Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 04] Read online

  Charming the

  Darkness

  by Shiela Stewart

  Breathless Press

  Calgary, Alberta

  www.breathlesspress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or

  persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Charming the Darkness

  Copyright© 2009 Shiela Stewart

  ISBN: 978-0-9782744-7-4

  Cover Artist: Justyn Perry

  Editor: Shiela Stewart

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations

  embodied in reviews.

  Breathless Press

  www.breathlesspress.com

  To anyone who has ever felt like they didn’t belong.

  There is always a rainbow at the end of the storm.

  Prologue

  Jacob’s Cove, 2005

  It was just past midnight when Danny Vega slunk from his bed. Still fully dressed, he crept to his bedroom window. In the bed only a few feet away, his twin brother, Dante, slept soundly. Danny did his best to stay quiet so as not to wake him.

  Tonight he would finally be someone.

  Cautiously, Danny slid the window open, cringing when it creaked. He held his breath, looking over his shoulder at his still sleeping brother. Letting out a sigh of relief, Danny pushed the window open all the way. Hoping up onto the ledge, he sat there a moment, staring at the old oak tree directly in front of him. He’d shimmied down that tree so many times, sneaking from his bedroom after being grounded. It was a wonder his father hadn’t chopped it down yet. God knew he’d given him reason enough to do it. It wasn’t that he wanted to get in trouble, most of the time it just…happened. And it wasn’t always his fault, still…

  Danny just never felt like he belonged. Anywhere.

  He knew his family loved him, and he did love them back but there was always something inside of him that didn’t feel right. Something was missing. He hoped to change that tonight.

  Leaping onto the thick branch only a few feet away, Danny clasped his hands onto the hard bark and looked down. With practiced skill, he shimmied down from the tree and jumped the last foot onto the ground.

  His heart was beating so hard he could feel his chest thumping with it.

  Giddy with excitement, Danny hurried across the front lawn. It was so dark out. Wasn’t it fitting that the night he’d decided to give up his life there would be no moon in the sky?

  “Danny! Danny!”

  He stopped mid track and turned to his brother who had his head hung out of the open bedroom window, whisper-shouting to him. Danny simply waved a hand at him and continued on his way. Dante was not going to stop him this time. Danny was determined and even if he was locked in a room he’d find a way to break free and do what he longed to do.

  “If mom or dad find out you snuck out again, you are going to be in so much trouble,” Dante chastised quietly from the window.

  “I don’t care,” Danny shouted back just above a whisper. After tonight, they’d have no control over him. He heard a noise in the trees at the edge of his property and he knew who it was.

  It was time.

  “Danny!”

  Ignoring his brother, Danny rushed to the bushes and just as he’d suspected, his friend stepped out of the shadows.

  His large frame and dark, menacing looks would scare anyone, but not Danny. Danny felt closer to him than he felt with his own father. “I came just as you asked, Chaos.”

  “Perfect! It seems, though, that we have company.”

  Danny looked back at his brother who was now scooting out of the bedroom window and onto the tree. “Don’t worry about him. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Do you still wish to give me your life?”

  Danny’s heart sped up just a little more. “Yeah…” He cleared his throat. He looked back over his shoulder at his brother, at the house he’d grown up in. He had a good home, loving parents, a brother who was always there for him and sister he adored when she wasn’t being super crabby. He had food in his belly, a roof over his head and never went without anything. Yet he didn’t feel like he belonged. Though he couldn’t understand why. He and Dante were completely alike in features and body and blood. Yet he didn’t feel like they connected. There was always something inside of him that was different. Dante was the calm one, and Danny was the rebel. They shared the same blood yet they were complete opposites. Danny thrived on bad attention and Dante did everything in his power to prevent it. Danny needed excitement where Dante preferred the quiet. His sister was the same way. She would much rather stay home and watch TV then go out with friends. Not Danny. He hated sitting still. He hated being bored. And no one in his family understood that.

  He didn’t feel like he connected with anyone in his family. After tonight he wouldn’t have to worry about any of that.

  Still…he was going to miss everyone. Sure, he hated school, hated the chores his parents made him do, hated that they didn’t let him have more freedom. But they weren’t all bad. He wondered what his mother’s reaction will be when she finds out he’s not home? What was she going to do when he didn’t come home that night, or the night after that? Would she cry? Of course she will. And it hurt to think that he’d make her cry.

  Maybe he wasn’t ready for this yet. “Well—”

  It all happened so fast. Like a blur in the darkness, Chaos lunged. Danny felt the hands on his shoulders a split second before the sharp pointed teeth pierced through his skin.

  It hurt and he wanted to scream, but his voice just wouldn’t come. This was wrong, he wanted it to stop now but the more he fought, the tighter Chaos held on. He felt himself drifting as Chaos pulled the blood from his veins and Danny began to weep.

  As his vision began to blur, he heard his brother screaming his name.

  Danny woke tied to a cot in a room that smelled of must and stale water. He knew it was pitch black in the room because the light overhead was off and there wasn’t a window to be seen. Yet he could see with perfect clarity.

  Where was he?

  He tugged his arms and felt the rope burn into his skin. Why was he tied down?

  Then it all came back to him. He’d met Chaos in his yard and given his life. Danny ran his tongue over his teeth and felt the tips of his fangs sharp as razors. He was a vampire.

  He was a vampire.

  What had he done?

  This wasn’t right. He wanted to go home. He changed his mind. He didn’t want this anymore.

  Tugging at the ropes on his wrists burnt like hell but he kept at it. And he began to scream. He kicked his feet, his body bucking wildly as she fought the restraints. He had to get home before his parents knew he was missing.

  “Let me go! Let me go!” he screamed over and over as he fought to break free. When the rope gave on his left hand he immediately began working on the other. He had to get out of here. Now!

  He managed to free his right hand and the instant he did, he ran for the door. And found it was locked.

  Slamming his fists against the steel door, Danny screamed for his life. When he heard someone outside the door, he didn’t stop screaming but raised his voice an octave.

  “You have to let me out of here. I have
to go home.”

  He heard the locks click and as the door opened, he prepared to make a run for it. He stopped dead in his tracks when Chaos stepped through the threshold.

  “What seems to be the problem, my boy?”

  This was the man he looked up to, admired, wanted to be like. Yet now, Danny had reservations. “I need to go home. My parents will be worried sick about me.”

  Chaos closed the door, encasing them both in the dark dank room. “You are home, my boy. This is your home now.”

  “No, no I made a mistake. I need to go home now.” He darted for the door but found it locked, once again. “Please, let me go.”

  The hand that rested on his shoulder startled him.

  “This was just what you wanted. You don’t belong with those humans and we both know it. You’re different. Like me.” He turned Danny to face him and the smile did little to comfort Danny. “We are your family now.”

  “But I should tell them where I am. I can still be with you and be with them too.”

  “They won’t understand who you are now. They’ll try to kill you like all humans do. This is your world now, Daniel.”

  Not it wasn’t. Was it? He was so confused. He loved his family but he didn’t feel like he belonged. Still…he wasn’t sure this was where he belonged either.

  He was so confused.

  “They won’t kill me. They’ll understand.”

  “Will they? They didn’t understand you before now. What makes you think they’ll accept you the way you are now. This is your home now, my boy. Now come. You need to feed.”

  Danny walked back to the cot, reluctantly, with Chaos and as they sat down on the bed, Chaos pulled the sleeve back on his right wrist and using the index finger of his left hand, sliced his wrist open.

  The smell of the blood called to him and repulsed him all the same.

  “Drink.”

  Danny looked down at the grey blood oozing out of Chaos’ veins and realized what he was supposed to do.

  And he couldn’t.

  “NO!” He ran for the door, and once again pounded his fists against the metal. He’s screamed, he cried and he pleaded. He had to get out of here now.

  “Enough!”

  He was hoisted off his feet and carried back to the bed. As Chaos tossed him down, pinning him with one hand, he shoved the bleeding wrist into Danny’s face.

  “No! No! No!” Jerking his head from side to side, he refused to give in to the calling and take the blood into his mouth. His body ached so fiercely he thought it might break in two.

  “Drink!”

  The wrist was shoved against him mouth and the instant the blood touched his lips he felt the need overtake him.

  As he pulled the sweet intoxicating nectar into his mouth, the tears fell down his face.

  Chapter 1

  Jacob’s Cove, 2025

  Five months of total darkness

  Darkness, it surrounded him. Once he’d craved it. Now he despised it. For over five months he’d lived with nothing but darkness. There was no sun, no stars, no clouds in the sky.

  How could a vampire miss the sun? Yet Danny Vega did. Sure, he didn’t vaporize the instant he was touched by the sun’s rays like they portrayed in the folklore, but the sun could do a fair amount of damage to a vampire. It boiled the skin. He could walk a block or two in the sun and not sizzle instantly, but any bare skin reachable by the sun would be fried nice and crispy. And the healing time for third degree burns was not quick and definitely not pleasant. Danny knew this from experience. He’d been locked out of his home a time or two by some of his wisecracking, bloodsucking relatives.

  He remembered back to his youth when he’d woken up to the stinging sensation of his face on fire. Of course, he’d panicked and had run for the door, only to find it locked. On the other side, he’d heard the cackle of laughter. To this day he had no idea how he’d gotten out there without waking up.

  He hadn’t been liked by many of his peers but it hadn’t bothered Danny much. Then.

  Now was another story.

  Four months ago, Chaos, the one man he had looked up to, admired above anyone else, had disowned him, and in doing so, had given all those who had hated him reason to not associate with him. Even the people he thought had been his friends didn’t want to have anything to do with him.

  That hurt.

  He’d done a lot of thinking since that day Chaos had shunned him. What else did he have to do but think? And while thinking, he’d looked back at his past, at his life, and wondered if the man he’d looked up to for the past twenty years was as wonderful as he had always thought.

  All Danny had done was end up a prisoner of Chaos’ enemies, Trinity and Basil. It hadn’t been his fault. He’d been tricked by his brother. His twin brother. But Danny had held strong and hadn’t given Chaos up.

  When Danny had finally been released, Chaos had wanted nothing to do with him. He’d taken the other prisoners back into his fold, but not Danny. Oh, he knew the reason Chaos had turned him away was because of Dante. Chaos didn’t like his minions disobeying him, and Danny had done just that by going to see his brother. He wished Chaos would have listened to him when he’d tried to explain that he was still on Chaos’s side. But he’d shunned him and it had stung deeply.

  Then Chaos had been abducted by Fritz and no one aside from Fritz knew where Chaos was being held. Or at least, not that anyone was telling him. Which didn’t surprise him in the least, given that he was no longer part of the gang. Not that he really ever had been a big part. Sure, they accepted him, but Danny always knew that was because Chaos insisted they do so. He wasn’t overly liked among his kind and to this day he didn’t know why. He’d done everything he knew how to be a part of them. Yet from day one they’d mocked him, teased him and bullied him.

  That seemed to be the story of his life.

  As for his brother…Danny still wasn’t sure about him. In the past few months, he’d run into Dante several times, and each time, the tension had been thick between them. Dante had played a pivotal part in keeping Danny locked up in Basil’s dungeon, that wasn’t so easy to overcome. Oh he knew why Dante had kept him locked up. He’d hoped to convince Danny to switch sides. At the time, Danny had wanted no part of it. He was loyal to Chaos right to the end. And he’d been stabbed in the heart.

  But there were times, when he and his brother would stumble upon each other, that Danny had felt that familiar connection between him and his twin. That part of him that felt whole when he was near his brother.

  He just didn’t know what to do about it.

  So here he was, all alone in a city that was beginning to become overcrowded with creatures of every kind, from vampires and werewolves to demons and shape shifters. Just to name a few.

  Since word had gotten out that Jacob’s Cove was encased in darkness, thanks to Chaos’ spell, all the night dwellers wanted to see it for themselves. And they’d stayed. Now, it seemed, they were running the town, and like the people he’d thought of as his friends, the newcomers had shunned him. Danny didn’t know why and he didn’t much care.

  He was getting the hell out of Jacob’s Cove and all the bad memories that lived inside.

  Lifting the collar up on his leather jacket, Danny carried his meager belongings to the flaming red, two-door Laser Coupe he’d stolen two days ago when he’d decided to leave. Since the cloak of darkness had been cast over the city, the days were steadily growing colder. He supposed it was to be expected when there was no sun to warm things up. But he figured the chill in the air was better than the usual bite the December winds brought. Right now, if the sun was out and the cloak of darkness was gone, there would be a good layer of snow on the ground. He kind of missed it.

  It was rather interesting to think of all the things affected by the darkness. Trees were dying off rapidl
y, their leaves wilting and curling against the dark bark as if to protect their life-source. Flowers had died a long time ago and now sat in the ground looking droopy, brown, and shriveled. In rapid succession, birds began to drop, too weak to keep flight, which was good for the cats and dogs and the wildlife that so desperately sought food to keep their lives going. It was a dog eat dog world out there, literally, and mostly the dogs were winning. He’d rescued a mewing little kitten from a pack of hungry wolves a few weeks back. The little guy had looked so pathetic, his gray fur all greasy and matted, cringing in the corner against a dumpster and Danny had felt sorry enough for the little guy that he’d picked him up and taken him home.

  Killer was now his best friend.

  They got along perfectly, almost as if they’d known each other a lifetime. And the best part was, Killer didn’t judge him, nor did he expect anything other than food and water.

  Tucking his suitcase into the trunk, Danny headed inside for his friend. As always, Killer was sitting by the door, waiting for Danny to return. He hated leaving the cat for long periods of time because Killer always looked so pathetic when he’d return. The cat had a look about him that turned Danny’s heart to mush. He’d tilt his furry face upward, lids shading half of his yellow-green eyes with a look that clearly meant “pity me”.

  The very look he was displaying now.

  “I wasn’t going far, Killer, so save the look.” Scooping the furball up, Danny headed to the car. “Let’s go see what we can find elsewhere.” Setting the cat beside him on the passenger’s seat, Danny closed his door and cranked the engine. He pressed his foot down on the gas pedal, gunning the engine and laughed. It always made Killer hiss.

  Giving the cat’s head a ruffle, Danny sent them rolling.

  The tinted plastic he’d taped to the windows would hopefully shield him from the torturous sun that he knew would be blinding to him the instant he left Jacob’s Cove. He had a kick ass pair of shades in his jacket pocket in any case. He wasn’t eager to have his retinas fried, or any part of him for that matter.

  “So, Killer, where should we go? North, south, east, or west?”