Taming the Night (Creatures of the Night Book 1) (24 page)

Several others landed close to her and she struggled not to turn and fight them. They were all a sig
ht. They were all wearing cuffs and chokers with silver spikes. Any surface that might be grabbed by the day walkers was spiked in silver. Boots, gloves, shirts, the fringes of their pants. She scoffed when she looked over at Nunda Lunas. He worked the African coast and was a beautiful male specimen at six foot four. He had a bald head and gleaming dark chocolate skin. He was the only one of them able to stand the pain, or to want to for that matter, of shaving his head every day. He had a tattoo over half his face and over his bald head. His tree trunk sized arms bore tribal tattoos as well as the silver spiked cuffs. The silver was startling against his skin.

“Is that necessary?
” she asked pointing at his crotch. There was a silver spike protruding from it.

“Hey, you wouldn’t want to be the one to deprive the African coast of one of her greatest assets now would you?”

She rolled her eyes and looked at the others. “You know the plan, let us get to it boys and girls.”

“Who died and left you in charge little girl,” Ira Packman asked with a deep Irish brogue.
His long red hair curled wild and free down his back and his green eyes were a gleam with mischief. He was the only hunter she knew that wasn’t drop dead gorgeous. He looked like be belonged on a pig farm more than anything else, but his muscle lent him a dangerous edge that was both attractive and scary.

“Join the t
wentieth century why don’t you Packman,” a little Asian woman with freckles across her nose said in a delicate voice. Hataso Cho was no one to mess with despite her small size.

“Someone put a muzzle on
that girl,” Ira replied with a chuckle. “You got another of those crotch spikes mate?”

“
Trust me. No one would miss your equipment,
mate
,” Terry Soladad put in. She was an Australian Hunter and nearly as tall as Nunda. She was reed thin and had silver piercings in her eye, nose, and lip, not to mention her navel. Al had heard rumors of other hidden piercing but she didn’t ever ask and didn’t really care to know.

“How would you know that kangaroo girl, you’ve never jumped on this.”

“Oh my soul. What ever shall I do without having a bloke like you in my womanly life? Oh baby, I must have you right away,” Terry replied to which a few of the others chuckled.

“Does anyone else feel that?
” Hataso asked.

Al felt the air with all her senses. There was something almost calming riding the wind. The air smelled wonderful. Night was on them now and wolves began to sing in a melodious cacophony. Al cursed.

“We have to hurry. That bitch is trying to get herself pregnant.”

Before they could head in the direction of the old house they’d seen from overhead
, a few robed shapes stepped out of the darkness. They threw their hoods back to reveal men that looked like Norse Gods. Each man pulled a sword from some hidden place beneath their cloaks. Red eyes began to glow in the woods behind them as well indicating the arrival of the slobbering masses.

“That a way Al my girl. You certainly know how to throw a
smashing good party,” Hairy Spencer, a hunter from the UK, announced with pleasure written on his pale face. His blue eyes purpled in anticipation of the fight to come. “I haven’t had a grand hunt like this in years, not since Celtic times.”

Al wasn’t sure who made the first move but before long the field was full of
burning flesh and moving limbs. The hunters mowed through the field like gladiators and she slipped away from the fray as soon as she was able. She made her way around back and waited. There was a whistle and she found Hataso standing near a few burning, and a few not burning, bodies at the back door. Al stopped when she saw a scrap of red hair in the moon light.

She was startled to recognize
Tonya Mahan amongst the fresh corpses. She looked to Hataso who shrugged. “Don’t look at me. She was walking with them like she was one of them. I think she was performing some kind of spell under the moon light.”

“Why would hu
mans be working with the wolves? That’s so stupid,” Al said angrily.

Hataso sighed. “
We gonna rescue the balance or stand around mourning the stupid red head that got involved in things beyond her understanding,” she asked in her soft tone, then turned and led the way.

“You take the upper level, I’ll take the lower,” Al instructed
as she forced Tonya Mahan from her thoughts. If she had been working with the wolves then she had been a fool, if not there was nothing Al could do to help her anyway.

“Ira was right. You
are a bossy cow,” Hataso said with an irritated look before she made her way upstairs. Al resisted the urge to go after her and smash her face in. She would have to remember that comment at their next training session.

She looked around the bottom floor and found nothing. Hataso returned and shrugged. There was nothing upstairs. Where did they have him? There had to be a basement of some sort.

“Did you see a cellar?” Al asked since Hataso had been assigned the task of checking the perimeter while the others distracted the wolves.

“In th
e backyard,” she confirmed. They made their way to the out doors. Two sentinels in robes rounded the corner and Hataso drew a slender silver blade from a small sheath at her back. Her eyes danced with mischief and mirth as she took up an offensive position. It was the only time Al ever saw a smile on the woman’s face.

“Save the balance,” Hataso instructed without looking at her.

“You are a bossy cow,” Al shot and heard a small laugh on the wind. She rushed over to the cellar and flung the door open. She took aim as she headed down into the stale darkness. The smell of sex was heavy in the air.

Jerry groaned as the torture increased. He was almost there and still he held back for dear life. What he wouldn’t give for a condom at the moment. He wanted to laugh at himself. That was the second time in so many days that the lack of a condom was driving him mad. Maybe he would just start walking around with one on.

“Focus,” Cherish growled as she rode him harder, her slick heat sheathing and resheathing him.

“Get off of him.”

Jerry breathed a sigh of relief as the sweetest voice in the universe broke in on his nightmare. The instant Cherish stood up from him he allowed himself release
spilling his seed all over the floor. She screamed out in anger at her lost opportunity.

“I am going to kill you,” Cherish said as her face contorted in an angry mask. The other women stood and hissed as well.

“Wrong,” Al said as she opened fire. The smell of burning flesh met his nose but he couldn’t do anything to cover it or his naked body.

He looked over at Al and felt his heart lurch in his chest. She was so beautiful and so fierce and at the moment his savior. She stood t
here with silver spikes protruding from her jacket, pants, a chocker, she even had silver spikes braided into her hair. A few of the women went forward and tried to knock her out of the way but then they pulled back with burning flesh.

“You might kill those
of us here, but he will survive and we will find a way to get to him,” Cherish said.

“Yeah well if you want to get to him
, you’ll have to get through me,” Al said before she dropped her gun and took out the silver blade she kept sheathed beneath her jacket. It was thick and its sharp blade glinted in the moonlight.

A few of the women tried to make it past her but in a few deft motions heads went flying every which way. This time when the women burned
, they burned for good. “You think you are untouchable but it seems that you need your heads attached to your bodies in order to stay so. Bateman told me how to kill you parasites,” Al went on, “and I’ll always be ready for you. No matter how many of you come for him”

Cherish pointed to her neck. “I li
ke the necklace. You learn fast,” she said making a motion to indicate that she might like to wring her neck again.

“Fool me once, shame on you…” Al said before she sprung into action. One slice was all it took before the woman’s head landed in a corner and was set ablaze.

She blinked as she watched the body fall and burn. She looked around the room then and shook her head. “Was that it? I thought it would be harder.”

Jerry cleared his throat. She turned to him before she sheathed her sword and came to him in a rush. She pulled at his bonds and the chains snapped. He stood up and grabbed his clothes. He put them on quickly before he turned to her. He gathered her up in his arms and kissed her soundly.

“Was that a thank you, cause I could kill somethin’ else for ya if that’s what I’ll get in return.”

“I just needed to get the taste of old lady out of my mouth. Cherish was eight hundred years old.”

“Really, she didn’t look a day over a hundred.”

He laughed as he gave her one last affectionate squeeze. “Can we get the hell out of here now?”

“As you wish,” she said as she turned and pulled him up the steps. He stopped at the top and looked back down into the hole.

“What?
” she asked.

“They were raping me. I just want to watch them burn for a little longer.”

Al took a grenade from her belt and handed it to him. He looked to her. “Is this a light grenade?”

“Nope, that’s a real live grenade.”

He pulled the pin instantly and chucked it down the hole. He then turned and took Al’s hand. The cellar exploded as they walked firmly away from it.

“Tonya is here. She thinks they are going to give her immortality so she’s been performing a spell to draw the wolves. She’s a witch!”

“She’s not an anything any more,” she said with a nod towards the back door. Hataso was pulling the body into the old house and after she came out the house went up in flames.

The battle field was ablaze with burning bodies
. Apparently any surviving wolves or day walkers had fled. The hunters stood off to the side, a few of them practicing with their swords on each other, a few of them sewing limbs back on. All heads turned when Jerry approached.

Terry visibly sniffed the air. “Damn. He smells… good,” she said breathlessly.

“I’ll say,” Hataso said in agreement. A few growls emanated from the male hunters as they shot daggers at Jerry with their eyes.

“Too damn good,” Ira agreed angrily.

Al stepped in front of Jerry and slowly drew her blade again. “Back off,” she commanded.

“Who blo
ody died and left you in charge? I’m feelin’ famished all of a sudden and he’s as good a donor as any. I had to sew my left foot back on you know.”

Nunda growled as he stepped in front of Al and faced the others. He was menacing
even without a weapon and he was one of the older warriors. “He is a balance. I know you young tings don’t know well how to control your cravings, but you will not touch him.”

“And who’se gonna stop us if we want to touch him
, mate?” Terry asked.

“That’s quite enough. I will shoot you with a trank dart if I have too.”

Bateman stepped out of the woods with his rifle to his eye. “Jerry. If you know what’s good for you you’ll join me on the helicopter.”

Jerry reached out for Al and pulled her backwards towards Bateman. The helicopter sank down so that Bateman could step on. Once they were all in
, the pilot took off leaving the others behind.

“Bateman. What the hell?
You didn’t tell me that they would react to Jerry like that.”

Bateman nodded as he hugged his rifle to his chest. “That’s how they are supposed to act. I’m surprised that you haven’t reacted in a similar way. His blood should be irresistible to you but for some reason his power as a balance doesn’t work the same on you. It’s almost like you’re immune. Why do you think I didn’t send a team right when you told me what he was?”

She thought on that for a moment. “So… I’m not attracted to him because he’s a balance?”

Bateman’s lip lifted and his dimple showed at her words
. “You might be attracted to him, but not because he’s a balance.”

She turned towards Jerry and he smile
d wide as took her hand. He had to know the implications of what Bateman said. She loved him and he loved her and it had nothing to do with their mystical blood. It had everything to do with the heart.

Chapter
Fourteen

Al opened the door to the room that was hers when she stayed at the compound. Each of the hunters had to have their own wing when they came here, one that could be sealed tight by the building manager if need be. There were often times after a training that they had the urge to go after each other with a vengeance. She had been sealed in more than once.

She sat the bag down that she had brought from the store. For the first time in what seemed like a life time
, she took off her tattered leather coat and allowed herself to relax. It had been a whole night and day and nothing had exploded or tried to bite her in all that time. She heard water swish in the bathroom and smiled.

Finally, after twenty hours of debriefing and a lot of crow eating, they had released her and Jerry from the interrogation rooms. She reached for her precious cargo and then headed to the bathroom.
Jerry had a towel rolled behind his head and his lean muscular body reclined in the steaming tub.

“I got it,” she said with a smile.

His grin did funny things to her heart as he opened his brown eyes to look at her. He hooked one finger towards her and she came forward instantly. She removed her bustier and then her pants and undergarments, dropping them all to the bathroom floor. She set the package on the bathroom counter and opened it up. She held up one golden square and Jerry groaned with delight.

She hurried over to the tub and ripped the package open as she sank into the hot water. The tubs ran on the big side because some of the hunters were big people. There was plenty of room for the two of them.

He was already hard and ready as she fit the condom over him and then followed it quickly with her own brand of wetness. He circled her with his arms and lifted her breasts to his mouth. He kissed them passionately and she moaned his name. He had told her what had happened while he’d been with Cherish out of her sight. He had been sort of shy with her earlier because of it. She had declared that she was going straight away to get them some condoms.

“I’m not her,” Al said softly into his wet hair. He looked up at her hesitantly.

“No. She tried to take-”

Al took his face into her hands and looked into his eye
s. She moved on him then and he groaned in pleasure. “I’m not her. You are a man. I won’t take anything you don’t freely give. You are a good man and I love you,” she breathed as she took him inside her deeper still.

He swallowed hard and nodded. “I know you’re not her. You’re so much better than her and if you wanted it I would give you a child,” he whispered as he
locked his arms around her, using his hands as anchors in her hair. He pulled and she sank further onto him if that was possible. As he began to move up and into her she found that she could not hold back. He released at almost the same time that she did.

She stayed on him as she reached for the soap and lathered them both. “Do you want me to shave you,” she asked.
She had seen how awkward it could be for him to do with the cast.

He nodded and she reached for the razor that he had set out on a stool beside the tub. She lathered his face and gave him a concentrated look as she began to run the razor along his face. The matter-of fact way that s
he did it while still holding him inside her made her want to giggle. So she did. He returned her smile sweetly.

“Don’t do that. You’ll make me shave those cute dimples right off your face.”

“I don’t have cute dimples,” he grumbled as he continued to grin.

“You do.”

“I might have dimples but they are manly masculine dimples.”

“
Mon amore. That’s a bit of an oxymoron.”

“What did you call me?”

She smiled as she shook her head. He sat patiently and quietly as she finished her shave, which only made her giggle all the more. When she reached over and set the razor aside he stood up with a suddenness. She wrapped her legs around him and allowed him to carry her out of the tub. She grabbed a towel off the rack on the way out. He took the towel from her and spread it out under them before he laid her down and sank into her.

She never felt this way any more. She never felt soft or feminine
, but in his arms, she was everything that she thought was lost to her. She wrapped herself around him and moved along with him opening to receive more and more of him matching him stroke for stroke. Their hands were every where as they explored each other. He didn’t go too fast or too slow. It was just a gentle rocking motion that set them off on a sea of bliss.

She looked up into his eyes and he looked down into hers before he claimed her mouth with hungry desire. She loved the taste of his lips. She loved to taste him. She felt her fangs begin to descend and pulled her mouth away quickly. She tried to push him off then but he stayed put as he looked down at her. He moved his neck to the side to expose his throat. He lowered his throat close to her lips.

“Jerry,” she hissed.

“Please. I want you to,” he said in a husky desire laden voice. She swallowed.

“But last time...”

“It was good for me. I want you to,” he said again bringing his neck closer.
“And you need it. I will do this for you whenever you need it. You never have to go to anyone else.”

She gave up much easier than she ought to have, but she couldn’t help it at all. She bit him quickly before she latched on to the wound. Jerry groaned as he grew even harder inside her. A moan escaped her own lips as she let the euphoria of the blood saturate her body. She felt a tingling rush as Jerry began to move faster in her.

She took another draw and he cried out as he entered her harder and faster. She released his neck and threw her head back as he pounded into her harder and harder. He lifted himself on his arms and used his hips like a piston. She was the one to scream this time as climax hit her hard. He kept going though as he held her in place and she was completely lost in the moment. They were both sweating and it was unclear how long he worked in her and out of her over and over again, but she was beyond coherent thought or speech.

He growled as he neared his climax and she was pliant and open to him when he grabbed her arms and shoved them above her head. He took one breast in his mouth
as his body slid against hers. It was as if they were using their whole bodies to make love to each other. He lifted his head and kissed her mouth hard before he shifted to her other breast. She licked at the spot where he was still bleeding and the slow trickle of blood teased her senses all over again.

Quickly he lifted her and flipped her
, laying her flat on her stomach while staying inside her. He put a hand on the back of her neck and held her firm as he laid over her again and breathed in her ear as he drove deeper and deeper inside.

“I want to be bare inside you right now. I want to feel my skin rubbing against yours naked and raw. I want to come inside you, to plant my seed in you,” he growled in her ear as he worked harder in her.

Her insides quivered in response to his plea and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to get rid of the stupid piece of rubber separating them. “But I could get pregnant,” she cried breathlessly.

“I don’t care. I want you pregnant. I want you pregnant with my baby,” he said and she felt him pressing into her backside using his whole body to make her feel good. She shivered again.

“Please,” she whispered and he gave up holding back. He drove into her so deeply that he touched something inside. When he came it was with a resounding growl that ran through her whole body and curled her toes.

He fell over
her and wrapped her up in his arms. He stayed inside her as he rolled them to the side. She tried hard to catch her breath and to stop her heart from pounding so hard.

“You are so… that was so good,” she finally managed.

He nodded as he nuzzled up against her. “We will eventually have to change condoms,” he said breathing as hard as her.

“Not yet,” she said as she moved against him again.

He nodded. “Al?”

“Hmmm.”

“What is your last name?”

She froze in his arms at the question. She moved away from him then and headed for the bathroom. She returned with another condom, a damp towel, and a glass of water. She handed him the water
and then took off the old condom. She cleaned him up and then herself as he sat the empty glass on the bed side. She was about to put on the new condom when he grabbed her arm.

“I’m serious,” he said softly.

She looked up at him and sighed as she took her arm away from him. “I…”

“You can give me your heart but not your past?” He pulled her up against his chest as he covered them
with the blanket that had lain across the foot of the bed. “Now, we have been through a lot together and I want you to tell me what happened back then.”

She sank into his chest and took a deep breath. She would miss this. This closeness, this safe feeling. She would miss him so damn much. He was always trying to heal her hurts
. And this time… this one time…

“It was a cool night.
I pulled up in my driveway. I had bought sandwiches for dinner because I’ve never been much of a cook. I reached across the front seat of my Ford Focus and grabbed the subs. I looked up in the mirror to be sure that my scarf was tied in a flattering way around my head to protect my ears.

“I hate the cold. I wasn’t the type to worry about the way my hair looked since I was a detective and didn’t have much use for a nice hairdo. But when it was time to head for home I did everything I could to look softer. I liked looking nice for Thomas. I stepped out of my car and made my way towards the house.

“I noticed before I got to the door that it was open a crack. I thought maybe Thomas was out walking Jazzy, our German Shepard. I pushed the door all the way open and then paused. The door was not open because my husband had forgotten to close it. It was open because it had been kicked in and was hanging by only one hinge.

“I dropped the sandwiches and pulled the gun I had strapped to my belt. I called out for Thomas or Jazzy as I made my way swiftly through the den and then the kitchen. There was stuff everywhere… I remember thinking we had been robbed. I was on my w
ay to the back bedrooms when I saw him.” Al stopped for a moment as tears flooded her eyes. She allowed them to escape her eyes and fall on Jerry’s chest. He swiped at a tear on her cheek, but he didn’t interrupt her so she went on.

“I screamed, I couldn’t stop myself, and I holstered my
gun as I ran to him. The pool of blood beneath him was so large... I meant to check his pulse but his head… was nearly severed from his body. I… I lost it for a moment as I fell over him and tried to... put his head back in place. Then…”

She stopped speaking as memories flooded her. She couldn’t… she couldn’t go on. “Then what,” he prompted.

She tried to push away from him but he held firm. Of course she could get away if she wanted to, but that wouldn’t make it any better so she relented. “Then what?” he asked softly.

She disconnected her emotions to tell the next part. “After I took out my cell phone and dialed nine one one I got to my
feet. I headed towards the baby’s room-”

She stopped as Jerry pushed up to a sitting position and then looked down into her face. He put his hand to the side of her face and the look he gave her broke her heart even more
. “She was just a little baby,” she whimpered and he pulled her up against him rocking her in his arms as she cried.

“How old?
” he asked after a few minutes of just holding her and stroking her back.

“She was a year and two
months old,” Al squeaked as she let the images of the tiny little girl wash over her. “She was a petite little ole thang. She was only four pounds when she was born but she had brown eyes that filled her entire face. Her skin was brown and smooth and she smiled-” She hiccupped as she controlled a sob. “She smiled so much… and I had to burry her in a little tiny box.”

“Okay, okay. That’s it. You don’t have to say anything else,” he soothed as he ran his fingers through her hair. She shook her head and rubbed a hand across her eyes.
It had been eight years since she had talked about Sierra Mari and she couldn’t stop now.

“It’s okay. I haven’t told anyone except Bateman and it feels… okay.”

“All right. So you had a funeral for your husband and then your daughter and then what?”

“I went crazy for a little while. I just took a back pack and wandered around the dessert behind the house. The
y said it was an animal attack, probably our German Shepard, but I refused to believe them, not the way Thomas was left. Jazzy was old and the sweetest dog… she was always so protective over Sierra… I just couldn’t see her gnawin’ at my family. So I went out there to find her. I walked for days at a time and I camped out and honed my skills. Sometimes I thought I saw Thomas holding Sierra in the distance and I ran towards them, but it was never them. It was always a cactus or a Joshua Tree.”

“My mother came up after a month or so and did her best to pull me out of it but I… I ignored her. I fell off the planet. We had life insurance and my house was paid for so I locked it up. I came across coyotes, I came across snakes and lizards and a pit bull one time. I bought survivalist books
on how to track wild animals and soon enough, I was so deep in the desert that I hardly came out.