Eternal Hearts (A Darkness Within)

by Jennifer Turner

  “Drake is…Drake. He’s pissed because he’s in trouble, and even more because he loves her.”

  Clint choked on his coffee. “What do you mean he loves her?”

  “Drake loves her. There’s nothing else to say. It’s really not complicated. Well, it’s love and for some reason love always seems to be complicated, but the fact that he loves her isn’t.”

  “So if the contract is over, what’s the problem then?” Clint asked as he leaned forward and set his mug on the table. “Isn’t he allowed to be around her now?”

  Derek shook his head. “He broke the rules, Clint. He touched her while the contract was still in place. Then he told her he had a contract on her because she overheard him talking to Brick and thought he was going to kill her. And when they got into an argument about it, he damn near told her about The Organization.”

  Clint rolled his eyes. “So what if he told her? She already knew Oktober was an assassin, and I told her that him and Drake were friends. It wouldn’t have taken her long to connect the dots.”

  “How did she know about Oktober?” Derek asked as he sat up straighter. “Wait, you told her that Tober and Drake are friends? Why the hell would you do that?”

  “Because she deserved to know the truth.”

  “I can’t believe you told her,” Derek said, looking more than just slightly appalled. But then all at once, his eyes went as wide as the room. “You’re the reason they got in the argument. You do realize Drake’s in serious trouble over all this, right?” He jabbed a finger in Clint’s direction. “Damn it, Clint! If you’d have kept your mouth shut and let Drake tell her when he was ready, he wouldn’t be hip deep in the shit he’s in right now.”

  Clint narrowed his eyes. He felt bad enough as it was. All he’d meant to do was to save Toni the heartache of finding out later. “How much trouble could Drake possibly be in? It’s not like Crypt can do anything to him, the kid’s damn near indestructible.”

  Derek’s laughter sent an uneasy slither across Clint’s skin. “Thanks to your interference, Crypt ordered him to leave her. He wants to make sure it’s not a phase for Drake, and that he doesn’t tell her anything else. Crypt’s just trying to protect The Organization. Apparently, he should’ve worried less about Drake and more about your big fat mouth.”

  “He doesn’t need to worry about my fat mouth,” Clint snapped. “I don’t answer to him.” He poked at the air in front of Derek’s face. “This, right here, is why I refused to get caught up in that piece of shit you call an organization.”

  “That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t change the fact that I run it in Chicago, or that I still have rules to follow. Did you ever stop to think about how much trouble you were causing for me? Or were you so caught up in playing daddy that you didn’t think through just how much effect your cause would have this time?”

  Clint ignored the question, focusing instead on a much bigger problem. “Who’s going to keep an eye on Toni during the investigation if Drake isn’t with her?”

  Derek sank back into the cushions and tipped his head sideways. “Nobody is. Thanks to you, she’s on her own now.”

  Clint leaned forward. “What do you mean she’s on her own? I sat back and agreed to let her be put on this investigation because I knew she could get the job done. You said you were going to make sure she didn’t get hurt, Derek. You said Drake would be with her!”

  “This is the game, Clint. As Ancient’s, we know what’s going on but we don’t get directly involved. And when I set specific plans in motion, then someone comes along and interferes by sharing pertinent pieces of information that they aren’t supposed to share...that someone doesn’t exactly leave me with many options.”

  “I hate this bullshit, you know that right?”

  “I know, I know,” Derek grumbled. “You don’t like the politics, you don’t like the games. You just wanna sit here all night hitting on women or talking to Jacob and Martin. But it’s not about you, Clint, or your complete and utter inability to follow any kind of rules. This is the way it is, the way it’s always been, and the way it’ll always be. There’s nothing you can do about it. When are you finally going to realize that it can’t always be Clint’s way or the highway?”

  Clint stood up when waves of blood washed over the room. Derek’s flippant tone strained his patience, taunting the devil inside him. “You wanna play this game, Derek?” He stared down at his friend. “Then count me in.”

  Derek’s eyes went wide yet again. “You can’t go help Toni with the investigation, Clint. Do you know how much respect you’ll lose if you go beating the streets with her?”

  Clint rolled his eyes. Sometimes Derek’s propensity to jump to conclusions irritated him even more. “I’m not going to beat the streets with her. But I am going to make sure she has some help since Drake won’t be with her.”

  “Just don’t color outside the lines on this one, okay?” Derek said, concern creasing his blond brow. “We both know you have a tendency to get a little crazy.”

  “I know the game, Derek. And while I don’t necessarily think what you’re doing is wrong, I’m not about to sit back and watch her try to do this alone. She could very well get herself killed this time. Besides, it’s time she knew the truth anyway.” Having said his peace, Clint turned and headed for the front door. But what he didn’t see as he walked away was the slow, knowing smile that stretched across his best friend’s face.

  ***

  Toni couldn’t help but to laugh as Drake leaned back and banged his head on the refrigerator. There wasn’t a piece of furniture, wall, or window she could look at now without blushing. And she had absolutely no idea how she was going to explain the cracked tiles in the stand-up shower.

  She felt happily sore, and definitely well spent. All she wanted now was to put the blankets and pillows back on the bed and lay down. She smiled as she realized that for the first time in her life, the kitchen floor was not a comfortable place to lie down.

  She watched Drake’s sculpted muscles flex and ripple when he stood up next to her. She didn’t have an ounce of energy left, and he was smiling down at her like he was ready to go for round…hell, she didn’t even know what round they were on.

  “No, I can’t do it anymore,” she groaned as he picked her up. She pouted then pointed between her legs. “I think you broke her.”

  He kicked his head back and laughed. “She’s not broken, she just needs a rest.” He dropped a kiss on her nose. “Besides, I thought I’d put you on the chair then remake the bed for you.”

  “That would be a good thing.”

  After setting her gently in one of the recliners, Toni watched with no small amount of interest as he moved to make the bed.

  His nose wrinkled in a most attractive way as he curiously stared down at the nightstand. “Um, do you have any idea what happened to the phone?”

  “I’m pretty sure we knocked it under the bed.”

  He knelt down on the floor. “I think you’re right.”

  She sucked in an appreciative breath and smiled. She should be embarrassed by what they’d just done, but she wasn’t. And watching Drake crawl around naked on the floor certainly wasn’t helping her calm down. She closed her eyes and forced herself not to watch the spectacularly naked man making the bed.

  She listened, finding more comfort than she ever thought she would in the whisper of sheets sliding against each other, and the thumping of pillows landing on the bed.

  “All right, I think it’s whole again,” Drake laughed.

  Toni wrapped an arm around his neck when he picked her up, and didn’t let go until he’d snuggled in next to her. After she’d returned the gesture by nuzzling under his chin, she realized they’d been so busy with the naked part of their evening that they hadn’t gotten to the other part. She concentrated on her fangs then dragged them down his throat.

  Drake growled as the sharp tips of Toni’s fangs stirred the beasts inside him. When his own broke free in response, he qui
ckly returned the favor.

  They moaned in unison when, for the second time in as many days, their souls intertwined in a timeless gesture of love and trust.

  Completely lost in each other, it wasn’t until Drake felt Toni fall asleep that he carefully slid his fangs from her neck then healed her wound. After doing the same for himself, he gently rolled over with her. He held her in his arms for a few long minutes before he kissed her one last time then slid out of bed.

  As much as he wanted to stay, he knew if he was still there when she woke up he’d never be able to leave her.

  He reluctantly recalled his clothes, but left an extra shirt next to her on the bed before he stepped away. He couldn’t help but to stare down at her peaceful face. Their souls had been joined for almost two hours, and he felt her inside him now as though they’d never been apart.

  He turned away from the bed, hoping the feeling would last until Derek talked to Crypt, at the very least. It was bad enough he wouldn’t be able to see her, but not being able to sense her in his blood would be even worse.

  As Drake quietly opened the hotel room door, he knew with more certainty than he’d ever felt before that leaving Toni was the hardest decision he’d ever have to make.

  Chapter 18

  Drake stepped onto the sidewalk outside the hotel’s front lobby with a heavy heart. As crazy as the notion was, he missed Toni already, and really hoped Derek would be talking to Crypt soon. Having never been forced to wait for someone else to make a decision regarding his fate, he sucked in a few deep breaths and did his best to remain as calm as possible.

  He frowned as he jogged across the street. Even though he wanted to, charging into Derek’s office and punching him in the eye probably wouldn’t garner the most desired results. And again, as much as he might want to…neither would showing up on Crypt’s doorstep and tearing off his sword arm. No, this time he had to play by the rules – because this time what he stood to lose was the most important thing he’d ever had.

  And she was the only topic he could focus on as he walked to Grey’s.

  After catching sight of the massive line forming outside the front doors of his favorite coffeehouse, Drake veered off course in favor of going somewhere else. He liked people, he really did, but sometimes the caffeine junkies waiting in line at Grey’s were just a little too much.

  “There’s my favorite Big Sexy Man Beast!”

  Drake stopped when a very familiar whisky feminine voice filled his ears, and probably deafened nearly every other non-supernatural creature walking down the sidewalk. He immediately looked up at the buildings lining the street. He was in Chicago right? He hadn’t accidently teleported to New York, had he? Once the names on the buildings assured him that he was still very much in Chi-Town, he turned around and searched for the neon spikes of hair that were usually attached to that particular voice.

  It didn’t take him long to find Raze as she pushed through the crowd he’d tried so hard to avoid, a Grey’s to-go cup in one hand, Jacob’s belt loop in the other.

  “Drake! Wait up.” She burst into a full sprint towards him, dragging what appeared to be a rather irritated Jacob with her. “I need some company who isn’t going to groan or grimace or grumble…or do any other G-word you can think of while I’m talking.”

  “I wasn’t grumbling,” Jacob snapped.

  “Yes, you were,” Raze said as she came to a stop in front of Drake. She shot Jacob a nasty sideways glare. “You are just one grumpy old bastard sometimes, you know that?”

  Jacob nodded at him. “Good morning, Drake.” He then turned and smacked Raze’s hand away from his belt. “I have no problem keeping you company, Ekaterina. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to do so from my very comfortable seat at Grey’s.”

  She rolled her signature violet eyes. “Fine. I’ll be there in a bit.”

  He pinned Drake with a bored stare. “I assure you, Mr. Black, I shall be counting the seconds with baited breath until I’m graced with her divine presence once more.”

  Drake couldn’t help but to laugh when Jacob spun on his heel and walked away, leaving Raze’s mouth gaping open. “I think your Mentor just told you to go fuck yourself.”

  “Yeah,” she sighed. “Like I said, some days he’s just a grumpy little bitch.” She beamed a rather amused smile. “But fancy meeting you here.”

  He chuckled. “I was just thinking the same about you. What are you doing outside of New York?”

  Her nose wrinkled as she stuck out her pierced tongue. “I got a petition for assistance from Roman, so I thought I’d show up early and enjoy the frigid lake breeze for the next eight hours or so.”

  “Roman? The library guy?” When she nodded, Drake arched a brow. If he remembered correctly, Roman was an Ancient Warrior, who rarely ever left his library, let alone sent letters to neighboring cities for help. “He needs your assistance? What the hell for?”

  She shrugged before she started walking again. “I have no idea. But he said in his letter that the matter was of the utmost importance and needed my full and immediate attention. And you know I can’t resist the allure of big…formal…words.” She rubbed her teeth together then growled the last word.

  Drake burst out laughing. Raze’s sense of humor was second only to Odin’s, but considering she worked as the Head of Enforcement for Odin’s twin brother, Kerestyan, who happened to be the Lord of New York, he wasn’t really surprised. No doubt, she probably spent a lot of time around Odin whether she liked it or not.

  “So what’s going on with you?” she asked. “You just out for a morning…” Her words trailed off as she sniffed at the air. “What the hell is that?” She wiggled her nose as she moved closer to him, drawing in short bursts of air then blowing them out again. “It’s you! You smell like double the vampire, double the fun...not to mention a whole bunch a fangtastic sex. What the hell?”

  Drake fisted his hands. He should have taken a shower before he left the hotel. Then again, he hadn’t exactly expected to run into Raze, considering she rarely left her post in New York. “I, well…I guess you could say—”

  “Oh, for Aligon’s sake, just spit it out already.”

  “Okay. I met someone.”

  She arched a brow, replete with three barbell piercings. “A fanged someone? A fanged someone who you got unbelievably kinky with then sucked on for a lot longer than you probably should have?”

  “Yeah, I guess you could put it that way.”

  “I thought you didn’t do that kind of dirty.”

  He raised his hands, palms up. “I usually don’t, but I made an exception for her.”

  “Ooh…do you love her?”

  “Yes.”

  Raze jumped and nearly dropped her coffee. “Holy shit, Drake! I was just kidding when I asked…but are you serious? I mean, are you like serious, serious?”

  He nodded. “I really am. I’ve never met anyone like her, and truth be told, I can’t imagine…well, I shouldn’t say that because I could, but I’d rather not imagine my life without her in it.”

  “Oh, Drake…” She alternated stomping her chrome-toed leather Goth boots against the pavement before she threw her arms around his neck. “I’m so happy for you! After what happened with that…that whore who shall remain nameless, I wasn’t sure you’d ever give someone else a chance.” She squeezed him even tighter. “But you did, and that’s just so awesome! You so deserve some happiness in your life.”

  He smiled as he patted her back. “Thanks, Raze.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said as she pulled away and looked up at him. “So how long have you known her? What’s her name? How old is she? What family is she from? Wait. She’s not a Mystic is she, because you know you can’t trust those bitches, right? Come on, man…details, details!”

  “No, she’s not a Mystic. I’ve only known her for a few days. Her name is Toni. She’s a Fledgling. And she’s a Warrior. She’s also beautiful, smart…and more human than vampire.”

  “Nice! I love i
t when the young ones hold on to their morals. Of course, I’d love it even more if they actually kept them when they became Elders…but that’s neither here nor there.” She tipped her head to the side and made a clicking sound with her teeth. “And you know what they say about the Warrior’s, don’t you?”

  “Maybe.” He’d heard a lot of rumors about the Warrior lineage over the years, some good, some not so much. “I suppose it depends on what ‘they’ you’re talking about.”

  “Warriors fight with everything they have,” she sighed as she clutched her free hand to her chest, “and they love with just as much fervor.” She broke into another wide grin. “Which means they’ll snap and kick your ass in a heartbeat if you piss them off, but they’ll knock your socks off between the sheets.”

  “And you know this from personal experience?”

  She screwed up her face. “Oh, hell, no. Sleeping with the undead pretty much flies in the face of my job description, don’t cha think?”

  Drake smiled at her. He really couldn’t argue her point. As a Paladin, her life’s work entailed protecting humanity from vampires and werewolves. So getting involved with one in anything more than a friendship capacity probably wasn’t the best idea for her. “You make a good point.”

  “If you really pay attention, you’ll find that I often do.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  She took a sip of coffee then pulled the lapels of her black, opera style long coat tighter around her neck. “So what does Odin think of Miss Toni? Has he driven her crazy like he does the rest of us yet?”

  Drake shook his head. “Nope. He hasn’t even met her yet.”

  Raze couldn’t have looked any more shocked if he’d actually tried. “What? Why not? Is something wrong? Have you not seen him lately?” She rolled her eyes and let out a loud groan. “Don’t tell me he was messing around in the Bermuda Triangle again. I swear to Aligon, Drake, I am so not gonna pull his ass outta there again.”

  After Drake managed to finish laughing at the memory Raze had drudged up, he drew in a deep calming breath. “Don’t worry, I just saw him the other night. We were doing the pizza and beer thing downtown while we were waiting for Jake to show up with my last contract.”