Darkness Burning (18 page)

A sharp pinch nipped her hip and she yelped, lifting her head to glare at a grinning Alex, who spun the cloth between his hands.

“That hurt,” she complained, reaching back to rub the spot he’d flicked.

Alex’s smile slipped. “Time to get up. We’re leaving.”

She raised her arms to stretch, then let them drop immediately when his sharp, blue gaze dropped to her naked breasts. “Where are you taking me?” she asked, suddenly breathless. “I’m starved. Will you feed me?”

“We’ll find something later. Get dressed.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere safe.”

Something in the way his features hardened—his jaw firming and his gaze growing more remote—made her nervous. “That implies we’re not safe here. What’s going on, Alex?”

Drawing a deep breath, Alex sat on the mattress beside her and cupped her cheek. “There are some things about me that I should have mentioned before.”

Trying to dispel some of the gloom entering the room, she gave him a small smile. “Are they more interesting than the fact that you’re insatiable?”

His quick smile didn’t reach his eyes. “They have to do with my being a Born vampire. I’m the only one, by the way.”

“You’re saying you’re special?”

A smirk lifted one corner of his lips. “Did you ever doubt it?”

“Not for a moment. But what does that have to do with us not being safe?”

His gaze locked with hers, probing and intense. “I didn’t use a condom when we made love. Did you notice that fact?”

Miki lifted her chin. “I thought you were done with the pretense of being an average kind of guy.”

“I didn’t use the condom as a ploy. Miki, I’ve always used them to protect my partners.”

Feeling the pleasurable bubble she’d inhabited since she’d woken fade away, Miki cupped her hand against the outside of his and brought it down to her lap. She threaded her fingers slowly through his, stalling while she gathered the fraying edges of her courage around her. “Protect us from what? I thought you were all sterile and disease-free.”

“I’m not sterile.”

Her eyes widened. “Well then, shouldn’t we have to wait until a little time has passed to see whether I’m in trouble? Besides, it’s not that time of the month for me.”

Alex squeezed his fingers against hers. “Read my lips, sweetheart. I’m special. You don’t have to wait for ovulation.
I induce it. It’s one of my
gifts
.” The way he stressed the word indicated that he considered it anything but a gift.

“You’re saying I’m pregnant? You’re sure about that?”

At his nod, her free hand smoothed over her tummy. “What will it be?”

“You mean beyond a little girl? A Born vampire. Whatever else she is won’t be clear until she matures.”

Feeling as though the room was tilting beneath her, she shook her head. “And I’m not safe because I’m pregnant? I’m not following your logic.”

“There are people scouring the city for me while you’re lying in this bed. They’ll destroy me and any who have harbored me. They’ll seek out any child I’ve fathered and destroy it, too. Now do you understand? You’re not safe here anymore, Miki.”

Miki pulled her fingers from his and wrapped both arms around herself. “But no one knows. If you keep away from me, no one will.”

“There are metaphysical ways for our child to be discovered. I’m sorry I didn’t use better judgment when I loved you. I would have preferred to never involve you in my problems.”

“Did you come here because of the child?” she asked, firming her lips against the trembling creeping through her body.

Alex shut his eyes for a moment, then glanced away. “I would never have exposed you to further danger. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have wanted to come to you—if I’d been free to pursue you.”

Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she ruthlessly scraped them away. “What am I supposed to believe? And who? The man who teased me and manipulated me into begging for release? Or the man who took me ruthlessly on the floor of that gazebo? I don’t know who you are.”

“And we haven’t the luxury of time for you to find out. If you believe only this, I’ll be satisfied for now—you aren’t safe. Our child isn’t safe.” He held out his hand.

Miki looked at his broad palm, his long fingers. So much strength resided in his hands. He could pull her from the bed, force her into her clothes, and make her come whether she wanted to or not.

He preferred her acquiescence. Miki’s mind raced, turning over the possibilities. Since she’d entered his world, she’d operated on instinct, followed her curiosity. At this point, her lost past didn’t seem nearly as intriguing as the future stretching before her—all resting in the palm of his hand.

She slipped her hand inside his, closing her eyes briefly when he squeezed hers in approval.

He didn’t love her. Maybe he couldn’t. But she belonged to him now. Connection was something she’d dreamed of finding. Instead, it had found her.

She climbed off the mattress, catching her breath when she found herself standing pressed against his body.

Glancing up, she caught a glimpse of some strong emotion darkening his gaze. He raised his hands to her face and tilted her chin upward with his fingers. His kiss was soft, a little tentative, and, after all the passionate ones they’d shared, somehow more meaningful. “I don’t know what the future holds for us,” he said softly, “but I want your happiness.”

“You trapped me—whether you planned it or not,” she said as she met his gaze with a glare. “But Alex…I don’t really care. Promise me you mean to do right by me, and I’ll be patient and wait to see how this plays out.”

Alex kissed her hard, then pushed her gently away. “Clothes. Now!”

His impatience filled her with a restless, gnawing fear. His glances toward the sky outside her window had her wondering if the coming darkness was the reason for his concern.

“You didn’t seem to be in a hurry today. Are you worried because it’s getting dark?”

“The others need darkness to roam freely. It’s when they hunt.”

“That’s all I needed to know,” she muttered. “Could have given me a clue.” She pulled on a pale blue T-shirt and blue jeans, then caught the running shoes he tossed. She got the message—be prepared for anything.

When they were both dressed, he walked around the apartment, closing windows, pulling curtains closed. Miki grabbed her jacket with its deep pockets and shrugged into it, scraping the keys from the hook beside the door.

As she locked the door behind them, she gave Alex a quick glance. “I have to tell my super I won’t be back for a while.”

Old Man Mouton opened his apartment door after unlocking the series of dead bolts he must have just installed. He peeked around the door and blinked at her, then his gaze widened on Alex. “Didn’t I warn you ’bout closin’ those windows?”

“I’m all right,” Miki said, wondering how he’d guessed. “Just wanted you to know I’ll be gone for a while.”

“You find those monsters you been lookin’ for?” he said, eyeing Alex with a hard glare.

Alex returned the look with a steady one of his own. “I’ll do my best to keep her safe.”

As they climbed down the stairs, Alex flashed a smile over his shoulder. “Looks like you’re not so all alone after all.”

Miki’s steps felt lighter as she realized it was true.

The drive back to his apartment took longer than Alex would have liked. The few civilian vehicles rolling through the city were a target for every checkpoint. They pulled to a stop beside his building just after sunset.

“This where you live?” she asked, glancing up at the whitewashed brick building with its wrought-iron balconies. “Nice.”

“Glad you like it. You’ll be staying here a while.”

“Shouldn’t I have packed some clothes?”

“I have some things in the apartment you can use,” he murmured, not mentioning the fact that they were his mother’s clothes, abandoned and forgotten when she’d been on the run from rogue vampires seeking to destroy her before she became pregnant—with him.

He passed his own doorway and headed straight for Simon’s. The door opened just as they reached it. Simon wore his Templar’s face, his beard neatly trimmed around his chin and mouth, his long hair brushing his shoulders. He wore olive jeans and a tee with a marijuana leaf on the front. Miki would probably think he looked like a member of a cult. Which he did. Just not any modern religious flavor of sects.

“Simon,” Alex nodded and slipped quickly inside, pulling Miki behind him.

“What took you so long?” Simon asked, a sly smile stretching his lips beneath his dark moustache.

Alex ignored his jibe, knowing Simon already understood exactly what had kept him occupied all day. “I have something to show you.”

“Come into my office. Bring Mikaela, too.” Simon turned and led the way down the hallway to his office.

Miki gasped behind him. “How does he know my name?” she whispered.

“It’s a long story. One I’m sure he’ll tell you. Later.”

Simon seated himself in a low-backed upholstered chair. “We haven’t much time. Show me,” he commanded, his fingers gripping the padded arms.

“I don’t know why we have to do this,” Alex muttered. “You’ve already lived this.”

“You know well why we go through the motions. Something might have changed.”

Alex lifted his chin toward another chair, beside Simon’s desk. “Miki, have a seat. Don’t be frightened by what you see.”

He stepped behind Simon as the mage tilted his head to the side. Alex swept aside his long brown hair and bent close, closing his eyes to focus his thoughts on the dream he’d had, centering his mind on Inanna and the white palace in the midst of the sand dunes.

Then he inhaled, seeking the heated, heavy throb of Simon’s heartbeat in the vein just beneath his skin at the side of his neck. He leaned closer, letting his fangs slide down from the roof of his mouth. Then he opened his jaws wide and sank into his mentor’s flesh, ignoring Miki’s loud gasp.

I
nanna paced the length of her bedchamber
,
wringing her hands while her father’s old wizard stood stone-faced
,
watching. “He’ll return any time now. You know what you must do?”

Ninshubur pulled the object from a roughly woven bag
,
brushing away straw. He set the base of the relic on a low table and carefully extracted the black crystal
,
polishing it with his sleeve before setting it on the base.

Inanna circled the table
,
staring at the dark orb clutched in the talons of a dragon’s claw. “You’re sure this will work?”

“We have only the promise Irkalla made to you.”

“My sister hates me,” Inanna muttered
,
her stomach knotting with tension. “Anything can happen.”

“I told you that you were being reckless
,
foolish to bid a
favor from the Underworld. Why could you not be satisfied with the child you have?”

Inanna had asked herself the same thing a dozen times. The greed for power
,
to increase her stature among the Born
,
had driven her, forcing her to take extreme measures.

“I must have a female child,” she said. Then
,
and only then
,
could she destroy the abomination she’d bred. Her daywalking son made her shudder. Born with memories that looked back on her every misdeed
,
he’d poisoned her husband against her
,
cutting at the foundation of their fragile relationship with cautionary tales of her manipulations.

Dumuzi no longer looked at her with lust and love. He kept to his own chambers
,
openly cavorting with whores rather than bedding her.

Not that she’d deprived herself of blood or sex. Still
,
his insult could not be ignored. He’d even refused her offer to turn him. They’d never shared the strongest of blood-bonds
,
because she’d left him human during her season
,
but he would have been tied to her just the same.

Yet he’d refused
,
preferring to age and spend his days with their son.

Their whispered conversations
,
halting when she’d approached
,
and the long hours—even days—they’d spent away from the palace, had only served to deepen her anger.

They’d forced her to make this devil’s deal. With her sister.

Irkalla had disappeared all those years ago after spying on them from the garden
,
only to reappear when the wizard had sent prayers to the demon’s world on Inanna’s behalf, asking that she might conceive another child to replace the creature she’d born with Dumuzi
,
opening a doorway between the realms for Inanna to enter and offer her plea.

To say that Inanna had been dismayed to see her sister standing beyond the portal after all those years was an understatement. And to see her bedecked in priceless gemstones and rich silks had sent her into a
silent fury. “Where have you come from?” she’d asked
,
as the whirling portal had pulsed behind her.

“Where your plotting sent me,” Irkalla had said silkily
,
her sloe eyes glinting with dark humor. “I prayed for a means of revenge. I prayed for the return of my one true love. You have been long in giving me the means.”

“I did not summon you.”

“You thought The Master would attend you?” Irkalla’s head had canted
,
amusement curving her lush lips. “Did you think he would be the one to fill your womb?”

Inanna had felt her spine stiffen. She had indeed hoped the most powerful of the demons would have been the one to grant her wish.

Irkalla had tsked. “Sister
,
you still overreach your destiny. You will be given a second season
,
another chance to breed—with a human bond-mate.”

Inanna’s teeth had ground tight. Not what she’d wanted
,
but she would accept the offer. Anything to rid herself of her spawn. “What will be the price?”

Irkalla had smiled. “I think you know. One cannot enter the Underworld and hope to escape
,
unless she lures another soul to take her place.”

Inanna had sucked in a deep breath. “After all this time
,
you still desire him? He has grown old.”

“He will be given another form. Made demon.”

Knowing she could not withdraw her plea and hope to escape this dimension
,
Inanna had stared at her sister
,
her twin
,
feeling as though the heat and suffocating air of this terrible place would consume her if she didn’t escape quickly. “What must I do?”

Irkalla had given her the relic and the instructions for its use. Now
,
it sat upon a table in her bedchamber. Once she opened the door
,
one soul would have to pass through the portal. It would not be hers.

She pulled a silken rope to ring the bell and bring a chambermaid to attend her. When the girl bowed her way inside
,
Inanna asked for her husband to attend her.

Dumuzi arrived moments later
,
looking annoyed
,
dust still clinging to his boots and ankles. He halted when he saw the aging wizard inside her room. “What do you want?” he asked
,
his tone curt.

When they’d first wed
,
he hadn’t spoken to her in such harsh tones. He’d been attentive
,
insatiable. She would never admit to missing the forceful warrior. “Can a wife not request the company of her husband?” she asked
,
her voice sliding like silk.

Still handsome
,
despite the years that had carved harsh lines around his mouth and the corners of his eyes
,
she felt a moment’s sensual thrill at the lift of one of his dark brows as his gaze swept her body.

Knowing she retained a remarkable beauty
,
she touched her bottom lip with her tongue
,
wetting it. Perhaps she would take him one last time….

Impatience stamped his cold features. “I’m tired and dusty
,
Inanna. Can this wait?”

She glanced back at the wizard. “We are done.”

The wizard raised the crystal
,
warming it in his hands
,
and began the incantation Irkalla had included with the relic.

Dumuzi’s glance slammed into hers. His mouth opened to speak
,
but suddenly a glimmering circle
,
like a vertical pool of pale blue water, opened beside him. His head turned to peer inside, and long
,
slithering arms reached through to wrap around his legs and arms
,
pulling him toward the opening.

His scream was sucked into the glowing circle as his body disappeared. The light blinked out and the room looked as it had before
,
undisturbed by the bright storm that had engulfed it moments before.

Inanna let out a breath
,
staring at the place where Dumuzi had disappeared.

The door to her bedchamber opened and her son stepped inside. “Where is father?” he said
,
his gaze wary and hard as he eyed his mother.

“Gone
,
son,” she said
.
“You just missed him.” She smiled briefly
,
knowing one more task lay ahead of her before she could seek her next mate.

Alex withdrew his teeth, breathing hard and trembling as he clasped the backs of Simon’s shoulders. “The bitch! She consigned her husband to Hell and murdered her own son. Why could I not see it before?”

Simon reached back to pat his hand. “This memory was particularly well guarded. Perhaps by Inanna herself. What woman would want to remember her own hideous crimes?”

Feeling sick to his stomach, Alex strode to the window overlooking the boulevard, staring sightlessly out into the darkness. “I hate that they live inside me now.”

“Alex,” Simon said softly, “the memories give you infinite power. You have delivered us the means to defeat her.”

Alex’s gaze swung back to Simon, whose lips curved into a half smile. “You mean the black crystal? Can it be used again? Do you think she still has it?”

“With her thirst for power, do you really believe Inanna would ever let such a powerful instrument out of her possession?”

“Of course not. How will we find it?”

“Now that I know what I seek, the rest should be simple. But I’ll need certain herbs for such a spell.”

Alex straightened, knowing his moment had finally arrived. Seven centuries of waiting and preparing, and now he had to react on the fly. “We don’t have any time to lose. Inanna has more help than she wants in broadening her search for me. I
can almost feel them closing in around me.”

Simon’s expression sharpened, seeming to gauge his determination. “You have your special key. You can escape at a moment’s notice.”

Alex drew his lips into a snarl. “I don’t want to run and hide. I want to face her, to confront the whole damn council. They all hold responsibility for helping her maintain her power through murder. Other males have been born, yet none survived.”

“Only you.”

Alex caught sight of Miki’s expression. Her green eyes were narrowed, but she leaned forward in her chair, curious and probably confused. But where was the fear? “Miki, you’ll remain here in Simon’s home. You should be safe.”

Simon nodded, pushing himself up from the chair. “I won’t be gone long, but Alex, you must get to Nicolas right away. Let him know it’s time for him to make a choice. He has access to her.”

Alex felt his jaw grind tight. “Do you think he’s ready? Could he really do Inanna harm?”

“He loves Chessa. There is no other choice.”

Alex stepped around the chair and reached down, pulling Miki up into his arms. “I know you’re feeling a little lost,” he said, smoothing his hands over her back. “Bear with us. Don’t go out. I don’t need to be worrying about you.”

Miki bracketed his face with both hands. “Alex, I only caught part of what the heck’s going on here, but I’m not dumb. You both look worried as hell. I’ll be here when you get back.”

His kiss was hard and over way too soon. Without a backward glance, he headed to his car. A stop by his parents’ house for a couple more reinforcements, then he’d go straight to
Ardeal
.

The time had finally come to beard the lioness in her den.

Nicolas dragged the end of the leather belt down Inanna’s slender back. “Tell me,
Mistress
,” he said softly, “can you hold back your cries?”

“If that’s what you wish,” she replied in mock submission, her buttocks flexing, anticipating the sting of the leather that had already produced a thin trickle of cream to coat her inner thighs.

The ancient bitch hadn’t a clue how much he hated her. She thought this was a sexy game he played. He lashed out, leaving a long red mark that spanned both cheeks.

Air hissed between her teeth, but her jaw tightened, and her brows lowered in pretended rage. She flung back her head, letting her hair settle along her shoulders like a pretty mane, and stared straight ahead.

While she bit her lips to still her cries, Nicolas didn’t curb his anger or the strength of his blows. He let the belt fall fast and hard—snapping the leather to raise welts that crisscrossed her tender bottom until her breaths gusted fast in jagged sobs. The raised, reddened stripes gave him a deep, growling satisfaction, but they only assuaged a small part of the bitter enmity he found welling inside him.

Inanna had lured his brother and himself into her realm, seducing Armand with the promise of a higher purpose to serve, seducing Nicolas himself with a glimpse of life served with endless lust and happiness. Both promises had proved empty.

Armand had been murdered, his body invaded by the beast, who’d used the face they’d shared as a means to seduce Nicolas’s wife, who’d had no clue she’d lain down with a demon.

Inanna had then failed to steer his sweet wife, Anaïs, from
destroying herself after The Devourer had raped her, never offering her another option. Instead, Inanna had waited in the shadows after Nicolas had pulled Anaïs from the sunshine to offer to fill all the lonely places in his soul.

Yet Nicolas admitted he shared responsibility. He hadn’t wanted to look too closely at Inanna’s actions and motives because he’d been alone, without family for solace. He’d stayed with the powerful matriarch, becoming her paramour, her right hand as she’d dragged the clan and the monster’s sarcophagus to the New World to find a place they could rule without competition and without long memories of what she’d done.

Now, because he’d finally fallen in love again, finally found the woman who would be his last love, he could no longer turn a blind eye to her machinations. He would not continue to service her and serve her ambition.

Nicolas gave Inanna’s bottom a casual, passionless caress, noting the warmth beneath his palm. “Open your legs wider. I would see whether you’ve learned your lesson.”

She stomped her feet apart but raised her bottom, inviting his inspection. Her labia were swollen and moist. Her clit peeked from beneath its hood, slick and red.

Nicolas dangled the belt between her legs, then flicked it upward, catching her pussy with a sharp, glancing slice.

Inanna screamed, and her knees buckled. She caught herself and straightened her knees, her legs and buttocks quivering as she waited for another slap.