Darkness Awakened

Darkness Awakened

 Katie Reus

Darkness Awakened

Copyright © 2013 by Katie Reus

ISBN: 9780989776646

Cover art and design by
Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs

Proofreading by JRT Editing

Digital Formatting by
Author E.M.S.

* * *

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book. This purchase allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. You do not have the right to resell, distribute, print or transfer this book, in whole or in part, to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload this book to a file sharing program. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

Years ago he ended things between them to protect her…

As leader of one of the fiercest werewolf packs in the south, Finn Stavros is in full battle mode 24/7. He has no choice—he’s one of the few beings strong enough to fight the Akkadian demons, whose mysterious escape from hell threatens the entire world. With the battle turning bloodier by the second, Finn is ready for anything…until his vampire long lost love shows up on his doorstep in desperate need of his help, sending his heart into a tailspin. He agrees to help her, unaware that she carries a shocking secret that will turn his life upside down.

This time, he’s not letting her go…

Vampire Lyra Marius curses the day she met Finn. The ruthless werewolf promised to love her forever, but he rejected her instead—before she could share her life altering news. Pregnant, kicked out of her coven, and cast aside by the love of her life, Lyra struggled to raise their rare shifter-vampire daughter Vega alone among humans. When the 16-year-old is kidnapped and used to fulfill a frightening prophecy, Lyra swallows her pride and turns to Finn for help. But how long can she fight her feelings for him and keep him from guessing the truth about who Vega really is? As they race against the clock to save their daughter, they must defeat the lethal threat imposed by demons infiltrating the human world and a hell gate that could not only reveal their existence to mankind, but destroy the world in the process.

Chapter One

Finn Stavros didn’t bother to wipe the blood from his blade before turning on another Akkadian demon emerging from the interior of the dark warehouse. Adrenaline punched through him, a hard and vicious surge as he faced off with this monster. He’d already killed two of the demons so that just left two more. He hadn’t planned to shift to his animal form tonight but it looked like he had no choice. He would be more powerful as a wolf and this fight needed to end quickly. Before any nosy or unsuspecting humans stumbled on them.

After following one of these wretched things from his casino, Finn had expected a fast kill. Not to stumble on more of them in this abandoned warehouse.

Dropping his blade to the concrete floor, Finn tensed as his body underwent the change. Gray and white fur sprouted as his bones and ligaments broke, shifted and realigned. The shift was short and momentarily painful, but gave way to a heady rush of raw power that pulsed through him. Seconds later, he stood on all fours, his clothes and shoes shredded around him.

As a born Alpha and leader of his pack, he had a higher element of strength and speed than his brethren. He might be only one hundred and fifty years old, but when he’d killed his treacherous uncle and taken control over his pack, Finn had absorbed his uncle’s strength as well.

The floor was cold beneath his paws and a sensitized awareness flowed through him in steady waves. Every sense was enhanced. The horned, clawed demon creature stared at him hungrily, but Finn would be the only thing walking out of this building alive tonight. These freakish bastards might have the ability to glamorize themselves to humans—making themselves look not only normal, but beautiful—but as another supernatural being, Finn could see their true form clearly.

Some days he
really
wished he couldn’t.

It was disturbing to see a human sidling up to these monsters completely unaware that they’d be the demon’s dinner.

Baring his teeth, Finn snarled at the reptilian skinned being with gaunt cheeks, glowing yellow eyes, clawed hands and clawed feet. This one was only six feet tall but some of them grew to seven feet. Like the last two he’d just killed. And he could smell them a mile away. Their putrid, sulfuric stench was nauseating. The past month had brought out too many of these things for him and his pack to ignore. At one time they’d been the stuff of nightmares. Like the boogie man; scary but in an abstract way. Not anymore.

Locked away in hell millennia ago, they didn’t belong on this plane of earth. After being caged for so long, it seemed as if they were consumed with a powerful bloodlust that robbed them of control once they started to feed or hunt. They were threatening the secret existence of all supernatural beings with their carelessness. Finn didn’t know what had released them from hell, but he planned to find out and make sure they were sent back where they belonged.

With a snarl, the creature extended its claws and advanced. Tensing his muscles and using all the strength in his hind legs, Finn lunged forward, bracing for the pain. He could take being sliced up by this thing. The key to killing them was doing it quick. The key to
any
fight was ending it quick. For some reason these demons liked to fight one on one. So even though he scented another one in the warehouse, it wouldn’t make a move until either Finn or the demon emerged from this battle victorious.

He flew through the air and ripped a chunk of its shoulder clean off. The creature howled eerily but swiped his claws down Finn’s side. The slashing pain burned through him as his flesh ripped away. But the sting only enraged his inner wolf more.

Growling low in his throat, Finn turned in the air before he slammed onto the ground.

Strike fast and hard.

He pounced again. This time he managed to clamp his jaws down on the creature’s throat. Biting down, he tasted flesh and blood. The thick fluid was foul, with more than a hint of sulfur in it.

He ripped through tendons and bone and jerked back, tearing off its head and killing it instantly. Before he could spin around, he felt the impact of the last remaining creature landing on his back. It sunk its claws deep into his ribcage.

Roaring, he twisted and tried to dislodge the thing, but its claws only pierced more deeply. Knives of pain splintered through his body, making his nerve endings scream, but he ignored it. He’d heal. This thing was going to die one way or another.

Rolling back, he used his weight to pin it to the ground underneath him. As it slammed against the concrete, the creature’s claws retracted, giving Finn the chance to dodge away.

Jumping to his feet, he lunged before it had a chance to rise. His jaws opened and clamped on the creature’s neck, severing its head in one clean stroke. Faster than he’d killed the first.

His heart raced as he swiveled in each direction, looking for more danger around the abandoned warehouse. Wooden crates were stacked in two separate corners. Above him a cobwebbed skeleton of steel stretched across the ceiling. Since these things couldn’t climb or fly like some vampires, he wasn’t worried about an aerial attack. Continuing to scan the darkness of the desolate building that was little more than a metal box, his inner wolf slowly calmed when he scented nothing else unusual. He was especially thankful he couldn’t scent any humans. These days it seemed that all of them had phones with video or camera capabilities and the last thing any supernatural beings needed was someone to record what had just happened.

As he shifted back to his human form, a new smell filled the air. He paused, ready to fight again, until the familiar scent of Gabriel, his pack Guardian grew nearer. He must have just arrived because his Guardian wouldn’t have let him fight alone. It went against Gabriel’s nature and pack law.

Ignoring the already fading pain, Finn picked up his shredded pants and searched the material until he found his lighter in what had once been a back pocket. He lit some of the clothes on fire then tossed them onto one of the creatures. It immediately burst into flames. An eerie reddish-orange glow burned unnaturally bright and fast as the fire devoured the beast. Soon there would be nothing but ash. Thankfully the creatures burned with lightning speed, leaving no evidence behind.

“If you planned to have fun tonight, you should’ve called me.” Gabriel’s heavy boots thudded across the ground as he quickly strode through the warehouse. As Guardian, it was his job to protect the Alpha of his pack at all times, but Finn didn’t like to depend on anyone.

If he couldn’t protect himself, how could anyone expect him to keep his pack safe? To maintain power in his region?

Finn didn’t turn around as he lit the other creatures on fire. “Last time I checked, I’m still Alpha.”

Gabriel sighed, a familiar sound. “You recruited me for a reason. To watch your back. What’s the point of being Guardian if I have no one to
guard
?”

Finn snorted in response, but the truth was, he had recruited Gabriel for a very good reason. Years ago when Finn had killed his own hateful uncle and taken over the Stavros pack, there had been a few who would have seen him overthrown. For the most part he’d weeded out his enemies, but his uncle had been Alpha for over a thousand years and his archaic ideals were still strong with some.

Gabriel had been a loner until Finn found him. The other wolf had been passing through Biloxi and had jumped into the middle of a squabble between Finn and a few vampires who’d wanted to move in on his territory. Finn hadn’t needed the help but ever since then they’d forged an unbreakable friendship.

Even if he technically didn’t owe his friend an explanation, he gave one. “I didn’t have time to call. I saw one of those things tailing a human female as she left the casino and tracked it. It left the female alone when it realized I was hunting it. Think it wanted to lure me into a trap.”

When his friend didn’t respond he grabbed the towel Gabriel extended and started wiping blood from his arms and sides. As Alpha, his healing speed was one of his gifts. His back and sides were sore but as he drew the towel away he could see the long slashes along his skin already mending. His medical kit was in his SUV but he decided not to bother patching himself up since the blood wasn’t flowing anymore. After he finished, he took an extra set of clothes from Gabriel and quickly pulled on the dark sweater and jeans. They all carried extra clothes in their vehicles and Gabriel’s assumption that he’d need them tonight was from previous experience. “How’d you know I’d be here anyway?”

“One of the girls at the front desk told me you’d left in a rush so I followed your scent. And you
did
have time to call. Or text.” Gabriel shook his head as he picked up what was left of Finn’s shredded shoes and fallen cell phone and keys. He tossed the ruined shoes into the fire.

Finn ignored Gabriel’s last comment. “How’d you get here?” he asked as they exited the warehouse.

A bright three-quarter moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the dingy alley. There were a few empty cardboard boxes propped up against a rusted old Dumpster, but no signs of anyone, not even the homeless. There was another warehouse directly next to this one and it was also currently unused. Made sense for the demons to be hanging out here, but his pack would have to pay more attention to the area now. His SUV was still parked in the dark alley but he didn’t see Gabriel’s motorcycle anywhere.

“My bike’s a block over. Wasn’t sure if you were fighting anyone and didn’t want to announce my presence if you needed backup. Besides, there’s no way in hell I was parking my baby down here.” He mock shuddered as he tossed the SUV keys to him.

Finn bit back a smile as he palmed the key fob. He briefly contemplated going back to the casino. But he had too much paperwork to catch up on and would be distracted there. “See ya back at the compound?”

Gabriel shook his head and grinned. “I’m going to head up to Howler’s for a while.”

Howler’s was the club on the bottom floor of Finn’s casino and since it was almost ten the place would just be getting busy. Even though he wasn’t required to, Gabriel liked to help out security on the weekends. He’d never said it, but Finn knew he liked to let out his aggression on drunk shifters looking for a fight. “See ya tomorrow, then.”