Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 04]

by Charming the Darkness (epub)

  His eyes met Chaos’ and he was ready to end the sorry bastard’s life when he was sent flying. He slammed into the wall, falling onto the floor in a hard thump. He had no idea what had hit him but whatever it was, he wasn’t about to let his guard down again. Getting to his feet he saw Dante surrounded by four vamps, teeth bared. “Get out of here, Dante,” Basil screamed at him, running to his rescue.

  Fists flew, on Dante’s part and the vamps, before Basil could reach him. Grabbing the shirt of one, he flung him aside only to be attacked by another.

  He was torn between helping his friend and going after Chaos.

  He heard the sounds of fists hammering into flesh, grunts and groans and knew some of them came from Dante and some from his enemies.

  “Basil.” He heard Trinity’s voice in his head as clearly as if she stood next to him. “I need you now. It’s time.” The fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him back and dazing him momentarily. He had to get to her, now! “Retreat,” he screamed at Dante.

  “Basil.”

  Looking over, Basil saw Dante clutching his belly, blood seeping through his fingers right before he dropped to his knees.

  Fury fueling him, he created a wind so strong it knocked everyone back, including Dante. Racing towards him, he scooped him in his arms, saw the gaping wound in his belly and drew in a deep breath. “This is going to hurt.” He sent them both out of the police station and back to the Digital Domain.

  ***

  Danny knew he was driving at a speed well past the dangerous zone. He didn’t give a damn. What could happen to him? If he crashed, it wasn’t like he would die from it. All he wanted was to find Starla and tell her how much he loved her. Seeing the truck in the distance, Danny thanked his enhanced vision and pressed the gas a little more. He wailed on his horn as he approached her truck, hoping she would hear him. Coming up beside her, he motioned for her to pull over and when she slowed her speed, he did as well.

  He pulled in behind her when she came to a stop at the side of the road. Rushing from his vehicle, he couldn’t wait to hold her.

  “Danny? What the hell are you doing?”

  “Trying to get you back. Oh, Starla, I was such an ass.”

  “Finally, you’re seeing it.” But she didn’t smile when she said it.

  “You’re right, about everything. I was stupid, and I’m an idiot but when you pushed me my first instinct was to push back. I’ve never been good with confrontation. I love you,” he blurted out, his heart on his sleeve.

  She simply stared at him but didn’t speak.

  He felt his heart crack. “Did you hear that I said? I love you.”

  “I heard you.”

  It cracked a little more. “I’ve never told a woman I love her before.” Still she said nothing. “Damn it, Starla! I already said I was wrong, what more do you want from me? Oh—I told my brother, Trinity and Basil where Chaos is. They should have him by now.”

  “Danny—”

  “He means nothing to me. I realize that now, well, after you left. I don’t care what happens to him—”

  “Danny—”

  “Let me finish. The thought of losing you tore me up. I can’t lose you, Starla. You’re the only person who has cared for me in twenty years, the only person who understood me, who showed me what life could really be like.”

  “Danny—”

  “I’ll do anything you ask just please, don’t leave me.”

  “Your skin is boiling,” she shouted at him, then grabbed his shirt and yanked him towards the truck.

  It was then that he felt it, that he noticed the sun was burning his skin. He’d driven past the darkness barrier and hadn’t given one thought to what would happen to him if he stepped out into the sun. All he’d wanted was Starla.

  “Jesus, look at you. Your skin is covered in blisters.”

  And boy did they sting. “I don’t care.” He took her face in his burning hand and smiled at her. “I love you.”

  She laughed, shook her head and shoved him into the truck. “I love you too, you damn fool. We need to get you back before you burn up.”

  “I love you,” he said again, letting the words cool his burns and filling him with love.

  Laughing, Starla started them rolling back towards Jacob’s Cove. “You are insane. You know that?”

  “I know. Tell me, tell me again.”

  She stopped the truck and turned to face him. “I love you, Danny. With all my heart and soul.”

  Grabbing her face in his hands, he plastered his mouth over hers. Wincing with the pain.

  “Fool,” she laughed again, then shifted into gear and drove off.

  The cell phone in his pocket startled him and he remembered he’d taken Trinity’s before he left. Carefully, he slipped it from his pocket, bursting a few of the blisters on his hand as he answered it. “Hello?”

  “Danny Vega?”

  “Yeah. Who is this?”

  “Jonah Moore. I’m a friend of your brother’s. Trinity told me how I could get a hold of you. Dante’s been hurt. He’s not doing well. You need to come back.”

  “What?” he sat a little straighter. “What do you mean hurt?”

  “He and Basil were attacked trying to get Chaos and one of the attackers stabbed Dante in the gut. It doesn’t look good. We’re at the hospital. He’s asked for you. I don’t know if you care or not but—”

  He disconnected the phone and turned to Starla. “Dante’s dying. We have to hurry.”

  Chapter 27

  Basil held Trinity’s hand as she panted through her contraction. They’d wasted no time getting both her and Dante to the hospital, and while he was sitting with Trinity, Cooper and Raven were tending to Dante beside them on another bed.

  It didn’t look good for him.

  Dante had a massive wound in his gut that Cooper said perforated his kidney, and spleen. He was losing massive amounts of blood and Cooper had no hope of saving him.

  Basil could hear Gypsy weeping in the sitting area where Jonah was trying to comfort her.

  He was going to lose his best man all because of Chaos. And he’d still gotten away.

  Basil was tired of losing.

  “Oh God, my water just broke!” Trinity exclaimed.

  “Cooper!” Basil called out and had Raven racing to them instead. She had blood on her hands and clothing.

  “I can’t be in two places, Basil,” Cooper shouted back from the next bed where he worked on Dante. “Raven can help you better than I can. I’ve never delivered a baby in my life.”

  “You’re a doctor!” Basil proclaimed, holding Trinity’s hand while Raven washed up behind him.

  “I was a medical examiner. Raven can help you.” Cooper retorted while busily trying to contain the blood loss from Dante. “I need help. Gypsy, Jonah. I need you now!”

  “Okay, Trinity, I’m going to have a look and see how you’re progressing,” Raven reassured Trinity as she set her feet in the stirrups.

  “How many babies have you helped deliver?” Basil wanted to know, keeping an eye on everything she did.

  “More than I can count. I did part of my internship in the maternity ward. Oh boy,” she gasped as she looked up from between Trinity’s legs. “The baby is crowning.”

  “What does that mean?” Basil asked, clutching Trinity’s hand.

  “The baby is coming,” Trinity cried out, bearing down.

  “Don’t push just yet, Trinity. Breathe through the next contraction okay.”

  “I…can’t…”

  “Yes, you can. Basil, help her breathe. I need to get supplies.” Raven rushed from the room just as Jonah and Gypsy rushed in.

  “Dante! Oh God! There’s so much blood,” Gypsy gasped, clutching onto Dante’s hand.

  “Je
sus,” Jonah said and swiped a hand across his mouth.

  “I need you to apply pressure to the wound,” Cooper instructed of Gypsy.

  “I need to push,” Trinity grunted, sitting up and bearing down.

  “No, no, just breathe, love. Just breathe. Like this.” Basil panted in the way Raven had instructed them when she’d taught them natural delivery techniques. “Just breathe.”

  “Trin?” Jonah took her hand in his, gave it a squeeze. “You’re doing great. Just do what Basil say’s. Okay?”

  “It hurts,” Trinity sobbed, falling back against the pillow.

  “I know, my love. I know.” Feeling her pain, Basil stroked the cool cloth over her forehead wishing he could take the pain for her.

  “I’m losing him,” Cooper shouted and Gypsy began to wail even more.

  ***

  Starla came to an abrupt stop at the entrance of the hospital and before she’d shut the truck off, Danny leapt from the vehicle and ran for the front entrance. Throwing the doors open he heard the screams. He darted in the area they came from, following the scent of blood in the air.

  It was Dante’s blood.

  “Just breathe, Trinity.”

  “I am breathing.”

  Danny burst through the curtains and stopped short at seeing his twin lying on the white hospital bed, red blood covering his body. From the corner of his eye he saw Trinity and Basil to his left.

  “I can’t save him,” Cooper exclaimed, wiping his brow with his forearm. “He’s lost too much blood.”

  “Get away from him.” Danny raced to his brother’s side, pushing Cooper out of the way. “Dante, oh Jesus, Dante. What the hell happened?”

  “We were ambushed when we arrived at the police station. You set us up,” Basil shouted at Danny and if Trinity hadn’t cried out just then, Danny knew Basil would have attacked him.

  “I didn’t set you up. He was alone when I left. Damn it, Dante. Do not leave me.” He heard Starla come up beside him and turned to her, tears clouding his eyes. “I can’t lose him. I won’t lose him.”

  “I’m sorry, Danny. I really am.” She stroked his arm with her hand giving him a sympathetic look.

  He’d fucked so much up in his life and when he’d had the opportunity to change things, he hadn’t…and now it was going to be too late.

  Or was it.

  A dark haired woman raced into the room, starling him.

  “Okay, Trinity, I need you to bear down and push. Take a deep breath, then push real hard. Basil will count to ten and then release your breath, Trinity and relax. Okay?”

  Danny looked at his brother, looked over at the commotion going on beside him, and to Gypsy who was weeping horribly, and knew what he had to do.

  “I have to do this. It’s not his time yet.” He felt Starla clamp on to his arm and looking over at her, she nodded.

  Taking a deep breath, Danny bore his fangs…then sunk them into his brother’s neck. He heard the gasps as he drank the blood of his twin, taking him into his body and feeling their blood mix. They had once lived off of the same blood inside their mother’s womb and, now, in life, they would forever be eternally linked. When he felt Dante’s heart slow he pulled his teeth away, ripped open the vein on his wrist and shoved it to Dante’s mouth.

  “It’s coming!” He heard shouted from beside him.

  He felt his brother’s teeth clamp in as the blood slid down his throat, and when Dante began to pull at his vein, Danny didn’t care if Dante drank him dry.

  He heard Trinity screaming, heard the dark haired woman exclaim the baby was out, and Basil began to cry. Danny watched with blurry eyes while his brother drank from his vein.

  “Your daughter is beautiful, Trinity.” He heard someone say.

  “Look at her, Basil. She is beautiful.”

  The baby cried and Danny felt his legs give.

  “Danny.” Catching him, Starla held him up, and tried to pry Dante’s mouth from Danny’s arm. “You can’t give him more.”

  “He needs more,” Danny spoke softly, feeling as if everything inside of him was drained.

  “You gave him plenty.”

  “Let’s get you three to a private room.” He heard the woman say and vaguely saw Basil and Cooper wheel Trinity’s bed out of the room, Jonah following.

  “Dante? He’s waking up!” Gypsy laughed. “Dante, come back to me.”

  Danny pushed to his feet, and saw his brothers eyes open.

  They were slowly turning yellow.

  “You’re alive,” Danny laughed, stroking a hand over his brother’s brow. “I had to do it, bro. I couldn’t lose you. There’s been enough loss because of Chaos. I couldn’t lose you now, not when I finally got you back.”

  “Danny?”

  “Yeah, it’s me, bro.”

  “I feel…weird.”

  Danny drew in a deep breath and went for it. “I know. It’ll pass. I had to turn you, bro. You were dying. I couldn’t let you go. I’m sorry, but you need to be here. You’re too good of a man to die. You always knew what you wanted and you knew just how to get it. You saved countless numbers of people in your life, you deserve to live.”

  “I’m…a vamp?” Dante mumbled, glancing from Gypsy to Danny.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” He closed his eyes and drifted off.

  “If he hates me for what I did, I can deal with it. But he deserves to be here, more than I do. I had to do it.”

  Gypsy walked up to him and, taking him in her arms, hugged him. “Thank you.”

  He felt awkward as he gave her a pat on the back. And when she released him, he left the room and headed outside. He needed some air.

  “That was a tough decision for you to make.”

  He turned as Starla came up beside him. “The hardest. I couldn’t lose him, but mostly, the world couldn’t lose him. Dante is a good man, the type of man to walk into a burning building to save a cat—oh crap, Killer! We have to go back for him.”

  “We will.” She took Danny’s face in her hands. “I don’t know how Dante will feel when he wakes up and realizes what he is, but I know you’ll be there to help him through this. You are a good man, Danny, and I truly love you. Any man that befriends a mangy cat can’t be all bad,” she laughed, then touched her lips to his.

  He hissed with the burning sensation of the blisters popping on his face.

  She pulled away, let out a long breath. Come on, let’s get you fixed up. You damn fool.”

  Laughing, Danny pulled her into his arms.

  Finally, his life was where it was supposed to be.

  “He’s awake,” Gypsy called out to them.

  He hoped.

  Chapter 28

  He’d never been so nervous before in his life. Not even when he’d given his life to Chaos. Sure, he’d been scared, but nervousness didn’t play a part. He’d known what he was doing and was a willing party. Right now, standing outside the curtain that led to his brother’s room, Danny had no idea what to expect. Would Dante reject him now, after he’d turned him? Would he hate him? Danny was pretty sure he would.

  “Go on now.” Starla gave him a tiny shove forward.

  “Are you sure you won’t come in with me?” They’d been through this argument already and he knew what the outcome of his question would be this time.

  “This is between you and your brother, but I’ll be right here when you need me.” She planted a kiss to his lips hard enough to make a smacking noise before shoving him through the curtain.

  Danny stood there, staring at his brother and was unable to move any closer. Fear had him frozen to his spot.

  “I’ll leave the two of you alone.” Leaning down, Gypsy kissed Dante once, then once more, before sending Danny a grin as she left the room.


  Why was everyone deserting him?

  “What happened to your face?”

  Having forgotten the blisters, Danny reached up, felt the burn and frowned. “I thought I would try sun tanning.” What a lame thing to say.

  “You do know that’s bad for vampires, right?”

  Swallowing the lump in his throat all Danny did was nod.

  “Cat got your tongue?”

  Danny flicked his head from side to side in a nervous reply. Still he said nothing.

  Dante sat up a little more in the bed, keeping his eyes on Danny. “Seriously. What happened to you?”

  Talk you fool. “I went after Starla. I couldn’t lose her, you know. She loves me and…I love her.” He laughed awkwardly. “She’d made it past the darkness barrier when I caught up to her. I never thought about the sun when I climbed out of my car to run to her.”

  “Love will do that. Scramble our brains.” Smiling, Dante showed off his freshly attained fangs.

  It looked odd, seeing his twin with fangs and the yellow eyes. It was going to take some getting used to. “Yeah.” And he wondered if the scrambled brain comment was reflective of what Danny had done to Dante to save him. “You were going to die,” Danny blurted out, then let the air out he’d been holding. “I couldn’t let you die.”

  “So you turned me?”

  Danny’s chin came up, his defenses ready. “Yeah I turned you and I’m sorry if that pisses you off but, what was I supposed to do, let you die. It was my fault you got hurt in the first place.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  Danny shoved both hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I told you where Chaos was staying.”

  “Did you know he had help? That his buddies had let him out of jail?”

  “Hell no! You think I set you up? I told you before it wasn’t. I had no idea they would find him. He was alone when I left him.”

  “Then why are you to blame?”

  Danny opened his mouth, then closed it.

  “Exactly. Remember when we were ten and you got into the fight with Richie Arbuckle? He beat the snot out of you but you held your own. When I found out what you were doing, I tried to help and you wouldn’t let me.”