Mastering Darkness

by Kate Wendley

  Things weren’t as dark now, but she was ok sleeping no matter how bright it was outside. A cool breeze blew by and made her chilly.

  “Anna, let’s get this bloody shirt off her so we can get a good look at her wounds.”

  She was downright cold now, but didn’t know how to get warm before an even brighter light was suddenly in her eyes.

  “Does anyone know what her blood type is?”

  “A negative.” Ethan’s voice was soothing in this strange crowd.

  The old man snapped, “You’re sure.”

  “Positive. I mean, I’m absolutely sure. Here.”

  The people quieted down and Kaia’s dream faded until she felt a sharp prick that made her whimper.

  “Honey, we’re just cleaning you up. It’s all right. You’re going to be fine. It might sting a little though.”

  She didn’t like this dream, but the sting passed and soon she calmed again. The feel of someone’s fingertip edging her bra down worried her though. Why couldn’t she move?

  “She’s got a bite… Is she yours? I mean, well, you know what I mean.”

  “No. She’s dating Anthony.” Ethan’s voice again. If he was here, then she was safe. She’d always been safe with him.

  A woman’s voice said, “What’s her name?”

  Ethan paused before more quietly replying, “Kaia.” He sounded upset and she wanted to ask why, but she couldn’t make the words form. “Is she going to be all right doctor?”

  There was silence after that and Kaia’s dream drifted back to thankful nothingness.

  **

  Kaia woke with a start and a horrific headache. Seeing a strange old man in what she thought was her bedroom made her cry out in surprise. She winced in pain at the sound of her own voice to her overly sensitive ears.

  Hands touched her and Ethan’s voice quickly calmed her. “Kaia, I’m here. Don’t worry. He’s a doctor. You got hurt tonight at the club. Do you remember?”

  In the dim light from her bedside lamp, she made out Ethan lying beside her on the bed. She groaned as she tried to remember what he was talking about.

  “Honey, my name is Dr. Williams. I’ve been taking care of you tonight. How do you feel?”

  She groaned at the sharp feel of a needle in her arm and a thick swatch of tape holding it down. She wasn’t sure which way to move to make it not hurt. “I have a headache. And I’m thirsty.”

  “We’ll get you something to drink. My assistant, Anna, is here. Anna, could you help us out?”

  An energetic, pretty woman bounced into the room. “Yes sir. What can I get you?”

  “Why don’t you see if Miss Kaia has some juice of some sort in her kitchen. Also bring some water please.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Kaia attempted to drink something, but her stomach was threatening a revolt. Eventually Anna put the glass down.

  “Can I get you anything, Miss Kaia? Another pillow? A blanket?”

  She quietly grunted, “No thank you. Where’s Anthony? Is he here?”

  The doctor replied in a fatherly tone, “Honey, he’s taking care of some things back home but he sure did want to make sure you were all right. He sent me over here to take care of you. How do you feel now? Do you still have a headache?”

  She moaned and dejectedly whispered, “Yes, and my stomach’s upset. I’m tired.”

  “All right. You get some sleep. You’ve earned it young lady. Myself or Anna are going to be here for a while tonight just in case. All right?”

  She quietly moaned as she turned away from the light, ending up facing Ethan. “Are you staying?”

  “I’ll stay as long as they do, ok?” He gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be here all night, but after you go to sleep I’m going to walk one of them out. I’ll be outside for just a few minutes.”

  She closed her eyes and nodded, then quickly dropped off to sleep.

  **

  The rough cement of the apartment’s rooftop bit into Anthony’s back as he lay on it with his legs dangling over the edge. Crickets chirped, a gentle breeze made the leaves on the trees around him quietly sing, and the partially cloudy sky above allowed some stars to shine through. It was a calm night, but all he could think about was how wrong things had gone.

  Because of Ethan. He was kissing her… Dammit, these fucking games of his. What was Ethan’s problem with him, anyway, and why did it have to involve Kaia?

  The smug look on Ethan’s face earlier tonight said it all. He was taunting him. He knew Anthony was out of his league with her. She was too good, and nice, and soft… and beautiful, inside and out. But… if she was playing this game of Ethan’s, how beautiful inside could she be?

  His anger returned and he coddled it until a vampire opened the door to the roof, or at least tried to. The noise he made as he handled the doorknob only added to Anthony’s irritation. He sat up, then got to his feet just as Dylan, a sometimes guard, finally stepped through the door and onto the roof.

  He strode towards the vampire, intending to scold him for interrupting the expected quiet up here. Being in the club was often noisy and chaotic, so the roof was a place where vampires could get a little peace when they were at home. Shifters had the run of the ranch and most everything inside the buildings. Vampires had the roof.

  As Anthony got closer, though, he noticed the broken knob in Dylan’s hand that he was still trying to fit back into its rightful place. The door itself was rusty around the edges, and the frame was dented in a couple spots.

  When Dylan finally noticed Anthony standing beside him, he dropped to a knee.

  “Forgive me for interrupting the silence, Master.”

  Not in the mood for conversation, Anthony simply held his hand out for the broken parts. Dylan gave them over and Anthony left to go distract himself with the business of taking care of his family. Making a list of maintenance needs was a good way to get refocused on what he excelled at and to forget about what he had no talent for… love.

  Chapter 30

  Kaia blearily opened her eyes and was startled by the sound of someone softly snoring. She raised her head to see a woman sitting in one of her dining room chairs at the end of her bed, slumped forward with a magazine in her lap. She briefly looked her over, wondering who in the hell she was and what she was doing in her bedroom while she frantically tried to remember what happened last night.

  She looked at her bedside clock before laying her head back down. It was almost nine in the morning and her left arm felt like it was asleep so she rolled onto her right side, then realized that was a bad idea.

  She gasped out loud at how painful it was to take a breath. She carefully touched her chest, wondering why her ribs felt so raw, and the woman came awake as Kaia tried to find a comfortable position to breathe. She inhaled slowly and cautiously, then reached up to try to figure out what was stuck to her neck.

  The woman popped out of her chair and energetically hopped to her side. When she was close enough, Kaia noticed she was wearing pale blue scrubs with little pink bunnies all over them.

  “Oh good. You’re awake! How are you feeling?”

  She croaked out, “I’m fine.”

  The woman sat on the edge of the bed and put her hand to Kaia’s head. “No fever. Do you still have a headache?”

  She frowned. What did she mean still? “Who are you? What’s going on?”

  The woman cocked her head and said with an honest smile, “Oh! Sorry, I’m Donna. The doctor had me take over for him. He wanted to make sure you were all right this morning.”

  Kaia still didn’t understand. “What doctor? What happened? What’s wrong with me?” She vaguely remembered a dream about a doctor, but was that last night?

  “You were attacked by a vampire. You don’t remember?”

  Kaia blinked rapidly at her matter-of-fact tone and tried to sit up. If Donna was freely using the word vampire, then she must not be human, or else she was human and knew all about them.

  “I remember being att
acked, but that’s all.” She looked Donna over again. “What are… I mean, who are you?” Kaia finally realized she didn’t have a shirt on. Feeling exposed, she tugged at her sheets to keep herself covered.

  Donna helped her with her blankets. “I’m a shifter, if that’s what you mean. Coyote. I work with Dr. Williams, who’s a wolf. We usually only treat our own kind, but our schooling was in the human world. We’re fully licensed. Anthony makes sure of that.”

  She perked up at that. “Anthony told you guys to come here?”

  Donna said cheerfully enough, “I’m not sure. Dr. Williams told me to come, and Sebastian was here when I got here. He certainly wouldn’t be here unless Anthony wanted him here, if you know what I mean.”

  She had no idea what she meant, and her head ached too bad to try to figure it out. Besides, she was more concerned with what happened to Anthony. She tried to remember him any time past her attack last night, but he wasn’t coming to mind. She was startled out of her thoughts by the sight of her bloody shirt in her small bathroom trash can that was now sitting in her bedroom. Holy cow that was a lot of blood. She reached for her neck again.

  Donna gently nudged her hand away. “He sure got you good. Do you mind if I take a look at that?” She tenderly worked the bandage off and cleaned the bite, then helped Kaia out of bed. “Let’s get you up and see how you’re doing. I’ll help you get cleaned up and then re-bandage your bite before I go. Can you walk? Are you dizzy? Let’s get you some fluids and see if you can hold any food down.”

  Kaia took a deep breath and did everything Donna told her to do. She showered on her own, horrified by the angry bruises around her chest where that greasy vampire had such a tight grip on her. The bite looked even worse. Just as she thought, there was a giant hickey all around it. Great. She could make out a mouthful of teeth in the bruise around the hickey, too. Awesome.

  She managed to get out of the shower without passing out, though it was close. Donna waited to help her dress again, which was embarrassing, but obviously necessary. Thank God she’d already planned a day off today.

  Chipper Donna bandaged the bite back up, then stared at Kaia as she tried to eat a small bowl of cereal. She managed to eat about half of it before she just couldn’t stomach any more. Donna seemed ok with that.

  It was two hours from the time Kaia had woken up to the time she was able to shoo the energetic woman out of her apartment, which left her plenty of time to wonder what happened to Anthony last night. She didn’t see any notes from him, or even a message on her voicemail. Everything about last night past the time she got attacked was a blur. She sort of remembered Ethan carrying her to his car, but her memories came in short bursts after that, and none seemed to include Anthony.

  It made her emotional to think he hadn’t cared about her being hurt. Maybe that wasn’t true, though. Maybe something had happened to him last night, too, but deep down she figured that wasn’t it at all.

  She sat down when her stomach started disagreeing with her. Her ribs and arms hurt from her lovely new bruises, and the memory of that jerk actually chewing on her neck made her cringe. It wasn’t at all like when Anthony bit her. Why not?

  Her head ached as she thought about Anthony. How could she possibly protect herself from vampires? After leaving her uncle’s house she’d been so careful about her safety. Maybe too careful, but after all the broken bones, fractures, sprains and bruises she’d had growing up, let alone the emotional terror, she hadn’t wanted anything to do with anyone or anything even slightly dangerous ever again.

  And now she was dating a vampire and he was the Master of all of them. How much more dangerous could she get? But she trusted him, even for all the things he’d told her about his world, and even after the attack last night. She’d never felt as comfortable with someone as she did with him. They just clicked, something she’d never felt before.

  She winced thinking about all the fun they’d had as he took her around and opened her eyes up to a city she realized she’d never really gotten to know. He took her to his favorite spots, showed her beautiful sights, and even took her flying once. She’d never felt so alive.

  She liked to think he felt good with her, too. He made it seem like he did, but her gut told her something was wrong, something besides her being attacked. Her gut told her Anthony was mad at her because if he wasn’t, she was sure he’d have left a note, some flowers, something.

  She sighed and turned on the TV. She had the day off for her once a month flexible Friday, which was good. She’d probably need a few days before she felt even slightly human again. She tried to focus enough to watch a show, but her head started thumping so she finally closed her eyes and dozed off.

  Chapter 31

  Anthony woke, fed, then grabbed his phone and checked his voice messages. When it was clear there were none from Kaia, his mood quickly darkened. It only got worse as he showered, shaved and dressed for the night with still no call from her.

  He stormed upstairs to his office, but it was impossible to concentrate enough to get any work done so he strode through the club and sat in the very back of the room to stew in his own bitter thoughts. When Kaia finally did call, about an hour later, he froze, then put a sound barrier around himself as he glared at her name lighting up the screen. He didn’t bother to pick up. He wanted to hear her voice just as much as he didn’t. She most likely wouldn’t tell him the truth anyway. It would just be more deflections and distractions to keep from telling him what he really wanted to hear.

  The truth.

  The phone quit ringing and he waited to see if she’d leave a message. After about a minute, his voicemail indicator popped up and he immediately listened to it.

  She didn’t say anything in her message, just asked him to call her. Was she trying to downplay what happened last night? That he’d caught her in Ethan’s arms? Did she think he’d just forget about that?

  He put his phone down while he tried to calm his temper. His gaze drifted around the club, his attention stopping on a tall wolf and his completely enamored date. They sat at a bar table near the small stage and dance floor as they openly flirted with each other. The man eventually got up and headed to the bar and Anthony couldn’t stop staring at them both.

  Their auras intensely irritated him. They were mates, true mates, their auras so perfectly aligned it was like true love. Anthony had only ever seen that in one other shifter couple in his whole long, lonely life, and he didn’t especially want to bear witness to it tonight. It felt like the world just couldn’t wait to rub his rotten luck with women in his face.

  The tall wolf caught him staring at them and narrowed his eyes at Anthony. He wasn’t in the mood to play shifter politics tonight, so he just glared right back at him.

  Chester distracted the wolf by giving him his drinks and they exchanged money before he turned back and around made his way back to his sickeningly perfect life mate. He put the drinks on the table as he kept his eyes on Anthony.

  The woman said, “What’s wrong?”

  Anthony didn’t know why he was torturing himself with his wide open senses tonight, but he could clearly hear their conversation, even from way back here.

  The man growled under his breath, never taking his eyes off Anthony. “I don’t particularly like the way that shifter is staring at us. He needs to mind his own goddamn business.” He barked out a little more loudly, “Got a problem, buddy?”

  His date worriedly turned around and locked eyes with Anthony before quickly looking away. “Come on Marc. We don’t need to stay here. Let’s just go.”

  Anthony had had enough of this precious couple. He needed to get out of here. As he left his table, though, the tall wolf raced in front of where his date sat, putting himself between her and Anthony. Zach and Sebastian quickly appeared on either side of the wolf as well, which only put him in an even more foul mood. He didn’t need to be reminded of his responsibility to keep everyone safe in this family. He was Master of this family.

  But
he couldn’t help himself, now. Between the three men and their anxious energy, he was too tempted by the welcome threat of violence. It would give him an outlet for his raw anger tonight.

  The tall wolf, Marc, narrowed his eyes and growled as Anthony neared, so he used his power to hold him still while he used his vampire speed to race towards him. He stopped a distance away, then raced forward again. He knew from experience that it made him look like he was appearing and disappearing over and over again. It was an aggressive, inhuman gesture that perfectly matched his mood.

  Zach and Sebastian worriedly stepped just a little in front of Marc, making sure Anthony knew they would try their best to protect this stranger.

  Anthony couldn’t help the contempt in his voice as he stopped in front of them all and glared at the tall man. “Calm yourself, wolf.” He let go of some of his power over him, though he was still just as angry at life in general. “I apologize for controlling you right now, but it’s for the good of both of us before either of us say or do something… regrettable.”

  He stared the stranger down as he kept slowly releasing his tight hold on him. Marc looked more than a little angry as he did, not that Anthony cared.

  “I’ll forgive your temper this evening since it is I that provoked it. I was merely noticing, or shall I say I cannot help but notice that you and your mate have such perfectly aligned auras.” He couldn’t stop from curling his lip at that last part. What had Anthony and Kaia’s auras looked like when they were together? Were they anywhere close to what these two had? It was doubtful, especially since she was human and he was vampire. That was just the way of his life.

  He could see in the wolf’s eyes he wanted to tear into Anthony. It gave him some satisfaction to know that he wouldn’t dare. Or maybe he actually was stupid enough to try. Anthony gave Marc a moment to decide, but he didn’t make a move.

  “I’m over two hundred and sixty five years old and I’ve only ever seen one other shifter couple with such perfectly in sync auras.” He stepped closer, even though Zach and Sebastian did as well. Anthony hissed at the man, and only stopped to spit out, “It’s a rare thing you’ve found. Such calm and peace it must bring you both. If you would take some advice… don’t ever forget how lucky you are.”