The Reign of Darkness

by Britney Jackson

  Still disoriented, Rose watched, as Kara stepped back, sliding her fingers over her lips, wiping away the blood. She offered another deeply seductive smile, before turning to face the vampire who had just joined them in the empty tunnel.

  “Kind of busy, Aaron,” Kara said. Her words were slow, and they slurred a little. Clearly, she’d had enough blood to intoxicate her. “What do you want?”

  Aaron didn’t seem the least bit surprised to find his second-in-command out in the hall, feeding from her lover. Rose realized that Kara must’ve done this kind of thing a lot, and she guessed it wasn’t that big of a deal in a vampire colony.

  It’s just…normally, it would’ve been a big deal for Rose. Part of her was alarmed at how strong this side of her was becoming—the hunger, the passion…

  It was a darker part of her, a part that Rose normally caged deep inside.

  “You said you wanted to speak with Benedict,” Aaron said. “He’s ready.”

  Kara nodded slowly, her smile twisting a little, as if she were certain that this conversation was going to go in her favor. Her light blue eyes shifted toward Rose and lingered for a moment. She seemed to recognize something different in Rose’s expression. Perhaps, she’d noticed the worry and hesitancy that Rose felt.

  She reached out, cupping Rose’s cheek with her hand, tilting Rose’s head back, as her gaze shifted down, lingering on the bite wound in Rose’s neck. Kara sighed, “I have to go reason with this asshole,” she told Rose, growling the words.

  Rose felt another shockwave of desire course through her, just from the sound of Kara’s growl. Her body seemed to recognize the viciousness of it, and, well, it seemed to like it. She blinked slowly, trying to push through the fog. “Oh.”

  Kara released her and followed Aaron inside, leaving Rose in the tunnel.

  Rose barely had time to blink, before she heard footsteps again. Before Rose could ask what she was doing, Kara returned to her, pressing her up against the wall and covering Rose’s neck with her mouth. Rose moaned, as Kara licked the wound thoroughly, healing it. Kara then trailed her tongue up to Rose’s ear.

  “Thanks for the taste,” she whispered in Rose’s ear, causing her to shiver.

  Rose watched—now even more turned on than before—as Kara stepped back, flashing a flirty smile, before turning and strolling in the opposite direction.

  Several moments of silence passed, before she heard footsteps, yet again.

  “Are you okay?” came a warm, familiar voice. “Rose? Can you hear me?”

  Rose slowly turned to look at the vampire beside her. “Talulah,” she said slowly, her syllables slurring a little. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Is that what you asked?”

  Talulah lifted her eyebrows. “I knew that was your blood I smelled,” she said, approaching Rose. “It smelled so strongly of power—sweet and appealing.”

  Rose scowled. “Vampires always talk like that before they try to bite me.”

  Talulah laughed—the sound low and warm. “I’m not going to bite you.”

  The scent of jasmine and sandalwood invaded Rose’s senses. “Then, why are you getting close to me?” Rose mumbled, frowning as Talulah stepped closer.

  “To offer you support,” Talulah said, “until the endorphins wear off.”

  Rose’s eyes widened. “Oh,” she said. She glanced down at Talulah’s arm, as Talulah offered it to her. “You want me to hold your arm? Like…for support?”

  Talulah laughed, “I think I already said that.” She curled her hand around Rose’s arm, pulling her away from the wall, and threaded her arm through Rose’s.

  Rose leaned heavily against her, still disoriented from the blood sharing. “You don’t have to do this,” she muttered. “It’s kind of embarrassing, actually.”

  “How is it embarrassing?” Talulah said with a frown. “Feeding’s natural.”

  “Right,” Rose mumbled, frowning, “I guess.” She glanced up at Talulah. “Seriously, you could just leave me out here for a few minutes, and I’ll be fine.”

  “Kara asked me to check on you,” Talulah told her, “and honestly, you’re not…accepted…enough to be on your own.” Her dark gaze shifted toward Rose. “I just mean: there are a lot of vampires here, who would kill you—for power.”

  “Which would be inconvenient for you,” Rose said slowly, “because you think me being alive and here weakens Aaron. Because you think I’m powerful.”

  “You are powerful. Unbelievably powerful,” Talulah said, “and yes, that’s part of it.” She opened the door. “I’m strategic and a bit cold. But not heartless.”

  “Of course you’re cold,” Rose teased. “You live in an Arctic wasteland.”

  Talulah laughed. “You seem to have quite the hatred for cold weather.”

  Rose made an annoyed sound—that sounded half-intoxicated, still. “The air hurts,” she grumbled. “Why would anyone want to live where the air hurts?”

  “Less sunlight,” Talulah pointed out, “sometimes.” She shrugged one of her strong shoulders. “It’s not always pleasant, but it’s private. And it’s mine.”

  “I guess I’ve never really had anything that was mine,” Rose admitted, as they stopped near a stack of crates. Talulah released her. “I wouldn’t understand.”

  Talulah studied Rose for a moment. “Create a place that’s yours, then.”

  “Oh, no. Not you, too,” Rose muttered, “with the starting-a-colony talk.”

  “You should,” Talulah said. “It’s the next step in increasing your power.”

  Rose shook her head. “I don’t want power,” she said sadly. “I never did.”

  “It’s a little late for that,” Talulah said with a small smile, “and now that you have it, it would be a little selfish to not help people with it. Don’t you think?”

  “Ouch, Talulah,” Rose muttered. “I mean, you’re not wrong, but ouch.”

  “If we survive this war, there are going to be a lot of vampires who need somewhere to live, someone to follow,” Talulah told Rose. “They’ll turn to you.”

  “Why me?” Rose asked. “Why wouldn’t they turn to their own leaders?”

  “Because you’re the one who’s going to save us,” Talulah said. “I already know you will. It’s been clear for a while.” She smiled at Rose’s shocked reaction.

  Rose had about a billion questions, after that, but she wasn’t able to ask them—because, at that moment, a familiar, armor-clad vampire walked up to her.

  Talulah turned, her dark gaze sweeping down the vampire’s form, taking in the sight of her leather armor. “Who are you, and how did you get down here?”

  Next to a lot of women, Rose felt a little taller than average, but standing between these two made her feel like an ant. “This is Ligeia,” Rose told Talulah.

  Before Rose could finish the introductions, Ligeia said, “Colina showed me the way down here.” When Talulah frowned, she added, “Elise showed her.”

  “Ah,” Talulah said, nodding in understanding. “I know who Elise is.”

  “This is Talulah,” Rose explained. “She leads the Village of the Undead.”

  Ligeia nodded quickly and then turned to Rose. “I need to speak to you.”

  “Nice armor,” Talulah said. She looked at Rose. “Is she in your army?”

  “I lead it,” Ligeia said, her chin high. “Proudly. Under Rose’s command.”

  Rose blushed. “Uhh…yeah, something like that,” she muttered, flustered by the attention. She looked to Ligeia. “Did something happen? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, my Eklektos,” Ligeia said, barely catching herself, before she bowed. Rose had asked them not to do that here—or anywhere, for that matter—but they only listened to the first part. Ligeia shifted uneasily. “Zosime offered to tell me your plans for the attack, but I wanted to get my orders directly from you.”

  “Right. Wouldn’t want you two to actually talk to each other,” Rose said.

  Ligeia frowned at that. “What is that suppo
sed to mean?”

  Rose forced a smile. “Nothing. Just…that I think you two should talk.”

  “Do you know something I don’t?” Ligeia asked. “About my ex-wife?”

  Talulah glanced back and forth between them, clearly intrigued by this.

  Rose sighed, “I just think…the world might end soon, and instead of just talking to the woman you’re still in love with, you’re avoiding her like the plague.”

  “Which plague?” Ligeia said with a frown, but before Rose could explain the expression, Ligeia added, “And what makes you think I’m in love with her?”

  “I don’t even know who your ex-wife is, and I can see it,” Talulah said.

  “You stare at her all the time and get flustered anytime she talks to you,” Rose pointed out. “You keep a picture of her by your bed, for goodness sakes.”

  “Oh, wow,” Talulah muttered, her dark eyes wide. “You do have it bad.”

  Ligeia scowled at Talulah, then at Rose. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

  “I know denial,” Rose said. “I used to think I wasn’t in love with Kara.”

  “No one trusts Kara, unless they’re blindly in love with her,” Talulah said.

  Rose frowned at Talulah’s helpful remarks. “But I was,” she told Ligeia. “I am. The world is terrible right now. You and Zosime deserve some happiness.”

  Ligeia seemed to consider that. “She’s the one who ended it, you know.”

  Talulah gasped, clearly hanging onto every word. “I didn’t know that!”

  Rose cast an incredulous look at her. “You don’t even know who she is.”

  “Well, no,” Talulah said, waving a hand at Ligeia, “but I’m invested now.”

  Rose just laughed, amused by this side of Talulah. She shifted her bright blue gaze back to the warrior. “Just talk to her, okay? I want you two to be happy.”

  Ligeia smiled at that. “Okay,” she sighed, her voice a bit less formal than before. “But since I’m already down here, can you explain the battle plan to me?”

  Rose laughed. “Sure. I wanted to hear your opinion of the plan, anyway.”

  —

  Talulah and Ligeia had gone their separate ways after they finished talking about the battle plans. So, when Kara returned, Rose stood alone, waiting for her.

  Kara slipped through the crowd easily—so sly and graceful that none of the other vampires even noticed her—but Rose noticed. Rose always noticed. A smile pulled at one corner of her lips, as she swept her gaze up and down Rose’s body in a very suggestive way—that made Rose blush. It didn’t help that Rose was still thinking about the way Kara had tasted her—an unspoken promise of more.

  “Look at you,” Kara murmured, “commanding vampires, like a natural.”

  Rose’s blush deepened. She scrunched up her face in disbelief. “You may have forgotten, but I accidentally insulted an angry vampire in front of his peers.”

  Kara lifted her wine-glass to her lips, sipping the dark liquid. “You and I have different understandings of the word accidentally, I believe,” she said playfully.

  “It was an accident,” Rose said. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve it.”

  Kara laughed. “Don’t worry. He’ll be more…agreeable in the future.”

  Rose’s eyes widened. “Kara,” she said hesitantly, “what did you do?”

  Kara looked away, sipping her wine. “Colina dances well, doesn’t she?”

  Rose snatched the glass of wine out of Kara’s hand—which succeeded in getting her attention. Kara tried to hide her smile, but she was clearly amused. Rose reached out and grasped Kara’s hand—the one Kara had slyly hidden with the wine glass—and scowled. “Kara? Why are there blood-stains on your hand?”

  Kara’s lips twitched. “Because there isn’t any running water down here?”

  Rose frowned worriedly. “Please, tell me you didn’t dismember anyone.”

  “I didn’t dismember anyone,” Kara recited, her light blue eyes sparkling.

  Rose dropped her hand and rolled her eyes. “You’re lying. Aren’t you?”

  Kara held her thumb and finger an inch apart and mouthed, “Just a little.”

  “Kara!” Rose said, her bright blue eyes wide. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because he threatened you. Obviously,” Kara said, rolling her eyes. She took the wine glass from Rose’s hand. “Relax. It was just a finger. It’ll heal.”

  “You cut off someone’s finger?!” Rose exclaimed. “Are you insane?!’

  “A bit, yeah,” Kara said, taking another sip of her wine. She chuckled, as she lowered the glass. “Don’t worry. He assured me there’d be no hard feelings.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure I’d say that, too, if you sliced off my finger,” Rose said.

  Kara laughed. “Oh, come on, love,” she said, tilting her head to the side, her sleek, blue and black hair falling over her shoulders. “You don’t fight people like that with a battle of intellect. He supported genocide, for Odin’s sake.” With a sly smile, she said, “To fight someone like that, you have be as crazy as they are.”

  “No thanks,” Rose muttered. “I prefer to keep my conscience clean-ish.”

  “Well, that’s why you have me,” Kara said with a smile. “My conscience is as dirty as my mind.” Her gaze shifted downward. “And my mind is very dirty.”

  Rose felt heat rush to her face. “How dirty?” she blurted. Then, her eyes widened, and her face turned about seven shades darker. “I mean…I…umm…”

  Kara’s light blue eyes sparkled with delight. She stepped closer, ignoring Rose’s utter embarrassment. Then, she pressed her mouth to Rose’s ear. “So dirty that I’m getting wet—thinking about all the things I’m going to do to you later.”

  Rose gasped at the ferocity of the arousal that poured through her body, in that moment. Without thinking, she reached out, grasping Kara’s shirt, digging her dull fingernails into the fabric. When Kara pulled back, her icy blue eyes were dilated and dark with hunger. Kara must’ve seen something in Rose’s face, then, because her eyebrows lifted, and she stepped closer again. She slipped her fingers beneath Rose’s chin, tipping Rose’s head back, until Rose’s gaze met her own.

  “Close your eyes, ást,” Kara whispered, “before everyone notices them.”

  Rose’s blood-red eyes widened. “They’ve changed colors? Here? Now?”

  “Mmm-hmm,” Kara said. “You must be feeling something…intense.”

  Rose narrowed her eyes at her. “You know exactly what I’m feeling.”

  Kara’s smile deepened. “Like I said,” she said slowly, “close your eyes.”

  Rose’s glowing, red eyes fluttered closed, her eyelashes dark against her reddened cheeks. She felt the warmth of Kara’s breath on her lips, felt the tingling sensation beneath her skin—her blood bond reacting to Kara’s closeness, to the possibility of kissing her, of tasting her—and then, Kara’s mouth met hers. Kara’s lips felt so soft and warm against hers, and they were wet with blood-spiked wine.

  Kara still held the wine glass in one hand, but the other hand trailed along Rose’s jaw, sliding into her hair, cupping the back of her neck. She held her drink out to her side, so that she could close the space between them—until her long, lean form pressed against Rose’s softer, curvier form. She held Rose’s face close to her own, as she deepened the kiss, slipping her tongue into Rose’s open mouth.

  Rose moaned hungrily, as she tasted the sweetness of blood and wine on Kara’s tongue. She slid her fingertips around Kara’s slender waist and then trailed them along the curve of Kara’s back, feeling the warmth of Kara’s skin—covered only by a thin layer of fabric. Rose clutched that fabric, feeling its softness under her fingers, feeling it stretch tight against Kara’s skin. She felt, rather than heard, Kara’s moan, as the quiet, low sound vibrated her lips. That deep, sensual sound only intensified Rose’s desire, and she found herself pressing Kara’s body against her own, tilting her head, kissing Kara harder, until Kara
growled against her lips.

  Kara stepped back, suddenly, and Rose nearly fell forward—she’d been leaning so close to Kara. With a wide, hungry smile, Kara brought the wine glass to her lips once again and tipped it up, downing the rest of the wine in one gulp.

  Rose vaguely remembered that they weren’t alone, but she couldn’t break eye-contact with Kara. At that moment—with the hunger and desire burning so brightly within both of them—anything could have happened in that tunnel, and Rose still couldn’t have torn her gaze from those beautifully intense, icy blue eyes.

  Kara stepped backward, depositing the empty glass on a stack of crates without so much as a glance, and then, with a seductive smile, she held her hand out toward Rose—her palm up, her fingers curled. “Come with me,” she urged.

  Rose placed her hand in Kara’s, her eyes fluttering closed—briefly—as Kara’s hand curled around hers. Her blood reacted so intensely to Kara’s touch—more so than usual, even—that she could barely restrain herself. Kara seemed to notice this because her smile widened—so much so that Rose saw the gleam of her fangs in the limited light of the tunnel. Kara walked backward, still not taking her eyes off of Rose, even as she led Rose away from the others. Rose wondered how Kara knew when to turn, how she knew what was behind her, without even looking, but Kara never doubted herself. She knew exactly where she was going.

  When Kara did finally break eye-contact with Rose—when she turned to face the direction she was walking, like a normal, rational person—she told Rose, “When you plan to double-cross someone, the one thing that you must perfect is your exit strategy. It’s not enough to know what you’ll do afterward. You have to know the place backwards and forwards—in case the plan goes awry. If they catch you before you meant for them to, if they predict which way you’ll run, you have to know the place well enough to think on the spot. You must know every detail.”

  Rose nodded, as Kara led her down the tunnel, toward a darker area. It didn’t look like this part of the tunnel was used as often. “Where are we going?”