Dark Caress (The Fallen)

by Throne, Tatum

  She loved his dark gray eyes. “Your eyes change colors.”

  “They do when I feel love.”

  Warm fingers moved over the small of her back. She shuddered. He coaxed fingertips beneath the edge of her dress and trailed further over her bare skin.

  That voice. What was he saying? She couldn’t focus on the words. Only the melodic cadence penetrated the foggy side of her brain. He was seducing her to be obedient and to be submissive to his commands. She wanted to be his only lover.

  She felt her core muscles flutter like butterfly wings. The beating intensified. She sucked in her lip and bit down hard. She suckled harder on her lip and felt her pussy wet more.

  “Good, Elemental. You comply willingly.”

  He growled as her hips moved around his pulsing erection. The roughness of his voice sent vibrations down her body, catapulting her over the edge. Her hands twisted into his shirt as her body was rocketed into the stars. The orgasm was powerful, quick, and throbbing.

  Her nails raked the skin of his abdomen. Her hips twisted closer until one of his long thick legs shot between her thighs. She gasped at the pleasure. From far away, she heard her voice drop.

  “You can’t control me,” she said.

  “Wake up, Elemental. You’re in my world. You will let me protect you.”

  Amber awoke in Kane’s arms. Confused. Her body echoed passion and surprise. Lust had her wet at the crest between her thighs. Her hands were clinging to his shirt. Both were breathing hard.

  He had charmed her. The realization was a bucket of cold water over her system. Amber’s breath came fast. She retaliated the only way she knew how. Energy flowed through her hands chilling them to ice. The water in her skin was enough to manipulate the element to her advantage.

  She reached out and caressed his temples. The empathic connection was an electrical storm she could read. Ice formed on the sides of his head. Amber focused on reading him. Loneliness, sadness, fear, and despair washed through her heart. He was not what he seemed. He felt human. Love lingered within his beating heart, and he worked to keep the others of his kind from knowing.

  Hot lips moved over her ear. The sharpened point of his fang nicked the sensitive curve, and he lapped the tiny drop of blood running down. Amber shuddered as he sampled her, but she didn’t push him away. She wanted to explore the forbidden with him again. She closed her eyes and took a steady breath in that tasted so much like him.

  Their gazes locked when she opened them again. The darkness of his pupils shuttered and clicked closed, completely disappearing. Blood lust twisted his lips, and she was mesmerized by the changing hue of his eyes.

  “You want me,” he said.

  “I’m an Elemental. I’m easily charged.”

  “I can have you again, and you’d say yes to everything I’d do to you.”

  She would. “Perhaps.”

  Hot lips moved rhythmically down her neck as he kissed her. His breath scorched sensitive skin, and she went limp within his arms. He hesitated.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Their gazes locked. “I’m feeling murderous right now. I don’t like you being around that human.”

  “Who?”

  “Your partner.”

  Amber knew that now was not the time to change Kane’s mind about Chris. “How did you find me?”

  “I can scent you a mile away. You smell like peaches.”

  Amber shuddered at the erotic possibility. Footsteps sounded deep within the hallway. Amber glanced over her shoulder to see Chris and Sean coming down the hallway. Her friends were possessive of her due to her past. They only wanted to protect her from making a mistake. Kane needed to understand that it had nothing to do with him.

  “Amber? Are you okay?” Chris asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look okay,” Chris said.

  “Back off. She’s mine,” Kane said.

  Kane’s fangs retracted beneath his lips, but his nostrils flared. Awareness faded, and she was left with the frightening realization that she was the only one who stood between the leader of the Fallen and her friends. Chris and Sean had no idea that the Fallen even existed.

  He slowly lowered Amber to her feet but kept his arm locked around her hips when her heels fumbled. He splayed his hand, and Amber enjoyed the feel of his fingers explore the lush curve of her hip. Kane cinched Amber closer. Her fingers tightened of their own desire on his shirt. He looked down at her and she up at him. He smiled and ran his fingers through her hair possessively.

  “Kane,” Amber said.

  “I don’t like the look in his eyes,” Chris said.

  “Get used to it,” Kane said.

  “For the love of God, will both of you stop!” Amber focused on her friends. Pell was now joining them in the hallway. Out of all her friends, Pell was the only one who knew about the Fallen. “This is my boyfriend, Kane.”

  “Lover.”

  Kane’s correction seemed to put Chris off a little more. Chris looked at Kane as though he wanted to take the fight outside.

  “Well, she’s my partner,” Chris said. “We’re protective of her.”

  “I can see that.” Kane flashed his fangs. “I’m capable of protecting what’s mine.”

  Amber shook her head. “I’ll catch up with you guys at work.”

  “Are you sure?” Pell asked.

  “I’ll be fine. Kane isn’t going to hurt me.”

  “I’ll explain the situation to Chris,” Pell said.

  “Thanks.”

  Chris didn’t look happy, but there was nothing Amber could do about that. Sean just looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She stepped back into Kane’s arms. Kane wrapped his arms possessively around her and dematerialized as her friends watched. They materialized in Kane’s bedroom. Amber pulled away, whirling on him.

  “Did you have to do that?” she asked.

  “What?” he asked.

  She found the boyish grin on his lips distracting. “You know what. Taking me like that is only going to piss my friends off. They’re going to think that either they’re going crazy or that you’re a vampire!”

  Kane smiled as he headed toward the bathroom. “Good. Enlightenment is good for the soul. Pell will explain it to them.”

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “To shower. I feel dirty.”

  She followed him into the bathroom. He stripped before her eyes, causing her heart to do funny things.

  “If you’re going to love me, you have to love my friends and not mess with my coworkers, too,” she said.

  “We can negotiate this.”

  “How?”

  “I’ll try to like your human friends,” he said.

  “Try being nice to them.”

  The hard corners of his gorgeous face softened. She could see that she won this round.

  “I would do anything in this world to make you happy, Amber. Anything.”

  She swallowed the lump that surfaced in the back of her throat. “I know. I can feel your love for me.”

  Kane walked across the bath and gave her a sweet kiss. “I’ll be out in a moment.”

  Amber went to his bed and lay down. She felt her world turning upside down, but righting fast.

  Chapter Sixteen

  When Kane came out of the shower, he found Amber asleep on his bed. He dressed. Headlights cut across the windows. Kane went to look out at the front gates. Chris had found them. How had he tracked them here?

  Kane needed to find out how the hell he had. No one had ever tracked any of them back to the Armory before. Kane willed the gates open and allowed Chris into his kingdom. As he drove up the long driveway, Kane noticed that he came alone.

  Outside the howling of the wind whined louder. Kane wasn’t about to take control of things going on outside right now. There was no way Chris was going to get her tonight. Kane heard the engine cut off in the driveway. The slam of the door came next. Kane cocked his head to the side. The h
uman’s footfalls were nearly silent. Why was he here?

  He moved fast through the long hall. Kane stepped into the inner foyer and willed the doors open. Detective Chris Malik was leading with his emotion. Kane was going to use it to bring him down. Coiled and spoiled for a nasty fight, Chris came charging in and didn’t stop until he was up in Kane’s grill.

  “How did you find us?” Kane asked.

  “Amber’s GPS in her phone.”

  Chris’s animalistic side was driving the car. The human’s blue eyes flashed with heat. This human was going to be a problem. The question Kane was asking himself was how much of a leash he should give before wrapping it around his neck?

  “Where is she? I want to make sure she’s okay.”

  “She’s just fine.”

  “Don’t play with me. Where is she?”

  “Amber is exactly where she wants to be. In my bed.”

  The human paced away and came back hard with his finger in Kane’s face. A slew of curses rang from his mouth. “You’re holding her hostage with your powers.”

  Kane inclined his head. “What makes you think I’m going to give her to you?”

  Chris cursed again, pacing back and forth, back and forth. An alarm on his watch sounded. He shut off the alarm. “She’s not a pet.”

  “You really think I can make her submit to my will?” Kane asked.

  Silence. The reasonable side of the human was finally paying attention. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to be a major problem though.

  “Let me see her.”

  “No.”

  Chris started toward the stairs, but Kane stopped him with a hand on his chest. “No, my man. You’re not going to wake her. She’s sleeping.”

  They stared at each other.

  “Move,” Chris said.

  “We have a problem, my man. We need to work it out for Amber.”

  Chris blinked several times. “Let go of me.”

  Realization dawned way late on Kane’s brain. He was so new to this love thing. “Are you in love with Amber?”

  Pain twisted over Chris’s face. “It’s not like that.”

  “Then tell me how it is,” Kane said.

  “I’m gay.”

  “Then why the fuck are you here?” Kane asked.

  “Amber’s been in a tough spot before. I don’t want to see her brought down again. It would kill her.”

  “You’re going to have to get used to us. She’s mine.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Chris charged. Kane’s fangs sprang out defensively. He took the brunt of Chris’s attack in his shoulders and arms. Kane pushed back easily, sending Chris flying backward across the hall and skidding into the great room. Kane lifted him up by the collar.

  “You need to calm down,” Kane said.

  “Fuck. You.”

  Kane sighed. He was really trying to be nice to this human, but the man was not making it easy. Alcohol poured from his breath, giving Kane a buzz from being so close. “You’re lucky Amber is on your side.”

  “Let me go!”

  “Not going to happen. You’re not going to drink and drive, my friend.”

  Kane had enough of this game. He willed Chris into submission. He needed to teach this human a lesson. He only hoped Amber would understand.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Fate was absolutely up to no good and feeling a whole lot of cagey. When Fate felt the tightening of time wrapping around his throat, he went out to find someone to play with. Night was in full swing. Fate wanted a challenge. He wanted something in the middle of a crossroad to point in the right or maybe even the wrong direction.

  New York was exotic. Full of mischief at night but it wasn’t the kind of entertainment he was looking for tonight. Paris? Brazil? The toothpick in Fate’s mouth tasted like diner peppermint. The steak he’d eaten was a little too overdone for his tastes. Fate stepped out onto the sidewalk and lifted his nose to the wind.

  It was true what they said of change. If one knew what they were looking for, they could scent it on the wind. The hairs on the back of Fate’s neck lifted. Fate followed the wind to the wrong side of Charleston. He took form in a darkened alley and watched.

  A black SUV pulled up in front of the hourly motel with a load weighing down the trunk. The Red Light District Hotel was low end. Right above roach motel and drug dump with the roaches running the place. Drug dealers, prostitutes, and cheap sex were everywhere. The place was a long flat box off the highway. Truckers were across the street at all night diner.

  The vacancy light was flashing on and off when the warrior vampires, Dryden and Vice, pulled up. Vice had the door open the second Dryden braked. Fate was a few feet away, close enough to hear their words. Not that proximity mattered for the omniscient sonofabitch he was.

  “I’ll get the room and the prostitute.”

  Dryden’s eyes were trained on the shadows. Vice was aware, too. She looked around. She probably could feel Fate watching her. Dryden’s gaze locked onto her ass as she went into the office. Interesting. Dryden and Vice? That was something Fate had yet to consider.

  Fate scanned the office. No cameras. The night clerk was watching the late night show on a small box television. Mid-forties. Alcohol bled from his skin. His liver was a few steps away from being unusable. If he stopped right now he’d recover. This was one Fate considered a missed opportunity. Fate materialized in the shadows near the office. Fate only became visible to those he wanted to see him. Invisible, he followed the warrior vampire inside.

  “I need a room,” said Vice.

  The guy did a double-take from the television to the counter. The guy slowly stood and did a gut check with his pants. He rambled over to the counter.

  “Just you?”

  “Three.”

  Vice leaned into the counter. She focused in on the tag on Mr. Opportunity’s shirt. Clark. She gave Clark an extra push of her breasts straining her black satin Victoria’s Secret. Clark’s gaze went wild as it lowered.

  “How many nights?” he asked.

  “Just one.”

  He reached for a key under the desk. Vice took the key and signed in Chris’s name on the ledger Clark pushed in front of her. It wasn’t often that Vice tangled with humans or cared about the outcome of their lives. She leaned forward more.

  “Check-out is at ten.”

  “Okay.” Her voice went dreamy. “Clark, stop drinking and start going to AA.”

  The man’s eyes went glossy. He nodded. Vice snapped him out of it. He’d have a vague memory of Chris checking in and remember nothing of her. Fate was always impressed with the power of the warriors. They should be the ones in charge, not him.

  Vice left the office. Dryden was still waiting with the SUV running in the parking lot.

  “Four-C. Go ahead and pull around.”

  Fate stuffed his hands in his khakis and shadowed Vice. The parking lot jammed up against the walkway. Dryden backed the SUV into the space in front of the room. The doors to the rooms were blood red. Vice slipped the electronic cardkey into the slot to make sure it worked. The light went green, and she swung open the door. Must lingered in the air. Mildew seeped from the bathroom like a bitch in heat. Dryden got out of the SUV and scanned the lot.

  The warrior vampire, Vice, opened the caged back end of the SUV and watched the muscles in Dryden’s arms strain as he took the human from the trunk. The tires protested with relief when the weight was lifted. Neither said anything as they went about their business.

  Blood edged around his mouth. Bruises were forming on his head from being knocked around. Dryden lifted him, shut the trunk, and brought him inside in only three long strides. He dropped him on the bed. Vice brought out a penlight and checked his pupils.

  Back to normal, reactive. Good. No head trauma he wouldn’t recover from. Fate wanted him healthy for the next step.

  “Give me a few,” said Vice.

  She shut the door to the room. Fate went with the warrior. Fate lifted his head and ca
ught the faint odor of a heavily perfumed woman. It grated on Fate’s nose like bug spray. Vice headed up wind toward the spray. The woman was about to cross the street to the truck stop. This was her working girl.

  Her cheap spikes hit the pavement in a quick stride. She went down a few rooms and got another working girl. Dryden was in the process of staging the room. Two guns without serial numbers were put in a black backpack, along with two thousand in cash, drugs, and condoms. Fate was truly impressed with their work. Changing the outcome took talent. They had skills. He really could hire them.

  A minute later, there was a knock on the door. Vice opened it to see her two working girls. They were eager to get started. They came inside and assessed the damage to the room.

  “My friend had a little too much to drink. I’m going to give you each a thousand dollars to baby-sit him for the night.”

  They both nodded.

  “He’s out cold. Don’t steal from him. Just take care of him,” said Vice.

  Their eyes turned glassy and were fixed. They both nodded. They’d stay the night, Fate was certain of that. As an afterthought, Vice went to the bed where Chris was out cold. Would she scrub his memory, too?

  Fate stared down at his jaw line. The human was of noble heritage. Vice reached out and touched his temples. Cleaning a mind worked better if vampires had direct eye contact. Touching worked, too, most of the time. Fate would know in twenty-four hours if the human had any recollection of the events that ruined his career.

  Dryden was out the door a second later and in the SUV. Vice didn’t bother getting into the passenger seat. She dematerialized from the sidewalk.

  The motel carpet was squishy beneath Fate’s leather soles. Oh, yes. He had plans for the human. Many plans. The warriors under Kane’s command fascinated Fate. He was cloaked within the shadows as he watched the warrior Dryden drive away. He had plans for this one, too. Fate felt a shiver of anticipation as he thought about messing with all of their lives. He wanted to jump all over this. The fall would be so worth the dive. He looked up at the moon. There wasn’t much time left.

  Chapter Eighteen