Ecstasy in Darkness

She looked him up and down. “You good?” Still concerned for his health?



“Yes. You?”



“Yeah. Tired, though.”



Tired meant bedtime. Once again he wrapped his arm around her waist, ready to usher her from the building. “Learn anything?” he asked, scanning the area, ensuring no one would be following them.



“Only that—”



“Tell me later,” he interrupted. “I have to go.” Johnny had just exited with that other agent. Tragically, bedtime would have to wait. First, he had a reckoning to ensure.



“You have to go?” Ava called. “Where?”



“Later.” McKell raced after his prey.



Eleven



Thanks to Ava’s delicious, life-altering blood—mmm, Ava’s blood. McKell almost turned around, almost returned to her. Vengeance first. Determined, he continued following Johnny. And thanks to Ava’s blood—mmm—he had no trouble tracking the agent through the darkness.



He would drain the bastard. Cut off his fingers, one at a time, then his toes, one at a time. He would peel flesh from bone, slice into muscle, remove limbs, organs. Death would always remain a short distance away.



And Ava, who is responsible for you, will pay.



His steps faltered. If Johnny was hurt in any way, everyone would know McKell was responsible. Ava might lose her beloved job. And if she lost her job, she would hate him. He didn’t want her hate.



He needed her devotion.



In a blink, the reckoning morphed into a recon mission. He would learn everything he could about Johnny. Then, tomorrow, he would prove how much better he was. Simple. Easy.



Disappointing.



For Ava, he would persevere.



Currently, Johnny was with the other agent who liked to stare at Ava. Jeremy was his name, and his scent was similar to Johnny’s. Perhaps they were brothers. They kept pace beside each other, unaware of the vampire stalking their every move and listening to their every word.



“You gotta leave that girl alone,” Jeremy said.



Ah. He was the smart one.



“You’re my twin, bro. Not my probation officer. I don’t have to do anything.”



Yes. Brothers.



“Maybe you didn’t notice the rabid vampire eyeing you like man-corn all night.”



“I noticed,” was the grumbled reply. Johnny rubbed his nose, his swollen jaw. “I think he sucker-punched me, like, ten times.”



They snaked a corner, the sidewalk free. Not many people were out now. Most were at home, snuggled in their beds. As McKell would soon be. With Ava. His delicious Ava.



“No way. I never saw him go near you,” Jeremy said.



“He can control time or some shit like that. Believe me, he approached.”



“Well, you shouldn’t have watched Ava like that.”



Smart? Jeremy was a genius.



“She wants me,” Johnny said with enough fire to torch an entire village. “She’s just playing hard-to-get.”



Once again McKell’s nails elongated, sharpened. Surely Ava wouldn’t be blamed for a little scratch on the man’s trachea.



“Are you fucking kidding me? She slept with you, then ignored you afterward. That isn’t playing hard-to-get. That’s playing he’s-bad-in-bed-and-I-want-nothing-to-do-with-him.”



I’m amazing in bed, McKell thought smugly, nails retracting a bit. Once she sampled him, Ava would never want to leave him.



“Fuck you, Jeremy. You can’t even pay a girl to get in bed with you.”



There was no hate or malice to the claim; Johnny spoke as if he were simply stating a fact both men knew and accepted. McKell pictured the agent in question. Unlike Johnny, Jeremy had thick black brows and a too-long nose. His eyes were black, like bottomless pits. Those eyes weren’t evil, though. They were kind, concerned, yet hardened by life.



Still. Not an attractive face, but he was bigger than Johnny. Taller, more muscled. Jeremy would have been the better choice for any female. So why hadn’t Ava chosen him? Because she appreciated beauty?



McKell didn’t like the thought, even though he himself was beautiful. The boast wasn’t egotistical of him. Like Johnny, he was simply stating a fact. A fact he’d been told his entire life. Still, he thought again. He would have preferred Ava to look beyond the surface. Beauty faded. Not his, of course, because he didn’t age, but hers would. She would age.



He frowned. He didn’t like the thought of her withering, then dying, either.



You’re going to tire of her eventually.



Would he, though? His desire for her seemed to grow with every moment that passed.



“You’re an asshole,” Jeremy said, “but I don’t relish the thought of finding pieces of you all over New Chicago. So do me a favor and stay away from her. Okay?”



“You’re acting like I have no skill. I could take him.”



McKell barely managed to silence his snort. And just how did the human plan to “take him”? With his puny pyre-gun? He should ask the other AIR agents how that had worked out for them.



“Just … watch your mouth, too,” Jeremy said. “Okay? Please. You keep badmouthing Ava, and you won’t have to worry about the vampire. She’ll end you herself.”



“Whatever, dude. I’ll see you tomorrow.”



The two men branched apart, heading in opposite directions. McKell continued to follow Johnny. The agent plowed ahead, lighting a cigarette along the way. Cigarettes had been outlawed years ago.



Dark smoke plumed around him, and the few citizens who were out and about frowned and waved their hands in front of their faces. One even dialed the police to lodge a complaint.



Maybe I can help with that. If Johnny were to light himself on fire with one of his cigarettes … well, there would be no puncture wounds or claw marks to incriminate McKell.



He smiled for the first time since leaving the bar.



A woman stepped in front of Johnny, and the agent ground to a quick halt. “Out of my … way,” he said, tone changing midway. From angry to intrigued.



McKell stopped, too, and studied her from the shadows. She wore all white, a dress that flowed around her like water, had short black hair and a sweet, humanoid face most men probably drooled over. But she wasn’t human. She couldn’t be. The smell of rot wafted from her, strong enough to cause bile to rise in his throat.



Exactly what she was, he couldn’t tell. The clothes fit the description Dallas had given of the Schön queen, but the hair didn’t. Supposedly, the queen had long blond hair. Could she change her appearance, perhaps? He wouldn’t have thought so, but that smell … more than rot, it was undiluted disease. Disease in its purest form. Grotesque. Yet she appeared healthy, completely unaffected. Another characteristic of the queen.



“Hello,” she said in a voice that was more song than anything, humming against his eardrums.



Dallas had mentioned nothing about her voice. Not that McKell had overheard, anyway.



“Hey,” Johnny replied in what he probably considered a sexy purr.



There were three men behind the woman, and they were cloaked by shadows of their own. McKell could see them, though. They wore all black, were as tall and muscled as he was, and watched the woman with impassive expressions. They were armed. He sniffed. With pyre-guns set to blazing. Protecting her?



Johnny didn’t seem to notice them. He remained relaxed, on the prowl. “You shouldn’t be out this late. The streets are dangerous. Especially for stunners like you.”



“I’m lost,” she said, twirling a strand of her hair.



A lie. McKell could smell that, too.



Beside her, a doorway of air opened. Bright, those dust motes like outstretching arms. Come, McKell thought he heard inside his head, the voice male, soft, and directed at him. As every time before, no one else seemed to notice. Not even the woman, with her deceptively shrewd gaze. Please.



Silently McKell backed up a step. He’d always suspected, but now he knew. The doorway was sentient. And clearly chasing him.



Dangerous, that voice said. Be careful. Please be careful.



Here to protect him? Or to at last trick him, sweeping him to his damnation?



A similar doorway had brought the vampires from their home to this one, thousands of years ago. Though it hadn’t spoken. He’d even heard gossip that a similar doorway had opened for his mother, had stolen her, then returned her months later. She’d never spoken of what had happened during her absence, but she had cried herself to sleep for a long time afterward. So, he could guess. She’d been damned.



Go, he mentally shouted at the door.



The air shimmered, wavering, then faded. He hadn’t expected obedience.



“Where’re you headed?” Johnny asked. “Maybe I can help you find your way.”



With one threat thankfully gone, McKell focused on the other. How charming the soon-to-be agent was. Was that how he’d won Ava? McKell could be charming, too. When he wanted to be.



“Well … to be honest, I don’t actually have any place to go,” the woman said with a sweet smile, her charm far greater than Johnny’s, but no less fake.



“I could take you to my apartment, I guess. If you wanted. You could … call someone?”



“Yes. I would like that.”



Before they could wander off, McKell stopped time. Approached. He removed the weapons from the men, tossed them in the Dumpster behind them, and memorized their faces in case he ever ran into them again. He also patted down the woman. She didn’t have a weapon, but this close, he could see past her … skin? Perhaps. It was as if she’d cloaked herself in a beautiful, radiant mask, shielding the world from the hideous monster that lurked beneath. Pitted flesh, oozing sores, missing teeth, hair frizzed and matted. Inhuman.



The queen. Had to be.



From what he’d heard, she was treacherous, destructive, vile in a way only the soulless could be. AIR was desperate to stop her, but Johnny deserved what she would do to him. What McKell couldn’t do to him. What McKell wanted to do to him.



But as cold and unfeeling as McKell was, probably as soulless as the bitch in front of him, he couldn’t allow it to happen. Because of Ava. Letting her coworker suffer this way could very well bring the disease to her doorstep.



So. The lucky bastard had been saved. Again. Scowling, McKell returned to the shadows and freed the group from his time-stop, unable to hold them any longer.



They kicked back into gear, unaware of what had happened. The guards wouldn’t even suspect they’d encountered a foe until they reached for their guns. He didn’t follow, allowing the distance to grow between them. Only when they were out of hearing range did he withdraw Ava’s phone, scroll through the address book, and find Mia’s number.



The head of AIR answered on the second ring, barking a command for him to speak. He did, telling her what he’d discovered, what he thought, and where the group was headed. She cursed as if she were being tortured, told him to return to Ava and stay put, then hung up on him.



He pocketed the phone, certain he deserved some type of reward for his actions this night. He’d saved an enemy, after all. For Ava.



His lips curled into a smile. Since he’d done the saving for Ava, she would have to supply the reward. McKell knew exactly what he wanted …



Where the hell had McKell gone?



Ava remained in the bar, drinking with Noelle despite her fatigue and sulking about his disappearing act for half an hour before asking her friend to drive her home. She didn’t have a car of her own—they were too expensive—and she didn’t want to walk.



Noelle was far more intoxicated than Ava, but the good news was, there was no such thing as drunk driving. Not anymore. Cars drove themselves. All humans, otherworlders, and bastard vampires had to do was punch in the address of the destination, and bingo. Done. All that remained was the time spent on the road.



“Two things I gotta tell ya,” Noelle said as the brand-new vehicle wound through the streets. Rich as she was, she’d had the bright red sports car delivered the day after McKell destroyed her sedan. And yes, her words were slurred.



“Tell me.” Ava’s were, too, for that matter.



“First, I’m sorry I called you fat the other day.” Noelle was the world’s nicest drunk. After a few shots, she always regretted everything she’d done and said for the past—however long had passed since her last drink. “You looked gorgeous, but I was feeling bitchy because I’d called dibs on McKell but he only had eyes for you.”



She tried not to grin, she really did. “He did?”



“Yeah. And it was fucking depressing. I’m pretty, aren’t I?”



“The prettiest.”



Noelle fluffed her hair. “That’s true.”



“What’s the second thing you wanted to tell me?”



“First, you gotta tell me how you do it.”



The car hit a bump, and her stomach lurched. She leaned against her seat and peered up at the open ceiling panel. Stars winked in the sky, blurred together, danced, and caught her mind up in the twirl. “Do what?”



“Get men to follow you around like little puppies.”



“I don’t.” Proof: Where the hell was McKell?



“Do. Johnny Deschanel still wants you. Jeremy Deschanel would like a go at you, too. And McKell would follow you into hell—and did!—but nobody wants me.” Pouting now.



Ava closed her eyes and turned her head in Noelle’s direction. Only when the spinning stopped did she allow her lids to open. “Everyone wants you. Well, not McKell. You’re right about him.” He’s mine! “But did you see how fast he flew out of the bar? He couldn’t get away from me fast enough.” Now she was pouting.