Expecting Darkness

by Mandy M. Roth

  Jessie sat up more, trying to get her bearings. Shaken, she rubbed her temple, her head hurting as she stared at her surroundings, slowly realizing she wasn’t in her room at the main house. She was in her bedroom at her condo. That was nearly forty-five minutes from the main house and well over an hour from where she’d gone to dinner with Islay.

  How had she gotten home?

  More importantly, why did she feel hung over? She’d not really had anything to drink at dinner. Islay had ordered a bottle of the best wine they offered, but she’d passed, opting for lemon water instead, much to his dismay. He’d talked her into just a sip to celebrate her upcoming exams and success at the university. She remembered having a small taste of the wine and then nothing else.

  Looking down at herself, she realized she was in a pair of her favorite pajamas, but she didn’t remember driving home at all, let alone doing so and then changing for bed. Panic welled in her and she reached for her cell phone.

  Usually, if she felt threatened or worried, she called her father. He was one of her best friends and a damn fine protector. The urge to find Searc’s contact information on her phone hit her hard. Why on earth would she want to contact a man who used to be her father’s second-in-command, long before she was born? A man who popped in and out of her life seemingly at random? Calling Islay should have felt right; after all, he was close and was who her father had left in charge in his absence.

  But it wasn’t Islay she wanted.

  She wanted Searc. He represented safety to her at the moment. No one else did.

  As she brought her phone closer to her, she saw it was off.

  That was strange.

  She never shut it off.

  When she tried to turn it on, she realized it wasn’t simply off. It was dead. It hadn’t been charged. Peculiar. She was very good about charging her phone and keeping it on. And her phone had great battery life. It had been fully charged at dinner and should have lasted her a day or more with as little usage as she put on it. It shouldn’t have been off and dead. Keeping it charged had been part of the deal she’d made with her father, for allowing her to live near campus. It simply wasn’t something she overlooked or forgot.

  Jessie leaned, reaching down near the nightstand for her charging cord. She found it and plugged in her phone. The need to call Searc began to wane slightly, and she closed her eyes again, her head still feeling heavy. Something was wrong with her. She shouldn’t be this tired, this out of it, and she certainly shouldn’t have been missing blocks of time.

  “Searc,” she whispered, wanting him. His name was the last thing that fell from her lips before darkness claimed her, pulling her into a deep sleep.

  Chapter Two

  Nearly four months later…

  Jessie sipped her latte under the shade of the deep green umbrella of the two-man bistro set as she leaned back in her chair, her hands going to her lower stomach. The smallest of bumps was there, and she nearly groaned at how bloated she’d been feeling as of late. She caressed the area without thought before clearing her throat and putting her hands on the table.

  There was a slight nip in the air, and she regretted leaving her sweater in the car. She often ran on the side of cold and normally never left home without something to keep her warm. After getting little in the way of sleep because of recurring nightmares, she’d found herself running behind for her coffee meeting.

  One of her best friends sat across from her, sipping a cup of tea, also hiding from the sun. Both women had vampire DNA in their bloodline and made it a point to try to avoid noonday sun whenever possible. They burned easily, and no amount of sunscreen seemed to help. It was why they enjoyed meeting for first-morning coffee when their class schedules and commitments permitted.

  Of course, humans weren’t allowed to know the truth about supernaturals, so it was extra nice to be friends with someone who already knew things that went bump in the night were real. Hell, she and Meena were related to most of the creatures humans feared. But they knew the truth, that not all vampires, shifters, and other supernaturals were evil. Some were good, loving, and had families of their own to protect. Such was the case with Jessie’s father and Meena’s father and grandfather. They loved their families and used what they were to help people and to protect humans and supernaturals.

  The women generally didn’t meet with overgrown, muscle-bound babysitters in tow, like they had today. Jessie glanced across the courtyard to find two of her father’s men there, each holding coffees of their own, seemingly unconcerned that she was annoyed with their presence. If their goal was to blend with the students, they were failing miserably. They both looked like they could bench-press a school bus and had hair just past their shoulders and close-cut beards. They were men in a sea of boys in comparison, and from their cocky expressions, they knew as much.

  Figures.

  They’d been constants during the daylight hours for the past four months. Since her father had gone to Scotland to help broker peace deals between warring vampire dens. It was something of a specialty for him, mostly because he’d not played for the side of good long enough for anyone in the supernatural community to forget what he was capable of, so they tended to shut up and listen when he spoke. He’d first thought the negotiations would take a month at best. They’d run over, and so had the babysitting gig for his men who were still stateside.

  There had been no way her father would go off to another country and not see to it she had a full-time protection detail. His first line of defense was Islay. But Islay had certain restrictions during daylight hours because he was a vampire. That was where the shifters came in. They worked for her father but weren’t part of his vampire den.

  The men raised their cups and nodded to her. She grunted, knowing their shifter senses were keen enough for them to hear her annoyance.

  They grinned, and the one on the right—Erik—pushed his sunglasses up his nose before blowing a kiss in her direction. She nearly laughed, but resisted, not wanting to encourage them. Both men were Paranormal Regulators (Para-Regs) and both were on her nerves.

  Para-Regs were the supernatural community’s version of the police. Paranormal Security and Intelligence (PSI) was much like the CIA. At least that was how it had been explained to her once before. The whole thing was very cloak-and-dagger and didn’t really do much for Jessie, so she tended to tune her father out when he spoke about it all.

  Erik and Shane were great guys, but they’d become her shadows throughout daylight hours. She’d half expected to walk into one while exiting the ladies’ room in the coffee shop some twenty minutes prior. It wouldn’t have shocked her in the least, as Erik was a perv who would have thought it was hilarious to set off a restroom full of women.

  What she did know was that her father was high up with the Para-Regs and had an entire precinct that answered to him. That was how she’d gotten saddled with shifter babysitters. They were her father’s eyes and ears during the daylight hours. When her father—a master vampire—couldn’t be out and about with any sort of ease.

  Meena glanced toward the men. “Is that Erik?”

  It didn’t surprise Jessie that Meena knew the men. Her father, who was a vampire as well, was also part of the Para-Regs. He was a detective who had a reputation as a man who closed cases. It stood to reason that Meena knew a fair number of the local Regulators. “Yes. He’s one of my current sitters.”

  “Who is that with him?”

  “Shane. He’s nice. Not as in-your-face as Erik.”

  Meena laughed. “So a gentleman where Erik is pretty much the opposite, but still manages to be a nice guy?”

  Jessie nodded and stifled a giggle. The assessment of the man was accurate. “Erik is less annoying than last month’s babysitter, but only barely. Last month, Whitney pulled a week’s worth of shifts.”

  “Whitney as in my dad’s partner?” Meena asked, her eyes widening.

  Jessie groaned. “Yes.”

  Whitney was an incredibly sexy blond w
olf-shifter who tended to be a total smart-ass and take very little serious in his life. He liked fast cars and even faster women. He also enjoyed pushing people’s buttons.

  “Oh dear gods, I’m sorry. I’m stunned you didn’t kill him.” Meena offered a sympathetic look.

  Jessie smiled wide. “I’m surprised your father hasn’t killed him. I can’t imagine the two of them as partners.”

  Meena shrugged. “I’m told there once was a time my dad was a lot like Whitney.”

  “Two of them? And the world didn’t implode?” She could see Meena’s dad being similar. He’d always had a badass vibe about him and didn’t hold his tongue often.

  Meena laughed. “I’m sorry you got stuck with him as a babysitter. And I’m sorry your dad is insisting you be followed around by Para-Regs. I really thought my grandfather and my dad took the cake when it came to alpha-male jerk moves. Yours wins. Hands down.”

  Jessie did laugh at that. “Oh yeah. He may need a crown or something for King of the Stubborn Alpha Vampires.”

  Meena grinned. “But you know he loves you and I’m sure it’s killing him having to be away from you this long. I’m guessing he’s tried hard to convince you to fly over there and be closer to him.”

  Jessie glanced at her friend. “I have to admit he’s shown amazing restraint by not having me abducted and simply brought to him. Totally a dad move.”

  Meena smiled wide. “I could see Cormag doing that. He’s learning, Jessie. You don’t think he is, but you’re right, from what my dad has told me about how he used to be, he’d have totally had you simply brought to him. The older version of him wouldn’t have cared what you wanted.”

  Jessie knew her friend was right. It was a big deal that her father had left her home to go off for so long. It didn’t matter that she was technically an adult now. Age was merely a number to him, and while she’d been alive nearly twenty-four years, and was nearly done with her master’s degree, that was just a blink of the eye to him. Especially with how old he was.

  Meena sipped her tea. “I’m guessing you miss him even though you don’t want to admit it.”

  She was right. Jessie did miss her father. They were close. He was one of her best friends. “I do. I don’t miss his constant hovering and nonstop worrying, but I miss him. I miss our weekly dinners. You know, the ones where he pushes food around on his plate, pretending to be normal, while I eat and he grills me about any man who may or may not be in my life? Oddly, I find the dinners amusing. Or I used to. Islay started coming to a number of them before Dad left and then wanted to keep having them while Dad was away.”

  “Still avoiding Islay?” asked Meena, perking as she did.

  Talk of Islay left Jessie squirming in her chair. She glanced toward Erik and Shane and found them to be checking out hot girls who walked by. The coffee shop was just off campus, so it had an overabundance of young co-eds. The men had obviously taken notice. That meant they weren’t paying attention to her—for now.

  “Reading any good books?” asked Jessie, wanting off the topic of Islay.

  Meena watched her carefully, suspicion in her eyes. “Yes, but you already know that, since we share our monthly reading lists. You’re as geeky as I am. So, back to the subject that you tried artfully to dodge. Islay.”

  She lowered her voice. “I don’t really want to talk about it now.”

  Meena glimpsed at the babysitters and then back at Jessie. “You still haven’t told them, have you?”

  “Tell them what? That I pushed myself too hard with exams and school, burning the candle at both ends, and it caught up with me? When I asked Islay about our dinner, he gave off this strange vibe, like I was nuts for not remembering everything that happened after it. So, basically, I pretended I did remember.”

  Meena huffed, setting her tea down, a skeptical look crossing her face. “Jessie, you went to dinner with Islay, and that is the last thing you remember until you woke up in your bed, at your condo, days later. And let’s not forget the clothing in your hamper. The stuff that wasn’t yours and was dirty and caked in blood. How did it get there? What happened to you over the weekend?”

  She reddened slightly. “Islay mentioned I’d had a bit too much wine at dinner. I mean, I probably did, but I only remember having one small sip. And I hadn’t slept right in a couple of weeks because of school stuff. Everything caught up with me. I crashed hard.”

  “And the clothing? It was a like hospital-issue gown or something,” said Meena, not letting up one bit. “Jessie, you should have told your dad about it.”

  “No!” she said, louder than she’d meant to. Thankfully, she didn’t draw Erik’s or Shane’s attention.

  “I should have told mine,” whispered Meena.

  Jessie grabbed Meena’s hand. “No. You promised.”

  “I know, but it feels wrong.”

  “It was nearly four months ago. I’m fine. Nothing came of it all.” As she said it, her hand returned to her abdomen. She found herself keeping her hand there in a protective manner.

  Her friend glanced at her and laughed. “You know I love you, right?”

  “Yes, why?” asked Jessie, noticing the temperature was finally starting to rise for the day.

  “Are you about to get your period or something?” questioned Meena with a quirk of her lips.

  Jessie sat up and took notice. “Maybe. You know I’m kind of crap at remembering when mine is coming. We normally sync up. Is yours due?”

  “Had mine two weeks ago.”

  Jessie’s brow crinkled. “Why ask about mine?”

  “Because you tried to talk me into kettle corn and ketchup this morning in place of meeting for coffee and I swear you look like your stomach is bloating. This is said with love.”

  Jessie laughed, not taking offense. “Oh yeah. Because saying it without love—”

  “Hey. You tell me when I’m about to get mine. I get puffy around my eyes even, and you always point it out. No shame in the pre-period weight gain. We all suffer from it. I wish men retained water monthly. And bled for five days straight.”

  “They’d die after the first hour,” said Jessie, making her friend snicker.

  “So true.”

  Jessie kept her hand on her stomach and thought back to the last time she’d menstruated. She couldn’t actually pinpoint a date but knew it had been a bit. She wasn’t regular, so she didn’t think too much on it. With a sigh, she patted the small bump on her lower stomach. “I must have some serious water retention going on because I think I skipped a month or so with my period.”

  “Again?” asked Meena. “Jessie, I told you to go see Dr. Sambora. He’s the one I told you about who does shifts with the Para-Regs but is full-time with the local PSI branch. Just because we’re not like normal women doesn’t mean we should neglect our health.”

  “I know. I’ll get an appointment with him,” said Jessie, glancing over to find Erik and Shane watching her again. Shane’s face was red, and he avoided any real eye contact. Erik was all smiles. She grunted, knowing full well they’d heard her talk about her period. “Great. Dumb and Ass heard.”

  Meena sipped her tea again, her attention going to the men and then back to Jessie. “You have to admit they aren’t bad on the eyes.”

  Jessie snorted.

  Erik and Shane took an interest in a group of sorority girls who were in t-shirts and shorts so tiny they were barely there. That was fine by Jessie. If they were focused on women, they weren’t eavesdropping with their preternatural senses, and they weren’t listening to talk of her period.

  Jessie wrapped her hand around her latte, as she studied the men’s profiles from afar. “Yes, they’re good looking. Not the point. I don’t want them knowing my cycle, and I don’t need to be followed around nonstop.”

  “They can smell when we bleed. Gross, but true. And don’t be too sure that you don’t need them following you around. Pretty sure our argument a second ago says otherwise.” Meena’s posture suggested that she wasn’t abo
ut to drop the subject of Jessie missing days anytime soon. If roles had been reversed, Jessie would have been the same way.

  Jessie tensed. She’d thought of telling her personal bodyguards about what had happened more than once, but she knew what they’d do. They’d run straight to her father, giving him all the ammunition he’d require to take what little freedom he’d afforded her. He’d never let her out of his line of sight again. “They’re not the dream police. They can’t help.”

  “Dream police? Spill it, girl. What haven’t you told me?” asked Meena, all ears.

  Jessie took a deep breath. “Nightmares. I’ve been having them for months.”

  “Since you blacked out?” There was a look in Meena’s eyes that truly caused worry in Jessie.

  Reluctantly, Jessie nodded.

  Concern lanced Meena’s face. “What are they about?”

  “I don’t really remember much about them. It’s fuzzy when I wake up in a cold sweat. I know I’m terrified of someone or something, but I couldn’t tell you what. I do know before it all, I’d have run to Islay for help, but not now. Now I want to run to someone else. Someone I shouldn’t be thinking about at all, let alone like that.”

  Meena watched her. “Do the nightmares have anything to do with why you got your academic advisor changed from Rudy?”

  The very name made Jessie flinch. She clasped her hands under the table, out of Meena’s line of sight. Nervous energy filled her. “I know you have feelings for Rudy, but I just needed a change.”