Hot Decadent Rising (Breath of Darkness) (17 page)

I don’t understand. Why would he want to
hurt me?

He doesn’t. Forget it. Stay calm.
You’ve lost
too much blood. Wait for me.

You’re mad.

Not mad. Disappointed.
She felt warmth
surrounding her.
We will find him together.

She wasn’t stupid. Demetri was mad at
her. But she didn’t understand why. All this time she’d thought of him as a
friend.

She glanced around at her surroundings.
She saw two dead men sprawled out in pools of blood.  

She started to feel even more
lightheaded. Her vision seemed to be darkening.  She tried to focus on Eli
and the vampire, but her vision was even darker. She knew she was dying.
No.
There’s no chance of me allowing you to die. Close your eyes and rest for a
while. I will be with you when you wake up.

***

Eli
was struggling to get up after receiving a particularly hard blow to the head.
He heard sirens in the distance, but Demetri’s sudden presence is what brought
him to his feet.

Demetri knelt down and scooped the woman
up in his arms. “Leave her alone. She has been turned. She has to be
destroyed.” Ignoring Eli, Demetri whispered the words of an ancient spell Eli
didn’t know. The image of her body faded in and out for a few seconds, and then
she was gone. “What have you done with her?”

“Fear not. She is out of harm’s way for
the moment and resting comfortably.” Appearing amused by the gruesome scene, he
glanced around. “I see you still haven’t learned to play nice with others.”

“You have to end her suffering. You
can’t leave her like that. Bring her back.” Eli demanded.

“Little Emily isn’t your concern. You
should be more concerned with the trouble Kara has managed to get herself
into.” Lifting his hand toward the vampire, Demetri smiled. “You know better
than to leave its remains for humans to discover.” The vampire’s body burst
into flames. An instant later it was gone. Nothing remained. No smoke. No ash.
No burn marks on the cement floor. He looked down at the dead humans. “You’ve
made quite a mess here. I thought it was against your laws to kill innocent
humans.”

“Innocent humans? They were not
innocent. They deserved to die.”

“Eli the merciless judge and executioner
of mankind. I like the sound of it. Shocking. I know.” Eli knew Demetri had
turned against his kind. He knew all the rumors of the demon turning completely
evil, but he couldn’t believe what Demetri did next. As he had with the
vampire, he incinerated the humans.

“You can’t do that.”

“Wrong. I already did it. You really
should stop worrying about me and check on your mate.”

“What are you talking about?” 

“Revenge is a funny thing, is it not? It
makes one act without thinking. A man kills his own daughter. It is ironic she
should die where your mother was killed so many years ago.”

“The old factory?”

“Yes. She’ll be there soon. If you hurry
you might just get there before she does.”

Eli didn’t bother to question the demon,
for he had a gut feeling it was true. He didn’t wait around to explain what he
was doing or make sure his pack followed him. He knew they would. His image was
nothing more than a blur he made it up the stairs and out of the bar in record
time. The parking lot was full of confused and drunk patrons who were being
questioned by the police, after they had fled the building during his encounter
with Tom and the bouncer. He didn’t have time to screw around. He used a
cloaking spell to keep any of them from even noticing him, as he made his way to
his car.

Within seconds of leaving the basement
he was running all the red lights speeding toward Multnomah Falls. The weather
turned violent without warning. Steady strong winds pushed hammering rain mixed
with hail sideways as it fell from the sky. The windshield wipers didn’t stand
a chance of keeping up with it. He couldn’t see much, but he didn’t slow down.
Relying on instincts and hoping for the best he kept driving. Eventually, he
had no control over his car. The rainfall was so heavy that within minutes,
water began to pool several inches deep in the streets causing the car to
hydroplane and the rear end to slide to the side each time he turned. He didn’t
care if he wrecked the car. He would run the rest of the way if the car didn’t
make it. All that mattered was getting to Kara before anything happened to
her. 

~Nine~

SURROUNDED
BY DARKNESS, Kara knew she was asleep. She felt horrible sadness, a deep
all-consuming grief. The crushing weight of it was too much to carry, but she couldn’t
remember what had caused it. She sensed that something or someone was
preventing her from waking up. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep. All
she knew was that she couldn’t open her eyes, no matter how hard she tried.
Occasionally, she heard a man and woman murmuring. It frustrated her. She
couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she knew they were talking to each
other and at times to her. She didn’t recognize their voices. It should’ve
worried her. They were strangers, but she sensed they were no threat to her. It
didn’t give her any comfort, for she couldn’t decide if they were real or
figments of her imagination. Until she began to hear thunder in the distance
everything seemed so far away, as if she were alone in another realm, separated
from everyone else. She couldn’t be certain if anything was real.

By the increasing volume of the thunder
the storm was obviously getting closer. The more she focused on it, the more
she became closer to a state of awareness. She hated storms. Actually, she
feared them. It had stormed the night her mother was killed. Lightning,
thunder, wind and rain were reminders of how powerless she felt that night. She
wasn’t able to save her mom. Her killer was like a storm. He was huge. He was a
deadly and unstoppable force. 

 She smelled coffee. It was her
favorite morning drink. Strong. Dark. Hot coffee. She never started the day
without it. It wasn’t long before the tantalizing aroma gave her enough
willpower to open her eyes. Waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light, she
squinted up at the ceiling, trying to remember where she was and what had
happened.

“You’re awake.” Startled, she sat up. A
woman walked over to her from across the room. “My name is Brianna. You’re
safe. We brought you here to recover from your injuries.” What the hell was the
woman talking about? What injuries? “How are you feeling?”

“Confused. I can’t remember what
happened.”

“Give it a minute,” Brianna suggested.
“You’ve been asleep for a long time. Are you thirsty?”

“Yeah.” Looking forward to coffee, she
nodded. “Very much so.”

“Here you go. Give this a try.” Brianna
held a glass just out of Kara’s reached. She looked up Brianna. That’s when she
noticed Brianna was blind.

Scooting over, Kara reached out and took
the glass from her. “Thank you.”

Brianna laughed. “Thank me after you’ve
tasted it.”  

“That bad?” Kara lifted the glass to her
nose. It smelled like dirty socks.

“Worse.”

She took a sip. Forcing herself to swallow
it rather than spit it out, she gagged. “It’s disgusting. What is it?”

“I tried it a few days ago. I couldn’t
agree with you more. It tastes absolutely awful. Supposedly it’s a healthy
mixture of roots and herbs. It’s supposed to help you recover quicker.”

“I’ve never been much of a health nut.
Do I smell coffee?”

Brianna reached out to take the glass
from her. “You sure do. I just finished mine. I’ll go down and get you a cup.”

While waiting for Brianna to return Kara
tried to focus on what had happened. It was bad, but that was all she could
remember.

“Here you go.” Startled from her
thoughts, Kara gasped. She hadn’t even noticed Brianna had returned.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you.”

Kara took the cup from her. “It isn’t
your fault. I spaced out. Plus, I wouldn’t even consider holding a grudge
against anyone who brought me such a cherished gift.” She took a few sips of
the coffee. It was rich, black and hot. It was heaven. “You sure do know how to
make it right.”

“Most people say the opposite. I’ve been
accused of making it too strong.”

“Idiots. They obviously have no taste at
all.” Just then, Kara remembered she wasn’t supposed to drink coffee. The
caffeine was bad for the baby, her baby. She was…no. Her baby had died.

 “Are you okay?”

Shaking her head, Kara placed her hand
on top of her belly. “No! Oh God, no!” She didn’t know where she was going, but
she had to go. She got up out of the bed. She fell to her knees but Brianna
caught her arm.

Kara knew Brianna was struggling to help
her get up. Kara tried to help, but she wasn’t strong enough to stand.
“Nikolas, I need you.”

“I’m here.” Kara blinked. Where the hell
did the man come from? He lifted her up and lowered her onto the bed as if she
weighed nothing, and then he immediately turned to Brianna. “Were you hurt,
little one?”

“Are you serious?” Stepping around him
when he reached for her, Brianna walked over to Kara’s bedside. “I’m fine. She
fell. She’s the one who needs help.” Kara was certain by the way Brianna was
looking at her that she could see now.

“You called out to me.” He was grinning
as if he’d just won a prize.

“Stop it, Nikolas.”

“You needed me.”

“Not now.”

Nikolas shrugged his big shoulders in
what had to be the most pathetic attempt to appear nonchalant that she’d ever
seen. She had a gift for reading people. Plus, having a drug smuggler for a
father meant that she lived around dangerous men her entire life. She sensed
Nikolas was far more lethal than any other man she’d ever encountered. When he
moved closer, Kara had a strong urge to get up out of the bed and run. Nothing
about him was even slightly casual. He wore ultimate power as a second skin.

 “How are you feeling?” he asked.

Kara noticed that his gaze momentarily
shifted toward Brianna. It was as he was making sure he had her approval over
how he was handling the situation.

She didn’t know him. She didn’t want to
give him too much information. “My head is a little dizzy, but other than that
I’m fine.”

He reached out for her. She flinched to
stop him from touching her. “I need to make sure you're okay. You suffered a
serious head injury.” She nodded. Not that her condition mattered. Her baby had
died, and it was her fault.

He placed his hands on either side of
her head. She felt a warm, soothing sensation radiating from his palms. At first
she figured he was a healer like her mom, but his abilities were much more
impressive. The warmth entered her head and slowly, from the top of her head to
the tips of her toes, until it filled her entire body. It was power. She
couldn’t think of any other word to describe it. His power filled her, grew in
her, until she felt as if she might burst.

She began to think about all that had
happened. She remembered waking up in the hospital. She remembered being told
that she’d lost her baby, but she couldn’t remember how she had gotten to the
hospital or leaving the hospital. It didn’t really matter. Nothing mattered
anymore. Thinking about it wasn’t going to bring her baby back.

Once he was finished, Nikolas took a few
steps back and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve healed nicely. You’re
welcome to stay here for as long as you like, but before you leave I need to
show you something.”

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Astoria.”

“I need to leave as soon possible.” She
couldn’t allow her father to go unpunished. One way or another she would kill
him as slowly and as painfully as possible.

“I understand.” From out of nowhere
clothing just appeared in his hands. He placed them on the bed next to her.
“You’ll need these.” He stared at her as if expecting her to climb out of the
bed and get dressed in front of him. Feeling way more than a little awkward,
she looked at Brianna. Hoping she’d get him to leave the room.

Smiling, Brianna winked at her.
“Nikolas.” The instant she said his name, he smiled and shifted his entire
focus on her. “Leave us.”

He shook his head. “No. She’s still
weak.”

“I will call you if I need you.”
Frowning, he stared at Brianna for several seconds. “Please, Nikolas, I promise
to call you if I need you.”

“I will be close.”

“Of course you will.” When he didn’t
make a move to leave Brianna grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door. It
was kind of funny. He moved with her as if he didn’t have a choice. She was a
small statured woman and he was a huge, extremely muscular man.

“Don’t worry. He won’t come back in.”
Brianna opened the bathroom door. “Would you like to take a bath?”

“That would be great.” That’s when Kara
realized why Brianna looked so familiar.