Salvation in Darkness (Misplaced Halos Book 2)

by Nicole Edwards

  Tilting her head to the side, she offered herself up to him once more.

  Eclipse growled low in his throat, a sound that was so deliciously sexy it was a wonder she didn’t orgasm right then.

  Before he leaned in, Orianna caught a glimpse of his fangs. The sight of them warmed her from the inside out, had her inner muscles locking on his erection as he continued to fill her.

  Another deep rumble came from Eclipse before he latched on to her neck. The sharp sting lasted a fraction of a second before it was replaced with what she assumed was the best high known to humans. Her body tightened, her muscles locking as her body shattered, the electrical energy pulsing out from her center to her fingers, her toes.

  It could’ve been minutes or hours or, hell, days that Eclipse fueled his body with her lifeblood, and the entire time she was swamped by a pleasure so intense, the friction of their bodies wasn’t necessary to keep the orgasm rolling through her. It didn’t subside completely, either. No, the tremor remained inside her, a blissful hum that continued as long as he was drinking from her vein.

  Orianna felt her body weakening, but she didn’t care. She trusted him implicitly, knew he would never harm her. As though he knew she couldn’t stand to lose any more blood, he broke the seal on her neck, his tongue swiping over her skin to close the wounds. And then Eclipse let loose on her, pummeling her again and again as she rode out the orgasm that seemed to go on forever. When another hit, shattering the other one, Orianna cried out his name and felt him let go.

  It was then that that constant ache subsided completely, draining out of her and leaving a sense of satisfaction in its wake. There was no doubt it would return, probably sooner rather than later. It always did.

  When Eclipse set her on her feet, Orianna remained where she was, allowing the wall to hold her up while her sexy angel went to work soaping them both. She could barely move but managed to smile as his big, warm hands moved over her.

  “Keep that up and we’ll have to do that again,” she warned, her eyes closed as exhaustion pulled at her.

  Eclipse stood tall and leaned down so his mouth hovered over hers. “Just say the word, sezari, and I’m there.”

  Orianna chuckled, realizing she felt lighter than she had in … well, ever.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The moment the sun went down, Kaj slipped out of Angel Central, ensuring no one saw him.

  For the past five days, ever since the Fae Asmia went missing, the place had been sullen, full of angels attempting to find one of their own. Since Kaj couldn’t do much in the way of helping aside from what little he’d contributed by way of reaching out to his clans, he figured now was the perfect time to address an issue he’d put off for too long. While he was all for helping out the angels, Kaj had his own race to contend with, and right now, they could ill afford him neglecting them.

  With the sun well below the horizon, he maneuvered through the Dungeon, the place empty of patrons on a Sunday night. As he made his way to the hidden door behind the bar, he peered around and smiled. He’d never considered what a popular nightclub looked like when it was empty. It sort of reminded him of a corpse, completely drained of life and in desperate need of resuscitation. To put it simply, it looked a hell of a lot better with dim lights and bodies to hide all those blemishes.

  As he lifted the bar top to step behind it, he noticed a set of scratch marks running down the wall near his head. Someone had been having either a damn good night or a really shitty one. In this place, it could go either way. Not that he much cared what went on here. As long as the humans weren’t harmed and Darko didn’t draw any unwanted attention from the locals or the winged police upstairs, the male could do as he pleased.

  Following Darko’s instructions, Kaj pressed his palm to the stone on the left side of the door. The wooden rectangle opened slowly, disappearing into the wall. A row of lights lit up along the floor to reveal the three feet of space that gave way to a spiral staircase leading deep underground. The moment Kaj cleared the doorway, the door slid shut behind him, sealing him inside. With his hand on the gun tucked in the holster on his hip, he made his way down the stairs, listening for any sounds to signal danger. Thanks to his keen vampire senses, he could hear everything, from the repetitious drip of a leaky pipe in the wall to the soft rasp of breaths coming from the dungeon, even a large truck rolling down the next street over.

  He paused at the base of the stairs, allowing his senses to expand, ensuring there were no threats coming from the room. It wasn’t that he was paranoid, but after what had happened to Kardobahn and the rest of Kaj’s family, he wasn’t taking any chances these days.

  Kaj was able to discern how big the space was—roughly thirteen hundred square feet—and the count of bodies it contained. That was when he realized there was a problem. From what Darko had told him, there were only five prisoners being held in the cells beneath the club, but there were six souls contained within. Since Darko had had to pass on meeting him due to another obligation, Kaj could only assume the extra was not the male who had lured him here.

  “If you’re interested in continuing to breathe, you’ll make yourself known,” Kaj said, pulling his Sig from its holster.

  “I am no threat to you, phaal.”

  Alpha. It was so odd to hear someone refer to him that way.

  Kaj stepped out of the stairwell to see the enormous male on one knee, head bowed, the steel tip of his beloved dagger pressed to the concrete floor.

  “Mirakel,” Kaj whispered, not believing his eyes. “What the fuck?”

  He scanned the rest of the space: two females, three males, five cots, five blankets, an empty wooden chair, a set of keys, and a copy of Guns and Ammo was all it contained. But Kaj didn’t give a shit about the prisoners or the reading material of the absent guard. Nope. His attention was drawn right back to Mirakel, one of the four males Kaj thought he’d lost back when Kardobahn had been murdered in the raids by the shadow beasts.

  Tucking the gun back in its holster, Kaj took a hesitant step closer to Mirakel. “Stand, warrior.”

  The male was all power and grace as he lifted his six-foot seven-inch frame, his neon blue eyes glittering with emotion. Although he looked a little worse for wear, Mirakel appeared healthy and strong, still thick as a sequoia, his shoulder muscles flexing beneath the black T-shirt he wore.

  Kaj didn’t give a shit that there were a handful of vampires observing this moment. He stepped forward and pressed his hands to Mirakel’s hard, chiseled face, letting his eyes shift over his features. Still as rough and rugged as always, and most definitely alive.

  “I thought you were dead,” he whispered, swallowing past the emotion thick in his throat. He remembered the day he thought he’d lost his warriors, their lives taken by the shadow beasts that had slaughtered Kaj’s family.

  “You and me both,” Mirakel said, his deep, guttural voice holding an edge of amusement.

  With a relieved laugh, Kaj pulled Mirakel toward him, hugged him roughly before releasing him.

  “Darko didn’t mention you were here,” Kaj acknowledged.

  Mirakel’s face hardened. “The male doesn’t know.”

  Kaj frowned. “How’d you get down here?”

  “You’re not the only one with tricks up your sleeve, phaal.” His gaze swung around the dungeon before landing on him once more. “We need to get out of here.”

  “I’ve come to interrogate the prisoners,” Kaj explained. “Darko was delayed, but he’s on his way.”

  “Darko’s not coming.” Mirakel’s gravelly voice was full of derision. “We need to go, phaal, and we need to go now.”

  Having spent centuries with Mirakel at his side, along with the other warriors who had vowed to protect the race’s Alpha at all costs, Kaj knew the male wasn’t prone to paranoia. And if he said they needed to go, there was no time to waste.

  “Back the way I came?” he asked, figuring Mirakel already had an exit strategy.

  The relief on Mirakel�
�s face was instant, as though he hadn’t expected Kaj to follow. “This way.”

  Kaj spared a quick glance at the caged vampires—those who’d betrayed their own race—and figured they were better off where they were. He fell into step behind Mirakel, who led the way to the far end of the space. Mirakel twisted a stone sticking out of the wall, and a moment later, it retracted, similar to the way the one upstairs had. Before the two of them stepped into the dark, musty space, Kaj heard footsteps overhead. A lot of them.

  “We’ve got to move,” Mirakel said firmly, shoving Kaj in front of him as the stone slid closed, sealing them in the darkness.

  Good thing vampires didn’t need light to see. In fact, their eyesight was designed for darkness, which allowed him to move through the tunnel with ease. Couldn’t have been more than three feet across, seven feet tall, lined on both sides with rough stone, which had been weathered from water seeping into the earth.

  His quick scan told him there was no one ahead of them, only a few spiders and other creepy-crawlies that had set up shop down here. He followed Mirakel’s clipped commands, jogging headlong into the pitch-black, the sound of their footsteps the only thing accompanying them in their hasty exit.

  “Probably should’ve asked this before now, but what the hell is going on?” Kaj ducked to avoid a web filling the circle of a split in the tunnel.

  “Stay to the right,” Mirakel barked. “There’s an army of vampires back there.” Mirakel’s voice was cool and collected as though he was relaying the weather. “They’ve come to assassinate you.”

  Oh. Was that all they were doing?

  Kaj exhaled heavily. Sometimes this whole Alpha thing sucked. He was always looking over his damn shoulder, wondering who was standing there ready to plunge a knife in his back simply to step into his role. Granted, the Alpha gig wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Not an easy feat being the leader of an entire race, looking out for their well-being while still attempting to get a grip on what was going on. Hell, Kaj was the first to go it alone. Even Kardobahn had relied on those closest to him.

  Unfortunately, those Kaj was closest to were all dead. He glanced back at Mirakel. Or at least he’d thought they were dead.

  “Not much farther,” Mirakel told him. “This exit leads into the forest. From what I can tell, they haven’t used it in some time.”

  “They?”

  “Darko and his group of traitors.”

  Kaj stopped, spinning around to face Mirakel. “You’re telling me Darko’s a traitor?”

  The male looked pained as he nodded. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  Son of a bitch.

  Mirakel gave his shoulder a shove, urging him to keep going. “We’re not safe until we’re out of here. There’s no way to vanish within the confines of this space.”

  Which meant the walls were enforced with titanium. It was the only material they couldn’t move through.

  Kaj heard the sound of voices coming from behind them, so he hurried his pace. It took another few minutes before they came to a set of rusty bars that led up through a hole barely big enough for their shoulders to squeeze through.

  “I don’t know what’s on the other side,” Mirakel warned. “But I need you to go first so I can watch your back.”

  Without hesitation, Kaj crawled up the rusted metal rungs, then pushed open the thick iron cover that sealed off the tunnel. Before he leveraged himself out, he scanned his surroundings. He sensed two males moving their way, probably a good mile off. Aside from them, there were a handful of forest animals skittering about, but no additional threats. For now.

  Once he was out, Kaj waited for Mirakel. The male launched himself up and out, then shifted the cover back in place.

  Kaj waved his hand over the metal plate, melting the edges so that it sealed in place. “They won’t be getting out that way.”

  “We need to get out of here before Darko’s reinforcements figure out where we went,” Mirakel warned.

  Had he been alone, Kaj would’ve gone back to Obsidian’s residence; however, that wasn’t an option. While he wanted to trust Mirakel, the fact that he hadn’t sniffed out Darko’s betrayal told him he needed to take this slow. Last thing he would do was put his daughter in danger. Or Acadia.

  “I know a place.” Kaj drifted into molecules, projecting the coordinates into Mirakel’s mind as he did.

  When they took form, it was in an abandoned warehouse in a small town south of Darkness. Kaj had secured the place before he’d ventured to the mansion in the event Obsidian had turned him away.

  Although they were alone, Mirakel didn’t relax as he strolled through the vacant metal building, checking locks on windows and doors. The most those would do was stall a human, damn sure not a vampire.

  Mirakel turned to face him. “The others are waiting.”

  “Others?”

  “With your permission, I’ll let them know where we are.”

  “What others?” Kaj insisted, moving toward the enormous male, one hand on his gun, the other on his dagger.

  “Four of us survived, phaal,” Mirakel said softly. “Barely.”

  Unable to believe the admission, Kaj could only stare. Completely and utterly … relieved.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Two days later…

  Having spent the past week holed up here with the female, Perfidious was hoping tonight would be the night she would come around. Then again, that was his thought every single night when he came to visit her.

  No, the accommodations weren’t at all what he’d envisioned for his queen, but until Asmia got with the program, he had decided this would be her new home, this cage deep in the heart of the mountain not too far from where he’d found her. It was far more secure than the abandoned warehouse he’d initially taken her to, providing more security as well as privacy. No risk of those pesky humans stumbling upon them.

  Unfortunately, it seemed he and his beloved Asmia continued to endure one setback after another, the latest being her illness. Perfidious had no fucking clue what was wrong with the Fae, but for the past couple of days, she’d been under the weather.

  “Do you find these accommodations more suitable?” Perfidious asked, motioning toward the enormous king bed he’d had delivered to her cell just that morning.

  He’d been outfitting the space with the nicest things money could buy. After all, it was his pleasure to treat her like the royalty she was. Asmia was his queen, even if she denied her position at the moment. She would come around, he knew. She simply needed time and perhaps a bit more persuasion on his part.

  Asmia glared at him but didn’t speak. Her usual response. The good news was, she was at least looking at him now.

  Perfidious glanced at the padlock, then clicked it open with his mind before willing the door to swing wide. He stepped inside, wanting to be closer to her.

  “I figured you’d want a status update.”

  She continued to pace, her body looking a tad thin beneath the white gown he’d picked out for this evening. Perfidious had taken great care in selecting the virginal silk, wanting only the best to touch her lovely flesh. As of yet, Asmia hadn’t thanked him for his forethought, but she wasn’t rejecting him outright, so he considered that a win.

  “You have to admire their loyalty.” He moved toward her, enjoying the way she flinched as he approached. You could make a male fall in love, but you couldn’t kill the demon completely. “They’re still out looking for you, but they have slowed their efforts quite a bit. Perhaps we should give them a call.”

  Asmia hissed.

  “What? You don’t want them to know you’re all right? That I’m taking care of you the way you deserve?”

  He stepped into her path, blocking her movements.

  She was a lovely creature, he had to give her that much. Even pissed, she was beautiful. He reached out and fingered one long silky lock of her hair.

  “Don’t touch me,” she seethed, doing the pivot and pace once more.

  At least
she wasn’t clawing at him anymore. He’d left the cell covered in scratches and bruises the first few days she’d been with him. It hadn’t been until he’d shackled her naked to the wall that she’d learned the error of her ways. Since … well, Asmia continued to hiss and seethe, but she’d stopped being violent. It saddened him a bit, to be honest. Perfidious was looking forward to the feisty Fae. He knew their relationship would bring out the best and the worst in both of them.

  “Still on that, are you?” He crooked his finger, urging her over when she stopped on the opposite side of her new room.

  “I will never let you touch me. You might as well kill me now.”

  He chuckled. Kill her? Never.

  Oh, no. What he had in store for his sweet Asmia went far beyond death.

  When he reached for her, she slapped his arm away. She was far stronger than he’d given her credit for, but he did admire her fight. In fact, it turned him on. He’d enjoyed the game up to this point, but he was hoping they’d make more progress than they had.

  “Come here, gorgeous,” he instructed. “I think it’s time for us to establish a few rules.”

  She glared at him, her lips sealed closed as though she didn’t trust what might come out of her mouth.

  When he reached for her again, she slapped his arm away once more.

  Too bad she was no match for him.

  “I was trying to be nice. Clearly you like it rough.”

  “What are you—”

  With a smirk, Perfidious used the powers of his mind to send her flying backward into the wall. He pinned her in place with invisible chains, arms out wide, legs spread.