The Darkening (7 page)

As soon as he laid her down, she opened her legs and pulled him to her. He entered her in a single

thrust, nearly groaning aloud from the sheer pleasure of being buried deep inside her.

"You feel so good," she sighed, running her hands over his chest. Then she trailed her fingers through his hair, and he closed his eyes, tipping his head back, enjoying the feel of it.

The first prickle of power almost went undetected. It started at the tip of her fingers where they touched his head, and spread slowly down through the rest of his body until every nerve tingled as if on fire. A ringing started in his ears, and he was vaguely aware of the woman talking, though he felt no compulsion to listen.

Pain and pleasure rode him just as he rode the woman beneath him. As his climax drew closer, the ringing in his head grew worse and his heart started racing faster than his exertions warranted. So much so that he thought it might burst from his chest.

His climax was nearly upon him when he finally recognized what was wrong.

He knew he should break contact, but even as he tried to find the strength to do it, she tightened the muscles sheathing his member. His orgasm ripped through him, tearing a roar from his very depths. A thousand tiny bright lights burst in his head.

And then everything went blank.

In the wee hours of the morning, well before dawn, Daphne began her journey through the tunnels beneath the Crypt. The evening had been a surprising success.

She thought back to the tattooed man full of untapped energy and smiled. He'd been oh, so talented in bed. If she'd been human, there would have been no keeping up with him. Fortunately, that hadn't been

a problem, and the experience had been rewarding in more ways than one. Glancing at her hand, she saw the way it glowed, lit from within by the living magic she'd siphoned off the man.

Amadja would be pleased. Perhaps there would be even more sex in it for her. The thought carried her through the remaining tunnels to the set of heavy double doors at the other end.

Upon her approach, two vampire sentries opened the doors and she went inside to where the great demon lord sat on his throne. He was impeccably dressed all in black. It drew attention to his golden eyes and ebony hair, perfectly combed back. Daphne found Amadja sinfully handsome, but she couldn't help a little frown at the sight of Tain, who sat sullen and preoccupied beside the demon. It wasn't that the redhead was ugly, for he was, in fact, very goodlooking. But Tain was an Immortal and not to be trusted.

As she approached the throne, she glanced to the side at the large collection pool set into the floor. It was filled with a brilliant opalescent substance that was neither liquid nor gas. Living magic.

The pool dimensions were six-foot-by-ten-foot, and it was nearly half full of the shimmering stuff. She had been collecting it over the past several months-at Amadja's request. It was hard work, not that she'd thought to refuse. She owed him her life. It seemed an eternity ago that the Mother Goddess had locked her away in a little-known dimension. If Amadja hadn't found her and set her free, she'd be there still-not alive, but unable to die.

"Hello, love," she purred as she stepped carefully onto the dais on which the throne sat. She made sure

the slit in her long skirt fell open, revealing her shapely bare leg. She saw Amadja's gaze drop and knew she'd caught his attention. "I have something special for you tonight."

She trailed her hand lightly up his arm until he noticed the glow of her skin and snatched up her hand to examine it.

"What's this?" Awe filled his voice as he looked up into her face.

"I thought you'd like it." She pulled her hand from his grasp and crossed to the collection pool, moving her hips in deliberate invitation. When she reached the edge of the pool, she dragged her fingers down the length of her arm, letting the magic collect around her fingertips like cotton candy. When she had a handful, she held her hand over the pool and let the magic slide off.

She repeated this over and over, alternating arms. Her usual yield was four or five scrapings. By her eighth, Amadja rose from his throne and came to her. She flushed with pleasure under his scrutiny.

"What manner of creature did you take this magic from?" Amadja demanded.

"I don't know, exactly," she admitted. "At first, I thought he was human, but when I felt his energy, I knew he couldn't be. Then I thought. . " She let the words die because what she'd thought still didn't make sense.

"Did you kill him?"

Daphne gave the demon lord a sharp look. "Of course not. Do you think I would destroy my best source of magic? He passed out after we finished, so I left him to sleep it off. When he wakes, he's going to be so high on life, he'll be back for more."

She dragged her hand down her arm again for another scraping and was about to let the magic slip into the pool when a hand grabbed her arm from behind. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled when she realized it was Thin. She shivered as he ran his hand along her arm. Everyone knew Thin was insane. She had no idea what he'd do to her.

But he merely rubbed the magic between his fingers. Immediately the substance seeped into his skin, giving his complexion a healthy glow. Even the wild light in his eyes seemed to calm. It was as if he'd been lit with an inner vitality and strength.

"It can't be," he muttered to himself before addressing her. "Describe the man."

She glared at him. Despite her fear, she had no intention of taking orders from him.

"Lilith, please," Amadja said in his velvety smooth voice. "This is important."

She turned to him, hating the way his voice made her want to do as he asked. "It's not Lilith anymore," she said defiantly. "It's Daphne." Lilith was the name she used before she'd been imprisoned, and she needed no more reminders of that time.

"Daphne," he corrected. "Please describe the man." She spoke to Amadja, but it was Thin who reacted. "Darius."

She quickly turned to him, surprised. "Do you know him?"

"He's my brother."

Daphne felt her jaw fall open and quickly closed it. "An Immortal. I saw the pentacle tattoo on the back of his neck, but even with all the living magic, he didn't feel as strong as an Immortal."

"Are you sure, Tain?" Amadja asked, clearly concerned.

"Positive," the Immortal said, rubbing his fingers together again as if he still felt the magic there. "I recognize his essence. If he's here, the others could be here as well."

Amadja clenched his hands into fists, clearly not pleased. "Impossible. We stopped that spell."

Tain looked nonplussed. "Obviously not."

Amadja heaved a sigh. "We'll have to step up our plans, unless..." He turned to Daphne. "Did you say you left Darius sleeping in one of the back rooms at the club?"

She nodded.

"Take us to him." He turned to Tain. "Maybe we can take care of him here and now."

Confused, but unwilling to ask for explanations, Daphne led the men back down the tunnels and to the room where she had left Darius.

"He was here," she exclaimed when she found the room empty. "There's no way he could have slept it off that quickly."

"He could if he was an Immortal," Tain said. He didn't seem surprised that his brother was gone.

Amadja sighed. "It doesn't matter. If he suspects we're here, he'll be back, and we'll deal with him then." He glanced at Daphne. "Do you think you can handle that, pet?"

She gave Amadja her most seductive smile. "You know I can."

Amadja's soft chuckle filled the room as he came to her and pulled her into his arms. "Tain, leave us," he ordered, his attention fixed on Daphne's face.

Daphne felt Tain's glare like a knife in her back, but she was too engrossed with Amadja's tongue thrusting between her lips to care.

Lexi was in a dark mood the next morning when she arrived at work.

"Good morning," Marge greeted her cheerfully.

Lexi growled something in return.

"My, we're grumpy. I would have thought after beat

ing up yesterday's skip, you'd be in a great mood." Marge's blue eyes sparkled with amusement. "Well, I

don't know if this will make things better or worse, but you've got a visitor."

Curious, Lexi stepped over to the archway that

opened into their waiting room and saw Darius sitting there.

Definitely worse, she thought, walking up to him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, not bothering to be polite. "Aren't you supposed to be on your way to Seattle?"

Some emotion flickered across his eyes as he looked up at her. "Do you know me?"

CHAPTER FOUR

Lexi rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm not in the mood for games, so if that's why you're here, you can leave."

She turned and started to walk off, but Darius jumped to his feet and, grabbing her arm, pulled her to a stop. She glared at the offending hand before looking into his face. "You might be immortal," she hissed, "but unless you can regenerate limbs, I suggest you let go of me

This time she recognized the emotion that crossed his face as a combination of surprise and amusement. He let go of her arm and held up his hands to show he meant no harm. Then he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out her business card. "Did you give this to me?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You know I did. What's going on, Darius?"

"My name's Darius?" He seemed to test the sound of the word in his head a couple of times. Then he blinked, and his attention was back on her. "I woke up

this morning in a strange room with nothing but these clothes, that card and one hell of a problem."

Lexi studied him closely as it occurred to her that he might not be playing a game. "What kind of problem?"

"I have absolutely no idea who I am."

She stared at him as she let his words sink in. The look in his eyes told her he was telling the truth. "You don't remember anything?"

He shook his head.

"Do you remember me?"

He gave her an apologetic look, and she didn't understand why his forgetting her should upset her. The man couldn't remember his own name, she silently admonished herself. Why would he remember her?

"I know I was at the Crypt last night," he told her, "but that's only because I woke up there this morning."

"Come with me." She looked over at Marge, who had been listening to the entire exchange. "We'll be in my office."

"I'll make sure you aren't disturbed," the older woman said, giving a wink that Lexi pointedly ignored.

"Actually, could you bring us some coffee?" she asked as she grabbed a bag of bagels and cream cheese sitting next to a nearly full coffee machine and led the way back to her office.

As she laid out the bagels, cream cheese and some bottles of water from her mini-fridge, she said, "I don't see any bruises or cuts on you. Are you hurt in any way?"

"No. I feel fine." He downed some water, then took the bagel she handed him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said, starting to work on another bagel. "So you don't remember a thing?"

"Nothing."

Marge knocked on the door and came in carrying a

pot of fresh coffee and two cups. Lexi ignored her curious looks as she set about pouring them each a cup.

After she left, Lexi said, "I don't know how much help I'll be. We met for the first time yesterday, but I'll tell you what I know." She told him as much as she could about who and what he was-and why he was there. "It bothers me that you don't know what happened to you last night after I left," she finally said. "Maybe we should call Adrian for help."

Darius shook his head. "Not yet. If this memory loss is some kind of demon attack, I don't want to expose him to the same threat."

She nodded and reluctantly agreed. "No evidence of physical injury makes me think it's magical in origin. Maybe you were hit with a spell. If that's the case, there might be something we can do about it."

"Like what?" he asked, his brow furrowed.

"I don't know-reverse it or find a counterspell, maybe."

"You can do that?" he asked, sounding impressed. She hated to disappoint him.

"I don't have enough formal training for something like that. But I have a friend who does. She might be willing to give it a try-if you are."

He looked hopeful. "I'll do whatever it takes to get my memory back."

Lexi picked up the phone and punched in Heather's number. After a second, her friend answered. Lexi described the problem, and Heather's offer to help was immediate. "Can you bring him out here?" she asked. There was almost a breathless excitement in her voice that made Lexi frown when she hung up the phone.