Darkness Falls (9 page)

He shook his head even as his eyes sparkled with dark amusement.

In the kitchen long before anyone else had gotten out of bed, Malorie screwed up seven batches of pancake batter before she managed to make a dozen nearly edible pancakes. After Jack had stormed out of her room and presumably found a place to sleep, Jiro also vanished back to wherever he came and she was left alone with her thoughts and Feryn’s memories. They were all jumbled up in there and it was strange and wonderful and terrifying.

Feryn was ancient and he hadn’t always been the man she fell in love with. He had seen things, done things, that she couldn’t even begin to fathom and it made her nervous because he had been with countless women, he had disdained humans, he had created vampires, and his experiences were all up in her head. She was pregnant with his child and she had barely scratched the surface of his life and she was afraid of what else she’d learn.

“Mommy!” Toby’s sweet little voice called out as she set the last of four plates on the table. She had no idea if either Jiro or Jack was planning on eating with them but she was going to be prepared just in case.

Kneeling down, she held out her arms and was nearly bowled over as Toby threw himself at her, hugging her with all of his might. “Hey, baby. Did you sleep well last night?”

“Yes,” he grinned and she had to catch her breath because there was no dark cloud hanging over his head any more. It was as if he was finally being given the chance to be a child and the awareness of how much he had blossomed these past weeks made emotion well up in her chest. She wanted to hold onto him and keep him in this moment so that he never had to know such darkness again. But he was a six-year-old boy and he soon squiggled out of her arms and climbed up onto the chair. “We’re having pancakes for breakfast? Awesome.”

She chuckled as she put a few onto his plate and let him pour the syrup while she kept an ear open for any sound that might indicate her dead husband or her mate’s brother were about to join them. Sitting down next to Toby, she cleared her throat. “Um, we’re going to be taking a trip with Uncle Jiro.”

Putting the fork down with the bite of pancake he was about to take, he stilled and looked at her. The lightness that had been there just moments before was already fading as he solemnly asked, “Where are we going?”

“New York,” she said with forced cheer, hoping her smile didn’t look like a grimace. “I’m hoping to track down your grandpa and that’s his last known location so that’s where we’re going to start.”

“Okay,” he nodded, picking up his fork and slowly bringing it up to his mouth. As he chewed, his expression was thoughtful as he watched her with those big brown eyes, eyes that were so similar to Jack’s. God, was she doing the right thing in dragging him all over the country? Maybe it would be better if he stayed with Jiro, if Jiro was up to the task of taking care of him for a few days. “When do we leave?”

“Well, as soon as we finish breakfast,” she said. Chewing on her lower lip, she studied her son, seeing so much of Jack in him, so much of her father. He would go with her without question but was it really fair to uproot his life once again? With everything that had happened, and everything that was going to be happening, was it really necessary to drag him to some dive in New York City in the off chance she might find her father? “But I was thinking you might want to go back to the compound with Jiro and maybe spend a few days fishing.”

His eyes lit up and he couldn’t prevent the smile that brought out his dimples, “Do you think Uncle Jiro would mind?”

“Of course not,” she managed to say though she wanted to cry for some inexplicable reason. For six years he had never been very far from her side and it was difficult to remember that he was a growing boy and becoming more and more independent every day. Ruffling his hair, she stood up and walked over to the stove where she was able to compose herself while pretending to flip some pancakes. “As soon as he arrives we’ll let him know we’ve had a minor change of plans. I’m positive he would much rather hang with you at the pond than traipse after me on a wild goose chase.”

“Who’s going on a wild goose chase?” Jiro asked, sauntering into the kitchen.

“I am,” she said, wiping the non-existent tears from beneath her eyes before turning around and giving him a smile. Looking as if he had had a really spectacular night after he left her, he gave her a wry smirk. His hair was messy, dark stubble caressed his jaw and his eyes practically glowed with vitality and she wanted to roll her eyes. There ought to be a law that men shouldn’t be allowed to look that sexy so early in the morning. While she felt no sexual attraction to him, she could appreciate his attractiveness. Nodding towards the stack of oddly shaped pancakes, she added, “Eat up. You have a very busy week ahead of you.”

“Really,” he murmured, arching that one eyebrow as he grabbed half of the pancakes and dumped them onto his plate. Slathering them up with butter and syrup, he added, “And what, pray tell, does my week entail?”

“Well,” she said with a grin as she crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Toby from behind. Holding Jiro’s eyes, she continued, “After you drop me off, you are going to be taking this little rug rat fishing.”

“Malorie,” he growled in warning, his silver-green eyes flashing as he glared at her.

“It’s fine,” she said with a blinding smile. “If anything goes wrong you know Feryn will be by my side in a heartbeat.”

“And he’ll have my head on a platter,” he grumbled beneath his breath as he started to stuff a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. Pausing, he asked, “Has your guest come down yet?”

She shook her head no, looking at the doorway as if the mention of Jack would make him appear. When she looked back, Jiro was cramming the whole bite into his mouth. Smiling, she said, “Not yet but it’s still early. Besides, he probably remembers how bad my cooking is and has decided to save himself the bother of pretending its edible.”

Jiro’s eyes widened as he abruptly stopped chewing, making her laugh. Standing up, she waved towards the stack, “These ones are fine. I threw the bad ones away.”

He slowly began to chew again, as if he wasn’t quite sure whether or not he could trust his taste buds. When he didn’t say anything, she teased, “If you tell me you’ve had better I’ll stab you with my fork.”

Swallowing, he grimaced, “They’re awful, Malorie. In fact, I think I should spare your child the horrors of having to eat any more and eat them all myself.”

“Uncle Jiro!” Toby squealed in laughter as Jiro pretended to grab his plate. “These are mine!”

Laughing, she turned around and saw Jack standing there with a stricken expression on his face as he saw his son for the first time. In the morning light, he looked really good, with his blond hair a little longer and a little darker than it used to be and his brown eyes once again warm and beautiful. He was bigger than before, broader across the chest and wider in the shoulders, as if he had grown into his body while he had been a vampire. Seeing him standing there, it was hard to believe that he had been a monster only a week ago, especially now that he was burning with life.

If things had been different, having him in her kitchen as they ate breakfast would have been the norm. They would have had six years together as a family and she was certain their love would have only deepened. Hell, there might have been another child or two in there with them, instead of just one son and an Aradian who was watching them with much too much interest. Clearing her throat, she took Jack by the arm and led him over to the empty seat across from Toby, who was watching with open curiosity.

Knowing he was too stunned to help himself, she placed a few pancakes onto his plate and poured some syrup on top, not even bothering with the butter. “Here you go.”

Blinking his eyes, Jack looked up at her in confusion but he still remained unmoving as he turned back to his son. Putting a fork into his hand, she nodded towards the pancakes, “Eat. And then we’ll be heading out.”

His fingers tightened around the fork as he continued to stare at Toby until Toby started squirming in his seat. Concerned, she started to head around the table to her son, muttering, “This was a bad idea.”

“No,” Jack protested, using the heel of his free hand to wipe at his damp cheeks. Sniffing, he shook his head and tried to smile but it was a pathetic attempt and her heart went out to him. “I’m okay.”

He was Toby’s father and it wasn’t his fault he hadn’t been there before now. Moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue, she sat down next to Toby and met Jack’s eyes from across the table. “Toby, I’d like to introduce you to your, um, to your dad.”

Toby’s eyes went wide in his head as he scrambled off the table and hid behind her. Pain exploded in Jack’s eyes until they heard Toby whisper, “You let a vampire into the house?”

She huffed out an unexpected laugh, pulling him around and setting him on her lap. “Look at him, Toby, truly look at him.” After a moment of concentrated scrutiny, he nodded his head and she asked, “What do you see?”

Everyone held their breath as Toby looked at his father, whom he looked so much alike. She hadn’t realized how very much Toby looked like Jack until she saw the two of them side by side. Was the child she carried going to be a near exact duplicate of Feryn?

“He’s not waxy,” Toby said, his words coming out slowly as he thought about what he was saying. “His eyes aren’t clouded and he doesn’t smell. He’s not a vampire.”

With a smile, Malorie looked up and saw the longing in Jack’s eyes and knew that she couldn’t keep him from his son, not when he had already lost everything else. Glancing at Jiro, who was busy eating his pancakes while keeping a close eye on the situation, she cleared her throat. “Um, Jack, how do you feel about spending some time with my… with
our
son?”

His eyes brightened as elation flooded his face and a smile trembled on his lips, “Really? You’d let me spend time with him?”

“Well, not unsupervised, of course,” she added, guilt and wariness making her cautious. “Jiro and Toby are going to be heading to the Aradian compound to get some fishing in while I try to track down Gustav. I was thinking you could join them.”

A mixture of emotions twisted his features, from confusion to hope to caution, as he looked between Jiro, Toby and Malorie. “Your father is missing?”

“Sort of,” she said. “It’s complicated.”

Jack nodded his head as he absently ate some of his food. After chewing and swallowing, he looked at Malorie with continued confusion, “What
is
an Aradian?”

Jiro snorted but it was Malorie’s turn to be confused, “Surely you know.”

Jack shook his head, “I don’t.”

“It’s typical of vamp creators to keep their creations in the dark,” Jiro offered. Giving Malorie a significant look, he added, “And generally, we don’t discuss it with humans.”

“I’m pretty sure you can make an exception for Jack,” she said. “I mean, he’s Jack, the only vampire to be de-vampirized.”

“Malorie,” Jack groaned. “The Aradians?”

“Well,” she looked to Jiro for help but he just smirked at her, leaving her on her own to explain what an Aradian was, what Jiro was. Scowling at the jerk, she turned back to Jack and tried her best to explain, “After my first encounter with them, I had assumed they were hot-blooded vampires but now I know the truth and, well, it’s, quite honestly, all sorts of bat-shit insane.”

“Hey!” Jiro protested.

“You had your chance, asshole,” she breathed, her eyes darting to Toby as her cheeks heated in remorse. She shouldn’t have sworn in front of her son but Jiro brought out her inner snark. Licking her lips, she focused on Jack and continued to talk, “Aradians are living beings, Jack, and they are
not
vampires but they do create vampires.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

She sighed and finally blurted, “Because they’re not fully human, Jack. They’re aliens. Well, alien-human hybrids who can create vampires. But only the complete idiots create vampires.”

Jack swallowed audibly as the color faded from his cheeks. “I think you’re insane, Malorie.”

“So says the former vampire.” Jiro exhaled noisily and shook his head as he faced Malorie. “Are you certain you want to let him near your son?”

“Well, he’s
human
and you’ll be there,” she said, her stomach already in knots about leaving Toby behind. “And I’m certain you won’t let any harm come to him.”

“You’re not thinking clearly if you insist on running off on some fool mission and leaving Toby with your vampire husband.” Jeeze, he sounded like Feryn.

“Former husband,” she clarified.

“Former vampire,” Jack added with a low growl, glaring at Malorie.

Ignoring the heat that was prickling her cheeks, she smiled at Jiro, “Aren’t you the least bit interested in figuring out why he’s no longer a vampire? How he was cured?”

She saw the interest gleam in Jiro’s eyes as he studied Jack and she knew that Jack was a puzzle Jiro would be unable to resist. Leaning forwards so she was closer to him, she added, “It might mean a new weapon in dealing with vampires, one that may hurt the Aradian creator less than a vampire’s death.”