Caught in Darkness

by Rose Wulf

  “Yes,” Seth said. “For the rest of eternity the vampires will remain connected. I’ve heard that Bonds allow the vampires to know when the other might be in danger, as well as providing a sort of internal radar that inevitably guides them back to each other. And in addition to being irreversible, it is also impossible to form subsequent Bonds with other vampires. As you can imagine, you won’t often run across a Bonded vampire.”

  “’Til death do they part,” Veronica mumbled. Her breath caught in her throat as soon as the words were past her lips. And he wants to Bond with me…. Love didn’t even seem like the right word for that commitment. “Are you sure…you want to do that?”

  The steady up-and-down rhythm of his chest stalled for a second and then his arm tightened again around her, his thumb ceasing its motions. He shifted, leaning in to her, and brought his free hand up to frame the side of her face and encourage her to meet his gaze. His dark eyes were serious and his expression brooked no argument.

  “I am,” he said firmly, “because I love you. Never, in over two hundred years, have I known a woman who’s made me feel the way you do. If there were a way for a vampire to Bond with a human I would have suggested it before you’d ever been Turned.”

  Her words were stuck in a tangle somewhere in her throat and her eyes were burning again—but for a much better reason—and she managed a small smile. “That’s the most beautiful thing anyone’s ever said to me,” she murmured. She leaned up, then, and pressed her lips firmly against his.

  She wanted to ask how long she needed to wait until she was physically ready. She wanted to tell him that she’d have said yes if he’d asked when she’d still been human. She wanted to find something even remotely as heartwarming to say back to him. But all she could do was kiss him and hope that he got the message. So she poured everything she could into the kiss, curling her arms around his shoulders as his hand slid back and tangled in her hair. And she did her best to ignore the door when it opened.

  “Could you at least have the decency to keep that in the bedroom?” Jasen grumbled irritably.

  Veronica pulled back from the kiss with extreme reluctance, finding herself actually fighting off a pout when Seth turned his attention to Jasen. But her juvenile reaction was quickly forgotten with Jasen’s next declaration.

  “We’ve got to go. Word has it Richards was spotted heading back to that old house, and someone’s following him.”

  “Anyone we know?” Seth asked, his eyes narrowing with focus.

  “Not sure,” Jasen replied. “But he’s not being too subtle. If a fight breaks out in the neighborhood police could get called.”

  Seth cursed beneath his breath and stood even as he returned his attention to Veronica. “I’m sorry; stay here and try to get a little more rest. There’s plenty of blood in the fridge.”

  “Are you sure I can’t help?” Veronica asked, disliking the idea of having to sit around at home and wonder what was happening out there.

  “You can help the most by staying inside,” Seth replied. He gave her hand a final squeeze before releasing it and turning back to Jasen. “Let’s go.”

  ****

  The neighborhood still looked peaceful on the outside, for which Seth was grateful as he and Jasen reached the edge of the property line. It was clear to their ears, however, that all was not peaceful on the inside. They had barely crossed the driveway when a loud crash echoed from the vicinity of the living room and the smell of vampire blood began wafting toward them. Without a word Jasen dashed around the house, in search of a back door, and Seth started up the steps. At least this time he was almost certain that he wouldn’t be finding Veronica on the other side of the door.

  He could hear Richards’s angry voice before he was able to lay eyes on either party. “You really think you can take me you fucking newbie?”

  “I know the truth!” an unfamiliar, slightly strained, male voice exclaimed even as Seth kicked the door shut behind him.

  Two pairs of dark, angry eyes snapped over to him—one wide with shock at the intrusion and the other narrowed with irritation. Seth took the opportunity to study the scene, noting the vampire whose name he didn’t know that was standing with his back to the heavily-covered living room window. The unfamiliar vamp was holding his opposite arm, a thin and drying stream of blood smeared beneath his hand.

  “Hunter,” Richards snarled, bearing his fangs as he spoke. There was a small dot of the other vampire’s blood on his upper lip.

  The soft click of the back door barely preceded Jasen’s responding commentary as he declared, “I’ve always found that an odd choice of name for a man who’s not an Enforcer. But that hardly matters at the moment.”

  The unknown vamp’s eyes widened again, the anger fading, and he looked between Seth and Jasen as he fearfully repeated, “E-Enforcer?”

  Richards cursed colorfully, glaring around the room. “Well this is just fucking fantastic.” His glare settled on his former opponent and he spat, “This is all your fault, you know. I’m gonna eviscerate you.”

  “That’s a big word for an oversized bully,” Jasen commented. “You sure you know what it means?”

  Ignoring Jasen’s demeaning banter, Seth turned his attention to the unknown and said, “Whoever you are, this isn’t your fight. Get out of here; we’ll deal with Richards.” The last thing they needed to deal with was a newcomer trying to make a name for themselves by taking on a seasoned murderer.

  It was quickly apparent that something Seth had said had upset him, because the vampire curled his fists at his side and declared, “You’re all idiots! That’s not Greg Richards!”

  “Boy,” Jasen growled, “you’re not impressing me.”

  Richards spun on the other vampire while Jasen was speaking, obviously incensed with his words and, exclaimed, “Quit saying that!” He punctuated his exclamation by rushing the boy, fangs bared and fist swinging.

  Seth and Jasen lunged forward simultaneously, aiming to intercept Richards before he tore out the boy’s throat. Seth managed to shove the boy back, into the window, and position himself in Richards’s path even as Jasen latched on to their foe’s elbow and yanked him unceremoniously around.

  “What are you doing?” the nameless vamp cried as Jasen grabbed Richards by the throat and hurled him bodily toward the farthest wall in the room. The younger vamp planted his foot in Seth’s spine as he added, “We can’t kill him until we get him to admit who he really is!”

  “What the fuck is your problem?” Jasen demanded, tone somewhere between bored and angry, as he turned a raised eyebrow back to the boy.

  Seth stumbled, caught off-guard by the kick, and turned to keep the other vamp in his line of sight. “We’re trying to help you,” he growled, his own temper flaring. “And trust me, we know exactly who that is.”

  “Clearly you don’t!” the vampire returned, glare unwavering.

  Richards was growling and cursing as he climbed out of the hole Jasen had helped him put in the wall. “I take it back. I’m gonna eviscerate all of you—and yes, I know what that means.”

  Seth cut a glance toward Richards, but Jasen drew his attention before he could say anything.

  “Technically Richards is your problem,” Jasen declared, a note of irritation coloring his voice. “Not that I’m not happy to slaughter him for you, but Wilson’s my real goal here.” He paused, jerked a thumb toward the boy, and added, “And he’s pissing me off. So which one do you want?”

  “This isn’t target practice,” the boy argued, “you can’t just pick and choose who you’re going to deal with—and the guy you think is Richards is mine!”

  Jasen arched a brow at the boy and said, “That was a bad idea.”

  “Jasen,” Seth called warily. Now was a bad time to have to remind him that the boy was likely more misinformed than anything, and that certainly wasn’t a justification for killing him.

  “Let the Enforcer take that brat off my hands,” Richards laughed. “I’ll be done killing you b
efore he gets back.”

  Cursing under his breath, Seth returned his attention to Richards. Like it or not he couldn’t afford to be distracted. This was the best chance he was going to get to make Richards pay for everything he’d done to Veronica. Still, there was one thing they needed to know first. “Where’re your little friends?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Richards growled. “But, at the moment, I could care less about those cowards.” He rushed forward as soon as he was done speaking, aimed straight for Seth.

  ****

  Veronica was standing in the kitchen, staring into the bottom of her glass and wishing she’d had the patience to let the blood reach room temperature before drinking it, when an idea struck her. It was possibly stupid, and Seth would surely not like it. But she just wasn’t sure she could handle pacing a hole in the floor until he returned—and she sure as hell wouldn’t be able to get any sleep. She was going to go stir-crazy if she stayed inside, waiting and worrying, and she doubted a stir-crazy vampire freshman was good for anyone.

  I’m going to do it. It was the only thing she could do, really, but she had to try to help. So she set the glass in the sink, filled it with water, and spun on her heel. After detouring to tug on her shoes and drop her cell phone in her pocket she stepped up to the door. And then she froze.

  This was the part she hadn’t necessarily thought through. She knew she couldn’t just drive over, because if anyone saw and recognized her car that could cause all sorts of problems, but that meant she was going to have to be outside. It was late afternoon/early evening, and the sun was probably starting to set, but it was still technically sunny outside. She had a hard enough time standing in front of the bathroom window with the curtain only half-open. And then, of course, there was the minor detail of all of the people she’d undoubtedly have to pass between Seth’s condo and her destination.

  And if I don’t go then I’m back to pacing a hole in his floor. And waiting. Really, it was the waiting that was liable to kill her.

  She took a deep breath, clenched and unclenched her fists, and reached for the doorknob. I can do this.

  After stepping into the open daylight Veronica immediately understood two things. First, she felt like she might quite literally be melting as the sun pelted her exposed flesh, and, second, she finally knew why vampires hissed. Hissing was just the only vocally acceptable response to that kind of pain.

  She held her position in front of the relocked door, lips drawn into a thin line as she attempted to become accustomed to the heat. Her skin was burning but, fortunately, like any other burn a lot of the pain was fading now that the initial contact was over. She still felt like she was going to need an ice bath, but after a minute she found she could breathe normally again. That was good. Okay; hurdle number one cleared.

  Hurdle number four…in progress. She ground her teeth together impatiently as the vampire guard—who, of course, was the same one as the last time she’d been there—turned and strolled leisurely down the hall. The other guard—no one she recognized—remained in front of her, silently daring her to do something stupid.

  It turned out, thankfully, that passing all of the unsuspecting humans wasn’t as difficult as she’d feared it would be. She suspected Allison’s visit had helped, in that she had an idea of what to expect in terms of her physical reaction. And she also imagined it helped that she had just fed. Never once had she gotten so distracted as to take a wrong turn or even come to a complete stop. She was unspeakably glad that she hadn’t done anything horrifying.

  What had really had her concerned, however, had actually been her plan to dash across the city. She’d never really been much of a runner and she had no idea how much energy it took to move that fast, let alone for that long. Fortunately it turned out that running at unnatural speeds was actually fun. For the couple of minutes it had taken her to get to Robert’s penthouse (partially because she’d forgotten which building it was) she found she felt strangely free—like she could do anything or go anywhere right in that moment. She hoped that feeling stuck around even after she got used to her new abilities.

  She yanked her attention forward again when the guard returned with a disappointed scowl. It took a lot of effort to keep from raising a pointed eyebrow at him or crossing her arms impatiently.

  “He’ll see you,” the guard stated plainly. “But keep the door open.”

  They both knew that hadn’t been a part of Robert’s response, but Veronica ignored it and merely nodded as she started forward. And she really hoped that she wasn’t going to get stuck dealing with him a lot in her future, because he seemed about as friendly as Jasen.

  “Ms. Wyndham, what a surprise, I—Oh.” Robert cut himself off, his eyes widening, when he realized that she wasn’t exactly what she’d been the last time he’d seen her. She certainly knew Seth hadn’t told him that detail, and only in that moment did it occur to her to hope that there wasn’t a good reason for that.

  “I’m sorry to barge in,” Veronica offered politely, hoping to distract him from thinking too much on her change in status. “I assume you know that Seth and Jasen found Richards again?”

  Robert nodded slowly from behind his desk, clearly confused. “I had heard, yes,” he replied.

  Veronica stopped just behind the guest chairs, gesturing thoughtlessly as she asked, “Are you doing anything to help?”

  “Help?”

  It took an amazing effort to keep from raising her voice as Veronica replied, “Yes, help. I know Seth told you that Tobias Wilson is even more dangerous than Richards, and it seems only logical to assume that Tobias’s brother would be at least as dangerous as Richards. Do you honestly expect the two of them to be able to handle three dangerous, murdering vampires? Don’t you think you might benefit from providing them a little backup?”

  Robert blinked at her, his expression making it clear that he wasn’t used to being talked to that way—as well as that he hadn’t, in fact, thought of sending out any backup.

  Not waiting for him to find his voice again, Veronica added, “I know you’ve lost men over this. I was there when three of them were killed and I heard about your friend. These men killed your friend. I know you must be angry about that—they killed one of mine, too, and I’m furious about it. One of them even killed my father. They have to be stopped, even if it means using a little excessive force.”

  When she paused for another breath Robert lifted one hand, palm out, in a silent request for her to stop. She calmly held back the next argument she’d been preparing to hurl at him, waiting to see how he’d react.

  ****

  Seth and Richards sprang apart, Richards stumbling and rolling into an already-damaged wall while Seth caught himself in front of the overturned couch. The front open space of the house was a shambles, the furniture tossed aside or broken and the old curtain that had covered the living room window now half-torn and dangling. The window itself was broken from when the other vampire—whose name Seth still didn’t know—had growled something and launched himself through it. He’d disappeared into the sunset with Jasen hot on his heels.

  But Seth wasn’t worried about Jasen and he didn’t have the luxury or the energy to worry about the other guy. He had his own battle to be focusing on.

  “You should’ve heard her cry,” Richards taunted as he dragged in uneven breaths, an arrogant smirk twisting his lips.

  Seth ground his teeth as he rolled his shoulder, glad that it was decently healed, and growled, “I did.” She’d cried every day since he’d been forced to Turn her, and even if some of those tears had been few and far between they had still fallen. He knew, intellectually, that it was just a part of the adjustment process. But Richards was the one who’d forced his hand. Richards was the reason she hadn’t been able to be more prepared.

  “Oh,” Richards continued as he pushed to his feet, one hand braced on the dented wall, “does that upset you?”

  “The fact that you’re still breathing upsets me,” Seth re
plied. He launched forward, then, tired of giving his enemy time to heal.

  They crashed together, both grunting from the impact, and Richards dug his thumb into an open bite wound in Seth’s side. Seth hissed, bringing one knee into Richards’s abdomen as he dropped an elbow into the back of Richards’s nearest shoulder blade. Something cracked and Richards cried out, his grip loosening. Seth used the opportunity to reach down, remove Richards’s hand from his side, and gave a tight, sharp twist. Richards threw all of his strength into his shoulder, ramming it into Seth’s chest and forcing him backwards as he pulled away, cursing in pain.

  Seth caught himself after several steps, pausing to reach down and tear off the damaged section of his shirt. It wouldn’t be particularly comfortable if the wound healed over fabric. In the space it took for him to remove the section of shirt—and for Richards to straighten his wrist—the front door burst open again, drawing both of their attention.

  Three vampires were crowding the entry, two of whom were unfamiliar males. The third, however, was someone Seth knew better than anyone else in the city. And she wasted no time in pushing past the two vampires surrounding her as she cried, “Seth!”

  What is she doing? He should have expected her to show up. She had established the very bad habit of ignoring him every time he asked her to stay. But before he could even wrap his head around the idea that she’d shown up with an entourage he realized that it was too late. Richards was already moving.

  The two vampires behind Veronica could only stare in wide-eyed shock as Richards tackled her to the floor with an angry roar. “This time you’ll stay dead!”

  Veronica cried out in startled surprise as much as pain as she crashed onto the floor, but any other sound was cut off by the hand wrapped tightly around her throat.

  Seth reacted on instinct, launching back to his feet and surging forward without even a glance to the other vampires in the room. He knew that Richards wasn’t going to stall or try to draw out her torture this time. Not saving her wasn’t an option, and that meant he couldn’t afford to wait. He had Richards’s throat in both hands in the space of a heartbeat, and a guttural cry tore from his lips as he threw his weight backwards, forcing Richards to release her before he could do any lasting damage.