Love is Darkness (A Valerie Dearborn Novel) (2 page)

He threw Roberto from him and Roberto scrambled away, his hand at his neck, holding the torn flesh together.

Lucas paced away from Roberto, hand over his mouth.
What am I doing?
His hand was frozen, blood coating his lips and now his fingers.
 
He wanted to lick his lips, suck his fingers clean, go back to Roberto and find more.
What a mistake.
 

His hand trembled, in moments he'd be overwhelmed.

His whole body pulsed in time to his heart, the blood snaking through him, leaving each nerve, blood vessel and cell altered and waiting for the magic to strike.
 

He was a rod in a lightning storm.

Was there even time to dispose of Roberto before he succumbed to the blood? He had to kill him, couldn't risk anyone finding out about the daughter.

The daughter.

Swiftly, he went back to Roberto, circling behind the crying man, hiding death for a few moments longer. With one solid blow his fist punched through Roberto’s back and into his chest, gripped the man’s heart in his hand and tugged it free, Roberto dissolving into ash.

Lucas felt caged, the need to move, run, cry, laugh and hurt all vying in him for control.

No.

He could control himself. After almost two thousand years he was his own master. He was the oldest and the strongest. Lucas was his own law.

His hands clenched.

Emotion touched him like a cattle prod and he fell to his knees, dead heart pounding in a staccato rhythm. His hand rose to his chest like he could catch the sharp pain knifing from his heart outwards.

Then it was gone. For just a second he thought that was it, that over the last four hundred years he’d become so deadened and powerful that the magic touched him, sputtered and died.

Then there was a pulse.

It’s not over.

A small kiss of sensation that was almost visible, like heat shimmering off asphalt, tickled down his spine.

This was a fatal mistake.

Emotion crashed over him. Feelings of joy filling him until he wanted to laugh like Roberto had, laugh like he was happy, carefree and mortal. But he couldn't remember how to laugh, a rough sound erupting from him instead.

The feeling changed, became a heavy pulse that left a deep throb in his sex. He was suddenly hard, full to bursting, aching painfully. Desire gripped him and he began to tremble in his need to—

No.

But the blood twisted through him, invaded every cell and molecule of his being, urging him onwards.

He'd forgotten this power.
The tide of emotion that even a small amount of blood had upon him.

He'd known and forgotten.

Lucas remembered being a man, the pleasure taken and given. He could almost smell feminine heat around him, what it was like to feel a woman's thighs lock around his head in pleasure. The whimpering cries as he kissed her deeply. Once he'd become a vampire, sensations and feelings had become muted, but not now. Now he felt human again.

Desire became a fire within him, consumed him so that he was nothing but need. He fell to his knees, staring at his fisted hands. He swore, surprised to find his own hand gripping his cock. His hips rose jerkily, body demanding release even as his mind resisted.

And lost.

 
His whole body seized, feelings of pleasure twisting within him, the power rebounding. He shouldn't fight it, he knew that, but it went against his nature to give in, and so he tried to hold out against the blood's call.

His breath sawed out of him as he remembered the blood's rich sweetness. He squeezed himself reflexively, the memory of flavor flashing through his mind and then his body.

Like a landslide, the orgasm swept through him, his mental shields collapsing and he felt the heavy spasm of his cock as he came. He breathed heavily, unable to move as the aftershocks of pleasure gripped and released him.

An
empath
.

Stumbling to his feet, Lucas went to his rooms, discarding his clothes haphazardly on his way to the shower.

His mind raced and he remembered the world as it had been centuries ago.
An uneasy balance of vampires, witches, werewolves,
empaths
and Fey.
For centuries there had only been vampires, the
Others
gone. But an
empath
had escaped. Maybe the vampires were not as alone as he’d thought. Maybe the
Others
were scattered or hiding. What if they could come back?
 
Restore a balance to the world and keep vampires under control. Could he find them? Did he want to?

The thought was… intriguing.

And then he remembered the dead
empath
had a daughter.

Interesting.
 

Chapter 1

San
Loaran
, California

5 years ago

 
“Why?”
 
Valerie's heart was hammering in her chest, a dull ringing in her ears.
If I puke, I hope it’s on his shoes.
She inhaled deeply, trying to keep the nausea at bay.

She looked around the living room, at the boring furniture, the slider that led to the backyard, then to the front door, which she’d no doubt be leaving through in a few minutes.
Unless she was crafty.
Who was she kidding? The odds of her being crafty enough to get out of this were just about as good as a hamster seeing a shiny new wheel and choosing not to run.

I might die and I can barely drive.

Her father, Nate, looked at her disappointedly. “Valerie, I've been lenient with you. I had hoped that given a little distance, a little time to mature, you would get over your fear, but that hasn't happened. Don't you want to survive?”

This is a trick question
. Val felt her palms get damp as she tried to think of the right thing to say
—
 
something
that would make him leave her alone. If she said she could defend herself he'd want her to prove it. But, if she said she
couldn't
defend herself, then he’d take her out there to learn.
This is so messed up.

Jack stood beside her father, examining the floor and trying not to draw attention to
himself
. He was 19, her father's apprentice, and the star of every fantasy she had. And it was always a fantasy, because in real life he didn’t want her. And he certainly wasn’t going to stand up for her like a fantasy man should.
 

Jack probably knew she'd attack him if he tried to leave her here with dad while he snuck off, so he stood there, but he wouldn’t help.
 
Jack was
too
good. He owed her father, was grateful that he'd given Jack a purpose in life.

Her father gave an impatient sigh and she tried to remember the question. Oh yeah,
don't you want to survive?
 
She felt the tension building, her father becoming frustrated by her silence.

She gave them an overly bright smile, hoping it would make her dad think she wasn't about to pee her pants. “I have a quiz tomorrow in science and I'm not ready. Doesn't school come first?”

Her father was a tall, thin man. His hair had been light brown but was now mostly gray. His eyes were brown and sad. In old pictures, his eyes were different.

Valerie thought grief from her mother's death had changed them, sucked the vitality right out of them. Even though her mom’s death had been over a decade ago, he still hadn't recovered.

He never would.

Those sad brown eyes stared at her like he was deciding whether or not to confront her on her probable lie. She
did
have a science quiz tomorrow, but she wasn't worried about it, knew she'd get an A. But did
he
know that?

“I'm sure we will be home in time for you to study.” Nate raised an eyebrow at her.

Could an eyebrow express 'gotcha'?
Apparently.

 
“Perhaps next time you can study appropriately, during the allotted time, and then you won't find yourself with a time conflict. Life is about juggling obligations, Valerie. You need to study smarter, not harder.”
Great.
What did that even mean? If I could study smarter, wouldn't I be doing it already
?

“You're right! That's why I make sure to do my homework
before
cheerleading, and stay at school to do it. That's why I get to school
early
on Wednesday so that I can go to swim team.” Her voice was rising and she felt some air quotes coming on, “If I have
warning
I can put it in my
schedule,
and study “appropriately”. Surprisingly, random vampire stake-outs don't fit into my schedule easily.” Crossing her arms under her chest defiantly, she waited for the verdict.

He gave a small frown and turned to Jack who was being ‘one’ with the wall.
Yeah, you’re still here, you jerk.

“What about you Jack? You seem to make it all fit and you're in college. That's a lot harder than high school, Valerie. How do you plan on being successful if you can't schedule your days?”

“My back up plan is to drop out and get pregnant,” she said.

Jack's shoulders straightened a little, pulling at the corners of his long sleeved black t-shirt. His lips thinned in disapproval, perhaps a hint of a smile, but she doubted it.

“Yes, because the one thing that will give you more time to get school work done is to have a child out of wedlock.” He shook his head, “Just go get in the car.”

Nate turned away from her and she heard him mutter something about pitchers, or catchers, something sports related, and Jack gave a stilted laugh.

She went to the car and sat in the backseat, waiting for them to come out. Morbidly, she began imagining all the terrible things that might happen to her tonight. She imagined her father dying, a vampire drinking Jack's blood, then discarding him and coming for her. She slapped her hands on her thighs, trying to distract herself.

Impending death requires chocolate
.

Val reached into her back pack and found a pack of M and M's. By the time the guys got to the car she'd eaten all the red, orange and brown ones separating them out into little piles that rolled around the seats and occasionally vanished. She looked at her watch.
Well, that took care of five minutes
.