Light Shadows (36 page)

Denny goes completely still for several seconds before breaking into an easy smile. “Been a long time, Nikolai.” He brings Niko in for a bro hug before turning his attention on me. “And the girl?”

“Ah, yes,” Niko says, waving a hand in my direction as if I’m on display. I’m only acutely aware that my hands are still groping my own body, yet I can’t seem to care. “Denny Nox meet Gabriella Winters. Gabriella meet Daneus Deleazó, front man for The Fallen.”

I look at the two sex gods before me, hearing what Niko has said, but not fully grasping his words. All I can think about is being naked, and what it would feel like to have them naked as well. Imagining the delicious fullness of having them enter me simultaneously, Denny pushing into me from the front, Niko spreading me to take me from the back…

“Um, Denny. Mind turning it off? We’re actually here on business.”

Denny looks sheepish for just a second before flashing me a wink that’s seductive enough to make my thong melt down my legs. I groan. But then he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for just a moment, uttering a word under his breath.

I shudder, feeling like I’ve been sleepwalking for the past five minutes and was just slapped awake. I look down at my hands, one grasping my left breast, the other at the top of my thigh, and lock them behind my back, confused and embarrassed.

What the hell? Was I just touching myself? In front of Niko? And Denny? Holy shit…Denny Nox! Wait. What just happened?

“Sorry, love,” Denny says, walking over to the fridge to grab a beer. “It’s a little jarring at first, but it will wear off.” He has an accent, totally different from the way he talks in interviews on TV.

“What…what did you do to me?” I ask, still trying to collect my bearings. Denny Nox, or Daneus Deleazó or whoever the hell he is, just put some weird sexual juju on me, making me want him like a fiend needing a fix. I turn to him as he takes a long gulp of his brew. “Who, and what, are you?”

Completely ignoring me, Denny turns to Niko. “I think you’ve lost your touch after all these years. Usually your whores are the more seen-and-not-heard type. Just the same. You know I like mine feisty.”

“She’s not a whore,” Niko replies, his voice edged with threat. “And if you call her a whore again, I’ll rip out your tongue and feed it to your mother.”

Denny downs the rest of his beer and pitches the empty bottle in a trashcan. He looks to me then looks at Niko, before shrugging. “Eh. What do I care? She’s quite the whore herself. My apologies.” Those piercing eyes are back on me, raking up and down my frame curiously. “So who are you, Gabriella? And why on earth has my old mate brought you here to me without the promise of a good romp?”

“I asked you first,” I reply, feeling my confidence return.

“That you did. But see, the problem is, he revealed my true name. Which tells me that you already know what I am.” He strides over, practically gliding, and stops just inches from my body. Fingering a lock of hair, he brings it to his nose and inhales. “So now, the question is, what are you?”

Niko is beside me in the same breath, plucking my hair from his fingers and gingerly brushing it behind my ear. Even in this heated moment, I can’t help the sweep of blood warming my cheeks.

“She’s with me,” Niko says, wrapping a protective arm around my waist. “And if I told you what she was, you wouldn’t last until daylight. So consider her elusiveness a favor. And in turn…we need a favor from you.”

“Oh?” Denny crosses his leather cuff-clad arms in front of him, the tattoos on his forearms stretching over tight muscle. Seeing him up close, I feel stupid for not suspecting he was Dark all along.
Of course
. Regular humans aren’t remotely this sexual and beautiful.

He takes a step back, sizing both Niko and me up. “And what would that be?”

Niko takes a deep breath, and I feel his body tense against my side. “We need a Light Enchanter.”

As expected, Denny bursts into uncontrollable laughter, pressing his black-tipped fingers against his mouth to control his hysterics. “You’re shitting me.”

Niko shakes his head. “Afraid not.”

Denny eases down onto the couch and leans forward, pressing his elbows into the tops of his thighs. “And what makes you think I can make that happen?”

“I know you,” Niko replies, sincerity in his words. “We go way back. If anyone would know how to find one, it’d be you. You know I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t absolutely a matter of life and death.

Denny glances up at me, his wild, blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. “And the girl? How do I know I can trust her? I don’t even know what she is. She could be one of your father’s brain-dead concubines for all I know.”

I look to Niko and nod, hoping to convey my intention. I know he wants to protect me and I love him for that, but I won’t be a liability. I can’t stay hidden forever.

“I’m Gabriella,” I say, stepping forward. “But you may know me as the Dark Light.”

Before my eyes, Denny disappears into a gust of dark smoke before manifesting behind us yards away. He hugs the wall in fear, yet there’s intrigue and excitement in his voice. “Holy shit! What are you doing with her? How did you find her? Who else knows she’s here?”

“Easy, Denny,” Niko says, palms up. “She’s here because she’s a friend. And no one else knows, so you really need to chill out. There are eyes and ears everywhere.”

Denny groans, fisting his dark hair as his eyes dart around the room. “This is fucking ridiculous,” he says. “You bring the number one person on your dad’s most wanted list
here
, and I’m supposed to supply you with the Light? What makes you even think I’m capable of that? Let alone that stupid?”

“Look, I know we’re asking a lot. But…it’s for D. Stavros reversed him, and he’s completely lost to us.” Niko breaks away from me and goes to stand in front of the other man. “Please, Denny. I know this is completely unheard of and dangerous and insane, but I need you to come through. We can’t let him win. Don’t let him get away with this again. Don’t let Dorian meet the same fate as your father.”

Denny’s eyes soften, going from Niko to me then back to Niko. “You know this is a suicide mission, right?”

“I’m aware of the possibility.”

“And you know there’s no guarantee that the Light would even give you the time of day?”

“I do.”

“And you will owe me for the next century if I get you in.”

“Anything you want.”

An almost giddy smile spreads across Denny’s face. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

WE’RE IN DENNY’S limo, since he insisted we ride with him. He didn’t want to risk us tracking the route to the location—wherever that is. Traffic is heavy due to the concert, so we creep along the rain-slick streets of the Emerald City, which will probably be the only sightseeing I get to do.

“Deleazó,” I say, my eyes still taking in the lights and sights of the city. “What does that mean?”

“Allure,” Denny answers.

I turn my head to look at him, my brow puckered in accusation. “Which is why I felt so…wrong. Like I wanted to tear my clothes off.”

Denny snorts out a chuckle. “Yeah. My apologies. Comes in handy for my career. My kind is known for their influence in entertainment, including those of a sordid nature.”

“But you’re not a royal, right?” Of all the research I had done, I hadn’t heard of Deleazó. It’s not surprising, considering that there could be thousands of Dark breeds.

“No. My family line was created centuries ago with the merging of Órexis and Apatē. Desire and deceit. I’m able to create an illusion of deep sexual need.”

So Órexis and Apatē joined houses to create an entirely new family with unique gifts? Isn’t that what Stavros had hoped to do by forcing Dorian to marry Aurora?

I turn to Niko. “What families have been spawned by Skotos?”

“None,” he deadpans.

“None?”

“None.” Niko leans forward in his seat. The shift causes a shadow to fully cover his face, making his eyes glow electric blue in the darkness. “We’re the last unsullied bloodline. Which is why we’ve ruled for so long,” he adds.

“But if you’ve never crossbred with other houses, isn’t that kinda like…incest?” I cringe, disgusted at the very thought of Dorian or Niko getting down and dirty with their cousin.

Niko shakes his head. “It’s not like that with us. We’re not…human. Our lineage is defined by its purity, not by its diversity. Stavros has been planning for the right moment and the right mix for nearly two centuries.”

“Bullshit,” Denny mutters.

“Is that why you hate the king?” I ask him. “Because he views his bloodline as superior?”

Denny laughs, but the hurt is evident on his face. “I hate Stavros because he’s a narcissistic asshole and a sadist. But I also hate everything the Dark and the Light were created for. They were almost set up to destroy one another, not create harmony. However, I’ll have to express my overall distaste for our great and mighty Divine’s perfect little creations at a later date. We’re here.”

At first glance, The Eagle looks like a neon-lit hole in the wall, surrounded by an array of characters, from twinks to drag queens to muscle-bound men in skin-tight shirts. Yes, Denny has brought us to a gay bar. Morgan will be insanely jealous. She’s like GaGa Jr. when it comes to her gays.

We exit the limo and grab a spot in line. Several guys turn to squeal over Denny’s presence, but once the doorman sees him, he waves us right through. I look around, looking for any sign that we’re among the Light, but Denny quickly ushers us to a dilapidated men’s bathroom with no stalls.

“So…we’re supposed to find what we’re looking for in here?” I ask, trying to avoid stepping on anything sticky.

“No,” Denny says, resting a palm against the damp, tiled wall. “In here.”

A bright flash of hunter green surrounds his hand, and then it’s gone, disappearing inside the wall. Denny takes a step forward, walking into the tile as it swallows him whole. It welcomes Denny’s frame as if he’s entering a wall made of pliant gelatin.

Before his face disappears into the tile, Denny turns to us and says, “Come on.” He holds out his hand, and I take it without reluctance, intrigued by what lies on the other side. I offer my other hand to Niko, who appears much more wary. However, his protest falls on deaf ears, because before he can stop us, Deny is pulling us with him through the wall. It’s cold and solid, yet it’s not, forming around our bodies like slippery cushions. It only lasts a few seconds and we’re on the other side, bathed in dim-lighting and strobe lights. Energy pulses along with the bass-filled music, fueling the hundreds of writhing bodies.

“What is this place?” I gasp, my senses on overload. Niko is right beside me, wearing the same look of awe and confusion.

Denny waves a hand around the vast, warehouse-sized room, pride gleaming in his smile. “
“All those who wander are not lost.”
Welcome to The Lost and Found, my friends. Home to the Divine’s fallen children.”

“WE SHOULDN’T BE here. Holy fuck, we really shouldn’t be here.”

Niko is nervous, frantic even, but there’s no way I can find the words to calm him.
The Divine’s fallen children?
What does that mean? That there are more people like him? Those who don’t agree with the politics of the Divine order?

Denny comes behind us to clap a hand on our shoulders. “Here, you’ll find everyone from the divine powers to vampire, werewolves and witches. We are the castaways. The rebels. We’ve refused to conform, so we’ve chosen to rewrite our destinies.”

Wait. Did he say
werewolves?

Oh
hell
no.

“And you’ve managed to stay underground? Completely undetected?” Niko asks, although I doubt he’s barely breathed since we entered.

“There are portals in every major city in the world,” Denny explains. “We lead normal lives, keep up the front of good, little foot soldiers, fighting the good fight for the sake of our respective rulers, but it’s merely out of survival. To be honest, most of us are tired. Immortality has given us time to question some of our choices, only to see that we never got to choose at all. We’re all just pawns in a much bigger chess game. Come on, let me show you.”

We follow Denny as he weaves through the crowd, giving us the grand tour of the massive-sized club. Hordes of both Dark and Light stop to greet him fondly, as well as other creatures of the night. When their cautious eyes fall on Niko and me, Denny explains that we’re family of his from out of town, looking to find solace from the Dark king’s tyranny. And just like that, looks of suspicion turn to greetings of acceptance.