A Diamond at Midnight

This is a work of fiction.
 
Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

A Diamond at Midnight

 
COPYRIGHT © 2008 by Anne Rainey

All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information:
 
[email protected]

 
Cover Art by
Valerie Tibbs

Dedication

To Faith Smith.
Thank you for seeing my potential when I didn't see it myself. I won't let you down!

And my author buddy Desiree Lee. Thank you for being so excited about this story! I truly hope you'll be pleased with my addition to the world of immortals.

A special thanks to my friend and cover artist Valerie Tibbs. You’ve brought my story to life with your fantastic cover art!

Prologue

New York City, New York

1840

The time was midnight. Someone was following
Diamonique
and had been since she’d left the party. His rapid footfalls seemed threatening on the quiet New York street. Curiosity caused her to turn and look. Between the light of the full moon and the dim light of the gas street lamp,
Diamonique
was able to see a tall, muscular man several feet behind. His well-groomed black hair and evening attire should have made him seem less sinister but it didn’t. The unholy gleam in the stranger’s eyes made her feel as if he were seeing right into her soul—enticing it, cajoling it to do as he commanded. She couldn’t look away from his mesmerizing gaze. It positively glowed.

She forced herself to turn back around and increased her speed. The bloom of fear in her stomach grew until it threatened to squeeze her insides. Desperation made her quicken her footsteps even more. Dear heaven, what had she done? In her haste to leave the party and her carousing fiancé, she’d waved off her carriage driver and started walking. She should have known better. She wished now she’d practiced a small amount of good sense and stayed at the party. At the very least, allowed one of the men to escort her home.

The wind blew her hair across her face, and a shiver ran the length of her spine—with cold and growing fear. Any hope of rescue grew bleaker by the second.
Diamonique
hazarded another glance backward. Her breath caught in her throat, and she picked up the train of her skirts and ran.

As she tore around a corner, the frightening stories her mother used to tell her sprang to mind. In the hopes of making
Diamonique
too afraid of going out after dark, thus ensuring her safety, her mother had told her scary tales of winged creatures that sucked the blood of innocent virgins. She now wished she’d taken them more seriously.

A hand closed around her shoulder, bringing her to an abrupt stop. She screamed, and he swung her around as if she weighed no more than a child.

Diamonique
stared into death’s unholy eyes. The man smiled, although
Diamonique
knew it was only a veneer. Death came in many forms. In her case, it presented itself as a handsome, caped stranger, with eyes the color of night and a smile to melt any woman’s heart. In other circumstances such a demeanor might have fooled her. Out here, on the street,
Diamonique
only felt terror.
Chillingly, bone wrenching terror.

“What a little vixen you are.” His voice seductive and tempting as chocolate.
 

The frighteningly sensual man pulled her flush against his well-muscled body and used his mouth like a weapon. Holding
Diamonique’s
inert body, he kissed with a practiced mouth and tongue. It was nothing like the tepid kisses of her fiancé. Her feminine instincts screamed this man was an expert at pleasuring a woman. Helpless,
Diamonique
succumbed to his ministrations. Soon she was engulfed by his whole being, not even sure where he left off and she began.

A sharp stab pierced the sensitive skin of her neck. She whimpered. Quickly, as if by magic, the pain was nonexistent.

As if she’d only imagined it.
 

In its place, euphoria.
The kind
Diamonique
had only dreamed of in her nighttime girlish fantasies. He was all over her, even inside her soul.
Diamonique’s
body tightened and she rode out the surge of pleasure with a climactic moan.

“Lift your skirts, love.”

Powerless, she obeyed his voice. Her hands moved to the hem of her skirts and she lifted them high. The soft night breeze caressed her calves and thighs.

“
Mmm
, yes, that’s the way.”

The man’s hands scorched her skin while his face continued to nuzzle her neck. He was taking liberties that no one, not even her fiancé, ever had.
Diamonique
moaned, her pleasure mounting all over again. Suddenly, he was stroking her feminine spot and her body flew out of control. He rumbled his approval and slipped a finger inside her wet heat.

“You’re a virgin,” he murmured.
“A sweet, tempting little innocent.”

She couldn’t speak. The things she felt overrode her ability at rational thought. But he didn’t seem to require words from her.

“Would you like to know what it’s like to be a woman, love? To be able to live forever and have anything your heart desires?”

Her thoughts scattered when a second finger probed her entrance. In her need to have more,
Diamonique
shouted, “Yes!”

There was a second sting at her neck, and soon she was drowning in rapturous bliss.

Chapter One

Columbus, Ohio

Present Day

Standing at the railing of her balcony,
Diamonique
stared at the cool, crisp
Autumn
evening. Tears threatened to spill over, as she recalled the exact moment in time when she first tasted immortality. The young and naive girl she’d been, gone for all eternity. Unbidden, an image of Cain sprang to mind. She’d fallen in love with him. Even though he’d turned her world upside down, she’d still given him her heart and soul.

Her body
tightened,
her craving for blood mounting. She’d waited far too long to feed. Her sigh mingled with the air. She would need to hunt soon. Not even her plush and exotic penthouse suite could calm the hunger. Too much a coward to face the dawn, hence giving herself back to death like a present wrapped in charred flesh,
Diamonique’s
existence was nothing more than an empty tunnel of nights.

Once upon a time, she’d believed in happily ever after, but the relationships she’d tried to conceive over the centuries had been but a bandage for her loneliness. At first, after Cain’s betrayal, she’d sought out her fiancé only to learn he’d been shot for having an affair
with a married women
. That solidified her feeling that men were not to be trusted. Due to constant relocations to keep her ageless appearance from being questioned, she’d never bothered to pursue a deep relationship. As the sole heir to her family’s fortune and her own knack for choosing the right stocks, she’d become independent in her own right, never having to rely on another man or immortal. Cain’s monetary guilt offerings over the decades were given to charity. And although wealth came in handy, it was still no comparison to loneliness.

Diamonique
shook off her self-imposed pity-party, shifted her body and took to the sky. She soared on raven wings, streaking off into the night in search of sustenance.

She landed silently in a dirty, empty alley, before quickly taking to the sidewalks. Moving through the crowds of people with ease,
Diamonique
sneered in contempt at how stupid mortals were. Oblivious to the peril they were in just by being in her presence. She could have them, any one of them, with but a flick of a wrist, a bat of her lashes, and a curve of her lips. She knew her own power and reveled in it.