Darkness Clashes (7 page)

I buried my face in my hands, letting my long hair fall forward over my face. Ever since Lucas had returned I’d had my moments of doubt. Not that I’d let him or anyone else see them. It was just that we’d fought each other for so long we still didn’t know how to handle being a couple. A lot of tension remained between us.

It hung there whenever he refused to answer my questions and every time he left without saying where he was going or what he was doing. Then there was his past. Every time I tried to get him to talk about it he put a solid wall between us. He loved me—I knew that. He'd gone to Purgatory for breaking the rules to save me. But he didn't trust me.

Now I was giving him a good reason not to.

A twig snapped and I looked up. Kerbasi. I’d been so wrapped up in myself that I hadn’t noticed him getting closer. He was always nearby. Sometimes it was easier to pretend he wasn’t there at all.

The guardian had changed his clothes. He now wore a dark gray t-shirt and jeans with a new pair of hiking boots I’d bought him last week. His long black hair billowed in the breeze and his silver eyes swirled lazily.

I hated letting him see me having a weak moment, but it wasn’t like I could get rid of him. He was like an annoying bee buzzing around that wouldn’t go away.

“Is this one of those times where I’m supposed to be sensitive to your feelings and not bother you?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.

I leaned my back against the tree. “Would you?”

He didn’t answer right away. Just stared at me.

“No, I don’t think I will.” He took a few steps closer. “You’ve been quiet since that unusually long trip to the bathroom at the airport. I admit using a toilet leaves me unsettled, but it shouldn’t have been difficult for you.”

“Go away, Kerbasi. I’m in no mood to deal with you right now.”

I turned my head and stared at the stream. It moved slowly. Unlike my life, which seemed to move with the turbulent force of Niagara Falls.

“Is it your nephilim lover?” He moved around to block my view. “I must admit I cannot understand the attraction. You fight more than you agree and he doesn’t seem inclined to be near you for long. If you ask me, the two of you are doomed to fail.”

My body tensed.

He was voicing my fears. Kerbasi had an uncanny instinct for homing in on them. It was probably what had made him good at torturing his prisoners. But that didn’t mean what he said was true. He had no concept of love, relationships, or what made them work.

I rose to my feet. “You know what, Kerbasi?”

“What?” He lifted a brow.

“You might want to take a hard look at your own life. Name one time in your miserable existence that you’ve ever done something truly meaningful. Something good. I bet you can’t think of anything. So before you judge my life, try finding something worthwhile in your own.”

I turned on my heels and walked away. Within a minute, I sensed him following me. Halfway to the house, Sable came loping toward me. The shape-shifter cat was in her usual form as a lynx and ran until she reached my feet.

Kneeling down, I stroked her fur and listened to her heavy purr. As soon as I stood she scampered off—straight toward Emily. The scantily-dressed teenager was ambling along through the woods until she saw me, then she ran the rest of the way with Sable at her heels. Felisha—who’d been watching them while I was gone—must have dropped them off while I was out on my walk. I’d been past the half-mile range and didn’t sense their arrival.

“Did you find out anything about Micah?” she asked, almost out of breath.

Emily’s mother might have become a vampire a few years ago, but before that she’d produced a daughter who was a sensor like me. I couldn’t lie to her without her knowing.

“If Micah was in Spokane, he isn’t there now,” I said, choosing my words with care. “But Lucas is going to keep looking.”

“Good. I miss Micah.”

She tucked her hair behind her ears. One section was shorter than the rest. The brown locks had been shaved off for surgery back in the spring, but if we kept trimming the rest to shoulder length it would be even in a few more months.

You almost wouldn’t know she’d had brain damage except for the changes in her personality. She used to be sweet and easygoing. Now she was falling in line with the moody and rebellious types of teenagers. The change had been so swift I had a hard time dealing with it.

“What are you wearing?” I narrowed my eyes. She’d cut the length of her tank-top in half and her shorts were bordering dangerously close to Daisy Dukes.

She glanced down before giving a shrug. “It was hot outside.”

“I can see your stomach.” I grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. “And if your shorts were any shorter I’d be able to see your ass cheeks.”

“Mel!” She jerked away from me.

“Go put some clothes on,” I ordered, pointing at the house.

God, I was becoming such a parent.

“Yes, please,” Kerbasi said. He’d turned his back on us and had his face covered with his hands. “She looks like one of those ladies of the night who seduces virtuous men and damns their souls.”

“There is no such thing as a virtuous man.” I grabbed a pinecone and tossed it at his head. It was the only weapon I could find on short notice.

“Hey!” he shouted, spinning around. As soon as he got a good look at Emily his face turned red and he covered his eyes again.

It was actually kind of funny considering he’d kept his prisoners naked—which included Zoe—but he couldn’t handle seeing a young girl in a skimpy outfit. Still, I was glad he wasn’t interested in looking at her that way. Kerbasi was determined to keep his body pure. At least, that’s the story he’d stuck to so far.

“Let’s get inside.” I guided the teenager back the way she’d come.

“Fine,” she groused.

“So, how was your weekend?” I asked as we came into the clearing where the house sat.

Emily huffed out a breath. “It was okay. Felisha did a lot of cooking—I mean a lot—but it tasted really good. Hunter came over and hung out for awhile last night. That was about it.”

Felisha was a fairy and my boss at the herb shop where I worked. She’d just returned a few weeks ago from an extended stay at the fae city. Things had been difficult for her after discovering her fiancé—of the arranged variety—was behind a massive explosion that rocked the region and killed a lot of people. Then she’d had to face the fact that the man she really cared about had taken up with an old flame. Coming back here hadn’t been easy for her.

“How is she doing?” I glanced at Emily.

“The same. She kinda deals with her problems the way you do. I was getting headaches from watching her clean, cook, and make flower arrangements.”

“Hey! I don’t do flower arrangements,” I said, shuddering.

“True.” Emily kicked at a twig. “And she can cook edible meals.”

I decided to let that one pass.

“So what do you want to do for dinner?”

“I vote for pizza.” Kerbasi called from a short distance back. “I’ve found the less contact you’ve had with the food the better it tastes.”

“This isn’t a democracy,” I called back. “Anyway, I was thinking of making spaghetti. That usually comes out fine.”

The guardian started making choking noises. Emily’s face screwed up.

“Um, actually, I promised Hunter I’d go over to his house and study tonight. He said his dad was going to grill some steaks and, uh, you know steak tops spaghetti any day.”

It was Sunday—a school night—but she meant it when she said she wanted to study. She’d just started her junior year and Hunter was a senior. They’d made a pact to get high enough grades that they could go to college together somewhere far from here. He’d promised to work and save money until she finished. I wasn’t sure whether to be happy about her goals for higher education or upset she wanted to leave town right after graduation.

“You’re sure his father is going to be at his house? The whole time?”

Hunter’s father might be a werewolf, but he was a responsible parent. He’d keep an eye on his son and Emily. The two teenagers might start with good intentions, but that didn’t meant they wouldn’t get other ideas later.

“Yep, he said he would be.” Emily spoke the truth.

“Then you can go, but be back by nine.” I gave her a warning look before glancing back at the guardian. “It’ll just have to be Kerbasi and me for spaghetti.”

He grunted. “I’m not sure even my immortality can protect me from your idea of tomato sauce.”

“Don’t you have a report you should be writing about the movie?” I asked as we came up to the house. “I think we should extend it to five pages instead of three.”

“Oooh, did I just hear that whip crack?” Emily gave the guardian a sly grin.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “You impertinent little…”

I grabbed his arm and turned him toward his home—a shed behind the house. It sounded crude, but it was a nice one with a window. He had a bed, a desk, and a dresser in there, as well as a lamp for lighting. I might keep him in the so called “dog house” but it was more than I was required to give him. Lucas had wanted to give him a tent.

“To your room.” I gave Kerbasi a helpful shove. “I’ll let you know when dinner is ready and if you eat all of it you might get desert.”

He stumbled forward one step, shot me a malicious look, and walked away.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” The teenager snapped her fingers. “Nik wants you to come by when you get a chance. He said he has something important to talk to you about.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he does,” I said, guiding her through the back door of our house. “But you’re changing your clothes before Hunter comes to get you.”

Chapter Seven

A female werewolf with shoulder-length blond hair guarded the entrance to Nik’s home. It would be a few more hours before a vamp would take over for the night shift. The exchange worked well for both races. Werewolves handled the daylight jobs and vampires helped them with compulsion if they got into a bind with humans.

This was especially useful if they landed in jail. Masters of territories regularly sent out a team of vamps just before full moons to ensure no one was in prison who might turn furry. Preventing human discovery was one of their biggest duties. If any supernatural revealed themselves to humans—with some minor exceptions—they had to cover it up fast if they didn’t want the archangels stepping in. Their clean-up jobs often involved sweeping up the violators along with the mess.

Nadine smiled at me as I stepped into the foyer. “Where’s your tag-along?”

“Back at the house.” I only lived about a quarter-mile from Nik’s. Kerbasi usually came with me anyway, but thankfully the plane ride had worn him out.

“Good. I hate dealing with that man.” She let out a sound of disgust.

“You and me both.”

At thirty years old Nadine was in her prime as a werewolf and the strongest female of her race I’d ever met. If not for Derrick, she could have been the alpha for Fairbanks. That wasn't to say she was big—her muscles were compact—but I'd trained with her once and discovered she could pack a punch that left my head spinning.

“How’d the trip go?” she asked.

“You were right. Zoe was there, but her supporters had already cleared out. They didn’t leave any evidence behind.” It wasn’t hard to inject disappointment into my voice. Whether Micah had been there or not, I would have loved to run into my father. Or rather, run a knife into his throat.

Nadine leaned back, one foot propped against the wall. The posture should have looked relaxed, but with a woman dressed completely in black leather and steel-toed boots it somehow didn't give that impression.

“You should let Derrick talk to her.”

“Not happening.” I shook my head. “Zoe might be in chains, but she could still hurt him if he gets too close.”

Nadine’s nostrils flared. She’d become a big supporter of Derrick’s since coming to Fairbanks. She might have helped me out with the Zoe tip, but I wasn’t ready to trust her.

“So the alpha talks to her from the other side of the bars.” Nadine shrugged. “Easy fix.”

“She could still compel him,” I argued.

Special chains weakened Zoe’s powers, but she was over three thousand years old. Nothing short of me circling her with my blood would fully dampen her magic, but then that would negate the wards we had on her prison. Those were what kept her inside and unwanted guests out.

Nadine sighed and pushed herself off the wall. “You’re making this too difficult.”

I could say the same of her, but I didn’t want to argue about it anymore.

“Is Nik up?” I asked. It might not be sunset yet, but it was close enough that most vamps would be stirring. As a master vampire he should have been awake for a couple of hours already.

Annoyance flared in Nadine’s brown eyes. She waited a full minute before answering.

“Yeah. He came through a little while ago with Josslyn for a morning meal. They’re back in their room now.”

About half a dozen humans stayed in the house. They received a monthly stipend to provide blood for the vamps and do chores around the place. I didn’t like it, but Nik chose them carefully and only took the willing ones. Plus, if they decided to leave they could—after being compelled to forget about vampires.