Darkness Taunts

by Susan Illene

  Even in a haven like Fairbanks, sups hid their real identities. We couldn’t let the secret get out through a teenage drinking incident. I should have been paying closer attention, but parenting stuff was still new to me and I’d had to learn the lesson the hard way.

  “No more parties. It was too crowded the last time and I couldn’t keep up with all your friends.”

  “But Mel,” she whined. “There’s nothing to do around here in the winter and Nik says he’ll help you supervise. I went and asked him about it last night.”

  She’d talked to him before coming to me. Great. I rubbed my face. Today kept getting better and better.

  “You should have discussed it with me first,” I said. “And what were you doing at his house?”

  A guilty flush rose up her cheeks. “Well, I was bored. You went to get the pizza so I went over to his place for a few minutes.”

  We didn’t live close to town. I’d been gone for over an hour to pick up dinner and a few things from the store. “I told you not to go over there without me. It’s not safe with all the vamps and werewolves running around there.”

  “Most of them don’t know what I am and they all like me anyway. It’s you they aren’t so hot about.” She frowned. It bothered her that they didn’t accept me, but I tried to keep that problem from her as much as I could—today being a good example.

  “The point is you’re not having a party,” I said.

  Better to get her back to the original topic before this conversation degenerated. I braced myself when her eyes turned pleading again.

  “Come on, Mel. It will be fine this time. I promise.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “With my luck, it’ll be even worse than the last time. Not to mention you’ve got Nik wrapped around your little finger. You’ll probably get him to look the other way for any stunts you try to pull.”

  She gave me a pouty lip. “I won’t do anything bad. Please.”

  I stared up at the ceiling and resisted the temptation to give in. She reminded me of myself at that age. I’d been orphaned and did anything I could to make myself forget the loneliness—including drinking and partying. Emily hid it well, but I knew her mother leaving her hurt. Stephanie had been a newly turned vamp, but she should have cared more.

  She didn’t even try to take her daughter away with her when we ordered her to leave the area. She took off as soon as she found out we killed her vampire-witch boss and most of her sup friends. A few got away, but we’d let Stephanie live for Emily’s sake. Since then, the teenager refused to talk about her mom no matter how much I tried to get her to open up.

  I sighed. Life hadn’t been easy for her and I didn’t like playing the bad guy. Letting her have a party so soon after the disaster with the last one would be pushing it, though. We’d have to find something else for her to do. Chick flicks and popcorn would be much safer.

  “I’m sorry, Emily.” I shook my head. “There’s not going to be a party. Maybe this summer after you’ve had more time to learn your lesson.”

  Her eyes widened. “This summer? But that’s too far away!”

  “You’ll survive. Trust me.” Why couldn’t she go to someone else’s party? At least then I wouldn’t be responsible. For some reason she didn’t like being away from home that much. Her friends always came to our place rather than the other way around.

  “Fine,” she said, giving me the kicked puppy look.

  This wouldn’t be the last of it. She’d bring the party topic up again, but at least for now I was off the hook.

  “Oh, I almost forgot.” She dropped her backpack by the counter. “I heard Nik talking on the phone about some demon problem or something going on in Juneau. He said your name too, but he got real quiet when he saw me coming.”

  I furrowed my brows. If Nik was talking about it, there had to be something to it. He wouldn’t bother with unsubstantiated rumors.

  “You were eavesdropping on him, weren’t you?” I asked. Not that I didn’t want to know what Nik said, but I had to at least make a show of disapproval. I’d read that in one of those parenting advice guides.

  “Well, it’s not my fault if he talks loud enough for me to hear him from outside his office.”

  Uh huh. She wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t telling the whole story either. “What did he say?”

  She shrugged. “All I caught was that they might need your help to deal with it.”

  “I’m not going to Juneau,” I said. “If they come here, that’s a different story, but I’m not going out of my way to help them.”

  “That’s what I thought.” She smiled. “They shouldn’t be making you do dangerous stuff like that anyways.”

  There was a time when I loved the thrill of danger. I’d grown out of it. I had Emily to think about now and keeping up with her kept me busy enough.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll just refuse. They can’t make me do it.”

  Chapter Two

  I needed a hot shower. The temperature had begun to drop by the time Emily and I got home. Cold weather had a way of chilling my skin and seeping into my bones until I could hardly think. With the exception of my six year stint in the army, I’d always lived in sunny California where most of the time people could wear shorts in the winter and keep their tans looking great while they were at it. Not in Alaska.

  After letting the water run long enough to get hot, I stepped into the spray. It was the one time of day I truly felt warm. For a little while I could close my eyes and let myself relax where no one could see me or bother me. No judgment or accusing glares. Just peace and quiet.

  Nik owned the house where Emily and I currently lived. He’d intended to fix it up after he bought it, but a sleep spell put on him delayed his plans. Variola, a four hundred-year-old vampire-witch hybrid, had been behind that little setback.

  After I woke him from the spell, we’d worked together against Variola. He’d been the only chance I had for getting my best friend back and he needed my help to get around the vamp-witch’s magic. Once it was over, I wasn’t allowed to leave town, but I’d been adamant about getting my own place. He’d insisted on getting a crew of his minions to do what was probably the fastest remodel in history. The house was about a quarter of a mile away from his, putting it within easy reaching distance if trouble came our way.

  I had enemies out there who wanted me dead and he took his job as protector seriously. It didn’t matter that I didn’t want his help. I’d hoped to go somewhere far from all supernaturals where Emily and I could live a normal life. Nik and his powerful friends had different ideas.

  The water from the hot shower soaked into my skin. I scrubbed away the lingering scent from the troll who’d been at the shop earlier. My poor nose would never be the same. Her ickiness was probably in my hair too.

  I grabbed the shampoo bottle. It was a fancy brand that helped keep my dark auburn hair shiny. I had to order it off the Internet because no store in town carried it. There were very few things I splurged on these days, but my bath products were among them. They would be the last thing to be sacrificed if my financial situation got worse. Starting a new life in Fairbanks had eaten away at my savings and my job at Felisha’s shop didn’t make up for it all. It would help if I didn’t insist on paying rent to Nik, but I had enough supernatural debt without having to tack on more.

  Shampoo ran into my eyes when I bunched up my hair to scrub it. I started to duck my head under to rinse when an all too familiar presence flashed in behind me. Speaking of enemies lurking out there ready to take me down—this one couldn’t decide whether to kill me or keep me alive.

  I turned to confront him, but he pulled me back into his chest. His arms slid around my wet body and everything began to spin. I couldn’t think, couldn’t react. We traveled through what felt like a vortex. I couldn’t see anything with my eyes scrunched up tight, but the strong wind buffeting my skin gave me the impression of moving at warp speed. Long seconds dragged by when, without warning, the dizzying sensation stopped. O
nly the grip of his arms kept me from falling forward. The tile underneath my feet returned and the spray of hot water replaced the wind.

  My stomach roiled and my knees threatened to buckle. I had to slump against his chest to keep from losing my balance. It killed me to show any kind of weakness in front of him, but he had to have known the effect his little trick would have on me. I wanted to struggle—to knock him senseless for whatever he’d done, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. My muddled mind couldn’t even process what kind of spell he’d used or how.

  “Lucas, dammit.” The shampoo had run down my face even worse than before. It burned my eyes. “What did you do to me?”

  “Finish your shower, sensor,” he said close to my ear. His arms pulled away, but he left a steadying hand. “We’ll talk soon.”

  He let his warm fingers slide off my shoulder before flashing away. Wherever he’d gone, it was too far for me to sense. My head still spun too much to do more than concentrate on staying on my feet.

  It took a couple more minutes for the disorientation to pass. As soon as it did, I ducked my head under the water only to realize the pressure was higher than before. The direction of the water didn’t feel right either. Backing away, I opened my eyes only to close them again. No, this could not be happening. One lid at a time I reopened them.

  Black tile etched with golden swirls surrounded me on three sides with frosted glass making up the fourth. Triple shower heads jutted from the wall and a large seat took up the opposite one. It was far more extravagant than anything I’d ever been in before and large enough to fit at least three people. How had he brought me here? Lucas could move long distances by “flashing” himself wherever he wanted to go, but I was immune to magic. He shouldn’t have been able to take me anywhere.

  Focusing my senses, I sent them out to search for anyone nearby. Not a single supernatural registered. Humans had to be much closer for me to pick them up, and they had to be feeling strong emotions for me to do even that much. If any of them were around now, I couldn’t detect them.

  I jerked open the glass door to find myself in a luxurious bathroom. It had double sinks and a fancy toilet that would make me feel guilty for sullying it. Black towels hung from a golden bar attached to the wall. I grabbed one and dried my hair off before taking another to wrap around my body. It covered me from my chest to my knees.

  A comb laid by the sink, but I didn’t touch it. Instead I ran my fingers through my long hair until it didn’t stick out all over the place. A bottle of lotion sat on the counter as well. I rubbed that into my arms while thinking furiously. Lucas wouldn’t grab me and dump me here unless he wanted something. What that could be, I didn’t know.

  I decided to do a little exploring to see if I could at least figure out where he’d taken me. Maybe find a weapon while I was at it. He might have finally decided to kill me and just wanted me to sweat it out a little. I wouldn’t put it past him.

  The bathroom turned out to be attached to a bedroom. It was decorated in a completely different style. The bed was large and looked comfortable, but it had a brass frame and a patchwork quilt on it. The armoire and nightstand were antiques with tall legs and hand painted designs. Doilies and floral vases sat on top of them. Not Lucas’ taste at all.

  I sifted through a few dresser drawers and a walk-in closet. They had silk shirts, suits, slacks and other clothes reminiscent of his style, but it didn’t add up. His belongings with this furniture clashed. I walked out the bedroom door and onto a second floor landing. It overlooked the living room.

  The high walls across from me were constructed of logs. A cabin, maybe? I checked the other room upstairs and found an office. No important papers or mail sat on the desk and the drawers were locked. A floor to ceiling shelf ran along the length of one wall. It had an assortment of history books and classic novels, but nothing of interest. He either didn’t use the room much or he’d cleaned up before my arrival. I looked for a phone, or at least a phone book, but didn’t find anything.

  There were two bedrooms on the first floor. They had thick quilts on the beds, plaid curtains covering the windows, and more antique wood furniture. A full bathroom with a large tub was situated between the rooms. It’d been remodeled in a similar fashion to the first one upstairs. Cozy chairs and couches filled the living room. An unvarnished table sat in the open dining area with floral placemats set on it. The kitchen beyond it had all white cabinets with green marble counters.

  I slowly spun around, looking at the open spaces of the first floor in confusion. Whose home was this? I expected sleek and modern from Lucas or at least some darker colors and leather furniture. This looked like a place an older couple had decorated.

  What did he want and why bring me here?

  I paced back and forth. He could come back at any minute. When he did, I’d be ready for him. Well, as ready as I could be without clothes. I was tempted to grab one of his shirts from the closet, but decided I wasn’t that desperate yet. Not to mention he’d been alive for twenty-five hundred years. He must have seen thousands of naked women during that time—including me. I didn’t care what he thought of my body and refused to act like it mattered.

  Goosebumps started to pop up on my arms, despite my moving around. I went to the living room where a fire burned in the fireplace—he’d definitely planned this out. Everything was a little too staged for my liking.

  I settled down on a bear rug in front of the hearth. How stereotypical. What had he done? Stolen the cabin from some innocent couple? Maybe he’d killed them and left their bodies out in the woods for the wolves to eat. Assuming this area had wolves. It would be useful to know where he’d taken me.

  A large bay window shared part of the same wall as the fireplace. It had heavy green drapes hanging from it, but they’d been left open. I could see tiny flakes of snow falling in the moonlight—other than that, nothing but trees.

  It had been a long time since my senses had a total break from supernaturals and magic. They bombarded me so often in Fairbanks my head ached most of the time unless I took something for it. The unexpected peace and silence lulled me. I dozed off without realizing it until a flash of light penetrated my eyelids.

  Lucas appeared across the room with his back to me. I knitted my brows. What had happened to his hair? He always kept it cropped close to his head at maybe half an inch long. Now the wavy blond locks reached down to his shoulders. I hadn’t actually seen him in the shower, but he’d been over at Nik’s a few weeks ago and it was short. Could he have grown it out that fast? I didn’t think nephilim could alter their natural appearance in that short of time. At least, not without glamour, but I’d see through that and he wasn’t using it anyway.

  He still hadn’t noticed me. He held a phone in his hands and appeared to be tapping on the screen. I saw that much before he shifted his feet and blocked my view. I needed to take advantage while his attention was diverted. The fire crackling in the hearth would help cover the sounds of my movement. A nephilim’s hearing was better than a human’s but not by much.

  I stood up and grabbed an iron poker from next to the fireplace. Lucas could heal fast, and only an archangel could kill him, but he could still feel pain. I gripped my weapon and crept up behind him. My bare feet didn’t make a sound on the sturdy wood floor. Swinging as hard as I could, I slammed him over the head.

  The poker hit with an audible crack and his cell phone hit the floor.

  “Ow, what the…?” He spun around, gripping his head.

  I inched away. Maybe I should have gone for the knee cap. His skull was even harder than I thought. I’d hoped it would at least temporarily knock him out. Most sups couldn’t have taken a hit like that without going down.

  Lucas’ angry gaze locked on mine as he took a step toward me. No way did I want to find out what he’d do next. I swung at him again. He caught the end before it hit him and wrenched me forward. Grinding my teeth, I held on. He twisted it around until my fingers couldn’t take the pressure and let go.r />
  The poker went flying across the room. I flinched when it slammed into the wall with a loud bang. Shit. He was really going to kill me this time.

  We stood inches apart. There was only one way to take down a man as big and strong as him with no weapons. I kneed him in the groin. He doubled over and I ran straight for the front door. I’d rather take my chances in the snow wearing only a towel than find out what he’d do next. My bare feet skidded across the wood floor, past the dining area, and toward the entryway.

  A heavy weight slammed me from behind. Our forward momentum sent us flying before we came crashing down. My shoulder smacked into the floor. I yelped when ribbons of pain shot through me. Lucas gripped my arm and twisted me to face him. Somewhere in our scuffle, the towel got lost. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to lie there like a lamb for slaughter just because I was naked.

  I twisted my body around until my legs could get free. Keeping my left leg lying flat on one side of him, I bent my right and pushed off the floor. He tilted to the side and almost rolled over onto his back, but he caught himself and put his arms out wide. It played right into what I’d wanted him to do. I grabbed his right wrist and yanked it across my chest. Then I pivoted underneath him so one of my legs locked over his neck and the other over the top of his shoulders.

  With his arms stuck between my thighs and his head shoved down toward my crotch, I squeezed as hard as I could in a straight armbar. No mercy. If he’d been human, he’d have been screaming by now. His elbow should have felt as if it was about to snap, but his bones were too strong for me to break. All I could do was hold on tight.

  Some men might have gotten distracted by my nakedness and the compromising position, which might have worked to my advantage in this case, but he didn’t. He pulled on his arm and I grunted at the effort to keep holding him. It took every ounce of strength I had and still my grip slipped on his wrist. This was the first time I’d ever gotten the best of him, but it might be my last. He couldn’t die, but I sure as hell could.