Dangerous (Courting the Darkness Saga) (3 page)

Sherry grimaced. “What
did he do this time?”

“Mica is a rogue
vampire. It means he lives here in Drake’s domain under Drake’s good graces. He
is allowed to live away from the rest of the pack as long as he leaves his
services open to the local vampire king. We weren’t in Drake’s domain, which
means by vampire law he could be killed by another clan on sight. Jason turned
him in to the local vampire clan and they took them all prisoner. They were to
die at dawn when the sun rose.”

“They didn’t take you?”

“No, I was in my circle
and they couldn’t touch me.”

“We need to get
together and cast a spell to take care of Hargrove. He’s a pain in the ass.”

Desiree winked at
Sherry. “I took care of Hargrove. He can’t hurt any of us ever again.”

“Did you kill him?”

Desiree laughed harder
at Sherry’s reaction. “No, I turned him into the rat he is, and I put a twist
on the spell to make it permanent.”

“So, what did you do
after the vampire clan carted the others off?”

Desiree opened her
mouth to answer when there was a pounding on the front door. She shut her mouth
and looked at Mica, puzzled. “Does anyone know you’re back?”

He shrugged. “Maybe it’s
Caleb.” He stood up from the couch. “I’ll be right back.”

They both watched him
walk to the front door. “He’s hot,” Sherry whispered to Desiree.

“You don’t have to
whisper,” Desiree chuckled. “He can hear you perfectly, so don’t say anything
to me now that you don’t want him to hear.”

Sherry flushed in
embarrassment. “He heard that?”

Mica laughed and said,
“Yes, he did.”

She rolled her eyes.
“Give a girl a little warning next time.” Desiree laughed again.

Mica opened the door
and stared in disbelief.

“Hello Mica. Aren’t you
going to let me in?”

Chapter Three

Mica opened the door
wider and stepped aside. “Come in.” His voice held a hint of caution. “In the
past when you wanted to see me, you always sent one of your lackeys. What’s the
big emergency that you thought you had to come personally?”

Drake raised an eyebrow
at his tone.
“Hello to you too.”
His voice held just
as much sarcasm. “Actually, I came to see Desiree.”

Desiree jumped up from
the couch to defuse the situation developing at the front door. “It’s Drake,” she
whispered to Sherry. “I’ll be right back.” She hurried to the front door.

Up to this point Sherry
had been listening to Desiree’s story with an open mind, but her mind still
held some doubts as to what she could logically accept to be real. The idea of
a genuine vampire clan and shape shifters living in New Orleans seemed a little
farfetched to her. Her mind still rejected the idea, and she would have to be
convinced that all this was real, but for the moment, she wouldn’t argue the
points with her friend.

She stood and faced the
front door. The new visitor, Drake, now commanded all her attention. In her
mind, another powerful god had just suddenly appeared from nowhere, and she felt
a sudden, instant attraction. She didn’t see anything she didn’t like—she admired
every detail. He had long raven-black hair, piercing, hypnotic blue eyes, high
cheekbones, a straight nose, a firm square jaw, and a strong sensual mouth. He
didn’t tower over Mica, but he was certainly his equal. Her eyes traveled the
length of his strong, muscular body. When her gaze finally made it back up to
his strikingly handsome face, their eyes locked and he smiled. She caught her
breath at being caught staring, but she couldn’t summon the will to look away.

“Drake—Drake!”
Desiree snapped her fingers a couple of times in
front of his face, with no reaction. Looking up at Mica, she shrugged, crossed
her arms over her chest, and cleared her throat loudly. “Earth to Drake,” she remarked
sarcastically. When he still didn’t respond, she turned to follow the direction
of his gaze and saw Sherry. She looked back up at Mica and blew out a
frustrated breath. “This is great—just great.” Slamming her hands on her hips,
she stepped in front of him, successfully blocking his view of Sherry. She
locked eyes with him. “You can’t have my friend,” she remarked firmly.

He crossed his arms
over his chest and cocked an eyebrow at her. “You are in a bold mood today,” he
growled.

Mica grabbed her by the
arm and tucked her protectively behind him. She tried to step around him, but
he held her back. She poked her head around his shoulder. “I mean it Drake. You
can’t have my friend.”

“Desiree!” Mica snapped
in a harsh whisper.

“Mica, I can handle….” She
paused when he turned around and shot her an angry glare. “Uh, I mean….” She
glared back at him. “Mica, that’s just not fair.”

“Mica, you need to
control your mate,” Drake growled. There was a shocked intake of breath from
across the room, and he locked eyes with Sherry again. He softened his tone. “Desiree,
introduce me to your friend.”

“Mica, do I have to?” she
whispered fiercely.

“Yes,” he whispered
back.

She opened her mouth to
object, but Mica stopped her. “We’ll talk about this later. Remember we are
only allowed to remain here, together, by his good graces. He could always
order you go back to the warehouse to live.”

She closed her eyes and
sighed heavily in resignation. “I’m doing this under protest,” she whispered
stubbornly. “I don’t want to jeopardize what we have.” He nodded.

Desiree stepped around
Mica. “Come in, Drake. I’ll introduce you to my friend, Sherry.” He nodded and
followed her into the great room. She smiled at Sherry and gave her a ‘brace
yourself
’ look. “Sherry, this is Drake Bouvier. Drake, this
is my friend, Sherry Lambert.”

He took Sherry’s hand
in his and smiled, but he directed his question at Desiree. “Is she an immortal
witch like you?”

Sherry sucked in a
shocked breath. “I can speak for myself.” Her voice was sharp and sarcastic. “I
am a witch, but hardly immortal.”

“Another witch, this is
excellent.” His smile broadened. She tried to take her hand back, and he
gripped her fingers tighter. He glanced at Desiree. “You will work on a spell
to make her immortal too.” Desiree’s mouth dropped open at his outrageous
demand.

Sherry sucked in her
breath again and successfully dislodged her hand. “She will not do any such
thing.” Anger tinged her voice. “Who do you think you are, ordering my best
friend around like that?”

He raised an eyebrow to
her sudden outburst, but the smile never left his face.

Desiree clamped her
mouth shut. She rubbed her temples at the sudden tension headache she had. “Sherry,
it’s okay. Calm down.”

“I am her king,” he remarked
as if stating the obvious. Sherry’s mouth went slack with disbelief. “Desiree
and Mica are my subjects.”

She glanced at her
friend for confirmation, and Desiree nodded.

Desiree cleared her
throat before she spoke. “He is king of this region’s vampires.” She blew out a
breath and continued reluctantly. “Mica is one of his subjects.” Drake opened
his mouth to interrupt, and she held up her hand. Mica walked up behind her and
slipped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him. “I am Mica’s mate,
so that makes me one of his subjects as well.”

Sherry looked
frantically around the room. “Where is it?” she demanded. “I know it has to be
around here somewhere.”

“Sherry, what are you
looking for?”

“That damned hidden
camera.”

“Hidden camera?” She
rubbed her temples again. “I don’t know what you are referring to—”

Sherry crossed her arms
over her chest. “This is all so absurd that it has to be a joke, or some weird
reality TV show.” She searched her friend’s eyes again for confirmation.

She shook her head
sadly. “I’m not kidding Sherry. A lot has changed in the past week.”

Sherry’s mouth dropped
open and her eyes grew wide as her friend’s words sunk in. Then she locked eyes
with Drake. He smiled and she noticed his fangs for the first time. Up until that
moment, the term ‘vampire’ hadn’t really registered to her as being a reality. The
color left her face. “You’re a—a….” She swallowed hard.
“A vampire?”
Black spots suddenly clouded her vision.

“Yes I am….” His voice
faltered when she swayed on her feet.

“Drake, catch her!”
Desiree shouted.

Sherry barely heard
her. The room faded into a black void.

Chapter Four

Drake caught Sherry
before she could hit the floor. Effortlessly he lifted her unconscious body and
held her in his arms. Her head lolled against his shoulder. “I thought witches
knew about us,” he remarked to Desiree.

She shrugged. “Sure, we
knew about the existence of vampires. I just don’t think she had ever met one
before.” She gave Mica an uneasy look. “I hadn’t until last week.”

Drake looked down at
Sherry’s unconscious form in his arms. Concern for her creased his brow. “Why
isn’t she waking up?”

Desiree shrugged again.
“She’s had a shock. She’ll wake up in a minute—or two.” Her eyes grew wide as
she observed the tender look on Drake’s face as he gazed down at Sherry, and
how gently he was holding her. “Drake, why don’t you put Sherry down on the
sofa?”

He tightened his
possessive grip on Sherry as he looked back up at Desiree. “No.” He turned his
head to gaze back down at Sherry.

Sherry’s eyes fluttered
open at the tight squeeze she received, and she found herself gazing into
startling blue eyes that were mere inches from hers. Her heart slammed
frantically in her chest as fear gripped her. “Am I still me?” she said in a
small voice.

Drake furrowed his
brows in concern. “That’s a strange question, even for a witch. I caught you
before you could hit your head, so I don’t understand your question. Who else
would you be?”

She swallowed hard. “You
didn’t bite me, did you?”

He grinned. “No, but I
can if you want me to.”

Her eyes bugged as she
struggled in his arms. “No, I don’t want you to!” She pushed on his chest with
her hands. It was unmovable, just like pushing against a brick wall. “Put me
down!”

He broadened his grin as
he gently put her back on her feet. “You sure are a bossy little thing. I like
your spirit.”

She flushed as she
straightened her short skirt,
then
glanced at Desiree
and Mica in embarrassment. “What just happened?” she whispered fiercely to
Desiree.

Desiree bit her lip and
shrugged apologetically at her friend. “You fainted.” Sherry’s eyes rounded again
at Desiree answering her question out loud. Desiree shook her head at Sherry’s
expression. “Sherry, I told you earlier that they have excellent hearing. There’s
no need to whisper. They’ll hear you anyway.”

Sherry closed her eyes in
mortification as Desiree’s words sunk in.
I’ve
gotta get out of here.
Her eyes flew open, she squared her shoulders, and she
made a conscious decision to salvage what was left of her dignity. “I haven’t
eaten anything since lunch yesterday. I’m sorry if I alarmed anyone. I must
have gotten light headed.”

Desiree took the cue. “I’m
sorry Sherry. We got to talking and I had forgotten about breakfast. I can have
the servant whip something up for us.”

She shook her head. “Why
don’t you and I go out and get breakfast and let these guys talk.
We
need to catch up.”

Desiree glanced at Mica,
shrugged, then turned back to Sherry and smiled. “Sure Sherry, I’ll just go
upstairs and grab my purse. I’ll be right back.” She left her with the guys.

Mica nodded at his
servant, Charles, from across the room. He nodded in acknowledgement and went
outside.

Sherry focused her eyes
on an invisible spot on the sofa, being careful not to make eye contact with
either vampire.

Drake inclined his head
to her. “Ever since I met Desiree, I find you witches fascinating. I would
really like to get to know you better.”

Her eyes snapped up to
his in alarm. “Huh?”

He chuckled softly.
“Why do you two always lose your vocabulary around me?”

Desiree walked back
into the room with her bag on her shoulder. “I do not lose my vocabulary when
I’m around you, Drake.”

He threw his head back
and laughed. “That’s not true and you know it. That first day when Sean brought
you to my chambers, you hardly said two words.”

She nodded. “True
enough. I was petrified of you then.”

He cocked an eyebrow at
her statement.
“And now?”

She stepped into Mica’s
arms. “Now I have Mica—and I've been around vampires for a little while now.” She
shrugged. “I don’t know. It's just different now.”

“Come on, Desiree. Let’s
go get something to eat,” Sherry said urgently. She gave Drake and Mica an
uneasy glance, then looked back at Desiree pointedly. “I’m starving.”