Into the Darkness (23 page)

“Chrissake, Cheech! Let me come!”

At last, as her finger stroked inside his ass and her mouth

slid up and down his shaft. She eased her tight hold around

the base.

His instant orgasm sucked the air from his lungs, and he

heaved his hips upward, spearing relentlessly into her hot

mouth. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he chanted.

When at last the tremors racking him faded, he dropped

his ass to the mattress and lay sprawled, weak as a rag doll

while Chessa licked him, her tongue soothing him now, lulling him.

“Tell me you’ve had better,” she said, her voice thick.

“You know I haven’t.”

“Then why?”

“I don’t love you.”

“Do you love her?”

The automatic denial stuck in his throat.

Chessa raised her head from his belly. Her lips were reddened, swollen, but all color drained from her cheeks. A hollow, haunted sadness filled her eyes.

“Doesn’t change a damn thing, Cheech. I gotta get out of

here.” He raised his head to capture her gaze. “You still gonna

take me?”

A pain-filled grimace crossed her face as she pressed a kiss

to his belly and the head of his cock. Then she was on her feet

beside the bed—the movement too quick for him to see. “I

promised. I won’t go back on my word.”

Rene held her gaze for a long moment. “Thanks.”

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195

She shrugged and gave him a tight smile. “What are friends

for?”

He shut his eyes rather than watch her leave. He’d fucked

up—more ways than one. Broken another of his cardinal

rules. He’d gotten too close to Cheech. Cared about her. He

hurt because he knew he’d caused her pain.

Worse, he’d betrayed Natalie. Not that he’d made any

promises. Tomorrow, he’d compound the wrong by leaving

her behind.

“This is awkward.”

Natalie gave Erika a sideways glance. The situation was beyond awkward and nothing like she’d envisioned when she

originally set out to find her mother.

For one thing, her mother was a vampire. Had caught her

having sex in front of an avidly watching audience.

Erika had handled it all in stride, leading her to a bathroom

to clean up and acting like this sort of thing happened all the

time. Which apparently it did at
Ardeal
.

That was the name of this place—Inanna’s home. And her

mother’s. Unlike the ghouls who came and went that Simon

had mentioned, her mother had stayed.

They strolled in a courtyard with a rock wall that only

partially blocked the fierce wind whistling past. The furious

storm echoed the one brewing inside her.

She’d found her mother, but not the family she’d lost. This

vapid creature held no welcoming warmth in her curious

gaze. Yet she’d given her birth.

Disappointment tasted like a bitter pill in Natalie’s mouth.

“Who was my father?”

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Erika sighed and glanced away, looking as though the

question had drawn her far, far away. “Just some man. I was

brought here when I was much younger than you. When my

time came, I wasn’t given a choice. Inanna chose my mate and

locked us up together until she was sure I was pregnant. Robert was his name. He was very handsome.”

She’d been confined, too? “What happened to him?”

Her soft snort of laughter held the edge of a sob.

“You killed him, didn’t you?” Natalie couldn’t help her

bitchy tone.

Erika didn’t seem to notice. She shrugged. “I didn’t mean

to,” she said softly. “But I don’t seem to have much control.

I’m weak that way. It’s why I stay here.”

“You’re afraid to leave?”

Erika sat on the edge of a stone fountain and trailed her

fingers in the water, watching the swirling waters. “I’m afraid

I’ll do harm if my hungers aren’t fed in strictly controlled

conditions. I do get out, though.” She glanced up at Natalie.

“I’m part of the security team.”

“Were you one of the goons that kidnapped Rene and

me?”

“I’m sorry about that.” Only her expression held no true

remorse. Only emptiness.

Natalie’s glance swept her from head to foot. Her frame

was petite, hardly what she’d consider suitable for a . . . commando-SWAT-whatever their “security force” really was. “I

know I’m staring, but you seem so frail.”

“I’m not. You have a ways to go yet. The full moon cycle

has only started. By the time it ends, you’ll be fully transformed. Stronger than you can even imagine.”

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The strength she wouldn’t mind. But something else did

bother her. “Will I feel different?” she asked, pulling her hair

from her face as the wind whipped it wildly.

“How do you mean?”

Natalie looked away. “Will I be the same person—inside?”

“Change is inevitable,” Erika said, her voice sounding

dreamy. “The power you’ll gain, the things your body can

do—you can’t be the same person you were before.”

Natalie sat beside her and folded her arms over her chest.

A chill worked its way down her spine. She wanted to know

more, but even Erika, her mother, couldn’t just spit everything out. This game of twenty questions was wearing

thin—and she missed Rene. “I don’t know anything about

vampires other than what I’ve seen in movies and on TV,” she

said, trying a less direct tack.

“Then you know our secret handshake.”

Natalie glanced sideways and caught Erika’s little smile.

Oh, she was joking. “I just want to know if I’m going to become a soulless bitch like Inanna.”

Erika’s wide blue eyes saddened. “Oh, Natalie. You misjudge

Inanna. I know she seems harsh, but she has her reasons.”

Natalie snorted. “Whatever.”

“I’m not sure what made Inanna the way she is, but she’s

incredibly powerful and very, very old. If she’s not among the

first, she’s very close to the first generation of vampires.”

“You don’t know?”

“She doesn’t talk much about her past before the Dacian

kingdom.”

“That’s supposed to mean something to me?”

Another shrug. “What did you study at Tulane, anyway?”

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Natalie’s lips curved ruefully. “Would you believe journalism?”

“You wanted to be a reporter?”

She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now.”

“No, I guess not.” Her mother’s smile was a vapid stretch

of lips. “This certainly isn’t anything you can write home

about.”

Like she had a home anymore. Did the woman have a clue?

“It would make a helluva fiction book, though.”

“Want to be a novelist?”

“No. I just want this to be over.” Enough circling the tiger.

“Can you tell me about the people who killed my parents?”

Erika’s lips tightened and her gaze slid away. “Were they

good to you? Your parents?”

A direct hit and still she evaded. Natalie’s frustration was

quickly nearing her limit. “They were the best. They were

always there for me. They didn’t deserve to die that way.”

“They weren’t the first to be attacked, you know.”

“And there I thought I was special,” Natalie mumbled.

“We’ve been fostering children out since the first known

attack. Putting them with human families to hide them.”

“Who wants us dead?”

Erika shrugged, her expression unconcerned. “Who

doesn’t? Most of the world’s religions consider us demons, a

plague. They hunt us.”

“Knowing what I do now, I can’t believe humans did that to

my mom and dad.”

“Probably not. Chessa thinks it might be rogue
Revenants
.”

That word again. “What’s a
Revenant
?”

“One of the walking dead. We make them, but they aren’t

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199

like us—born into it.” Her mother’s words held a note of

condescension.

“How’d you piss them off ?”

“By not sharing power. Inanna and the other ancients, all

Born vampires, hold all the seats on the council. They govern

as they see fit, negotiate for territory with other . . . communities. They also set the rules and police accordingly. Some

folks resent the fact they have no voice.”

“But why go after the Born children?”

“Genocide.” Erika’s lips tightened. “They figure they

might win influence and power through attrition as our ranks

diminish.”

“Are there many of us?”

“Born? No. We are the source. The death givers. We made

the first
Revenants
to serve us. They’re forbidden to procreate

and make more of their kind.”

“What happens when they do?”

“We destroy the newly raised and the
Revenants
who made

them. That’s my job, actually. I troll the blood banks to make

sure everyone’s playing nice.”

“Blood banks?”

“They’re safe places we can go to feed. Humans come for

the pleasure we give.”

“The gift,” Natalie murmured.

“Right. Kind of like what you gave Pasqual,” she said,

her sly smile making her relationship to Inanna all the more

apparent.

Natalie hoped like hell she hadn’t inherited the “bitch”

gene.

“He looked very satisfied with the transaction.”

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Natalie stood, feeling sick to her stomach. “I need to get

back.”

“To Rene?” Natalie didn’t answer, but Erika nodded anyway. “There’s some talk about your stud.”

Natalie turned back at the note of caution in her mother’s

tone.

“He may be leaving soon.”

All sound seemed to grow fainter around her as her

heart beat quickened, thudding dully against her temples.

“When?”

“The morning. Prepare yourself. He’s done his part and

doesn’t want to stay. Inanna’s giving him the choice.”

“Done his part?”

“Made you pregnant.”

Her mouth grew dry, and her hand went to her belly. Pregnant? “How can you know that? It’s only been a day.”

“Inanna knows. She says if he can resist your allure, he may

leave.”

“What if
I
don’t want to stay?”

Erika’s eyes widened. “But you must. You need us to protect you.”

“And the baby.” Natalie was surprised by the bitterness in

her tone.

“Especially the baby. She’s precious to us. Our future.”

“And I’m not?”

“Of course you are,” she said, her answer coming too

quickly to be sincere, “but you will only have this one child.

Once you complete your transformation, you won’t be able to

have another.”

“So I’m to stay until the baby comes? What then?” She was

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201

almost afraid to ask, because she knew she wasn’t going to

like the answer.

“She will be fostered out—just like you were. In a safer

place.”

No wonder Natalie didn’t feel an ounce of connection.

Erika wasn’t family—wasn’t anything approaching human.

Despite the dryness and the lump forming at the back of her

throat, she asked, “And I won’t ever see her?”

Erika shrugged, her expression free of all remorse. “It’s too

dangerous. You’d draw attention to her. You must give her

up—for her sake.”

“You’re so sure it’ll be a girl?”

“We only bear girls. A male would be the equivalent to the

second coming and that’s never going to happen.”

The nonchalant way she said the last—like she had the inside scoop—had hairs prickling on the back of Natalie’s neck.

She turned away. “I have to get back.”

“Savor your time with him. If you want him, try to make it

impossible for him to say good-bye.”

chapter

14

hessa tracked Nic down to his quarters in the

Cbarracks. From the looks she was given by

the members of the team she passed, either it was

unusual for him to be there at this time of night or

someone had already broadcast the news of what

she’d done with Rene.

Not bothering to knock, she opened his door a

crack and slipped inside the darkened room. Sparse

as a monk’s cell, she didn’t waste a glance on the

contents. Her gaze went straight to Nicolas, who

sat on his cot with his back to the wall, a sheet

draped over his lap. Lit only by moonlight filtering

through his narrow window, his hair was a soulless

black against his naked silvered shoulders.

“Chessa, get out.”

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So, he knew. If his voice had been rough with anger, she

would have brazened it out. However, his tone was flat.

Hesitant to approach, she leaned against the door and

searched for something to say to fill the silence that stretched

between them. “The storm’s nearing landfall.”

His legs shifted, one knee coming up under the sheet. “You

came to give me a weather report? Thanks. Now leave.”

Feeling inexplicably anxious, she blurted, “Erika said you’d

be departing after it hits to check the river beside the graveyard.” Damn, she sounded inane, but she had to keep the conversation going or her ass would be tossed out the door.

He blew out a long breath. “That’s my job.” He rested an

elbow on his knee and pushed back his long hair. “And not

something everyone here doesn’t already know. Now, will you

get out?”

The last sentence held a hint of irritation—something

she could work with. “I came to tell you I’m leaving before