Dark Solace

Published by

Melange Books, LLC

White Bear Lake, MN 55110

www.melange-books.com

Dark Solace, Copyright 2014 Tara Fox
Hall

ISBN: 978-1-61235-887-1

Names, characters, and incidents
depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States of
America.

Cover Design by Caroline
Andrus

DARK
SOLACE

by Tara Fox Hall

With Theo facing deadly odds in a fight to
the death, Sar makes a pact with Lash, agreeing to give Devlin
another chance in return for Theo’s life. Reforging her
relationship with her handsome vampiric lover mends old wounds,
even as Theo moves to regain Sar just for himself. But Devlin’s old
enemy Ulysses appears, taking Sar prisoner and burning Devlin badly
in a surprise attack. Rescued at the eleventh hour by Lash, Sar
nurses Dev back to health, Theo bristling at a distance. Yet Lash’s
own day of reckoning is here as his long life ebbs to a finale,
leaving Sar to face the decision of offering him salvation, knowing
that the price is her own humanity.

Table of
Contents

"Dark Solace"

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

About the Author

Previews

Chapter
One

On August thirty-first, the kettle that had
been simmering for so long finally exploded.

I was spending the day with my werecougar son
Devon at Danial’s home, feeding and playing with him while Devon’s
father Theo and his faerie-demon colleague Terian were out on a
job. Devon had already doubled in size since his birth, and his
eyes had opened the day before. His ears were just beginning to
stand up on their own. He was still drinking milk, though he also
liked processed chicken.

It was so nice to sit here with him, and
simply hold him. To feed him myself, to touch his tan spotted fur,
to know he was mine. My body hadn’t changed, so the milk I was
feeding him had come from a cow and was dispensed via bottle. Both
Theo and I had come to the conclusion the reason for my lack of
breast milk was because I wasn’t werecougar. I was less sure of
that, though, wondering if all my exposure to the vampire virus in
the past few years—particularly now having birthed two
dhamphirs—might have made me unable to provide milk of my own. But
really, here and now, it didn’t matter if either was the truth. My
child in my arms was the last baby I was ever going to have. I
didn’t want to miss a moment of it.

Holding Devon and sharing this happy moment
with him brought more than its fair share of guilt, though. Devon’s
fraternal twin, my daughter Venus, was miles away at Hayden with
her father, Devlin. I had barely seen her since her birth.

I assuaged my guilt with the knowledge that I
had been told by my doctor that until my half vampire daughter came
to see me as something other than food—a real enough danger with a
dhamphir child—I was not to hold her or get within striking
distance. Also, having seen the change in Devlin since he’d
welcomed his child into the world, I had to give credit to Danial.
He’d been right; Dev was going to take good care of her. I’d been
wrong to think he wouldn’t. I’d been wrong to think he wouldn’t
make a good father. Maybe I’d been wrong about him, too...

Stop right there, Sar. In that way lies
madness, and a lot of pain. Leave it alone and remind yourself to
ask Danial for a little sip of blood when he wakes up. Your longing
for Dev is just an effect of the vampire virus in your system
ebbing below needed levels.

Having a resistance to the vampire virus I’d
been so much exposed to was a boon, as it meant I would have a much
longer lifetime than a normal human, so long as I had regular
infusions of vampire blood to keep me in a kind of “half-turned”
state. A side effect of that was being in thrall to the donating
vampire, if he gave me too much blood. That exact thing had
happened last winter, when Devlin had saved my life with more than
a little donating on his part. I’d fallen in love and lust, which
had led to giving him an Oath, which I’d later regretted. He’d
broken it, of course, just like he’d broken my heart.

Leave it alone. Focus on the positive; you’re
able to get blood from Danial now with no adverse effects.

Putting Dev out of my mind, I focused again
on Devon, taking the bottle away from his grasping paws. “You can’t
eat anymore, piglet,” I said affectionately, when he growled at me,
extending his sharp claws to try to get the bottle one last time.
“Your stomach is already round and hard. I don’t want you to get
sick. Go to sleep.”

Devon yawned, then went to sleep, purring
softly. I began to drift off, then was bluntly awakened by the
front door slamming. Devon awoke immediately, and began crying. I
comforted him, but stayed where I was, my arms wrapped protectively
over him. If this was something bad, like an attack, I had to
protect him. That meant staying where I was and keeping him
quiet.

“Sar?” Theo called weakly. “Sar—”

I got up as quickly as I could, and went to
the door carrying Devon. Theo was sitting on the stone bench in the
mud room, swaying and holding onto the wall for support. He was
hurt, covered in bruises and blood. It looked like it was all his
own.

“Oh God, Theo!” I cried, going to his side.
“Danial!”

Devon was screaming by this time, his claws
digging into me. I held him close, trying to comfort him, not
knowing what to do for Theo. He didn’t seem to be healing up his
injuries at all. What if he was mortally wounded?

Danial arrived, took one look at Theo and
then put his arm around him. “Come on.” He helped Theo into his
bathroom, me following with Devon. I closed the door, then put the
yowling baby werecougar down on the floor. Together Danial and I
helped Theo strip off his clothes.

Danial removed his now-bloody bathrobe and
handed it to me. “Sar, I’ll help him wash off the blood and dirt.
You get some alcohol and bandages ready, and a needle and thread.
Cover the bed with an extra sheet and towels, and wait there. Some
of these wounds are deep.”

I did as Danial asked. Devon had calmed down
some, so I laid him down gently on Danial’s bed, and got moving. By
the time Danial and Theo got out of the shower, I was ready.

Danial brought him out and laid him on the
bed, beside Devon. I had put huge bath sheets down and they
absorbed the water and some of the blood that was still leaking out
of him.“Why isn’t he healing?” I asked worriedly.

“Probably poison-laced blades,” Danial
muttered. “Do you have the needle and thread?”

I had them ready, in my hands. “Right
here.”

“Sterilize them with the alcohol,” Danial
instructed. “Then sew up the wounds that are still bleeding. I’ll
hold him down if he wakes.”

I did as he asked. I had never sewn flesh
before. It was a lot like sewing leather— in a word, difficult. I
had brought my newest sharpest needles. By the time I was done,
they were all dull, and most of them were bent to hell. I tried to
make neat stitches, doing the best I could, but the process took a
long time. Theo woke up halfway through, but didn’t struggle.

When I was done, I helped Danial bandage up
all the wounds. Theo reached out with a grimace and held his son to
him with one hand, grabbing hold of my hand with the other. “You
were right to have us stay here,” Theo said, tears in his eyes.
“You were right, Danial.”

“Never mind that,” Danial said quickly. “What
happened?”

“Terian and I were attacked. Just on the
street, walking back to our car from the meeting. It was broad
daylight. They got him in the heart at least four times.”

“Is he—?” I cried.

“No, he’s fine,” Theo reassured. “They just
wanted him out of the fighting, so they could focus on me. They
were there for me.” He paused, grimacing again. “When he collapsed,
they overwhelmed me with numbers. There had to be at least fifteen
of them.”

“Who was it?” Danial said, his eyes red.

“Karl,” Theo said. “And these weren’t just
weres. They were the Harvesters, Danial.”

Danial looked apprehensive, while I was
stymied. “Who are the Harvesters? It sounds like a bad rock
group.”

“They’re a band of werehyenas and
werejackals. A weretiger by the name of Satar leads them,” Theo
answered heavily. “I killed five of them before they brought me
down.”

“How did you get away?” I asked, nervously
clutching his hand, as if he might disappear.

“Terian healed enough to teleport,” Theo
answered. “He got me here, and then went back there, to kill as
many as he could—”

“I wasn’t much help,” Terian said, coming in
the door. He was battered and bloody, his shirt with ragged gunshot
holes all down the front. New unbroken skin showed through the many
holes. “When I went back, they were gone.”

“They’ll try again,” Danial said darkly.
“They never give up, Theo. Not until the job is done. No matter how
many people they lose.”

“There’s worse news,” Terian said slowly.
“Theo got a message on his cell right as we walked out. Robert has
finally challenged him.”

SHIT, could things get any worse? The day had
been going so well. “When?”

“A week from now,” Theo said, looking at
Danial, and then at me. “One on one. I agreed to meet him. I can’t
back out now.”

“You can’t go through with it,” I protested.
“You’re hurt.”

“Robert knew you’d get attacked,” Terian
added. “He and Karl might be working together—”

“He’s right,” Danial interjected. “Terian
will go with you to the fight to watch your back—”

“No,” Theo said with a grunt, sitting up.
“You can’t interfere, none of you. I want to beat him fairly, so I
can kill him and be done with this. If I have help doing it,
someone else might think I needed the help, and decide I’m weak. I
want this to be the last challenge for a long time.”

How many other challenges had there been over
the years? Ten? Fifty? A hundred? Theo had never mentioned any, but
by his weary words, there had been many. Why hadn’t he told me?

“It’s your decision,” Danial said seriously
to Theo. “But you’d better rest up this week. You need to be in the
best shape you can be. Robert is five years younger than you.”

Theo nodded, then his eyes cut to me. “Sar, I
want us to go home just for this week. Robert has assured me that
there will be no attacks on me in that time. He wants to beat me
too badly to lose his victory to someone else.”

Danial opened his mouth to say something,
then he closed it instead and just nodded.

I didn’t trust myself to say anything,
knowing the reason for Theo’s sudden request. So I just nodded,
too.

* * * *

That night I packed up clothes and enough
food for a week, and Theo and I drove back to my house. At Danial’s
request, I had called Warren, and told him to come back to Danial’s
for the week. Though Warren was clearly curious as to why he was
being recalled for guard duty when he had been given the next few
days off, he just agreed.

Theo held my hand the whole way home, his
eyes often glancing at Devon in the back seat, sleeping in his pet
carrier.

I hadn’t brought the dogs or the cats; I’d
been too upset. I thought with sarcasm that we were lucky that I
had remembered the house keys.

When we got there about eleven, we went
straight to bed. Theo and I slept together, with Devon in the
middle of us. There was only one thought in my mind that night, a
thought I couldn’t give voice to it: Theo thought there was a
better than even chance Robert would kill him. He wanted this last
week with me and Devon, to pack as much joy into his life as he
could in case it ended.