Seduced by Darkness (10 page)

Rude am I in my speech, And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace.

— William Shakespeare, Othello

BELETH SAT UNDER
the weeping willow tree watching his tiny granddaughter throw stones into the lake. Her chubby little hands worked so hard to get the stone to skip, but they all just sunk gracelessly into the placid water.

Still, Ana didn't lose her patience. A unique child, indeed. She kept at it, tossing stone after stone, until he brought his large dark hand to her small white one and tilted it.

"You're trying too hard, child. Toss the stone sideways and let it find its own path to the water's surface. If you launch the stones into the water, they will continue to sink."

She looked up at him with big blue eyes so like her parents'. So like his son's. "Like this?" She tilted her hand like he'd shown her.

Beleth smiled and nodded, his dark wings unfurling behind him in the warmth of the sun. "Like that."

She tried again, this time skipping the stone twice before it sank. She jumped up and yelped, then threw herself into his arms.

Unaccustomed to children, or physical contact, or hugging, Beleth had to force his body to relax and welcome the child as he cushioned her body to keep her from falling to the ground. She held a hand up to his wings, running one finger over the dark glow of them. "So pretty, Grandpa. Will I get wings someday like you and Mommy and Daddy?"

He ruffled her blond hair and smiled at the child who had stolen his heart. "Someday. When you're ready to become fully Nephilim."

"I can't wait," she said, curling into a ball on his lap and laying her head against his chest. "Someday I'll fly, just like you. Someday I'll be big and strong, just like you."

He kissed the top of her head and enjoyed the smell of sunlight, grass and happiness. "You are already strong. Stronger than all of us, child. Never forget."

This child would surpass them all in power, when the time came. Until then, he would protect his new family with everything in him.

Ana ran a hand over his arm, tracing his tribal tattoos. "Tell me another story, Grandpa. About the Nephilim."

"Another story? Aren't you tired of all the stories? I think I have told you most of them at least twice."

"I'll never get tired of them. Just one more. Pleeease?"

Beleth wrapped an arm around her and leaned against the tree. "Very well. Do you know the story of The Gray Watcher?"

She shakes her head against his chest. "No! What's The Gray Watcher?"

"Many, many moons ago, Nephilim were at odds with one another in a great civil war that lasted generations. Those who were born under the Sign of Sunrise—Nephilim like you, born with the blood of our people—divided against those who were created under the Sign of Nightfall, people like your mother. They fought for centuries, murdering each other in an effort to gain control over all of Nephilim."

Ana squirmed in his arms. "That's not very nice," she said.

"No, it's not. And there was another who thought so as well. You see, all the Nephilim wore their sign colors. Gold and white for Sunrise and dark blue and black for Nightfall. But one Nephilim stood against both groups and declared an end to the fighting. 'People of Sunrise and Nightfall,' he said to the stunned crowds, 'have we not fought enough and spilled enough blood of our brothers and sisters? How long will we continue to destroy other Nephilim before we've had enough?' And as everyone watched, he stripped off his colors and donned gray in a show of neutrality. 'I will no longer align myself with my Sign until this fighting has ended. Who joins me?' And much to the surprise of those leading the revolts, many joined him. And soon, many more, until you couldn't find Sign colors anywhere. He formed the very first Twilight Court, uniting the Sign of Sunrise and the Sign of Nightfall under one rule of peace and prosperity. He was hailed as The Gray Watcher. And over the centuries, as our people have need of one, a Gray Watcher will rise to help the Nephilim bring back that peace. The Gray Watcher isn't one person, and we haven't seen one in a very long time, but the stories remind all Nephilim that we are stronger united rather than divided."

"Like Mommy and Daddy," she said. "They are Sunrise and Nightfall, and they are family. All of us are family."

"Yes, child, that's right. We are family."

This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven

— William Shakespeare, Othello

I COULD FLY.

Really, truly fly.

It was like the dreams I'd had as a child, only so much better. In my dreams flying always felt difficult, like swimming in heavy water, pushing through a boundary forbidden to me. But in real life, in my actual real life, flying felt natural. Freeing. Exhilarating.

Drake taught me, in a much less traumatic way than Beleth had taught him. It had taken a few months of practice, of strengthening my shoulders and back and wings and getting used to the vertigo of being suspended in the sky, but now it was as natural as breathing.

I only wished Luke and Lucy were still here to see this. They'd left with Ocean and the IPI agents shortly after I'd been turned. Once they knew I'd be okay.

The blood took getting used to. Drake and I couldn't feed off each other, now that we were both Nephilim, so we had to hunt. I had no choice. I could no longer live without blood. He had a choice and still struggled with it, but knowing the blood kept him strong and healthy, I insisted he join me in hunting. We still hadn't found the Beast who had killed our friends. We had to be careful—living in a state of constant fear as we struggled to make sense of so much senseless death. But we tried to carve out moments like tonight, moments where we tried to relax, tried to breathe, tried to pretend life was back to normal.

Drake and I walked hand in hand to the clearing, the winter moon shining on us, casting a cold light into the night. The nip in the air would have chilled me before. As Nephilim, the cold no longer bothered me. I still couldn't believe all the changes my body had undergone. The hardest wasn't even the drinking of blood, oddly enough. It was my new aversion to the sun. I could be in the sun without too much problem, I just didn't like it. It weakened me and made me slightly nauseous. A byproduct of being born into the Court of Nightfall. Since Drake was Sunrise, he didn't suffer the same restraints. But in some ways, I was stronger—at least at night. That was a new feeling, to be stronger than Drake of all people. To have powers that were active.

I'd thought—and maybe sort of hoped—that I would lose my mind-reading abilities in the shift. Nope. Those were still as strong as ever, but right now I had my mind protected so I could enjoy this 'date night' with my husband.

"Do you think Ana will be okay?" I asked, not for the first time. I worried every time we left, especially with a lunatic hunting paranormals still at large.

Drake nodded. "She's with Beleth. She couldn't be safer."

I smiled, knowing he was right, and stretched my wings behind me, reveling in the power and beauty. While Drake's wings glowed softly golden, infused with light as if they contained their own sun, mine shone a dark blue, almost black, with a flicker of white light like twinkling stars. Another tell of our different Courts. It bothered me a little that Drake and I were so different now, but in most ways we shared more than ever.

We rose into the night sky together, slowly, holding each other as we kept pace, gazing deeply into each other's eyes.

"I love you, Sam," he said, kissing me deeply.

I couldn't speak with his lips on mine, so I groaned instead, pressing my body into his as the ground below us moved farther and farther away and the cool air caressed our wings, moving through us as if part of us.

The forest around us grew quieter the higher we flew. Sounds of nature, of night owls and insects and scurrying critters of the earth, were replaced by sounds of the wind, the feel of moonbeams on us, the weight of weightlessness.

I could feel Drake harden against my stomach as we deepened our kisses, our bodies pushing together more urgently, our need growing as our hands explored each other through clothing.

He unbuttoned my shirt and with one hand unclasped my bra. "Less clothes," he said through kisses.

Our wings had an unusual quality. If I touched them, they felt tangible, muscle and bone beneath the glowing lights. But they moved with ease through clothes without tearing or leaving a mark, like light beams. I couldn't figure this out, but it made undressing easier as my shirt and bra, then pants and panties fluttered to the earth below us. I worked equally hard to free Drake from his clothing, and soon we hovered before each other naked, our skin slightly aglow from the effect of our wings.

He looked like a Greek god in all his glory, golden hair and tan skin, muscles rippling in all the right places, golden wings stretched out behind him. And those eyes. Blue with a golden circle in the middle now that he'd turned. I ran my hand over his chiseled chest and broad shoulders, then down his six-pack, gripping him in my hand and stroking. "I want you," I said, my body alive with need.

His touch on my flesh felt electric. He trailed his large hands down my body, cupping my breasts, bringing one to his mouth as his right arm reached around me, stroking my bottom, then lifting higher to run a finger lightly over my shoulders and wings.

We'd never made love with our wings fully extended, and I had no idea how erotic it would be to feel his touch this way. An ache, deep and hungry, grew in me, my body on fire as he moved his left hand over my belly and between my legs, slipping between the folds of skin and into me, stroking, teasing, building me to near release before he impaled me with his own need, taking me in the sky, our bodies intertwined, glowing night and day, dark and light, the yin and yang of perfect balance.

We fell from the sky softly, slowly, holding each other in absolute bliss as we landed in the soft grass near our fallen clothing. I didn't want the moment to end.

As we dressed, still lost in the silence of our moment together, eyes locked onto each other, secret smiles shared, I wondered if this was how Derek and Rose felt shifting into wolves and running wild through the woods. Free. Complete. Connected.

We didn't hear them until they surrounded us.

Didn't realize the danger until it was too late.

Three Nephilim cornered us against a large boulder. The leader wore an accent gray armor that I recognized from Beleth's stories. "You're one of the Emzara," I said, my voice trembling from fear as Drake stood between us, guarding me with his own body against the three soldiers with swords drawn.

The Emzara nodded his head and gestured for the other two soldiers, both dressed in red armor, to attack. Before either of us could argue or defend ourselves, they threw silver nets over us that burned. I tried to stretch my wings, to fly away, but my wings wouldn't work. "Drake!" I called for him as they dragged him away from me. The nets glowed golden and pain seared through me. My last thought was of my daughter. My mind shouted to hers as everything went black.