Blade of Darkness

by Dianne Duvall

Never had he wanted a woman more.

  She burned a path down his stomach with one small hand and curled her fingers around his erection. “I want to taste you,” she whispered.

  The image of her kneeling before him and taking his cock in her mouth damned near sundered his tenuous hold on control. “Taste me later,” he ground out. “I need to be inside you.” He sucked in a breath when her fingers tightened around him, her thumb circling the sensitive crown. “I want to feel you clamp down around me and squeeze me tight when you come for me again,” he told her, every muscle tense.

  Her face flushed with renewed desire as her throat moved in a swallow. “I can go with that.”

  Aidan laughed. And realized he had never laughed during sex before.

  But all humor faded once she guided him to her entrance.

  His eyes met and held hers as he slid inside. So warm. And wet. And tight.

  She slid her arms around him as he buried himself to the hilt. “So good,” she moaned.

  Drawing back, he plunged inside again. And again. Driving into her with deep, hard, powerful strokes, angling his body to bring her the most pleasure.

  Dana lowered her hands to his ass, her nails digging in as she urged him on, her breath coming in gasps as she arched up to meet him thrust for thrust. “Harder,” she begged.

  Hell, yeah.

  The headboard of the bed began to strike the wall with rhythmic thumps, but Aidan didn’t care. He found her breast with his hand. Tried not to be too rough. But the pressure was mounting and the little cries emerging from her lips as her muscles tightened around him drove him wild.

  Flinging her head back, she called his name as she came. Her inner walls clamped down around him, pulsing and squeezing him tight. Aidan shouted with his own release as an orgasm rocked him, pleasure streaking through him and turning his blood to fire.

  Breathing hard, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

  When he rolled them to their sides, Dana slid one leg up his and draped her knee across his hip, holding him inside her body. Damp tendrils of hair clung to the sides of her pretty, flushed face. Her lovely hazel eyes held so much emotion as they met his.

  Aidan smoothed her hair back from her face and felt such love for her. How she’d changed his world, his very existence.

  She smiled.

  Did she see it? All the things he wanted to say to her but feared it might be too soon?

  Leaning forward, she pressed a light kiss to his lips, then closed her eyes and snuggled against him.

  A contentment Aidan hadn’t experienced in almost three thousand years stole over him, swiftly lulling him into sleep.

  Chapter Twelve

  Aidan awoke with a start, instantly alert, senses tingling.

  No sunlight filtered in through the drapes, letting him know it was night. They must have slept the day away… when they hadn’t been making love, that is.

  He frowned.

  Something was wrong. He could feel it.

  Careful not to wake Dana, he sat up.

  Despite the darkness, Aidan had little difficulty seeing the room around him. But nothing appeared to be out of place.

  No intruders lurked in the shadows. No hearts beat in the room, aside from his own and Dana’s.

  So what was raising the hairs on the back of his neck?

  He sent his senses exploring.

  Heather slept. Ethan slouched beside her on their bed, watching a movie, the sound turned down low. Ed was tapping away on a computer keyboard somewhere. Brodie was with him and sounded as though he was ensuring Chris had sent enough network employees over to Dana’s home to make the necessary repairs.

  The rest of the house was quiet.

  Rising, Aidan crossed to the window. Careful not to make a sound, he unlatched it and raised it enough to allow a gentle breeze to waft inside.

  Closing his eyes, he let the sounds of the night tease his ears while his nose sorted through the plethora of scents that floated on the wind.

  His eyes flew open.

  Emitting a snarl of frustration, he swung around and grabbed his discarded pants.

  Wake up Heather, he ordered Ethan telepathically as he dressed at preternatural speeds. Roland Warbrook is coming.

  “Shit!” Ethan spat in the other room.

  Exactly.

  With everything else going on, did they really need another go-around with the irascible immortal?

  Aidan leaned over the bed and drew a hand over Dana’s mussed hair. “Dana? Wake up, sweetheart.”

  She slept so deeply he had to call her name a couple more times before her eyes slowly opened to half-mast. Her lips curled into a soft smile. “Hmm?”

  “I need you to wake up, sweetheart,” he urged. “Quickly now.”

  That reached her.

  Swiftly rolling onto her back, she looked up at him with alarm. “What is it? Are vampires attacking again?”

  “No. Roland is coming.”

  Her brows slammed together. “The Roland who wants you dead?”

  “Yes. He’ll be here momentarily.”

  She sat up, face darkening with aggravation. “Well, shit. We just can’t get a break, can we?” she grumbled, throwing the covers back and rising.

  Aidan laughed.

  Dana sent him a smile full of chagrin. “I’m sorry. Now might be a good time to tell you I’m not a morning person.”

  “Nor am I,” he said with a grin. Damn, he loved her. She even appealed to him when she was grumpy. “And it isn’t morning. It’s night. Get dressed, love.”

  Dana hurried over to her bag and began yanking out clothing while Aidan tried not to let her nudity distract him.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, refocusing his attention too late to keep his body from responding. “I’m at full strength now and will have Heather and Ethan at my back. Heather matches me in both speed and strength, so Roland poses no real threat to us.”

  “You say that, but I know you and can tell you’re uneasy about his coming here.”

  “Only because—if he intends to try to kill me again—I’ll have to find a way to stop him without inflicting so much damage that it will piss off Seth.”

  “Great,” she groused as she stomped into the bathroom with a pile of clothes tucked under one arm. “Don’t worry about the nutcase who’s trying to kill you. Worry about pissing off the great and powerful Oz.” She slammed the door behind her.

  Laughing, Aidan grabbed a couple of katanas.

  The bathroom door eased open enough for Dana to poke her head out. She sent him a rueful smile. “Sorry. The whole I’m not a morning person thing might have been a bit of an understatement.”

  Closing the distance between them, he pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “You’ve gotten very little sleep in the past forty-eight hours. And I think you’re cute when you’re cranky.”

  She laughed. “Then maybe you’re the nutcase.”

  Aidan chuckled. “Get dressed. If Roland sees you looking so enchantingly disheveled, I’ll end up wanting to kill him.”

  All concern and crankiness leaving her expression, she ducked back into the bathroom.

  Still smiling, Aidan crossed to the bedroom door and opened it.

  Ethan and Heather waited in the hallway, already dressed and armed.

  Heather grinned. “I like her,” she whispered.

  “Me, too,” Ethan seconded.

  Aidan shook his head. “I’m a bit fond of her myself.”

  Heather laughed. “Just a bit, huh?”

  The three headed toward the front of the house.

  “So what do you think this is?” Ethan asked. “Is he going to try to kill you again?’

  “I have no idea, but I think it a distinct possibility.”

  “You know we have your back, right?” Ethan said.

  Heather nodded.

  Aidan smiled. “I appreciate that. But you should know that Sarah is with him.”

  Heather’s brow furrowed as she glanced at her husband
.

  Ethan’s look turned uneasy. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable fighting Sarah. Roland may be an irascible pain in everyone’s ass, but Sarah is a real sweetheart.”

  Heather nodded. “And Seth does not like fighting among the ranks.”

  Ed strolled into the room, garbed in black jeans, a black T-shirt, and scuffed black boots.

  Brodie followed in similar garb.

  “Roland and Sarah are on their way,” Aidan informed them.

  “We heard,” they said, unconcerned.

  Dana entered.

  Aidan motioned to the Seconds. “Dana, this is Brodie, my Second. You met Ed when we arrived.”

  The three exchanged hi, nice-to-meet-ya’s.

  Dana eyed the two men curiously. “You aren’t worried?”

  “Nope.” Brodie motioned to the immortals in their midst. “These guys tend to overthink things.” So saying, he held something up in one hand. An EpiPen-like auto-injector, no doubt loaded with a strong enough sedative to drop Roland in his tracks.

  Ed held up several more.

  “Oh,” Heather said. “Right. Duh.”

  When Dana opened her mouth to ask what it was, Aidan shook his head to silence her. It’s a sedative, he explained telepathically. The only one on the planet that affects us. Don’t say anything aloud so Roland won’t be forewarned.

  Ed gave each immortal two auto-injectors. One for Roland and one for Sarah.

  Aidan hoped they wouldn’t need them. Like the others, he didn’t feel comfortable fighting or tranqing Sarah.

  The immortals pocketed the auto-injectors.

  Ed turned to Dana. Reaching behind him, he produced a tranq gun. Pressing a finger to his lips to indicate a desire for silence, he moved to stand behind her and tucked the gun in the back waist of her jeans.

  She looked up at Aidan and raised her brows.

  Aidan ground his teeth and fought back… what? Jealousy?

  He did not like seeing another man touch her but supposed he would have to get used to it. If, by some miracle, all this ended well and Dana agreed to transform for him, Brodie would become her Second, too, and would touch her every time he helped her arm up for a night of hunting.

  The doorbell rang.

  All regarded each other with surprise.

  “Interesting approach,” Ethan mumbled, then opened the door.

  Roland and Sarah stood on the front porch.

  Roland looked grim as usual.

  Sarah held his hand and looked anxious.

  “Hi, guys,” Ethan greeted them cautiously. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’m here to speak with Aidan,” Roland announced, his tone revealing nothing.

  Ethan glanced over his shoulder at Aidan, then looked around the room. “Yeah. Why don’t we take this outside?”

  Probably hoping to save the furniture.

  Roland and Sarah backed away, down the front steps and onto the neatly mown lawn, allowing Ethan, Heather, and Ed to exit.

  Aidan turned to Dana. “Wait here.”

  “I don’t think so,” she said with a definite hell no inflection.

  Sighing, he exited with her, his Second following. “Brodie?”

  Brodie nodded, needing no further words, and moved to stand beside Dana.

  Aidan walked several yards away to draw Roland away from the mortals.

  Ethan and Heather moved to stand on either side of him. And damned if that didn’t make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

  “So?” Aidan asked, no aggression in his tone. He had no beef with Roland and would prefer to keep the peace.

  “Seth doesn’t believe you had anything to do with Veronica’s disappearance,” Roland pronounced.

  “Because I didn’t.”

  “Reordon believes otherwise,” Roland continued, “and has video evidence to back up his suspicions, but…” He looked down at his wife, who nodded her support. Roland met Aidan’s gaze. “I trust Seth’s judgment. So I’m here to apologize and see if I can make amends.”

  Aidan could not have been more shocked.

  Nor could Ethan, Heather, Ed, and Brodie, whose jaws dropped in astonishment.

  Dana continued to eye Roland with distrust.

  Roland glanced at Dana, then strolled over to Aidan and motioned to the long drive with a tilt of his head. “Walk with me?”

  Curious, Aidan accompanied the taciturn immortal down the driveway.

  “Stay within my sight,” Ethan ordered behind them.

  Roland sent Aidan a look of inquiry. “Because he thinks I’ll try to kill you?”

  Aidan shook his head. “Ethan is impervious to mind control and remembers every detail he sees, hears, smells, et cetera. So Seth has assigned him to be my babysitter. If I’m always within Ethan’s sight or hearing, then he can prove absolutely that it wasn’t me if another gifted one goes missing.”

  Roland nodded, his brow furrowed.

  Minutes passed as the two continued their slow stroll down the gravel driveway until they were out of earshot of Dana, Brodie, and Ed.

  “I didn’t know you were seeing someone,” Roland said, his voice low from either a reluctance to speak or a reluctance to be overheard, Aidan guessed.

  “Very few did.”

  Roland studied the landscape around them. Nothing but field and trees as far as the eye could see. “I lived alone for nine hundred years before I met Sarah.”

  Aidan nodded. He’d heard as much. Roland had lived in almost total isolation, refusing even the company and protection of a Second, having been betrayed too often in the past by those he loved and trusted most.

  “I know how wretched it can be to live that long without love and affection,” he continued. “And from what I understand, you’ve lived without it far longer.”

  Again Aidan nodded. “I have.”

  Roland shook his head. “I’m not as cold and heartless as they say I am.”

  “I know.” Aidan had seen how the dour immortal had opened his heart to Sarah and Adira and had witnessed his fierce determination to protect Sarah, Adira, Marcus, and Ami at all costs.

  Roland’s Adam’s apple rose and fell with a swallow. “I was furious when I thought you’d harmed my descendant. It took Seth a while to calm my arse down after I got back to David’s. But when he did and told me that Reordon had skewed the information because he was pissed at you about something… When Seth told me he believes you had no role in Veronica’s disappearance and that I had just outed you in front of the mortal woman you love…” He shook his head. “I felt sick.”

  Surprise stole any response Aidan would’ve made.

  “What, I asked myself, if someone had done that to me?” Roland continued. “What if Reordon or… hell, almost anyone else who knows what a surly pain in the arse I am… had scared the hell out of Sarah and turned her away from me?” He shook his head. “What if I didn’t have Sarah in my life today? What if she hadn’t chipped away at my distrust, stolen my heart, and helped me grow closer to Marcus and Ami and beautiful little Adira? What if she hadn’t made my life so much fuller in every way? What if someone had taken all that from me by frightening her away?”

  Silence reigned, broken only by the nocturnal creatures that foraged for late-night snacks.

  When Roland next looked at Aidan, remorse and self-recrimination filled his eyes. “Have I done that?” he asked with dread. “Have I stolen that from you?”

  “Roland—”

  “You put your life on the line to protect Adira last year, and now I’ve wronged you so sorely that I don’t even know how to begin to make amends.”

  Aidan sighed. “I would’ve had to tell her the truth eventually.”

  “Telling her is one thing. Shoving it in her face all at once is another.”

  It was indeed. “Didn’t Bastien pretty much shove it all in Sarah’s face?”

  Roland released a mirthless chuckle. “Yes, he did, the bastard. I believe I had one afternoon with her before he and his vampire army attacked.”


  Aidan sighed and sheathed the weapons he only then realized he still held. “Maybe that’s the way it always is for us. No slow and easy breaking of the truth. No long courtship and slow getting to know one another. Look what happened with Richart.”

  Roland nodded. “That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve wronged you.” He glanced over at Dana, who stood beside Ed, arms crossed, eyes squinted as she scowled at them through the darkness. “Dana is here with you now. Does that mean she hasn’t turned away from you?”

  “She’s here because Seth mandated it. Had he not and did a threat not remain that compels me to watch over her…” Aidan shook his head. “I don’t know what she would’ve done.” She might have instead sent him on his way, gone to bed alone and—having missed out on the hours they had just spent making love—opted to not see him again.

  “She looks pissed.”

  Aidan smiled. “Actually, that’s all for you. She’s angry about your trying to kill me and fears you may attempt to do so again.”

  Roland regarded him with something akin to hope. “Well, that’s a good sign, isn’t it? If she wanted nothing more to do with you, she wouldn’t care if I killed you.”

  Aidan nodded. “She seems to be accepting it all. Accepting me. I just don’t know if she’s willing to…”

  “Accept it all—and you—on a permanent basis?” Roland finished for him.

  “Aye.”

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No, but I thank you for offering.”

  “It’s because I’m antisocial, isn’t it? You think I’ll make things worse.”

  “No, I don’t think things can get much worse than they are now. At this point, I just have to wait and see and hope that it won’t all prove to be too much for her.”

  “Then at least let Sarah and me remain here and help guard her,” Roland insisted.

  He really did seem to want to make amends. The other immortals would be shocked.

  “As you will,” Aidan agreed.

  Roland thrust a hand toward Aidan.

  Before Aidan could shake it, a dart struck Roland in the chest.

  Roland frowned down at it. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, his knees buckled, and he sank to the ground.

  Aidan turned to the small group watching them.