by Greg Howard
Cooper tightened his grip around the cold metal of the flashlight. “Who are you? What the hell are you doing out here in the middle of the night?”
The man smirked confidently, his lips sinuous. “Cooper Causey. So glad you came.” His rich, thick voice oozed out of his mouth.
The shock of hearing his own name fall from the stranger’s mouth so casually sparked alarm in Cooper’s gut.
He moved again to his left, drawing the man’s face into the full glow of the moon. “How do you know my name?”
The man eased his hands into his pockets. “Didn’t take you long.” He stepped to his right, opposite the direction in which Cooper inched, like two boxers circling each other.
The stranger closed his eyes, sniffed the air, and smiled. “My God, you smell amazing. Like honey and cinnamon.” His eyes fluttered back open. “I am glad you got my message.”
Cooper stopped moving, not sure he heard correctly. “And what message is that?”
The stranger crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “At Phipps House. In the Bible.”
Heat flooded Cooper’s face. He squared his shoulders, gritted his teeth, and wielded the dead flashlight like a club. “Where the hell is my grandmother? I swear to God, if she has so much as one scratch on her—”
“Ah. Lillie Mae,” the young man said with a smirk. “What a difficult creature she is. Always has been, really. Seems she’s done a good job of shielding you all these years, with her enchantments.” The man raised his hands in front of his face and shook them in mock fear.
Enchantments? Cooper had no idea what the guy meant, but it didn’t matter. The police could sort it out. He fished his phone out of his pocket and unlocked the home screen with the swipe of a thumb. No bars. He adjusted his grip on the flashlight. It would have to do.
The man curled his lips into a smile. “Calm down, little witch.”
Cooper glared at him, the odd moniker singeing his ears.
The stranger raised his eyebrows as he took another step forward, now only ten feet away and blocking Cooper’s path to the kitchen house. “Oh. I see. You didn’t know that you and your dear old grandmother shared the same peculiar skill set, did you? Thought you were the only one in the world? Now that seems a just a tad self-absorbed, doesn’t it?” A pompous chuckle escaped the man’s plump lips. “Divinum. What a funny lot you are.”
Cooper’s head throbbed. Something was wrong, like his brain shared the space with a foreign tenant.
The man sighed and clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “Lillie Mae, Lillie Mae. She really should have done a better job of educating you. All that potential. All those years, just wasted.”
Cooper put a hand to his forehead and rubbed his temples. The intruder in his mind was as real as the man standing in front of him, rummaging through his memories, excavating every thought like lost treasure. It was the stranger. Somehow the freak was inside his head.
He raised the flashlight and took a bold step forward. “Where is she? If you don’t take me to her right now—”
“You’ll what?” The stranger glided forward, breaking up the mist in his path, his eyes as cold as the night itself. “You don’t even know what you are, much less how to use all that power bottled up inside you.”
Cooper stepped back and dropped the flashlight. He opened his palms and raised them at his sides. It was instinct because he didn’t know what the hell he planned to do next. The pestilent nature deep inside him rumbled. Percolated in his veins and coursed down his arms. Another second or two, and he wouldn’t be able to stop it.
The man raised a hand in the air. “There now. No need for theatrics, little witch.”
Cooper took a step forward and flexed his throbbing fingers. He teetered on the perilous edge between control and complete chaos. What else could he do but tempt a dangerous fate? This shit-bag had Lillie Mae. He was sure of it now.
He channeled all his worry, all his fear, and all his anger into his hands. “Take me to her now. I won’t ask again.”
A scowl spread across the stranger’s too-perfect face, and he lifted his eyebrow. His nostrils flared and he moved closer, closing the distance between them. “If you ever want to see her again, you will take a deep breath and calm the fuck down.”
Cooper stared the man down, their breath small billowy clouds of condensation mingling in the frosty air between them. The standoff lasted only a few seconds, and then the man’s lips tightened and curled up on one side. The smooth skin of his face twisted and melted like soft butter.
Cooper edged back, heart racing and chest expanding. He blinked his eyes, hoping to dispel the impossible illusion.
The man’s face morphed back into human shape, taking a new form that Cooper knew all too well. Trevor’s.
Cooper stumbled backward, a gasp of chilled breath lodged in his throat. He forced himself to look away. It couldn’t be real—a trick of the light or his sleep-deprived mind playing tricks on him. That’s all.
After a couple of deep breaths, he dared to look back. Trevor stood before him, dressed in his high school football uniform, holding his helmet at his side. He looked exactly the way Cooper remembered him that night, ten years ago. Curly blond hair, bottomless blue eyes, smooth sun-soaked skin—he hadn’t aged a day. Trevor stared at him, the corners of his lips edging down, his dead eyes locked and loaded. Logic told Cooper that it wasn’t real. It could not possibly be Trevor. But logic quickly slipped away.
“Well, isn’t this rich?” The words came out of Trevor’s mouth, but it wasn’t the deep baritone voice he remembered. It was the stranger’s voice. “What a naughty little witch you have been.”
Cooper slowly raised his hands in front of him, his muscles petrifying under his skin. But the innocence in Trevor’s trusting eyes transfixed him, dispelling the dark energy solidifying in his veins.
“And he was so beautiful, too. Pity your dark side got the better of you.” The face twisted and churned again, morphing back into its original form. Trevor was gone, and the young stranger once again stood before him.
Cooper shook his head, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. The stranger stood nose to nose with him, his breath icy and wet on Cooper’s cheeks.
“Now, would you like to see Lillie Mae, or would you rather play judge, jury, and executioner with me like you did with young Trevor?”
Cooper couldn’t think straight. Couldn’t make sense of what he’d just seen. Maybe the guy was like him. Maybe he was something far worse. In any case, he wasn’t 100 percent sure what he was dealing with, and his powers had failed him anyway. He needed to be careful, for Lillie Mae’s sake.
He looked up in the man’s dead eyes and nodded. “Take me to her.”
A one-sided smirk creased the man’s lips. He turned toward the manor house and waved for Cooper to follow him. “Shall we? Alexander does not like to be kept waiting.”
Cooper stood his ground. “Who the hell is Alexander?”
The stranger kept walking and didn’t respond.
Cooper contemplated his options, which were in short supply if he wanted to find Lillie Mae. He wasn’t sure what he was about to walk into. Lillie Mae’s disappearance was no accident. This asshole had something to do with it, and apparently he wasn’t working alone. Reaching into his pocket, he slipped out his phone and unlocked the home screen. Still no bars.
Shoving the phone back in his pocket, Cooper swallowed back his apprehension and followed the stranger toward the manor house.
Chapter Six
A second intruder invaded Cooper’s thoughts the moment he stepped inside the house. The new presence was stronger, darker than the blond. It dissected his mind with the methodical finesse of a brain surgeon, analyzing, cataloging, and casually discarding every memory and emotion. He didn’t even have a chance to shut it down by focusing on the banal inspection of his peculiar surroundings.
The decaying exterior shell of the house was a complete deception. Inside, the place was
pristine, elegant and beautiful. The Victorian-inspired interior with contemporary accents seemed too perfect and sterile to be lived in. A sparkling crystal chandelier hung in the center of the foyer, not a speck of dust marring the translucent baubles. Rich shades of red glistened on freshly painted walls. Intricately carved antiques, all pointy edges and curved legs, filled every room. Cooper felt as if he’d stepped back in time.
The blond man led Cooper down the hall, stepping so lightly that he didn’t make a sound as he crossed the black hardwood floors. He carried himself like an underwear model gliding down a catwalk with a stealthy mix of detachment and sensuality. Cooper peered into every room they passed, hoping to find any trace of Lillie Mae and noting all possible exits. They entered a formal sitting room at the end of the hall, and the blond stepped aside, waving him in.
A buttery voice filled the spacious room. “The blond has a name. It’s Stephen. Stephen Parker.”
A man, also unusually tall, stood with his back to them by a floor-to-ceiling window across the room, gazing out into the dark night. “You must forgive us. We sometimes can’t help ourselves from taking a look around when such an intriguing mind is available to us.” A navy silk shirt stretched across his brawny back. Thick waves of dark hair spilled over his impressively broad shoulders.
Cooper stepped into the center of the room, curling his fingers into fists. “Where the hell is my grandmother? I just called the police outside. They’re on the way.”
The man turned toward Cooper, projecting a cold, anesthetic gaze. He was also young, with a severe jawline and pronounced cheekbones. Emerald eyes brimming with danger pierced Cooper’s steely exterior with laser precision. The man’s curling lips told Cooper he’d failed to conceal the lie about calling the police.
With an air of superiority he wore like a warm winter coat, the man cupped a brandy snifter between his middle and ring finger. Dark liquid coated the wide bottom of the glass.
He gave Cooper a slight nod of the head. “Alexander Montgomery, at your service.”
The man closed the ten steps between them in three. The unnatural movement unnerved Cooper, though he wouldn’t dare show it. Standing directly in front of Cooper, he leaned in and inhaled. The lids of his impossibly green eyes drooped with sensual satisfaction, just like Tony’s had at the Ice House.
“Honey and cinnamon,” Creepy Underwear Model said from somewhere behind. An unsettling wave of claustrophobia washed over Cooper, reigniting the sour churn of his core.
Alexander smiled. “Yes. Intoxicating. Especially when his power is active.”
Cooper didn’t have any idea how these two freaks were aware of his condition. He was too worried about Lillie Mae to care, and his patience was waning.
He expanded his chest and widened his stance, his face just inches away from Alexander’s. “Look, I don’t know or care who you are, but you need to take me to my grandmother. Now.”
Alexander peered at him through narrow eyes and eased back. “You thought your grandmother might be here? Why on Earth would you think that?” He shot a chilling glare over Cooper’s shoulder in the direction of the blond. “Young Stephen gets a little ahead of himself sometimes.” Reproach filled Alexander’s voice. He was the guy in charge, though he seemed only a handful of years older than Stephen.
Alexander crossed the room and stood in front of a massive, empty fireplace. On a night like this, a fire should be blazing away in the hearth. Not here. Frost accumulated on the windowpanes. Cooper’s breath slipped out of his mouth in small puffs, and he fought back chills. He doubted the house had any heat at all. Yet the two men, dressed in far less than he, seemed unaffected by the cold. Nothing about this was normal.
Alexander swirled the dark liquid in the brandy snifter, gazing down into it like reading tea leaves. “Your grandmother is safe. For now.”
Cooper gritted his teeth and took a step toward him. “Where is she?”
Alexander looked up, taking a slow, defiant sip from the snifter.
Cooper opened his mouth to lash out, but Alexander’s casually raised hand and somehow stalled the words in the base of his throat, like an unseen fist closing around his windpipe.
“You will see her again,” Alexander said, lowering his hand. “In due time.”
Cooper coughed. Cleared his throat and swallowed. He flexed his fingers as the nefarious force bubbled up inside him. “If you don’t take me to her right now.”
Alexander’s face tightened. “Calm yourself, Divinum.” His lips parted into a smile, exposing a glittering array of stark white teeth.
Stephen suddenly appeared by Alexander’s side, as if he had been standing in the spot all along. Cooper stared at them both. His eyes were not playing tricks on him. Clearly, the men were not what they seemed. Alexander caressed Stephen’s cheek with the back of his fingers, and Stephen leaned into the touch like a submissive kitten, almost purring.
“Lillie Mae’s power is fading,” Alexander said, staring at Stephen’s face like he was admiring a rare painting. “She won’t be able to protect you much longer.”
Cooper fought to contain his surprise and confusion. Another mention of Lillie Mae’s power. Could she really be like him? It seemed a ridiculous thought. She’d never once hinted that she might have shared Cooper’s curse. She’d given him some probing looks and asked some thinly veiled questions about his life, but he always thought she just suspected he was gay. Obviously, she’d detected something different in him, something different from the rest of his family. Something only they shared.
Alexander sighed. “How little we sometimes know about the ones we hold most dear.”
Cooper cursed himself for dropping the defensive shield around his private thoughts. He took a step back. He wasn’t getting anywhere, and it was time to go get Randy and come back with the police.
Alexander moved toward him with the slow calculation of a deadly predator. “Lillie Mae is of no use to me.” He stopped in front of Cooper. “You leave and she dies. Your choice.”
Cooper’s heart sunk to the pit of his stomach. The threat was real. “You can’t do that.” The words sounded hollow and naïve as they left his lips.
Alexander furrowed his eyebrows, and he looked over to the window. Stephen had a similar reaction. They locked eyes, and a silent message passed between them. For the first time, Cooper saw something resembling alarm on their faces. Stephen vanished in a blur of color and light. Cooper flinched, eyes darting around the room, trying to make sense of the visual illusion and sudden disappearance. He couldn’t and bolted for the door. Alexander appeared in his path, flashing a patronizing smile, his beautiful face marred by a dark ugliness lurking just beneath his smooth, pale skin.
“Cooper, there is a lot you need to learn of the world you have been shielded from all your life. Lillie Mae did you no favors there.” He reached out and touched Cooper’s neck with cold, delicate fingertips. Cooper recoiled, tilting his head away from the unwelcome contact. A sudden wave of nausea bulked in his throat. He couldn’t move. He tried to look away, but those emerald eyes held him prisoner, filling him with dread and complete submission.
“I propose a trade,” Alexander said, his voice a hypnotic melody.
“A trade?” Cooper cursed the whisper of fear seeping into his voice.
“Yes. A simple one. You for Lillie Mae.”
Cooper’s head ached. Throbbed.
“I will let Lillie Mae go,” Alexander continued. “And you take her place, here with me. My work is not yet done, and her seed is diseased.”
A wave of anxious heat rolled over Cooper’s skin. He was sure he would pass out.
Alexander slid his arm around Cooper’s waist and pressed against him, the front of their bodies making intimate contact. “But you, Cooper. Your blood is infinitely more potent. She was right to hide you from me.” He sniffed at Cooper’s neck, the tip of his ice-cold nose skimming the surface of the skin. A guttural moan rumbled up from the base of his throat.
Cooper couldn’t move. His body wouldn’t respond to his simple command to step back.
“Don’t worry. It only hurts a little at the start. Relax.” Alexander looked into Cooper’s eyes, his mouth widening into a smile, revealing blinding white teeth and two unnaturally long, upper canines that extended down into mini daggers.
Cooper stared at them, his heart racing and his brain rejecting the signals sent from his eyes. Those were fangs. Not teeth. The man had fangs, for Christ’s sake. He shook his head and finally pushed against Alexander’s chest, trying unsuccessfully to free himself of the suffocating embrace.
Alexander leaned in, razor sharp tips grazing Cooper’s cheek, down to his neck.
Cooper closed his eyes and held his breath. It couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t real. There were no such things as vampires, but his mind assured him that the sharp pain of forced penetration was imminent.
He closed his eyes. If he closed his eyes, it would all go away.
Chapter Seven
The pain never came. Cooper opened his eyes.
Alexander drew back, his eyes wild and searching. “I can’t…” He pushed Cooper back, holding his shoulders at arm’s length. “What has that old witch done?”
An explosion of shattering glass jarred Cooper out of his stupor. Alexander grabbed him by his shoulders, pulled him close, and spun them both around, positioning Cooper’s body in front of him like a shield. He closed his right hand around Cooper’s throat.
A woman’s voice echoed through the room. “Release him!”
Alexander hissed at her, his breath icy on the rim of Cooper’s ear. Cooper squirmed and twisted his body, trying to free himself, but Alexander held him fast.
The woman stood in front of the demolished window, dressed head to toe in black. Bitter air spilled into the room, and the little warmth left in Cooper’s body quickly evaporated. Gripping sharp objects in each hand, she was both beautiful and frightening. A tallish woman of thirty or so with raven-colored hair spilling down over her shoulders, she scowled at Alexander with eyes full of venom.