Carnal (Her Dark Desires #1) (16 page)

Hector’s
jaw was set as we walked, a brooding look plastered on his face. “Don’t the
incantations and shields protect us from intruders?” I asked.

“Most
of the time,” he said. “But until we know exactly what we’re dealing with, I’m
not taking any chances.”

We
stopped before a large metal door with a security box blinking with several red
lights. Hector punched in a code, and the lights turned green before the door
slid open.

The
room was icy-cold and made completely of metal, judging from the walls of
silver steel all around us, like a gigantic panic room. Large florescent lights
shone sterile white light down on us, making me squint against their glare.

“You’ll
be safe here,” Hector said. His voice echoed around the chamber. “I’m going to
help secure the perimeter and see if I detect any signatures like what I felt
out in the field.”

I
clutched his hand, not wanting to let go. “You’re right. We don’t know what Damien
is. We don’t know what he’s capable of.”

Including
killing Hector or any innocents who got in his way.

Hector
smiled and cupped my cheek. “Don’t worry. I won’t be gone long. You’ll only be
here until we know it’s safe, promise. Besides,” he wiggled his brows, “I’m a
lot stronger than I look.”

Kissing
my forehead, he ducked out of the room, and the heavy metal door closed with a
metallic click. Five guards had been left in here with me.

I
stood there in the awkward silence, shifting my weight and crossing my arms in
an attempt to warm myself up from the chill hanging in the air. The metal
definitely insulated the room well.

My
foot began to tap. It was driving me mad, waiting here, completely helpless to
do anything. I made a vow right then to work on my offensive and defensive
training, so I could better protect myself. I couldn’t always depend on others
to save me.

After
a few minutes of no talking, I began pacing, just to have something to do.  

The
guards looked just as anxious as I felt. To their credit, they continued their
steadfast posts, ignoring me for the most part. Except one, who smiled
brightly. “I see Hector has a new plaything. What a man. I swear, he can bag
more babes than any guy I know.”

I
stopped and frowned. “What do you mean ‘plaything?’”

The
guard, whom I was dubbing Snaggletooth, thanks to his jacked teeth, grinned.
“You know, a ‘romp of the week’ type thing.”

“No,
I don’t know,” I snapped. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. “I’m not that kind of
girl.”

He
laughed. “Oh, honey, you’re all exactly that type of girl when the master gets
hold of you.”

I
was about to tell him where he could shove his remarks when the lights suddenly
went to black.

The
sound of guns cocking echoed in the room, along with the thundering of my
erratic heart. I struggled to breathe without growing dizzy as we waited. A
flashlight clicked on, and one of the guards, whoever had been left in charge,
I presumed, ordered them to surround me. They formed a circle with me in the
middle, guns pointing toward the darkness.

Something
skittered across the metal wall, and they moved to shoot at it. “Hold fire!”
the leader commanded. We listened for a few heartbeats, our breathing the only
sound in the room.

“Who’s
there?” the leader called out.

Silence.

After
several long seconds, Snaggletooth sighed. “Probably a false alarm. Those damn
power outages lately have - argh!”

A
disturbing squishing sound followed thereafter, right before the other guard’s
scream was cut off short. It sounded like someone had slopped mud onto the
floor.

I
screamed as gunfire erupted, sounding like a canon was going off thanks to the
reverb in here. The flashlight was dropped, rolling off to the side as low
growls and snarls echoed around me, punctuated by the men’s screams.

I
shrieked as a gale whipped through the room, chilling me to the bone. The
temperature was cold before, but now it had plummeted. I stumbled toward the
door, intending to pound on it for all I was worth, when something grabbed my hair
and yanked backward.

An
ice-cold hand crowned in talons sharp as knives seized my throat, cutting my
air off. A sinewy voice sweet as honey whispered into my ear, “I’ve been
searching for you, little succubus. You really shouldn’t have tried to run away
from me.”

A
hot tongue licked my cheek, and I tried screaming but no sound would come. My
lungs burned for oxygen as I clawed at the hand, tearing and scraping but
unable to break free. “What do you want?” I rasped.

“You,”
it hissed in a voice that sounded like nails clawing on a chalkboard.

The
strangest thing happened. Just as I felt I was going to turn completely into a
Popsicle, the most delicious warmth spread through me. It started at my
epicenter and radiated out, converging at that sweet spot between my legs.

I
wanted to moan with the pleasure of it. Hell, I would have had the thing not
been cutting off my air supply. In the back of my mind, I knew I should be
petrified with the fear of dying, but all I could think of was the amazing
sensations coursing through me. Almost like… like…

Having
sex.

Stars
fired before my eyes, and I knew not all the darkness I saw now was from the
room.

I
was going to die.

Hector,
Monique, Raoul, Angela. I’d miss them all. I’d miss an eternity of love,
laughter, and friendship. That cut through the fog, screaming at me to fight.

Desperate,
I feebly clawed at my assailant. “Please… don’t…” I begged.

They
were the last words I heard before blacking out.

Chapter 12

MY
MIND VAGUELY REGISTERED the sensation of fire and the smell of smoke riding the
air.

Someone
was calling my name, sounding far away.

I
floated through the darkness, toward the sound. I knew that voice… like warm
sunshine melting away the frost…

I
came to with a gasp as my lungs fought to gulp as much sweet air as possible.

Something
very warm to the touch cradled me, pressing sweat-dampened strands of hair back
from my face. “Sally, I’m right here. Thank God you’re awake.”

It
took a moment for Hector to focus. “What… happened?”

Fear
made his features tight. “You were attacked.”

With
my head still feeling like it was stuffed with cotton, it took a moment for my
memories to resurface. And boy when they hit, terror slapped me so hard I
nearly passed out again.

I
clung to Hector, frantically searching the now lit room for any sign of that
thing, but it was only us and the guards. The air reeked of so much blood, I
thought I may vomit.

“Where
did it go?” I asked, my voice quivering.

“Whatever
it was, it’s long gone,” he said. “Do you remember anything?”

“I…
I remember freezing. Then feeling this darkness take hold of me. It had claws.
It said it was after me.”

His
brows furrowed as his eyes flashed fire again. “After you?”

I
nodded. “Yes.” I pushed back bile. “You want to know the most twisted part? I
sort of wanted it to take me. Like it… kind of turned me on… as it was killing
me.”

Disgust
and shock registered on Hector’s face.

Before
he could ask me what kind of crack I’d been smoking, Dean Prescott whooshed
into the room, looking like he’d just rolled out of bed. “What the hell’s going
on here? Aurelius, you’d better have a damn good explanation for this. First, I
find out you’ve placed the entire campus under house arrest, then I can feel
the whole building shaking, like a bomb’s going off. What happened?”

Hector
stood, cradling me to him. Which I was thankful for, because I didn’t think I
was strong enough to stand on my own, not with my knees shaking this badly. “We
were out on a field observation when this hybrid came out of nowhere and
attacked us.”

“A
hybrid,” Prescott said flatly.

“Yes,
a hybrid,” I snapped, anger flaring. “Seeing as you are one yourself, I don’t
see how that’s so hard to grasp.”

Hector’s
grip tightened on my arm, warning me to keep my mouth shut.

Prescott
stared me down, like he could peer right into my head if he squinted hard
enough. “Yes, I’m a hybrid,” he finally said. “They are out there. We’re not as
uncommon as we seem. We just tend not to get all the glory full-blooded sups
do.”

Was
that a hint of bitterness I detected?

“So
this hybrid followed you back to the grounds?” Prescott said, the tone of his
voice saying he didn’t believe us in the least.

“Something
followed us here,” Hector said. “Or rather, something attacked Sally in a
secured bunker, and it took out five of our best men.”

“That’s
impossible,” Prescott said dismissively. “Nothing has ever breached the
barriers of this school in over five hundred years.”

“Unless,”
I said, thoughts spinning, “the hybrid was already here to begin with.”

They
both stared at me. “You’re suggesting it could be a student?” Prescott said.

“Or
a teacher,” I returned evenly, not blinking an eye.

“Are
you insinuating my staff could be responsible for this?” Prescott sneered.

“You
have to admit it’s possible,” Hector interjected. “The spells only let through
those who have permission to be here. That includes all staff, security
personnel, teachers, and students.”

Prescott
pursed his lips, then ran a hand over his face. “Fine. Because of the incident
involving the were girl, I’ll have to report this to the D.P.I., since the
cases could be linked. What a mess. We’ll be lucky if that packmaster doesn’t
sue us.”

My
jaw dropped. “One of your students was brutally murdered, and I was nearly
killed, and
you’re worried about a lawsuit
?”

“This
school has a reputation to protect,” Prescott said, as if that should have been
the first thought on my mind. “If attacks like this continue, we won’t get
funding to stay open.”

I
glared at him. “I’d think a teacher - the
dean
, no less - would be more
concerned about protecting his students than his job.”

“Sally,”
Hector warned.

“Enough,”
Prescott hissed. “I don’t have to explain my thinking to a succubus.”

So
he was of the party that looked down on us as the “whores of the Underworld.”
No wonder he and Hector didn’t get along.

“Aurelius,”
Prescott said, “since Ms. Sanders can’t seem to stay out of trouble, I want her
under your watch twenty-four-seven. If she steps out of line, you’ll be
responsible.”

Not
that I was complaining about being babysat by Hector, but I couldn’t help but
feel insulted by what he just said. He was acting like the attacks were my
fault, like I’d asked for this. Typical thinking from other sups when it came
to succubi and incubi. We received little pity from our peers, no matter the
circumstances.

“I
understand,” Hector said, tone unwavering to Prescott’s challenging stare.

Prescott
sneered at us, then walked off, barking for someone to “clean up this mess,”
with “the mess” being the guards who’d died trying to protect me.

Tears
stung my eyes. “I hate him.”

“Sssh,”
Hector said, rubbing my back. “Not here. Come. Let’s get you out of here.”

I
let him guide me toward the door, though I couldn’t help but glance at the
spray of limbs and blood and internal organs about the room. It had truly been
a massacre, and I wondered at how I managed to miraculously escape. If the
creature was this strong, then why had it left when I blacked out? Why had it
spared me?

What
did it have to be afraid of?

These
questions rattled around in my head as Hector took me upstairs to his office,
ten guards trailing in our wake.

I
couldn’t quite remember the walk back. Everything still felt like a dream, or
rather, a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. I didn’t feel the marble beneath
my feet, nor hear any sound as Hector opened his door and spoke with the
guards.

I
stood in his room, shivering and feeling numb inside. “I hate this,” I
whispered, feeling Hector come up behind me.

“What?”
he asked gently.

“Feeling
afraid. Like no place is safe.” I turned to face him, staring him straight in
the eyes. “I want to learn how to protect myself.”

Understanding
dawned in his eyes. “I’ll arrange some self-defense lessons.”

“Can
you… can you teach me?”

He
blinked, then his eyes softened. “Of course. I’ll start fitting some
self-defense into your lessons when we start up in a few days.”

“Why
a few days?” I asked as he strode across the room and unlocked a door I had
somehow never noticed before.