Awaken the Darkness

by Dianne Duvall

  “What?” Susan asked.

  Bending down, Alexei drew a sharp dagger from inside his boot.

  Susan took a step backward, then another.

  Stanislav tensed, preparing to launch himself at the man if he so much as sneezed.

  But Alexei didn’t attempt to drive the steel blade into Susan’s chest. Nor did he pay any attention to her movement. He was too busy using the tip of the knife to pop open the protective case that had failed to shield the phone from damage.

  What’s he thinking? Stanislav asked.

  I don’t know, she responded. I can’t read him now. I’m not sure why.

  Once the case was off, Alexei dropped it and examined the back of the phone.

  His eyes widened. His heart began to race. And a maelstrom of emotions flooded him, so many that Stanislav couldn’t sort through them all and identify them. “Where did you find this?” Alexei asked, his voice thready.

  “I told you, my dog found it near my home.”

  “What’s your address?”

  Susan frowned. “I’m not giving my address to a total stranger.”

  Swearing, Alexei dropped the dagger.

  While Susan’s eyes followed the falling blade, Alexei lunged forward and grabbed her arm. “Tell me where you found this. I need to know. It’s important.”

  Still free of fear, Susan glared up at him. “Let go of me.”

  “Tell me where you found it!” he shouted, giving her a little shake. “Did you even find it? Or did you steal it from the person it belongs to?”

  Fury suffused Stanislav as he took a step forward.

  Before he could leap to her aid, Susan drew her free arm back and punched the man in the face. Ow! Shit, that hurt! she exclaimed mentally. But it didn’t stop her from delivering a wicked uppercut when the man released her arm and stumbled backward.

  Stanislav’s jaw dropped.

  She really could handle herself.

  Chapter Ten

  Susan shook her throbbing hands and kept a vigilant eye on Alexei. Punching a man hurt a lot more than she had expected it to. But at least she still felt no fear, thanks to Stanislav.

  Alexei swore foully as he brought a hand up to his jaw. Blood trailed from his nose and lips. “I’m not going to hurt you, damn it! I just need to know where you found this phone. I told you, it’s important!”

  “Why?” Susan demanded. “Who are you? Why is it so important to you?” Why couldn’t she read his thoughts? And who was Alexei to Stanislav?

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “Then I’m not telling you where I found the phone.”

  “I thought you said your dog found it,” he challenged.

  Susan cursed herself for the slipup.

  The man shook his head. “You know damned well whose phone this is, don’t you?”

  “Do you?”

  “I don’t have time for this shit,” he muttered and reached into his jacket.

  Susan backed up another step, expecting him to extract a gun. Her own was tucked in the back waistband of her jeans. She lowered her hands to her sides and prepared to grab it.

  A breeze ruffled her hair as a blur of motion swept past. Stanislav appeared between her and Alexei just as Alexei withdrew a cell phone. Grabbing the man’s hand, Stanislav yanked the phone away and crushed it in his fist as if it were aluminum foil.

  Susan’s eyes widened. Holy crap, he was strong!

  Stanislav dropped the fragments of plastic and metal and fisted a hand in Alexei’s shirt. Lifting him with one hand, he tossed the man several yards away.

  Alexei landed on the hood of his car with a grunt.

  Susan stared at him, then looked up at Stanislav. His eyes glowed bright amber. He practically vibrated with rage. And the thoughts she was able to catch showed her with vivid clarity just what he wanted to do to Alexei for threatening her.

  She swallowed. It was pretty gruesome stuff.

  Susan took a hesitant step forward. “It’s okay. He didn’t hurt me.”

  Stanislav swung toward her, his face a mask of wrath. “He put his hand on you.” His voice was low, guttural, almost bestial.

  Susan might not feel fear, but she worried that Stanislav would kill Alexei outright before they could question him further if she didn’t defuse the situation. “Yes,” she said, keeping her voice calm as she took another step toward him, “he did, right before I broke his nose.”

  Metallic thuds erupted as the man rolled off the dented hood with a groan.

  Stanislav looked toward him like a wolf scenting prey.

  Gaining his feet, Alexei put a hand to his lower back and arched it. A wince rippled across his features. “Damn it,” he groused as he looked toward them. “I—”

  Whatever complaint he intended to lodge froze in his throat. His eyes widened. His mouth fell open, revealing bloodstained teeth.

  Ah, hell. She’d gotten so used to Stanislav’s eyes glowing that she had forgotten what a shock it would be to others. How were they going to explain it away?

  As she awaited Alexei’s next move, she began to wonder if she would even have to. The man looked as though he was having a heart attack.

  All color fled his face. His breath sucked in… and just stayed there. All strength seemed to leave his legs as he staggered forward a step, then sank to one knee. He braced a hand on the ground, bent his head, and shook it as though he couldn’t believe what he had just seen. Then he looked up again. “Stanislav?” He began to breathe again in jagged huffs. It took him two tries to regain his feet. Tears welled in his eyes. “Stan?”

  Stanislav cast Susan an uncertain look.

  I don’t know, she told him. I don’t know what this is.

  Sobs erupted from Alexei, drawing her stunned gaze. Harsh and grating, they chopped up his breath as he stumbled forward.

  Stanislav drew a 9mm and aimed it at Alexei’s forehead.

  Alexei didn’t slow.

  Was he so blinded by tears that he didn’t see it?

  “Stop!” Stanislav commanded.

  Alexei didn’t seem to hear him.

  Susan rushed forward and thrust her hands out, planting them on Alexei’s hard chest to keep him from walking right into the weapon. She didn’t think Stanislav would shoot him but thought it best not to take any chances. “Stay back!”

  Alexei blinked and met her gaze. “What?” Tears rolled down his cheeks.

  “Stay back,” she advised.

  He stopped pushing against her hold and glanced from her to Stanislav.

  As soon as Alexei stopped struggling, Susan dropped her hands and backed away until her shoulder brushed Stanislav’s arm. She glanced up. Do you know him?

  Stanislav didn’t take his gaze away from Alexei. I don’t know, he replied, the thought conveying both uncertainty and anger. He seems familiar to me, but that’s all, damn it.

  Susan took no offense. She knew his anger wasn’t directed at her.

  Alexei looked at the gun, then met Stanislav’s bright eyes. “What are you doing? And where the hell have you been?” He shook his head. “We thought you were dead.”

  The grief Susan saw in his stricken features was the same she had felt upon learning of her brother’s death.

  Stanislav didn’t lower his weapon. “You know me?” he asked, his cold voice revealing none of the turmoil she knew churned inside him.

  Confusion crinkled Alexei’s tear-ravaged features. “What?”

  “Do. You. Know. Me,” Stanislav repeated, enunciating every word with cold precision.

  Alexei looked at Susan, his bafflement clear.

  “He can’t remember,” she explained.

  Don’t tell him, Stanislav bit out in her head. Don’t give him an advantage.

  The man is crying!

  That doesn’t mean he didn’t betray me. We trust no one until we know the truth.

  Alexei drew a hand down his face, scrubbing away the moisture. And as he did, the barriers in his mind weakened. “What do you mean, h
e can’t remember? He can’t remember what? Where he’s been all this time?”

  Susan gasped as jumbled and disjointed images came to her. Snippets so small they resembled photographs. Alexei and Stanislav sparring with swords. The two of them laughing with a couple of other men who looked enough like them to be their brothers. Alexei trying in vain to show Stanislav how to use an iPad. Alexei and Stanislav sitting side by side at a table with at least a dozen other men and women dressed in black. Alexei combing through the smoking remains of some building.

  Alexei motioned impatiently to Stanislav. “Why the hell are you pointing that at me?”

  Stanislav shot forward. One moment he stood beside Susan. The next he was pressing the barrel of the gun into Alexei’s neck, forcing the man’s chin up and his head back and to one side. “Because you put your hand on her,” he growled with such menace that a chill skittered down Susan’s spine.

  Alexei went very still. He stared at Stanislav from the corners of wide eyes for a long moment, then slowly raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. “Okay,” he said in a calm, take-it-easy voice. “I can see now that was a mistake.”

  “You’re damned right it was,” Stanislav snapped.

  Alexei looked to Susan. “When you say he can’t remember…”

  “I mean he can’t remember what happened to him. He can’t remember you. He can’t remember his past. He can’t remember anything that happened before I found him a few days ago.”

  “Susan,” Stanislav warned.

  He’s on your side. I can see you in his memories now.

  If he’s on my side, then why didn’t he come looking for me?

  She couldn’t find the answer in Alexei’s mind before it closed to her once more. I don’t know. Maybe he really believed you were dead.

  The little bit of color that had begun to creep back into Alexei’s features fled once more. He looked up at Stanislav. “Seriously? You can’t remember your past? At all?”

  Stanislav said nothing.

  “Shit.” Alexei lowered his voice. “But you remember what you are, right? I mean, you remember you’re”—his gaze strayed to Susan momentarily, then returned to Stanislav—“different? You remember your… um… idiosyncrasies, right?”

  Something resembling a snort emerged from Stanislav, a laugh he tried to bite back but couldn’t. “Idiosyncrasies?”

  “Yyyyyeah.” Again he shot Susan a glance, then lowered his voice even more. “Does she know what you are?”

  The fact that Alexei was trying not to out him in front of her was a good sign, wasn’t it?

  Stanislav must have thought so, because he lowered the gun and took a step back. “Hell, I don’t even know what I am,” he admitted with disgust.

  Alexei shook his head. “How is that possible?”

  When Stanislav didn’t answer, Susan turned to Alexei. “How do you know Stanislav?”

  “I’m his Second.”

  “His second what?”

  He swore. “I’m his second… cousin.”

  Susan frowned. Yeah, right. And I’m his Aunt Mable. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. He’s my best friend. He’s like a brother to me.”

  Stanislav scrutinized him carefully, his sharp eyes still glowing amber.

  “What?” Alexei questioned defensively.

  Tilting his head back, Stanislav drew in a deep breath and held it, nostrils flaring. A low growl rumbled in his throat. “Like a brother?” he parroted. “And not above committing a little fratricide apparently.”

  Alexei stiffened. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Two SUVs approach swiftly from the west, carrying at least seven or eight men.”

  Alexei’s scowl deepened. “Are they hunting you?”

  His voice rife with sarcasm, Stanislav replied, “Since they reek of gun oil, I’ll go out on a limb and say yes. But I’m sure you already knew that.”

  “I didn’t lead those men to you!”

  “Then who did?”

  “Hell if I know. I’ve only been here five minutes, and you took away my only means of finding out.”

  “You could’ve texted them as you arrived.”

  Now Alexei growled. “I didn’t. You would’ve heard it if I had.”

  When Stanislav didn’t point out that no one could’ve heard him text someone while he was still in his car with the windows up and the engine running, Susan frowned. Alexei hadn’t said it sarcastically. Did he believe Stanislav had some kind of heightened sense of hearing?

  Wait. How did Stanislav know two SUVs were approaching? She couldn’t hear a thing.

  “Look,” Alexei said, “I don’t know how they found you. But if you give me a phone, I can take care of it.” He held out a hand.

  Neither Susan nor Stanislav moved to comply.

  Alexei looked as though a vessel were about to burst in his head. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! I’m on your side, Stan! If you’d just trust me and give me a phone, I can make one call and we’ll be out of here and safe within seconds.”

  As the silence stretched, Susan finally heard the SUVs and caught sight of them approaching in the distance. Like Stanislav, she didn’t know how the men the vehicles carried could have possibly found them unless Alexei had given them up.

  “Let’s just go,” she urged Stanislav.

  A pop sounded.

  Pain whipped through her left arm.

  Crying out, she clamped a hand over her biceps. Warm blood seeped into her sleeve beneath her hand, the stain spreading and painting her fingers as they all stared at it.

  Stanislav’s eyes flashed as bright as the sun. Roaring in fury, he raced past her in a blur.

  Susan’s head snapped around. Holy crap, he was fast! Like as fast as the Flash. She tried to follow his progress but lost sight of him until the lead SUV swung into the parking lot.

  The front of it abruptly crumpled as though it had struck a tree and dipped low as Stanislav appeared, crouched down, one fist on the SUV’s hood where he had struck it. The back of the vehicle kept going, flying up. And as it did, Stanislav grabbed the bent-all-to-hell front bumper and rose, thrusting upward.

  Susan’s eyes widened as the SUV flew into the air, flipping over and over as it came toward her. Front bumper. Back bumper. Front bumper. Back bumper. Bodies rolling around inside it as masculine cries split the air.

  Alexei swore and tackled her, taking her down to the ground as the SUV flew overhead.

  Her palms and elbows burned as gravel abraded them.

  A crash sounded when the SUV landed somewhere behind them, sending a vibration through the ground.

  Brakes squealed.

  The other SUV screeching to a halt?

  Gunfire erupted. A lot of it.

  Alexei grabbed her around the waist, yanked her up, and shoved her behind his car. “Stay down!”

  Susan plopped down on her butt, her back pressed against the front tire. Her heart galloped in her chest. Her breath shortened.

  The fear Stanislav had been keeping at bay for her returned with a vengeance now that he was too distracted to use his gift to help her. He had stopped that SUV with his fist. He had stopped it and thrown it into the freaking air!

  She stared at the crumpled mess the vehicle had become. Blood spattered the front windshield, which now bore a spiderweb of cracks. A body thrown by the crash lay in a heap ten yards away from it, limbs bent at unnatural angles. Two more bodies hung halfway out the driver’s window and the window behind it.

  All appeared to be dead.

  What the hell was Stanislav that he could do that? That he could lift a six-thousand-pound vehicle and effortlessly toss it over his head?

  Gunshots erupted only a foot away.

  Jumping, she looked to her right.

  Alexei knelt beside her, keeping his head low and firing a 9mm over the hood of the car.

  Concern snapped her out of whatever funk shock had wrapped around her. Scrambling onto her knees, she drew her 9mm from the back wais
t of her pants and prepared to shoot Alexei if he fired at Stanislav. No way in hell would she let him kill Stanislav while he was distracted by however many enemies had been in that second SUV.

  She raised her head enough to peer over the hood.

  His face a mask of rage, Stanislav yanked a man up as though he were as light as a beach ball and slammed him down to the ground. Blood spurted from Stanislav’s back as a second man fired on him from the cover of the undamaged SUV.

  “No!” Susan shifted her aim.

  Alexei’s gun barked bullets before she could squeeze the trigger.

  The second man screamed and dropped to the ground where he writhed in pain.

  Susan gaped at Alexei. He was targeting the men from the SUV.

  As she glanced back at Stanislav, he jerked. Blood burst from his thigh.

  “Damn it! Why isn’t he using his swords?” Alexei snapped.

  “What swords?” Susan shouted over the din as she tried to locate the shooter. “Why isn’t he using the 9mms I gave him?”

  Alexei spat more epithets. Setting his gun on the dirt beside him, he reached into his jacket. “Because guns aren’t his weapon of choice.” Withdrawing a dagger, he bellowed, “Stan!” and tossed it into the air. Then tossed another and another and, to Susan, didn’t even seem to be aiming them at anything.

  Stanislav raced past. He moved so swiftly Susan had a hard time tracking him. But each dagger Alexei tossed disappeared as the blur that was Stanislav came abreast of it.

  Bullets slammed into the Tesla. Susan ducked back down behind it as projectiles burst through the driver’s door mere feet away. When they stopped, she risked another peek over the hood.

  The man firing at them cried out as a dagger buried itself in his chest. Another man yelped when a dagger found his heart. Then another and another until all of them were down.

  The gunfire ceased.

  Stanislav appeared in front of Alexei’s car. His breath came in gasps. Blood trailed from his mouth and glistened on his clothing. His shirt bore so many holes that Susan didn’t know how he remained on his feet.

  Silence fell, though her ears continued to ring from the gunshots.

  “Susan?” Stanislav sought her out with his fiery gaze.