Forever Night: A Hidden Novella Read online

  “If I want to get through that door, I’m going to,” Shanti told Zero, glaring up at him.

  “I know you will. But I don’t think you want to. I don’t think you want to stay away from me, and I don’t think you want to leave now, either.”

  She looked away. Considered shoving him out of the way, then immediately decided against it. “It’s not about what I want. I’m attracted to you. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  “Sure it’s not.”

  “I’m attracted to guys all the time. Most of my time is spent in the company of men, actually. Great big vampire men. Demons. Shapeshifters.”

  “Good for them,” he said, still standing there, arms crossed over his chest.

  “I would break you in a fight,” she said. “It would take like two seconds.”

  “Then let’s go,” he said, and the glint in his eyes was mouthwatering. He seemed to be somewhere between irritated and amused.

  “How old are you?” she asked him.

  “That was a very off-topic question. I’m twenty six. How old are you?”

  “A hundred.”

  “Amazing that someone has lived that long and still gets tongue-tied over a bare chest,” he remarked, heading toward the training floor. “So either you’re lying, or I am way better looking than I figured.”

  “Both maybe,” she said, following him. “I’m twenty two. And you are way better looking than you probably figure you are.”

  He let out a short laugh, then turned to face her. “So. Are you ready to break me?”

  “Do I get to drink from you after I kick your ass? That’s how vampires do it,” she said.

  “I’m not a vampire,” he said, grinning.

  “So that’s a no,” she grumbled.

  “You’re just interested in my blood,” he said. “I see how it is now.”

  “Your blood is really good,” she said, kicking her shoes off.

  He looked away, and she thought she could detect another small smile on his lips. “Good to know. What’s so good about it?”

  “It tastes rich and sweet and just… good,” she said.

  “This is officially the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had,” he said, shaking his head.

  “And now you see part of why this is such a bad idea,” Shanti said.

  “You’re assuming that weird bothers me. It doesn’t.”

  She shook her head. “Less talking, more trying not to get your ass whipped.” She started hitting out at him, and he blocked. They were both moving easy, slow. More like a dance than a fight.

  “What do I get if I beat you?” he asked as he ducked another punch.

  “You won’t beat me,” she said.

  “But if I do?”

  “What do you want?”

  “Do you want me to answer that honestly? Because I have a few ideas. They might even include biting,” he said, and she tripped over her own foot.

  “Damn it,” she muttered, and he laughed. “Focus, Zero.”

  “I am focused, Shanti. You’re seeming to have a hard time, though.”

  “Flirting with me is not playing fair. Haven’t you noticed how awkward I am?” She punched out again, faster and he still blocked it. She had to admit: he was very coordinated.

  And built. Very, very nicely built.

  “I have watched you kick ass. You’re not awkward,” he said, kicking out and catching her by surprise. She released a low growl, and he smiled.

  “I am around you.”

  “That should tell you something,” he said.

  “Yeah? What?”

  And that was when he surprised her by putting his big hands around her upper arms and pulling her close. “That staying away from me is the last thing you want to do, gamila.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked, very aware of his hands on her, of his bare chest in front of her face, of the mouthwateringly masculine scent of him.

  “It means you are beautiful, and you already broke me, Shanti,” he murmured, leaning down and nuzzling the side of her neck.

  “Oh God,” she whispered. “This is a terrible, awful idea.”

  “So you’ve said,” he said, and when she felt his lips whisper against her neck, she shivered. “I missed you.”

  “You weren’t around me enough to miss me,” she said, trying to gain some type of control.

  “One awkward night was all it took. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

  “You’re being insane,” she said, and when he kissed her again, right below her earlobe, she couldn’t suppress a tiny whimper from escaping her lips.

  “Nothing about this is sane. I don’t care,” he said, and then his lips were on hers, and she didn’t even bother resisting. She melted into him, and the feel of his warm, demanding lips on hers was enough to make her lose her mind. She released her arms from his grip and put them around his neck, feeling his smooth, warm skin under her hands. He groaned a little and put his hands on her back, pulling her close as he deepened their kiss.

  Bad, terrible idea. Awful.

  When he teased her lips with his tongue, then darted between them, she lost all resolve. The taste of his lips, his tongue, was almost as good as the taste of his blood. The feel of his hands holding her tight to his hard body, the way his pulse quickened when she twisted her fingers in his hair. He pulled back slowly, and she barely resisted whining in need.

  “Just admit that you missed me,” he said, his voice a low, hoarse, growl.

  “I missed you,” she whispered.

  “Tell me we’re going to give this a chance,” he said, pulling her body close to his again.

  “I’m not good at relationships, even if I wasn’t worried about you ending up dead because of me,” she said.

  He squeezed her waist. “ First off: I’m a big boy.”

  “I can tell,” she said, and he laughed, and the sound was the best thing she’d ever heard.

  “And second: you’re not bad at relationships. You just haven’t been in one with me yet. We’re going to be good, I promise.” And then he lowered his lips to hers again, and every argument she had went out of her head.

  She didn’t know how she ended up pressed against the wall, or how it was that his hands made their way beneath her top, his hands running along the bare skin of her back, but she tried to force herself to come to her senses. She pushed him away, regretfully.

  “We really should stop,” she said. “This is moving too fast.”

  “Okay,” he said, nuzzling her neck again, her body still trapped between the wall and his body. “You’re all fangy again.”

  “Your fault,” she said, and he laughed.

  “Don’t take off on me again, okay?” he murmured.

  “We have to be really, really careful, Zero,” she said, running her fingers through his hair. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you.”

  “You worry too much, gamila.”

  “Humor me, then,” she said, pressing a kiss to his throat, trying to ignore the way his pulse jumped under her lips.

  “We will be careful.” He said, holding her, and he groaned when she kissed his neck again. “It hurt a lot when that other one bit me,” he said.

  “She was out of control. It doesn’t have to hurt. It shouldn’t.”

  “You want to bite me, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Yes. But I won’t.” She kissed his neck again and pulled back. “I should get going,” she said.

  “Okay.”

  “I want you to have these,” she said, reaching under her top.

  His eyes widened.

  “Get your mind out of the gutter, Zero,” she said, smirking.

  “You can’t reach under your top and say something like that and not expect my mind to go there,” he said. Shanti shook her head and pulled two silver-bladed knives out of the sheath that ran across her body.

  “The blades are silver, which really, really messes us up. Keep these on you at all times. Understand?”


  “Yes, dear,” he said.

  “Silver chain. Get one and wear it around your neck from now on. We usually go for the throat, and that will cause enough pain on contact to give you a second or two to try to get away or stick a knife in them.”

  “Okay.”

  “Don’t talk about me. You never know who’s listening.”

  He nodded. “It’ll be okay.”

  “So you say,” she said, hating the fact that she knew damn well she was putting him in danger. “Call me if you’re ever in trouble. I wake up at sunset, and go to sleep at dawn. If something other than a vampire attacks you—“

  “I’ll shoot it. I’ll start carrying my Glock again,” he said.

  “Good.”

  He came to her, pressed another warm kiss to her lips. “Stop worrying.”

  “Freaking nuts. Seriously,” she muttered.

  “You are obsessed with my anatomy,” he said, and she laughed.

  “Maybe.” She kissed him again. “I should go.”

  “You keep saying that.”

  “I mean it this time.” Before I do something I’ll probably really enjoy and then end up regretting, she thought to herself. Then she kissed him again and let herself out the back door of the studio, studying the area for any vampire energy signatures before taking off into the night.

  She was about halfway back to Rayna’s when she got two texts, one right after another. The first was from Ronan:

  We’re under attack. Come home ASAP.

  And the second was from Levitt. Three words:

  SHE IS BACK

  Shanti just stared at her phone. Knew immediately what it meant.

  Molly was home. Tears of gratitude and relief came to her eyes, and she said a silent prayer of thanks. She covered her face with her hands, emotion hitting her hard.

  She nearly screamed in frustration. She couldn’t just leave the vampires to handle whatever the hell was going on. She wanted to go to Molly so badly. It felt wrong not to go to her friend, to see for herself that she was back and alive and whole.

  “Man, it sucks being a grown up,” she muttered. She texted Levitt back to tell him that she’d be home the next night, then took off as fast as she could, heading for Rayna’s house.

  Chapter Six

  Shanti raced to Rayna’s house, avoiding the main entry to the property. She ran around the the rear end of the lot, jumping fences through the neighbor’s expansive yards until she reached the part of Rayna’s property that was nearest to the garage.

  Her car was in there, and she needed a thing or two out of it.

  There was clearly something going on. She could hear shouts, then crashing sounds.

  Shanti jumped the fence into Rayna’s yard, sprinted toward the garage, trying to focus on picking up the energy signatures of other vampires.

  This was crazy. Shanti knew Rayna had pissed several vampires off. She knew there were more vampires out there opposed to this idea than she had imagined. But they’d believed the individuals weren’t much of a threat.

  They never would have betted on their opponents joining forces and attacking them as one. Vampires just don’t do that.

  But for the amount of chaos, the number of energy signatures Shanti felt as she made her way through he property; that was exactly what had to have happened.

  Shit. Nain would have been able to alert them to something like this happening. If he and Chief Jones hadn’t been locked up by one of Jones’s renegade underlings, Shanti would have bet her life that he would have gotten wind of something like this going down. But no one had even been able to get into see either of them, and it had been almost two weeks. The supernatural teams in Detroit were in chaos, with Nain and Jones locked up, Brennan busy with his new baby, and Molly missing.

  Molly! At least she was back. Shanti was caught between being exhilarated that her friend was back and enraged that she couldn’t be with her. But she knew, without a doubt, what Molly would do in this situation.

  She’d go in and kick the asses that needed to be kicked.

  Shanti slowed as she neared the garage. She could feel an energy signature inside. She crept around the front of the garage, spotted the vampire, someone she didn’t know, creeping thorough the garage, likely hoping to detain anyone who tried to get out here and take off.

  As if any of Rayna’s people would run at a time like this.

  She ran in and kicked the vampire in the thigh, from the back. She heard bone snap, and he screamed. She quieted it with a slash to the throat with her knife, then finished him.

  She looked down at him. Ronan should have seen that, she thought to herself. Not fast enough, my ass.

  She made her way over to her car and felt in her pockets for her keys. Which she’d apparently not brought with her. She shook her head in irritation.

  She grabbed a crowbar from the tool rack on the wall and shoved it in near the trunk lock, pushed with all her might, and the trunk sprang open. She glanced through her little traveling arsenal. Katana?

  She heard more shouts, more crashing.

  Nah. Two swords would be better than one. Close quarters, lots of assholes to hurt.

  Her eyes lit on the scabbard holding her butterfly swords. They were the first weapon Brennan had trained her in. Matching single-edged blades, each sword about the length of her forearm. Each sword had a handguard, which both protected her hands and provided a bit of extra pain when she struck out at an opponent.

  She grabbed the butterfly swords, one in each hand, and ran out into the night. Almost all of the fighting seemed to be taking place in the main house. She glanced toward the guest house, where the new vampires were housed. She could see several of Rayna’s people guarding the building. Good.

  She ran toward the main house, crept along the side. As she rounded the corner, one of the invading vampires spotted her, and he rushed Shanti. She struck out with one sword, which he blocked with the long blade he was carrying. She pivoted and came forward with the second blade, catching him across his side. And when he swept his blade forward, trying to catch her arm, she made use of her handguards and punched him, hard, in the face, heard the satisfying squishing sound of his nose breaking.

  It only took another second or two to bring one of her blades across his neck.

  She ran into the house, not even bothering to watch him fall.

  There was shouting upstairs, and crashing in the direction of Rayna’s office. They would have sent their most powerful people after Rayna. The others were there for back up, clean up. She strode down the long hallway to Rayna’s office, cutting down another vampire on her way there.

  Everyone had some kind of blade. Mostly swords, she noted as she made her way down the hallway and saw some of Rayna’s people fighting off two vampires outside of her office. It wasn’t because swords looked awesome, or because there is nothing more badass looking than someone coming at you with a big-ass sword. If guns worked against vampires, every vampire in the place would have had one. But they didn’t. Sure, they could cause some pain, and some vampires carried them as a way to distract their opponents. But blades…blades could kill. And silver blades had the added advantage that even if you didn’t get in a killing blow, it still hurt like hell. Pain could be a very effective distraction.

  Rayna’s vampires saw Shanti coming and they nodded at her, tried moving the fight away from Rayna’s office.

  “Five in there facing off against the Queen and Ronan. We’re just trying to keep any others from joining the fight,” one said as he cut down the vampire he was facing. Pale blood leaked from several small wounds along his arms and side. “We’ll keep them off of you all. Help the Queen.”

  Shanti nodded, then stalked through the doorway into Rayna’s study. The door had been crashed through, hanging raggedly on its hinges.

  The sight that met her eyes was absolute chaos. The comfortable, neat appearance of Rayna’s parlor was destroyed — furniture flipped and broken, stuff strewn everywhere. Both Rayna and Ronan were f
acing off against a pair of vampires each, and holding their own, though both of them bled.

  “Kind of you to join us,” Ronan grunted as Shanti rushed forward and took one of Rayna’s opponents on.

  “Good girl,” he amended.

  “I have listened occasionally when you’ve been talking,” Shanti replied, blocking the other vampire’s sword. She studied her opponent. Tall and papery looking. Straggly hair and hazel eyes. Skinny.

  “Shanti, meet Dermott. He used to be one of us, and then he took off, saying he needed a break,” Rayna said.

  “Dermott. So you’re a backstabbing piece of shit. Is that what you’re saying, my Queen?” Shanti said.

  “That’s what I’m saying,” Rayna said, stabbing forward viciously with her dagger hand and impaling her opponent. Ronan finished off his other one and as Shanti pivoted to strike at Dermott again, he turned and ran, jumping through the window and out into the night.

  “I’ll go after him,” Ronan said. “Secure the house,” he ordered Shanti, and she nodded. She and Rayna swept through rest of the house. A lot of the fighting seemed to be taking place outside of the chambers where the new vampires were housed.

  “Of course. This would cause plenty of chaos, if they released the new vamps,” Rayna muttered, kicking out at one enemy vampire. “Idiots.”

  There were four of Rayna’s people in the hallway: Rayna, Shanti, Sam, and another female vampire who Shanti had seen around but couldn’t remember the name of. They fought back six of the enemy vamps, and eventually the final one fell at Rayna’s hand.

  “Let’s sweep the rest of the house, and once that’s clear, we’ll check the grounds,” Shanti said. The other vampires nodded, and Rayna smiled.

  “You have so obviously been training with Ronan,” she said as she and Shanti took up the rear. “And I have to say it: every time I see you fight, I really just kind of want to stand and watch you. It’s beautiful.”

  “Thanks,” Shanti said, embarrassed.

  “You seem to be coming into your speed. And your form was already amazing. I wish we could get the shifter to come and train our people. Can you imagine? A bunch of vampires who had his training and then Ronan’s help to get them doing it at vampire speed?” She gave a contented little sigh, and Shanti laughed.