Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 05] Read online

  Her smile was as bright as the full moon above. “I believe it’s been at least an hour since the last time you recited those words to me.”

  “My heart is filled with the love I have for you. I cannot breathe but to breathe for you. When I am with you I feel alive and whole.”

  She tilted her head ever so slightly. “I feel the same. What is this all about, Cooper?”

  He drew in a long breath just to steady himself before he spoke again. “There is something I have not told you about myself. Something, I fear, you may not be ready to hear.”

  “You’re a vampire.”

  His jaw dropped as he stared into her knowing eyes.

  “I’ve known for some time now. And here I thought you were about to propose to me.” Her laughter was like a delicate song drifting in the wind. “You’re a vampire, Cooper, and I love you still, so wipe that worry from your mind.”

  “How did you find out? How could you know?”

  “How could I not? I have seen your teeth when we make love and the way your eyes begin to take on a different shade of blue when you’re excited. Also, your inability to be in the sunlight, always preferring the night for our rendezvous. But really it was the blood I caught you sipping one night when you thought I was fast asleep in your bed.” Her smile widened as she delicately stroked his face. “It surprises you that I’m so nonchalant about it.”

  “Of course. How could it not. How long?”

  She tapped her head in thought. “How long have we been seeing each other now?”

  His jaw dropped once more. “That long?”

  She laughed boldly. “Well, not from the first moment, but within a few days. Remember that day you serenaded me on my doorstep. I was so overwhelmed that you would sing to me that I threw my arms around you, kissing you boldly on the lips.”

  “Our first kiss. How could I forget?” His heart warmed with the memory.

  “I felt your teeth elongate then. At the time I thought you’d pulled away because I had been too bold, but later, when you kissed me goodnight, your teeth were normal. I’ve known your kind existed for some time. How could I not when they’ve begun to appear more often?”

  “I didn’t frighten you?”

  “Oh, Cooper.” She kissed his lips softly, lingering for several moments before pulling away to look him directly in the eyes. “You don’t have a harmful bone in your body. I could never be afraid of you.”

  ***

  She had definitely been afraid of him today.

  The knock on his door startled him. As he dashed to answer it, he fully expected Gabriella to be on the other side.

  He was both shocked and disappointed it was Basil.

  “I’ve come for answers and you had better damn well give them to me.”

  Cooper stepped aside to let Basil inside. “I’ve nothing left to hide.” He shut the door, turning to Basil. The anger he saw in Basil’s eyes struck him deep. “You have every right to be angry.”

  “Damn right I do. I don’t know where to begin. I want to rip your head off is what I want to do. I feel betrayed,” he said lastly, expelling it on a long breath.

  “I never meant to betray you.”

  Basil’s snort of laughter struck another deep wound. “You told me one of Avadur’s minions sired you before he brought you to my father.”

  “No, that is not entirely true. You only assumed it. I…chose not to set you straight on who actually sired me.”

  Basil’s jaw tightened. He shoved his hands in his pants pockets. “Why? Why lie to me about it?”

  “I didn’t so much lie as omit the truth.”

  Again the snort from Basil. “One and the same,” he growled, his eyes narrowing.

  Cooper closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath before continuing. “In the beginning,” he opened his eyes to look directly at Basil, “I thought you were like him. That you would use me, control me, torture me. So I kept silent. I only spoke to you when spoken to. I took care of you as I was instructed, took care of Avadur but I remained distant for my own benefit. But the longer I was with you both, the more I saw that you were not like your father. As we started to grow closer, you began to confide in me. I felt that if I told you he had sired me, you would think I was on his side and you would separate yourself from me. I didn’t want that.”

  “It still doesn’t make it better.”

  “Would you have trusted me if I had told you I was his? That he had me under his control? We both know the answer to that. What would have happened to you, boy, if I hadn’t been on your side?”

  “We do not need to go there,” Basil warned with his index finger raised.

  “Avadur brutalized you,” Cooper began despite Basil’s warning. “He humiliated you, used you as entertainment for his repulsive gang. He did the same to me in the beginning, to break me down and I knew if he continued to do so with you, that someday you would become just like him.”

  “I would never be like him,” Basil insisted firmly.

  “Left to his devices, you would have, to survive. I had to protect you, save you before it was too late. If you had known I was under his control, you never would have trusted me.”

  “Then why the hell didn’t you tell me after we left? You had plenty of time then.”

  Cooper shoved his restless hands in the pockets of his trim black suit jacket. “I couldn’t chance losing you. I had to protect you from him. I knew he would come after us. I was connected to him through his blood as were you. Why do you think I insisted we move from place to place as often as we did?”

  “I thought it was because of me.” Basil ran a hand through his dark hair. “You should have told me. You’ve done nothing but lie to me all these years we’ve been together. I find out you’ve had a wife since two thousand. Can you explain to me why you thought it was best to keep her a secret from me as well?”

  “For her protection.” When Basil’s eyes widened, Cooper knew he’d said it completely wrong. “What I meant was I couldn’t take the chance that some vampire bent on revenge against you wouldn’t come after her. I couldn’t chance that someday Avadur would find his way to freedom and come looking for you.”

  “You’re connected to him through blood as well, remember?” Basil stated snidely.

  “That is why I kept her away from the castle, why I only saw her on the weekends and only at her house, why no one knew about us. Even if Avadur came after me, he would find me at the castle. She was safe where she was.”

  “You still could have told me. I would have helped protect her.”

  “She was mine to protect.”

  Basil’s jaw worked. “I thought we were family.”

  “We are.”

  “Family doesn’t lie to each other, or keep secrets. I trusted you, Cooper. You broke that trust.”

  “I did it to protect what was mine. I never wanted to hurt you.”

  Basil spoke now in a voice that was as distant as the space between them. “Yet it was exactly what you did. I don’t want you back at the house.”

  Before Cooper could say a word, Basil vanished.

  This was exactly what he had been trying to avoid.

  ***

  Her body ached with such intensity she thought it would break open. Drenched in sweat, Gabriella lay on an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar house, weeping from her pain and heartache. Her beloved Cooper had betrayed her in the worst way and now she was left to deal with the consequences. How could he have done this to her? How could he have made her into one of his kind without giving her the choice?

  In a sense, he had raped her body of her life.

  Curling into a ball, she cradled her aching bones and the burning muscles against the pain that streamed through her veins like fire ants eating away at her flesh. It hurt so bad. She just didn’t k
now what to do to make it stop.

  “You must drink from me.”

  His voice, though it had been soft, startled her. Shifting her head, she saw Cooper standing at the foot of the bed. “I…asked…please…don’t…” Her teeth chattered when she spoke.

  He moved towards her, pulling up the sleeve of his white shirt to expose his arm. “The pain will subside after you’ve fed. Drink from me, my love. Just drink.”

  “I…can’t.” She didn’t want to but his veins were calling to her, begging her to take.

  He knelt down at her side, laying his bare arm on the bed by her mouth. “You need not suffer this way. Take me, darling. Drink.”

  Unable to resist, she grabbed hold of his wrist…and bit down. The instant the blood touched her tongue she felt a jolt. It was like the most potent wine she had ever sampled and the urge to have more grew with each pull. She drank him down as if he was water and with each swallow she felt the pain slip away. When the exhaustion took hold of her, she released his arm to look up into his eyes.

  “Now you will rest.”

  His lips brush her forehead right before he disappeared.

  Chapter Nine

  The darkness surrounded her. Awakening, Gabriella sat up in the bed she’d slept in and took in her surroundings. Though there were no lights on, yet she could see with perfect clarity. Not only could she see perfectly, but everything seemed to be more defined, clearer, brighter.

  Pushing the covers aside, the rustling sound echoed loudly inside her head. She flinched. The noises around her seemed to echo in her head.. Creaking noises, like wood on wood grinding together. There were echoes of other sounds that she couldn’t define.

  It was rather maddening.

  Slipping out of the bed, her feet touched the soft, fuzzy rug, tickling a smile from her lips. Her skin seemed over sensitive as well. She spotted the clothing Trinity had given her the night…how long had she been sleeping? If it was still dark, was it still night? It had been dark when she’d run from Cooper. Her heart ached thinking of him, thinking of what had happened since she’d awoken.

  Shaking it off, she grabbed the jeans and T-shirt, though it was unlike her to ever wear either. She had no choice but to wear them now. She had no other clothes to choose from.

  There were three doors in the room. She figured one was a closet and the other an exit, so she hoped the third would lead her to a washroom.

  “Let’s see what’s behind door number one.” Opening the first door, she gasped at the enormity of the closet. “Wow. A girl’s dream closet for sure.” With a giggle, she closed that one, moving on to the next and, to her delight, she found the washroom. How perfect was it that the room she stayed in had an adjoining washroom? Scouting around inside, she found some towels, bath soaps as well as shampoo. She set her clothing and towel on the vanity. Peering into the mirror, she gaped at the reflection before her.

  Her eyes were yellow. Yellow.

  Lifting her upper lip, her eyes widened when she saw a set of fangs protruding from her teeth. She touched them and found them needle sharp. She supposed they would have to be—and she so didn’t want to go there.

  She was a vampire.

  Touching a hand to her chest, right over her heart, Gabriella was delighted to feel it beating beneath her ribcage. Thank God for small miracles.

  Stripping out of the robe, the scent caught her attention and she knew instantly it was Cooper’s. It smelled distinctly of his favorite cologne. Her heart ached as she drew in the scent.

  How could he have done this to her?

  Shaking off her tears, she stepped into the shower and started the water. The instant it touched her skin she jumped. It felt like needles against her flesh. Without haste, she adjusted the showerhead until she found a more pleasing spray of water. Then she simply stood beneath the water and let it wash over her.

  She remembered how Cooper had washed her, how his hands had glided over her slick, warm flesh. How he had held her after drawing her from the tub.

  He’d come to her and she had drank from him.

  Her eyes shot open with the memory.

  She could taste him on her lips, in her mouth…her body felt him. How odd was that? And it ached to have more of him.

  Grabbing the soap, Gabriella washed her body clean, realizing just how sensitive her flesh truly was when she skimmed over her breasts.

  There was no lump now.

  She’d refused to allow the doctors to remove her breast, opting instead for endless hours of chemo, which had made her violently ill as well as stripping the hair from her head. But she’d kept her breasts. Maybe if she had allowed them to take her breast she might never have developed cancer in other parts of her body.

  She shook that thought away, knowing it did her no good to dwell on what couldn’t be changed.

  Was she cancer free now that she was a vampire?

  She washed her hair, rinsed, then shut the water off before stepping out of the shower. She toweled dry, realizing, quite disturbingly, that she had no undergarments. How could a person wear clothing without undergarments? It was unfathomable.

  Given no other choice, she changed into the jeans and T-shirt, absolutely hating the feel of the denim against her bare flesh. What other choice did she have?

  Her first endeavor would be to see if her house was still her home. If so, she hoped her clothing was still there. She brushed her hair, noticing how vibrant it looked. Must be the shampoo.

  She was startled to see Cooper sitting on her bed as she exited the washroom.

  His smile nearly melted her. “You look radiant.”

  The words clogged her throat. She was seeing him in a new light now. A mix of the man she loved and the man who had raped her of her life.

  “I figured you would need your belongings.” He held his hand out to the large suitcase that lay open on her bed, filled with her clothing. “Though it was nice of Trinity to supply you with the jeans and T-shirt, they really don’t suit you.”

  “You kept them?” she found herself finally saying.

  “Of course. I always knew you would come back to me. That someday I would awaken you.” When he stood up, she backed away noticing the hurt in his eyes. He was so handsome with his dark brown hair so perfectly styled around a warm gentle face and his tailored suits that fit him so well. “Did you sleep well?”

  Yet she saw him differently now. “I don’t know what to say to you, Cooper.”

  He let out a long breath. “I only meant well.”

  “I’m not ready for this just yet.” She wasn’t sure when she would be ready, if ever.

  “You never feared me before. Why do you now?”

  “I can’t do this now, Cooper.” Her voice wavered with tears that threatened to break free.

  “I still love you more than the air I breathe.”

  “Please…” The tears slipped from her eyes down her cheeks. The knock on her door startled her. Taking a deep breath, she called out, “Enter.” When she turned back to Cooper she saw that he was gone.

  She blinked away the sting of the brightness when the lights came on.

  “I just thought I would come in and check on you. I wasn’t sure if you’d be awake yet, but it looks like you have been for a while. What’s this?” Trinity turned her attention to the suitcase on the bed.

  “My belongings.” Gabriella cleared her throat as she moved towards the bed. “Cooper brought them for me.”

  “He was here?”

  Gabriella nodded as she began pulling items from the case. “He left when you entered.”

  “I’m having trouble getting used to him like that.”

  Gabriella turned her head to Trinity. “Like what?”

  “Vanishing at will.”

  “You didn’t know he could do that?”
r />   Trinity shook her head as she walked to the dresser across the room. “We thought he’d been sired by one of Avadur’s men. Not the king himself.” She paused while opening the first drawer. “You knew what he was all along?”

  “I did.” Gabriella handed Trinity the items of clothing that would go in the drawer.

  “This is all so weird to me…but I imagine it’s even weirder for you. How are you doing? Really?”

  Gabriella sighed. “Confused. Hurt. Sad. There are too many emotions for me to describe them all but, mostly, I guess I feel betrayed.”

  “Because he turned you?”

  “Because he promised me he never would.” She handed Trinity her undergarments. “We always knew he would outlive me and we were fine with that. At least I assumed he was fine with it. I knew my leaving would be hard on him, but I had no idea…” She closed her eyes, letting out a long breath. “He came to me in my sleep and fed me.”

  “When? Today?”

  “I have no idea what day it is, but it was dark so I assume it was the night before. Or it could have been only hours ago. What time is it?”

  Trinity lifted her wrist. “Three fifteen.”

  “In the morning?” If that were the case, why wasn’t the sun rising?

  “In the afternoon,” Trinity supplied, heading to the closet.

  “How is that possible when it’s clearly dark outside?”

  “Right. You don’t know what’s happened. Where do I begin?” She took the first dress Gabriella handed her to slip it on a hanger before speaking. “A spell has been cast over Jacob’s Cove to encase it in darkness.”

  “Pardon me? How can that be?”

  “I kid you not. Okay, here it goes. I’ll do my best to give you the condensed version. Just over six months ago, Chaos, one of Avadur’s creations, used a ritual to break Avadur from his seclusion. He made some sort of deal with the Dark Mystics that allowed the city to be cast in darkness. Chaos’ plan was that he and Avadur would take over the city and, eventually, the world. I foiled that plan when I was killed then brought back to life by the queen and given her powers to take them both out. I managed to send Avadur back, but Chaos hasn’t been so easy to catch.”