Volatile Breath of Darkness

by Candice Stauffer

  miracle sent to him by God.

  Knowing that he needed to get her into his car and get her out of the alley as fast as possible before

  someone noticed that she was missing, he grabbed her arms and dragged her to his car. He opened the

  back passenger side door and heaved her onto the seat and shut the door quietly. As he opened the

  driver’s side door, he paused to take a look around to make sure no one was nearby. He sat down, closed

  the door and turned the key. Just as he was backing out of the alley the backdoor opened.

  A young woman stepped outside. She glanced around. He knew she was looking for Brianna, but he

  didn’t hesitate or panic. He remained calm. Acting in haste and speeding up would surely raise suspicion

  and draw her attention to him. He continued moving slowly, backing the car out of the alley.

  For an instant, just as his rear tires reached the main road, her gaze met his. Being well acquainted

  with what fear looked like in a woman’s eyes, he knew that she knew that he had Brianna. She raised her

  arm and waved it to get his attention and shouted for him to stop. He looked over his shoulder to the right

  and to the left to make sure there were no cars coming. As he pulled out onto the street the young woman

  ran toward them. He laughed at her. She did not have any hope of reaching his car in time or even see

  Brianna curled up on his backseat. Even if she did reach his car she could not stop him. If she got in his

  way he would simply drive right over her.

  Once on the main road he looked up into his rearview mirror and watched her run after them until he

  turned a corner. He started to head toward his home, but then realized he could not go anywhere near it.

  Stopped at a red light he banged his head against the steering wheel several times. He was a damn idiot.

  How could he fail to care for his bride as was expected of him? He should have stopped for the other

  woman. He should have killed her. She had seen his face and his car. It was not stretch of the imagination

  to believe that she was also able to see his license plate.

  In order to keep Brianna he needed to take her to his mother’s home. Just the thought of walking

  through the door scared the shit out of him, but it was his only option other than to give up his beautiful

  ordained wife. Since he was not willing to lose her over his mother’s anger, he chose to face her vengeful

  ghost once more. It was quite possible for her to be so pleased when she realized that he had finally

  earned God’s favor enough to be given a wife that she would let go of the hatred and disgust she harbored

  for him. The only reason she had such negative feelings for him had nothing to do with him. Not really. It

  was his father’s fault. If she could only see that he was not an exact replica of his father there was a small

  chance she would, in the very least, learn to tolerate his presence.

  Hearing Brianna groan he looked back at her. He smiled as he grew hard over the sight of her

  covered in blood. He felt intoxicated by her beauty. Her pale skin looked incredibly inviting and seductive

  with her fresh red blood all over it. He took a deep breath through his nose and allowed himself to savor

  its metallic coppery scent as he imaged smearing it all over his body as her life slowly faded away and her

  eyes went blank. The sound of a car horn ripped him away from his thoughts.

  He looked around and realized he had stopped in the middle of the street. He started to drive again.

  What was he thinking? He couldn’t kill her. He would never want to do it. He was a new man, a saved

  man. Taking her life couldn’t possibly give a righteous man any form of pleasure. Why would the

  thoughts come to him? The answer was obvious. These were not his thoughts. The Devil had tried to

  seduce him into returning to a life of sin by planting them in his head.

  Pulling into his mother’s driveway he reached up to the visor and clicked the garage door opener.

  Feeling a great deal of dread he hesitated for a few minutes before he worked up the nerve to take the car

  inside. He reached up and pushed the button again to close the door. He experienced an even greater

  amount of dread as the door came down.

  By design, for the purpose of privacy, there were no windows in the garage. It was perfect setup

  since he didn’t want anyone to see his car. It was the only way for anyone to figure out that he was there.

  No one knew about the house so there was no real chance of anyone finding and disrupting them. He took

  a moment, sitting there in total darkness, to pray for protection from his mother. Satisfied that his request

  was heard he got out of the car and made his way to the light switch and flipped it up.

  He opened the backdoor and gave her a little shake. “We’re home, Brianna. It’s time to get up.”

  Getting no response he gave her a more rigorous shake. “You’ve rested long enough. It’s time to get up.”

  It occurred to him that he had hit her head two times with a solid metal bar he kept for protection in

  his car beneath his seat. She was likely unconscious. Hitting her over the head the second time was never

  part of his plan. It was her fault. She forced him to recall her blatant betrayal in detail. Of course the

  memory of her rubbing her body against another man would push him too far. Just thinking about it

  again, as she slept on the back seat of his car, caused him to want to hit her again.

  A sudden revelation flooded his thoughts and filled him with joy. She knew what she was doing. His

  smart little bride wanted to force his hand to punish her so that she would be less likely to allow herself to

  be seduced by the man again. Getting her out of the garage, inside the house and then all the way up the

  stairs to the third floor was going to be a tasking chore, but he was willing to do whatever it took to get

  her into bed to ensure that she rested comfortably until she felt better. It was the very least he could do to

  show her that he was pleased that she trusted him to be her leader so much so that she turned to him to

  help her overcome her past wicked ways.

  ~Seventeen~

  AFTER COMING TO the conclusion that convincing Brianna to see Demetri as a threat was not going to

  happen, Nikolas became even more convinced than ever that one way or another he had to kill the

  bastard. It was the only way to keep her safe. He could not believe she viewed Demetri as some sort of

  friend, but keeping in mind that she was a passionate and carrying female helped him deal with his

  frustration over it. He loved her for the woman she had become. Besides making her immortal one day

  soon he would never want to change anything about her.

  He had engaged in many battles with Demetri during the past few years, but he’d never been able to

  destroy the other demon or vice versa because they were too equally matched in every way. Deciding that

  there was no better time than the present to give killing him another shot, he walked up to the entrance of

  Wicked Sensations. At the very least a good fight with a capable opponent would help him alleviate the

  growing frustration and anger burning in him.

  The instant he reached out to open the door something struck the back of his head hard. It hurt like

  hell. Expecting to see Demetri preparing to hit him again, he spun around ready to fight. He saw no one.

  He knew it wasn’t his imagination. Something had hit him. It wasn’t deniable since the back of his head

  was still throbbing. Using his mind he searched for signs of
something supernatural that would not be

  visible, but he didn’t find anything suspicious.

  He looked down to see if something had fallen from the building, but there was nothing at his feet

  except for pavement. He was about to shrug it off as one of those strange happenings that he would never

  figure out when something struck the back of his head and an image of Brianna’s face covered with blood

  flashed in his mind. To enable him to see what was happening he instantly made an attempt to merge with

  her, but failed to even find even the smallest trace of her.

  He shifted to the boutique that instant. He didn’t waste even a second concealing it. His body hadn’t

  even fully solidified when he realized something terrible had happened. The instant he was visible Julie

  rushed right up to him. “He took Brianna from out back!”

  Remaining calm wasn’t easy, but he needed as much information from her as possible. “Were Mia

  and Joseph here when it happened?”

  “Yes. They left right away. They’re searching for them right now.” She held her phone up. “I tried to

  call you a hundred times, but you didn’t answer.”

  He knew Joseph couldn’t have reached him to tell him that something was wrong because of

  Demetri’s safeguards around the club. Turning to leave he reached for Joseph. Do you know who has her?

  No. We haven’t found a car to match the description Julie gave us.

  Nikolas grabbed Julie’s arm and headed to the back entrance to search for clues. “Do you know who

  took her?”

  “Not really. He used to watch her whenever we went into the coffee shop. I thought he looked creepy

  so I just avoided him and steered her clear of ever coming into contact with him.”

  When he opened the backdoor he immediately saw two large puddles of blood on the pavement. He

  should’ve known she was in trouble. And that’s when he realized that just as Joseph couldn’t reach him

  while he was at the club surrounded by Demetri’s spells that Brianna couldn’t do it either. He had left her

  entirely unprotected. If he hadn’t thrown a fit and destroyed the necklace he had given her for protection

  no harm would’ve come to her though he was unreachable. He stopped himself from dwelling on his

  mistakes. There was no time to kick himself in the ass or wallow in guilt.

  “Do you know his name?” he asked while scanning the area for a clue.

  “I don’t. I never talked to him at all.”

  He continued to search the ground, but other than her blood there seemed to be nothing left behind.

  “Which way did he go?”

  She pointed. “He was parked halfway down alley. When I came out he was backing out onto the

  street.”

  Slowly making his way to where the car had been park he searched the ground and found a long

  solid black metal bar. His stomach was churning as he knelt down and picked it up. When he felt a wet

  sticky substance on the bar, his heart began to pound. He immediately knew that it was her blood. Her

  assailant had struck the back of her head with it. Earlier at the club he had felt a delayed echo of it. She

  had tried to call out to him, but her message to him was slow in coming and distorted by Demetri’s spells.

  Standing up, he opened his hand and stared down at her blood on it. He had never felt so utterly

  shattered.

  “Oh no! That’s blood! Oh God, no!” Julie fell to her knees and sobbed into her hands.

  Wanting to get as many looking for her as possible he reached out to Haden. I need you now!

  Joseph told me. I’m close to you, but I can’t come to you this instant. I need to check out a lead

  Joseph received concerning the car while he is looking into another one. Adam and Caleb are both doing

  the same. He was relieved that his brother’s response was instant and that he was aware of the situation.

  Just knowing that his brother was searching made him feel more confident that they would find her in

  time.

  He studied the energy on the metal bar, but it only offered the pain and shock Brianna felt when she

  was hit from behind. The first hit had nearly knocked her unconscious. She was disoriented to the extent

  that she couldn’t process a thought properly. There was a period of uncertainty. She’d communicated with

  her assailant and became even more confused. Why was he attacking her? Right after the second blow to

  the head she wasn’t sure if she had tried to reach out to him for help. Nikolas saw his image flash in her

  mind. He waited for the attacker’s image, but it never came. He was sure she knew the man’s identity, but

  he couldn’t get the information from the bar. Since what he’d picked up on was based on her emotions it

  meant that the information he’d receive was from her blood rather than the bar.

  Long ago he had learned and mastered techniques to keep his emotions from stirring the forces of

  nature, but the darkening sky and thunder rolling in the distance was proof that his control was slipping

  away. He used to have just as much trouble with it as Haden still had. It was a family thing. His father and

  grandfather had wrestled with it as well. As far he knew there wasn’t a Drake male ever born that didn’t

  have some form of difficulty shielding nature from their most volatile emotions.

  Doing his best to keep a level head had never been such a challenge for him. Hoping he would

  retrieve something to lead him to wherever the man had taken Brianna he knelt down in front of Julie and

  held his hands out for her. “I need to look at your memories of him.”

  “Anything to help you find her.” Tears spilling from her eyes she placed her hands in his.

  “It will go easier if you bring the memories to the surface of you consciousness. It might get a bit

  uncomfortable, but you will fully recover when it’s over,” he warned her knowing that he was about to

  aggressively retrieve the memories to do it as quickly as possible.

  She nodded. “Just do it.”

  He barged into her mind brutally knocking over every barrier she’d ever constructed to hide her

  deepest and darkest secrets. He heard her cry out in alarm and pain. No doubt her head felt as if it was

  about to burst, but he didn’t feel any remorse. He knew the moment she realized he had full access to her

  thoughts and memories. She instinctively began to fight him. Look at my thoughts, Julie. I am only

  concerned with the memories that will lead me to the identity of the man responsible for taking Brianna.

  Realizing that it would slow him down if she continued to protest he validated his words by opening his

  mind to her and allowing her to see that none of her memories would ever matter enough to him that he

  would even want to take a second look.

  The instant she looked at his thoughts she stopped fighting against him. He felt her force her body

  and mind to relax. When she called up and forced herself to recall the moment she looked into the man’s

  eyes Nikolas released her hands and stood. Unable to contain the power his emotion evoked the

  atmosphere exploded with lighting streaking across the sky as thunder simultaneously rocked the

  buildings. Within seconds a strong wind picked and pushed its way into the alley creating a high pitched

  howl. With it came torrential sheets of horizontal rain. He couldn’t believe what he’d seen. How the hell

  did he miss the fact that Carl was a threat? He projected Carl’s image to Haden knowing he would pass

  the information on to the others searching for her.


  “You know him?”

  “I do. Go inside. Lock the doors until one of us returns. Don’t open the door for anyone else.” It

  wasn’t a suggestion open for debate. He didn’t have time for it. He used his power to make it a

  compulsion she wouldn’t be able to resist. While near him she’d been protected from the storm so he

  placed a barrier over her to protect her as she made her way to the door.

  Nikolas began to go over the conversation Brianna had with Carl until he came to viable piece of

  information. Carl said that he worked at the insurance office nearby. Luckily, thanks to his jealous and

  possessive nature, he’d listened in on it from start to finish. With the storm blackening the sky, heavy rain

  coming down and lightning creating bright flashes he knew that no human would be able to clearly make

  out his form so he shifted to the front entrance of the insurance office.

  He opened the door and walked inside. A woman sitting at desk looked up at him. “I’m sorry. We

  closed a little early. All our agents had to leave to do property damage assessments this afternoon.”

  He wasn’t going to waste a second arguing with the woman for information so he took control of her

  mind. “I need information on Carl.”

  Indicating that she had experienced a bad encounter with him the woman’s heart rate instantly

  elevated. “He is a terrible man, but he won’t be a bother ever again. He no longer works here.”

  Images of her being berated and cornered started to flash through his mind, but he pushed them

  aside. “I need his employee file.”

  For a few second she hesitated while company policies and rules came up in her mind, but since he

  possessed complete control over her mind and her actions nothing would stop her from giving him

  whatever he wanted. She blinked a few times, and then turned away from him.

  “Be careful with him. He’s not right in the head.” While humming she pulled file cabinet open and

  began to search through it until she located it. With no further hesitation she pulled it out and then turned

  around and handed it over to him.

  Standing in front of her desk he opened the file. It took no time at all to find his full name and