Daring Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 2) (12 page)

“That’s great,” she said.

Marcus nodded. “I’m going to take a shower. When I’m done, we can watch a movie or something, okay?”

Gena stared at him, dumbfounded.
That was it? A movie?
“Okay,” was all she said. Sure, she didn’t want to talk about it, but pretending it never happened almost seemed worse. So if she had to watch a movie with him to avoid that awkwardness, then that was what she’d do.

Gena was exhausted the next evening. Marcus had been keeping her awake the whole day in preparation for the psychic. If the psychic was going to see into Gena’s dreams, she’d have to be sleeping, and for her to sleep on command, Marcus had made it his mission to let her get no rest. Not even a catnap.

By the time seven o’clock rolled around, Gena was more than cranky. She was downright hostile. Her head pounded and her eyelids felt like lead bricks.

Marcus thought it was hilarious.

She wanted to be furious with him every time he laughed at her pain or threw a piece of popcorn at her to keep her awake, but she knew he was trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

He’d taught her a lot about vampires as they passed the daylight hours inside the dark penthouse. The most important knowledge she’d taken was how to hurt them.

There were lots of untruths sprinkled in the vampire mythology. The vampires had planted these to protect themselves. Simple things like reflections and holy water were all made up. That way, if they were ever accused of being a vampire, they could just hold up a mirror or drink water from the church to prove they weren’t demons.

The cross myth was partial truth. All vampires are highly reactive to silver, so a silver crucifix could burn them to the touch and cause them excruciating pain if it pierced the skin, but the cross itself did nothing to them.

This led to the even stranger revelation of the stash of weapons Marcus had hidden in the penthouse. A varied assortment of silver daggers and swords were in the closets and drawers around the living space and kitchen. There was a sword under the bed and even more daggers in the bathroom.

As if that wasn’t enough, Marcus even had a handgun loaded with specially made silver bullets.

Though the silver could cause intense pain, it would only kill if the heart was destroyed or if the head was removed. Well, that wasn’t specific to silver. Though legend said only a wood stake could kill a vampire, really any instrument that destroyed the heart would do the trick.

Gena hadn’t been happy to learn all of this, but they both believed it was necessary for her to learn how to defend herself. She just hoped she’d never have to utilize any of the knowledge.

Because of the vampires who might pop in for a visit at any moment, Marcus thought it would be best if she kept the gun with her. His reasoning was that it would be safer for her to have some form of self-defense, and he’d have Vlad bring him another gun for himself in the evening.

Despite the seriousness of their situations, not all their day was talk on how to kill a vampire. Most was spent lounging on the sofa with Lady curled up next to her as she watched various movies with Marcus. If she weren’t so tired, waiting for a psychic to tell her why she wasn’t dying, or learning about how to kill vampires, it might’ve been a relaxing day.

When the intercom finally buzzed, Gena breathed out a sigh of anticipation.
Was this really going to work?
She stood back as Marcus opened the door. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t the young girl who stood in the entryway.

She couldn’t be more than eighteen and had wispy blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed casually in a t-shirt and jeans. The backpack over her shoulder identified her as a student. Gena frowned. “You’re a psychic?”

The girl smiled. “Yep. I’m Mia.” She narrowed her eyes at Gena. “Sorry I’m not a sixty-year-old gypsy with crazy long hair and lots of bracelets.” Apparently this was a sore spot for her.

Gena was speechless. She didn’t mean to offend her. Before she could apologize, Marcus defended her by saying, “She has been through a lot. You give her any more shit, I will throw you out of here quicker than you can say abracadabra.”

Mia turned her glare to Marcus. “I’m not a magician.”

Marcus changed topics. “Is there anything immediately noticeable about her?” He motioned to Gena.

Mia looked over at Gena and Gena fidgeted under the scrutiny.

“Are you kidding? This girl’s glowing brighter than a Christmas tree.”

Just like Ryan had said.
“What does that mean?” asked Gena.

Mia shrugged. “I’ve never met anyone with an aura like that. I have seen a few on the streets, but you don’t just walk up to a mystical being and ask what they are, if you know what I mean.”

Gena could see how that would be awkward. “So I’m not the only one? Are you sure that makes me mystical?”

Mia responded, “Well, I’m not sure of anything yet. I
am
sure I’ve seen bright white auras before. As for you being mystical, isn’t your seeming inability to die the reason I’m here?”

That would be mystical
, thought Gena. “That whole ‘dying thing’ has been an issue for me lately.”

Mia smiled. “Unfortunately, I’m not on speaking terms with a lot of others like me, so I can’t ask anyone what you might be. Vlad told me you have night terrors and you want me to try to read you during these terrors.”

Gena nodded. “Why aren’t you speaking with other psychics?”

“Let’s just focus on you right now,” said Mia. “I can try to read your dreams. However, true night terrors are not related to nightmares. If there are dreams causing these outbursts, I will be able to see them.”

Gena was relieved she might be getting answers. “What if I don’t have any? They only come once every couple of months and I had one last night.”

“Well, we can at least try. If these terrors are supernatural, they’ll be much more likely to happen tonight. Marcus is probably acting like a beacon and my presence will enhance that beacon.”

Gena looked over to Marcus, who gave her an apologetic smile. “Whatever you do tonight, Gena will be safe?” he asked.

“I can’t imagine why not. All she has to do is sleep,” said Mia.

“Let’s get started,” said Gena.

Fifteen minutes later, Gena was lying in Marcus’s bed with Mia and Marcus both looking at her. “This isn’t awkward at all,” muttered Gena.

“I know it isn’t ideal, but he won’t leave.” Mia was right. Marcus refused to leave her alone with a stranger, no matter how small and harmless she looked.

Mia continued, “Just close your eyes and try to relax. You were tired before I got here, right?”

Gena nodded with her eyes closed.

“You will fall asleep eventually. Even if it takes a while, I’m not going anywhere. Just keep those eyes closed until you fade away,” said Mia with a soft whisper.

Sure enough, Gena did eventually drift away.

~~~~~

Marcus was useless at the moment. Gena was still in a deep sleep, and Mia was in a trance-like state next to her on the bed. One of the small blonde’s hands rested gently on Gena’s forehead while Mia’s eyes were also closed and her head was tilted back against the wall.

Marcus paced out into the living room. He could only take so much helplessness at a time. The previous night’s serving had almost been too much for him to bear.

He didn’t regret killing the human, though he did regret he was put in a situation where murder was his only option. Rok and his people, whoever they were, had to be stopped. They obviously had no regard for human or vampire life, and that made them incredibly dangerous.

If they ever came into power, the casualties would be too high to risk. Now Marcus needed to infiltrate their operation even more than ever. He’d known he’d have to prove himself somehow. He’d even guessed he’d have to shed blood to do so.

Marcus hoped having Gena pretend to be his human would show how far he was willing to go, but he also knew his refusal to share her was a mark against him.

If one man’s death would save so many others, he didn’t regret being the one to cause that death. He’d never expected Gena to agree.

He knew he had blood on him when he’d arrived back at the penthouse the night before. He didn’t know what he would have done if she’d given him the look of disgust he was expecting. He’d hoped to get out of the soiled clothes and into the shower before she noticed anything. Instead, she’d jumped on him the moment he’d entered the apartment.

All of his efforts to avoid her had been fruitless, and she’d ended up seeing the exact red marks he was trying to hide. Seeing her moving the bloody material away to see where he was hurt had felt like a knife in his gut. He couldn’t process the thought of her with a murdered human’s blood on her hands.

Sometime while he’d been frantically scrubbing her hands clean, she pieced the dots together. Instead of running in horror or condemning him, she quickly saw the bigger picture. She’d defended him against himself.

Seeing her standing so strong against all his darkness had been too much. He forgot all about his promise not to touch her, and their kiss had been earth-shattering. Even now he was cursing Vlad for calling and making him remember that stupid promise he’d made.

He’d hoped Gena would give him some sort of encouragement to take her back to the bed, but she’d gone on as if nothing had happened.

He could still feel her bare skin against his palms. How her breasts filled his hands just right. He was damn proud of himself for keeping his hands to himself since their kiss had been interrupted. However, he could’ve sworn the dog had been giving him the evil eye all day, as if Lady knew exactly what he was thinking.

Not that the day had been bad, by any stretch of the imagination. They had watched some good movies and had some good conversations. The more he learned of her, the more he realized just how normal her life had been before.

He wasn’t sure what they could do to find out what she was if Mia couldn’t help them. Whatever he did, he had to be careful not to piss Gena off, considering he’d now given her detailed instructions and the means to kill a vampire.

He never felt comfortable telling anyone his weaknesses, but Gena deserved to know how to defend herself. He hadn’t planned to give her his gun, but she insisted she knew how to use it, and he knew it was likely he’d be leaving her alone in the apartment a few more times.

Considering that she was so much weaker and slower than a vampire, the gun might be her best chance. She probably couldn’t kill one, but she could possibly slow one down long enough to get away.

The silver daggers were his weapon of choice, but impractical for a human, or human-like being. By the time she was close enough to use the dagger, she was probably screwed anyway.

Hopefully her unique ability to not die would hold up even if she did get hurt. In order to know the rules of her ability, she’d have to have one hell of a nightmare for Mia to see.

Just then, he heard a commotion from the bedroom. He used his full speed to get to Gena’s side.

Gena lightly thrashed on the bed while Mia still held one hand at her forehead with her eyes closed. Without opening her eyes, Mia said, “Something is happening. It’s not a dream. This is something different...” Her brow creased as though she concentrated harder. “She’s in a field in the darkness.” Mia’s head tilted to the side as though she was trying to see better. “She is not alone. She is surrounded by people. They’re dressed strangely. I don’t think this is happening presently. I think she is seeing something that happened long ago.”

Marcus held his breath as he willed Mia to continue.

“There’s an old woman being held back by a man as a second man questions her. Gena is worried for the woman’s safety. The woman is not answering the questions being asked of her. Gena is surrounded by other women. They are all scared. Some are crying. Gena is trying to hear what the men are saying, but she cannot over the other women’s tears. The man questioning the older woman hits her and she falls. Gena screams and runs to the woman’s side.”

Marcus clenched his fists as he forced himself to remain still. Every fiber of him wanted to wake Gena from this horror story in her mind.

“One of the men grabs Gena’s hair and pulls her back. She struggles, but she is no match for the man.” Mia paused for a moment. “These men are vampires.”

Marcus’s eyes widened at the statement.

Mia continued, “The vampire holding her is about to throw her back to the other scared women, but he stops. Instead, he reverses directions and pulls her to the vampire who interrogated and struck the older woman.”

At that moment, Gena let out a scared whimper in her sleep and thrashed heavily, as if trying to wiggle out of someone’s grasp. Marcus clenched his fists to prevent himself from waking her from the nightmare.

“Gena can hear now. The interrogator asks her where ‘he’ is. Gena shakes her head. She doesn’t know who the man is asking about. The interrogator pushes her hair back from her neck,” Mia said as a disgusted shudder ran through Gena’s sleeping body. At this point, Marcus had no doubts Mia was seeing exactly what Gena was.

“The interrogator points out bite wounds on her neck. She had been bitten by a vampire. These men are looking for the vampire who bit her. They think the women have killed him. She promises that the man who hurt her is not dead. This gets the interrogator’s attention. Gena assures him that he is alive, but has left and she doesn’t know where he has gone.