Dangerous (Courting the Darkness Saga) (2 page)

Shadow lowered his head,
narrowing his eyes in disapproval.

Sherry lifted her eyebrow
at her pet’s response, pointing her finger at the finicky feline. “You, sir,
need to stop looking at me like you don’t approve. I think I’m going to be
meeting her rich new boyfriend. I don’t need to show up in blue jeans and a
ratty sweatshirt.” She bit her bottom lip and smiled at Shadow excitedly.
“Maybe he’s got a handsome, rich friend. A girl can dream.”

The cat sneezed, jumped
down from the bed, and left the room with his tail
raised
haughtily in the air. Sherry narrowed her eyes at Shadow’s abrupt exit. “Traitor,”
she grumbled under her breath.

Tossing the outfit on
the bed, she reached for the coffee cup. Wrapping her fingers around the cup
she noted that it felt cold. She hesitantly took a sip and scrunched up her
face. “Yuck!” She took the cup back into the kitchen and dumped it into the
sink, and clucked her tongue as she watched the dark liquid flow down the
drain. “I didn’t need it anyway,” she shrugged to herself, and reached over and
flipped the switch off on the coffee maker. “Desiree said we would be having
breakfast. I’ll just have coffee with her.”

As she pushed away from
the counter, her stomach growled. She looked up at the clock; it was 8:15.
I better hurry; Desiree doesn’t like to be
kept waiting
, she thought.

Rushing back to the bedroom,
she peeled her sleeping shirt off as she went,
then
tossed
it into the laundry basket as she hurried by. A quick shower and fifteen
minutes later she was out the door.

***

Parking her old beat up
Ford in front of the mansion, she gaped at the house through her cracked
windshield. The house was huge—a two story beige stucco, just as Desiree had said.
This place must have fifteen bedrooms
,
and probably just as many bathrooms
,
she thought. Drawing her lips together in a thin line, she said, “I bet a butler
answers the door, too. This better be the place, or these people are going to
think I’m nuts.”

About the time she
opened her car door, the front door opened and Desiree stepped outside. Her
friend had thick auburn hair that framed her heart shaped face and fell past
her shoulders. She had large brown eyes, high cheekbones, and soft plump lips.
She was wearing tight hip-hugger jeans, a tight red form fitting sweater, and a
black leather jacket.

Desiree smiled hugely
as she approached Sherry. “It’s about time you got here.” Her voice was full of
excitement.

Sherry stepped out of
the car and smiled back. “What do you mean? I took the fastest shower in
history.”

“I’m just teasing
you—and—well—I guess I’m excited too.”

Sherry walked up to
Desiree and gave her a hug, then her friend ushered her into the house. She
looked around the lush massive room with wide eyes. “So, is this guy the same
guy you were with in Tennessee?”

“Yeah, it’s the same
guy.” They walked over to the couch and sat down.

“If I remember correctly,
his name is Mica, right?”

Desiree nodded, her
eyes sparkling with a happiness that Sherry didn’t miss. “There doesn’t seem to
be anything wrong with your memory,” Desiree said. “Oh, by the way, thanks for
calling Agatha. I don’t think she would have let me in her shop if you hadn’t
called first. She took one look at Mica and almost didn’t open the door.”

That’s an odd thing for her to say about her boyfriend
, she thought, so she raised her eyebrow skeptically,
and said, “Okay—now you really have me curious. Why wouldn’t she let you in
because of your boyfriend?”

Desiree flushed,
then
looked away. “I guess I need to introduce you to Mica
before I tell you my story.” She patted Sherry’s knee. “Sit tight, I’ll be
right back.”

She was only gone a
minute, but nothing Desiree could have said would have prepared Sherry for the
sight of them walking back into the room together. Her mouth dropped open when
she looked up and saw the six foot seven god before her. He was all muscle. His
wavy black hair framed his ruggedly handsome face, and his eyes, a startling
blue, were framed by lush black lashes. Sherry caught her breath when he smiled,
had to consciously close her mouth before they considered her rude, then did a double
take when she suddenly realized he had fangs.

Desiree looked up at
Mica and grinned. “Sherry, this is Mica.”

Sherry swallowed hard.
“Desiree—uh—I think your boyfriend here is a—a—a vampire.”

Desiree laughed at her
reaction. “Yes, he is.”

The color drained from Sherry’s
face.

“Sherry, I think I need
to tell you the story from the beginning. I think you’ll understand.”

Sherry cleared her
throat and couldn’t quite meet Desiree’s eyes…she suddenly feared for her best
friend. Witches didn’t associate with vampires, unless—her heart sunk at the only
conclusion she could come to. “Desiree, you aren’t a vampire now, are you?”

Desiree laughed harder.
“No, not hardly.”

She let out her breath
in a rush. “Good. That’s a relief.” She looked into her eyes. “I want the whole
story.”

Desiree looked up at
the ceiling as she thought back. “Wow, it’s only been a week.” She then tilted
her head and began. “Some of this story will be a little unbelievable, but
listen with an open mind.”

Sherry gestured to
Mica. “I doubt it will be
that
unbelievable. You have proof sitting here in front of me, so just spit it out.”

“You know my situation,
Sherry.” She nodded. “Word of my true age leaked out. My former landlady
snooped through my things and discovered that I was a hundred and twenty-five
year old witch and started running her trap.” Sherry’s mouth dropped open as
Desiree continued. “About a week ago I received a summons for a command
appearance from Drake Bouvier, the local vampire king.” Desiree laughed. “You
know me. I tried to get out of it.” Sherry smiled. “Drake sent one of his
guards to hunt me down.”

“So this vampire king,
Drake, sent Mica after you?”

She chuckled. “Yes and
no.” Sherry inclined her head for her to continue. “Mica is not one of Drake’s
guards. Drake sent his guard Sean after me. Believe me, at the time, Sean was
intimidating as hell.”

“So, what did this
Drake want from you?”

“What he wanted had to
do with the phone call I made to you that night. Drake wanted me to cast a
spell so that they could withstand the sunlight.”

Her mouth dropped open again.
“Desiree, that’s not possible.”

“Sherry, as the leader
of our coven, haven’t I always taught you that with magic, anything is
possible?”

“Yes, but it’s never
been done.”

“Desiree has done just
that,” Mica said.

“Okay, I’m confused. If
Mica’s not Drake’s guard, then how did you two meet?”

“Drake didn’t give me
much choice about casting that spell for him, but I somehow convinced him to
let me go back to my apartment to get my things. I was all packed and ready to
go when Jason Hargrove, the witch hunter, snuck up behind me and knocked me out
with chloroform.”
Sherry’s mouth dropped open again as
Desiree continued.
“Jason trussed me up like a Thanksgiving turkey and
carted me off to Salem to burn.”

“Oh my God, Desiree…how
did Jason find you?”

“Again, I blame my nosy
landlady. Drake sent Mica and his friend Caleb to rescue me.”

“Is Caleb a vampire
too?”

She shook her head. “No,
Caleb’s a shape-shifter. I’ve seen him turn into a ferret and a black panther.”

Sherry noticed how
close they were sitting next to each other, and she smiled. “It looks like it
must have been love at first sight.”

Mica laughed at her
assumption. Desiree flushed and laughed lightly. “Hardly,” Desiree said. She
glanced up and winked at Mica. “Oh, I admit there was a mutual attraction from
the start, but in the beginning I was afraid of him. He was moody as hell and became
angry because he thought I was judging him because he was a vampire. Not to
mention the fact that he wasn’t looking for a relationship.” She shrugged
helplessly. “Sherry, you know me. I don’t like to be ignored.”

Sherry laughed in
agreement, shaking her head. “Okay, what took you so long to get back?”

“Mica wanted to flush
Jason out, so we hid in the Forbidden Caverns for a few days.”

“So you two took the
advantage of being alone with no interference.”

Desiree flushed again,
then
cleared her throat.
“Hardly.”

Sherry raised an
eyebrow at that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean it wasn’t all
smooth sailing. Caleb was attracted to me too.” Sherry’s mouth dropped open yet
again. “Caleb is not one to take a straight
no
for an answer.”

“Did they fight over
you?”

“Yes and no.”

“Okay, I’m confused
again.”

Mica laughed. Desiree
cleared her throat. “Caleb took off to a bar and got drunk. While he was there
he managed to find an unusual drinking partner.” Sherry nodded for her to
continue. “Caleb didn’t know he was partying with Jason Hargrove.”

Sherry rolled her eyes.
“My God, girl, what happened then?”

“I cast that spell for
Drake, and gave an amulet to Mica. The spell worked beautifully. Caleb came
back from his binge and was acting weird. We all went to a truck stop to take
showers and Jason started stalking us. We hurried back to the cavern, only to discover
that Jason had struck again and torn the cave apart looking through our things.
Mica went outside to run a patrol, and Caleb decided to take advantage of
Mica’s absence and tried to force himself on me.”

Sherry grimaced. “I
take it that that didn’t go over too well.”

“No, it didn’t. I
rammed my knee in his groin,
then
he decided that he
was going to attack me as a panther. That’s when they fought. Mica kicked him
out and put him on a bus back to New Orleans.”

“Wow, I bet you were
glad that was over.”

She laughed at her
assumption. “It was far from over.” Sherry tilted her head in question. “It
seems that when Caleb was drinking with Jason, Jason gave Caleb the bright idea
to call one of Mica’s old girlfriends to run interference. Denise showed up
within hours after sending Caleb away.”

“Oh no, not the long
lost girlfriend routine.” Her shoulders shook with laughter. “Did you fall for
it?”

She nodded. “Yes, I
did.”

Mica put his arm
protectively around Desiree and spoke. “I almost killed Denise over that. I
tried to convince Desiree it was all a lie, but she wouldn’t listen to me. You
see, Desiree had put herself in a protective circle and I couldn’t get anywhere
near her.” Sherry laughed. “I had to convince Denise to tell Desiree the
truth.”

Sherry looked into her
friend’s eyes, grinning slyly. “What did you do to her?”

She laughed. “Nothing
at first, but when she laughed and thought the whole situation was funny….” She
bit her lip and looked a little guilty. “I threw a fireball at her.”

“Good for you. Did you
knock her on her butt?”

“No, she dodged it.”

“Well, did you at least
make her leave?” They both shook their heads no. Sherry’s eyes rounded.
“Why the hell not?”

“Because she was a
vampire and the sun had come up, and it really wasn’t her fault. Caleb had
called her and talked her into it,” Desiree remarked, and Sherry rolled her
eyes. “Besides, that wasn’t the end of the mess.”

“No, let me guess…Caleb
came back,” she remarked dryly.

“Yeah, he got back just
in time to hear me tell Denise that I didn’t have any feelings for him.”

“Ouch, I bet that
didn’t go over too well.”

“No it didn’t.” Desiree
blew out a breath,
then
frowned. “I like Caleb as a
friend, and I didn’t like hurting his feelings.” Mica squeezed her hand for
support. “Caleb can be annoyingly persistent. If you push him away, he just
keeps coming back for more.” She held up her hand and counted off on her
fingers. “I had punched him, took him down with a knee to his groin, and took
him down with a fireball, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Mica had to
threaten to kill him for him to take me seriously and stop. Most guys see me
coming and run in the other direction. I am not used to being pursued that
ardently. It was kind of creepy.”

“
Wow,
that
was some adventure.”

“It didn’t end there.”
Sherry rolled her eyes again and waited for her to continue. “We had decided
enough was enough, and it was time to come back to New Orleans. We packed the Express
Van, and all I had left to do was to retrieve the blessed amulets I had hidden
and we were going to be on our way.”

“You didn’t leave as
planned?”

“We didn’t get the
chance. Jason Hargrove struck again.”