Darkness Taunts (2 page)

“You sure about that?” the troll asked. She’d started to inch closer to the pixie couple in an odd form of solidarity. At least I had the power to make two races who didn’t like each other join forces.

I nodded. “I helped Nik get back into power, didn’t I? If the town is in danger, I’ll find a way to deal with it.” Not that I had the first clue how to get rid of demons, but they didn’t need to know that. I’d learned in the army that making people think you knew what you were doing was half the battle.

They each looked at each other. A tension-filled minute passed before their glares looked a little less severe. The pain developing in my head went down a few notches as well.

The female pixie came forward and took the salt. “How much for this?”

I told her the same amount as the troll.

“But that’s too much!”

“I don’t set the prices.” I shrugged. Let Felisha take the heat for it. I’d had more than my fair share for the day.

She grumbled, but she paid for it. A lot of people will pick convenience over price, especially if they thought they needed something right away. After I bagged it for her, she grabbed her husband and headed for the entrance. At the door she paused and turned around. “You better be right about this or we’ll be back—with friends.”

The troll still stood by the counter. She turned from watching the others and grinned. I could see her sharp, tiny teeth and had to hold back a shudder.

“If it turns out you lied,” she said. “I promise I’ll be comin’ back with them. Even Master Nikolas can’t stop us if we all go after ya!”

With those cheery words, she waddled out. I breathed a sigh of relief when she drove her beat-up truck from the parking lot. It back-fired and kicked out a billow of smoke as it made its way onto the street.

Emily arrived soon after that.

She came bustling in with a heavy coat and no cap over her shoulder-length brown hair. It had warmed up to almost zero degrees so she didn’t need it at this point in the day. At least, that’s what she always told me when I made a case about it.

She wasn’t from around here either, but she’d moved to Fairbanks a year and a half ago, giving her more time to adjust to the freezing weather. The six months I’d been in the area hadn’t been enough. I plotted my next escape attempt every morning when I stepped outside into the icy-cold air. At least it was February now. January had almost killed me.

“Wipe your feet before you come any further,” I said.

She forgot every time if I didn’t tell her. It probably stemmed from her mother never really caring for her. Five months of staying with me hadn’t been long enough to break her bad habits. I’d been a single 26-year-old who’d never dealt with kids when I took her in. I had to admit my skills weren’t that great either, but at least I made sure Emily’s basic needs were met.

She stomped a few times on the welcome mat before making her way to the counter. “Do you think we could take a vacation to someplace warm sometime soon?”

I’d take her in a heartbeat if I could. Unfortunately, there were forces far more powerful than us keeping us here. “We tried that twice already. Remember?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I know.”

“Why don’t you go in the back and do your homework?” I was really starting to sound like a mom. Six months ago I wouldn’t have considered having children of my own, much less adopting any. Now I had a teenager with abilities we had to hide.

“I will, but um…I have something to ask first.” She stuffed her hands in her pockets. There was a pleading look in her blue eyes that put me on guard. You didn’t have to raise a teenager for long to learn some telling signs.

“What is it?”

“You see,” she said, looking anywhere but at me. “Valentine’s Day is coming up. I really want to have a party and invite all my friends.”

I crossed my arms. “After what happened with your birthday last month?”

“But that wasn’t my fault!” She stomped her foot.

She didn’t really believe that. As sensors, we could detect lies—even between each other. She’d stolen some liquor from Nik’s house, the master vampire of the area and our protector-warden. Since it took a lot for him to get drunk, he didn’t carry much of the light stuff. Emily could have grabbed one of the other bottles he kept stocked for non-immortal guests, but she went for his private stock. Not that I agreed with either option, but if you’re going to break the rules you should be smart about it.

She used the liquor to spike the punch and one of her friends drank more than her fair share. We found her barely alive outside where she’d wandered off and passed out in a snow bank. I’d had to call Nik over to our house for help. It had taken a dose of his blood to fix her and his compulsion to make sure she didn’t report it back to her parents. She’d been unsurprisingly shocked when she woke up with his bleeding wrist pressed to her mouth.

Even in a haven like Fairbanks, sups hid their real identities. We couldn’t let the secret get out through a teenage drinking incident. I should have been paying closer attention, but parenting stuff was still new to me and I’d had to learn the lesson the hard way.

“No more parties. It was too crowded the last time and I couldn’t keep up with all your friends.”

“But Mel,” she whined. “There’s nothing to do around here in the winter and Nik says he’ll help you supervise. I went and asked him about it last night.”

She’d talked to him before coming to me. Great. I rubbed my face. Today kept getting better and better.

“You should have discussed it with me first,” I said. “And what were you doing at his house?”

A guilty flush rose up her cheeks. “Well, I was bored. You went to get the pizza so I went over to his place for a few minutes.”

We didn’t live close to town. I’d been gone for over an hour to pick up dinner and a few things from the store. “I told you not to go over there without me. It’s not safe with all the vamps and werewolves running around there.”

“Most of them don’t know what I am and they all like me anyway. It’s you they aren’t so hot about.” She frowned. It bothered her that they didn’t accept me, but I tried to keep that problem from her as much as I could—today being a good example.

“The point is you’re not having a party,” I said.

Better to get her back to the original topic before this conversation degenerated. I braced myself when her eyes turned pleading again.

“Come on, Mel. It will be fine this time. I promise.”

“No.” I shook my head. “With my luck, it’ll be even worse than the last time. Not to mention you’ve got Nik wrapped around your little finger. You’ll probably get him to look the other way for any stunts you try to pull.”

She gave me a pouty lip. “I won’t do anything bad. Please.”

I stared up at the ceiling and resisted the temptation to give in. She reminded me of myself at that age. I’d been orphaned and did anything I could to make myself forget the loneliness—including drinking and partying. Emily hid it well, but I knew her mother leaving her hurt. Stephanie had been a newly turned vamp, but she should have cared more.

She didn’t even try to take her daughter away with her when we ordered her to leave the area. She took off as soon as she found out we killed her vampire-witch boss and most of her sup friends. A few got away, but we’d let Stephanie live for Emily’s sake. Since then, the teenager refused to talk about her mom no matter how much I tried to get her to open up.

I sighed. Life hadn’t been easy for her and I didn’t like playing the bad guy. Letting her have a party so soon after the disaster with the last one would be pushing it, though. We’d have to find something else for her to do. Chick flicks and popcorn would be much safer.

“I’m sorry, Emily.” I shook my head. “There’s not going to be a party. Maybe this summer after you’ve had more time to learn your lesson.”

Her eyes widened. “This summer? But that’s too far away!”

“You’ll survive. Trust me.” Why couldn’t she go to someone else’s party? At least then I wouldn’t be responsible. For some reason she didn’t like being away from home that much. Her friends always came to our place rather than the other way around.

“Fine,” she said, giving me the kicked puppy look.

This wouldn’t be the last of it. She’d bring the party topic up again, but at least for now I was off the hook.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” She dropped her backpack by the counter. “I heard Nik talking on the phone about some demon problem or something going on in Juneau. He said your name too, but he got real quiet when he saw me coming.”

I furrowed my brows. If Nik was talking about it, there had to be something to it. He wouldn’t bother with unsubstantiated rumors.

“You were eavesdropping on him, weren’t you?” I asked. Not that I didn’t want to know what Nik said, but I had to at least make a show of disapproval. I’d read that in one of those parenting advice guides.

“Well, it’s not my fault if he talks loud enough for me to hear him from outside his office.”

Uh huh. She wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t telling the whole story either. “What did he say?”

She shrugged. “All I caught was that they might need your help to deal with it.”

“I’m not going to Juneau,” I said. “If they come here, that’s a different story, but I’m not going out of my way to help them.”

“That’s what I thought.” She smiled. “They shouldn’t be making you do dangerous stuff like that anyways.”

There was a time when I loved the thrill of danger. I’d grown out of it. I had Emily to think about now and keeping up with her kept me busy enough.

“Don’t worry. I’ll just refuse. They can’t make me do it.”

I needed a hot shower. The temperature had begun to drop by the time Emily and I got home. Cold weather had a way of chilling my skin and seeping into my bones until I could hardly think. With the exception of my six year stint in the army, I’d always lived in sunny California where most of the time people could wear shorts in the winter and keep their tans looking great while they were at it. Not in Alaska.

After letting the water run long enough to get hot, I stepped into the spray. It was the one time of day I truly felt warm. For a little while I could close my eyes and let myself relax where no one could see me or bother me. No judgment or accusing glares. Just peace and quiet.

Nik owned the house where Emily and I currently lived. He’d intended to fix it up after he bought it, but a sleep spell put on him delayed his plans. Variola, a four hundred-year-old vampire-witch hybrid, had been behind that little setback.

After I woke him from the spell, we’d worked together against Variola. He’d been the only chance I had for getting my best friend back and he needed my help to get around the vamp-witch’s magic. Once it was over, I wasn’t allowed to leave town, but I’d been adamant about getting my own place. He’d insisted on getting a crew of his minions to do what was probably the fastest remodel in history. The house was about a quarter of a mile away from his, putting it within easy reaching distance if trouble came our way.

I had enemies out there who wanted me dead and he took his job as protector seriously. It didn’t matter that I didn’t want his help. I’d hoped to go somewhere far from all supernaturals where Emily and I could live a normal life. Nik and his powerful friends had different ideas.

The water from the hot shower soaked into my skin. I scrubbed away the lingering scent from the troll who’d been at the shop earlier. My poor nose would never be the same. Her ickiness was probably in my hair too.

I grabbed the shampoo bottle. It was a fancy brand that helped keep my dark auburn hair shiny. I had to order it off the Internet because no store in town carried it. There were very few things I splurged on these days, but my bath products were among them. They would be the last thing to be sacrificed if my financial situation got worse. Starting a new life in Fairbanks had eaten away at my savings and my job at Felisha’s shop didn’t make up for it all. It would help if I didn’t insist on paying rent to Nik, but I had enough supernatural debt without having to tack on more.

Shampoo ran into my eyes when I bunched up my hair to scrub it. I started to duck my head under to rinse when an all too familiar presence flashed in behind me. Speaking of enemies lurking out there ready to take me down—this one couldn’t decide whether to kill me or keep me alive.

I turned to confront him, but he pulled me back into his chest. His arms slid around my wet body and everything began to spin. I couldn’t think, couldn’t react. We traveled through what felt like a vortex. I couldn’t see anything with my eyes scrunched up tight, but the strong wind buffeting my skin gave me the impression of moving at warp speed. Long seconds dragged by when, without warning, the dizzying sensation stopped. Only the grip of his arms kept me from falling forward. The tile underneath my feet returned and the spray of hot water replaced the wind.

My stomach roiled and my knees threatened to buckle. I had to slump against his chest to keep from losing my balance. It killed me to show any kind of weakness in front of him, but he had to have known the effect his little trick would have on me. I wanted to struggle—to knock him senseless for whatever he’d done, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. My muddled mind couldn’t even process what kind of spell he’d used or how.

“Lucas, dammit.” The shampoo had run down my face even worse than before. It burned my eyes. “What did you do to me?”

“Finish your shower, sensor,” he said close to my ear. His arms pulled away, but he left a steadying hand. “We’ll talk soon.”

He let his warm fingers slide off my shoulder before flashing away. Wherever he’d gone, it was too far for me to sense. My head still spun too much to do more than concentrate on staying on my feet.

It took a couple more minutes for the disorientation to pass. As soon as it did, I ducked my head under the water only to realize the pressure was higher than before. The direction of the water didn’t feel right either. Backing away, I opened my eyes only to close them again. No, this could not be happening. One lid at a time I reopened them.

Black tile etched with golden swirls surrounded me on three sides with frosted glass making up the fourth. Triple shower heads jutted from the wall and a large seat took up the opposite one. It was far more extravagant than anything I’d ever been in before and large enough to fit at least three people. How had he brought me here? Lucas could move long distances by “flashing” himself wherever he wanted to go, but I was immune to magic. He shouldn’t have been able to take me anywhere.