Seduced By Darkness Read online

  “I do have a purpose for being here,” Nicolas growled.

  “Questions about Chessa’s partner?” Simon drawled while his hand encircled Madeleine’s waist and drew her in front of him.

  “I have the feeling if I asked, you’d still be reluctant to answer.”

  Simon nodded.

  “So I won’t waste your time. My question has to do with Inanna.”

  Simon’s expression shuttered, wariness creeping in to tighten his mouth.

  “She believes The Devourer will come for her.” When Simon didn’t respond, he continued. “Do you know why?” he asked, an edge of irritation making his words sharp.

  Simon sighed and gave Madeleine a hug. “Why don’t you go along to the bedroom? I promise I won’t be a minute.”

  Madeleine gave Nicolas a small, tight smile and lifted her cheek for his kiss before she passed through the door.

  “I know only that he hunted her in the time before I knew her,” Simon said quietly, “and that she had somehow managed to trap him and imprison him in the sarcophagus before we met in Palestine. That was about the time she decided to make the leap to Europe and enlisted my aid in finding guardians.”

  “You don’t know their connection?”

  Simon lifted a sardonic brow. “Knowing Inanna, he probably has good reason to want revenge.”

  “If they have a past, do you think he’ll toy with her?”

  “Seems to be part of his personality. He doesn’t kill every target of opportunity. Not when it suits his plans or he can draw out his enjoyment.”

  Nicolas drew a deep breath. Simon didn’t know any more than he did.

  “Have you heard from Alex and Chessa yet?” Simon said, his tone even, but his words needling.

  Nicolas refused to rise to the bait, replying dryly, “I tried their satellite phone number. There’s no answer.”

  “Ah well, they can both take care of themselves.”

  Nicolas knew this was true, but he worried about the fact they spent so much time together. Chessa would be unable to resist if Alex cast his attraction her way.

  Why was he her partner? Nicolas didn’t believe in coincidence. Although he trusted Alex’s interest in Chessa would keep her from harm, he didn’t want him toying with her affections, not when Nicolas had finally made headway. For he intended to enjoy this fleeting relationship as long as he could.

  “I’m hungry,” Inanna’s melodic voice came from behind him.

  Nicolas stood still, fighting the instinctive urge to stiffen in rejection.

  “I want to try some of Chessa’s haunts. Take me.”

  What was her obsession with Chessa? Nicolas sighed. He really didn’t have a choice. Besides he hadn’t heard from Chessa and Alex. Perhaps he’d meet them when Chessa sought replenishment.

  The trip was organized quickly. Inanna’s limousine was followed by the security team’s SUVs back into The Quarter without incident.

  Dressed again in her gold caftan, Inanna drew all gazes as she gracefully entered the establishment.

  A step behind her, Nicolas touched her arm, causing her to turn. “The private room’s back there,” he said, nodding toward a corridor, hoping she’d move along quickly.

  Nicolas would watch her back and ensure she had a private moment with her meal. But he was bored, edgy. Dawn would be upon them soon, and he’d head back to Chessa’s apartment and hope to catch her there.

  As Inanna entered the private room at the end of the dark corridor, she paused at the entrance, staring around her, her eyes wide and curious.

  The music seemed muted for once, the feeding restrained. Still, an orgy was an orgy. Couples, threesomes, sharing blood and sex, some doing it standing in the middle of the dance floor.

  “You don’t get out much,” he said, close to her ear. “Why is that?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. I think I have been in a rut.” She lifted her nose and inhaled the rich, intermingled scents of liquor, sex, and blood. “Revenants, everywhere.”

  Nicolas knew well her aversion to free Revenants. Her preference would be to kill them all rather than risk an uprising, but calmer heads had prevailed so far within the council. Preemptive killing of their “children” wasn’t their way.

  Enough of the New Orleans crowd knew of her preference that bringing her here was probably a mistake. As the head of the sabat, and the oldest living Born on the continent, she was legendary. The news she had entered their lair, their territory, would spread like wildfire.

  And it did. One person at a time. Heads nodded in her direction. Whispers rose like a hissing tide above the din of the music.

  In the midst of the growing storm, Inanna stood surveying them all as though she were their queen. The haughty lift of her chin, the superior tilt of her nose, the narrow-eyed challenge in her glance—added to the vision of her sultry perfection—held them all enthralled. If only for the moment.

  Nicolas wished he’d brought more backup besides Pasqual and the crew surrounding the place outside. If the crowd turned ugly, he’d have a battle on his hands he might not win.

  Although a Born, Chessa was accepted here in their midst. Tolerated, and even respected, because of her fighting skills and dogged neutrality.

  Inanna might incite a riot.

  She stepped deeper into the room and turned, and the shoulder of her caftan slid down, exposing her left breast.

  As all gazes fell to the lush, round globe, eyes widened when they realized she was nude beneath the caftan. The mood of those watching changed subtly from bristling menace to excited arousal when they realized what she’d come for this evening.

  She looked like a goddess, an Eastern deity. Sloe eyes, black hair falling straight and shining past her shoulders. Skin a dusky, light cocoa. Lips painted red, so lush and full that any man would crave their caress on his intimate flesh.

  Tension, sensual and primal, rose in the room as every male Revenant’s body tightened, primed, wondering who’d be chosen. While they might consider whether this was an opportunity to capture or kill the ancient vampire, the thought of fucking her had to be preeminent.

  He and Pasqual shared a worried glance. The other man’s lips thinned, his shoulders bunched. He gave away too much. If he wasn’t careful and became too possessive, Inanna would cast him aside. Nicolas thought he should warn him, but then again, it might suit his purposes later to let Pasqual slide down that slippery slope.

  Inanna continued surveying the crowd and locked gazes with one particularly tall, handsome, dark-skinned man. She approached him slowly, her breaths deepening.

  His eyelids dropped, his glance clinging to her exposed breast, then sliding down the rest of her body.

  Suddenly, he dropped to his knees, and Nicolas realized she’d cast out a suggestion. The man buried his face between her legs, licking her through the caftan and offering up his hand.

  As her fangs sank into his wrist, her gaze scanned the crowd.

  Nicolas understood now, this wasn’t Inanna wanting what Chessa had, but a show of power, a reminder to Revenant and Born alike of how she was different from them.

  Different and more. Every male present wondered what it would be like to taste her cunt or feel her bite. Nicolas watched their smoldering gazes and wondered how many she’d go through tonight and how the hell he’d get her out of here when she’d had her fill.

  Because she hadn’t cast a targeted lure, his own body reacted. His cock hardened, his balls ached for release. His gaze clung to her perfect breast.

  Damn her. Damn Chessa for putting him in this position.

  While he fought the arousal slowly tightening in his groin, he wondered what Inanna’s underlying purpose was and worried that she’d decided to extend her influence, and perhaps play a more dominant role in the territory. She’d remained at Ardeal, a potent but shadowy presence for so long, dipping her fingers in the politics of the sabat, stirring trouble occasionally, but seeming content not to swim with the sharks.

 
; Had it only been The Devourer’s escape that provided her impetus to cast out her influence afar? Had this new strategy started with The Devourer…or with Chessa?

  “Do you have a shirt I can borrow?” Chessa asked, wondering when the four of them would make a move from the entryway. They stood like posts, watching each other’s reactions. Her own emotions were so stretched, she feared she’d snap and let them see just how uncertain she felt. How vulnerable she truly was.

  Natalie’s gaze swept her chest, and she nodded. “Follow me, Chessa,” she said softly. She gave a pointed stare to the men who appeared rooted to the floor. “You two, make coffee.”

  As though accustomed to taking orders from Natalie, they shuffled off to the kitchen, while Natalie led the way upstairs.

  In Rene’s bedroom, she pointed toward the bathroom. “There’s a basin of water if you want to wash up.”

  Chessa gave her a grateful smile and entered the room, inhaling the scents of Rene’s musk and Natalie’s citrusy perfume. Together, they were delicious.

  She dipped her hand into the basin, washing away the stench of carbon residue that clung to her hands and the fine droplets of blood that spotted her face.

  With a grimace, she realized she must have made a gory sight standing in the entrance while she’d been worried about her breasts hanging out.

  When she was drying her upper body with a towel, Natalie walked up behind her and began to brush her hair.

  Chessa closed her eyes and sighed.

  “I missed you,” Natalie said, the careful strokes matching her serene tone. “It felt as though we were just becoming friends. Then I had this whole life apart from you.”

  Chessa opened her eyes and swallowed past the lump at the back of her throat. “Where did Simon send you? He wouldn’t say.”

  Natalie smiled into the mirror. “He sent us to find himself.”

  Chessa drew a deep breath. He’d known all along what had happened, what was to come. “What year?”

  “1310.”

  Chessa nodded slowly, knowing at least part of his history. “That was after Black Sunday, after the roundup of the Templars. He took refuge in Scotland in a monastery sympathetic to them.”

  Natalie’s blue gaze grew thoughtful. “That’s the place.”

  Chessa’s lips tightened. “Living among all those bitter monks must have been hard.”

  “Not really. They became family.” The softening of her expression told the rest of the story. She’d been happy.

  Chessa wondered how many of the knights had also been mages. Alex had been raised in their midst, trusted by them. A powerful weapon for a Born.

  When the women entered the kitchen, candles were lit on the table as they sat down with coffee. Rene had boarded the windows so no light would expose their presence here. She wondered how they’d managed to heat the coffee without running a generator, but spotted a Coleman stove on the counter.

  For all intents and purposes, the house from the outside still appeared abandoned since the night it had been ransacked by Revenants seeking to destroy Natalie and her unborn child.

  Unspoken for the moment was the fact the Revenants hadn’t given up their quest. That she was no longer pregnant with a Born child might not dissuade them from violence.

  Chessa wrapped her fingers around the warm cup, feeling a little numbed by all she’d learned. She’d hoped the couple would survive, and that she’d see them again one day. However, the space of days from her viewpoint seemed a yawning chasm.

  She glanced again at Rene, who was once again staring at her.

  His jaw tightened. Then his gaze slid to Natalie. The softening of his granite jaw told her the whole story.

  Rene had fallen in love with Natalie.

  An ache grew at the back of her throat. She didn’t hurt because Rene had found love, but rather because she knew she’d lost her friend, her partner for good. For him, too much time had passed for a bond to remain between them. Natalie and Rene had a shared past, had raised a child together. The glances they shared were charged and loving.

  Her present partner stood silently to the side, his expression set, but his gaze watchful.

  Damn him. He’d played with her—had known all along that this moment of reckoning was coming.

  Chessa straightened her shoulders and tore her glance away from the couple. Natalie and Rene had put much of the house back to rights. With only gouged furniture and the dents in the walls as the remaining evidence of the attack a couple of nights ago, she had no doubt they’d have those taken care of quickly too once the dangers they faced had passed. If they passed.

  Alex cleared his throat.

  Reluctantly, she came back to him. Then her gaze went from Alex’s piercing blue eyes to Natalie’s softer blue. It finally clicked.

  Why hadn’t she guessed at their relationship? So many things fell into place as she cataloged the features he’d inherited from both his parents. Rene’s rugged build. His square jaw. His hair was a blend of Rene’s deep brown and Natalie’s pale locks. The familiarity she’d felt had a reason now.

  “Fuck!” She scowled. “You knew about…them…and me, yet you…” She blew out a breath, ready to scream. “That’s just wrong.”

  Alex laughed, a sexy deep rumble that filled his chest. God, he sounded just like his dad. “A little too incestuous for you, sweetheart?”

  Natalie smiled, but her gaze fell to her cup. Rene sat back in his chair, his glance roaming over Chessa once again.

  For the first time, his interest didn’t stir her. He seemed a different man from the cocky, growling man she’d known. Of course, he’d changed.

  So had she. In ways she didn’t fully recognize yet. She met Alex’s amused glance. His smile slid into a sensual smirk, and she glared harder. “So Born males are possible.”

  Alex nodded, his gaze narrowing. “They are if someone isn’t waiting to destroy them as they’re born.”

  Shock made her hand tremble, and she set down her cup. “You think there have been more of you?”

  “I can’t say. But I do know why Born females might not want us around.”

  “Tell me.”

  He shook his head. “A secret’s not a secret if it’s shared.”

  “Now you sound like Simon,” she grumbled.

  His shrug seemed a little too casual. “I can’t say whether all males might be born with the same gifts, but would you want someone around who was more physically powerful? With unimaginable powers? Wouldn’t someone like that upset the balance of power?”

  Chessa’s eyes widened. “You think this goes beyond Inanna. To the sabat. That there’s been some kind of conspiracy.”

  “My existence proves it. I wasn’t born within a coven as all Born children are. They didn’t have a chance to dispose of me before I’d reached my full powers.”

  “Why are you here, Alex?” She glanced at Rene and Natalie. “Why did you return knowing what you do—knowing they’ll want to destroy you?”

  Natalie reached across the table to close her hand around Chessa’s clenched fist. “There’s more. The Devourer’s escape is just the start. Simon has lived many pasts, and he’s seen what’s coming.”

  “And he told you what it is?”

  Natalie shrugged. “He hasn’t. He’s only hinted. Something about not changing the warp and weave of time. But he has prepared us. Trained us. As warriors and as leaders. We’ve been gathering…troops.”

  Something in the careful way she’d said that and the steadiness of her gaze had Chessa stiffening. “You want me to join you?”

  “You already have,” Natalie said, her gaze boring into hers.

  Chessa shot a narrowed glance at Rene then Alex.

  For once, Alex’s expression held no hint of humor, just a soft, penetrating intent.

  Her back stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I’m not your girl. Mages scry all sorts of ominous portents all the time. I live in the here and now. Preparing for some kind of Armageddon isn’
t in my job description.”

  Beneath their concentrated stares, she bristled, feeling as though if she didn’t make a move quick they’d suck her into their fantasy. “I have to get back to work. I’ll understand if you think you need to be somewhere else,” she added, glaring at Alex.

  His lips curved, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Chessa, love. While I’d like to bring you into the fold, we weren’t talking about you.”

  “Who then?” she shot back, irritated and filling with an unease that burbled in her stomach. “Why involve me at all?”

  Alex leaned back in his chair, his expression darkening. “I need the child you carry.”

  CHAPTER

  14

  I nanna pulled up the shoulder of her caftan, at last covering her breast.

  Nicolas felt only mild relief. Tension gripped him in an iron vise. His teeth ached he’d gritted them so hard against the need to find release from the sensual spell she’d wrapped around him—around every man and woman in that room.

  She’d remained regal, in control, as first one man stepped forward and slowly slid her caftan up her thighs to give the man tonguing her access to her folds, and another caressed her breasts from behind. All sound had died inside the room except from the moist sounds between her legs and the pained sighs of the men who’d offered their wrists, one after another, to feed her.

  It had been an awesome display of power. When she was through, the men had fallen back as one, letting her gown slide back into place. She’d turned without a word, sweeping away before they’d collected themselves to realize what had just happened.

  At any time, they could have been overcome, but she’d held them back with just her will and her sensual allure. She’d radiated womanhood, donned a mantle of authority only the strongest of men could match.

  With a nod to her driver, she slipped into the back of the limo and stared straight ahead.

  Nicolas slid in the seat across from her, and stared at the entrance of the bar as the limo pulled away. “That was quite a scene back there. I left half the crew inside to make sure the humans in the room aren’t savaged by the lust you stirred up.”