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  Desiring 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.

  Desiring the Darkness

  Copyright© 2009 Shiela Stewart

  ISBN: 978-0-9782744-5-0

  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 Marlene and Steve

  I don’t know what I

  would do withoutyou.

  You’re the best!

  Keep on Truckin’.

  Chapter One

  Jacob’s Cove, 2025

  Three days after the total eclipse of the sun

  It had been three days since the sun had been blotted out from the ritual that raised the king of all vampires. Three days and nights of total darkness. Three days and nights of absolute mayhem. Humans were looting anything and everything they could get their hands on, and vampires were scooping the humans up like free candy. But despite the dangers lurking outside, people were still stupid enough to venture out of doors. No businesses were open due to the looting so no one had to go into work. Well, except for the cops and the National Guard that had been called in to help. Neither was being overly successful. Why? Because the vampires were smarter than the humans.

  And that was just damn scary.

  But not everyone was as uneducated in the ways of the vampire. Dante was one of them, along with his friends, Jonah Moore, his wife Ariel, the queen of all vamps Trinity, and her mate Basil.

  It still blew his mind to think Trinity was an all powerful and mighty vampire queen. Four days ago she’d been your typical blood sucking, fang bearing, night dwelling vampire. Now, a simple stare could put a person in temporary immobilization status.

  Damn freaky.

  Since the rest of the city was unequipped to handle the vampires scavenging the city, he and his band of vamp hunters were left to do the job.

  Well, that and bringing down the last person responsible for blotting out the sun.

  Chaos.

  Dante was particularly interested in finding Chaos because he knew Chaos would lead him to his brother. Twenty years ago, Dante had witnessed his twin brother being attacked by a vampire and dragged away. He hadn’t seen his brother since.

  Until three days ago.

  Now, aside from protecting a defenseless city and trying to take out the one vamp responsible, Dante was also in search of his long lost brother.

  “Remind me again why I have to be the bait?”

  Dante heard Jonah’s voice in his ear as he hid behind the dumpster. Lowering his voice, he replied, “Because I was bait last time.”

  “Right. You’ll tell Ariel I love her if I don’t make it?”

  “You’ll be just fine, Jonah. I’ve got you covered and Basil is lurking about, ready to jump in and snatch the bastards. Just stay calm.”

  “Yeah, easy for you to say. Oh shit! Bloodsucker, eight o’clock.”

  Dante swiveled in his spot behind the garbage bin, looking in the direction Jonah instructed. He saw the chubby guy heading Jonah’s way and prepared himself for the attack. The vampire’s ugly yellow eyes caught sight of Jonah and Dante could imagine what was going through his mind.

  Fresh meat.

  Not this time.

  “Get ready.”

  “I’m ready.” Pulling the tranquilizer gun from his belt, Dante aimed it at the vampire and waited. Because Jonah had the microphone pinned beneath his jacket, Dante could hear everything, including the vampire’s comments.

  “Well, looky here. What have we got? Oh, and I smell lots of fear. Gonna be a nice snack for me.”

  “You don’t want to drink me. I’m anemic. I won’t satisfy you much,” Jonah added with a great deal of quiver in his voice.

  “Oh, I’m betting you’ll be just what I need.”

  He heard the growl, heard Jonah scream, and took his shot. The dart hit the vamp right in his backside and as Dante stood up, he saw the vamp pull back in shock. He didn’t waste any time and took another shot. This time he hit the vampire in the arm. The vamp looked up, searching for where the shot had come from as Dante raced towards him.

  “Took your time. He was about to bite me.” Jonah took a couple steps away from the vamp.

  “I had to make sure I got a good shot.” The vampire hissed as he approached, then his knees gave out and he went down. “Damn, I was hoping to knock him around a bit first.”

  “You’ll get your chance later.”

  “Jesus Christ, Basil! I hate when you do that.” His heart pounding, Dante aimed a steely glare at Basil. The guy loved to make an entrance, but did he have to appear out of nowhere without warning and scare the living shit out of him?

  “Good shot,” Basil stated as he lowered down to the vampires body. “But next time, aim higher. If you can get the neck or near the heart, he’ll go down with one shot.”

  “Yeah, thanks for the advice.” He’d only known Basil a few short days and was still on the fence about him. The guy was the last of the true vampires and had several advantages over the rest of the vamps. For one, he could materialize at the blink of an eye and transport himself anywhere. Two, he could transform into any creature and blend in everywhere. And anyone that didn’t know him personally would think he was your typical average human being. Until he bore his fangs and his icy blue eyes began to glow. Only the truest vampires had the icy blue eyes, all the others were yellow.

  A sign of their impurity.

  “He one of Chaos’ men?” Dante asked, looking down at the unconscious vampire.

  “Won’t know until he wakes up and talks. Let’s call it a night for now and get some rest.” Basil hoisted the vamp over his shoulder. “You can ride with me, Jonah, and make sure this guy doesn’t wake up before we get to the castle.”

  “Gee, thanks, boss.”

  “You can follow us in your car, Dante.”

  While the sun was nonexistent they had all agreed to stay at Basil’s castle. It was a smart idea, keeping them all under one roof, but Dante was feeling the crunch of hanging around the same people day and night. He needed a bit of a break now and then, and though Basil’s place was huge, he still managed to run into someone often enough. He was used to living on his own, having no one around but himself.

  He missed his privacy.

  But he climbed into his car, ready to follow them anyway. Glancing in his rear view mirror, he watched them pull away and saw what looked like a woman, running towards him. He turned around to get a better look, then hustled out of the car. It had been a woman running towards him, clad in only a bra and panties.

  And two burly men were right behind her.

  “You’ve got to help me. Please, help me,” she screamed as she ran.

  Running towards her he pulled out his revolver. “Get behind me,” he ordered to her and took aim. It utterly shocked him when the two men hal
ted then spun around and took off in the opposite direction. “Fuck!” He turned to the woman who was shivering in the cold air. “Get in the car and lock the doors. I’m going after them.”

  “No, no, please, don’t leave me.”

  She grabbed hold of his arm and pressed her body so tightly to his he could feel the curve of her breasts through the thickness of the suede jacket he wore. “I have to go after them.”

  “No, please, just let them go. I don’t want to be alone.” She clung to him even tighter.

  What was he going to do, shake her off of him and drag her to his car? Not likely. So the only chance he had was to stick by her. “Okay. I won’t go after them. You can give a description of them to the cops—”

  “NO! No police. Please, don’t take me to the cops.”

  He didn’t know what her deal was but she sure was adamant about not involving the cops. And that worried him some. “You have to tell them you were attacked.”

  “I don’t want to follow up on this. Please, don’t make me. I don’t trust the cops,” she sighed, still clinging to him.

  He could feel her body tremble and he wasn’t sure if it was entirely from the chill in the air, or from fear. “Okay, I won’t take you to the cops. You’re cold. Let me give you my jacket.” When she didn’t release him, he patted her arms. “I need you to let me go so I can take off my jacket.”

  “Oh, okay.” She released him and wrapped her arms around her chest.

  He striped from his jacket then held it out to her. “Here, put this on before you catch a cold.”

  She took the jacket and hurriedly slipped into it. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. So why don’t you tell me where you live and I’ll give you a ride home.”

  “I don’t have a home.” Dante’s brow lifted and she continued. “I was evicted a few days ago.”

  He heard glass breaking in the distance and assumed someone was breaking into yet another building. “This isn’t the safest place to be right now. Why don’t I take you to my place and we can figure out what we’re going to do next.” He held his hand out to his car then walked with her to it, holding the passenger side door for her. After she’d settled in, he hurried to his side and climbed behind the wheel. He got them rolling and was damn glad they were only three blocks from his office/apartment.

  “My name is Dante, Dante Vega.”

  “Gypsy Dawn.”

  “Pleasure to meet you, Gypsy.” Neither spoke as he drove and as he pulled into the parking lot of his building, he scanned the area before opening his door. He hurried to her side, holding the door for her then locking it up after she was out. “Right this way.” He led them to the back door and after keying in the code, he let them in. “Upstairs.”

  “What is this place?”

  “My office and home,” he explained as he unlocked the door to his suite. He hadn’t been here in a few days, not since Trinity had insisted he gather his things and go live with her and Basil at the castle. It was good to be home.

  “You want something to drink? Shit. I’m not sure what I have. I haven’t been here in a while.”

  “How come?”

  “When the lights went out, I went to live with some friends out of town. Um…I have coffee, instant,” he told her as he scanned the cupboards.

  “I’m fine actually. I just need to sit.”

  “Oh, sure.” Since she was still standing in the doorway, he held his hand out to the living room.

  She was a thin woman, and despite the circumstances, he had to check her out. He was a man after all and she was clad only in skimpy black panties and a bra. His brown suede jacket swallowed up her delicate frame. It hung past her hips and the sleeves covered her hands. Her short hair was an odd shade of moss green with white highlights that spiked up on top and was shaved around the ears and back of her head. The make-up she had put on was smudged and running down her soft, pale face.

  “Can you tell me what happened?” He took a seat across from her in the chair while she sat on the sofa.

  She chewed her bottom lip, which he noticed had a stud through the center. “I’m really not feeling well right now. Can I just lay down for a bit?”

  “Sure. I guess. You could take my bed.” He wanted to get behind what had happened to her, but he could clearly see she was drifting. Her eyes—obviously tinted in purple contacts—were drooping. “It’s right down here.” He led her down the short hallway to his room. “You sure I can’t get you something to drink? I could see if I have some crackers or something. When was the last time you ate?”

  She entered his room and went straight for the bed. “I’m okay, really. I just need to rest.”

  He watched her crawl under his covers and curl into a ball. How old was she? If he was to guess he would say no older than twenty. At best. “Okay. But after you’ve had some sleep, we need to talk about what happened to you.”

  “’Kay.”

  He left her to sleep and went to the couch. When his cell phone jangled he knew perfectly well who it was. He answered it without looking. “I’m okay.”

  “Where the hell are you, D?” Jonah inquired.

  “I…uh had to get some stuff from my place. I’m running out of clothes. I think I’m just going to crash here tonight.”

  “That isn’t going to go over well with Trin.”

  “Yeah, well, she’ll deal with it. I’ll be fine. My place is wired and if anyone tries to break in, I’ll hear it. I can handle myself for one night. Catch you tomorrow, Jonah.” He disengaged the phone and set it on the coffee table. Feeling oddly restless, he walked to the balcony window and looked out into the darkness. It was just past eight in the evening but looked like it was midnight. He missed the sunlight. Missed the warmth of it on his face. He wondered if this was what vampires felt. Did they ever miss the sunlight? Sure, they could go out in the daylight without being set on flames, but the sunburn was a bitch. Trinity explained it to him and equated it to sticking your face in a five hundred degree oven. It wouldn’t kill you instantly, but it hurt like hell.

  So they stuck to the dark. And that was why Chaos had gone to the Dark Mystics for the ritual to blot out the sun. He didn’t completely understand it, but he knew it was physically impossible to turn the sun off. Basil told him the Dark Mystics had put a cloak over the city that would blanket it in darkness. If you drove out of the barrier the sun was shining as bright as ever.

  It was all Greek to him, but he couldn’t deny the fact that darkness reigned in Jacob’s Cove and until Chaos was killed, it would remain.

  Unfortunately the bastard had gone into hiding. They had yet to be successful in finding out where he was hiding out from the vamps they caught. Maybe it was time to do a little of his own investigating. Sure, he knew it was dangerous out there alone, but he was smart enough, and quick enough to protect himself. Plus, he was desperate to find his brother.

  Since seeing Danny only briefly three days ago, he’d been on Dante’s mind constantly. Where was he? Why hadn’t he sought to find him? Where had he been all this time?

  He’d sent his sister, Lexi, and her hubby out of town when the shit had hit the fan, and they’d gone willingly, though it had taken some talking for them to agree to go without him. He hoped by the time he and the others brought the sun back, he would be able to tell his sister he’d found their brother.

  Stretching his arms over his head, he rolled his neck and turned away from the window. He checked on his guest, saw that she was fast asleep, then left her to take a nap on the sofa.

  It had been a rough couple of days.

  ***

  “He’s waking up,” Jonah advised Basil and Trinity who were currently curled up on the sofa together. He cut them some slack because he knew how much they loved each other and how rough the past few days had been. Not just for them, but everyon
e involved.

  Forget the fact that the sun was gone and that vampires were running wild in the city, feeding off of the idiotic humans stupid enough to venture outside their home. He was still trying to grasp the whole, “my best friend is the queen of vamps” deal. He’d known Trinity for six years and all that time had known she was a vampire. But she’d still been…well, normal. Now, her eyes were a translucent blue like her lover’s, and she had some wicked ass powers that he wasn’t afraid to admit scared the shit out of him. Not that he worried she would kill him—well, not deliberately—he worried what it did to her. She had a lot to deal with since being brought back to life and granted infinite powers by the queen of vampires.

  And seeing her alive and well was also something he was getting used to. He’d witnessed her death, saw her crumble into a pile of dust, and had felt the grief of losing a woman he thought of as family. And now, here she was, alive and well and sporting a whole new persona. Oh sure, she was still Trinity on the outside, but she was also different in so many ways.

  Like that scary vacant look she got when she was in a trance-like state, which she tended to get into now and then. She said it was her body’s way of regenerating, but she didn’t have to look into her white eyes and see her stare blankly at nothing at all.

  “You want first dibs or can I have this one?” Basil asked getting in one last smooch.

  “Why don’t we play good vampire, bad vampire. I’ll be the bad.”

  “Why do you get to be the bad?” Basil grumbled.

  “Because no one suspects the woman of being a bad guy.” She kissed his sulky lips as she stood. “Ariel still sleeping?” she asked Jonah as she walked passed him.

  “Like a baby. She’s having a tough time with this all darkness crap. Screws up her system.”

  “Well, let’s hope we can get the info we need so we can bring the sun back and get everyone back on track.”

  He followed them both down the back stairs that led to Basil’s dungeon. It was a freaky place equipped with cells and torture areas which Trinity told him Basil’s father had used on Basil. Despite the fact that he’d once hated Basil, Jonah didn’t wish torture on anyone.