Devils Among Us (2 page)

The part he had difficulty with was the idea that at the end of it all, should he choose to embrace his fate, he would find light amidst the darkness. It was almost too good to be true and a lifetime of letdowns had taught him nothing came without a price.

My inner demons will never cease to torment me.

Janco laughed, tapping the coin and making it disappear with his power. “Those things you play with are the reason you’re here to begin with, dear brother. I find it hard to believe anything would lead you to a human purposely, not unless it was to feed from her.” The disdain in Janco’s voice wasn’t difficult to spot. His brother had an even lower opinion of the race that overpopulated the surface than Keane did. To Janco, humans were simply a means to an end.

They were fuckable fodder.

“Your time with the beast master has pulled away the little bit of fun you used to be,” Keane offered, arching a brow in derision.

The beast master ordeal had ended with Janco safe and alive, even though he’d spent nearly a month locked away at the hands of an evil so great it caused the baddest of the bad to wince upon hearing its name. Whatever had happened to him there, it had left him weakened—vulnerable, even. Bringing up Janco’s time as the beast master’s captive was hitting below the belt, something Keane generally avoided doing in regard to his brothers, but when it came to his new fascination—the human—he found himself doing it more and more.

Janco narrowed his dark eyes and flashed a bit of fang in Keane’s direction. It was plainly a challenge. One Keane would normally accept. He was still aggravated by Janco “willing” away yet another of his play toys. Keane entertained striking out at his brother, forcing him to return what was rightfully his, but there were plenty more coins where that one had come from. Besides, letting Janco know he’d managed to worm his way under Keane’s skin would mean his brother would push harder, perhaps harming the human Keane had taken an interest in.

The very fact he wished to protect her should have made Keane order his brother to handle her, rid him of her pull, but he couldn’t bring himself to allow injury to come to her.

He tugged at the lace sleeves sticking out from under his deep burgundy coat. The edges of the coat were embroidered with silver silk thread, as many coats for court dress were. He’d come from matters of the council—feeling her pull and needing to be near her. Keane smoothed down the front of his dark breeches and stared forth at the young woman walking under the soft light of the moon. While his current attire was hardly fashionable to wear among humans, it was exactly what the others who ruled the underworld wore.

Stuck in time warps.

He chuckled as he thought of his youngest brother’s comments on the Ruling Councils of the Underworld. Perhaps Anton was correct. A change might very well be in order. Maybe the council did need to consider updating, for lack of a better word. However, change always brought a heavy price. As a sinking feeling in his gut arose, Keane knew what the price for him would be. He glanced at the human, unwilling to allow her to be the cost.

“How long do you plan to watch her tonight?” Janco asked, his attention on the female Keane could scarcely draw himself away from. “Do you not grow tired of these games? Go and take what you want from her. I do not think she will put up much of a fight. Pity. I do so enjoy it when they struggle.”

Keane ignored his brother. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t already considered taking the woman for himself and quenching his thirst for her. He could bend her mind, make her desire him and do to her what he longed to—fuck her senseless.

Seemed wrong to try to control her thoughts. And honestly, he wasn’t sure he could. He’d not been able to listen to her thoughts. Her mind was closed off to him during waking hours.

Rare indeed.

He’d already been visiting her while she slept, lurking, watching over her. He’d managed to infiltrate her dreams, but not deep enough for his liking. There was something different about her. Something that would leave him hungry for more than she would be willing to give or than he would be willing to take.

Perhaps I am softening in my old age.

After centuries of ruling the underworld with a band of like-minded supernaturals, the very idea of having a change of heart amused Keane. There was no way he would allow the human to crack his inner shell, the one protecting his blackened heart. No other had succeeded in the feat. It would be impossible for a human to pull it off.

He leaned against the wall of the groundskeeper’s building and cast a wary glance at his brother. Janco grinned, mischief a gleam in his obsidian eyes. Many had thought the brothers were twins. Their younger brothers escaped the assumption, only because their eyes weren’t as black as Janco’s and Keane’s. Anton boasted eyes of violet and hair as black as the rest of the clan. Vladja—who was called Vlad by all who knew him—had turquoise jewels that left the ladies mesmerized before he even needed to draw on his vampire powers. Jean-Paul and Reynard had eyes of royal blue—also very unnatural. Soon, his other brothers would visit as well, no doubt in an attempt to exorcise Keane of the human who held his thoughts captive. He had no doubt cousins, as well as trusted family friends, would try to assist as well. He did not look forward to the heads of varying demonic councils all trying to save him from his lust. It embarrassed the family, but he couldn’t seem to stop the draw he felt to the female.

She must be a witch.

He knew better, regardless what his inner voice thought on the matter. The human was no witch. She was special. Different from others of her race, but Keane couldn’t put his finger on just what was different. She, unlike others, could block him from reading her every thought, sensing all there was to know about her. While he did pick up tiny impressions, he had yet to figure her out.

An enigma.

“Perhaps the pull comes from the thrill of the chase. The not knowing her thoughts.”

Janco’s snort alerted Keane that he’d spoken aloud. His brother tipped his head. “She is a sight to behold, but provides no chase for you, brother. She is ripe for the taking. Right there, at your fingertips. Unless, as I have said, you have softened with age.”

“Be gone.”

Janco remained in place. “Take her, Keane. Take her, bind her. Make her submit to you. Fuck her until you can no longer expend a drop of seed and then be done with her. For the sake of the damned, gift her to me when you are done if you have not the stomach for seeing to matters.”

He wanted the woman bound to his bed. He wanted to do all the things his brother had suggested, except be done with her or share her. Somehow he knew one taste wouldn’t be enough. Walking away wouldn’t be an option. And sharing wasn’t something he’d be able to do.

“Do you not have somewhere to be?” Keane asked dryly. “Do not murder and mayhem call to you?” He could summon the power to simply
will
his brother away, much the way Janco had done with the coin, but it would only serve to ignite a feud between them. One not needed or wanted for the time being, especially not with his quest for the human underway.

Janco merely smiled, refusing to abandon the post he’d no doubt proclaimed to be his—overseeing his oldest brother’s actions. Keane knew it was pointless to push, so he opted to ignore Janco, focusing on the female instead.

As Keane watched from the shadows, the object of his desire made her way down the dimly lit path, through the center of the park within the old cemetery. Why she continued to insist on putting herself in clear danger was beyond him. Humans had always seemed of simple mind to him, but this one seemed bent on harm befalling her.

Stupid humans.

The deep brown of her long hair was painted with kisses from the sun, leaving streaks of gold through it. Even from his vantage point, he could see the piercing blue of her gaze as it scanned the darkness. Her full lips called to him, begging him to come forth and steal a kiss. He clenched his fist, refusing to give in to temptation while Janco was near. Soon he would take what he wanted, what he was sure she would desire as well.

He stroked the distended flesh between his legs, uncaring if his brother saw. They had shared too many women to be modest around one another. The brothers took great pleasure in sharing females in their many sex dungeons. Each brother was dominant in his own right, but each had his own sexual likes and dislikes.

Keane knew Janco enjoyed spanking a woman, making her so wet and ready for sex that she begged, her ass and the backs of her thighs lined with pink from the crop he’d use and her eyes glassed over from pleasure and need.

Keane enjoyed spankings as well, but his first desire ran more towards binding women to a four-post bed and then teasing them before fucking them any way he wished while they remained bound.

His cock ached for release. If only he could fight the growing need, he would be able to spare them a painful outcome.

Keane’s supernatural hearing picked up on a rustling in the bushes far to the woman’s right. He sniffed the air, letting his dark power run out and over the area surrounding her, assuring no threats lay in wait. It was dangerous to walk alone at night. He was proof of that. Thankfully for her, Keane was what most other creatures of darkness feared. He was young for an immortal, yet still struck fear into those around him. All but his brothers, of course. They were unlike many of the vampires in existence today. They hadn’t been sired. They were born to the darkness. Born from one of the four original lines of vampires. Deadly and immortal. A dangerous combination.

H
annah pushed her hair behind her ears and tried to look as if she was in a hurry to get home, which might explain her taking a shortcut through an old cemetery. In truth, she was on the hunt, or if her instincts were correct,
the hunted
at the moment. Something was watching her. It was familiar—safe yet deadly.

An odd mixture to say the least.

She’d first sensed the weight of another’s stare two months back. In the beginning, she’d assumed it was her enemy, waiting until the right moment to destroy her, but she’d not even sustained so much as a stubbed toe since it all began. For a slayer, that was a big deal. Something or someone was interfering with her job, cutting off the bad guys before they could reach her or she them.

Never a good thing when one needed to stay sharp and conditioned.

The slight breeze tugged at the light pink t-shirt she wore over a bodice of black leather. She’d learned early in the game that walking around showing off her slayer clothing wasn’t wise. Hiding it beneath layers of non-threatening clothing did the trick. She would have abandoned the slayer attire altogether if she hadn’t been so fond of her skin. Too many creatures of the night possessed claws and teeth sharp enough to shred skin like tissue paper. The leather served as an obstacle. One they could still penetrate, but with more effort, allowing her time to fight back.

“Hannah!” a familiar female voice called out. “Wait up!”

She turned and spotted a fellow slayer headed in her direction. She beamed, happy to see a fellow sister of destiny. “Preyca!” She waved and came to a stop as the hot-tempered, raven-haired woman fast approached.

Preyca made the sign of the cross as a line of Spanish ran over her lips. It was a very Preyca thing to do whenever she sensed something off, and something certainly was off around Hannah as of late. Preyca shuddered. “It feels like the devil himself is surrounding you.”

Hannah laughed nervously. “I wouldn’t go to that extreme.”

Strangely, that was exactly how it felt—only not in the negative way Preyca meant. To her, it felt as if the devil wanted her wrapped in tissue paper and protected from anything that dared look at her funny. In fact, her “devil” wasn’t feeling very devil-like at all.

Preyca embraced her, hugging her tight. “I’ve missed you. You haven’t been around much and a lot of us were beginning to wonder if something happened to you, Hannah.”

She didn’t want to get into the uneasy feeling she’d been unable to shake for the past two months, so she shrugged. “I’ve been around, keeping mostly to myself. How about you? Anything exciting happen?”

“Girl.” Preyca grabbed her hand. “It’s been a zoo. Non-stop action day and night anymore. Something big is going down. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed?”

She hadn’t, but remained tight-lipped. How could she notice anything in the way of increased activity when her mysterious protector seemed to be some sort of natural repellent for anything of the like? She missed the fight. The thrill of knocking the bad guys down several pegs before ending them for good and ridding mankind of their evil.

“So, what’s been happening in your sector?” asked Hannah, trying to act like she wasn’t so interested that she could hang on every word. It was to the point she was going to host a slayer mixer just to catch up on good gossip and hear details about fights.

Preyca rolled her eyes and waved a hand in the air. “The bloodsuckers have been crawling out of every hole in the ground they can find and seems like I’ve had an above average amount of ghouls for this time of year too. You?”

“Oh yeah, totally out of the ordinary number,” she replied.

More like none
, she thought. She couldn’t go on much longer like this. As a natural-born slayer, it was in her blood to fight, to protect the innocent. Sitting on her backside doing nothing went against her very nature.

As if on cue, the hairs on the back of her neck rose, alerting her that her secret admirer was close. The feel of something pushing against her skin caught her attention. Since Preyca had released her hand, Hannah’s guard went up. She shifted her footing slightly, nudging her friend.

Preyca nodded, signaling she felt it too.

Alarm faded quickly to worry as Hannah recognized the presence. Her admirer. He was something supernatural. There was no doubt in her mind, and Preyca, like her, had been born to eliminate supernatural threats. The idea of harm coming to her “protector” sickened her.

“It was nothing,” she said, hoping to get Preyca to drop her guard.