Darkness Haunts

by Susan Illene

  Derrick stood stoic during the whole conversation and wouldn’t meet my eyes. Damn him. Why wouldn’t he say anything?

  I returned my attention to Matt. “Okay, but how do you know about these people?”

  He gave me a rueful smile. “My father is a werewolf and second to the head vampire in New Orleans. Last night, I saw the vamp who’d been with your friend and followed him here hoping to negotiate her release for you, but it didn’t work out like I planned. These assholes have no honor.” His angry eyes roamed around the room.

  The werewolf next to him elbowed his gut. Matt didn’t cry out in pain this time, but he did double over again. I hated to see him hurt over this. He’d been trying to help, though I wished he’d stayed out of it.

  Even though he had a werewolf father, which I hadn’t expected, he was human and vulnerable. For whatever reason, he hadn’t been turned. Many were-parents bit their children once they reached adulthood, others refused to change their offspring, and some gave them a choice. His father must have chosen to leave him as a human.

  “Wait, didn’t you say you were from Texas?” My senses would have told me if he lied.

  He nodded, having recovered from the latest hit. “I am. That’s where my mother raised me. It was during the summer my Dad brought me to New Orleans where he lived. I met a lot of these guys from my visits there.” He indicated Variola and a few others. At least that explained where they came from before arriving here.

  “How did you find out about all this?” he asked.

  “Oh, I’ve known about the supernatural community for a while,” I answered, looking away.

  Variola laughed. “Still trying to hide what you are, sensor? I believe it’s a little too late for that.”

  Matt’s face reflected surprise. “Theirn has been looking for one of your kind for years. He said there aren’t many of you left and the few who are still around get snatched up the minute they’re discovered.”

  “More like killed,” I muttered.

  He shook his head. “No, they all think you’re too valuable to be killed. You should have stayed hidden, Melena. These people will never let you go.”

  I swung my gaze over to Variola.

  “Oh, poor dear, no one ever told you. There is always work your kind can be doing for the rest of us. What? You thought that war three centuries ago would keep us from using you? No, little sensor, the angels are long gone and they aren’t coming back to protect you again.”

  I tried to jerk free, but the vampires held me in place. All this time I’d been running, thinking they would kill me if caught. Instead, they wanted me for some kind of slave labor. That didn’t make it much better, but my perception of the world no longer looked the same. Wanda must not have known this or she would have told me. What more did they want? Would I ever be free again?

  One look at Matt gave me the answer to my second question.

  His eyes held sympathy in them. “I’m sorry, Melena. If I’d known what you were, I would have at least warned you.”

  His words rang as truth and it made me think he would have tried to keep my secret if I’d told him. Not that I would have. The instinct to protect my identity had long been ingrained into my psyche.

  Noreen’s insipid voice caught my attention. “Of course, we do have a problem now. If Matt knows about her, he’ll tell his father. Then we’ll have Theirn to deal with when he hears of this and we can’t afford that.”

  Variola nodded her head and gave Matt a critical look. “We can’t compel him not to talk either. Since his werewolf daddy makes him immune to any of our compulsions.”

  I guessed that to mean only a very old sup like Nik or Lucas could do it then. Another piece of information I hadn’t known. It must be the older they got, the more effective and wide-ranged their compulsion.

  Noreen smiled. “There are two choices—lock him up or kill him.”

  “No,” I protested. Neither witch looked at me.

  “You’ll have to make sure it isn’t traced back to us,” Variola warned.

  “Oh, I know what I’m doing,” the younger witch replied with an anticipatory grin before sashaying out of the room.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  “Time for a little payback, sensor. We might need you alive, but the same can’t be said about your friend,” Noreen announced. She came in clutching a large, curved knife in her hand and eyed her prey with anticipation. Matt’s eyes flashed with a fear he couldn’t hide.

  “Stop, don’t do this.” He didn’t deserve this for trying to help me.

  I tried to pull away from the vampires holding my arms. They kept me in place while everyone else ignored me. Derrick twitched, but otherwise didn’t move. Only a trace of agitation came from him.

  “You’ll regret this,” Matt growled out.

  I gave him a desperate look, but he had focused his full concentration on his captors, struggling against them with everything he had. They were forced to hold his legs in place after he kicked out at Noreen, missing her by a bare inch. The witch stepped before him only after he’d spent some time wearing himself out. She began tracing his heaving chest with the knife, causing small rivulets of blood to seep out and stain his shirt.

  I jerked forward with renewed strength when Noreen pressed the blade into Matt’s abdomen, cutting him deep. Fingers dug hard into my arms to keep me from getting to him. I kicked the vamp on my right in the knee cap, distracting him long enough to get one of my arms free. The other vampire jerked my body close and locked me in a tight embrace.

  “Stop,” I gasped out. “Punish me if you have to, but leave him alone.”

  The knife moved clockwise as it went in, opening the wound further. Crimson flowed out to create a growing puddle on the floor. Every vamp in the room eyed it, and the victim, with undisguised hunger. Matt’s face contorted until he let out a ragged scream. The men holding him kept their grips tight when his knees collapsed. Noreen pulled the blade toward his ribs in a final upward thrust.

  “No,” I screamed. Not one of the sups in the room acted like they heard me.

  Blood seeped out of the corner of Matt’s mouth and his face had turned a pale hue. Gurgling sounds reached my ears as his body moved in small jerks. I wanted to look away, but his gaze rested on me. Even now, there was an apology in his expression.

  Within moments he exhaled his last breath. The life went out of his eyes as the men holding his body lowered him to the floor. Tears escaped me as I struggled to draw air through the tightness in my chest. He was gone and I hadn’t been able to save him. Much of it was my fault for getting him involved, but the blame rested on others as well.

  “You bitch. I’ll kill you for this.”

  Noreen turned. Her hands were bloody but she didn’t bother to wipe them off. Instead she walked up and slapped me hard enough to make my head cant to the side. I felt the wet splotches on my cheek where her hand had touched.

  “Perhaps now you’ve learned your lesson. I suggest you do as we ask and locate that vampire as soon as possible.”

  Variola strode forward and took Noreen’s hand, licking the blood off one finger at a time. The two women smiled at each other before returning their attention to me.

  “If you don’t want something similar to happen to your female friend, I suggest you get moving. She has no value to us outside of ensuring your cooperation. You have three days to find him and give us his location. Do you understand?” Variola’s eyes promised further retribution if I didn’t do what she wanted.

  My body shook with anger. I wanted to say a lot of things, but knew arguing with them would do no good. In fact, it could make things worse.

  “Yes,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “Wonderful.”

  She turned away and moved to a nearby divan to sit down. Her leather clad legs spread out into a blatant sexual pose. She appeared comfortable sitting there, despite the masculine tones of the brown leather furniture. Noreen eased herself into the seat next to Variola and managed to loo
k as relaxed as her friend. Queens of the little world they’d made for themselves, but I’d make sure to change that soon.

  “You may go,” she announced with a dismissive wave.

  The vampires didn’t release my arms, but instead pulled me along to the front door. We passed by Matt’s bloody remains on the way out. No one had even bothered to close his eyes. A lump rose in my throat as I remembered the way he’d looked at me. I dug my feet in the floor, and turned back.

  “What will you do with the body?”

  Noreen rolled her eyes. “Make it look like a human killing, of course. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. Just find the vampire.”

  “But…”

  “Go,” she interrupted.

  Before I could get a chance to argue the matter further, the vamps pulled me out of the room. They threw me into the SUV and slammed the door shut moments later. Derrick climbed in on the other side, taking the wheel. I crossed my arms and sat rigid in the seat. Neither of us looked at each other.

  About half-way to the cabin, he reached between our seats and pulled a cloth bag out. He handed it to me.

  “Your weapons are inside,” he said in a gruff voice.

  I checked them over before shoving it all to the floor—too late to use any of it now.

  “Did you know what they planned?”

  Derrick’s hands tightened on the wheel. “No, they gave no indication to me they would kill him.”

  “But you knew he would be there when we arrived?”

  “Yes.”

  A blur of trees went by outside the window. “Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?”

  “Better you didn’t know. You might have done something stupid and made matters worse.”

  My fist slammed into the dashboard. “Worse than dead? How is that possible?”

  “In the supernatural world, a quick death is a blessing. It’s the slow deaths that are the ones to be feared. I’ve known men who were tortured for years before being allowed to die. They thanked their executioner at the end.”

  I grunted. “Matt was human. They couldn’t drag it out that long.”

  Derrick let out a pitying laugh. “Keep thinking that if it helps you sleep at night.”

  The cabin came into view and I hopped out of the SUV as soon as it came to a stop, grabbing my bag of weapons as I went. Sunset wouldn’t be for a couple more hours and I wanted to be alone. That wouldn’t happen in the cabin.

  “Melena,” Derrick called out as I began to stomp off.

  I considered ignoring him, but an indefinable note in his voice made me turn back.

  “What?”

  “It’s a full moon tonight. Try to return before dark.”

  I gave him a long look. Despite my knowing he was a werewolf all this time, I’d forgotten what that really meant. His warning reminded me. They all had a dark side and today I’d seen more than enough to prove it. Derrick didn’t even try to stop them from killing Matt. The thought of it hurt me more than I’d expected.

  During our short time together, we’d developed a connection—an understanding, which made it possible for me to live with him being so close all the time. Now the connection had been broken on both sides. I acknowledged my part in it, but at least the consequences of my actions hadn’t been so high for him.

  Maybe it was odd that I could care about him so much after such a short period of time, but he’d become a friend. A person who mattered. It seemed stupid now, considering who he worked for, but I’d felt comfortable with him from the start.

  While out searching for Nikolas, we’d fallen into a natural camaraderie together. Back at the cabin, we worked out a system where he cooked and I cleaned. That was a big step for me in so many ways. Not to mention he could make me laugh, and Emily enjoyed being around him too.

  Now Derrick stood looking at me with the same kind of regret in his eyes that had to be in mine. So many unsaid words lay between us. Both sides knowing we’d broken each other’s trust, and feeling hurt by where that left us. Unable to bear it any longer, I gave him a brief nod and turned on my heels, heading into the woods.

  As soon as I found a place far enough to be alone, I dropped to my knees and cried. Not the wracking kind of tears that could shake the body and let out loud sobs—that would have been allowing too much weakness. More like the kind that came slow and steady, coursing down the face, without a single sound to accompany them. Only the trees witnessed my meltdown, but their solid presence gave me some comfort. They didn’t judge or ask for anything I didn’t want to give.

  ***

  Darkness washed over the land by the time Nikolas crept up. I sat on a log and stared at nothing in particular. My hand dug into the earth, crumbling whatever it could grasp. He took a seat beside me.

  “Derrick told me about your friend. I’m sorry you had to go through that. You’re right to be upset about it, but it won’t bring him back.”

  I sighed and peered at him sideways. “There’s always revenge.”

  His lips curved up on one side. “If all goes well, you’ll have it. I wish I could say the same for all of my own grievances.”

  “Your sister?” I asked. Any topic that distracted me right now would be good.

  “We never found out who killed Gytha. Because I sired her, the connection between us alerted me when she died. I felt it,” he paused to press his hand against his chest, “right here.”

  I shuddered. Wasn’t that kind of incestuous? I didn’t know the full details of how a turning went, but now wasn’t the time to ask. Better to stay on topic.

  “Is that why you’re so angry with Lucas?”

  Nikolas grabbed a twig and began peeling back the bark. I waited through several minutes of silence before he answered, still not looking at me.

  “Lucas and Gytha were seeing each other secretly during the early 1500s when we lived in Italy. That’s actually where I changed my name to Nikolas, though I’ve modified the spelling to suit my needs.”

  “What was it before?”

  He wagged a finger at me. “That’s one secret I won’t tell. No matter how nice you ask.”

  “You know it’s just going to make me want to find out more.”

  “The only one still alive who knows is Lucas. If you can get him to tell you, you deserve to know.”

  I sighed. “Fine, go on with what happened with your sister.”

  He cleared his throat. “I took her far from him after finding out, but she begged me for years to allow her to see him again. For vampires, we live so long that it’s easy to forget the length of time that passes. I continue to treat my sister the same as the day she turned—no matter how many centuries went by. When we ran into Lucas some time later in what is now Germany, I realized the error of my ways and allowed them to be together.”

  At least he’d learned to let go of his cave man tactics. It still would have pissed me off if I’d been his sister. That’s a long time to work on getting someone to change their mind. “So they were in love?”

  He looked up to give me a rueful smile.

  “Not in the way you think. At first they must have enjoyed the idea of a forbidden relationship, since they went behind my back to do it. Maybe they even fancied themselves in love, but it wasn’t real. After I allowed them to be together, they fell apart. Gytha had always been too capricious for something permanent. Their break-up didn’t hurt our friendship. The three of us stayed together and traveled around after that. They would have their occasional tryst, but nothing so serious you could call it love.”

  It was hard to imagine relationships spanning centuries for me, but I guessed immortals must form some close bonds with others in order to keep sane.

  “You blame him for Gytha’s death?”

  The twig snapped in his hand.

  “I trusted him to protect her while I went out to check on a woman, Josslyn, who I was intimate with at the time. So many of us were dying, and she hadn’t contacted me for too long.” A note of sadness came over hi
s voice. “I never did find her.”

  He tossed the pieces of the twig away.

  “Eventually, I had to return for my sister. I’d heard the latest deaths were close to our home, but discovered she wasn’t there when I arrived. I searched the city only to find Lucas, bloody sword in hand, hovering over Henrik Nielson’s headless body. The leader’s guards lay dead around him with their hearts torn out.”

  Nik turned to look me in the eye. “There is only one way Lucas could have found him and that was by having a sensor lead him to the man. He’d planned it out and left my sister unprotected while he went after our greatest foe. The leader needed to die, but not at my sister’s expense.”

  “You can’t exactly kill Lucas as revenge, you know.”

  I’d fantasized the nephilim’s death a number of times in my head, but I no longer felt the same need for revenge against him that I once did. My feelings about him had become a conflicting mess after recent events, but there’d been no time to sort them and figure out how much hate was left.

  Nik laughed. “I tried killing him, believe me, but you must be aware of how difficult that is.”

  “Uh, yeah.” I brushed my hair back out of my eyes. “Think you’ll stay mad at him forever?”

  The vampire’s eyes bored into mine. “Mel…May I call you that?”

  I shrugged. What could it hurt at this point? “Sure.”

  “Mel, when you’re immortal, holding onto anger is easy. There is plenty of time compared to what humans have. But in this case I find myself in a quandary. It will be impossible for us to have our revenge on Variola and her supporters if we don’t use Lucas.”

  “If it makes you feel better, I’m not any happier with the idea than you are.”

  Nik arched a brow. I told him my own history of dealing with the nephilim. At the end, he gave me an inscrutable look before taking my hand and brushing it with his lips. His touch felt warm, not cold like before in the mine. “I’d protect you from him, you know.”

  Okay, that was going too far. Sure, I was starting to notice how attractive he was, especially with his dark eyes and hair. The complete opposite of Lucas, I noted, but he was still a vampire. Their race and mine didn’t mix—even if my body thought it might be possible. I pulled away from him and folded my arms. “I’m fine. Eight years and he hasn’t killed me yet.”