Gathering Darkness: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Anna Zaires

  Tanner shook his head. The motion drew his attention to the next building down the street. A shadow moved within. “That building’s occupied.”

  A grin tugged Aleksai’s mouth upward. “Then let’s go make our acquaintance.” He gestured for his team to follow.

  A breeze gusted down the street, lifting a fine layer of dirt into the air…and something else.

  A scent Tanner would never forget.

  Jasmine. Saige.

  “What the fuck?” Tanner started to run toward the cracked concrete steps of the brick edifice. Why would she be here?

  Aleksai’s arm shot out, his hand grabbing Tanner’s bicep and hauling him back. “Get back, Tanner! The fuck is wrong with you?”

  “I know the female inside, sir,” Tanner said, and an intense and wholly unfamiliar feeling flowed from his heart out to every cell. Find her, get her out of here. His fists clenched with urgency.

  “Female? Who?” Aleksai released Tanner but pinned him with a glare. “You just broke formation—”

  “Her name is Saige, I met her last night—”

  “Last night?” Anger hardened his superior’s eyes. “Stop thinking with your dick, soldier. This is not the time. We have a fucking job to do. Get back there.”

  Tanner blew out a breath as confusion beat a sharp rhythm in his chest. His brain told him Aleksai was right. Mistakes could get them killed and they were supposed to be locating a dozen missing Lash demons. But an insane, breath-stealing sensation in his lungs told him Saige had been here recently, if she wasn’t still inside.

  Taking up the rear, he followed Gabriel’s footsteps. Hand out, ready to summon fire, Tanner was the last one in.

  “It’s empty now.” Aleksai shot Tanner a glare.

  Tanner crossed to the front door, where Saige’s scent was stronger. He stepped outside.

  Holy shit.

  There she was, at the end of the block. Fifty yards away. Blond hair gleaming in the sun.

  And she was standing chest to chest, very much in the personal space of a…Serus demon?

  What the fuck? One exhale of its toxic breath and she could die.

  “Saige!” Tanner yelled. “Get away from him!” Surely she knew the danger she was in?

  She glanced over her shoulder at him. Tanner couldn’t read her expression from this distance. He took off at a jog. “Saige!”

  She turned back to the tall gray skinned demon and took his hand, leading him away.

  “S—” Tanner stopped short. What in the ever-loving hell had just happened?

  “That your princess from last night?” Aleksai drawled in his ear.

  “Yeah.” Tanner ground his molars as the rest of his team emerged behind him.

  Aleksai’s hand came down on Tanner’s shoulder. “Well, my friend, looks like she has moved on. And we’re still on the job. Let her go.”

  “A Serus?” Raul’s mouth twisted in disgust. “I know the solstice makes us all a little crazy, but shit. Fucking a Serus could kill her.”

  Ian frowned. “Well, we don’t know that she’s fucking him—”

  “Yeah, right. Like hand holding will cut it at this time of year,” Gabriel muttered, and turned to Tanner. “Sorry, bro. But there’s a hundred other females to pick from. Let her go. She sounds like she’s on the crazy train if she’d hang with a Serus.”

  Tanner shook off Aleksai’s hand. Fuck, they were right. He knew nothing about Saige, and maybe it was best not to give her any encouragement. Gods knew, many Watchers had groupies clinging to them, hoping to mate a powerful male. He didn’t need that.

  With a grunt, he pushed down the voice that prodded him to go after her. Pushed down the tug in his heart that said things here didn’t add up. Crushed the desire to learn anything more about the beautiful blond Lash female. He had a job to do, and her personal life wasn’t on his agenda.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Saige’s heart pounded as she led the Serus to the compound. Crap, what the hell was Tanner doing in that rundown neighborhood? And yelling her name? She suppressed a shudder. If her captors had shadowed her, as they occasionally did…Gods. Her heart squeezed at the knowledge that if they knew she’d let a Watcher go, they’d beat her and Logan senseless. Throw Logan in the ring; offer her to the males as a plaything.

  And swarm Tanner. She wouldn’t be able to stop them. He’d be forced to fight for his life.

  No, no, no. That was too close. She couldn’t afford to run into him.

  But she hadn’t expected to, on Ash Street. He’d just appeared out of nowhere.

  Hand shaking, she pressed the buzzer of the warehouse. After a few seconds, during which she knew the guard was checking her on a security camera, the door swung open.

  “A Serus? Nice. Haven’t had one of these in a while.” The guard nodded his approval and stood back to let Saige and the Serus demon in.

  Like last night, the new captive was stripped of his weapons and money, then Saige was patted down for contraband. They followed the guard down into the depths of the compound, into the row of cells full of males that were enslaved to fight. Some of them lunged toward her, clutching the bars that held them back, shouting in graphic detail what they’d do to her when they got out.

  Saige ignored it. She had to. Thinking about it instilled so much guilt, fear, and loathing in her soul that she couldn’t function. And she needed to use her power. It was the only thing keeping her and Logan safe.

  Safe. Ha. Here? With daily threats?

  How far she had come from her old normal life.

  “Here.” The guard gestured to an open cell. The last available one, it looked like.

  “Go inside. This is where you’ll stay,” Saige said to the still-entranced demon.

  He entered and sat down on the cot, staring ahead with empty black eyes.

  The guard locked the door. Saige turned and hurried back to her room, through the hail of insults and threats. They spat at her. Called her whore, slut, and worse.

  The door. My room. She focused on it, getting there in record time and darting inside.

  Logan paced the room, but whirled toward her. He made sure the door was shut, as she beelined for her bed. Safe. I made it.

  Logan crouched beside her. “You got one?”

  She nodded. “A Serus.”

  “That’s three in less than twenty-four hours. Hope they let you off the hook tonight.” He shook his head, dark hair falling across his eyes. “I worry about you. Out there, alone, with the worst of the worst.”

  “It’s okay,” she whispered, as a wave of dizziness washed over her. She clutched the rough blanket in her fists. “I can handle them. I…”

  “I hate this, Saige. I want to get us out.”

  “Me too. Just need to wait for…our chance.” Her eyes fluttered closed. Couldn’t keep them open any longer. There would be a chance, a way. Somehow. They Vipers were greedy and bound to make a mistake one day. She just hoped it wouldn’t get her killed.

  ***

  Saige awoke with a raging headache, her norm after blacking out post mind-control episode.

  Logan sat on his bed, watching her. Silently he stood and went into the small bathroom, then returned with a glass of water.

  She gulped greedily. “Thanks.” Stomping feet and chanting echoed dully through the door, indicating a huge crowd in the building.

  Fight night.

  She darted her eyes to the door, then back to Logan’s. He nodded, following her thoughts. Which male would die tonight? How much money would the Vipers make? Anger and disgust flickered in his eyes.

  Guilt twisted her stomach. She and Logan were just pawns to the Vipers, as much as the guys in the cells.

  “I wish I could undo all of this,” she murmured.

  “Don’t think that. You can’t. It’ll make you crazy.” He blew out a breath and turned to the door. The movement highlighted new purple bruises on his neck and jaw.

  “Logan!” She crossed over to his bed and sat next to him, peering at t
he angry skin. “Oh no. Why? I brought in males. I did what they asked.”

  He dropped his head back. “I told them you brought in enough for a while and they shouldn’t send you out again this week. I may have used a few choice words. They, uh…” He leaned his elbows on his knees. “They didn’t like that.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Her brother wasn’t usually argumentative. But they’d been locked up here for too long, and now with the urges of the fertile season adding to their current ordeal, Logan radiated raw anger.

  “Fuck it.” His tone was clipped. “Like you say, one day they’ll slip up. We just have to be ready.”

  “Yeah.” Her eyes unfocused as she remembered how the Vipers had first seen her, and that had landed them in this sick game of manipulation and crime. New to Halice, she and Logan had accidentally wandered into a crummy part of town. She’d only been trying to protect herself and Logan from the Viper who’d tried to rob them at knifepoint.

  Neither of them had realized that the Viper had a group of friends who’d been watching the whole thing. Stunned by Saige’s grip on his mind, they’d grabbed her and Logan and hauled them here.

  The Vipers had instructed her to go out and find males to fight in their underground club, threatening to throw Logan into the ring if she didn’t succeed. At twenty-one and untrained, he wouldn’t last a minute.

  Scared of failing, yet also scared of succeeding and bringing another male to a possible death, she’d gone into the city’s slimy underbelly and brought back a stocky dwarf. She’d been too nervous to walk up to one of the scarier predatory demons.

  Her captors had scoffed at the dwarf but forced him to fight. Then they’d beaten her and Logan anyway, threatening harsher treatment if she dared bring home a weaker creature again.

  Saige shuddered and pressed the glass to her cheek. This was a living hell and she didn’t know how to escape it. With the Vipers monitoring her, she couldn’t walk up to someone and ask for help. If she dared, they’d kill Logan before help could get anywhere near the building.

  “Hey,” Logan said. “You’re doing that again.”

  “What?”

  “Re-living how this all started.”

  “How did you know?”

  “You get this look.” Brown eyes that matched her own bored into her. “Don’t. It’s not good for you.”

  She frowned. “I have a look, huh?”

  “Yeah, but don’t worry about it. Forget I said it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I was thinking, maybe someday you’ll get more control. Maybe you won’t always pass out afterward.”

  “I’d love that. But to get control I’d need to train with someone who knows something about magic or spells or special Lash abilities. And it’s not like the Vipers are going to set that up.”

  “I know, but maybe you’ll meet someone, someday, who can help. Or who’ll know someone who can.”

  Saige swallowed. Tanner. But today, after the shock on his face, and the disgust on his friends’ faces, she doubted he would ever think she needed help. She’d publicly turned her back on him. If that wasn’t code for leave me alone, nothing was.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Tanner stalked through the sprawling weight room in the depths of Watcher HQ. Complete with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, free weights, resistance machines, sparring mats and a firing range, the place had everything a warrior needed to train.

  All the equipment sat ready and waiting for him. Problem was, he needed to focus.

  Frustration had wrapped its scraggly hands around his neck the minute he’d scented Saige and it hadn’t let up all day. He hadn’t seen her again after she took off with the Serus, nor had his team had any luck locating the missing Lash males.

  He glanced at a rack of weights and blew out a breath. He could lift until his arms gave out and that wouldn’t be enough. His teammates had gone, scattered in search of sex. But Tanner was way too angry tonight. He needed to wear himself out through punishing exertion.

  Ducking into the men’s locker room, he changed into swim trunks and headed for the pool. Humid air and the scent of chlorine washed over him as he entered the immense, empty room. Water lapped gently at the red and white lane dividers floating peacefully atop the blue expanse.

  He dove in, relishing the liquid cocoon surrounding him, blocking out sound as he stayed under as long as he could. He powered along the bottom with his legs together in a dolphin kick, arms at his sides, until his lungs burned and he surfaced.

  Gulping air, he swam an accelerated freestyle as if a sea serpent nipped at his feet. Only after several passes back and forth could he settle his mind, falling into the rhythm of motion and breathing needed to keep him afloat.

  Left, arm, right arm. His body moved on autopilot, allowing the tactical gears of his brain to take over. Saige. Either she was a complete bitch, and dumb as well, or there was something very, very wrong in her life.

  Tanner had been on plenty of assignments in his years as a Watcher. He’d seen hundreds of creatures under duress, lying, desperate. But at the club, Saige had just seemed as needy for sex as he was.

  And why wouldn’t she be, at the solstice?

  Images of her smooth pale skin filled his mind. He hadn’t noticed any scars or marks, though he hadn’t exactly been checking. He hadn’t even gotten all her damn clothes off. Good going, Tanner.

  She was young too, probably not far into adulthood. Lash demons, like all supernatural creatures, aged very slowly. It was hard to tell exactly, but her scent gave a clue. And if she were young, she may not be as powerful as an older demoness.

  Power? He hadn’t gotten a sense of any special power about her. Not all Lash had extra abilities beyond conjuring fire.

  No, Saige pretty much looked like the stereotypical girl next door, adding attitude with that choker tight around her pretty neck. With her leather, he guessed it was part of an image she was trying to pull off. But she didn’t seem like a tough girl. She’d only seemed sweet and needy.

  Growling, he turned to one side and gulped air. He never thought about sweetness. What was wrong with him?

  Her necklace had flickered with the reflected colored lights of Hades. Slithering like snakes, tiny bars of green had moved along the thorns. Inside the silver strands, a black stone of some kind had nestled.

  If she were hiding something, what would it be? Could she be a spy? Had she had any tech devices concealed? He reached the wall and turned under water, racing back down the lane. If she’d worn a surveillance gadget, it would’ve been small and high end. And no one could make spy shit better than HQ’s own gear head, Wolfe.

  What would she be looking for in Hades on the summer solstice anyway? Shit. He was thinking in circles and getting nowhere…

  Wait. The black stone in her necklace. It just looked like a stone, but sometimes looks were deceiving. He strained to remember any additional details of it, but it was an understatement to say the thing hadn’t been his focus.

  He switched to butterfly stroke, forcing his muscles to work in new ways, forcing his mind to find new possibilities. It could be an amulet. Though you usually needed to touch amulets and it didn’t look very accessible, locked down in all that silver.

  But there were other things that could be disguised as stone. And it was worth a trip to the spell department to investigate.

  Fifteen minutes later, energized and back in street clothes, Tanner jogged up the steps from the workout area and headed down the white marble halls of the Watcher compound. Never mind that it was nighttime. There was always someone working in any given department.

  Pushing open the door to the spell hub, he was met with the subtle scent of cedar, the witches’ natural scent. Brown roughhewn wooden panels covered the walls.

  He spotted a familiar figure hunched over a table, one fire bulb floating above her dark hair. “Hey, Mel.”

  “Hi Tanner.” Melixa didn’t turn or look up. “Hang on one second…there. Done.” She straightened and rolled her
shoulders.

  He crossed the room to her work table and arched a brow at the tiny funnel that spun itself in a circle before her. “Mortar, pestle, funnel? You sure you’re not cooking?”

  She snorted. “No. Just living the glamorous life of a witch, using basic kitchen and science tools.” She carefully set a silver charm into a box next to her. “We’ve been selling a ton of these valerian sleep amulets since the battle.”

  Tanner nodded grimly. The battle had consisted of widespread fighting six months ago, where the Lash demons and four very talented females had worked to defeat a vampire who’d wanted to take over every realm.

  Many had died that day, and the fallout still lingered. Anxiety in the non-predatory species. Sleep disorders. Families split apart, villages destroyed. But thankfully, no copycat wanna-be villains.

  Melixa stood and brought her used equipment to a sink. “What brings you here? I thought you’d be out…you know, hooking up.” She winked. As a witch, she was unaffected by the solstice and seasonal hormones. The fertility of witches was varied and he sure as hell didn’t understand it. Some could conceive at any time, while some could not.

  He scowled. He very well might be out getting laid, if not for a certain female who dominated his thoughts “I need information about a black stone.”

  “Black stone, huh?” A smile danced in her blue eyes. They’d been friends for years, only friends, and that was fine. She was funny and smart, but not his in any way. She was a colleague he’d be happy to have at his back, and who he’d fight like hell to keep safe. Now, teasing sarcasm laced her words. “Your level of detail is stunning me, Tanner.”

  “Smart ass.” He paced the room. “It was in a necklace. A choker-type thing.” He gestured to his neck as if his fingers could somehow show her what he saw in his mind. “It was set inside a bunch of rigid silver chains that look like tree branches. Thin, sharp ones. Kinda twisted and gnarled looking.” He frowned, wondering if the tiny thorns ever scraped at Saige’s slender neck. The thought pissed him off.

  “Okay.” Melixa tapped a finger against her chin. “Did it have any markings, or colors within the surface? How big was it?”