Dangerous (Courting the Darkness Saga)

This is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any
resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or person, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.

World Castle Publishing

Pensacola,
Florida

Copyright © Karen
Fuller 2012

ISBN: 9781938961410

First Edition World
Castle Publishing November 1, 2012

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Licensing Notes

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

Cover: Karen Fuller

Photos:
Shutterstock

Editor: Maxine
Bringenberg

Acknowledgements

I’d like to give a
special thanks to authors
Kathi
S. Barton and Joann
H. Buchanan for assisting me with the advanced copies and giving me their
valuable opinions.

Chapter One

The rays of the early
morning sun slowly made their appearance in the dark alleyway, and the darkness
fled to the shadows. Drake Bouvier stood in the doorway of the warehouse,
rubbing an amulet between his fingers. A witch, Desiree Dupuis, had blessed many
such amulets for Drake. The amulets gave vampires the ability to withstand the
sunlight without harm. Drake was torn as to whether to risk walking into the
sunshine, or to let someone else be the guinea pig. After all, he was king; what
if her spell didn’t work? “Desiree swore to me that this would work,” he remarked
under his breath.

His bodyguard, Sean
Devereux, rushed to the open door. “Did you call me, sire?” Glancing at the
open door nervously, Sean was careful to keep away from the light.

Drake continued to stare
at the brightening alleyway and sighed heavily. “No, Sean. I was talking to
myself.” He tore his eyes away from the alleyway to look at Sean. “Mica and
Desiree haven’t left yet, have they?”

“They left about
fifteen minutes ago, sire; when you told them that they could leave, Mica
wasted no time in getting her out of here.”

Some of the tension
eased out of Drake’s mood and he laughed. “He was afraid I would change my mind
and command his mate to stay here. He really does hate it here.”

“I’m glad,” Sean
grumbled under his breath.

Drake laughed harder.
“He only goads you because you won’t stand up to him, you know. It’s the same
with Desiree. She intimidated you earlier because you let her.”

Sean’s mouth dropped
open. “Did you see what she did to that witch hunter, Hargrove?” Drake nodded.
“She turned that poor bastard into a rat.”

Drake stopped laughing
and frowned at the mention of Jason Hargrove. That witch hunter had been a
thorn in his side for the last week. “I would have killed him!”

“I know you would have.”
Sean shook his head and then leaned against a far wall. “But that witch Desiree
creeps me out.”

Drake lifted an eyebrow
at Sean’s comment. “Get a spine, Sean.” Drake was irritated at his bodyguard’s
fear of a mere woman. In his opinion bodyguards were supposed to be fearless. He
himself was the king of all the vampires in Louisiana and was reputed to be
ruthless and unforgiving. The vampires with good sense feared him; those that
didn’t died. If Sean hadn’t been so loyal and followed orders so well, he would
have disposed of him years ago. He glared at Sean and continued, “Underneath it
all, she’s still just a woman.”

“Humph…a
woman with a mean temper and a taste for vengeance.”

“Desiree and Mica are
well matched. Our kind only finds one mate in a lifetime. With Mica preferring
the life of a rogue, it’s amazing he found a mate at all.”

“What are the odds of finding
a woman with the same temperament?”

Drake shook his head. “I
don’t know, maybe one in a million.” He smiled. “They make a formidable team.
I’m glad they’re on our side.”

Sean laughed. “And it
doesn’t hurt to have both of them under your royal thumb of command, either.”

Drake chuckled and
nodded in agreement.
“True—true.”
He turned his head
to stare out into the now bright alleyway. He crossed his arms over his chest
and leaned into the doorframe. He wanted to step out into the sunshine. It had
been over three hundred years since he last felt the rays upon his face. His
kind had been cursed to stay in the shadows or die a fiery death in the light.
That was the reason that he had captured Desiree in the first place. She
possessed great powers as a witch, and he had commanded her to come up with a
spell to free him from the darkness. The amulet he now wore around his neck was
the fruit of her efforts. He knew that it should work. Desiree had given Mica
and Denise amulets and they worked for them, but still….

“Sire, why are you
standing in the open doorway? Are you trying to kill yourself?”

“Hardly,” he remarked
dryly and pushed himself away from the doorframe. “I’m trying to decide if I
trust Desiree’s witchcraft enough to step out the door.”

Sean’s eyes rounded. “Did
you let her cast a spell on you?”

He nodded as he continued
to stare wistfully out into the bright street. “I would give my right arm to be
able to go outside now. Can you imagine the possibilities for us? To no longer
be
creatures of the night? From the day I became a vampire, some
three hundred years ago, I have missed the sun.”

Sean crossed his arms
over his chest and raised an eyebrow skeptically. “If you would give your right
arm, then do it. That would be one sure-fire way to see if her spell worked or
not.” Drake hesitated and Sean rolled his eyes and goaded, “Now who needs to
get a spine?”

Drake growled, grabbing
Sean by the throat, and slammed him hard against the wall. “You do not speak to
me, your king, in that manner!”

Sean swallowed hard.
“Uh, I’m sorry sire. I, uh, spoke out of turn. It won’t happen again.”

Drake released his
throat. “Speak to me in that manner again, and I will throw you out in the
sunlight without an amulet,” he grumbled sourly, then paced back and forth in
front of the door for a few strides in agitation.

Sean rubbed his throat
gingerly. “I meant no disrespect.”

He glared at Sean,
then
shook his head. Looking back at the open doorway once
more, he took one tentative step. Finally, taking a deep breath, he closed his
eyes, spread his arms wide, and stepped out into the sunlight. He stopped
hesitantly; surely he didn’t step far enough. He took one more step, and when
nothing happened he opened his eyes. Drake was standing in the full sunshine. Laughter
rumbled from his chest. “Desiree, I could kiss you!” he shouted into the empty
alleyway.

“I told you, sire, Desiree
left with Mica.”

Drake rolled his eyes
and frowned at his bodyguard. “I’m beginning to understand Mica’s opinion of
you.” He shook his head and proceeded to walk out of the alleyway toward the
street.

“Sire, where are you
going?” Sean shouted, somewhat panicked.

“I don’t know,” he
shouted back. “I’ll be back when I get back.”

Chapter Two

Sherry Lambert opened
her eyes to the phone ringing shrilly in her ear. She picked up the alarm clock
and looked at the time…7:30 a.m.
Closing
her eyes, she
blew her hair away from her face in exasperation. “Who could be calling me at
this ungodly hour in the morning?” Opening a bleary eye, she glared at the LCD but
didn’t recognize the number. Patience at this time of the morning was a stretch
for Sherry. “Hello?”

“Hello, Sherry?”

Sherry yawned into the
receiver. “Yes, this is Sherry. Who is this?”

“Sherry, it’s me,
Desiree.”

She sat up quickly in
alarm. “Desiree, is there anything wrong?”

She heard Desiree laugh
softly into the phone’s receiver. “No Sherry, nothing’s wrong. You told me I
owed you the whole story when I got back. Well, I’m back.”

“Boy, you’re up early.”

“I haven’t been to bed
yet.”

She blinked hard a few
times trying to wake up, and stifled another yawn before she spoke. “Okay, so
tell me what happened?”

“Not over the phone. I
want you to come to me, so that I can show you where I’m living now.”

“You’ve moved?”

“Yeah, I lost that
dumpy apartment.”

“Oh—okay. Do you need
me to come over now?”

“Yeah, we need to talk
about coven stuff, too.”

“That’s good.
Everyone’s been asking about you. Where are you?”

“It’s the beige two
story stucco mansion just off of Bourbon Street, in the Vieux Carre area.”

Sherry’s mouth gaped.
“That two story
mansion
with the
manicured lawns? Did you say mansion?”

Desiree laughed. “Yes,
that would be the one.”

Sherry threw back the
covers in excitement, draping her long slender legs over the side of the bed.
She had been dying to hear this story since Desiree had
woke
her up at two o’clock in the morning a couple of nights ago. “I’ll be right
over. I’ve got to hear all about this.”

“Good, you can eat
breakfast with me. Bye Sherry, I’ll see you shortly.”

“Bye, Desiree.”

She clamped the cell
phone shut, then ran her fingers through her silky brown, shoulder length hair
and eased out of bed. Once on her feet, she stretched her slender five foot
nine inch frame. As her mind raced over the telephone conversation, she put a
pout on her beautiful heart shaped face, dolefully shaking her head as she
glanced over her shabby furnishings. “Huh—she said mansion. If I was to be so
lucky,” she mumbled under her breath. Making her way into the kitchen, she put
on a two-cup pot of coffee to brew,
then
glanced
wistfully at the loaf of bread next to the toaster. She was hungry, but Desiree
had promised her breakfast.

Shadow, her black cat
and familiar, jumped up on the counter to greet her. Sherry smiled and
scratched the cat behind the ears. “How’s Mommy’s baby this morning? Hum?”
Shadow immediately began to purr and rubbed up against her affectionately.
Sherry laughed. “Okay, okay, I’ll feed you. Come on now, get down from the
counter. You know better.” She picked the cat up off the counter, kissed the
top of his head, and placed him on the floor. She opened the cabinet and took
out a can of cat food, emptied the contents into the cat’s dish, then placed
the dish on the floor. “Here you go sweetie, enjoy.”

Sherry poured herself a
cup of coffee and took it with her into the bedroom. Taking a gingerly sip, she
let the hot liquid warm her,
then
smiled in
appreciation. Placing the coffee cup on the dresser, she ran her hands briskly
over her chilled arms. February in New Orleans was cold and the hot coffee did
its job.

Sherry stepped into the
closet to thumb through her clothes. Shadow had followed her to the doorway,
then
jumped on Sherry’s bed, staring expectantly. Sherry
glanced at Shadow, shrugging at the cat’s expression. “What does one wear to
visit a mansion?” she asked the cat. Shadow tilted his head and stared at her
with his large, green, intelligent eyes. “It’s just Desiree, silly. It’s not
like I have a hot date or anything.” She stopped and sighed. “I wish I had a
hot date. I could use some fun and excitement for a change.” She reached into
the closet and took out her white miniskirt and black formfitting sweater.
Turning to her cat with a big smile, she said, “What do you think, Shadow? Is
it nice enough to wear to some fancy mansion uptown?”