Dark of Night

by Emily Goodwin

  “Is it cold sleeping next to him?”

  “Yes,” I answer honestly.

  “Does it bother you?” she fires off another question.

  “No. I’ve actually been turning on an electric blanket with his side on high. It makes his skin warm.”

  “Doesn’t it make him hot?”

  I shake my head and check the grilled cheese. “No, vampires don’t feel hot or cold unless they’re in extreme temperatures. My turn for a question.”

  “You don’t have one, do you?”

  “No, I don’t. Well, now I do. How’s Penny?”

  “She’s really good.” Abby smiles. “She’s walking now. Do you want to come over and see her sometime?”

  I grab a plate from the cabinet. “I’d love to.” I put Abby’s sandwich on the plate and cut it in half diagonally. “I don’t know if you feel like driving all the way out to Thorne Hill, but we’re putting on a children’s event at the bookstore tomorrow. You can dress like a fictional character, and we have authors coming to read books to the kids.”

  “What time?”

  “It starts at noon.”

  Abby smiles. “We’ll be there.”

  Chapter 4

  “I take it everything went well with your sister.” Lucas looks up from his computer. He’s in his office, hair damp from the shower I unfortunately didn’t get to take with him. Abby stayed for nearly an hour, eating another grilled cheese while we talked.

  “Very.” I cross the room, and he pushes away from his desk, scooting his chair back enough for me to sit on his lap. He’s only wearing gray sweatpants, which is sexy as fuck to me for some reason. “She’s bringing Penny to our book event at the store tomorrow.”

  Lucas smiles and runs his hand through my messy hair, brushing it to the side and exposing my neck. “They’ll both have fun.”

  I wrap my hands around his shoulders. “I think so.”

  “She’s been trying hard the last few weeks to reconnect with you.”

  “I know,” I sigh, picking up on his unspoken question. “I’d like to stay in touch with her. She is my sister, after all, and there aren’t many people who know me or the shit that—” I cut off, realizing what I’m about to say.

  “I don’t know it.”

  I swallow hard, well aware that Lucas can hear my heart start to race. Inhaling deep, I rest my head against his chest.

  “I’ll tell you,” I whisper. “I want you to know. Just don’t…don’t judge me for it.”

  “I helped you bury the same body twice. And I didn’t judge you then.”

  I laugh, but it’s too high-pitched compared to my normal laugh. I’m nervous, and it’s obvious. “Well, don’t think differently of me then. Specifically, don’t pity me. I can’t stand when people do.”

  “I won’t,” he promises. “And if you’re not ready to talk, I can wait. I’ve waited over a thousand years for you, what’s a few more months?”

  “I love you.” I tip my head up, looking into his deep blue eyes. “You know that, right?”

  “You could prove it with sex.”

  This time when I laugh it’s the real thing. Lucas has that way about him. He calms my nerves. Makes me feel safe. Wanted. Loved. He’s everything I could ever want in a partner.

  “Now I’m thinking about you naked.” I wiggle my eyebrows. “Do you have to go back to the bar tonight?” Proving my love to him just might take all night. We’re good like that.

  “Not tonight.” In one swift movement, he stands and puts me on the desk. “Tonight, I’m all yours.” He pulls the tie on my robe and moves between my legs. I lean back, propping myself up on my elbows. Heat floods through me just by seeing the look in Lucas’s eyes, the one that lets me know he’s going to devour me, drinking from me and fucking me so hard I’m still going to feel it in the morning.

  I wrap my legs around him, bringing him closer. Feeling his big cock harden against me always turns me on. Knowing he’s getting hard for me…that I’m the one he wants…

  Fangs drawn, he kisses me hard before moving his mouth to my neck. His fangs graze over my skin, causing a shiver to make its way through me. My mouth falls open as a soft moan escapes my lips. My eyes close, and I slide my hands up his back, fingers digging into my skin.

  He retracts his fangs and sucks at the skin on my neck, knowing what that sensation does to me. I rake my nails up his back, pressing hard. Even if I were to tear open his skin, he’d heal in seconds.

  He pushes me back, sliding the robe down over one shoulder. I bring my arms back, and let the robe slip off. Lucas looks me over and draws his fangs again. He dives back on me with a growl, one hand going to the back of my head, bunching up my hair in his fist. His other hand lands on my thigh and slowly slides up toward my core.

  My body hums with anticipation. I’m already wet, needing to feel his deft fingers rub over my tender clit. He lays me back on his desk and hooks his fingers around the waistband of my shorts.

  His phone rings right as he starts to pull them down. Usually, we ignore any and all interruptions during sex, with the exception for demons, that is. This time, he stops and takes his hands off me, reaching for his phone.

  “It’s Eliza.” He doesn’t have to explain why this could be bad. She’s FaceTiming and not just calling, which I noticed she does more often than the average human, making me think she’s being nosey and wants to see what Lucas is up to when he’s with me.

  “Oh, thank God,” she ways when Lucas answers. “The VC was just here.”

  Shit. My blood runs cold and nerves quickly replace all the sexy feelings that were just flooding my system.

  “What did they want?” Lucas asks calmly. It takes a lot to rattle him, mostly because he’s over sixteen-hundred years old and there many things that are a threat to him. Except me, but that’s part of my appeal, I know.

  “They were asking about you know who.”

  “Did you stick to the plan?”

  “Yes, of course,” Eliza snaps. Her British accent gets stronger when she’s angry. “But they want to talk to you. They’re on their way over, Lucas. To your house.” Her blue eyes flash. “She’s with you, isn’t she? You need to make her leave before they discover that you’ve been—”

  “Eliza,” Lucas interrupts. “Calm down. I’m not worried and you shouldn’t be either. I can handle the fucking Vampire Council. Get back in the bar. It’s Friday and we’re busy.”

  “I hate you sometimes,” she snaps.

  “And I always love you,” Lucas retorts, flashing his cocky grin. They have a weird relationship, one I don’t fully understand. Lucas made Eliza a vampire as a way to get revenge on her father, who ordered his army to kill as many vampires as possible.

  Lucas didn’t want anything to do with her at first, but then realized how bonded they were. They’ve been together ever since, and he loves her like a sister or a daughter. Maybe both? It hurts my head if I think about it too much. All I know is he’s never once wanted her romantically, but she’s his family.

  “Call me when they leave,” Eliza growls and ends the call.

  “Are you in trouble?” I pull the robe back up, suddenly feeling chilled.

  “Like I said, it’s nothing I can’t handle. But I do need your blood.”

  “Now?” I raise an eyebrow.

  “Yes. Only a small amount.”

  “Uh, okay.” I extend my hand. Lucas takes it and brings my finger up to a fang. “Wait, no!”

  He flicks his eyes to mine. “No?”

  “Not my fingertip. Do you know how much I use my fingers? All the time. Even a paper cut takes forever to heal on your fingertip.”

  “Fragile human,” he teases and moves his mouth to my forearm. He gently bites down, just breaking through my skin enough to draw blood. Instead of drinking it, he smears it around his mouth.

  “What are you—” I start and then cut off, realizing what he’s doing. He’s making it look like we’ve been in here fucking and feeding and not killin
g high-powered members in the Vampire Council.

  “Go upstairs,” he tells me, licking the puncture wounds. “And stay there. You smell like magic.”

  “What about my blood on your face?” I press my fingers over the bite marks.

  “Your magic is here.” He touches my chest. “Not in your blood.”

  “Right,” I say and remember learning about it back in my Academy years. It’s one of the reasons that led to the War of Light and Dark. Vampires thought they’d get powers by draining witches only to realize that our powers die with us and aren’t transferred through our blood.

  “Be careful,” I tell him and move off the desk. “And if you need to blow a vampire up, I’m your girl.”

  He grabs me around the waist and leans in, giving me a look that says he’s going to deliver later. The doorbell rings, and Lucas takes my hand, leading me through the hall. I go up the stairs and into the master bedroom, closing the door behind me.

  I rinse my arm and smear healing balm over the bite, not to tempt anyone to investigate me further from the smell of fresh blood. Then I inch toward the closed door, trying to listen, but this house is too big and I’m too far away from wherever the vampires have gathered.

  Taking a step back, I hold out one hand toward the door and bring the other up to my ear. “Manga disputatio,” I whisper and channel my energy on Lucas. Different sounds of the house echo through the hand I have cupped over my ear.

  “Come on,” I whisper, and think of Lucas’s handsome face. His voice comes through loud and clear.

  “I apologize if we interrupted something,” a male vampire tells Lucas, though he doesn’t sound sorry at all.

  “It’s nothing I can’t resume later,” Lucas says, and the other vampires laugh. “I assume you’re here on behalf of Jacob. I don’t like to be stood up, and I’m not the most forgiving vampire.”

  “We’re here because of him, not on his behalf,” a female vampire says. They walk through the house, and their footsteps echo through the one-way magical telephone. “He was following our orders to meet with you and file an official report with the Council about the anti-assimilation group that’s causing trouble in the area.”

  “They’ve caused me no trouble,” Lucas goes on, lying to the VC. I’m pretty sure he still has a member of that group tied up in the basement of the bar, slowly torturing information out of him. Or just for revenge.

  “Then they’re smarter than we thought,” the female vampire says. “You’re the oldest vampire in Chicago. Going after you would not be wise.”

  But they have gone after him, and that scares me. Because I get the feeling that group isn’t stupid. Though they did send three young vampires after Lucas…unless that was meant to set him up. They knew he’d easily kill them.

  “We believe some of the vampires targeted by this group are being threatened or blackmailed into not coming forward. If they see you—the oldest and one of the most respected vampires in the area—speaking out against this, then they might too.”

  The vampires move again, muffling their voices and making it hard to tell what’s being said. I know Lucas wants nothing to do with politics of any kind. He wants to find out who’s in charge of the group and handle it his way, which probably involves ripping out and crushing hearts with his bare hands, instead of it going through the vampire legal system, which functions similar to the human one.

  Though they do opt for the death sentence way more often than humans do.

  “Jacob’s disappearance is concerning,” the male vampire says. They stopped moving and their voices are coming in clearer again. “He’s not the only registered vampire to go missing in the last few weeks either.”

  “Do you think it could be a hunter?” Lucas asks, doing a good job at playing along with this.

  “It’s possible,” the male vampire replies. “There has been a new wave of hate crimes against our kind after Senator Martin’s speech.”

  My fucking father.

  “That might not be the only reason vampires are going missing.”

  “What do you mean?” Lucas asks.

  “The VC hasn’t made any official announcements yet,” the female vampire starts, “as we don’t want to put vampires on the defense. Lord knows we’re still struggling with assimilation and acceptance amongst the humans. Any sort of freak out or wrongfully accusing an innocent person would not work in our favor. Plus, we don’t want to piss them off.”

  “Who?”

  “Witches.”

  “Witches?” Lucas echoes, sounding shocked. “In Chicago?”

  “Not necessarily just in the city, but in the Midwest. We’ve gotten reports of increases in magical energy.”

  “You were around during the War,” the male says.

  “I didn’t take part in it,” Lucas informs him.

  “You still know what they did to us. What they could do again.”

  “The witches haven’t bothered us in centuries,” Lucas counters, and my hands start to shake.

  “I’d like to keep it that way,” the female says. “You’re old enough to be able to tell the difference between a tree-hugging human who practices Wicca and calls herself a witch and the real deal. And if you come across one, I trust you’ll do the right thing and end them.”

  Chapter 5

  I step away from the door, jaw clenched tight. Neither the Grand Coven nor the Vampire Council approve of witch-vampire relationships, but hearing how the VC wants to deal with witches…it’s unnerving. They’ve been so focused on assimilation, ordering anyone other than vampires to death is extreme. Many witches lead fairly normal lives outside the coven and look like ordinary humans. The VC must really hate us to be willing to risk a vampire murdering a human in cold blood.

  Lucas has made it clear that he only follows the laws put in place for vampires because he saw it as beneficial to himself to be able to put his businesses and properties in his name instead of having a human proxy. He’s a rules-don’t-apply-to-me kind of guy and wouldn’t stop seeing me just because the VC told him to, even if he didn’t care about me as much as he does.

  Which happens to be a lot. A take-a-demon-blade-through-the-heart lot. And I love him.

  More than anyone I’ve ever loved before.

  More than I thought possible.

  Because for a while there, I wasn’t sure my broken heart was capable of loving like this, of feeling such affection and passion for just one man. I will do anything for him, even if that means killing every single vampire that stands in our way.

  I drop my hand, having lost my concentration, and sit on the bench at the foot of the bed. This doesn’t change anything, right? Lucas knew the VC’s stance on witch-vampire relationships and didn’t hesitate to move our relationship forward. Hell, he didn’t even bring it up.

  So why am I freaking out so much?

  Letting out a breath, I get into bed and move under the covers. I can’t hear the vampires anymore, but I can still feel their energy coming from the first floor. Needing to do something, I grab my phone and open my Kindle app, reading two chapters of a small-town romance before Lucas comes back into the room.

  “They’re gone,” he says and leaves the door open behind him.

  “Good. Do you have to carry out orders and kill me now?”

  “You heard?”

  “I had a little magical assistance to listen in on your conversation. I was worried they were going to accuse you of killing Jacob and all try to stake you or something.”

  His full lips start to turn up into a grin. “And what would you have done?”

  “Blown them up too.”

  “You think you could have gotten there fast enough?”

  I set my phone down and shrug. “I’d try. Though I think you’d be able to fight them off, wouldn’t you? Or are they older? What if two vampires who were each exactly half your age attacked you? Would it be a level playing field?”

  Lucas chuckles and gets into bed with me. It’s like he’s a magnet or some
thing, because as soon as he’s in close proximity, I can’t help but touch him.

  “Age isn’t everything with vampires. Yes, you get stronger over the years, but like people, not all vampires are skilled in hand-to-hand combat. A vampire who is two-thousand years old but has only fought off humans would be difficult due to the increased strength, but if they don’t have the skills, I’m confident I’d win.”

  “You are very skilled.”

  “In more ways than one.” He advances, pinning me down against the mattress. “And because I know you’re wondering, I am older than both of the vampires who came to the house tonight. I could easily kill them, though this is a rare time when I’m going to say not killing will make things easier.”

  I laugh, though I’m not sure if he’s actually joking or not. He moves between my legs, and the soft material of his sweatpants pushes up the silk of my pajama shorts. I arch my back, pressing my core against him.

  “You have nothing to worry about,” he promises. “I love you, Callie. You know when I say something, I mean it, but you don’t know how few people I’ve loved—actually loved. And no one has ever come close to how I feel for you. You are everything I’ve been looking for, everything I’ve longed for and wished for over the last sixteen centuries.”

  My heart lurches in my chest, and I bring my hands up, raking my fingers through his messy brown hair.

  “Saying I’ve felt the same in the seven years I’ve legally been an adult doesn’t pack the same punch,” I start.

  “No,” he says softly with a smile. “It doesn’t.”

  “But you’ve showed me what it’s like to be loved, and how amazing it is to open myself up and give everything to you, because I know without a doubt there will never be another who I love more than you.”

  “There won’t be,” he growls and puts his lips to mine. I buck my hips, rubbing myself against him. I tangle my fingers in his hair and run my other hand down his back, tracing his spine down to the waistband of his pants. I push my hand inside, giving his muscular butt a squeeze, and then tug down his pants.