Defeat the Darkness (Hearts of Darkness) (14 page)

Kyle shook his head. “No thanks,” he said, glaring at the woman, “None for me.” The anger in his voice, so obvious, Shelby wondered whether Victor was on to something.

“Don’t be rude.” Amyra placed a glass in front of each one of them. “We are toasting for Shelby’s safe return home.”

Perhaps the daggers the woman kept shooting at her when no one else watched was why Shelby didn’t think her words were genuine. What in the world could make this woman jealous? She was exotic and glamorous. Everything about her made Shelby feel inelegant. Not only inelegant, but inadequate.

“Thank you, but I really can’t swallow one more drop. I’m stuffed.”

“Please indulge me. You will feel better after the first sip. I promise.”

Shelby felt the push of the suggestion and the sudden desire to drink up. She noticed Kyle picked up his drink at the same time.

“Ah, that’s better,” Amyra said, “To Shelby.”

The aperitif suddenly had her head spinning. She usually wasn’t a big drinker, but she’d always been able to handle wine.

“You’ll have to excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m feeling quite dizzy. Too much travel.” Hell, Shelby felt like a lightweight.

“It is the altitude.” Victor reminded her. “Drink plenty of water. Bottled water.” He smiled a half grin at her and handed her a bottle.

“Ah, right, the altitude. I didn’t forget about the water, or about brushing my teeth with it, too. All the mud around here is a constant reminder of the living conditions. I’d forgotten about the difference in altitude. Apparently, I’ve grown used to being below sea level.” Shelby forced a smile.

Kyle stood up and offered her his arm. “I’ll see you back to the tent. Then I have late rounds. Don’t wait up for me.”

Feeling as she did, she couldn’t have if she wanted to. By the time they arrived at the tent, she could barely stand. She changed and dropped down on one of the fold up beds, her body as heavy as lead.

Funny, her mind wasn’t tired. It was still overly active and racing with all sorts of thoughts. Like, who was this woman? And what was she to Kyle?

Twenty minutes later she heard Kyle come in, whispering to someone. He wasn’t alone. Amyra was with him.

“The woman is asleep. I gave her a sleeping draught so we could be together.”

I am not asleep!
Nothing came out. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move.

Amyra kissed Kyle as she unbuttoned his shirt, going down to her knees in front of him. Shelby couldn’t help noticing he was erect.

Shelby wanted to shout. She wanted to throw something at them. God, she wanted to run or at least...close her eyes. But she was paralyzed.

Really paralyzed.
She couldn’t do more than blink while her fiancé was being seduced right in front of her. She hadn’t been given a sleeping draught. The bitch had given her a paralytic drug.

To make matters worse, Kyle wasn’t fighting the woman off. There was no evidence he was put off by her attentions. Having her hands on his chest, then her tongue licking down his belly, seemed to be arousing him.

What did he do as Shelby watched this other woman seduce him? Nothing.

He stood still while she untied his pants and slid them down over his hips. His erection bobbed high against his abdomen, and Shelby recalled the texture of his soft skin and the way it felt to wrap her hands around his hard girth. Then Amyra did just that, and Kyle groaned as her tongue traced up his long length, finally taking the tip between her lips and sucking him in. He ran his hands into her hair and held her against him, pumping into her mouth as she took him down her throat.

Shelby watched and remembered the aperitif.

Amyra did this on purpose. The bitch actually drugged her so she was forced to watch them together. Somehow, she convinced
Kyle to participate while she was trapped inside her own body, helpless to respond.

Why?

Amyra intended to make Shelby aware of the relationship and, so there would be no doubt, she made sure Shelby saw it with her own eyes.

Kyle had made his choice.

Shelby saw enough to know which woman he chose. If she could have spoken, she would have conceded victory to the other woman just to stop the visual nightmare driving spikes through her heart with every uttered groan.

Kyle threw back his head and growled. Fangs popped over his incisors. He lifted Amyra to her feet, picked her up, and tossed her on the fold away bed. She glanced at Shelby and smiled, her mouth full of fangs too.

Shelby screamed and screamed, but no sound escaped from her paralyzed throat.

Kyle stripped Amyra down to her glowing skin and sank his teeth into her thigh close to her labia. She moaned with an expression of ecstasy on her face while his hands squeezed her breasts. Lifting his face
, he licked blood from his lips and then rose above her, straddling her hips. He offered her his neck. Sitting up, she spread her thighs so he could enter her and sank her fangs into his chest.

Kyle pumped into her, taking her over and over again like a man possessed.

Please God, this has to be the drug. Don’t let this be real.

Amyra encouraged him to take her from every position, and he became a puppet to her needs all night long.

Shelby’s eyes were locked open and her insides churned—she was devastated. It was one thing to know the man you loved wanted someone else—it was something else altogether for him to make love to someone while you were forced to watch, trapped in the room listening to his groans as someone else pleasured him.

This was pure torture.

Kyle came, repeatedly, wrapping Amyra close within his embrace, and Shelby’s mind shattered as her heart broke. Soon the dark took her in a semi-conscious, fitful sleep filled with visions of Kyle attacking her.

~~~~

Shelby’s eyes felt gritty, like she’d slept with them open all night. The filtered predawn light still had the tent in shadows when she woke. With her head and heart aching, she recalled the previous night.

Kyle lay naked and spent, sprawled beside Amyra as if dead to the world. The woman’s hand was still wrapped possessively around his semi-erect cock when she glanced up, meeting Shelby’s glare, and smiled. The fangs Shelby thought she’d seen during the night were gone and so was the blood she’d imagined.

The jungle aperitif was more likely also a strong hallucinogen. If she hadn’t seen Amyra with her hand wrapped around Kyle’s cock this morning, she would have wondered if any of the night before had been real.

Unfortunately, the important part—that part where he apparently fucked another woman in front of her—was very real indeed.

“He is so big and thorough, is he not?”

Shelby ignored her and sank immediately into a sleep filled with nightmares.

~~~~

The next morning, she forced her heavy eyelids open. Kyle was asleep, alone in his bed. Shelby had to get out of there. There was no way she could face him—no way she could bear to see the look in his eyes—no way she could deal with his lies.

The effort of lifting her head off the pillow sent pain shooting through her head, but she fought through what felt like the worse hang over ever, turned away, and dressed. She kept her eyes lowered and removed the ring from her left finger where Kyle had placed it, and quietly set it on the table beside him. Without a backward glance, she picked up her bag and marched down to the dock to wait for the boat.

Chapter 16 Leaving

Guatemala – the next day at 5:00 a.m.

The sun hadn’t even cracked the dawn when Shelby left the tent—not that it would have made a difference in the perpetually dreary jungle. In her hurry to escape, she’d forgotten the flashlight.

The far end of camp slowly filled with activity.

When she stumbled her way to the dock using only the perimeter camp lights, she found Dr. Salazar already waiting for the boat and the incoming patients. By the time she arrived, her aching muscles had loosened up from the paralytic drug, but the flashbacks from the previous night’s events continued haunting her.

“It is still early.” He patted the spot beside him on a large boulder. “Won’t you sit?”

“Won’t the boat be here soon?”

Salazar looked at his watch. “Yes, any minute now.”

“Then I think I’ll just stand, thank you. I’ll stiffen up on the trip.”

“But where is Dr. Lachlan? Won’t he be seeing you off?”

The words brought back the painful visions. They ripped at her heart as if they’d been the sharp claws she’d envisioned as Amyra’s hands. The recollection made her wince. And when she glanced into Dr. Salazar’s eyes, for some unknown reason, she thought the man already knew the answer to his own question. Dared she trust anyone under these bizarre circumstances? The jungle compound felt like a living nightmare. Could a brain explode from overload? Her head pounded. The pressure made her teeth ache and her eyes hurt.

Pride won out over heartbreak. If he wanted a reaction, he was going to be disappointed.

“No,” she paused. Meeting his questioning stare, she shrugged. “He had a long night. There’s no need.” Her casual attitude was all the indifference she could muster.

Victor’s eyes opened a bit wider before his attention moved to her left hand. She’d been fidgeting with the empty spot where the ring had been.

He knows, dammit.
It didn’t matter. She refused to break. She wouldn’t crumble into a fit of despair in front of this strange man who seemed to get inside her head and read her emotions like USA Today.

Fortunately, the sound of the horn blared, and the boat rounded the bend the next moment. People began bustling about, saving her from Salazar’s scrutiny.

He stood, extending his hand, and said, “Here is the boat now.” He took her hand and walked her in the direction of the gangway. “Have you made arrangements beyond the next village? If not, I could call ahead.”

“No, thank you. That won’t be necessary. I have a friend who will take care of my travel plans when I call him.”

Salazar’s brow creased slightly at the reference to “him.” Her decision was made. She didn’t need help from anyone else. At the next inland town, she would call and ask Max to charter a flight home for her. He would take care of the details.

“Give me his name and a phone number. While you are traveling upriver, I will call and tell your friend to begin making arrangements for you. When you get to Senebrez, call him for the details and everything will be already under way.”

The plan had merit. The less time she spent waiting around down here in this environment, the better. “Thank you. Excellent idea. The preparations will be quicker and simpler that way.”

She wrote down Max’s information and handed it to him. As she did, she accidently touched Victor’s hand. A vibration traveled through her body making her feel a little stronger. Shelby inhaled the damp moist air and sensed the ache in her heart fade—not
completely, but enough so breathing wasn’t a struggle and her thoughts were less scattered. Even the pain was more bearable.

After they formally shook hands, he helped her onboard and did that cute old-fashioned bob with his head. She had quickly become fond of Victor despite the circumstances.

Once again, he gave her that all knowing smile and winked. “Have a safe trip, Dr. Mackenzie.”

“Thank you,
Vict...Dr. Salazar. Good-bye.” The time for familiarity was done.

Once on board, she didn’t look back, determined to stay strong for now. Time enough to shatter once she returned home.

Chapter 17 Denial

Guatemala, the next day, 9:30 a.m.

Kyle lifted his hand where the throbbing
jackhammer pounded out a loud rhythm in his head. The insistent thuds felt like the worst hangover ever. Despite his efforts to fight Amyra’s suggestion to drink the aperitif, he’d been too weak to resist. He succumbed. He could barely move from the after effects of whatever she’d slipped into the drinks last night.

The action of the drug reminded him of a combination of Rohypnol and Viagra, street named
roofiagra
by some, or it was some jungle equivalent of the aphrodisiac. Viagra to get him up and Rohypnol to lower his inhibitions. Every muscle in his body ached, and the pain brought back disgusting images of the night before.

He lifted his face from the mattress, waiting to confront Shelby’s accusing eyes. When he returned, he’d imagined he’d been with her in his own bed, but later, when he’d been able to focus, he’d seen her watching him, with eyes wide open, from the far corner cot for the rest of the night. He was confused. Images of Shelby naked beneath him morphed into visions of Amyra and he immediately knew what she’d done.

The memories came back slowly, and with each memory, Kyle saw the pain and embarrassment Shelby felt etched on her face. How would anyone deal with that kind of betrayal? He’d performed for Amyra like a battery operated sex toy while Shelby watched—every single disgusting thing.

Another vision formed.

His fangs—Amyra’s—the blood exchange—and worse. The drugs caused him to lose control, and his cat had surfaced within him. He’d actually given the bitch what she’d wanted all along. He’d fucked her. And he’d done it with the woman he loved watching his weakness.

He was naked, still erect, and covered with blood. Kyle rolled over, allowing his feet to hang over the side of the bed as he looked around. Neither woman was here now. Shelby would be well on her way away from here. The low jungle light meant Amyra already went to ground, and it was well past time for Shelby’s boat to have departed. The clock on the table read nine-thirty.

She would be gone, and the idea had a part of him breathing a sigh of relief. Amyra was sleeping and Shelby was safe because, by the very actions that destroyed their relationship last night, those same actions saved her life. He proved to Amyra that Shelby meant nothing to him.

Witnessing his faithlessness with her own eyes was definitely the final thrust through her heart. One last regret burrowed within him—he wouldn’t ever get the chance to explain.

Who was he kidding?

After what she saw, she was better off believing she’d hallucinated most of it. She’d seen the vampire feed from him and watched as he fed from her, too. He cursed.

There was no plausible explanation—not one a sane person would accept.

Did it matter? Not if this was the only way to protect her from Amyra.

He never intended to involve her in this life. Leaving things as they were was the best way to end it. She’d have no misgivings about his lack of honor. And...he’d make sure Max would be there to help. Kyle knew his friend still loved Shelby, and he’d pick up the pieces and make it stick this time.

“Doctor,” Julian’s voice whispered outside the back of his tent and Kyle jumped.

He stood up and pulled on his shorts, whipping outside and around the tent. “Julian, where the hell have you been? Get in here before someone sees you.” He dragged the boy around the side of the canvas, flipped open the flap, and shoved him inside. “That bitch will read their minds and discover you’re here.”

“No one saw me. Doctor Victor says I must tell you he saw the woman with the fire hair safely on board the boat this morning. She is on her way home and you are not to worry. He sent a man to watch over her. He says I am to take you to the men who have offered to feed you.”

How long ago had it been since the day the boy tried to warn him about Amyra? Forever. And not as long as it felt.

“Julian, Amyra captured your brother and mother.” He felt the need to explain. After all, the boy had warned him. “I had to—”

“I know.”

“Julian, I’m sorry but there was no other way. I had to give in to her.”

The boy lowered his eyes and shook his head. “No one can resist the dark one. We owe you a great debt. My family is safely out of here.”

“How?”

“I found my father and the pack. For your great sacrifice, the villagers and my jaguar people have vowed to help you return home. You will escape the dark one, but we must avoid the rogues. You grow very weak again. Get dressed, and I will take you to the human villagers. We will hide you and feed you until you are strong enough to leave.”

Kyle exhaled the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and pulled on his t-shirt. As he packed, he came to understand he could access the power of the vampire and the ability to shift as the jaguar if he had more human blood. The villagers’ offer was what he needed for strength.

“Show me the way, then return and tell Dr. Salazar I need some advice.” The new surgeon was almost up to speed on the current patients and conditions.

Kyle had held up his part of the bargain with Physician’s International and Amyra. Now it was Amyra’s turn to let him go.