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Authors: A.C. Warneke

Darkness Falls (10 page)

BOOK: Darkness Falls
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“Feryn will be furious,” Jiro said, his resolve weakening as hypotheses started forming behind those silver-green eyes of his. Resting his chin on his hand, he studied Jack with a sharper eye and Malorie could almost feel the anticipation that he refused to show.

“I’ll deal with Feryn,” she said boldly, though she wasn’t sure how since he was angry with her at the moment. “There’s just one caveat.”

“And what’s that?” Jiro asked, finally tearing his gaze away from Jack.

“You’re not allowed to cause Jack any pain,” she told him. Glancing at her twice-dead husband who was more alive than ever, she added, “You can take a limited amount of blood and you have to have his permission if a test is too intrusive.”

“How would you define intrusive?” Jiro asked.

Her gaze flew to his as he was clearly considering his options. “Anything that involves probes of any type is too intrusive. Anything that would leave a scar is too intrusive. Anything that involved extreme temperatures is too intrusive. Anything that makes Jack uncomfortable is too intrusive.”

Jiro huffed, “Jeeze, Malorie. How am I going to get any answers if you put so many limits on me?”

“Don’t I have a say in any of this?” Jack asked.

“No,” Malorie and Jiro answered in unison as they continued glaring at one another. Tearing her gaze away from Jiro’s, she faced Jack, “Jack, it’s for your own good. We have to figure out what happened and why. If you have any desire to get to know Toby you have to do this.”

“What about you?” he asked softly.

Glancing briefly at Toby, seeing the fascination on his face as he listened to the adults arguing, she swallowed thickly before meeting his gaze, “As I’ve told you, I’m with Feryn now.”

“And where is your vampire mate?” he asked with venom in his voice.

She sighed in frustration, “He’s not a vampire, Jack. He’s an Aradian, just like Taella. We’ve been over this.”

Standing up, she started clearing the plates from the table. There were only a few things to do before she sent Toby off with Jiro, before she went to New York. A frown tugged at her forehead because she wasn’t sure how that would work since Jiro was going to transport her to the city but he was the one she had tasked to watch her child. Distracted by her thoughts, she dumped the dishes in the sink, cringing when she heard the unmistakable sound of ceramic breaking.

Maybe it would be better if she took Toby with her, then Jack would be able to get to know their son under her supervision. But was she prepared to deal with Toby and Jack? And God knew Feryn would have a coronary if she were to go off on her mission with her dead husband in tow, especially since Jiro wouldn’t be with them to make sure nothing happened. Not that anything was ever going to happen because as much as she had loved Jack, she was with Feryn now.

Pressing a hand against her stomach, against the mark Feryn had placed there and the baby he had given her, she smiled slightly. As Jiro said, bondage trumped marriage, at least when it’s the bond between an Aradian and a Breeder.

She had to find her father because she desperately needed his sage advice. Plus, if she went on this quest then she wouldn’t have to deal with the upheaval of her entire world. She just needed to get away from it all and do something.

Warm hands wrapped around her shoulders and for a moment she thought Feryn had relented and returned to give her a proper sendoff but it was only Jiro. “Malorie, you can always change your mind and come back to the compound with us. I’m sure nothing would make Feryn happier.”

She had to smile at his efforts but nothing was going to make her reconsider because she had to sort out her thoughts and she had to find her father. “I’m going to New York.”

Heaving a sigh, he leaned against the counter and looked at the table where father and son sat and stared at one another, sizing each other up. Grabbing their glasses, they each took a drink of their orange juice at the same time before wiping their mouths off with the backs of their arms. It was almost perfectly coordinated and Malorie felt an upsurge of love swell in her chest as she looked at the two of them. It wasn’t just their likeness that was uncanny but their very mannerisms and it made her confidence falter.

What would happen if Toby decided he preferred life with his father? They were so much alike and Jack had experience living a civilian life so he wouldn’t struggle as badly as she had over the past six years. Toby would get to be a little boy without worrying about upsetting his mother and….

Pressing a hand to her stomach, she looked at Jiro, who looked so much like Feryn beneath the bleached hair and diamond earrings she had to take another breath. Everything was closing in on her and she wasn’t able to catch her breath and if she didn’t get out of there she was going to break and there would be no putting her back together.

“We should go now,” she said, staggering across the floor and kneeling by Toby. Wrapping her arm around her son, she looked up at Jiro, “How is this going to work? Are you going to walk me through the rift, or whatever you call it, or is there a way to push me through so you can stay here and keep an eye on Toby?”

“I’m not going to run off with our son, Mal,” Jack scoffed with a hint of bitterness and resentment in his voice. Grabbing his plate and standing up, he added, “It’s not like there is anywhere I can go since I’ve been officially dead for six years.”

“I’ll open the gate and you’ll just step through, landing close enough to your destination,” Jiro said, ignoring Jack’s outburst. “And I’ll stay behind with Toby and Jack.”

Tilting her head to the side as a random thought popped into her head, she blurted, “Maybe you can introduce him to one of your humans.”

“Malorie!” Jack roared, sounding almost scandalized by her suggestion. “I do not need a vampire’s charity.”

“Not a vampire,” Jiro grinned without taking his eyes off Malorie. “I think it would be best if we keep Jack away from the general population until we determine what he is and whether or not he’s a threat.”

“If he were a threat I wouldn’t trust him with my son,” Malorie ground out, desperate to leave before her doubts could get the better of her. “So, just do your thing and get me to New York.”

Narrowing his eyes, Jiro lowered his voice and growled, “Don’t go.”

“I have to do this.” Swallowing painfully, still hugging Toby, she whispered, “Please, Jiro.”

“Fine. I’ll give you four days.”

After hugging Toby and telling him how much she loved him and how much she was going to miss him and to be a good boy, she stood up and faced Jiro, “Okay, I’m ready.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he eyed her from head to toe, “You’re not bringing anything with you?”

Patting her pocket, she grinned, “I have an ID, some paper work, and a credit card.”

“Blade Soldiers always travelled light,” Jack said with a conspiratorial grin before he caught himself and wiped the smile from his face. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Who’s ID do you have?”

Pulling the license from her pocket, she read the name, “Um, Matilda Macklemore.”

Jack snorted, “Ah, good old Matilda. I remember when you made up that alias, the way you chuckled to yourself because Matilda was twenty-one and you were only seventeen.”

Malorie’s anxiety eased a bit at the memory and for a moment she was seventeen again and sitting in an abandoned diner with Jack. He had been one of the few bright spots in her bleak life and she had forgotten how much fun they had had between battles. Even in the midst of chaos, he had always had the unique ability to make her smile and she missed that. She had missed him.

After he had died, her world had been flipped on its head and she had never properly mourned his loss. Now that he was standing in front of her, alive and well, she had the absurd desire to bawl like a baby. It had to be her pregnancy hormones that were making her so emotional and it was way past time she left. Turning her back on Jack, on the past, she gave Toby one last kiss and faced Jiro, “Open the passageway, Jiro. I’m ready to go.”

Stepping forward and wisely not saying anything, he placed his hand over her heart and closed his eyes. Words of a long dead language spilled from his lips and she felt them slither over her skin, making her shiver. The air shimmered around them and then there was a gaping hole into the Netherspace, the ether between this world and the one she grew up in. There was no more time for doubt or fear and she took a steadying breath before she stepped into the vertigo-inducing void.

She had forgotten just how horrible the Netherspace was as she felt her body being pulled apart and pressed together, as colors and darkness writhed around her, as silence echoed in her head. Her mouth opened to scream but no sound came out and she called herself a fool a million times over for wanting to travel through Netherspace to return to her world. She should have stayed on the island and been happy living in paradise with the man she loved and the child they created. Her son would thrive and when it came time for Toby to procreate, she was certain the Aradians would only bring him the best and brightest….

What the fuck was she doing? Her thoughts were as scrambled as her body and she prayed the journey would soon be over. When it came time to return, she was going to ask Feryn to make sure she was knocked out cold because she didn’t think she could go through this again.

Suddenly, she was vomited back out into the world but it kept spinning around her and she lost her breakfast. Heaving until her stomach ached and her throat burned, she collapsed onto the ground and passed out, hoping that she was in a safe place. It would suck balls if she was murdered in her unconsciousness.

Chapter 4

 

Feryn looked down at the beautiful woman with long, brown hair as she looked up at him with worshipful gray eyes and suddenly he wanted more than a hard and vigorous fuck. He wanted to consume her, to feel her in his soul and own her completely. Cupping her full breast in his hand, brushing his thumb over her erect nipple, his thoughts tore through his head, dark and dangerous and wonderful.

The woman’s legs were already spreading to accept him as he moved over her body and he smiled because he knew she was exhausted and yet she still wanted more. This time when he took her, he was going to take all of her and there was nothing to stop him. As her body welcomed him into the wet depths of her pussy, he bent his head and sank his teeth into her slender throat. A pleasure filled moan escaped her lips as he began to drink in rhythm to his slow, penetrating thrusts.

Her life flooded into his mouth, her blood rich and delicious and he couldn’t get enough. Even when her nails dug into the flesh of his ribs, he wanted more. He drank until he could feel her heartbeat against his lips, until he swallowed her pulse and there was only the smallest flicker of life left within her.

Pulling his teeth from her throat, he sat back and bit his wrist, all the while keeping his eyes on the pale beauty beneath him. She stared up at him with wide eyes and a still body as he continued to gently ease back and forth within her. As his blood pooled on his skin, he held his arm up to her parted lips and drizzled crimson drops into her mouth.

Slowly, oh-so-slowly, color seeped back into her pallor and her slender fingers wrapped around his wrist and held it to her mouth. As she greedily drank, the strangest thing happened and Feryn wouldn’t have believed it had he not been experiencing it for himself. Heat burst in his chest and he felt a surge of power. He could feel her pleasure flowing through his blood and his eyes closed in ecstasy as orgasm tore through his body.

The woman’s eyes flew open as sharp teeth pierced his flesh and he gasped. Had he discovered a new way of creating Aradians? Would they be able to release the captive Breeders, who were so fragile it seemed kinder to kill them?

No, the woman’s eyes were duller than they had been, not the brilliant jewel tones of an Aradian. No, he had created something new, something that gave him power. Gently cradling the woman’s head in his hand as she continued to drink, he smiled with satisfaction. He had never experienced anything like this before and he couldn’t wait to experience it again.

He couldn’t wait to share his discovery with Jiro.

 

BOOK: Darkness Falls
7.51Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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