Dark of Night_Beautiful Monsters_Ashwood Red

by Jex Lane

  The edges of Kat’s lips broke, pulling up slightly, then faded. He had her for a moment and lost it. Still, he took a seat.

  “Is that why you’re here?” she asked. “To comfort me?”

  Darius shrugged. “If you’d let me.”

  “You going to try to fuck me too?”

  “You know I’m capable of being around others without trying to fuck them.”

  “I haven’t seen it.”

  “Fair enough.” He leaned forward. “Can you at least tell me why you told Holden to fuck off?”

  She sniffed. “Holden?”

  Damn. Darius grimaced and rubbed his forehead. He had forgotten Ashwood Red’s team leader went by a different name now. “I mean Chase.”

  She let out a single heh. “His real name is Holden? Really?”

  Darius nodded. “It’s better than Chase. I laughed for a solid ten minutes straight when he told me his hunter name. He wasn’t amused.”

  Again, a ghost of a smile crept over Kat’s face. “I don’t think he’s capable of being amused.”

  “You’re wrong. Years ago, I saw him smile. Once. Realms parted. Guardians sang. The Pit froze over.”

  Her expression dropped, and she pressed her palms against her eyes. “It was my dad. The vampire. The one they wanted me to stake.”

  Darius’ heart hurt for her. He couldn’t imagine the pain she felt. “Devil…”

  “Why would they do that to me? He could have at least warned me instead of springing it on me. I thought—” her voice hitched. “I thought he was dead. That Lock had killed him years ago.”

  Darius wanted to hold her and take away her pain. But, she wasn’t an incubus…she’d misunderstand his intent. She didn’t know how much his race touched. Incubi enjoyed being close to each other and often needed contact when in pain. He wondered how she’d react if she ever saw him kissing the Lord General’s neck—a submissive act to an older incubus, not a sexual one.

  “I had no idea he was alive either. Lock never mentioned it to me. Give me a few moments. I’ll go find out what happened. Okay?”

  Her shoulders slumped a little, and she nodded.

  Darius left the room, keeping his temper in check until he shut the door. Then he marched to Javi. “Tell Chase to get his ass over here.”

  Javi lifted his comm to his wrist. “Boss, can you meet me outside Arena Room 14?”

  A moment later Chase teleported in. He did a double take when he saw Darius. “Did you find her?”

  “She’s in there.” Javi motioned his head at the room.

  Chase looked to Darius. “Did you find out what happened?”

  “Yeah, that vamp you pulled was her dad.”

  “Chingada madre,” Javi spat out.

  Chase balled his hands. “I didn’t know.”

  “The goddess wouldn’t have been able to save you from me if I thought you had. Who assigned the vamp to you tonight?” Darius would make whoever did this pay.

  Chase shook his head. “The first thing I did when she teleported away was ask for the paperwork. It’s all sealed. General’s eyes only.”

  Darius frowned. That meant he couldn’t access it either. “Alright. Wait here.” He re-entered the room.

  Kat had a blank expression, staring at the wall.

  “Chase didn’t know.”

  “I know,” she said and tapped her ear. “I have these new kickass runes that let me hear through walls.”

  “Oh. Right.”

  She took a deep breath and tilted her head back, fighting tears. “I don’t know why I’m so upset. It’s not like it’s really my dad.”

  “I’d be upset. If it were my father…” Darius sat back in the chair. “I miss them. My parents that is.”

  “They were both incubi, weren’t they?”

  Darius placed his hands together. “Yeah. They were…commoners. Lived in suburbia among humans. Did you know that vampires don’t need to be invited into incubi homes? And my parents weren’t able to afford protection runes. But the Lord General had assured everyone in that city that they were safe. The area was fortunate enough to have regular hunter patrols.

  “But the vampires attacked anyway. Overwhelmed the hunters and killed over twenty incubi families. Mont made me watch as he ripped apart my parents. Made me watch them beg for my life. I was eight.” Darius paused and swallowed hard. “‘Tell the general none of his people are safe.’ That’s what Mont said to me before turning into bats and flying away. A few minutes later the Lord General showed up…I’d never seen a warrior incubus full form before. It was awe-inspiring. I wanted to be like him when I grew up, so that I could avenge my parents. But”—Darius motioned to his body—“turns out wishing doesn’t change genetics.”

  A warm hand covered his. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said.

  Darius relished the contact she offered. He met her eyes. It’d been so long since he’d found anyone he could talk to about this. Someone who understood. “What happened to your parents isn’t your fault either.”

  Her face flared with rage like the wildfire she was, beautiful and untamed. “Maybe not, but one day I’m going to end the bastard.”

  “I know.”

  She stood. “I need to see him.”

  Her dad. Or rather, the monster that he’d become. Before Darius could open his mouth to object she marched from the room. He trailed after her.

  “Take me to him,” she said to Chase.

  Chase’s eyes landed on Javi, who nodded, acknowledging the silent dismissal, and teleported out. Chase motioned down the hall. “This way.”

  He led Kat and Darius to a heavy-duty elevator, and the three went down a few stories.

  Stationed behind thick glass, a guard team stopped them when they exited.

  “Orders?” one of them asked through a speaker.

  “We’re going to go see a vamp I pulled earlier today,” Chase said.

  “I have to call it in,” the guard said.

  “No. Let us through,” Darius said, daring the guard to challenge him. Ashwood housed the highest population of vampire prisoners, and the guards here took their job seriously, but Darius still outranked them.

  The guard paused as if considering the consequences of disobeying a lord. The heavy door buzzed open. “Apologies, my lord.”

  The place was like a maze, concrete hall after hall, all outfitted with runes, designed to keep vampires imprisoned. They made their way to a single holding pen lined with silver bars.

  Kat’s father was the sole occupant.

  Awake.

  His eyes widened with recognition when he saw her.

  “Kat. No,” he said. “Get away from me.”

  Then something changed. The recognition turned to hate; anger. And he began to hiss at her through growing fangs. Feral, it lunged at the bars of the cage, trying to get to Kat.

  The silver burned his skin, the foul stench filled the air, but the creature didn’t seem to care about the pain.

  “He’s hurting himself. Why?” she asked. “Why does he want to kill me so badly?”

  “It’s in Vampire Hunting Manual Volume I if you had read it,” Chase said. “Turned vampires are compelled to kill their family. They can’t help it.”

  Kat removed a stake from her belt and gripped it tight. “Is he still in there somewhere?”

  “No, vampires are pure evil. Your father’s gone,” Darius said.

  “I don’t mean to contradict you, Darius, but—” Chase fell silent when Darius sneered at him.

  “Okay, now you have to tell me,” Kat said.

  Darius stopped sneering. He shouldn’t be keeping stuff from her, but vampires were everything he hated. “There are rumors that if a sire dies, the vampire no longer tries to kill its family. But he’d still be a vampire—and without a sire, a vampire his age can’t feed on humans without killing.”

  Kat watched her father pound against the bars, his skin sizzling.

  Green light flashed, and Kat appeared behind her father.
Before Darius could do anything, the vampire turned on her.

  She knocked away its claw, using her newly enhanced strength, and drove a stake into its heart. The vampire dropped to the ground, unconscious. She crouched and put her hand on his face. “I’ll kill him, Daddy,” she whispered. She teleported in front of Chase. “I told you I know how to stake a vamp.”

  Pain and anger pulsed from her and crashed into Darius so hard he almost staggered backwards before he could shut himself off from her emotions. She turned and left without giving him even a second glance. His mouth went dry as he realized that he had no place in her life. He’d been holding onto a small thread of hope that maybe she’d forgive him…want him…but she didn’t have room for anything except her desire to kill Mont.

  He had to move on.

  Later, when he got back to his room, his phone buzzed.

  A text.

  From Kat.

  Thank you.

  His heart ached.

  20

  Kat

  “You know we have Friday off?” Dawn asked Kat. The two of them had finished training for the night and teleported back to their room.

  Seeing the rest of the team after the incident with her undead-dad had been a little awkward at first, but they all seemed genuinely concerned about what had happened. Kat, for her part, had renewed vigor, soaking up everything they threw her way. And she ended every night completely exhausted.

  Kat collapsed on top of her bed, not even bothering to take off her stupid cadet uniform. No leathers for her yet, even though she had tattoos.

  “Do we?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to a party in New York, want to come?”

  “An incubus party?”

  Dawn paused while unlacing a leather strap on her arm. “Yeah.”

  Kat wondered if Darius would be there. She’d spent the past few days trying not to think of him. She needed to focus, but in the moments before drifting to sleep, he’d appear in her thoughts.

  He confused her. Normal people didn’t willingly take significant others who couldn’t be loyal to them. But normal people weren’t vampire hunters working for incubi. Normal people didn’t date monsters.

  “I don’t think he’ll be there,” Dawn said, perhaps sensing Kat’s hesitation. “He hasn’t been going to parties lately. My guess is he’ll be at Veil.”

  “Veil? Like those little metal sticks that mask us?”

  Dawn gave a smile-less chuckle. “It’s an incubus owned club down in Miami. Hunting grounds for the rich ones.”

  A few days after sleeping with Darius, Dawn had offered to talk if Kat needed it but she never pressed for any details. Kat had been thankful for that. She had the sense her roommate was struggling with her own demons. Dawn drank more than she should; she tried to hide it, but Kat found empty bottles in the trash.

  It didn’t seem to affect Dawn’s ability to fight, though.

  Kat sat up. Her eyes drifted to her nightstand where she kept the now-broken stake he’d bought her. “Tell me…if you had a chance to date an incubus, would you take it?”

  Dawn smiled. “Hell yeah I would. The ones around here are rich as fuck, and I’d get all the sex I ever wanted, and I wouldn’t even really have to work at it—they can make you come by touching you.”

  Seven times in a row if they wanted… “It doesn’t bother you that they’d still have to feed on other people?”

  Dawn removed her bracer, setting it on an armor stand in the corner and began to loosen the other one. “Nah. It’s just sex.”

  Kat lay down again. A moment later, her mattress depressed as Dawn sat on it. She ran her fingers through the end of her long red hair.

  “No relationship is perfect. There’s always some shit you have to deal with.” Dawn fell silent for a moment. “Feeding aside. Do you think you could love him?”

  No. Yes. Maybe. Everything cycled. After finding out her dad was still alive, or rather, still undead, Darius had shown up when she’d needed someone. And he understood what she was going through. But, that didn’t remove the fact he hadn’t been honest with her. Or that he needed to feed on others to survive.

  Dawn patted Kat’s leg. “You should talk to him. Maybe it’d be better if you set ground rules—I bet he’d follow every single one.”

  “What kind of ground rules?”

  “Like ‘no feeding without me’ or ‘you can only feed on men’ or—”

  “I don’t think he’s into men.”

  Dawn quietly chuckled. Her voice had a friendly quality to it that contradicted her usual bored demeanor. “Sometimes I forget you haven’t been around them much. Incubi have preferences, but they’ll fuck anything if they’re hungry enough. Or for fun. I’m pretty sure Darius has fed on males before.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Does that bother you?”

  Kat imagined Darius with a man…and found the idea kind of…hot. “Uh, I guess not any more than the idea of him sleeping with another woman. Actually, maybe it bothers me a little less. I don’t have to compare myself…if that makes sense.”

  “Yeah. You know it goes the other way also. If you wanted to sleep with someone else, he’d probably be down.”

  Kat rested an arm over her eyes. A few weeks ago she didn’t want to sleep with anyone. Period. Her life had changed so fast. She liked Darius. The pull between them was undeniable. But could that be enough? She wanted to find out.

  She sat back up. “Can I borrow some clothes on Friday?”

  Dawn smiled.

  * * *

  Kat had never been to Miami before. Parts of it reminded her of California. Well, the palm trees anyway. And the water. It was flatter though.

  “This way, Kat,” Brick said, and teleported behind a building. Kat followed after him.

  Chase wouldn’t lift the no leaving Ashwood without a buddy rule, and Dawn had already coerced Javi into going with her to that party in New York. Kat’s options were limited. She could have asked Chase, but he was solidly in the ‘thanks but no thanks’ category of people Kat wanted to spend her free time with, so she had asked Necrus. He laughed at her and turned back to his video game. Brick, who was Necrus’ roommate, offered to go with her.

  She wasn’t sure if she liked him or not. He seemed like a good guy, always around to help if someone needed something. In training, he never lost his cool, yet he always felt a little distant. Removed. Like something weighed on him. Still, she’d take that over Chase’s cold eyes.

  At least Brick cleaned up nice, wearing black slacks and a crisp white shirt that looked killer against his dark skin. Kat had opted for tight pants with heeled boots. Under her jacket she wore a short, sleeveless top that went up to her neck to hide her tattoos.

  “We’ll walk the rest of the way,” he said after they teleported behind some bushes. The Miami buildings didn’t offer many places to hide.

  “Thanks for coming with me,” Kat said as they walked down a busy, brightly lit sidewalk.

  Brick nodded.

  “You go out often?” she asked.

  He let out a baritone chuckle. “Not too much. And not usually to places with incubi.”

  “You don’t like them?”

  “The problem isn’t me liking them, it’s them liking me.”

  Kat looked up at him. God, he was huge, easily rivaling warrior incubi.

  “The succubi”—he smiled wide—“they’ll be all over me.”

  She raised an eyebrow. He was a good-looking man for sure but she hadn’t expected him to be vain.

  He glanced at her. “I used to be a feeder. A meal on demand. They have a rating system for their food, one through ten, I’m a nine, meaning I’m extra tasty.”

  Kat stopped. “You going to be okay tonight? Now I feel kind of shitty.”

  “No worries. There’re worse ways I could spend my night than having hot women toss themselves at me.” He threw a playful wink her way.

  Music pumped out of a purple-lit building that had a line going around the corner.
Kat frowned, it was going to take them forever to get in.

  “This way,” Brick said, rounding the corner and going down the side of the club. He knocked on a back door. The hairiest guy Kat had ever seen opened it. Music spilled out. The man wore a mean don’t-fuck-with-me expression. It turned friendly when he saw Brick. And he said, “Hey, man, it’s been forever.”

  The two of them did some sort of fist bumping handshake. “Yeah, they keep me busy these days.”

  The hairy man’s eyes fell to Kat. “New cadet?”

  “My new teammate, this is Kat.”

  The bouncer flicked a chin at Kat to acknowledge her, then said to Brick, “Lady Leone is here and on the prowl.”

  “Thanks for the heads up,” Brick said. He put his hand on Kat’s shoulders and guided her past the bouncer. When they were a good distance away, he leaned in to whisper, “That wolf will talk your ear off if you let him.”

  The music grew louder as they got closer to the heart of the club. “I’ll take care of your coat.” He pointed ahead. “Second floor, room 7. He’ll be there.”

  Kat shrugged off her coat and entered the main club. Packed. Humans mostly. Dawn had told her that an incubus owned the place, but the humans in here weren’t in the know. This was a hunting ground. Before she had left tonight, Chase lectured her about the dangers of exposing their world. No teleporting in the open. Or making her eyes glow green, or showing off her runes.

  She took a moment to look at the dance floor. Colored lights flashed, bodies moved, drinks flowed freely. The energy of this place made it easy to see why an incubus would like hunting here. She spotted a few hunters she recognized, all wearing street clothes, and a group of three succubi walked past her, men trailing in their wake.

  Kat made her way up a flight of packed stairs, narrowly avoiding getting alcohol splashed on her when some drunk guy stumbled past.

  At the top, there were sitting areas, and curtained hallways leading to private rooms. It wasn’t a setup she was used to seeing in a club, but this place had been built with incubi in mind. One of the halls had a label “Restricted” on one line and “Rooms 5-8” on the next.

  She opened the curtain and entered the hall only to be blocked by a wall of solid muscle.