Dark Survivor Awakened

by I. T. Lucas

  The nonlethal part was what Wonder liked about it the most, though. She wasn’t sure she could’ve fired a real gun.

  One killing was enough for a lifetime, although she had done that one with her bare hands. Evidently, her strength was also a lethal weapon when not used properly. She hadn’t known how strong she was prior to throwing her attacker against the wall. If she had, she would’ve been more careful.

  “Did you end up getting that other job you’ve applied for?” Natasha asked as they stepped outside through the back door.

  “Yes. I get to clean six warehouses to start with, and if they are happy with my work, they might give me more.”

  As someone who didn’t need more than five hours of sleep, working the one shift at the club left Wonder with too much time on her hands. Other than her coworkers, she didn’t have any friends to hang out with, and since Mrs. Rashid had returned to Egypt, there was no one to assign her homework and insist that she kept on learning either.

  Not that she’d discontinued her studies entirely, but she wasn’t putting as much effort into expanding her knowledge. Most of it consisted of watching television and the occasional reading of a few pages of a book. The thing was, Wonder preferred to fill her days with work. She needed to save up enough money to move out of the shelter and into her own place.

  “I don’t understand why you went after cleaning jobs when you could do security. It pays better.”

  Wonder shrugged. “I like cleaning. The warehouses are unoccupied, and I find it very peaceful to work with no one around.”

  “Why are they empty?”

  “I think they are up for sale or something. Some have signs outside that say for sale or available for lease. All I know is that the maintenance company was hired to keep them clean, and they in turn hired me to do the job.”

  “It makes sense that if the owners want to sell them, they need to keep the buildings presentable in case a buyer shows up.”

  “And that’s my job.”

  As they reached Natasha’s car, the waitress clicked the doors open. “Thank you for walking me to my car.”

  “No problem.” Wonder waited for her to get inside and lock the doors.

  Natasha opened the window and leaned out. “Good night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Drive carefully.”

  “I always do. I’m a mother.”

  Wonder waited for the car to leave the parking lot before heading back. As she opened the back door, a couple walked down the corridor on their way out, the girl leaning against the guy and giggling at something he had said.

  She held the door open for them.

  “Thank you.” The girl smiled at her.

  “You’re welcome.”

  As the guy brushed past her, Wonder got a weird feeling, and apparently so did he because he stared at her for a moment before returning his attention to the girl.

  It was probably nothing.

  Sometimes men stared at her.

  Wonder hoped it was because they found her attractive and not because she was a big woman, who was dressed in a black T-shirt that had the words Club Nirvana and bouncer printed in large white letters on its front.

  But that was wishful thinking.

  Men preferred dainty little women who they could feel powerful next to. Someone like Wonder, who could lift a guy up and throw him across the room, threatened their masculinity.

  The feeling of unease intensified the further she got away from the back door. Ignoring it, Wonder kept walking, but as she passed the bathrooms, the prickling sensation flared into a full red alert. She had to turn around and double check that everything was alright.

  Or not, as her instincts kept insisting.

  It was probably nothing. The recent murders were making her edgy.

  She was just going to take a peek and make sure that the couple drove away safely. The guy looked like someone who could take care of himself, but if the murderer put a gun to his head, he would be just as helpless as the girl.

  Her hand hovering over her holster, Wonder closed the back door soundlessly behind her and looked around. The couple was nowhere to be seen, but a throaty moan betrayed their location.

  Should she leave them alone and go back?

  Couples necking in the back alley was nothing new. People did that all the time. Sometimes, she could tell by the sounds that more than necking was going on, but Wonder had never gone to investigate before.

  Even though that kind of activity was considered an offense in the eyes of the law when conducted in public, it was none of her business what two consenting adults were doing out there. She was not a policewoman, only a bouncer. Her job was to break up fights and get rid of undesirables.

  Except, this time she had a bad feeling that refused to go away.

  Treading silently, she walked to the corner and peered into the alley. It was dark, but Wonder had excellent night vision, and what she saw shocked her.

  The man had fangs, and they were embedded deep in his partner’s throat. Except, the girl’s expression wasn’t one of fear or pain, it was ecstasy.

  It should have surprised Wonder, but for some reason it didn’t. On some subconscious level, she knew that the bite was pleasurable.

  The absurd thought made her shake her head. From the sounds the woman was making it was pretty obvious that she was climaxing. No foreknowledge required. Evidently, fangs were not the male’s only body part that was deep inside the female’s.

  Still, the sight of fangs should’ve rattled her way more than it had. Instead, Wonder experienced two totally inappropriate sensations—arousal and envy.

  She wanted that.

  Not like this, not propped against a brick wall in a back alley, and not with that male, but she craved the sensation of a bite, which was insane.

  A killer’s bite.

  Except, she was an immortal and would’ve healed instead of bleeding to death. Maybe that was why it excited her? Some dark desire for something that was deadly to humans but not to her?

  She was losing her freaking mind.

  This wasn’t arousing or sexy. What she was witnessing was attempted murder. This was the killer who had been biting women and leaving them to bleed to death.

  Were vampires real?

  Immortals, not vampires, her subconscious whispered.

  After watching Twilight, she had dreamt about vampires, but instead of sucking blood like in the movie, in the dream the fangs delivered venom, and only the males had fangs. They also hissed like snakes before biting. Maybe that could explain her weird reaction to what she was witnessing, especially since the dream females had reacted just like the woman in the alley.

  With one difference, those females were immortal. They had walked away with smiles on their faces instead of ending up dead in some back alley.

  Up until tonight, Wonder had convinced herself that it had been a silly dream, and that it was all a product of her imagination, same as her being immortal. But the proof to the contrary was right there in front of her eyes.

  Those fangs were not long teeth, and that male was not human.

  He wasn’t a vampire either. He was an immortal male about to murder a human girl.

  Not tonight, though. Not on her watch.

  As the woman crumpled to the ground with twin rivulets of blood streaking down her neck, Wonder pulled out her Taser gun and aimed.

  6

  Anandur

  Present day.

  As Anandur waited for Jackson to finish restocking the vending machine, he leaned against a café table and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s like a ghost town in here.”

  “Sad, but true.”

  ”You might want to cut back on what you’re putting in there.”

  “Why?”

  “There aren’t enough customers left to eat it all, and I would hate to see good food go to waste. You’ll have to trash what’s left at the end of the day, and it will be plenty.”

  Most of the clan members who had called t
he keep their home had moved to the new village. The building’s café, which had been their favorite place to grab a bite and hang out, was practically deserted. Eventually, it too would get rented out to humans, which would suck, because the Guardians wanted to continue living in the keep.

  Currently, they rotated between the keep and the village, but there was no guarantee that this arrangement would last.

  Out of the six floors formally occupied by the clan, only one remained, reserved for the rotating Guardians. The rest of the apartments had been rented out to humans, including the two luxury penthouses. First, Amanda’s and then Kian’s.

  That sucked too. It had been a bad idea to rent those two out.

  In some weird way, it felt like a failure, like giving away something that should’ve stayed in the family. Those should have been retained for whenever Kian or Amanda had business in the city and didn’t want to commute from the village. As a Guardian, Anandur considered the safety and comfort of Annani’s children more important than what those penthouses were bringing in rent money.

  Except, ever since the clan had started their rescue operations, money was tight.

  Anandur wasn’t a frivolous spender by any stretch of the imagination, but if it were up to him, he wouldn’t have done it.

  Maybe it was just his aversion to change. Too much of it had been happening lately. None of it was bad, but his life was not the same. Hell, he felt as if he was living someone else’s.

  It started with the separation from Brundar.

  After centuries of cohabiting with his brother, Anandur had moved out to give Brundar and Callie the privacy and intimacy they needed as a mated couple.

  But it was more than that.

  Before Callie, Anandur had always looked after Brundar, making sure his brother was doing okay, or as okay as Brundar had been capable of before Callie had healed him.

  Now, Anandur was suffering from what felt a lot like empty nest syndrome. His kid brother was all grown up, living his own life with his mate.

  Anandur was no longer needed.

  It was a miracle he was thanking the Fates every day for. But instead of feeling unburdened, he felt as if an essential part of him had been rendered useless. A void was created that was begging to be filled with a new purpose.

  Then everyone had moved into the new village, and the few apartments still reserved for Guardians in the keep were managed like hotel rooms, including a maid service that came over twice a week to clean, and change sheets and towels and other stuff like that.

  A human maid service, no less.

  Not that there was such a thing as an immortal maid service. Still, everyone could clean up after themselves, or not. It was their choice. After all, they had done perfectly well without a cleaning service before.

  Well, to be frank, that wasn’t entirely true. From time to time, Okidu had cleaned up Anandur and Brundar’s apartment, but that was before the butler had gotten too busy for that. There was only so much even a tireless biomechanical marvel could do in the span of twenty-four hours.

  Jackson stuffed the last slot and closed the machine’s back door. “I filled it up yesterday, same as the day before, and everything was gone by morning, even the egg sandwiches, which are the least popular. It seems like your Guardians have big appetites.”

  Anandur’s eyes followed the big box of pastries Jackson pushed with his foot to the next vending machine. That was what he was waiting for.

  There was nothing as mouthwatering as the smell of freshly-baked goods.

  “I can’t believe that the twenty Guardians on rotation in the keep are responsible for picking clean both machines.”

  Jackson pulled out a key and opened the back door to the pastry machine. “They are too lazy to make anything for themselves or go out to a restaurant or even a fast food joint. They eat every meal here, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pretty damn pathetic. If you want my opinion, you guys should pitch in and hire a chef to prepare proper meals for you.”

  “But that would put you out of business, buddy.”

  Jackson sighed as he started restocking the pastries. “You think I want to do this?” He motioned at the machines. “I wish I could move to the village as well. I want to leave Nathalie’s old café to Ruth and manage the new one up there.”

  “So why don’t you?”

  “I can’t. Eva is still refusing to move because of bloody Nick, which means that my Tessa can’t move yet either. They run the detective agency from the house they all share. Well, except for Sharon who moved in with Robert and is schlepping back and forth. I don’t want my Tessa to lose two hours a day on the commute. Which means that for the time being I still have to live in the dump above Fernando’s Café instead of a nice new house in the village.”

  Stubborn woman. Eva was getting huge, which meant that her baby was coming soon. She should be living up there already, where it was safe.

  “How far along is she?”

  Jackson looked up. “Seven and a half months? Maybe eight? I don’t know. Ask one of the ladies. They are all keeping tabs.”

  Anandur grimaced. “What ladies? There are only guys here, and I’m on rotation for another week.”

  When the last pastry had gone into the machine, Jackson closed the back door and pushed up to his feet. “Aren’t you Kian’s personal bodyguard? What happens if he needs to go somewhere?”

  Anandur punched the numbers for a Danish and stuck his credit card into the slot. “Right now, retraining the old Guardians is more important to him. They need a lot of work.” He collected the wrapped pastry. “The last time any of them fought with weapons we were still using swords.”

  “You should’ve told me you wanted a Danish, I would have left one out for you.”

  “Nah. This is your livelihood, and I’m not a mooch.”

  “Let me at least get you coffee.”

  “Only if you’re having one too. I hate sitting here all by my lonesome.”

  Jackson glanced at his watch. “Ruth is opening Fernando’s up today, so I can spare a few minutes.”

  “Are you still keeping the old name? I thought you’d changed it to Nathalie’s Café.”

  “We call it that, but the sign over the door still says Fernando’s Café. Nathalie would never agree to change it. The café is like a monument to her stepdad's legacy.”

  Anandur sat at the table, took the wrapper off the Danish, and bit into it. The thing was so good that he closed his eyes and moaned. It wasn’t as if anyone other than Jackson could see him having a love affair with a pastry. And if they did, screw them. Anandur didn’t care.

  It was hard to believe Vlad was the baker. It was true that the kid was using Fernando’s old recipes, but not everyone could pick up a recipe and know what to do with it. The kid had talent.

  Jackson came back with two coffees and put them on the table. “It’s so bloody annoying. Nick and Ruth are acting like a couple from the fifties. Because of them, I’m stuck here in the city while Carol is doing her best to run the café in the village. It’s too much for her to handle on her own.”

  “Can’t she hire some help?”

  “No takers. You know how spoiled most of the immortals are. No one wants that kind of work.”

  Anandur had been entertaining thoughts of kicking Carol’s training up a notch and getting her to adopt a more merciless attitude. At the rate she was going, she would never be ready to take on a spying mission of any kind, let alone infiltrate the Brotherhood’s camp. But as long as she was stuck running the village café by herself, that option was not on the table. He would have to wait for Jackson to take over, which meant Nick needed to step up his game.

  “Can’t you give Nick a kick in the ass and get him moving?”

  “You think I haven’t tried?” Jackson pushed his long bangs back. “It was such a dumb idea to introduce those two. I should’ve hooked him up with someone else.”

  “Are they in love or not?”

  Jackson sighed. “Yeah, they are. But
I don’t understand what they are waiting for. It’s not like they need to get married to have sex, for Fate’s sake.”

  “Are they even attracted to each other?”

  “Are you kidding me? I’m sure Nick is jacking off at least five times a night.”

  “What about Ruth?”

  “She is attracted to him, that’s for sure. But she is in no hurry, even though she knows everyone is waiting for her to do it. She says she wants to take her time and get to know Nick first.”

  “That’s not unreasonable.”

  Jackson grimaced. “Maybe for a teenage virgin in the fifties it would’ve been reasonable to wait for so long, but not for a grown woman in today’s world. No one waits months before hooking up anymore. I can understand waiting for the third date, but no more than that, for a normal couple that is. There might be some religious restrictions or other crap like that. These two started dating seriously right after Eva and Bhathian’s wedding. That was three freaking months ago.”

  Anandur scratched his beard. “What does Eva think about that?”

  “She says to give them their space, and that rushing them might ruin things for them.”

  “Smart woman. Not everyone marches to the same beat.”

  “I guess theirs is glacial.”

  Anandur stuffed the rest of the Danish into his mouth, then washed it down with what was left of his coffee. “Thank you for keeping me company.” He pushed to his feet.

  “Anytime, dude.” Jackson offered his hand. “I’m here every morning at five-thirty.”

  Anandur shook his hand and pulled him in for a bro embrace. “Hang in there, kid. Everything is going to turn out okay.” He clapped the guy’s back before letting him go.

  Jackson picked up his empty boxes off the floor. “You’re an optimist.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  7

  Losham

  Sipping his morning coffee while lounging on the living room couch, Losham waited for Rami to come back with his newspaper. It was an old-fashioned habit in the era of internet, but he was a very old immortal.