Darkness Falls (12 page)

Groggily, feeling like ass, Malorie was still lying on the ground a few minutes later unwilling to open her eyes again as the memories of Feryn and his vampires and how much it had hurt to kill them echoed in her head. She could still feel the months of agony that followed as his body and soul recovered. But it was his first vampire he created, the last one he had destroyed, that bothered her the most because the creature could have been her twin. When he said goodbye, he had called her Malorie.

She was almost certain that the memory was mostly accurate, from the creation of the vampires to their destruction, but there was no way the vampire could have been her. It was like the memory of the girl from the opera house. It was a manifestation of her fear that Feryn was going to end up destroying her in the end when he no longer needed her. Hell, he had destroyed a part of himself to get rid of the vampires so what would he be willing to do to be rid of her?

Well, she wasn’t a vampire so there really wasn’t anything to worry about. He bound her to him but the converse was true as well: he was bonded to her, wearing her mark just as prominently as she wore the mark that curled along her skin. She just needed to adapt to their relationship, to his intensity.

Something nudged her ribs and she pried her eyes open and wished she hadn’t as blinding white light pierced her brain. It was freezing outside and she was lying in the middle of a forest and her tree was as majestic as any of the old trees there. She tried to stand up but she couldn’t get her body to obey such a complex command and ended up bringing her hand up to her eyes to shield them from the bright light. “Where am I?”

“Central Park, miss,” the man answered, his voice firm, deep, authoritative. Crap, a cop.

“I, um,” she turned her head, wincing when the stiff muscles screamed in protest. “I was mugged.”

“Really.” He didn’t sound like he believed her but what kind of person went out in the middle of winter wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt? Obviously something happened and a mugging made perfect sense.

“Yes, really,” she bit out through chattering teeth. “Some jackass hit me in the back of my head and that’s all I remember.”

The light faded a little, or she was just getting used to it, as the cop kneeled down and put a hand around her arm. The desire to flip him on his ass and run was almost enough to give her the strength to move. Instead, she let him haul her to her feet and prayed the world would stop spinning madly out of control. He started to let her go but when she teetered his strong arm was back, holding her steady. “Are you okay, Miss? Do you need a doctor or something?”

“No doctors,” she said with a shudder, remembering the brief time she spent in the hospital Christmas Eve. “Just give me a moment and I’ll be fine.”

“You’re shaking like a leaf,” he said with kindness in his voice. Pulling off his heavy police parka, he wrapped it around her and the heat instantly seeped into her frozen bones.

She snuggled further into the warm coat and sighed in pleasure. “Thank you.”

As he led her over to the police car, a wave of panic hit because she couldn’t afford to be arrested. They’d take her finger prints which could potentially link her to a few unsolved crimes. It didn’t matter that everything she had done before had been towards the destruction of vampires. Her eyes darted around the park but it was late and she still felt woozy and there weren’t a lot of options.

His grip tightened and she looked up at him, the hard line of his jaw as he grimaced. He was a handsome man, with medium brown hair and clear blue eyes but she preferred Feryn’s dark and brooding looks. She imagined she would always prefer Feryn to any other man. When the cop spoke, it was through clenched teeth, “Do not run.”

“I wasn’t going to,” she lied, still trying to figure out if running was an option.

He smiled slightly at the lie but he didn’t ease his hold as he continued dragging her towards certain incarceration. “Don’t worry, miss, I’m only taking you down to the station to get your statement. We wouldn’t want other young women to suffer the same fate as you, would we?”

“No,” she offered weakly, shaking her head and wishing her brain would stop shaking when she stopped. “But I doubt I’d be much help. I didn’t see anything.”

“But you might have other recollections that can be helpful and we’re going to help you remember.”

Shit. “Great.”

Looking over her shoulder one last time, she sucked in a soft gasp as she saw her tree. The leaves glimmered in the dark, as if infused with phosphorescence. It was eerily beautiful and slightly alien and she prayed no one connected her to the tree. She snapped her head forwards before the cop decided to see what had snared her attention. Had he noticed the tree? Maybe he was more impressed with the fact that it still had leaves in the middle of winter rather than the fact that the leaves were glowing.

As they arrived at the car, she expected him to open the back door for her but he just smiled and shook his head as he opened the passenger door instead. Reluctantly, she climbed into the running car, happy that the heater was on high and she’d be able to take off the heavy parka soon enough.

“Give me a moment and don’t run,” he ordered as he closed the door.

“I’d never dream of running,” she muttered.

“Don’t run!” he yelled, the sound muffled by the thick glass and purring engine. As the warmth seeped into her bones, she found it impossible to summon the strength to flee into the frozen winter night.

She lost the opportunity to escape a minute or so later when the cop climbed behind the wheel. Shifting the car into drive, he asked, “What’s your name, miss?”

“Mal… Matilda. Matilda Macklemore,” she answered after a brief stutter. “And you?”

His smile was very white in his face but he didn’t look at her when he answered, “Scott Macintyre.”

“Where are you taking me?”

Instead of answering that question, he calmly stated, “I saw what you did to that tree, Miss Macklemore, but I managed to take the shine into myself so all that remains is the tree, albeit one that wasn’t there yesterday. So what are you?”

Coming from a stranger, the question was unexpected and she could only stare at him. “Huh?”

“It’s like an old memory that I just can’t quite remember.” He spared her a glance as he continued to drive, curiosity clearly written on his handsome face. “Usually I can tell what a person is just by looking at them but I can’t seem to place you, even after I put my hand on you, and it’s the strangest thing. Plus, there was that tree.”

Malorie blinked her eyes, still reeling from his comments. But then he continued, “You have human blood, so I am assuming some sort of hybrid though you’re unlike any of the other hybrids I’ve come across.”

“And you have so much experience with this sort of thing?” she finally managed to ask.

He chuckled, “Yes, I do.”

“What are
you
?” she asked, thinking about the light that had nearly blinded her when she had opened her eyes.  Had it come from
him
?

“I’m surprised you don’t know,” he said with a grin. “Since my kind is not so rare.”

“I mostly deal with vampires,” she told him. “Anything beyond that doesn’t interest me.”

He snorted, “All the pretty girls prefer vampires.”

“I didn’t say I prefer them,” she countered. “Generally I kill them. Well, usually.”

Arching an eyebrow that had to be a gift inherent to sexy men, he looked at her, “Usually?”

Color heated her cheeks as she thought about Jack and looked away. How could this stranger, who wasn’t human, understand that somehow she had brought her dead husband back to life after he had tried to kill her? “Well, they’d probably frown down upon killing vampires now that they’re behaving themselves.”

Chuckling once again, he shook his head, “Are we talking about true vampires or the
Apocritae
created
Calices
?”

“What the fuck is an
Apocritae
?” she asked, sensing large gaps in her education. When she thawed out enough to take the heavy jacket off, she peeled it from her body and felt her shirt ride up a little. “Or are you talking about Aradians?”

This time he sucked in a sharp breath as he looked at her, making the car swerve at the sudden movement. After he got the vehicle back under control, his eyes dropped to her waist and he drew in another audible breath, “Well, fuck me, you’re a Breeder. I thought you smelled faintly familiar but I didn’t even consider that possibility because your kind died out hundreds of years ago. Apparently we were mistaken.”

“Jesus, what the hell are you?” she asked, pulling her shirt down and hiding the mark that glimmered as brightly as the alien tree.

“I can’t believe we never saw you coming, especially with all of the other changes,” he muttered mostly to himself, not answering her question. “We should have seen it, though, all things considered. Wow, a Breeder and a pregnant one at that. How did we miss this? Of course, with the new Queen and the Goddess, it’s not really surprising the angels missed you.”

“Okay, now you’re just rambling,” she grumbled, wrapping her arms around  her stomach as she sat forward and tried to ignore the crazy man who was talking about goddesses and angels and queens and who knows what else. It didn’t make any sense to her, no matter how hard she tried to follow his ravings.

Staring out the window, she grimaced as his words played over and over in her head and she tried to concentrate on where they were going. It was strange being back in New York and it was especially strange to be riding in a police car with a man who wasn’t human and who was clearly mad. Chancing a peek at him, she wondered if she was in danger even though she didn’t detect any hostility coming from him. Curiosity and excitement were rolling off him in waves but no malice. Unfortunately, she knew curiosity and excitement could be just as dangerous in the wrong person. Did he want to take her to some lab to experiment on her? Or did he want to keep her safe because she was a Breeder?

Fuck, she needed to come up with a better name.

“Um, wasn’t that the police station?” she asked, as they passed the large, brick building. He looked at her as if she was crazy but he was the cop driving pass the station.

“You don’t want to go there,” he said as if he could read her mind. “If you’ve managed to stay hidden for this long I can’t imagine you’d want to broadcast the fact that you exist and if we go there you’ll be forced to register and it would be a huge headache for all involved.”

“You register non-humans?” she asked dumbly, a little warmed by his understanding that she didn’t want to be found.

He looked at her and scowled, “Not usually because we can sense one another. No, you’d have to register because you’re something that hasn’t been around for over four hundred years and the powers that be would be very interested in learning about you and your kind and how you’ve stayed hidden all of these years.”

Malorie scoffed, “I’d like to see them try. Feryn would be pissed if something were to happen to me.”

The tires squealed as he slammed on his breaks and brought the car to an abrupt halt. The seatbelt jerked her backwards to keep her steady and she winced. As soon as the car came to a complete stop, she whipped the damn thing off and turned to glare at the mad man, “What the hell?”

Both of them ignored the honking horns that blared around them. He faced her with an expression of regret and said, “No offense, miss, but you need to get the hell out of my car. Now.”

“What the fuck?” she asked, staring at the man who was sworn to serve and protect even as she reached for the door handle.

He gulped audibly, “Aradians aren’t known for their forgiving dispositions and as much as it pains me to admit it, I have had several lustful thoughts about you since finding you asleep in the park.”

“I was mugged,” she interjected.

“Right,” he snorted, a slight smile tilting his lips before he wiped the humor from his face. “It’s just that lust is still so new to me but I do know enough to know how the Aradian emperor would take it if any man lusted after his marked property, no matter how unintentional.”

“Pardon me?” she asked, her mouth gaping open.

“It’s because you’re a female and I’m still trying to figure out my body,” he continued, answering the wrong question. In an almost pained confession, he murmured, “I find myself lusting after pretty much anyone with breasts and….”

“No, not that,” she shook her head as she held up her hand to stop him from going any further. “What makes you think I’m Feryn’s property?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, looking at her as if she was the one who had gone mad. “Aradians mark a Breeder before he mates with her in order to conceive a child and to ensure the child is his. The mark won’t fade until after the babe is born so until you deliver, you’re his.”

“I’m not his property,” she ground out. She remembered Feryn hadn’t marked her before they had sex the first time, when she had conceived his child. Apparently, she shouldn’t have been able to conceive without his mark, something he had said in passion but she hadn’t realized what he meant. No wonder why Feryn had freaked out. Of course, she already knew that she was something new so what else was unique about her?

“You poor thing with your human sensibilities.” He looked at her with pity as he nodded towards the door, “Now, it’s nothing personal, but can you get out of my car? I don’t want to do anything that will threaten the fragile alliance we have with the Aradians. Being in the same vicinity as the emperor’s property is tantamount to treason and if Feryn should discover you in my car it will set back relations a thousand years.”

Struck speechless, she simply stared at him for a few moments as he continued motioning towards the door, practically willing her back out into the cold. Thinking fast, she asked, “Don’t you think Feryn would be even more furious if you simply dropped me off in a strange city in the middle of winter with nothing to keep me warm?”

Color crept up his throat as he stared straight ahead. His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly and she wondered if it was going to break off in his hands. Grinding his teeth together, he managed to choke out, “Where do you want me to take you?”