Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 05] Read online

  The instant the door closed Basil picked up the closest thing to him—a glass bowl on the table—and threw it against the wall. It shattered into a dozen little pieces and did nothing to relieve his pain.

  “That was a nice bowl.”

  Spinning around, Basil saw Trinity standing in the doorway. “I have dozens more of equal beauty.” He supposed since he was the one who made the mess, he should be the one to clean it up. “Were you eavesdropping?” he asked as he scouted for the broom and dustpan.

  “I came in around the time Cooper was explaining how much better your life is that he lied.” She took the dustpan from him. “He’s right.”

  Basil was more than shocked by her comment. “Come again?”

  “Well, not in the lying part but that you wouldn’t have trusted him, trusted that he wanted to help you. Tell me honestly, if you had known from the start who sired him, would you have trusted him?”

  He swept the shards into a pile, grinding his teeth as he worked. “Like I told him, neither of us will ever know that because he never gave me the choice.”

  “I’m not condoning his actions, but I am saying that I can see his reasoning for not telling you the truth.” She held up a finger to stop him. “In the beginning. But after the two of you left Avadur and were on the run, he should have told you then.”

  “Exactly. But he doesn’t see it that way. It’s not just his choice to hide his true sire from me that hurts.”

  “It’s the fact that he had a whole other life that you didn’t know about.” She stood after he’d brushed the glass into the pan and met his eyes.

  She knew him so well. “Yes. He has told me so often since rescuing me from my father that he thought of himself as my father. If that were true, wouldn’t he have wanted to share the most exciting part of his life with me? Fuck, Trin, he had a wife and never saw fit to introduce us. How am I not supposed to be hurt by that?”

  “I know.” She dumped the glass into the garbage, dropping the pan beside it, then turned to Basil. “Do you want me to go beat him up for you?”

  He laughed and went willingly into her arms. “I love you.”

  “Feeling’s mutual.” She ran a hand over his hair, looking at him with such love it made his legs weak. “It’s been a crazy few weeks for us, hasn’t it?”

  “And then some. How are you holding up?” He traced his index finger along her cheek.

  She shrugged and bit her lip. “I want to scream most of the time, and the other times I want to crawl in a hole and cry myself to sleep.” She shrugged again. “I keep thinking she needs me and I’m not there for her. I hate your mother for robbing us of our daughter.” She let out a long breath. “How are you holding up?”

  “You saw the glass on the floor. I pretty much tore up the Realm trying to get my mother’s attention, so I would have to say I’m not doing so great.” He leaned his forehead on hers. “What are we going to do, Trinity? What if we never get her back?”

  She firmly took his chin in her hand. “We will. I am determined to find our daughter even if I have to rip a hole in the dimensions to get to the Realm of Mystics.”

  “Let’s hope Starla can do just that.”

  ***

  Gabriella’s room was dark. Entering, Cooper saw that she was asleep in her bed. She looked like a goddess asleep on a cloud of white. He stripped off his jacket, slipped his feet out of his shoes, then tiptoed to her bed. He had to feel her, be near her. He longed to hold her in his arms, to have her curl to him in her sleep and cuddle against him. For twenty years he’d slept alone, without her near him and now that she was back, he wanted to have what they’d once had.

  The togetherness.

  Thinking it would be best to stay clothed, Cooper slipped under the covers beside her. Her back was to him and he pressed his face into her hair, drawing in the fragrant scent of her hair. He’d always loved her hair, the length, the silkiness of it, and couldn’t resist touching it now.

  She moaned in response.

  He longed to touch more of her but knew it was a risk to do so. He didn’t want her waking up and asking him to leave. So he laid beside her, stroking her hair softly, listening to her sleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  In her sleep, Gabriella dreamt of her husband’s loving arms holding her to his chest, his fingers gently playing with the ends of her hair as he kissed her softly on the mouth. They lay naked, savoring the taste and touch of each other’s bodies. His hands were so gentle as they skimmed along her skin, stopping at the small dip in her back. He pulled her closer and she felt the press of his hardness against her aching flesh.

  She moved for him in a seductive dance that stroked flesh against flesh. Her body heated, his body responded. When he rolled on top of her, she parted her legs to allow him inside. Their eyes met and she felt so much love in that simple glance that it rippled like warm water throughout her body. He took her lips and pressed inside.

  She woke with a start, sitting straight up in her bed, looking around, bewildered. Her loins ached with a need she knew would not be sated without the one she loved. Curling her legs to her chest, she wept.

  She wanted Cooper so badly it hurt.

  The knock on her door startled her from her tears and, sniffling, responded. “Yes?”

  “It’s Trinity. Are you decent? Can I come in?”

  Gabriella dashed her tears away and dried her face on the sleeve of her nightshirt. “Yes, of course. Please, come in.” She dropped her legs and smoothed out the covers as Trinity entered her room.

  “Oh, you’re in bed. I didn’t wake you I hope?”

  “No, I was already awake.” Leaning over the bed, Gabriella turned the bedside lamp on. “I seem to sleep in spurts these days.”

  “It’s common for vampires.” Trinity sat on the edge of the bed. “You were crying?”

  Gabriella tipped her head down, ashamed. “I had a dream.”

  “About Cooper.” Utterly surprised, Gabriella looked up. “It’s understandable. You miss him.”

  “I do, terribly. Yet I feel so betrayed by him. Oh, my emotions are like a rollercoaster, up and down.” She sniffled, the tears stinging her eyes. “I just don’t know what to do.”

  “Basil’s pretty upset with him too.”

  Gabriella sniffled again. “What about you? What are your feelings about Cooper? Or about me, for that matter? I’ve invaded your home at a time when you have other things to deal with. Basil told me about your daughter.” She laid her hand over Trinity’s. “I am so sorry.”

  “You haven’t invaded anything. Having you here is a nice distraction.” Trinity patted her hand softly. “What do I feel about Cooper and his lies? Hm…I don’t like what he did, that he’s lied to Basil for all these years. But, honestly, I’m not surprised. Cooper is a secretive sort, never really talking about himself much. He’s always baffled me.” Trinity shrugged.

  “That sounds nothing like the Cooper I know. He has always been full of stories, of his youth, of his father’s encouragements to have him practice medicine, of his intelligence. He has such an inquisitive mind. His father so hoped he would follow in his footsteps, become a practitioner, but Cooper preferred the investigative aspect of medicine, particularly after death. He and Philip, my physician, worked tirelessly to find a cure for my cancer. Unfortunately, they never found one.”

  “Which brings us to what he did to you. Do you hate him for turning you?”

  Gabriella twisted the blanket in her hands nervously. “I could never hate him. I feel betrayed by him, hurt definitely, but I don’t hate him. He promised me he would never turn me. When he woke me, I was sure he had done so because a cure had been found. When he made love to me so sweetly, complete with flower petals on the bed, I thought our life would finally be what it was meant to be.”

  She took a long breath,
her voice breaking when she spoke. “Then he bit me.”

  “Without telling you what he was doing?”

  She sniffled the tears away, refusing to give in to them. “He told me it was the only way, that there was no cure. How could he have done that to me?”

  “Have you asked him?” Trinity handed her a tissue.

  It was useless to try to fight the tears off and, taking the tissue, Gabriella wiped them away. “I have and he’s repeatedly told me he did it for my benefit, that no cure could be found, that he couldn’t leave me in my stasis forever.”

  “Would you have preferred he leave you…the way you were? Frozen? That just sounds so weird.”

  Gabriella laughed. The sound was so foreign to her now. “It was more of a comatose sedation. I had machines keeping my heart and brain functioning and other devices that kept my body from deteriorating. For me, it was no more than he put me to sleep and woke me hours later. I had no idea I was asleep for twenty years.”

  “But for him it was twenty years.”

  She hung her head, picking the tissue apart. “I realize that.”

  “I can’t imagine what it must have been like for him, all these years, without you. I can tell how much he loves you.” Trinity chuckled lightly, catching Gabriella’s attention. “Sorry, it’s just weird to see him like that. I’ve known him for eight years and rarely ever saw him smile. Oh, he doted on Basil, and I could tell how much he cares for him, but with you…it’s different.”

  The Cooper Gabriella knew and loved had been full of life, full of smiles and laughter. Before she’d gone to sleep. “I don’t doubt his love for me, and that is what is so hard to deal with. If he loves me as I know he does, how could he have done this to me without discussing it with me first?”

  “If he had, if he had said to you, ‘Gabriella, I can’t cure you but I can turn you into a vampire and you’ll never have to worry about being sick again’ would you have said yes?”

  She pushed up from the bed, too restless to sit. “I would have wanted to look at other options.”

  “Like what? Chemo? Medication? I don’t know what stage your cancer was in when you were put to sleep—and that just sounds fucked up—sorry.” Trinity caught herself.

  “I’ve heard the word a time or two.” Gabriella reassured her with a wave of her hand and a smile. “Before I was placed into the coma I was given three months, at best, to live.”

  “Yikes! So waking you now, you would have had the same amount of time, maybe less, right?”

  Gabriella nodded, and knew where the conversation was going. “Okay, yes, there wouldn’t have been much time to look for alternative methods to healing me. Still, I would have liked the choice.”

  “Do you hate what you are now?”

  “I really don’t feel that much different than I did before…well, before the cancer. I have all this energy I didn’t have before, and my senses are keener, but aside from that, I feel no different.”

  “So being a vampire really isn’t all that bad? Considering the alternative?”

  Her lips curved up in a wry smile. She knew where Trinity had been going and had fallen right into it. “It is better than being dead, yes. But it’s the choice. I wasn’t given one. He never told me what he was planning. That is what hurts.”

  “I get that, and I can’t imagine what that must be like for you.”

  Gabriella turned to Trinity, curious. “How were you turned? I assume it was Basil who turned you?”

  She nodded, pulling her long red ponytail over her shoulder to play with the end. She really had lovely hair, Gabriella thought, even if it was blood red. “It was Basil, and we’d discussed his life as a vampire, what it was like and I had expressed an interest. But he asked me, not out right. He didn’t come out and say, ‘Can I turn you into a vampire?’, but it was implied. I gave myself to him willingly, my virginity and my life, at the same time.”

  “He sired you when he made love to you?”

  Trinity nodded, a sly smile lifting her lips and Gabriella could see the love she held for her man in the glitter in her eyes. “It really was a beautiful moment.”

  Cooper had turned her while making love as well. Only she didn’t look back at it fondly. Would she ever? “But he gave you the choice. You knew what was coming and you knew you could say no. I wasn’t given that decision.”

  “I know.” Trinity stood, shoving her hands in her pockets. “And it doesn’t matter what anyone says to you, it’s you who has to come to terms with it and decide what to do about it.”

  “Precisely.”

  “I don’t envy you your dilemma.”

  “Betrayal isn’t easy to overcome.”

  Trinity nodded her head reverently. “I know that all too well.”

  Gabriella cocked her head to the side. “Oh?”

  “Basil cheated on me.”

  “Oh my.”

  “But he did it for my benefit. Yeah, I know how that sounds.” Trinity sighed heavily. “He knew it was the only way that I would leave him. Long story short, his father threatened his life and anyone he held dear. Basil knew if I was in his life, I wouldn’t be safe. So he did the one thing that he knew would tear us apart.”

  “Taking another woman to bed?”

  Trinity nodded soberly. “I was devastated. I wanted to kill him. I swore I would never fall in love again.”

  “What changed?”

  “I found out the truth.”

  “You forgave him?”

  Trinity chuckled. “Not easily, but yeah. Don’t get me wrong, it still stung, what he did…but I love him more than anything—well, almost anything.” She sighed deeply.

  Gabriella suspected that anything was her child.

  “Well, I just thought I would pop in to see how you were holding up. If you need anything…”

  “You’ve been so generous to me thus far. I don’t know how to repay you, or Basil.”

  Trinity shrugged. “We don’t need repayment. It’s a huge house and there’s plenty of room. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”

  “May I ask you something?”

  Trinity stopped before opening the door to leave. “Sure.”

  “What is your daughter’s name?”

  “Felicity Rose.”

  “What a beautiful name.” Trinity nodded, then left. Gabriella could only imagine what she must be going through. Nothing was worse than losing a child.

  To busy herself, Gabriella tidied up the bed, smoothing the covers until there wasn’t a single crease to be seen. Would she be able to forgive Cooper as easily as Trinity had forgiven Basil?

  She wished she had the answer to that.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cooper was at a loss. He had no one to go home to, no duties to carry out, no research left to go over. In all the years he had been alive—and he’d truly lost track how many they were—he had never been so bored before. There had always been something for him to do. In his youth it had been helping his father run his private medical practice in their home, tending to the household duties that his father often had little time for, and studying his schooling. He’d always kept active, even in his early adult life, studying every moment he’d had free and tending to his father’s patients when he was unavailable or out on a house call. Even after Cooper had been taken by Avadur he’d kept busy. Sure, he’d done so to keep his sanity for the most part, the beatings and humiliating sexual acts alone had threatened to drive him over the edge, not to mention the threat to his father’s life if he ever left. But he had never been the type to simply sit around doing nothing.

  That was why he was now walking the city streets. He was restless, bored, and yes, frustrated. The two people he loved more than air itself wanted nothing to do with him.

  He saw two familiar faces in the di
stance and decided that it might be nice to have some friendly banter.

  Though Dante and Danny were born identical twins, looking at them together, one would never know it. Sure, they resembled each other with the dark hair and bronze Hispanic skin. Even their eyes and mouth were the same. But Danny was years younger than his brother due to the fact that he’d been turned into a vampire at the tender age of thirteen, just over twenty years earlier. Since vampires didn’t age as quickly as humans, he was now a cocky seventeen year old, where his brother was a mature thirty-something.

  From what Cooper could tell, the brothers were roughhousing. Since he had no brothers of his own, Cooper found it fascinating to watch the two interact. Cooper cringed when Danny threw a right cross which caught his brother right in the chin.

  “Shit, bro, you were supposed to deflect it. What were you daydreaming about? Like I can’t guess,” Danny snorted, then spinning, sent out a roundhouse kick Dante’s way.

  “Starla’s been teaching you her moves I see.” Dante grabbed the leg, flipped his brother over and dropped him on his back. Dust plumed up as Danny went down.

  “And thinking about your sweetie makes you soft.” In a scissor move, Danny scooped Dante’s legs out from under him, bringing him down hard onto the ground.

  Both brothers sat panting, staring at each other for a few moments before Dante finally spoke. “You don’t need me to teach you to fight.”

  “Oh…this was about you teaching me? I thought this was me teaching you.” Laughing, Danny dodged the clump of dirt Dante threw at him.

  “Hello gentlemen.”

  Both men turned as Cooper came up behind them.

  “Fancy meeting you out here, Cooper.” Dante hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. “Never would have pictured you as the slumming type.”

  Slumming? Then Cooper saw the area he was walking in and shrugged. It was known as Jacob’s Cove’s red light district.

  “Then again, I guess we really don’t know you like we thought.”

  Apparently, they had been filled in. “I am still the same man I was before.”

  “Well, sure, except for the fact that you were sired by the king and had a wife hidden away for years. A wife? You really had a wife?” Dante asked with astonishment.