comfortable. Danny liked the way Starla’s face lit up when she saw the cat. “I won, you know.”

  Her eyes shifted to look into his and there as the anger again. “What?”

  “I’m back in the chair, aren’t I?” he mocked with a devious tone in his voice. And the look on her face when it registered was better than anything—okay, almost anything—in the world.

  “Why are you such a jerk?”

  “Hello, vampire here.”

  She threw her arms out at her sides. “So what? Just because you’ve been turned into a vampire doesn’t mean you have to become a jerk. You drink blood, blood that comes from normal human beings. Why does that make vampires into bad guys?”

  He had to think about that one for a minute. There were some decent vampires out there, so it wasn’t just becoming a vampire that made a normal person a—as Starla put it—jerk. “I was raised by an evil man,” he blurted out when it finally came to him.

  “What?”

  “Chaos. He made me a vampire when I was thirteen. An impressionable age. I grew up with evil so, therefore, it made me evil. You know, like a kid that’s raised by abuse has a higher chance of growing up to abuse.”