Awaken the Darkness

by Dianne Duvall

Stanislav cradled her against his chest. At least the rain had washed away most of the blood.

  Regret battered him. He’d brought so much violence into her world. Hell, this was what, the third time in two days that men had tried to kill her and take Stanislav captive? The kindest thing he could do would be to get her the medical care she needed, then return her to her life and walk away. He just didn’t know if he could find the strength to do it.

  Susan curled her arms around his neck. “Don’t you dare even try,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to do it.”

  Closing his eyes, he pressed his forehead to hers. Dizziness assailed him. Eyes flying open, he struggled to right himself as he listed to one side.

  Alexei and Seth both clamped hands onto his shoulders to steady him.

  “Easy there,” Alexei cautioned.

  “Let’s get you home,” Seth murmured.

  A feeling of weightlessness engulfed him before he could warn Susan that Seth was going to teleport them. The living room around them blurred and went dark. Then Stanislav and the others stood in the bright, modern infirmary David’s large home boasted.

  “Darnell!” Seth called.

  “What just happened?” Susan blurted, gripping Stanislav tighter.

  “Seth teleported us to David’s home. David is his second-in-command and—”

  “Holy shit,” a male whispered.

  Stanislav glanced over at the man in the doorway.

  Darnell, David’s Second, stared at him with wide eyes. “Stanislav?” His brown, cleanly shaven head gleamed in the overhead lights. “We thought you were dead.”

  “Not quite,” he responded with a smile.

  Seth caught the Second’s attention. “Darnell, Stanislav needs blood and Susan needs a transfusion.”

  “Right. I’ll, uh… I’ll need her blood type.” Shaking off his shock, Darnell crossed to what appeared to be a large walk-in closet and opened a case that looked like a refrigerator.

  Alexei squeezed Stanislav’s shoulder, then gently turned him toward one of the beds in the recovery room portion of the infirmary.

  Stanislav lowered Susan onto the closest bed. “Do you know your blood type?”

  “No. I’m sorry.”

  Seth drew a phone from his back pocket and dialed a number.

  “Reordon,” a familiar male voice answered curtly.

  “I need to know the blood type of Susan Meyer,” Seth stated, his voice reflecting his confidence that the Network head could tell him as much.

  “Susan Meyer?” Chris parroted, surprise entering his voice. “From California?”

  “Yes.”

  “Just a sec.”

  Stanislav frowned. Did Chris Reordon know Susan?

  Darnell returned, carrying several bags of blood he held out to Stanislav.

  “Thank you.” Stanislav took the bags, then lowered himself to the mattress beside Susan.

  Smiling, Darnell clapped him gently on the shoulder. “It’s good to have you back.”

  Stanislav dredged up a weary smile. “It’s good to be back.”

  “Looks like she’s A negative,” he heard Chris say.

  “Excellent,” Seth replied. “Thank you.” Pocketing his phone, he turned to Darnell. “She’s A negative.”

  Susan stared at him. “Do I even want to know how you know that?”

  Darnell snorted. “Are you kidding?” He jerked a thumb toward Seth. “This guy knows everything.”

  “Smart-ass,” Seth grumbled as Darnell moved away. But he kept his eyes on Stanislav, as though he feared Stanislav would disappear again if he looked away.

  A door slammed open somewhere. The front door, by the sounds of it.

  “Seth!” a deep voice called.

  Stanislav grinned, recognizing it.

  A large dark form filled the doorway. Only an inch shorter than Seth, the powerful elder immortal boasted broad, muscled shoulders, skin as dark as midnight, and pencil-thin dreadlocks that fell to his hips. “I felt your turmoil and—” David, Seth’s second-in-command, stopped short and gaped. “Stanislav?”

  He nodded. “It’s good to see you, David.”

  An amber glow lit the elder immortal’s eyes as they filled with moisture. Sweeping forward, he drew Stanislav into a tight hug. “We searched for you,” he uttered hoarsely. “We feared you hadn’t survived but couldn’t give up hoping…”

  Stanislav clapped him on the back. “I’m sorry. I would’ve contacted you if I’d remembered you sooner.”

  David released him and stepped back with a frown.

  “He’s been in stasis,” Seth informed him.

  David stared at Stanislav intently enough for him to guess the immortal was reading his memories. “No wonder Seth couldn’t feel you.” He turned his gaze upon Susan. “I’m David. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Susan. Welcome to my home.”

  She offered him a shy smile. “Thank you. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.”

  David looked to Seth. “Do the others know?”

  “Not yet.”

  Stanislav missed whatever Seth said next because Susan distracted him by nudging him with her elbow. “What?” he asked softly.

  “Stop procrastinating and do it,” she ordered.

  He eyed her warily. “Do what?”

  She looked pointedly at the bags of blood in his lap.

  He hesitated, still not comfortable infusing himself in front of her.

  She sighed. “After all the weird things I’ve witnessed since I met you, do you really think your drinking blood out of a bag is going to scare me away?”

  “Maybe.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You stopped an SUV with your fist, Stanislav, then threw it over my head like a freaking basketball. This”—she pointed to the bags of red liquid—“is nothing.”

  “If you’re sure,” he said doubtfully.

  She smiled. “I’m sure.”

  Darnell returned with a bag of A negative and began to set up an IV for Susan while Stanislav infused himself with the bagged blood.

  Susan stared at Seth and David while Darnell worked. “How did you know my full name?” she asked Seth. “Did you read it in my thoughts?”

  He shook his head. “I knew your name as soon as I saw you. David and I cleaned up the mess in California when you were nearly abducted.” He paused. “Well, we cleaned it up with the help of Darnell, Chris Reordon, and two others: Alena Moreno and Scott Henderson.”

  Stanislav tilted his head to one side. “Who are Alena Moreno and Scott Henderson?” Were they names he should remember?

  “You don’t know them,” Seth said. “They’re the heads of the West Coast and Midwest divisions of the Network. The man Susan refers to as the monster in her memories—the one who orchestrated her attempted kidnapping—was a consultant who frequently visited the facility in which Ami was tortured.”

  Stanislav gaped. “What?”

  “When David and I rescued Ami, we razed the facility, then tied up every loose end, which led us to California and to Susan.” He offered her a faint smile. “We’re the reason they didn’t come looking for you after you moved to North Carolina.”

  “I always wondered about that,” she whispered. “I don’t think I began to relax until I’d been here for a couple of years with no sign of them. Thank you.”

  Seth nodded, then cursed suddenly. “Speaking of loose ends,” he muttered and whipped out his cell phone again.

  “Reordon,” Chris answered once more.

  “I forgot to tell you we need a cleanup. All humans. All hostiles. Six unconscious. Three dead.”

  “Where?”

  Seth dictated the address.

  “Alexei’s love nest?” Reordon asked with surprise.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. Consider it done.”

  Stanislav glanced at Alexei as Seth pocketed his phone. Seth and David did, too.

  Alexei eyed them all blankly. “What?”

  Stanislav lowered the empty blood bag he held and picked
up another. “Chris knows about your love nest as he called it.”

  Alexei’s jaw dropped. “He does?”

  The immortals nodded.

  “Damn it. That bastard knows everything. He’s as bad as you are, Seth.”

  Seth and David both laughed.

  Susan slipped her hand into Stanislav’s.

  Lowering the second empty bag, he met her gaze, so damned relieved when he found no revulsion in her eyes.

  “Feeling better?” she asked softly.

  He nodded. “You?”

  She nodded.

  “She should be fine,” Seth murmured. “But I’d like Melanie to look in on her, if that’s all right.”

  “Sounds good,” Stanislav agreed. Melanie Lipton was a phenomenal doctor. All of them continued to hope she and her fellow researchers would find a cure for the vampiric virus. Or at least some way to prevent humans infected with it from going insane.

  Seth hesitated. “She’ll probably want to examine you as well, Stanislav. She’s never met an immortal who has slipped into stasis before and will likely have a lot of questions.”

  Darnell nodded. “A lot of questions. She’ll probably want to run some tests, too.”

  “That’s fine.” Stanislav didn’t care. He just wanted to make sure Susan was all right. He looked to Seth. “Do you know why those men were after me? Why they buried me in that basement? Did you have time to read their thoughts?”

  “Yes. They knew you were immortal. The vampires who stole you learned the truth—about vampires going insane while immortals didn’t—and thought they could find in you the means of preserving their sanity.”

  “That’s all?” he asked, perplexed. If so, why had their friends continued to hunt him long after their deaths?

  “They also,” Seth added, “thought you the key to producing a fountain of youth. A serum they could sell to millionaires and billionaires who wished to remain forever young.”

  Silence fell.

  Susan broke it. “Wow. Do you know how much people would pay to get their hands on something like that?”

  Stanislav frowned. “The men who hunted me did. No wonder they refused to give up.”

  She shook her head. “But why wait so long to look for you? I mean, from what I understand, that house was vacant for at least two years before I bought it.”

  Seth sighed. “There was a lot of confusion after we blitzed the mercenary compound.”

  “Wait,” Susan interrupted. “Mercenary compound? Do you mean Shadow River? That was you?”

  “Yes.”

  She gaped at them.

  Stanislav squeezed her hand. “Shadow River got its hands on the vampiric virus and began to infect its army.”

  “Crap.”

  “Exactly.”

  Seth smiled. “Though Stanislav was severely weakened when they buried him, he used his gift to manipulate the vampires into killing each other. Due to the nature of the virus that infected them, the vampires left no bodies behind to be identified. So the men had no way of confirming that their vampire friends were dead. It took them quite some time to decide they were. It took them even longer to discover where the possessions of the vampire who lived in your house, Susan, had been sent. Took yet more time for them to plan the burglary that enabled them to get their hands on some of it and learn the package was most likely still buried in the basement. By the time they did, the new owner had installed a security system that included cameras and swiftly brought law enforcement out any time they tried to break and enter. So they waited until you purchased the house and the previous owners discontinued the security service.”

  Susan tightened her grip on Stanislav’s hand. “Sheesh. I’m glad they didn’t come back until after I got you out of that hole.”

  He raised her fingers to his lips for a kiss. “I am, too.”

  “What hole?” Darnell asked.

  While Susan told Darnell how she had found him and dug him up, Stanislav caught the sounds of doors opening below them. The sun had set less than half an hour ago, so that must be the immortals who resided in David’s home (or who had simply stayed the day) awakening and emerging from their rooms as they prepared for another night’s hunt.

  He stared at the doorway. Laughter floated up to him, male and female.

  His heart swelled with joy at hearing the voices of his friends. It had been so long.

  Suddenly a gasp in the basement silenced the others.

  “What is it?” a male asked.

  Someone raced up the staircase at preternatural speeds and skidded to a halt in the infirmary’s doorway.

  Stanislav smiled. “Hello, Lisette.” She had been Yuri’s sports-viewing buddy since their arrival in North Carolina and had often teased Stanislav about his complete disinterest in baseball. “Did I miss the World Series?”

  Susan stared at the beautiful woman in the doorway. She was a few inches taller than Susan with a slender build and long, shiny black hair pulled back into a braid. Her eyes glowed amber as they rested upon Stanislav.

  “Stanislav,” she breathed, tears welling in her eyes.

  He grinned. “In the flesh.”

  Racing forward, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “We thought you were dead,” she choked out, her words flavored with a French accent.

  Jealousy wormed its way through Susan as she watched Stanislav close his arms around the woman. Until, that was, she remembered him and Alexei both vowing that he was single and hadn’t taken a lover in years.

  Exclamations arose somewhere in the distance. A rumble sounded just before a sea of black poured through the doorway.

  Her eyes flew wide. Holy crap! She had never seen so many tall—really tall—gorgeous men in her life! All wore the dark clothing Stanislav favored and boasted black hair of various lengths along with brown eyes that lit with an amber glow when they saw him.

  As soon as Lisette stepped back, a male with longish black hair shot forward and hugged Stanislav, dragging him to his feet. Then another hugged him. And another and another, passing him around the room. All were clearly overjoyed to see him.

  And there were women, too, most significantly shorter than the males, whom they shouldered aside so they could get their own hugs in. One in particular drew Susan’s gaze. Small. Delicate. Alabaster skin and bright red hair that really stood out amid the black and dark brown hair of the others. Her green eyes sparkled with joy as she hung back with apparent shyness and watched the reunion with a smile.

  Susan stared. It’s her, she thought, shock tearing through her.

  As though feeling her gaze, the woman tilted her head to one side and looked around the room until she caught sight of Susan.

  It’s really her. I can’t believe it.

  The woman looked indecisive for a moment, then slowly approached, skirting the edge of the celebrating crowd of immortals. When she stood only a few feet away, she stopped. A long moment passed. “Do you know me?” she asked softly.

  “No, but I saw you in the mind of…” She swallowed. How could she explain it? “In the mind of a monster.”

  “She’s telepathic.” Seth spoke softly as he stepped up beside them and rested a hand on the woman’s back. His deep voice carried an accent Susan thought might be British tinged with something else. “Ami, this is Susan Meyer. A consultant who worked with the men who tortured you found out she’s a gifted one and tried to abduct her right around the time we rescued you. Susan saw you in his thoughts and memories.”

  Ami’s face paled as she returned her attention to Susan. “You did?”

  She nodded. “I can’t believe you’re alive. I mean, I can’t believe you survived that.”

  “She nearly didn’t,” Seth said, his face grim.

  Ami reached out and touched Susan’s arm. “Did he hurt you? Did they torture you, too?”

  “No. I got away.” Tears welled in her eyes as she admitted what she had refrained from mentioning to Stanislav. “But I’ve thought about you so many time
s. Thought about the suffering you endured.” She shook her head. “I’m so ashamed. I did nothing to help you. I should’ve told someone or tried to find you or…”

  Ami took her hand. “No. You couldn’t have done anything. Only Seth and David could. And they did. They saved me and made sure those men wouldn’t hurt anyone else.”

  Seth nodded. “We slew the men who tortured Ami, and anyone who was tied to them, including the ones who would’ve followed you to North Carolina.”

  Finally she knew.

  On impulse, Susan leaned forward and hugged Ami. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  Ami hugged her back, careful not to disturb the IV. “And I’m glad you managed to escape them. Thank you for bringing Stanislav back to us.”

  Seth nodded. “I am in your debt.”

  “You saved my life,” Susan protested. “And saved it again tonight. If anyone owes a debt, it’s me.”

  “No,” the Frenchwoman—Lisette—said, shouldering Seth aside. “We are all in your debt.” She wrapped her arms around Susan in a careful hug. “You returned our brother to us.”

  “But I didn’t…” Another woman hugged Susan, interrupting her. Then a man. And another man. And another. Until it seemed as though every person crammed into the room—and there had to be a couple dozen of them—embraced her and welcomed her with open arms.

  She glanced over the shoulder of the latest immortal to hug her and met Stanislav’s gaze. What’s happening here? she asked him telepathically, unable to grasp it.

  He smiled, affection softening his handsome features. They’re welcoming you into the family.

  Her heart began to pound as a set of handsome identical twins took turns bowing over her hand, then embraced her. A dozen voices spoke at once. Laughter spawned by pure joy erupted periodically. They really did seem like a great big family.

  And they might actually accept her as one of them and welcome her into the fold?

  Not might.

  Her gaze returned to Stanislav as she caught the thought.

  They’ve already accepted you into the fold. He made his slow way toward her through the throng, grinning and responding to the comments of his friends. You’re a gifted one. And you saved my life. Whatever the future may bring, you will always be one of us now. You will always be welcome here.