Embrace the Darkness (Darkness Series) Page 23

  Reaching for his right arm she said, “I know you could easily escape these, but let’s pretend for a moment you can’t.”

  Fire danced in his eyes. His Adam’s apple bobbled.

  Without protest, he raised his arms above his head and stuck his hands between the brass bars so Amber could cuff his wrists on either side.

  “I’m all yours,” he said, his voice raw.

  Need speared her. Hot with wanting, she leveled herself up to straddle his hips. Her body yawned above him, pulsing with a soul-deep desire to have him inside her. She lowered her hips, barely brushing the tip of his erection before rising again.

  Gerard thrust upward. Amber’s thighs quivered as she held herself out of reach, sliding over the length of him without granting him entrance.

  With a frustrated growl, he sank back to the mattress and relinquished control. Amber felt his restraint—felt him fighting the desire to break free.

  “Patience,” she whispered from a throat so tight she could barely get the word out.

  He could snap the cuffs as easily as she could snap a pencil, but he allowed her the illusion of being in control. Taking charge, she bent forward and kissed him deeply.

  As she slowly lowered her hips, his hot, throbbing erection filled her. Moaning her pleasure, she took in every inch of him until her thighs rested against his pelvis. He jerked upward with a grunt, his hot breath filling her mouth.

  Her muscles contracted, contorting her body. He sank deeper, touching her core. A whimper escaped.

  For several heartbeats, she held perfectly still, her forehead resting against his—concentrating on that part of her that so intimately connected to him. Her breathing hitched. Her body pulsed.

  Fighting a budding urgency, she forced herself to move slowly—forced herself to prolong the pleasure. Palms pressed to his chest, she raised and lowered her hips, gently rocking against him until the pressure became unbearable. Her body quivered on a sigh. Her muscles tightened around him.

  “Bon sang!” He jolted—his body shaking as he fought to control his physical release.

  She felt his pleasure as keenly as she felt her own.

  Throwing her head back as she slammed against his hips, she cried, “Yes.” Panting breaths escaped. Her body coiled tighter. She moved faster. “God, yes!”

  Gerard surged upward. A growl rumbled through his chest. Amber increased the pace, riding him hard. Racing toward glory.

  He bucked beneath her. Her body thrummed—the pressure building until she found her release and shattered above him.

  Exhausted and replete, her body slick with sweat, she dropped to his chest with a shuddering sigh. Before she settled back to Earth, Gerard snapped the cuffs and clasped her to his chest.

  Surging upward one last time, he emptied himself inside her with a primal groan.

  For several moments, she lay across his chest, her legs draped over his as her breathing slowly returned to normal. Gerard held her, his hands running over her back, his touch so gentle it made her ache.

  Raising her head, she met his tender gaze. Emotions she didn’t want to feel choked her. Her heart pounded like a steel drum. Her throat constricted.

  Forcing a light tone to her words, she said, “I’m going to have a tough time explaining those broken cuffs to the captain.”

  He smiled. “Afraid he’ll find out his best detective has a kinky side.”

  If she was such a damn good detective, she wouldn’t have needed vampire magic to find Weldon. Her gut twisted.

  Nothing in her life was what it seemed. Her father wasn’t her father and she wasn’t a good soldier or a good cop. She was a hybrid freak of nature.

  Ignoring the dark cloak of despair settling in her chest, she forced a smile. “I’m not his best detective. But I bet I’m the best sex you ever had.”

  Even in her befuzzled state she knew what they’d just shared was more than sex—a hell of lot more. She felt as if she’d given up part of her soul to this man.

  Afraid to admit she wanted a future with an immortal, she slid off his body, giving him her back. Before she could scramble off the bed, he pulled her against his chest. His arms banded around her waist. His lips brushed the back of her neck.

  “Don’t you want more?” he whispered.

  She stiffened. “Don’t get carried away, Frenchie. It was just sex.”

  Just saying those cold, hard words brought a lump to her throat. She didn’t know what she wanted from Gerard, or what was even possible, but she knew she wanted more from him than just a mind-blowing screw. She wanted…

  Happily ever after?

  Yeah. Right. Forever for Gerard was literal. And she was destined to live and die in the normal human fashion.

  “Do you think I betrayed you?” he asked softly, his lips brushing her shoulders.

  Her breath hitched in her lungs. “What?”

  “This wasn’t the result of glamour. I want you to know that,” he said in a solemn voice that sounded like a pledge. “Whatever made you want me was real. I didn’t instigate it. It’s important to me for you know that.”

  Her heart melted. Warning bells rang like sirens in her head, cautioning her to tread lightly. She was in grave danger of pledging her undying love to man who could live forever.

  The very idea was ludicrous. And so incredibly sad. Turning her head to the side, she rested her cheek against his shoulder. In the stillness of the room, she let her heart feel the love he offered for only a second. Then she slipped from his arms and reached for her clothes.

  “Being carefree was fun while it lasted, but we have a lot to do before Vincent and Megan get here. And I need to take a shower.”

  Gerard stood. Sorrow shadowed his expression. His smile appeared forced. “Go take your shower and slip into some clean clothes. You’ve had on those same pink undies since yesterday.”

  Relieved by his light tone, she relaxed her tense shoulders. “Well, you shouldn’t have dragged me to New York without letting me pack a bag. I had a shower at Vincent’s, but I wasn’t about to borrow Megan’s underwear.”

  “You wouldn’t have liked her undies,” he said with an honest to God twinkle in his eyes. “She wears plain cotton panties.”

  Amber folded her arms under her breasts, hugging her dirty clothes to her chest. An unexpected stab of jealousy pierced her heart. “How would you know what kind of panties Megan wears?”

  He winked. “I’m a vampire. I have my secrets.”

  That damn wink did it for her. It eased her mind and her cares.

  Why was she stressing about her relationship with Gerard. It’s not like he’d proposed. She didn’t need a commitment to enjoy his company or to sleep with him. They could be friends with benefits. No pressure. No illusions about happily ever after. She didn’t even have to risk her heart by telling him she loved him. What could be better?

  She could enjoy his company while it lasted—until she started to get old and wrinkled or he grew bored with his mortal “play thing.”

  So, why didn’t that make her feel better?

  Not liking her easy solution any more than confessing her love to a man who’d eventually leave her, she drifted into the bathroom and closed the door.

  Chapter 20

  Dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, Amber sat on the sofa with her laptop resting on her thighs. Gerard sat beside her wearing nothing but jeans. Beneath lowered lashes, she stole glances at his chest. He stared openly at her legs, remembering how it felt to have them straddling his hips.

  As if aware of his fantasies, she cleared her throat. A flush stained her cheeks when she began another search of Urban Exploration sites for abandoned hospitals in North Carolina.

  An image appeared on the screen, distracting him from his erotic daydreams. He leaned closer, studying the dark, oppressive photos taken at an abandoned hospital in Banner Elk, North Carolina.

  “Cannon Memorial Hospital,” he said under his breath.

  Amber seemed to be concentrating, reaching o
ut with her mind to find his clone. “He’s not in Banner Elk. He’s further east.”

  She scrolled down the page to another abandoned facility. When she opened the link, a warren of corridors with peeling green paint and warped doors appeared on the screen. Buckled floor tiles littered with years of dust and grime. Images he’d seen in his head—images he shared with his clone.

  His throat went dry. “Piney Grove Sanatorium.”

  Most of the windows were broken out or bordered up, but the grounds looked freshly mowed and despite an overgrowth of kudzu, the building looked sturdy.

  Located outside of a small, sparsely populated mountain community northwest of Mount Airy near the Virginia border, it was the perfect location for Weldon’s experiments. Piney Grove was a dying town.

  Besides the abandoned sanatorium, there was a country store, a church, a bed and breakfast, a gas station, and a handful of scattered houses. The internet pictures were taken by an urban explorer in 2009 who listed the mayor of Piney Grove as the owner of the facility. Although several paranormal investigators had rented the building in the past, the property was still available for sale or lease. Or, it had been available in ’09, at least.

  “Why would anyone build a hospital in the middle of nowhere?” Amber asked as she scrolled through the images. “Even before Interstate 74 diverted traffic away from the town, there wasn’t much to it.”

  “Isolation prevented the spread of consumption.” He leaned closer, staring at the haunting images, hoping to get a mental fix on the clone’s exact location in the building.

  Amber looked at him. “Don’t you mean TB?”

  “In my day, we called it consumption. Before antibiotics, it was the second leading cause of death in America and the leading cause of death in France. Sanatoriums provided rest, isolation, and fresh air. They also provided a food source for hungry vampires who needed to feed without taking blood from healthy, innocent mortals.”

  Shame twisted his gut. He wasn’t proud of the lives he’d taken. Telling himself his victims were already dying did little to ease his conscience.

  “When the sanatoriums closed,” he continued, unable to look at Amber and see the condemnation in her eyes, “vampires with a conscience found other food supplies. I stole from blood banks long before Vincent offered me the job at Lifeblood.”

  The Red Cross was always running short on blood, no matter how much they collected from volunteers. The administrators remained unaware of the real reason for the shortage.

  His stomach cramped. He closed his eyes, battling the guilt. The remorse. In France, he’d dined on soldiers mortally wounded in battle. He’d done the same during both world wars. In between wars, he’d found sustenance in sanatoriums and among burn victims after the Chicago fire and other disasters that befell his adopted country. But he had never murdered an innocent.

  Still…

  He opened his eyes and met Amber’s compassionate gaze.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

  “Nothing.” He shook his head. She was mortal…a dhampir. Either way, she’d never understand.

  Leaning over the laptop, she took his hands in hers. “You never took an innocent life. I know you. Even as a mortal soldier, you wouldn’t have shot unless forced to do so.”

  He smiled, choking back the knot of emotion clogging his throat. “When I was a soldier, I fired a musket. I did most of my killing with the business end of my bayonet.”

  And he still lived with the memories of every life he’d ever taken.

  “You killed in defense of your country. Or to relieve the suffering of someone mortally wounded or terminally ill. You never murdered anyone.”

  He swallowed thickly. “How can you be so sure?”

  “I know you, Gerard. I know your heart, and it has nothing to do with being a dhampir.”

  “So, you think I’m one of the good guys.” Despite his efforts to sound flippant, his voice cracked. “According to legend, vampires are evil.”

  She smiled, dispelling the sadness in her eyes. “Yeah, and dhampirs are supposed to be hideous. I hope that legend isn’t true either.”

  “You’re far from hideous,” he said, a catch in his voice. “You’re beautiful, down to your soul.”

  A blush stained her cheeks. Tugging her hand free, she turned back to the computer. “And apparently, there’s more to being a dhampir than a desire to hunt and kill vampires.”

  “No,” he said softly, “There’s more to you.”

  The look she gave him set his heart to pounding at a rate that couldn’t be healthy—not even for a vampire.

  Sheer determination kept him from pulling her into his arms and making love to her again. But the clock was ticking. And the clone—his clone—G-2 was getting hungry.

  His stomach twisted. “Scroll through the pictures. See if you get the same vibe I do. See if you can pinpoint his location inside the building.”

  Fear flashed behind her eyes. “Okay.”

  Bending over the laptop, she scrolled through the pictures. Darkened hallways, shadowy rooms containing rusted bed frames and decades of debris. After the third image in a set of nine, Amber gasped and looked up.

  “He’s in the cafeteria—in the basement. My earlier impression was right. Weldon keeps him locked in a walk-in freezer when he isn’t needed.”

  Gerard closed his eyes, reaching out to his clone. A sudden craving jolted him. A foreign hunger. He opened his eyes and looked at Amber. “He’s getting impatient. And hungry.”

  “There’s another vampire,” Amber said, fear straining her voice. “I sense him, but I can’t—get a reading. Is it Axle?”

  Amber had never met Axle. She’d be unable to get any sort of reading on him other than identifying him as a vampire through her connection with the clone. But he knew Axel. And Weldon had created the clone from Gerard’s DNA. If the clone’s blood was used to convert Axle Travers, Gerard should be able to get some sort of reading from him too.

  He closed his eyes again, seeking a separate connection—a connection to Axle. His body swayed as he stretched his mind further, trying to find a second genetic link.

  An image flashed in his head—a figure strapped to a morgue slab—a sedated, still breathing body.

  “Axle.” His heart slammed against his ribs. The connection was weak, but it existed. Axle Travers was a vampire.

  “We’re too late. Aren’t we?” Her voice shook.

  He wanted to deny the truth. He wanted to tell her they could still save him. But she was right. It was too late to save Axle or his soul.

  Gerard felt the young man’s pain—his struggle to resist his new nature. Had he taken the life of an innocent yet? He’d been Weldon’s hostage for months—had he endured the same agony Gerard had suffered at Weldon’s hands?

  Pain tightened his throat. “He’s weak. Weldon’s using him as a guinea pig—testing his theories—testing the truth of every vampire legend known to man. I know the pain he suffers. I’ve been there. A vampire’s body heals—but not the soul.”

  “Dear God.” Amber’s voice was a raspy whisper. “We have to save Axel before it’s too late. Before Weldon kills him.”

  “It may be too late already.” Gerard closed his eyes, reliving the pain—the terror. Not once while he was a prisoner in Weldon’s lab had he questioned his ability to physically heal from the torture. He’d feared losing his mind—and losing touch with what little remained of his humanity.

  Amber touched his thigh, jolting him. “Your soul isn’t damaged. You’ve survived unspeakable horrors without losing your compassion. That makes you heroic—like so many of the soldiers I served with in Iraq.”

  He looked into her eyes, seeing more than he knew she wanted to reveal. His throat closed. His heart hardened. He’d dragged Amber into his dark world and she was no longer fighting it. He wouldn’t allow her to embrace it. Not for her job and certainly not for him.

  “I’m no knight in shining armor.”

  She jerked
as if slapped and removed her hand from his leg. “I never suggested you were. So, don’t flatter yourself. I don’t need rescuing.”

  Merde. That was one way to put distance between them. Piss her off. Or suggest she was fragile or needy. Amber hated feeling vulnerable. She saw it as a weakness rather than a connection to the humanity he’d lost centuries ago. Mortals needed one another. Vampires were destined to live alone—whether they liked it or not.

  Ignoring the pain tightening his throat, Gerard concentrated on the cloned vampire. The creature was awake. He prowled the tight confines of the freezer like a hungry wolf in a cage, thinking of nothing but food. Rage filled him, but he made no attempt to use his mind to unlock the freezer door.

  Gerard finally understood his inability to mentally connect with the creature before. The creature wasn’t complete. He looked at Amber, his heart pounding in his chest. “Weldon created a physical replica. The clone looks like me, but his instincts are baser. His mind isn’t evolved.”

  “He doesn’t have a soul.” Amber’s fingers covered her lips. Her eyes widened. “Weldon cloned a body, but he’s not God. He can’t clone the soul. That creature lives to eat. And Weldon has lost control of him.”

  He met her gaze, breaking her connection to his clone. The terror slowly faded from her eyes.

  “We have to go in tomorrow—before sunset,” she said. “I can’t wait to see if the antivirus is going to allow you to awaken sooner or stay up longer. If Weldon unleashes that creature on the world or loses control of him—”

  “Don’t try to be a hero, Amber.” He grabbed both her hands, knocking the computer off her lap. It slid between her thigh and the arm of the sofa. “Promise you won’t do anything stupid. Promise me you—”

  ****

  The doorbell saved Amber from making any promises she knew she wouldn’t keep.

  Pulling her hands free from Gerard’s she rose and headed for the door. He was hard on her heels, begging her not to go after the clone alone.

  “Damn it, Amber. Promise me.”

  How did he know he could trust her not to break a promise, even if she did make one? How had he gotten to know her so well in such a short amount of time?