Darkness Comes (22 page)

In the back of her mind, she wondered what accounted for her father’s extraordinarily long life span, why he looked like a man in his prime, in his late twenties. It wasn’t natural, given that Feryn had never told her a Breeder’s lifespan was any different than a human’s. And it was only recently that she learned that she was anything other than human; obviously her father was unique in that he was still alive after four and a half centuries.

Was her lifespan also significantly increased or was it only the males that were granted longer lives? Could she have many lifetimes with Feryn or would she grow old and die while he remained forever young and devastatingly handsome? And what of their children, should she actually conceive? If she didn’t share her father’s long life, would they eventually forget the woman who bore them?

Would Toby forget her, should he live a thousand years? Was there to be nothing left of her?

Pressing her lips against Toby’s temple, she inhaled deeply, taking the innocent scent of her son deep into her soul and cleansing out the darkness. If she did nothing else, she was going to save her father and her son.

Chapter 10

This was getting ridiculous; how many more days was Feryn going to ignore her? She had exhausted Toby by taking him on so many walks but she had had too much energy to sit and enjoy the extensive library that was available to her. And even though Jiro was keeping his distance from her, he was still hovering, preventing her from spending the necessary time with the security system to deactivate it properly.

If Feryn refused to talk to her, she was going to hunt him down and make him talk to her; she couldn’t stay cooped up in her room for an eternity while he dealt with his anger. Ever since Jiro had told her about how she was affecting the males, she had grown increasingly uneasy being so exposed; she was starting to feel uncomfortable going very far from the protection of Feryn’s room.

She just needed a few minutes to herself, to take a breath and not have to think and plot and scheme and worry. Luckily, there was a perfect spot just a few feet outside of Feryn’s patio doors, an old-fashioned wooden swing that hung from an enormous tree. It was big enough for two so she would be able to relax, stretch out a bit, in the fresh, twilight air. She’d be able to breathe. Punching in the new code to Feryn’s alarm, she locked Toby in the suite while he slept for the night.

It had been nearly two weeks since she had last spoken with Feryn and she had come to the conclusion that he had lied about never letting her go and when there was a… an inconvenience to him, he realized that it wasn’t worth the effort. It was not easy for Malorie to accept, since her nights continued to be filled with dreams of his love making with a few odd fragments of Feryn’s memories thrown in, things that gave her a little bit of insight into the Aradian mind. Into Feryn’s mind.

She had seen glimpses of so many things that were out there that she never even knew existed, from the different species of vampires to demons and angels to freaking fairies. And Feryn had dealt with them all, carving out a respectable niche for the Aradians he led. He was beyond remarkable and she was a simple, twenty-five year old soldier. How could she help but be in awe of him?

And he was old, ancient, really; though she was beginning to realize time moved differently for his kind. It wasn’t exactly linear, she knew that, but it was too complex for her human mind to comprehend. Perhaps in time she would begin to understand, but that time wasn’t now. He had experienced so much history; she was nothing but a moment in infinite time and he was infinite time.

One moment was all she could ever really hope for; if she lived a normal life span that would be all she had anyway. If she shared her father’s life span… she couldn’t even allow herself to think along those lines because it would be living on time that wasn’t necessarily hers to live. She might not live for hundreds of years; she might only live for eighty. Or she could die in a few weeks.

“What have we here?” a deep, velvety voice asked as the swing shifted and someone joined her on the wide seat. She felt the warmth of a man’s skin as he leaned over and pressed his nose into the curve of her neck, breathing deeply. Jerking her head away, she continued to ignore the intruder as he let out a low hum of arousal. Her body stiffened at the sound: an Aradian male. She was so screwed, and not in a good way. “You smell delicious; no wonder why Feryn couldn’t resist having you while we were babysitting the vampires.”

Bemused, she looked over her shoulder and saw the auburn haired Aradian that had been at the mall a lifetime ago. Royce or Royle or something. Narrowing her eyes, she shot him her best glare, which only made his smile widen. He lowered his chin and looked at her with what she assumed was meant to be a seductive smolder that simply annoyed her. His liquid gold eyes were molten as he inched closer, pressing his hot body against hers on the suddenly much smaller swing.

He brushed his fingers over the vein in her throat and she felt… nothing. There was simply nothing there, no interest, no attraction, no spark. She would have expected to feel something, being that she was a Breeder and he was an Aradian, at least that’s what Jiro implied; though, she hadn’t been attracted to Jiro either. It was becoming more and more obvious that she wasn’t like the Breeders that had come before. Perhaps it had something to do with her father’s and grandfather’s long, long lives.

Or maybe it was simply Feryn; no other Aradian would do.

She rolled her shoulder to dislodge his hand but he seemed to take it as an invitation. “Give us a taste, love.”

Before she could tell him no, his hand was around her neck and his teeth were at her throat. There was a slight pinch and then he was drinking. He had moved so fast, she hadn’t been prepared. Instinctively, she thrust her elbow into his sternum, dislodging his fangs from her neck. Standing up, she glared at the man who was now gaping at her, his lips stained crimson.

“My gods,” he breathed, reverently touching his fingertips to the drop of blood that clung to his bottom lip. “What are you?”

She should have expected his next move, but even if she had been prepared, she wouldn’t have been able to stop him. Between one heartbeat and the next, she was on her back on the soft grass and he was covering her with his solid body, his teeth once more buried in her throat. If he wanted, he could mark her and then take her and she would be powerless to stop him. Pushing desperately against his shoulders, she cried, “Stop!”

And just as quickly as he attacked, he was gone, landing with a bone breaking thud several feet away. Feryn’s familiar voice came out in a low, protective growl, “I said no one was to touch her.”

“Forgive me,” Royce or Royle said, never taking his eyes from Malorie as she awkwardly sat up and placed her hand over her bleeding throat. The auburn haired Aradian fell forward onto his hands and knees and started to crawl towards her but stopped when a low growl emanated from Feryn’s throat. Lustfully, Royce or Royle groaned, “She’s still bleeding and you haven’t been tending to her; she’s unmarked.”

Tautly, Feryn kneeled down next to Malorie and clumsily turned her head to the side. But his lips were soft as he tenderly stroked his tongue over the wounds. She had to struggle to keep her eyes from sliding close as the familiar heat swept through her. Sitting back on his heels, he looked at her with such naked longing and hunger in his eyes she wanted to weep. Cradling the back of her head, he rasped, “Are you all right?”

She could only nod, feeling a strange lassitude wash over her; Feryn had returned. Keeping his eyes on her, he growled, “Leave, Royle.”

“What is she?” the man asked in wonder, ignoring the palpable warning in Feryn’s voice, his posture.

“Mine.” Feryn held her eyes as he said that one word and she felt her heart emerge from its suffocating cocoon and take flight. It was a ridiculous organ anyway.

Standing up, ignoring Royle, his voice gentled as he held out his hand to her. “Come.”

Without hesitating, she slid her hand into his and felt like she was coming home. He pulled her to her feet then wrapped an arm around her waist as he led her back to his rooms. “Forgive me for putting you in that position.”

“Mmm,” she murmured, leaning into his strength and being able to breathe once again. When did he become her oxygen? “Where have you been?”

“Nowhere,” he said softly, shaking his head as they reached the door. He punched in some numbers and nothing happened. He repeated the process and frowned when the same thing happened; or didn’t happen. Turning his head, he simply looked at Malorie and arched a single eyebrow.

Coming out of her daze with a self-conscious smile, Malorie stepped forward and punched in the new code and the two of them entered the rooms that had been her home for nearly a month. Looking over her shoulder, she sheepishly admitted, “I wasn’t sure who had your passcode and I wanted to make sure nothing happened to Toby.”

“You hacked into my security system?” His lips pursed in disbelief but his eyes glimmered with amusement. At her nod, he smirked, “And the retinal scanners?”

“I changed those, too,” she shrugged, dismissing the impressive skill easily. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to disable the locks to get to my father….”

“He’s in a compound in Europe, far from this place,” Feryn replied with a slight smile, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “It was decided that it would be wiser to keep the two males far apart in case there was a breach of our security. It seems our biggest threat came from you.”

The smile disappeared from his face as he studied her, memorizing every detail of her face. The seriousness of his expression worried her; she didn’t know what it meant; only that it wasn’t good. “It’s too dangerous for you to remain here; you saw what happened with Royle, and I trust him with my life.”

“Then you’ll find a place where we can be together?” she asked pathetically, tears filling her eyes as she understood what he was saying before the words passed his lips.

“I’m letting you go,” he said, closing the distance between them and cupping her face in his broad palm. His expression was stoic, but his eyes betrayed the depth of sorrow he was feeling. Brushing his thumb over her lower lip, his voice dropped to a whisper, “You and your son.”

“What?” Even though she had been expecting it, it was difficult to hear.

Gathering his composure, he dropped his hand and took a step backwards; he might as well have stepped through the Netherspace for the distance that existed between them in that moment. As she numbly watched, he grew in size, sucking the air out of the room until all that existed was Feryn the Aradian, leader of his people, arrogant and proud.

“I wish for you to spend some time in the human village until the bond between us is extinguished,” he continued, ruthlessly ignoring her anguish. “The pain is only temporary and should pass within a few days; two weeks at most, and then you will be free to take Toby and go anywhere you desire.”

He was letting them go? Her emotions were in turmoil but the words that come out were, “But aren’t there vampires in the human village?”

He nodded and she wanted to scream, about being rejected, about being sent to live amongst fucking vampires, about everything. Tonelessly, he continued, “They will keep their distance, Malorie. They are repelled by the very thing that they lack: life and as a Breeder you are the very essence of life; you are creation.”

“It’s never stopped them from attacking before,” she protested, trying to keep it together as she tried to figure out how to seduce him in the next few minutes otherwise she was never going to get the chance. “I mean, I’ve spent my life fighting vampires….”

“They were in a killing frenzy,” he explained patiently. “Under normal circumstances, they stay as far away from Breeders as possible. Unless directly ordered to kill a Breeder, but you won’t have to worry about that. I’ve never allowed vamp-mad Aradians or their creatures anywhere near this island and since the Aradian who would pose the greatest threat are still recuperating from their losses you and your son will be safe.”

“And afterwards?” Her voice was rising pitifully; it wasn’t very seductive.

“Don’t go looking for vampires and you won’t have any troubles,” he offered harshly with a cold shrug of his broad shoulders.

“What about Taella?” She was desperate to break through his icy exterior; if she could reach the man who desired her, she might get through to him. “Do you trust her?

“Why wouldn’t I?” he was genuinely confused by her question. “Vamp-mad Aradians are very easy to spot, Malorie; their eyes are dead. Taella’s eyes are still luminous; she doesn’t suffer from vamp-madness, if that is what worries you.”

“Don’t talk to me as if I were a child,” she cried out, wanting to stomp her feet and scream at the unfairness of his dismissal. It was one thing to expect it when she hadn’t seen him for so long, but for him to look at her with such naked longing and then reject her anyway….

“Malorie,” he said patiently. “You don’t have any cause for alarm.”

“I don’t trust her,” Malorie bit out, struggling to find the words to explain her distrust of Taella. “She knew I was different but she didn’t know what I was.”

He sighed heavily, “She’s a vampire creator, Malorie.”

She looked at him with a disbelieving expression, “And you don’t think that makes her just the teensiest bit dangerous? I’ve killed many, many vampires.”