Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 05] Read online

  “Shh now, all will be well in no time.” Laying his hand on the boy’s head, Cooper soothed him with his touch, then sent his mind to sleep. While the boy slept, Cooper carried him to the underground exit. Once at the surface, Cooper laid the boy on the ground, knowing that either someone would find him and take him to safety, or he would wake and run for his life. Either way, he was better off than where he’d been.

  Back inside, Cooper washed up in the main floor washroom, wiping the blood from his hands, then splashing some cold water on his face. He hated senseless violence. Grabbing the towel, Cooper glanced at the mirror and noticed one of his tinted lenses had shifted slightly. Drying off his hands, he readjusted it, covering up the blue that would identify him as having been sired by the king. He wore the yellow contacts for a reason.

  Giving his suit jacket a stiff tug, Cooper left the horror behind him.

  ***

  The scent of daffodils and tulips filled the air. Bright yellow heads stood regally atop of their stalks of green. Drawing in the fragrant aroma, Cooper engaged the alarm before turning to the room. The artificial sunlight shone down on the blooms and, in a show of appreciation, each flower tipped their head up in reverence.

  Tucking the keycard into the breast pocket of his tailored, navy pin-stripped suit, he walked casually to the center of the room. Placed on a pedestal was a long glass container, tipped up at enough of an angle to allow the viewer access to what it held inside.

  Giving his suit jacket, then his tie, a slight adjustment, Cooper walked up to the container, placing one hand on top of the glass. He desperately needed this peace after the horror he’d been witness to earlier with Basil.

  “Good morning, my sweet Gabriella.” He plucked one brilliant yellow tulip from its stalk to lay it gently on the glass right where her hands crossed on her lap. “You’re looking as lovely as ever.”

  He checked the electronic read-outs, nodded at the findings, then checked every connection as he habitually did each time he visited. When he was satisfied everything was working properly, he pulled up his stool and took a seat.

  “The darkness still remains and I don’t mind telling you I find it extremely difficult to leave you and this sunny room to return to such cold darkness.” He lifted the tulip to his nose to inhale the soft aroma. “So much has happened since I last saw you. First, I must apologize for not coming to you sooner but I was otherwise indisposed.”

  He stood to face the garden of roses in brilliant red and white. “The child Basil and Trinity had has been taken by the queen. I do not understand why Rajana would do such a thing.” He broke off a red rosebud to carry back to the glass case. “She of all people should know what it feels like to lose her only child.” He sat on the stool once more, laying the blossom on the glass by Gabriella’s face. Her skin was as creamy white as it had been on the last day she had smiled at him before the sleep took her over.

  “Though Basil was already well into his childhood when Avadur took him away from her, Trinity had only just given birth to their daughter, the pain is still as great. I know what it’s like to love and lose.” He pressed his hand to the glass over Gabriella’s face.

  “Trinity has been distraught, to say the least, and Basil has been frantically calling out to his mother. It took quite a bit of my power to convince him not to call upon the Dark Mystics to help him. He and I both know that would only lead to disaster. I refuse to let him give up his soul even if it is for his child.”

  Cooper plucked the petals from the rosebud, scattering them over the glass. Gabriella had always loved the feel of the silky petals on her skin. “Chaos is still in hiding. Even with the aid of Danny’s lover, Starla, no one can locate him. Wherever Chaos is hiding, he’s more than likely shielding himself from magics. Will this madness never end?”

  He stood again, feeling restless. The cot he often slept on when he came for extended visits was still as it was the last time he’d slept here. Perfectly made up and unused.

  “Avadur has done nothing but cause pain all his unnatural life. Even now, in his absence, he still inflicts it through his minion, Chaos. I should have taken him out right at the start.” He waved a hand in the air. “Oh, I know, that would have revealed my true self, still…”

  He smoothed a hand across the cotton blanket over the bed, taking out the individual crease that had somehow occurred in his absence. “If anything good has come from this horrid darkness, it’s the love that’s been blossoming all around me.” Giving his suit jacket a tug, he made his way back to the glass case. “It warms my heart that in the depths of darkness love can find a way to light up an aching heart.” He laid his palm right over her heart. “My heart longs for the light you once brought to my life. I have not found a cure and it only frustrates me more. I’ve been without you for twenty years, my sweet love. I never thought it would be this long.” Resting his head on the glass, he let out a long, exasperating sigh. “Had I known…” He sighed again, then lifted his head. “It saddens me that the retched disease that robbed you of your life, robbed you from me has yet to be cured. Even with the technologies we have now, no cure has been found. I begin to wonder if one will ever be found.”

  Feeling that all too familiar ache in his heart, Cooper cleared his throat as he stood. He knew perfectly well if he stayed here much longer he would do something that he had promised he would never do. So, with a heavy heart, he pressed a kiss to the glass and left his precious wife to sleep.

  Checking to make sure all the alarms were in proper working order, he exited the room. “I leave her once again in your trust, Thaddeus.”

  The tall, thin gentleman nodded from where he sat in his chair by the door. Cooper had known him for more than thirty years and trusted him implicitly to watch over his most cherished possession.

  With only a thought to where he wanted to be, Cooper vanished.

  He set himself down in the gardens as he usually did and continued on his way to the house. It was the only one of its kind in Jacob’s Cove. Avadur had wanted a home that boasted his title as king, so he had a castle built on top of the hill where everyone would see it. Cooper had been a servant of that castle for more years than he cared to remember. It had never felt like a home to him. Though he’d never told Basil otherwise, he chose to make his home in the servants’ quarters, which was just off from the grand castle in a small cabin-like house. While there he was free to be himself, to do as he pleased. After he’d met Gabriella, he had considered bringing her to his home but had decided against it, feeling she would be safer if no one—even his closest friend, Basil—knew about her. So he’d kept two places: the false one in the cabin, and the other one in Gabriella’s quaint bungalow in Jacob’s Cove suburban area. Though it had been hard for him to lead the double life, he’d known it was for the best.

  Everyone was better off not knowing the truth.

  ***

  Basil found Trinity where she was most days, sitting in the wooden rocking chair he’d bought for her to use when she nursed the baby. She held onto a tiny pink rabbit, a stuffed toy that used to be hers in her youth. She’d wanted their daughter to have it.

  She was never able to give it to Felicity.

  In the week since Basil’s mother had shown up to steal their daughter away, Trinity had closed herself off. It scared him. Most of the time she sat in the nursery, clinging to that stuffed rabbit. When she finally managed to pull herself out of the room, she curled herself up in bed and slept. He knew the nightmares she had that woke her so often were about their daughter and the horrible way she had been stolen from them. Though Trinity allowed him to comfort her after the dreams, he felt a distance in her that worried him.

  Closing the nursery door, Basil walked towards her and, kneeling on the floor at her feet, placed his hand on hers. Her eyes shifted to meet his, but Trinity wasn’t in them. “Hi,” he said simply, hoping to draw out at leas
t a glimmer of a smile.

  He failed.

  “Hi.”

  He didn’t move but stayed where he was, touching her skin, wanting to feel close to her in any way possible. “Have you eaten today?”

  She shook her head, then looked down at the rabbit.

  “You need to keep up your strength.”

  Trinity shook her head again, sighing. “Her hair was dark and her face was pale. She had your eyes.”

  Basil knew the reason Trinity continually mentioned what their daughter had looked like. She was afraid of forgetting. “She was lovely.” But neither of them would ever forget. “I could bring you something here, some blood at least.”

  Drawing the rabbit closer to her breast, Trinity sighed. “I didn’t even get to nurse her once. My breasts ache with milk and I’ll never know what it feels like to have her suckle on me.”

  He took her chin in his hand and moved into her view. “I will find her and then she will suckle from you. I promise you, my love.”

  She closed her eyes. “I’m tired. I think I’ll go to bed.”

  He didn’t stop her; he knew there was no point. Before he had a chance to say anything else, she vanished. Getting to his feet, Basil looked around the room at everything he had done to ready it for their daughter’s arrival. The crib sat near the back of the room, the furthest area from the window, which was covered in black. There were no toys, there were no cute balloons or alphabets or animals on the walls that he and Trinity had planned on painting. They’d been so preoccupied in finding Chaos that they hadn’t had time to decorate the room as they’d wished. The room was empty and not just from the void of their daughter’s presence, but of life itself. Was it a blessing? He didn’t think so.

  “I will find you and my daughter, Mother,” he vowed in a deep growl. “And when I do, you will pay.”

  He left the room, his heart aching.

  Chapter Two

  Cooper heard Trinity weeping in her bedroom, her heart aching for the daughter she’d barely had. Basil’s anger and frustration at not being able to bring their daughter back reverberated back at him.

  He understood and felt much of the same.

  Cooper missed his wife dearly, missed the way she would look lovingly at him when he would enter the room. He missed the way she would touch his face or the way she felt in his arms, her heart beating against his. There were so many things he missed about his beautiful Gabriella. Like Basil and Trinity, the one thing he loved more than air itself had been taken away from him.

  Oh, he could go visit Gabriella anytime he wanted, but she wasn’t really there. Her body was, but she was in a comatose state and had no idea he was even there.

  “I’m going out, Cooper.”

  He came abruptly back to the present with a great deal of regret. There was no sunshine now, only bitter darkness that swallowed up everything beautiful. “May I inquire as to where you will be going, sir?”

  Basil gave him that ever-popular dark scowl that did little to faze Cooper. “Just out.”

  “Might I add something before you disappear?” Cooper began and gave Basil no time to argue. “If something were to happen to you, what do you think that will do to Trinity? Especially now, during her…grief.”

  Basil let out a long breath, then rubbed a hand across his face. “I can’t just sit here, watching her wither away. I have to do something.”

  “She needs you here.”

  “What she needs is our daughter home, safe, and in her arms. I’m determined to give her that.”

  Before Cooper could say another word, Basil vanished. Letting out a deep breath, Cooper decided it was time he did more. Taking the chance that he might be caught, he sent himself to the alley at the back of the Digital Domain. Though the city was deserted, Jonah still kept his office open. They might not always see eye to eye, but Cooper liked Jonah Moore well enough and respected his love for Trinity. Cooper was going to play on that love now.

  Stepping through the back entrance, the alarm rang out and he nearly jumped out of his skin. That was nothing compared to the scare he got when before him, a wall of metal bars fell from the ceiling to land nearly on his feet. If he hadn’t jumped back, they would have.

  “What the devil—”

  “YES! It worked. Didn’t I tell you it would work?” a male voice, which he figured was Jonah’s, cried out.

  “Yes you did. You constantly amaze me with your intelligence.”

  “It turns you on, I know. Kinda makes me hot knowing it turns you on.”

  Cooper cleared his throat. Both Jonah and his love interest, Raven, faced him. “I would like to be let out of here now,” he said in a perfectly calm manner that was nothing like the rage that was boiling inside of him.

  “Coop? What the hell are you doing here?”

  With a click on some sort of hand held remote, Jonah had the bars rising back up to the ceiling.

  “I came to speak to you. Had I known it would almost cost me my life, I would have reconsidered.” Cooper gave his stiff black jacket a yank in his annoyance.

  “It wouldn’t have cost you your life, Cooper. Just lock you in place until I could deal with you. I don’t move so fast, as you know.”

  Cooper knew perfectly well. Jonah had been involved in a car accident caused by Chaos’ men that had taken his wife’s life along with that of their unborn child, and had rendered Jonah temporarily paralyzed. He might have remained that way if Chaos hadn’t become enraged and turned him into a vampire to spite Trinity.

  Though he could walk now, Jonah still needed the aid of a cane.

  “Perhaps next time I’ll ring before entering. Hello, Raven, it’s a pleasure to see you again.”

  “Ringing would be advisable,” Jonah piped in. “So, what brings you to my humble establishment? I would think you’d had enough of this place.”

  Jonah was right. Cooper wasn’t overly fond of the computer shop because it had been a cramped home for eight people during the time it took for Basil to repair the damage Chaos’ men had caused when they’d bombed the castle. He had felt claustrophobic in the shop and had had absolutely no privacy for months. He was glad to be out of there.

  “Trinity needs you.”

  Just the mention of her changed Jonah’s demeanor. “What’s wrong?”

  “She won’t eat. All she does is sleep when she isn’t locked away in the baby’s room. Not even Basil can get through to her. Besides, he’s dealing with his own emotions right now. I thought maybe you could come by the castle to visit her.”

  Jonah hesitated and Cooper knew perfectly well why. Jonah felt uneasy seeing Trinity since she’d lost her daughter to the queen. Given his own loss.

  “You’re the perfect person to talk to her, Jonah. I plead with you. She needs to know life will go on.”

  “You think I can convince her of that?”

  Cooper nodded. “You lost more than anyone should and handled it remarkably. She needs to see that even in such heart wrenching tragedy, there is still light.”

  “Cooper—”

  “I think he’s right,” Raven interrupted, taking Jonah’s hands in hers. “And if you don’t see how you can help her given the similarities in your situations, then think of this. Who did she turn to when Basil cheated on her? You. Who did she confide in? You. Who does she think of as a brother—”

  “I get it. Sheesh, gang up on a guy, why don’t you. Okay. I’ll go see her now.”

  “Thank you.” Cooper felt at least marginally better.

  “You’re a good friend to her, Cooper.”

  With a nod, Cooper left the building.

  He wished he could do more.

  Chapter Three

  Basil was in the mood for a fight and hoped someone gave him enough reason to start one. The streets had been eerily c
alm the past few days. He doubted very much that every inhuman creature had packed up and moved on, though he was sure some had. Still, where was everyone?

  When he spotted the fang brothers—or so he liked to call Dante and Danny Vega—heading towards him, he contemplated picking a fight with them, then decided otherwise. He liked Dante well enough not to beat on him. Danny, on the other hand…well, he was still getting used to the boy. “Well, if it isn’t Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum.”

  “Has he ever told us who is who?” Danny inquired of his twin brother, Dante.

  Dante sized Basil up, narrowing his freshly yellow vampire eyes as he spoke. “I’m not sure he even knows. You look…pissed.”

  He’d known Dante nearly a year. Up until a few days ago, Dante had been human. But when Chaos’ men had roughed him up enough to put him at death’s door, his once distant twin brother had stepped in to rescue Dante by making him a vampire. It surprised Basil how calmly Dante was taking it.

  “I am. And unless you want to feel how pissed I am, you would do better to move on.”

  “See, I know him well enough to know when a statement like that means trouble,” Dante informed Danny.

  When Basil walked away, both Dante and Danny followed him.

  “Where you going, Basil?”

  “Fuck off,” he barked loudly, but it didn’t deter the fang brothers.

  “Look, I care enough for Trinity to—” Basil whirled on Dante, his fangs at the ready, his temper boiling. “Want to make sure you stay safe,” Dante finished undaunted. “She’s suffered enough already. You both have. All I want to do is help you.”

  Basil calmed his temper, taking a deep breath. It wasn’t Dante he was angry with. “You up for a fight?”

  Dante’s face lit with excitement. “With you?”

  “It’s tempting, but no. Someone else.”

  “I’m game for whatever you have in mind.”

  “What about you, Danny?” Basil turned his attention to the younger twin.