“No…that’s a new one for me. Although, I don’t know how it’s possible, but I have seen you in my mind. I thought I was hallucinating. Like as a side effect of a nuclear explosion or something. Come to think of it, you could be a hallucination. That’s the only reason I’m not using my shotgun on you right now.”
“You’ve touched me, Lucia” he said. “You’ve felt my heat against your body. You know I’m real.”
He could smell her arousal rise from her core and it filled his nostrils. He wanted to take her in his arms again, but she was on edge. She still didn’t know herself. She didn’t know him.
“I want to take you to safety,” he said. “Out of the city.”
“It’s getting worse by the minute out there.”
“Come with me,” he said, reaching out to her. “I will protect you.”
He saw the thoughts move across her face and the scent of her magic swirl and change. She wanted to believe him. She needed his protection. But more than that, she burned for answers to her many questions. He smelled the sharp scent of thirst for knowledge and the deep earthy scent of a desire for insight.
“I can’t leave without Felix,” she said, running to her bedroom.
She came back a moment later with a white, plastic cat carrier. She found the cat, who had been lurking in a dark corner and she put the creature into the plastic box.
“Is that everything?” he asked.
“My laptop,” she added with a laugh.
“I have better at my fortress. Now come, beloved, we must go.”
She pulled on a jacket and slung her purse over her shoulder. With the cat carrier in hand she followed Orion out onto the balcony. She stared up at him in the darkness. A fire burned in the distance. A gunshot rang out among the screams and cries. Lucia shuddered in the cold breeze.
“What now?” she asked.
“Now, we fly.”
Chapter 6
Xander Valdis wiped the blood from his lips, his belly warm and full of human blood. He grinned gleefully into the darkness, his night vision picking up the movements of the vampires and dragons around him. The Surge had taken Denver by force, their army spilling out of apartments and houses, rising up and eating their neighbors in a great feed.
The virus they’d sprayed over the cities in the years leading up to the Dark Sun had infected tens of thousands of people. The moment the sun went dark, the great armies of mindless vampires had taken to the streets, feeding and reproducing until entire cities had been captured by them.
Even the dragons had taken part in the feed, gleefully feasting on human flesh, reveling in the feeling of their true form. For two thousand years, the dragons had been trapped in their human bodies, much like the vampires had been trapped in darkness.
Feeding on humans during that time had been difficult. With their power severely limited, most vampires had to go to other means to procure their life blood. Animals, the dead, blood banks, many vampires had even managed become surgeons. All just to get the fix they needed to survive.
Unlike the vampires, the dragons could still walk in the light of day. The dragons who had come over to The Surge were some of his most valuable resources. Esher had served his purpose well, funneling great stores of wealth from multiple countries into Xander’s coffers. It had built his Dark Sun Machine. Even though he’d had to hide from the Silverdrake clan and their constant interference with his plans.
Many immortals still feared Xander’s power. And he didn’t blame them. As the oldest living immortal on the planet, he was the elder god of them all. Even the long-time Alpha of the Silverdrake clan paled in comparison.
In Xander’s opinion, immortals were superior to the weak humans who were native to the planet Earth. The immortals had every right to use the resources of the planet for their own means. Humanity was nothing but playthings and food for immortals.
He intended to put everything right again. The witches would be awakening to their true power. They would still be weak from their lack of training.
But the awakening witches would bring with them their immortal wombs. What he could do with those female bodies, ripe and ready to take his ancient seed. Gama would pay for her betrayal. Xander hoped the Goddess knew what he intended to do to her precious bastard children. He would take witches and humans alike to breed and to feed upon.
Glee filled his heart again and he dove back into the corralled crowd of screaming humans. Esher’s massive black dragon head darted into the crowd, crunching a man’s body in his grinding jaws. The Surge had pinned five thousand people in the Denver Superdome. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, but twice the fun.
Xander grabbed a young woman, whose dark hair hung in sheets around her pale face. She screamed repeatedly as he held her terrified body close to him. Her fear was palpable and arousing. He considered raping her as he drained her blood, but decided against it. Who had the time for such things with so many bodies to suck dry?
He bit at her neck, opening her vein into his hungry mouth. He lapped up the blood as it coursed through her and into him. She struggled and shuddered, giving one last fight before he took her life. The pleasure of those final throes. The knowledge that she was a pathetic cow, meant only for his food, was what tasted so sweet on his tongue. He could never get enough of that particular flavor.
As he let the girl drop to the floor of the superdome, he felt his glass pad ping in his pocket. He wiped his lips and withdrew his device, tapping on the screen.
“Lord Valdis,” the vampire said. “The new vampire armies have taken New York and Paris. Tokyo and New Delhi will soon follow.”
“Very good,” Xander replied.
The Surge had used a virus to create an army of rabid, zombie-like vampires to ravage the cities of the world after the veil was lifted. The Surge would rise again and immortals would take their rightful place at the throne of mankind. It was already happening.
“Tell them it’s feeding time,” Xander said. “No holding back.”
“Yes, Lord Valdis. I will tell the armies your orders.”
The odds were heavily stacked in Xander’s favor, and that was just the way he liked it. He would keep the world in eternal night forever.
Chapter 7
Orion Silverdrake, the man wearing a leather jacket and sporting a rugged five o’clock shadow, had just shapeshifted into a massive silver dragon right in front of Lucia’s eyes. Before she could even catch her breath from the shock, he’d grabbed her in his huge talons and carried her into the dark sky.
Lucia had watched in horror as the ground fell away below her. Felix meowed at the top of his lungs, screaming and hissing hysterically until even he managed to calm down.
Lucia stared at the night sky through the space between Orion’s talons. The stars still shone over the dying world. She wanted to forget the screams of her city and believe that this dragon man could somehow make everything alright.
He did say he had a fortress with technology better than her laptop. In this dreamlike reality, anything was possible, she decided. Or maybe she should have shot him. She might have if she actually owned a shotgun. But she didn’t have one. All she had was her cat, and they both needed a safe harbor.
Ever since the sun had gone dark and her heart had gone berserk, she’d been having visions of this man…this dragon. She knew him somehow and he claimed to be her long lost husband. What were the odds that this was all a big coincidence? In her old life, she would have looked for rational explanations. But now, believing he was her soulmate was just as likely as anything.
It filled her with a kind of longing she’d never experienced. When he finally landed deep within the heart of the Northern California coastal mountains, she finally decided it was alright that she’d gone with him rather than shooting him in the face with her imaginary shotgun.
He let her down gently before landing and shifting beside her. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she could make out the walls around her from the light of the stars
alone. As soon as Orion shifted, the house lights came on. She gasped as she took in the marvel of what she found around her.
Immaculately kept grounds. A statue of a goddess holding a bowl that spilled water down into a gazing pool. The twenty foot concrete walls around the wide expanse of the courtyard truly did make it seem like a fortress.
She turned to Orion who was holding a clear glass tablet that he flicked and clicked on.
“What is that? And how do you have electricity?”
“Xander’s particle beam can’t interfere with our technology. Only human technology. I’m sure he would have tried, if he had more advanced technology than we have. He’s used all his resources to put out the sun and destroy mankind. You can’t conquer everyone at once. Not even Xander has that much power.”
“Who is Xander?” Lucia asked, leaning over to inspect his tablet. The screen seemed holographic, but it was also very similar to the digital touch screens she was used to.
“Xander Valdis. He’s the leader of The Surge. The grandson of the vampire god Tartarus. He wants nothing more than to enslave humanity and all immortals who oppose him.”
“You lost me a long time ago.”
“Come inside, beloved, you are freezing cold and your cat is having fits.”
He put his arm around her waist and walked with her toward the entrance of the grand house in the distance. There was a long drive framed by well-kept gardens. Beside the house sat a massive garage with five different sliding doors.
The front entrance of the four-story mansion was on the second floor, up a grand staircase. Orion took Lucia’s cat carrier before they started up the stairs. He walked with his arm around her waist the entire time. She was glad to have the physical support because the events of the day had left her shaken up. But being so close to this stranger was giving her body all kinds of strange feelings.
Lucia wasn’t in the habit of flying off with men who broke into her apartment, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She just hoped this wasn’t an elaborate scheme to take her to his lair and eat her brain, or worse.
When they reached the front entrance of the mansion, the door opened and they were greeted by a butler who looked more like a goblin than a man. Lucia gasped and stepped back, terrified of the small green creature. Felix hissed in his cat carrier. The butler bowed and backed out of the doorway.
“Please, this is just Benny. He’s worked for me for ages.”
“What is he?” Lucia stammered as Orion guided her past the bowing green midget.
“He’s my butler. The Goudy tend my fortress. Their kind have a long history of service to the immortals since the veiling. They cannot be seen by humans, so they must find other means of employment.”
“Why can’t they be seen?” Lucia asked.
She still had no idea what Orion was going on about. Not a single word had made sense since they’d landed. And he still seemed to believe she was his dead wife.
“It is part of Gama’s last spell. After the veil, all non-human entities from the center of the Earth and from space were banished or weakened. Most cannot be seen by human eyes or they vanish from existence.”
“They vanish? That’s horrible.”
“Please, come inside, my beloved.”
Lucia followed Orion through his mansion. Everything was luxurious and expensive looking. Antiques that should have been in a museum were mixed with ultra-modern pieces straight from the gallery showroom floor.
The twenty-foot-tall ceiling stretched overhead and the creamy gold walls were covered in masterpiece paintings from the last ten centuries.
Orion led her into a cozy parlor down the hall and around the corner from the front door. It was less grand than the other rooms they’d passed, but far more comfortable for a girl who lived in a one bedroom apartment. The modern rustic furnishings directed the focus to the grand stone fireplace that was blazing with a roaring fire. It was exactly what she needed to warm her chilled blood. She walked past a bank of windows on the way to the sitting area in front of the hearth. She imagined that, when the sun shined, the view must be breathtaking.
“This place is amazing,” she said, warming her hands by the fire.
Orion set Felix’s crate near the glowing warmth and Lucia knelt to open his cage.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” she said, reaching for her traumatized pet.
She pulled him out and stood, holding him to her chest in front of the fire. He struggled at first but was soon purring with contentment. The poor thing had been scared out of his mind, but she was glad she’d brought him. Leaving him alone to starve wasn’t an option.
Lucia set Felix down and let him run off to find a cozy place to lick himself. She’d have to find him food and litter before she went to bed. If she could ever sleep again with a man like Orion so close.
She couldn’t help but notice the tingle of arousal that swept through her whenever he spoke, or touched her, or pretty much any time he did anything. It didn’t make her angry, it just confused the hell out of her.
He stepped in front of the fire and offered her a cup of steaming hot tea in a pretty porcelain cup. She accepted the offering and sat down in an armchair beside the fire. Orion sat across from her, giving her the space she desperately needed.
All the information coming at her from every side was just too much. She couldn’t process it, even if she wanted to. Everything in her was telling her to grab onto Orion with both hands and never let him go. He had a lot of stories she was sure he believed, but that didn’t mean any of it was true. How could she even trust her strange foreign memories? It was all so absurd, no matter how much she felt for Orion.
Supposedly, she was an immortal priestess or a witch or something. She’d never had any indication that she was a supernatural creature from some godly lineage until today. The suggestion was insane.
Although, her mother always said that her own great grandmother was a psychic back in Spain. She had to hide it because of religious superstition, but that didn’t keep the people of her village from coming to her for advice back then.
“You said a vampire named Xander caused the sun to go out? He did that to bring magic back into the world?”
“Yes,” said Orion, sipping his tea.
“Can the sun come back?”
“Undoubtedly. The sun hasn’t gone out. It’s being cooled due to a chemical reaction created by his particle beam.”
“If the sun can come back, can the electricity?” she asked, trying desperately to keep up.
“Yes. The particle beam is currently interfering with human technology. Without it, normal electrical function returns. I’m sure the solar flare burned out most of the grid, though. No matter what, the world will never be the same.”
“How can the sun come back?”
“My brother Titus is gathering our forces to hit Xander at his underground laboratory in Denver. Now that we know where his beam is located, we can strike him there. Rest assured, the Silverdrake clan will not allow The Surge to destroy humanity. There are many other immortals who agree.”
“You are going to fight him?” she asked, suddenly feeling terrified to lose him.
She barely knew him, yet the thought that he might die in battle ripped her apart. What would happen to her in this strange place? Her heart flip-flopped in her chest, just as it had when the sun went dark.
“I will stay until you are settled, Selene. My greatest priority is to you.”
“Please call me Lucia, Orion. I don’t know who Selene is.”
“I’m sorry. That was your name when you were my wife. A long time ago, in another world.”
Chapter 8
Orion showed Lucia to a sleeping chamber. She held her cat to her breast, the subtle scent of anxiety still clinging to her body. How he wished he could wash it all away and bring her to life again with his touch. But that could not be tonight.
“Thank you,” she said, holding her black and white cat in her arms as he wiggled to get
loose. “There is so much I want to know, but all this energy coursing through me is exhausting. I can barely keep my eyes open.”
“Sleep, and I will reveal all in the morning.”
She turned to go, but he stood in the doorway, watching her walk inside. He held the doorknob. She turned to him and gave him a questioning look. Finally, he closed the door and started down the hall.
His blood burned for her. He could feel the elemental fires in his belly raging bright for his mate. His beloved. How he needed to feel her feminine curves awaken at his touch. He longed for the scent of her ready cunt, begging to take his tongue, his fingers, and his cock. The memory of her taste lingered still, two thousand years later.
The beast inside him, forced to slumber all this time, was growling for the old ways. His woman had to know him. Their primal attraction had been timeless and ageless when they’d met three thousand years ago, and nothing had changed.
He turned the corner and took an elevator up to the top floor where he had his workshop. Most of his advanced technology was stored safely in the basement, but the top floor was where he did his best thinking and much of his work.
A massive wall of windows faced the valley that sloped away from his estate. Stars shone like torches, burning through the blanket of the black sky. With no other light, they burned in all their glory.
He went to his glass pad dashboard and waved his hand over the computer terminal. His three-dimensional holographic dashboard rose above the terminal, and he opened his communications network, pinging his brother Titus.
“We’ve moved on Denver,” Titus said into his camera. “But Xander’s forces have destroyed New York and several other cities abroad. They are organized and have legions of zombies. We simply can’t move fast enough.”
“You must concentrate on bringing back the sunlight.”
“You need to be here,” Titus growled.
“I’ve found her.”
“What do you mean?”