When Darkness Reigns Read online

  “I still hate him with a blind fury,” I rushed to clarify, gesturing emphatically and almost toppling the untouched glass of water in front of me. “And I’m sure the feeling is mutual. We can’t get through five minutes without wanting to choke each other. He’s said some of the cruelest shit to me, worse than any man ever has. Whatever you’re all seeing, it’s only part of the whole picture.”

  Emerald green eyes searched me. One couldn’t fool a true best friend. Jez finished her drink and set the glass down before finger combing her curls. “I’m sure that’s all true. But that’s not all it is anymore, is it, Lex?”

  Suddenly I very much needed to not be talking about this. I stood up so fast I almost upset the chair. “Let’s dance. That’s what we came here for, right?”

  Knowing when to leave it alone, Jez nodded and followed my lead. “Right. Want to place bets on how many guys hit on us before we sit back down?”

  I laughed her off with an eye roll and immersed myself in the throng of humans on the dance floor. Knowing I’d be surrounded by sweaty, drunk humans all night, I’d taken a nip of Shaz before leaving the house. So despite the people grinding and twerking all around me like an all I could eat buffet, I was fine. Calm and in control. It had taken some time to get to this mental state, and it felt pretty damn good.

  Although a trendy dance club wasn’t the type of place I’d usually frequent, surrounded by so many humans in a human-run establishment, I felt somewhat safe. Supernatural activity was far less likely to break out in a location like this. Because nobody wanted to be the one to lose control and bring down the wrath of The Circle of the Veil or the FPA. Or both. That always sucked.

  Of course, that didn’t mean it never happened.

  We danced for several songs, enjoying the beat and the energy of the crowd. Until a fight broke out, two idiots scrapping over a woman, from what I could tell. From the edge of the dance floor, the brawl rumbled quickly toward us. I tapped Jez on the shoulder and nodded toward the guys.

  Rather than jump out of their way like everyone else, we both grabbed a guy and jerked them apart. I spun my guy away from the other one, easily tossing his bigger body around.

  Jez had her guy by an arm, steering him off the dance floor. But he would have none of it. In a drunken rage he spun back to find his adversary, shoving Jez as he tried to pull free of her. His hand hooked her necklace and tore it free.

  It happened so fast.

  A blink and our fun was over. Time moved in slow motion as that amulet plummeted to the floor. Both Jez and I watched in jaw-dropped horror as it cracked right down the middle.

  Jez’s shriek reverberated in my ears, stabbing my eardrums. Shoving the guy away with enough force to make him trip on his own feet and fall, she scooped up the two stone halves and gaped at me in shock.

  The effects of Jez’s power being unleashed started immediately. The people closest to her grew disoriented and tired, collapsing on the floor, unconscious. After that came death and reanimation so when Jez failed to react, I grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the nearest emergency exit.

  “Oh my god,” she yelped, glancing back over her shoulder at the commotion erupting around those who’d passed out. “Did I hurt anyone? You have to keep me away from people, Lex. I can’t control it.”

  “Yes, you can,” I assured her, dragging her into the alley behind the nightclub. “Deep breaths and focus, ok? You’ve got this, Jez.”

  We emerged into the alley to find two guys sharing a joint. She froze in place, her gaze darting around for the nearest escape.

  “Nice,” said one guy, eyeing us up. “Care to join us, ladies?” He held the joint out to us, oblivious to our panic and urgency.

  Waving him off, I said, “You guys should get out of here.”

  But it was too late. Jez’s strange ability to absorb lifeforce worked fast, and it tackled more than one person at a time.

  I’d never seen anything quite like it.

  Both guys collapsed. Before I even checked their pulse, I knew they were dead. As I watched they shrank in on themselves, shriveling until they resembled mummified corpses. Beside me I had a panicked leopard on the verge of a meltdown. Jez clutched the two broken pieces of stone and trembled.

  “Jez, I need you to calm down, ok? We’ll call Smudge and Nova. It will be fine.” As an afterthought I added, “And Gabriel. But I need you to take control of your mind. Breathe, dammit.” She might hate me later, but that was a risk I took when I slapped her.

  Only then did her gaze dart to mine. Absently she rubbed her cheek and nodded, sucking in a deep breath.

  As I pulled my phone out to text Nova, I also reached out to Falon. Just my desire to have him come to me was enough for him to feel me and to find me. So when I heard the rustle of wings and found him standing down the alley watching us with obvious disdain, I couldn’t help but smile to myself despite the unfortunate circumstances.

  “The two of you can’t make it an hour alone together without causing some kind of trouble, can you? How The Circle ever thought either of you were worthy to join their elite is beyond me.” Falon ambled over to the two dead guys and nudged one with a boot, ignoring Jez’s horrified gasp.

  Only those with rare and exceptional abilities were considered Circle elite. I wasn’t dumb enough to believe that gave us any kind of special privilege though. It meant we were expected to do our part to maintain order among the supernatural community, and we were sure as shit not supposed to get caught making a public kill.

  Though The Circle would overlook a few indiscretions if it served them.

  “It was an accident. Make yourself useful and check on the people inside,” I said without acknowledging his insult. “A few of them passed out, but I think they’re still alive. Pretty sure nobody saw anything weird.”

  Falon flipped me a middle finger and disappeared, going inside to check things out. I kept an eye on the dead guys, watching for signs of movement.

  “I can’t believe I did that.” Sucking in slow, steady breaths, Jez watched them too. “When I work with Gabriel, it’s so much easier to hold the magic back. In there I freaked out. I couldn’t control it.”

  There was no excusing accidental death as an oopsy. But I was the last person to persecute anyone for it. “Hey, you didn’t mean to do it. Do you have any idea how many people I’ve killed because I wanted to? You’re not like that. I have complete faith that you’ll master this thing.”

  Falon reappeared right in front of us, causing Jez to jerk back with a start and a curse. “Have you contacted Nova yet?” he asked, indicating the phone in my hand.

  I glanced at the open text page. “No, I was just about to.”

  “Don’t. He’ll be forced to report a slip up like this. So if he doesn’t know about it, he won’t have to do that.” Falon plucked the phone from my hand and tapped the screen, closing the conversation page.

  Jez did a double take. “Why would you do that? Don’t you have the same rules to uphold?”

  Falon scoffed, offended at being accused of following something as structured and controlling as rules. “If The Circle of the Veil really expected me to follow rules, they’d never have brought me on board. I tell them what they need to know. They don’t need to know about this. Just get it cleaned up.”

  It was my turn to do a double take. Falon saw me gawking in disbelief at this nice guy side that he’d just revealed and gave me a playful but authentic shove. I had to catch myself to keep from falling.

  Plucking my phone from his grasp, I crammed it in a pocket, “accidentally” stomping his foot in the process. “We’re going to need some help getting these bodies out of here. Jez can’t be around people until I can get her to Gabriel.”

  Eyeing the broken pieces of stone Jez held, Falon scowled. “You can’t rely on something so fragile to protect you. It’s your power. Learn to control it.”

  “Because it’s just that easy,” Jez hissed, her inner bad cat coming out.

  Falon poi
nted past her to where the dead men were beginning to stir. “Because you have no choice.”

  “Shit.” Lacing her fingers together, Jez started toward the men, stopped, and looked back at me. “What if I can’t do it?”

  “Don’t let anyone come out here,” I instructed Falon before moving to stand with Jez.

  “Don’t let your bossy mouth get your sweet ass into trouble,” he quipped with a wink as he went to stand sentry near the club’s back door.

  With a hand on Jez’s shoulder, I did my best to hide how creeped out I was by the zombie-like creatures. Nothing about them felt human. Their emaciated forms barely resembled a person.

  “Tell them to return to their rest,” I prodded, giving her a gentle nudge closer to the corpses that were now sitting upright on the ground. “They have to listen to you. But you have to own it. Command it. Make them obey.”

  Jez chewed her lower lip and gave a tight nod. Then she crept a little closer. Both zombies jerked their heads in her direction, focused intently on her. They followed her progress like she was a homing beacon.

  No soul resided in those creatures. No spirit. They were empty shells now, only able to do their necromancer’s bidding until the power binding them faded and they returned to death. Or until the necromancer told them to go.

  “Be at rest,” she said to them, voice wavering slightly. The energy rolling off Jez felt thick with deathly vibes. Skeleton fingers marched over my skin, leaving me cold to the bone.

  The zombies continued to struggle to their feet. They appeared restless, in need of direction. I’d seen what happened when they wandered without her. Just aimless shuffling about. Something the human world could never see.

  “They’re not listening. Fuck.” Jez kicked a rock in anger. It flew through the air and nailed one of the dead guys right between the eyes. “I never wanted this damn power anyway.”

  “None of us wanted what we’ve got,” Falon said calmly from where he watched both the door and the zombies. “Which is even more reason to seize this opportunity to make it your bitch.”

  “Come on, Jezzy,” I added. “It’s in your blood. You can do this.”

  Angry green cat eyes flashed, and Jez stormed up close to the corpses who stood awkwardly, like baby deer, on their fragile unbalanced legs. “Be. At. Rest.” Uttered with resounding command, she hovered close like she might beat them back to death.

  For a moment her eyes flickered pure black, something that would always unsettle me. Nothing could make demon eyes on my best friend feel ok.

  The zombie things stared at her. Then they laid back down on the ground and ceased to move.

  It had all taken just a few minutes, but a cloud of death energy hovered thick around us. I shuddered to imagine what it would be like if she actually put that to work. According to Gabriel a strong enough necromancer could hone the dead into an army or a workforce of sorts. Scary possibilities no doubt.

  When Jez felt confident the corpses were really down, she called Smudge to send a private cleanup crew. As soon as her girlfriend answered Jez’s voice cracked. But she held it together.

  I knew how fast a loss of control could go bad. Seconds. That’s it. I put an arm around her shoulder and led her down the alley, away from the bodies. Falon remained to keep watch.

  When we were out of earshot and could speak privately, I turned Jez to face me. “Don’t beat yourself up. We both know you didn’t mean for this to happen. Are you going to be ok?”

  I concentrated on her shifter vibes, trying to call that side of her forth with my wolf. To chase back her darkness. Gradually her black eyes receded back to green.

  “Can I be honest with you, Lex?” she asked in a low, conspiratorial tone. “The rush it gives me, it can last for hours, and that scares the hell out of me. I’m afraid of how good it feels. I’m afraid if I keep using this power, I’ll get addicted.”

  An incredibly valid concern for anyone. I’d struggled with that myself. In some ways, I still did. But for someone with previous addiction issues, I couldn’t imagine the mounting temptation.

  I pulled her into a hug, wrinkling my nose as her perfume filled it with jasmine and rose. “Never hesitate to reach out if you need help. But this power is in you now, Jez, and if you don’t learn to rule it, it will rule you. Trust me, been there, done that, didn’t waste my money on the t-shirt. Gabriel will help you. I will help you. If there’s anything I can do, I’m here.”

  “Thanks, Lex. You really are like the sister I never had, you know that?” Jez squeezed until I grunted and silently begged for her to ease off. She was a bone crusher.

  “You too, Jezzy. You’re more like a sister to me than my actual sister sometimes.” I wanted nothing more than to reassure my best friend. But I couldn’t help the niggling concern picking at the back of my mind.

  Addiction to the darkness was very real and very powerful. I’d do all I could to be there for Jez and keep that from happening. But ultimately, it wasn’t in my hands.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  SHAZ

  Too much time in vampire bars was bad for one’s health. Well, it was bad for my health. So tonight Arys and I were shooting some low-key pool at the Doghead clubhouse. Alexa had gone out with Jez for a much-needed break from us guys, and we’d come here to enjoy a chill night. We didn’t get many of those.

  Lilah and Salem might no longer be a threat, but Bane sure was. Even though Lex had tried to downplay what he’d done to her, I knew it would only get worse. However, I no longer blamed Falon. If the guy was willing to become a demon to protect Alexa, then he couldn’t be all bad.

  Of course, Arys didn’t yet share that opinion.

  Because the only thing to do at Doghead was drink, fight, and shoot some pool, I was doing two of the three. Across the table from me, Arys lined up his shot. He’d been doing this far longer than I had and easily sharked me almost every time. When he sunk the rest of my balls and won the game, I swore and shook my pool cue at him.

  “How about I go easy on you? And if I still win, you owe me a makeout session in your office there.” Arys nodded to the closed office door.

  “How about you don’t go easy on me, and I kick your ass anyway? Then you’ll owe me.” Twirling the pool cue between my fingertips, I watched the dark-haired vampire make his way around the table.

  Gathering balls to rack for the next break, Arys eyed me with a sexy smirk. “Anything you want, pup.”

  Often when we came here to shoot pool and relax, we talked. About everything. Falon. Bane. Alexa. Whatever might be the current matter at hand. Tonight Arys didn’t seem to want to talk about any of that. Which was fine with me.

  He was understandably worried about Bane. If I knew Arys, and I did, he felt powerless against a demon like that. A demon who didn’t want power or territory but wanted simply to crush the fierce spirit of the woman we both loved.

  Nothing we could do about it.

  And creating more tension with Falon wasn’t the answer. It would only stress Alexa. I hoped she was having a great time out with Jez. If anyone needed to unwind, it was her.

  Arys gestured for me to go first. I took my shot, and every shot after with careful precision. And when Arys tried to tap the end of my cue, I was ready for it.

  “Nice try,” I laughed, jabbing the stick past his hand and into his ribs. With great determination I managed to sink my next two.

  “I see,” Arys said with a nod. “You’re making me work for it.”

  “It’s far more satisfying to enjoy something you’ve worked for, isn’t it?” Quirking a brow, I crossed my arms and watched him intently as he lined up his shot.

  He paused and considered me with a quizzical expression. Sometimes when Arys looked at me, I felt like the subject of some private inner dialogue. Like maybe I didn’t want to know what he was really thinking. He had a way of making me feel naked with nothing more than that smoldering incubus stare.

  Even now it still unnerved me.

  “I’m not
going easy on you. Even though it is hard as fuck to resist that impish grin of yours.” True to his word, Arys sunk half my balls during his next turn.

  I had an impish grin? Who knew? “When have I ever asked you to go easy on me?”

  “Fair enough. Remember you said that.” That idea left him determined.

  We both knew this pool game was just foreplay. So when we ended up in the office with the door closed, our bet forgotten, it came as no surprise to either of us. Our private encounters were easier for me to initiate now, although we hadn’t been alone much since Las Vegas. Lilah started her shenanigans the instant we’d arrived home.

  My office was dumpy and small, with a dirty window covered in battered metal blinds and a couch against the wall, eating up the only space the small cheap desk didn’t take. As soon as the door closed, I had Arys pressed against the back of it. I’d been waiting for this chance. Not knowing when I’d get another, I had to take it.

  We shared a deep, explorative kiss. Tasting one another. I’d kissed Arys dozens of times now, but it still felt like the first time. That jolt of adrenaline made my head spin and my cock hard. Having him backed against the door gave me a thrill. I needed this. Ever since Las Vegas I had needed it.

  Arys caught my jaw and sucked my tongue into his mouth before pulling back to say, “You don’t owe me anything you don’t want to give.”

  “Actually, I still owe you one, if I recall correctly. And I very much like to pay my dues.” That running gag had followed us home from Sin City. But it was true.

  My hands went to his belt. With a few deft movements I had his jeans down. Through his boxer shorts I touched him, watching his pupils dilate in the dim yellow lighting. Then I went to my knees before Arys, as he had for me back in that private room in Las Vegas. A room that was rubble now. I tugged down his boxers and wrapped a hand around him, somewhat nervous but mostly excited.

  Having personal knowledge of the male body removed some of the nerves. It was just a matter of learning what Arys enjoyed. He stared down at me, watching me touch him, tense with anticipation.