Eternal Seduction (Darkness Within #1)

Logan couldn’t disagree with that. Part of successfully living on the street was keeping track of which restaurants dumped their trash when, because a well informed veteran could pick a Dumpster clean in less than a minute. Knowing which buildings were vacant but still had utilities, how often the police or gangs patrolled a neighborhood, and who called an alley their turf meant the difference between life and death.

And something deep inside told her, although the Veil raised the stakes a little higher, life as a vampire or Servio wasn’t much of a departure from the life she already knew.

Logan pushed her thoughts aside and returned her attention to Trinity. “What comes after the politics?”

She laughed. “There’s really no formula, Logan. One subject just kinda leads into the next, and the next, and the next…until we cover everything. Don’t worry, in two weeks time you’ll be fully trained and back in New York.” She wrinkled her nose. “And I’m sure, much to your very feigned dismay, some hot guy named Kerestyan will be there waiting for you.”

Chapter 17

New York City

Manhattan, Upper East Side

“I miss the days when your kind lived openly. You were so much easier to hunt and kill back then.”

Kerestyan chuckled as Raze, his hand chosen Head of Enforcement, stretched her long, denim clad legs across the glass coffee table situated between them. “I’ve only been absent a few days. Is the situation really that bad?”

She nodded, sprigs of vibrantly colored hair jutting from her high ponytail in all directions. “Your new Fledglings are reckless, Kerestyan. They push so close to the bounds of the Veil it’s only a matter of time before one of them screws up, big time.” Her pale pink lips curled into a scowl as golden flecks shimmered in the air around her. “And they’re so God damned mouthy. They have no respect for my position as your Lead Enforcer, and I’m willing to bet the entirety of the salary you pay me that the brainless twits don’t even know what I am. Sometimes it takes everything I have not to slaughter them where they stand.”

He shifted in the overstuffed chair as the animal inside him shrank back ever so slightly. Now he knew why Raze had invaded his mind shortly before sunrise, requesting a meeting as soon as possible.

Her aura only sparkled like the sun when she was angry, and she only took her God’s name in vain when she wanted to rend a supernatural creature limb from limb. Some unlucky vampire must’ve dug themselves firmly under her skin in his short absence.

Truthfully, Kerestyan was just glad it wasn’t him.

Although she’d be a more than apt opponent when it came to crossing steel, she lacked the age and experience to keep up with a vampire as old as him. He eyed the sheathed Creator Blade lying on the cushion next to her. Of course, there was the tricky matter of not being able to heal any wounds made by her weapon.

He watched her closely as she turned a bright pink coffee mug in her sun kissed hands then blew away the steam rising from the dark liquid. As a Paladin, and an old one at that, she’d been born with the holy fire to defend humanity from vampires and werewolves. However, walking in the light and blessings of her God had also bestowed upon her immortality, without restriction. No matter how much damage she incurred, she wouldn’t die until the day He saw fit to allow her that peace.

Kerestyan cringed internally. At least if a day ever came when he couldn’t bear to watch the world any longer, he could walk into the sunrise and be done with it. But to not have any say in her future, to not have a choice…he couldn’t imagine how trapped she must feel.

Is that how Logan feels? He stiffened at the thought. He truly hoped Logan didn’t feel trapped by him. He’d attempted to give her every choice possible in terms of her future.

Well, except for last night. He smiled to himself. The only reason he’d given her no choice then, was because she’d left him with none. The woman drove him absolutely insane. If she wasn’t yelling at him, she was screaming under him. And if she wasn’t staring at him through haunted, distant green eyes, she was setting him ablaze with heated emerald glances and playful smiles.

Whether he was allowed to voice it or not, Logan was amazing.

The insistent clicking of Raze’s shiny black fingernails against the ceramic mug pulled Kerestyan’s attention back to the present. He cleared his throat and offered an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. My mind drifted off.” He motioned around her. “What happened to upset you?”

She arched a pierced brow. “You mean, who pissed me off?”

He nodded. “That, too.”

“Last night I caught Craig Anderson wearing his fangs openly again at Fetish. He’s worn them so often, humans have begun asking questions when he doesn’t.”

Kerestyan rolled his eyes. With his execution of the three Fledglings who’d trapped Logan in her alley, Craig had, no doubt, ascended to leader of the wayward group. “Is he feeding openly as well?”

“Is he chewing Necks in the middle of the stage? Not quite. But he’s pushing the shadowed corners exception a little too hard for my tastes.”

He ground his teeth together. While he didn’t blame Raze for doing her job, and certainly understood her frustration, the idea he’d left Logan to talk about a low born whelp sent the animal stalking in his gut. “Then either kill him or drag him to Court for judgment.”

Raze tipped her head to the side and pinned him with her unnaturally violet eyes. “Did you just snap at me and give me rights to kill one of your vampires?” She kicked her feet down and leaned forward to set her mug on the table. “What’s up with you lately? You old school execute Tom, Dick and Harry. You don’t answer your phone for two days. You leave the city without telling me. Then you force me to break through Lord Evil’s barrier to contact you mentally, both of which you know I despise with a passion. I want some answers.”

He groaned. “Those weren’t their names. And please, Raze, much as I’ve asked you a dozen times before, don’t refer to my Father as Lord Evil. I understand you don’t care for each other but your feud has nothing to do with me.”

“They’re dead now.” She flashed a bright but sinister smile. “And by they, I mean the three troublemakers and your moldy Sire, who probably hasn’t breathed for any reason other than to ruin someone’s life in more years than I care to count.” She inhaled a deep breath, which he was sure she needed after her diatribe. “But I digress. I don’t care what their names are, were, will never be again. I want to know what’s going on with you.”

“Tom, Dick and Harry, as you so lovingly referred to them, died because they were fighting in a Brooklyn alley, in plain sight of a human woman. Then, when she asked them to stop so she could pass, instead of calling you for sanitation assistance, they were so caught up in the beast’s fury they asked if she was a Puppet.”

Raze threw her head back and let out a husky laugh. “See what I mean? They’re so stupid.” The amusement quickly faded from her graceful features. “Why did you take her to him,” she sneered.

He shook his head. “I’ll assume by the tone of your derision, you mean my Father. I took her to him because she’d been exposed to vampires for an extended period of time. Her memories were too vivid and numerous to erase or rearrange.”

“Why didn’t you just kill her?”

“You would have me kill an Innocent?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t play that card on me, Leech. You know damn well that’s not what I’d have you do, but I also understand sometimes it’s necessary. If the whole of humanity were to learn supernaturals exist, it would only make protecting them that much more difficult.”

Kerestyan snapped his mouth closed. What was it with the women in his life spouting off all manner of offensive comments as of late? “I can’t believe you just called me a Leech. If it means that much to you, I apologize I didn’t call to let you know I’d be out of contact for a few days, but time was of the essence.”

Her face softened. “I’m sorry. I’m just feeling out of sorts over this whole Craig thing.” She frowned. “Wait. What do you mean time was of the essence?”

He drew in then exhaled a deep breath. “Logan, the woman in question, was placed under time constraints by my Father. I needed to assist her through the withdrawal process before I could take her to him, which is why I wasn’t answering my phone. Honestly, I left it in my bed chamber without a second thought.”

She stood and held a flattened hand below her right ear. “Logan? Are you talking about the dark haired heroine junkie who’s about this tall? The one with the cold green eyes that just scream she’s seen too much?”

Kerestyan leaned forward. “That would be a fitting description. How do you know her?”

Raze lowered her hand, hesitation flickering behind her lavender eyes. “I’ve run into her a couple times in Brooklyn. She’s been on the streets for a long time. Did Stefan turn her?”

He wasn’t sure what concerned him more. The fact that Raze seemed to know Logan; or that she actually called his Father by his given name. “No, he didn’t. Logan’s been remanded to Trinity, as her Servio. Why do you ask?”