Sundered- Chapter one
Humid darkness shrouded Damian. The lights and bustle of Capitol HillI in Seattle didn't reach him in the alley. He leaned back against the brick and stared up into the sliver of faint stars, barely visible through the narrow opening above. His black tank and dark jeans stuck to him in the August night. The need to hunt warred within him. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply, trying to control the urge. He'd just finished seducing the energy from a couple of humans. He’d gone further than he’d intended, their psyches pushed to the breaking point. He should have been satisfied with the amount of emotion he’d already consumed tonight. The fact that he wasn’t left him unsettled.
Clenching his fist, he gave up the fight for control and reluctantly turned toward the door of Decadence. This club was a regular hunting ground for incubi and succubi—and one of his favorites. He had to have more emotion. Whether he should need it or not didn’t matter. Psychic hunger pulsing, he prowled across the street, the denim of his jeans shifting across his skin with each movement. A soft breeze stirred the ends of his dark hair to brush against his neck. His mind ranged out to caress the line of people waiting to enter the building. Eyes turned to look at him, following him, heat rising in them from his mental touch as he paced to the front.
The burly gatekeeper rose, wariness entering his gaze. “Dae?”
A slow smile stretched across Damian’s mouth as he crossed the last few feet to press into the man’s personal space. He let his hand skim down the human’s cheek, the stubble rough against his palm. His mind flickered out to brush against the other’s psyche like a cat. The gatekeeper sucked in a breath.
The human suppressed a moan, then managed to get out, “Are you in control?”
“Never felt better,” Dae whispered in his ear. “I just need to hunt.”
Damian could see the guard didn’t trust his condition. As the man reached for his phone, Dae let his power slip out and wrap the human’s mind, fogging his concerns, the need to hunt overriding his judgment. “I don’t need to be evaluated,” he whispered. “I just need to hunt.”
He left the guard fogged and passed the gate, stepping into the darker interior. The entrance hall opened up onto a wide industrial-style walkway and balcony that overlooked a large dance floor in the warehouse-like atmosphere of the club. Dae avoided the bar and tables to the left and took the set of nearest stairs directly down.
Loud music vibrated through Damian’s body. The pulse of the beat spurred him through the crowded dance floor, the dim light brightened by the flash of color and strobes. Energy swirled through the air. A feast. He wanted to laugh; he just needed to turn the tide to the proper energy. His brother Isaac could fill up on all the happiness and joy that currently radiated from the crowd of humans, but Damian needed something edgier.
A body swayed into him, and he paused as the woman pressed deeper against his chest. The scent of flowers reached his nose from the heat of her hair. He inhaled and let his mind dart out and catch a strand of her emotions. Grasping the band he could use, he tuned it and felt a shiver race down her spine. She pulled away and leapt forward, plastering her mouth against what Dae assumed was her boyfriend. His gaze heated as he watched the two, and a sinful smile slowly pulled his lips. Then he circled around behind to brush his fingertips lightly across the back of the male’s neck, using the contact to feed his hunger for lust as well. Hands came into play on their bodies, and Dae moved on.
Twining the thickening mental strand of desire in his grasp, he pulled, then fed it back into the crowd. Lust filtered into the air, and the movements on the dance floor subtly changed. Sorting and plucking the strands of energy that he could reach, he fanned the flames.
Standing in the middle of the dance floor, he closed his eyes and lifted his face to the ceiling, inhaling deeply, drunk from the emotion. Energy poured into him.
Yet still it wasn’t enough. Frustrated, he opened his eyes and looked back among the pulsing crowd. His mind reached out and pressed harder. The energy grew. Along with the frantic movements of the mob. He pushed the crowd beyond what was acceptable. No longer dancing to the music, people wrapped about one another. Hands groping, mouths tasting. His breath labored, Dae drank in the frenzy, moans and gasps echoing in his ears, an undercurrent to the pounding music that still beat through Decadence’s large, open room.
His mind drifting, Damian played the mob in a haze. The lust energy swelled.
A vise squeezed the back of his neck and a cold, wet blanket smothered his mind. With a gasp he jerked, his gaze clearing. The hot hand at the back of his neck propelled him forward and forced him quickly around the sprawling humans as his jumbled thoughts tried to catch up to his stumbling body. The hand released him after it shoved him onto the metal grill of the stairs leading up to the balcony.
A fast glance as he ascended showed Dae the thunderous face of the one enforcer he really wished he wasn’t seeing. At the top landing the concerned face of Bob, the human who worked the bar, waited for him. But Damian didn’t get a chance to speak. The enforcer grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him to the balcony rail.
“What the hell are you doing, Damian?” Karry snapped.
All Dae could do was mutely shake his head. His wits still hadn’t quite caught up. The other incubus shook him roughly, then pointed out over the floor. Dae turned his head slowly, as if moving through molasses. Enforcers worked the crowd, bringing the writhing humans down from the sexual high he had unwittingly taken them to, altering their memories of the event.
“You’ve closed this hunting ground for everyone, Dae. No one can hunt here for at least twenty-four hours. You’re lucky I’m the one who heard the call come into headquarters. Breaking the law like this…”
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Kar. I don’t understand…”
The enforcer’s gaze bored into his. Dae wanted to look away but couldn’t. “Go home, Damian. Have Erik check you out. I’ll get this cleaned up.”
Karry released him and turned with his hands spread, gripping the rail of the balcony. His duster fell like dark wings down his back.
A hand landed softly on his shoulder and Dae turned. Bob’s concerned gaze met his. “Come on, Dae.”
He cast a last glance over his shoulder at the mess he’d caused down on the dance floor, then let Bob lead him to the hallway out. At the exit, they paused.
“You OK, Dae?”
A shiver ran down his spine, and he forced a smile to surface. “Yeah, sorry for getting carried away.”
The human shook his head, and Dae could tell that his reply hadn’t reassured him. “Go home like the enforcer said.”
“Sure. I’m full now anyway.”
“Not surprising,” Bob muttered as he turned back to tend his bar.
With a last glance at the enforcers, still systematically wiping the humans of their recent sexual experience, Dae walked out into the humid warmth of the night. The bright neon and bustle of humanity on Capitol Hill usually comforted him, but tonight he barely noticed. His attention turned inward.
Kar’s right. What the hell? I haven’t lost control in centuries. He walked the streets, making his way across the hill, heading toward Volunteer Park, near his home. His stomach growled, and Damian stumbled to a stop, his hand shooting to his belly. I had dinner just before I left to hunt.
Worry nibbling away at his mind, Damian continued his walk home.
*****
Alexis Kingham flicked the hair off her cheek, again, and wished the air conditioning vent wasn’t above her cubicle. Everyone else from the office had gotten to go home already. But Mathew had dumped Katie’s folder on her desk half an hour before quitting time, so she was stuck. What the boss wanted the boss got. And if he wanted her to finish cleaning up Katie’s designs before she left, it was either that or quit.
Good enough to touch up, but heaven forbid if I try and design something myself. I have more talent in my nail parings than most of the graphic artists Mathew employs. Why did he even hire me?
She stabbed the save button, then started the image rendering. An impatient hand across her cheek shoved the cut ends of hair away again. The new hairstyle had not accomplished what she’d hoped for. The fresh and invigorated vision of herself had not come to pass. Instead she just had another irritation piled on a life that didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Letting out a frustrated groan, she thrust her chair back but then stopped, forcing herself to take a deep breath, followed by lifting her arms in a stretch.
If I could just paint. She thought about the half-started, discarded canvases she had in her minuscule apartment. Why did I move out here again?
It was easy, now that she was trapped in this situation, to forget the unidentified impulsion that had all but driven her to relocate from her small hometown to downtown Seattle. She had grown increasingly uncomfortable at home, to the point that she felt like she was going insane. Something had drawn her here, and when she set foot on Capitol Hill, where she found her apartment, she’d finally been able to relax. It had been months since she’d relaxed. Excited, she’d tried to start painting again. The restless need that had pushed her away from home had blocked her from painting as well, but she still couldn’t make her visions come to life on the canvas. Almost a year had passed since she’d finished anything worthwhile.
She double checked all her equipment, then grabbed her purse. Late sunlight streamed through the windows, and she glanced down to the busy street several stories below as she walked through the silent office door. Another summer evening gone. She sighed as she waited for the elevator. Her heels clicked on the marble when she boarded and pushed the lobby button on autopilot. Soundlessly the elevator dropped.
In the lobby, she flipped a wave at the lone desk operator as she passed, then stepped out into the wall of heat that the pavement and buildings in downtown Seattle had accumulated during the long summer day. A deep freeing breath stretched her chest. Even filled with exhaust, as opposed to the clean pine scent of home, it felt better than the stale refrigerated air of the skyscraper.
Thoughts of home settled into her mind. She still wasn’t sure why she’d had to leave. She missed her family, and her job sucked. But she still couldn’t bring herself to move back. She trudged up the hill in her heels, sweat dribbling between her breasts, when she heard her phone ring. She fished it out of her bag and looked at the screen—her sister Lydia. After plugging in her earphones, she answered.
“Hi, Dia.”
“Hey, Lexi. Working late again? I can hear the traffic.”
“There’s always traffic in the city,” she evaded.
“How can you stand it there? The noise must be overwhelming.”
“It’s not so bad,” she lied. She missed the quiet of the country. If I wasn’t alone…
The thought surprised her, and she tuned back into her sister. “…still doesn’t understand. You’ve been there for six months now. Your lease should be up. Dad’s really hoping you’ll come home.”
“Dia, I’ve told you all before, it’s a great place to live. I like that it’s full of people.”
“All strangers.”
Lexi sighed. Her sister was right. What was she doing here? She still wasn’t happy and the constant searching for something was driving her nuts. But the thought of leaving tore her insides up. “They aren’t all strangers. I’ve made some friends.” One. She laughed to herself. “I’m fine, Lydia, really. Please tell everyone I love them and I’ll see them when I come up at the end of the month.” She waited for a light, then crossed at the signal. “I’ve got to go. I’ve reached home and it’s not polite to be on the phone in the elevator. Bye.”
She pushed end and dropped her phone back into her bag. Sadness followed in the wake. A form of homesickness engulfed her. The strange thing was that it wasn’t for her family or home.
*****
Up early, Damian quietly wiped the now clean dish dry, trying to get the evidence of his first, and private, breakfast tidied up before anyone came out to find it. Afraid that he knew what this growing hunger meant—along with his loss of control the other night at Decadence—he jumped when Maggie, the human descendant in charge of their house, entered the kitchen.
She smiled a motherly smile at him. “Up early again, Dae?”
He conjured a smile in return. “Thought I’d help you with breakfast.”
She shook her head, the gray streaks at her temples shimmering in the overhead light, and told him to get the bacon out of the fridge. “This is normally the only time I have peace,” she continued. “Kelusis may not need to sleep the same way the rest of us mortals do, but I can usually count on at least a few hours near dawn that you are all out from underfoot. Is everything OK?”
“Maggie, how many times do we have to tell you we aren’t immortal?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Whatever. From where I’m standing, close enough.”
He slid bacon into the skillet and listened to it sizzle, mortality keen on his mind. My hunger is growing too quickly, both the physical and psychic. I'm glad Erik harvested my energy the other night. If he saw my storeground now…
That was one of the reasons why he was up. Unable to sleep, he had turned inward and took a good mental look at the psychic organ that the Kelusis used to store the emotional energy they harvested. Kelusis existed in both the physical and mental planes equally. One look at his ground and he’d wanted to cry.
Standing in Shadow, the world of dreams where his ground manifested, he had stared around the orchard that represented it, then sunk to his knees. The trees were wilting as the loam turned to sand and could no longer support the lush growth. Which meant that his ability to store the emotional psychic energy he needed to survive was diminishing. He had entered what the Sundered called the fade.
I'm dying, he finally acknowledged to himself. Sorrow welled up that he quickly suppressed. He didn't need to draw Cassandra’s attention. His sister was the sorrow link of the family and was specially tuned to that band of emotion. Just as he was the lust link.
Railing at fate would do no good either. It would have the same effect of attracting Callum’s attention, the anger link. He turned the bacon and listened to Maggie stir batter in a bowl. I just have to accept it. There's nothing I can do to change the fact that I was sundered. That we all were. No matter how much I want my succubus back, to be whole again, I can't change what happened. I knew that my life span was forfeit the moment I lost that half of my soul. The moment it was ripped from me. At least by bonding with the family we've all had these centuries. It’s all I could have asked for.
The catastrophe that had hit the Kelusis centuries ago still reverberated through their society. Fear, distrust, paranoia, all followed in the wake of the weeks that had broken so many of their people. The damaged, sundered Kelusis were pitied and treated as handicapped by the untouched Kelusis.
Pulling the bacon out to drain, he moved to the side so Maggie could finish getting the rest of breakfast done. He got plates out to set the table.
“I notice you didn't answer my question earlier,” Maggie prodded when he walked by. “Are you OK?”
The stack of dishes rattled before he could steady his hand. “Nothing to worry about, Mags. I just have a lot on my mind with the conclave coming up. You know Erik has me doing a lot right now.”
A relieved breath escaped her as she added more batter to the griddle. He finished setting the table as pounding footsteps thundered down the hall. Isaac slid around the corner, a goofy grin on his lean face, his short sandy hair tousled like usual. Though when Dae looked in his eyes, he could see his brother’s weariness. Isaac was their joy link, and the constant high of the energy he harvested took a toll on him.
“Blueberry pancakes! You do love me, Mags.”
She swatted his hand away with a laugh. “Go pour the orange juice, imp.”
Trying not to draw attention to his hunger, Dae sat and dished up a serving so he could get extra in without it being obvious. Isaac sloshed juice for everyone, then plunked down in a chair, suppressing giggles. Cass joined them, rubbing sleepy eyes and shoving the long tangled curls of dark hair away from her face, but she threw a curious glance his way that he ignored. He wasn’t sure if she was picking up remnants of his sorrow or if she'd noticed the quantity of food. He didn't have long to contemplate because Callum stomped in, a scowl on his rugged face.
“Shut up, Isaac.” He yanked out his chair and sat.
Dae stuffed a bit of pancake in his mouth so he wouldn't laugh at the normal morning ritual between his brothers.
“Leave him alone, Cal.” Erik sighed as he entered the room, still reading whatever papers he'd brought with him from his office. Tall, fair, and broad-shouldered, Erik’s Viking heritage was stamped prominently on his physique.
Damian chewed and watched his eldest brother warily. None of them were related by blood. Selected to bond together after they were all sundered, they depended on each other to live. Four links were needed to harvest the separate bands of energy, and their center, the fifth member of the family, had been altered to draw the energy out of the links and combine it to feed them all. Erik could no longer touch any free energy, though he could still see and sense it. So now it took five to do what they each once could do alone when whole.
Focused on Erik, Dae watched, hoping that their center wouldn’t notice anything amiss. His thoughts in turmoil over his newfound realization, Dae couldn’t bring himself to break the news. I’m dying. This has to be the fade. What else could it be? There’s no other explanation for why I’m suddenly eating so much. My ground is deteriorating, and as it does, my body won’t be able to process any nourishment. Either energy or solid food. I’ll starve.
He watched the others eat like this was any other normal day. Damian pulled a couple more pancakes onto his plate. You know they’re not going to let you go.
Fear spiked his system and he took a calming breath. Even though he contained it quickly, both Cass and Callum still threw him inquiring glances from the emotion they had each picked up. Both of their bands were sensitive to what he was feeling. He shrugged and smiled, taking another bite, while inside he battled to hold himself together. I’m going to kill them. The sudden realization hit. I can’t tell them. As soon as Erik finds out, he’ll open the bond conduit and bind us all open.
That was the only option to give a fading Sundered a little more time. If the family’s center opened the conduit that connected them all, then the whole family could support the fading link; the downside was that it drastically reduced the whole family’s life span. I can’t steal their lives. I couldn’t live with that. They will just have to bond with a new lust link.
That would allow the family to continue for centuries more. Maybe the Chirurgeons will finally have found a cure for us by then. The Kelusis doctors had yet to figure out what had actually caused the sundering in the first place. They knew the mechanism, but not its origins. So far the best the Chirurgeons had been able to do was alter the Sundered psychically and bond them together so they wouldn’t starve to death. They hadn’t been able to stop the fade that eventually occurred, nor could they determine when an individual Sundered might become affected.
Dae sat quietly eating, watching his family interact around him. The symptoms are coming on fast. I probably only have a couple more weeks left.
“Damn it, Isaac, sit still,” Callum growled.
Damian glanced at the joy link. Isaac’s eyes held the truth of his feelings since his outward reactions were always manic and exuberant because of the energy he held. And right now Dae watched frustrated irritation skate across the brown. Uh oh, he’s spoiling for a fight.
With an exasperated huff, Erik slapped his papers down, obviously recognizing Isaac gunning for Callum as well. “Isaac, here, now.” He pointed at the floor in front of his chair.
The joy link bounced out of his chair with a loud whoop, and Dae saw relief sweep through his eyes. It was hard for Isaac to hold a coherent conversation once he had enough energy filling his ground. Unfortunately Erik couldn’t hold the individual strands for very long, so he couldn’t just siphon the joy link off all the time since the energy would just be wasted. But sometimes he made an exception.
Isaac crashed to his knees on the hardwood in front of their center. Erik placed the palm of his hand over Isaac’s heart and the joy link groaned. Erik only relieved some of the pressure, so it was a fast exchange.
“There. That should help. Now leave Cal alone.” Erik’s lips twitched like he was trying not to let a smile out.
Isaac drew in a deep, relieved breath. “Thanks, Erik. I don’t know why it’s so bad right now.”
He rose and walked much more sedately back to his seat at the table; there was only a tiny bit of bounce to his step.
Erik shrugged, but his attention was now on those around the table instead of his paperwork. Dae swallowed a big bite of food, not thrilled that their center was no longer distracted. Erik’s gaze landed on him, and it took all of his willpower not to freeze under his brother’s piercing stare.
“I need you to get the next set of papers out to Mr. Davies this morning, Dae. This should lock us into the house deal in Port Townsend for Jeremy’s family. This house is perfect for his descendant’s needs. And the family would really like a new location outside of Seattle.”
“I’ll put it on my list. Do you still want me to go out there?”
“Yes, but not until next week. When the final papers are ready. Today we just need to get caught up on stuff. Too much has gotten backed up with the conclave coming up. Speaking of, I have an extended council meeting tomorrow afternoon.”
“Did it get on the calendar?”
“No.” He sighed. “I just found out before breakfast.”
“Right. Then I’ll go through your schedule for tomorrow to make sure any conflicts are taken care of.”
A warm smile lit Erik’s face. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Dae.”
Damian snorted as expected, but inside he felt gutted. You’ll find out soon, brother.
*****
The crowd bustled by in the late afternoon sunlight a couple of days later. Damian slid to the edge of the sidewalk and planted his back against the sun-warmed brick wall of a building, the edgy need burning through his skin.
Keeping his power leashed was becoming harder and harder. It went hand in hand with the insatiable physical hunger that grew. He raised a burrito to his face, inhaling the spicy scent along with the emotion the crowd of humans released on the street like wispy tendrils, waving in a psychic breeze. The little trickles of love and lust that pattered onto his storeground felt like water dropped onto a hot stove. The desert was spreading fast, destroying the healthy, energy-rich sections that remained.
The need to hunt pushed at him.
He took a bite of the burrito in his hand. The unwelcome ravenous hunger gnawed at his belly. He restrained himself from bolting it like a starving dog—barely.
Dark energy brushed up against his, and Cassandra settled her shoulder against the wall beside him. A flash of fear shot through him that he suppressed, and he strangled his power, holding it in, hiding from her the extent of his need. Her wild midnight hair stirred in the summer breeze.
“Keep eating like that, you’re going to get fat.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and cast a look out of the corner of his eye while he took another bite. Then you don’t want to know that it’s my third.
“I would have thought after the dinner you packed away at home that you’d be out hunting, not supporting Taco del Mar. I’m starting to agree with Erik. He sent me to check on you. You OK?”
Damian swallowed the last bite and balled up the foil. “I’m fine.”
He cleared the gravel out of his voice and fashioned a smile to lead his sister away from the truth. Over the last few days, the hunger had gotten harder to control and harder to hide. He shook back the billowy cuff of his favorite white silk shirt and tossed the ball across the sidewalk, straight into a trash can. Cass snorted. He winked at her, then cast a roving eye across the hustle and bustle that was Capitol Hill on a summer evening, letting just enough of his power twine out to satisfy her. “I am hunting. There’s plenty of lusty thoughts and feeling floating through a crowd like this. But you know I’ve got a weakness for a good Mondo Burrito. I couldn’t help myself when I walked by. Tell Erik to back off.”
She searched his face, then pushed away from the wall and shook out her multi-hued skirts. “Boy you’ve been grouchy lately. You left early again, so you didn’t get notice that Erik wants to drain us all tomorrow. Make sure you come home at a decent hour. Where are you really hunting?”
A couple of young women clicked by, their heads tilted his way, their skirts inching up the backs of their thighs with each step. He ran his tongue across his lower lip and one smiled at him. The breeze stirred again, and the ends of his hair tickled the back of his neck. His power reared and he choked it back, letting the smallest tendril stir, reaching out lightly with his mind to brush the women as they passed. One of them ran her hand up her companion's arm to twine into her hair. He was rewarded with a burst of their heightened lust, and he pulled the wisp of energy in.
A smile cracked his lips and he let the couple move on as he returned his attention to Cass. “I’m going to head over to Decadence.”
“Don’t start another orgy.”
He rolled his eyes. “Come on. Give me a break.”
The corners of her lips tipped up.
“Where are your hunting grounds tonight?” he asked.
“I’m planning to ghost the halls of some of the hospitals on Pill Hill. Enough sorrow to fill an ocean. It won’t take much for me to amplify it. I should fill up tonight.” She fell silent.
“Now it’s my turn to ask, are you OK?”
Her lips firmed. “I envy you, Dae. I’m tired of causing so much sadness. Will this ever end?”
He brushed a spiral of hair behind her ear, the loose sleeve of his pale shirt a stark contrast to the dark strands. Pushing away from the wall, he gave her a quick hug. “I don’t know. My hope is gone, Cass. Only the family keeps me going any longer.”
“I can’t remember the centuries.” She paused, then cleared her throat. “Tristan’s family lost their sorrow link the other night.”
“Damn, I hadn’t heard. The Chirurgeons are working on it. You know that.”
The cobalt of her eyes flashed. “Of course they are. And I’m sure they’ll figure out a cure for us as soon as they quit hiding behind the court's laws and protocols. Even the king ignores his son. The rest of the Kelusis don’t care what’s happened to us. We’re an embarrassment. Handicapped Kelusis that aren’t worth acknowledging.”
He shook his head. He didn’t quite agree with her assessment of their people. He felt more like they treated the damaged Sundered as lepers. Leaning over, he kissed her forehead, which made her hiss in frustration.
“Knock it off. If I could still shift into my incubus, none of you would be so patronizing.”
“It’s not that and you know it, Cass. You are physically weaker than the rest of us, that’s a fact, but more importantly you have the responsibility of taking in the hardest energy.”
“No. Not the hardest. Sorrow is just the most depressing. All the links have challenges. Callum’s anger, Isaac’s insane happiness, your sexuality.” She shook her hair over her shoulder. “Time to get to work. See you tomorrow.”
He watched her saunter away, and the eyes of the crowd turned to follow the succubus as she passed.
With a sigh, he bent down to pick up the bag of burritos at his feet, glad that his sister hadn’t noticed it and questioned him on the contents. He slipped into the flow of people. Twice as many eyes tracked him as had Cass. He reached into the bag as he wandered and pulled out more food while he let his mind loose to hunt. He just needed to keep control.
I can’t believe Nathanial is gone. Tristan must be devastated. Lucky me, I get a preview of what my family will go through.
His stomach growled. It didn’t stop growling anymore. He ate faster and looked at what was left in the bag. I’m not going to be able to hide this much longer. I’m not far enough gone yet—Erik could still open the conduit.
He continued to amble, his mind pulling at the threads of emotion accessible to him as he passed—but the trickles only hissed into the sand inside him, dissipating almost as fast as they landed. Only a fraction of the energy he took in remained in his storeground. Frustrated, he pushed harder.
When he neared Decadence, he skirted the entry line to avoid the gate and made his way quietly to a side door. Since he was Kelusis, he had free access to the private doors when he wished it. And right now he wished not to draw attention to himself. He could learn from his mistakes.
He passed out of the last of the sun and into the dim interior near the kitchens. Smells of cooking food assaulted his nose, and his stomach growled. Gripping his now empty sack tighter, he shoved it into the first available trash can he passed.
Music reverberated through the building. The kitchen hall let out near the bar, and he tried to slip over to the tables near the railing, but Bob kept a sharp eye on his domain.
“Damian, what are you doing here? I know you were told not to come back for a few weeks.”
He froze midstep, then looked over his shoulder at the descendant. Bob swished a towel across the top surface, waiting. With dragging footsteps, Dae turned and walked over to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools. It was still early so the place wasn’t too busy.
“Kar was pissed. He doesn’t want another incident.” The bald-headed bartender pulled a glass down and filled it with red wine, placing it in front of him. “Letting you stay…this could get me in trouble with the enforcers.”
Dae rubbed the stem of the glass softly in his hand. “How would the enforcers find out? Are you going to call Karry?”
“The enforcers would most definitely pay attention if you break the law so spectacularly again, Dae. They aren’t going to miss another orgy.”
“That was an accident.”
The descendant’s fear of the Kelusis enforcers wasn’t unfounded. As an individual, a human didn’t stand a chance against any Kelusis, let alone an enforcer—not even a human descended from the Kelusis, like Bob, who had a greater chance of having heightened abilities. But as a species, the prolific and shorter-lived humans could pose a significant threat to their symbiotic nonhuman cospecies.
Bob’s gaze darted around the room before he focused on Dae again. “Accident or not, you started an orgy. I’m not the only one here who witnessed it or who might call you in.”
“Look, I won’t go onto the floor. I’ll stay up here. I promise.”
“Up here?”
Damian looked away from the bartender’s suddenly intent gaze, and his stomach took that moment to growl loudly over the background noise. The human’s hand gently turned his head back.
“So that’s why you lost control?” he said softly, his head tilted toward Dae’s noisy middle.
Dae squeezed his eyes shut to stop the tears that threatened at the sudden understanding and sorrow in the descendant’s gaze.
“How long do you have?” Bob asked.
He cleared his throat and pulled away. “I don’t know. A couple of weeks…maybe? Don’t tell Erik.”
“You’ve managed to hide your fade that long? I won’t tell them, but I doubt I’ll have to. They can’t miss it much longer.”
The words shot an arrow through his heart. “I just need to harvest as much as I can to give them.”
Bob shook his head, then moved to help a new customer who’d come up to the bar. Damian took his glass and found a table overlooking the dance floor below. He settled into the seat and started to tease out the threads of energy he could take in, the emotion dripping like acid rain onto the sunbaked sands of his storeground. Yet the need pushed him through the pain. Staying up here, the energy shouldn’t slip his grasp enough to start another orgy. Not like if he was immersed in it down on the floor. Focused, he watched the humans below dance in and out of the bright flashes of colored light, their bodies gyrating to the thunderous bass that throbbed in Dae’s bones.
A clatter on the table in front of him jarred him out of his focus. A plate piled high with steaming fish and chips now rested there. Silent, Bob met his eyes before turning back to his duties.
“Damn it,” he muttered. Having a descendant around—someone who understood what was happening to him—was annoying, but he picked up a hot piece of fish anyway, trying not to burn his mouth too badly. He wondered who had just lost their meal and went back to searching the crowd while he ate. A particularly enticing strand of energy wafted past his senses, and he grabbed it with his mind. His eyes followed the trail down to the base of the stairs on the left. In the shadows, a couple made out.
He swallowed the fish as he stroked the strand of energy and felt the response. He smiled and let his mind have more freedom. A careful crafting of images slid down the link. The man speared his hands into the woman’s hair as he backed her against the wall. Her leg snaked around his knee as she kissed him back. His gaze locked on the two, Dae took an absent bite of fish and jacked up their responses. He couldn’t hear their sounds over the music, but he could feel them through the energy—her moans and his groans as he slid his hands under her shirt.
The trickle of energy fleshed out into a rivulet. This held promise.
He sent them more inspiration. Soon the two writhed against the wall as they took their foreplay further than they had probably intended. The rivulet deepened into a stream. He sucked the power down into the sand of the once fertile loam of his storeground.
Completely focused on his work, he jumped when Bob touched his shoulder.
“Damian, you’re taking them too far here.” The bartender’s eyes held pity. “Move to a new source or get them out.”
“Don’t tell Erik.”
“Don’t incite another orgy and I won’t.”
He nodded and Bob returned to his bar but kept an eye on him. His attention returned to the two below him. Her shirt was rucked up over her bra, and the flap of his jeans gaped enticingly. Stifling a groan of his own, Dae pulled back on the reins and watched the two rise to the surface of awareness for a breath. The man rested his head on the wall beside his partner while she quickly yanked her shirt down. Then he pushed away from the wall and buttoned his fly before grabbing her hand. They both made for the stairs. Dae twitched the reins. He pushed away from his table and moved to set his stage.
The stream of energy had lessened somewhat, but the current still ran swift. They were the best find in weeks. He savored the flavor as he used a light hand to direct them. He set a path to cross theirs. The two had eyes only for each other, so allowing them to run into him and ostensibly knock him over was easy. Hands reached out, grabbing his arms.
“I’m so sorry,” the woman gasped.
“Sorry, bro. We weren’t watching where we were going.”
“Hey, no worries. Obviously I wasn’t either.” They hauled him up, and he pushed with a touch of the energy he’d collected so their pull yanked him into them seemingly on accident. He landed flush against the male, a hard ridge pressed into his thigh, and his eyes burned into the human’s. Dae shifted his leg, caressing the length through the denim, and the man smothered a groan. “Nice,” Dae whispered.
The woman giggled, and he peeled himself away sinuously, brushing his hand along the nape of the male human’s neck as he put a paper-thin separation between their bodies. A zap accompanied the sinking of his psychic tracer line. He echoed the human’s moan from the action and blinked, surprised. He normally had more control over his reactions, but then the woman squeezed his arm where she was still pressed to his side. He turned his attention to her. She leaned up and he let his lips settle over hers; his tongue snuck out to trace the seam of her mouth as his hand stole up to her nape. Another joint shock as his tracer sunk home. Instinct took control and his tongue plunged in.
“That is so hot,” her partner whispered, his body closing the miniscule gap again. The warmth of the human male’s hand settled on Dae’s backside and squeezed. He moaned into her mouth.
“Damian.”
He jerked back at the sharp reprimand. Bob’s scowl penetrated the haze that had started to form.
“You know the law, Dae,” Bob continued.
The human’s hand continued to caress his backside and Dae shivered. Law. Right. No sex with humans. The woman nipped his collarbone, and he realized that she had pulled the laces of his shirt loose. He started to disentangle himself and ended up pressed tight against the hard chest behind him.
The man whispered in his ear, “We were on our way home. Care to join us?”
The wet tickle of her tongue inched lower through the vee of his shirt. He suppressed another moan. Then the male joined in the tasting, raking his teeth into the crook of Dae’s neck. Energy ignited, and he couldn’t stop the deep need that tumbled out of his mouth.
It took a moment before he could get a coherent word to form. “I wish I could. Unfortunately I’m expected elsewhere.”
“Pity.”
With a sigh the woman stepped back and scoured him with hungry eyes. “Maybe a different night?”
Tempted to break the law more than he’d ever wanted to since his succubus half had been ripped out of him, he nodded agreement. The man gave his rear one last squeeze, then took his partner’s hand and started toward the exit, both casting hot glances over their shoulders.
The breath shuddered out of him, and he turned guilty eyes Bob’s way. The descendant bartender swiped a towel across the wood and watched him. His steps heavy, Dae forced himself over.
“I need to bring in as much food for them as I can. Before…”
“You should tell them, Damian.”
He shook his head violently. “No.”
The descendant continued to wipe the bar, but Dae could feel his disagreement. He couldn’t live with himself knowing he’d shortened his family’s lives by allowing them to lengthen his. The lure of the trace pulled at him. He looked toward the exit the couple had taken.
“Thanks for the fish.” He started away.
“Take care, Damian.”
Dae looked over his shoulder and caught Bob’s gaze, acknowledging the good-bye underneath the words. Then he turned to his trace and tracked the couple into the night.
The partying had only begun for the evening. Energy wisped around him as he walked through the crowded streets, but the potent lure of the two humans he’d already tasted drew him on. Their energy held a strength and purity he hadn’t drunk in lately. The line led him through the night across Capitol Hill.
The crowds thinned as he followed the trace and moved into tree-lined residential neighborhoods. In and out of the pools of light the streetlamps threw, the trail turned to mount stone steps. He eyed the old brick apartment building across the street and watched a light snap on in a third-floor apartment, then the woman’s figure paced by the glass. With a sigh of relief, Dae lowered himself to the grass at the curb and leaned against the rough bark of a big chestnut tree. Siphoning off a portion of the energy he was pulling in, he used it to bend the light around him, effectively rendering himself invisible, and set to work.
His eyes fixed on the square of light across the way. Regret unexpectedly hit as he watched the two return to their heated embrace through the glass. He could still feel their hands on his body. He shifted on the ground, the seam of his jeans pressed uncomfortably against his erection. He’d sprung to life at their first touch and had yet to subside.
The stream of lust he was tapped into swelled, and he pulled himself out of his thoughts and turned back to work. They had moved away from the window, but he didn’t need to see them physically. He could see them quite clearly in his mind as he started the first of the fantasies he needed to push them to the edge. The place where he would get the purest energy. The most filling food for his family.
The energy grew, tumbling and rushing like a river rising to flood stage. The sounds and sights echoed in his mind. The reality of their physical acts overlaid the waking visions he sent them in his mind. He pulled the reins this way and that as he rode their psyches alongside the riverbank of their energy. But then the reins slipped briefly in his grasp.
Slammed by the images they sent, he became immersed in fantasies of their own, involving him, even though their encounter had been brief. The sights, sounds, and touches in their psyches were so real that he couldn’t stop his body from responding. He groaned and pressed the heel of his hand into his groin. The fever in his blood intensified, and he ruthlessly yanked back control.
Ignoring the warning in his head, he pushed harder, driving them into a moaning, screaming frenzy. He could feel the first seed of doubt, the trickle of fear that wormed its way into their minds when they couldn’t halt their own momentum, when they couldn’t stop the lust that coursed through them and their bodies’ responses to it. Beyond caring, he drank in the torrent. The sand inside him sucked it up and greedily demanded more.
The humans’ passionate wails could now be heard on the street. He throbbed under the heel of his hand and sent the desire consuming him down the link.
On a piercing crescendo, he finally allowed them to climax, and sweat-soaked and trembling, they tumbled into unconsciousness in each other’s arms.
Dae blinked and focused on the darkened street. His breathing was harsh in his ears, the searing hardness under his palm unexpected and unwelcome. The desert inside him demanded more as the flood of lust energy waned once the couple passed out.
He tried to turn his mind and appetite to hunting new prey, but the stream that still trickled into him from them was too tempting. Approaching death took the threat of breaking the law out of consideration. For the first time in thousands of years, he plunged into Shadow, into the world of dreams, with the intent to feed.
In Shadow, he wove the scene, then pulled the two humans into his world. They came with a gratifying eagerness. His lips descended to hers, their lush softness open and roving of their own accord. A large hand returned to his rear, and he pushed back into it, moaning into her mouth. Wet heat trailed up the back of his neck. With a shudder, he surrendered to the power. His appetite insatiable, he pushed them further than they ever could have gone alone—riding them into exhaustion, demanding response after response. Their fear mingled with their pleasure. And the power poured into Damian.
After an indeterminate length of time, his toys’ responses faded, like the batteries run out in a Christmas gift. And he took a good look around for the first time, realizing what he’d done. What he’d allowed to happen.
Thank the stars I stopped in time.
The two humans lay sprawled, exhausted. Mind, body, and soul. If he had kept going, he would have killed them. The temptation to continue, to drain their energy dry, to the point that they would die, seethed under his tenuous control. Only when young did a Kelusis have to worry about draining the energy of another’s psyche to the point of death.
Backing away from what he’d done, Dae fled the shadowscape and disengaged from the dream with a jerk, slamming back into his physical body. It still clamored for relief. Disgusted with himself, he pushed to his feet and took a quick mental look at the two humans in their apartment. They would feel the effects of his carelessness long after tonight. Physically, emotionally, mentally drained, they would be sore and tired inside and out. He had pushed them hard just through the trace, but continuing in Shadow scraped the pulp out of the shell. It would take them weeks to rebuild their reserves.
I can’t go home tonight. Erik will be able to tell. Bob’s right. I won’t be able to hide this any longer.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he kicked a rock with enough force to chip the glass of the car window it hit across the street, and he spun on his heel to stalk into the night.
*****
“Another pointless attempt,” Alexis mumbled and viciously plunged her brush into the jar. “Why do I keep trying? Why am I still here?”
She sat back and stared at the mess on the canvas. No life, no spirit.
It looked like a person, the picture that was slowly appearing before her. But that was all. “I might as well draw stick figures.”
She absently grabbed a rag from the stand next to her chair and scrubbed at her finger without looking at it. Maybe if I add some more blue to the dress? She ducked her head to wipe the sweat from her temple onto the strap of her tank top. The August heat baked her little upper-story apartment during the day. But even at ten o’clock at night, it still hadn’t dissipated.
She sighed and continued to stare at the blobs of paint. Slowly in her mind they merged and swirled as she daydreamed a new pattern. It consumed her thoughts as she closed her eyes and relaxed. Instead of the Victorian lady next to a pond that she’d been working on, hillsides of gilded rows of trellised vines took shape, so real she felt she could reach out and touch what she saw. Her hard chair no longer beneath her, she could feel the sun vie with the crisp air that was the cause of the leaves changing. Damp earth and leaf mold filled her nose. Cropped grass carpeted the spaces between.
Heart pounding, she looked around. Her gaze pulled down one of the aisles, she craned her neck. In the distance an immense stone building watched over the grapes. The feeling of remembrance swamped her. She knew that building.
The memory of a sharp pain pierced her chest as movement caught her eye down the row. A broad back, encased in pale linen. Dark waves of hair caught in a cue at the nape of the neck. She stood frozen, anticipating, longing for him to turn.
Sound carried to her on the breeze. Leaves rustling, birds, the rumble of a familiar voice that echoed in her head.
Breath seizing, she watched as he started to turn.
The wail of multiple sirens on the city street jerked her in her seat. The pale washed-out hues of blue on the dress blended with the pond background on the canvas before her. No sunshine. No breeze. No vineyard.
She blinked. Haphazard canvases tilted here and there in the mess of her apartment. Just where she’d left them when she decided they wouldn’t suit. Clothes, supplies, and other belongings drifted out of boxes scattered between. She hadn’t bothered to do much in the way of unpacking when she’d moved in.
She shook her head, trying to clear the fog. I guess I fell asleep. Though the vivid images felt more real than any dream she could remember.
Stiff, she rose from her chair and stretched. Edgy energy infused her, the picture still vibrant in her mind. A sense of longing engulfed her, and she clenched her fist to keep from sweeping the unsuitable painting from her easel. Slipping around it, she stalked through the pathway of her possessions to the open sliding glass door.
A breath of cooler air swirled around her when she leaned against the rail, and the colorful lights of downtown Seattle twinkled in the summer night. Their cheery energy seemed at odds with her introspective mood, her unexplained longing—and underlying it, an unfounded yet undeniable anticipation.
Clenching his fist, he gave up the fight for control and reluctantly turned toward the door of Decadence. This club was a regular hunting ground for incubi and succubi—and one of his favorites. He had to have more emotion. Whether he should need it or not didn’t matter. Psychic hunger pulsing, he prowled across the street, the denim of his jeans shifting across his skin with each movement. A soft breeze stirred the ends of his dark hair to brush against his neck. His mind ranged out to caress the line of people waiting to enter the building. Eyes turned to look at him, following him, heat rising in them from his mental touch as he paced to the front.
The burly gatekeeper rose, wariness entering his gaze. “Dae?”
A slow smile stretched across Damian’s mouth as he crossed the last few feet to press into the man’s personal space. He let his hand skim down the human’s cheek, the stubble rough against his palm. His mind flickered out to brush against the other’s psyche like a cat. The gatekeeper sucked in a breath.
The human suppressed a moan, then managed to get out, “Are you in control?”
“Never felt better,” Dae whispered in his ear. “I just need to hunt.”
Damian could see the guard didn’t trust his condition. As the man reached for his phone, Dae let his power slip out and wrap the human’s mind, fogging his concerns, the need to hunt overriding his judgment. “I don’t need to be evaluated,” he whispered. “I just need to hunt.”
He left the guard fogged and passed the gate, stepping into the darker interior. The entrance hall opened up onto a wide industrial-style walkway and balcony that overlooked a large dance floor in the warehouse-like atmosphere of the club. Dae avoided the bar and tables to the left and took the set of nearest stairs directly down.
Loud music vibrated through Damian’s body. The pulse of the beat spurred him through the crowded dance floor, the dim light brightened by the flash of color and strobes. Energy swirled through the air. A feast. He wanted to laugh; he just needed to turn the tide to the proper energy. His brother Isaac could fill up on all the happiness and joy that currently radiated from the crowd of humans, but Damian needed something edgier.
A body swayed into him, and he paused as the woman pressed deeper against his chest. The scent of flowers reached his nose from the heat of her hair. He inhaled and let his mind dart out and catch a strand of her emotions. Grasping the band he could use, he tuned it and felt a shiver race down her spine. She pulled away and leapt forward, plastering her mouth against what Dae assumed was her boyfriend. His gaze heated as he watched the two, and a sinful smile slowly pulled his lips. Then he circled around behind to brush his fingertips lightly across the back of the male’s neck, using the contact to feed his hunger for lust as well. Hands came into play on their bodies, and Dae moved on.
Twining the thickening mental strand of desire in his grasp, he pulled, then fed it back into the crowd. Lust filtered into the air, and the movements on the dance floor subtly changed. Sorting and plucking the strands of energy that he could reach, he fanned the flames.
Standing in the middle of the dance floor, he closed his eyes and lifted his face to the ceiling, inhaling deeply, drunk from the emotion. Energy poured into him.
Yet still it wasn’t enough. Frustrated, he opened his eyes and looked back among the pulsing crowd. His mind reached out and pressed harder. The energy grew. Along with the frantic movements of the mob. He pushed the crowd beyond what was acceptable. No longer dancing to the music, people wrapped about one another. Hands groping, mouths tasting. His breath labored, Dae drank in the frenzy, moans and gasps echoing in his ears, an undercurrent to the pounding music that still beat through Decadence’s large, open room.
His mind drifting, Damian played the mob in a haze. The lust energy swelled.
A vise squeezed the back of his neck and a cold, wet blanket smothered his mind. With a gasp he jerked, his gaze clearing. The hot hand at the back of his neck propelled him forward and forced him quickly around the sprawling humans as his jumbled thoughts tried to catch up to his stumbling body. The hand released him after it shoved him onto the metal grill of the stairs leading up to the balcony.
A fast glance as he ascended showed Dae the thunderous face of the one enforcer he really wished he wasn’t seeing. At the top landing the concerned face of Bob, the human who worked the bar, waited for him. But Damian didn’t get a chance to speak. The enforcer grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him to the balcony rail.
“What the hell are you doing, Damian?” Karry snapped.
All Dae could do was mutely shake his head. His wits still hadn’t quite caught up. The other incubus shook him roughly, then pointed out over the floor. Dae turned his head slowly, as if moving through molasses. Enforcers worked the crowd, bringing the writhing humans down from the sexual high he had unwittingly taken them to, altering their memories of the event.
“You’ve closed this hunting ground for everyone, Dae. No one can hunt here for at least twenty-four hours. You’re lucky I’m the one who heard the call come into headquarters. Breaking the law like this…”
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Kar. I don’t understand…”
The enforcer’s gaze bored into his. Dae wanted to look away but couldn’t. “Go home, Damian. Have Erik check you out. I’ll get this cleaned up.”
Karry released him and turned with his hands spread, gripping the rail of the balcony. His duster fell like dark wings down his back.
A hand landed softly on his shoulder and Dae turned. Bob’s concerned gaze met his. “Come on, Dae.”
He cast a last glance over his shoulder at the mess he’d caused down on the dance floor, then let Bob lead him to the hallway out. At the exit, they paused.
“You OK, Dae?”
A shiver ran down his spine, and he forced a smile to surface. “Yeah, sorry for getting carried away.”
The human shook his head, and Dae could tell that his reply hadn’t reassured him. “Go home like the enforcer said.”
“Sure. I’m full now anyway.”
“Not surprising,” Bob muttered as he turned back to tend his bar.
With a last glance at the enforcers, still systematically wiping the humans of their recent sexual experience, Dae walked out into the humid warmth of the night. The bright neon and bustle of humanity on Capitol Hill usually comforted him, but tonight he barely noticed. His attention turned inward.
Kar’s right. What the hell? I haven’t lost control in centuries. He walked the streets, making his way across the hill, heading toward Volunteer Park, near his home. His stomach growled, and Damian stumbled to a stop, his hand shooting to his belly. I had dinner just before I left to hunt.
Worry nibbling away at his mind, Damian continued his walk home.
*****
Alexis Kingham flicked the hair off her cheek, again, and wished the air conditioning vent wasn’t above her cubicle. Everyone else from the office had gotten to go home already. But Mathew had dumped Katie’s folder on her desk half an hour before quitting time, so she was stuck. What the boss wanted the boss got. And if he wanted her to finish cleaning up Katie’s designs before she left, it was either that or quit.
Good enough to touch up, but heaven forbid if I try and design something myself. I have more talent in my nail parings than most of the graphic artists Mathew employs. Why did he even hire me?
She stabbed the save button, then started the image rendering. An impatient hand across her cheek shoved the cut ends of hair away again. The new hairstyle had not accomplished what she’d hoped for. The fresh and invigorated vision of herself had not come to pass. Instead she just had another irritation piled on a life that didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Letting out a frustrated groan, she thrust her chair back but then stopped, forcing herself to take a deep breath, followed by lifting her arms in a stretch.
If I could just paint. She thought about the half-started, discarded canvases she had in her minuscule apartment. Why did I move out here again?
It was easy, now that she was trapped in this situation, to forget the unidentified impulsion that had all but driven her to relocate from her small hometown to downtown Seattle. She had grown increasingly uncomfortable at home, to the point that she felt like she was going insane. Something had drawn her here, and when she set foot on Capitol Hill, where she found her apartment, she’d finally been able to relax. It had been months since she’d relaxed. Excited, she’d tried to start painting again. The restless need that had pushed her away from home had blocked her from painting as well, but she still couldn’t make her visions come to life on the canvas. Almost a year had passed since she’d finished anything worthwhile.
She double checked all her equipment, then grabbed her purse. Late sunlight streamed through the windows, and she glanced down to the busy street several stories below as she walked through the silent office door. Another summer evening gone. She sighed as she waited for the elevator. Her heels clicked on the marble when she boarded and pushed the lobby button on autopilot. Soundlessly the elevator dropped.
In the lobby, she flipped a wave at the lone desk operator as she passed, then stepped out into the wall of heat that the pavement and buildings in downtown Seattle had accumulated during the long summer day. A deep freeing breath stretched her chest. Even filled with exhaust, as opposed to the clean pine scent of home, it felt better than the stale refrigerated air of the skyscraper.
Thoughts of home settled into her mind. She still wasn’t sure why she’d had to leave. She missed her family, and her job sucked. But she still couldn’t bring herself to move back. She trudged up the hill in her heels, sweat dribbling between her breasts, when she heard her phone ring. She fished it out of her bag and looked at the screen—her sister Lydia. After plugging in her earphones, she answered.
“Hi, Dia.”
“Hey, Lexi. Working late again? I can hear the traffic.”
“There’s always traffic in the city,” she evaded.
“How can you stand it there? The noise must be overwhelming.”
“It’s not so bad,” she lied. She missed the quiet of the country. If I wasn’t alone…
The thought surprised her, and she tuned back into her sister. “…still doesn’t understand. You’ve been there for six months now. Your lease should be up. Dad’s really hoping you’ll come home.”
“Dia, I’ve told you all before, it’s a great place to live. I like that it’s full of people.”
“All strangers.”
Lexi sighed. Her sister was right. What was she doing here? She still wasn’t happy and the constant searching for something was driving her nuts. But the thought of leaving tore her insides up. “They aren’t all strangers. I’ve made some friends.” One. She laughed to herself. “I’m fine, Lydia, really. Please tell everyone I love them and I’ll see them when I come up at the end of the month.” She waited for a light, then crossed at the signal. “I’ve got to go. I’ve reached home and it’s not polite to be on the phone in the elevator. Bye.”
She pushed end and dropped her phone back into her bag. Sadness followed in the wake. A form of homesickness engulfed her. The strange thing was that it wasn’t for her family or home.
*****
Up early, Damian quietly wiped the now clean dish dry, trying to get the evidence of his first, and private, breakfast tidied up before anyone came out to find it. Afraid that he knew what this growing hunger meant—along with his loss of control the other night at Decadence—he jumped when Maggie, the human descendant in charge of their house, entered the kitchen.
She smiled a motherly smile at him. “Up early again, Dae?”
He conjured a smile in return. “Thought I’d help you with breakfast.”
She shook her head, the gray streaks at her temples shimmering in the overhead light, and told him to get the bacon out of the fridge. “This is normally the only time I have peace,” she continued. “Kelusis may not need to sleep the same way the rest of us mortals do, but I can usually count on at least a few hours near dawn that you are all out from underfoot. Is everything OK?”
“Maggie, how many times do we have to tell you we aren’t immortal?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Whatever. From where I’m standing, close enough.”
He slid bacon into the skillet and listened to it sizzle, mortality keen on his mind. My hunger is growing too quickly, both the physical and psychic. I'm glad Erik harvested my energy the other night. If he saw my storeground now…
That was one of the reasons why he was up. Unable to sleep, he had turned inward and took a good mental look at the psychic organ that the Kelusis used to store the emotional energy they harvested. Kelusis existed in both the physical and mental planes equally. One look at his ground and he’d wanted to cry.
Standing in Shadow, the world of dreams where his ground manifested, he had stared around the orchard that represented it, then sunk to his knees. The trees were wilting as the loam turned to sand and could no longer support the lush growth. Which meant that his ability to store the emotional psychic energy he needed to survive was diminishing. He had entered what the Sundered called the fade.
I'm dying, he finally acknowledged to himself. Sorrow welled up that he quickly suppressed. He didn't need to draw Cassandra’s attention. His sister was the sorrow link of the family and was specially tuned to that band of emotion. Just as he was the lust link.
Railing at fate would do no good either. It would have the same effect of attracting Callum’s attention, the anger link. He turned the bacon and listened to Maggie stir batter in a bowl. I just have to accept it. There's nothing I can do to change the fact that I was sundered. That we all were. No matter how much I want my succubus back, to be whole again, I can't change what happened. I knew that my life span was forfeit the moment I lost that half of my soul. The moment it was ripped from me. At least by bonding with the family we've all had these centuries. It’s all I could have asked for.
The catastrophe that had hit the Kelusis centuries ago still reverberated through their society. Fear, distrust, paranoia, all followed in the wake of the weeks that had broken so many of their people. The damaged, sundered Kelusis were pitied and treated as handicapped by the untouched Kelusis.
Pulling the bacon out to drain, he moved to the side so Maggie could finish getting the rest of breakfast done. He got plates out to set the table.
“I notice you didn't answer my question earlier,” Maggie prodded when he walked by. “Are you OK?”
The stack of dishes rattled before he could steady his hand. “Nothing to worry about, Mags. I just have a lot on my mind with the conclave coming up. You know Erik has me doing a lot right now.”
A relieved breath escaped her as she added more batter to the griddle. He finished setting the table as pounding footsteps thundered down the hall. Isaac slid around the corner, a goofy grin on his lean face, his short sandy hair tousled like usual. Though when Dae looked in his eyes, he could see his brother’s weariness. Isaac was their joy link, and the constant high of the energy he harvested took a toll on him.
“Blueberry pancakes! You do love me, Mags.”
She swatted his hand away with a laugh. “Go pour the orange juice, imp.”
Trying not to draw attention to his hunger, Dae sat and dished up a serving so he could get extra in without it being obvious. Isaac sloshed juice for everyone, then plunked down in a chair, suppressing giggles. Cass joined them, rubbing sleepy eyes and shoving the long tangled curls of dark hair away from her face, but she threw a curious glance his way that he ignored. He wasn’t sure if she was picking up remnants of his sorrow or if she'd noticed the quantity of food. He didn't have long to contemplate because Callum stomped in, a scowl on his rugged face.
“Shut up, Isaac.” He yanked out his chair and sat.
Dae stuffed a bit of pancake in his mouth so he wouldn't laugh at the normal morning ritual between his brothers.
“Leave him alone, Cal.” Erik sighed as he entered the room, still reading whatever papers he'd brought with him from his office. Tall, fair, and broad-shouldered, Erik’s Viking heritage was stamped prominently on his physique.
Damian chewed and watched his eldest brother warily. None of them were related by blood. Selected to bond together after they were all sundered, they depended on each other to live. Four links were needed to harvest the separate bands of energy, and their center, the fifth member of the family, had been altered to draw the energy out of the links and combine it to feed them all. Erik could no longer touch any free energy, though he could still see and sense it. So now it took five to do what they each once could do alone when whole.
Focused on Erik, Dae watched, hoping that their center wouldn’t notice anything amiss. His thoughts in turmoil over his newfound realization, Dae couldn’t bring himself to break the news. I’m dying. This has to be the fade. What else could it be? There’s no other explanation for why I’m suddenly eating so much. My ground is deteriorating, and as it does, my body won’t be able to process any nourishment. Either energy or solid food. I’ll starve.
He watched the others eat like this was any other normal day. Damian pulled a couple more pancakes onto his plate. You know they’re not going to let you go.
Fear spiked his system and he took a calming breath. Even though he contained it quickly, both Cass and Callum still threw him inquiring glances from the emotion they had each picked up. Both of their bands were sensitive to what he was feeling. He shrugged and smiled, taking another bite, while inside he battled to hold himself together. I’m going to kill them. The sudden realization hit. I can’t tell them. As soon as Erik finds out, he’ll open the bond conduit and bind us all open.
That was the only option to give a fading Sundered a little more time. If the family’s center opened the conduit that connected them all, then the whole family could support the fading link; the downside was that it drastically reduced the whole family’s life span. I can’t steal their lives. I couldn’t live with that. They will just have to bond with a new lust link.
That would allow the family to continue for centuries more. Maybe the Chirurgeons will finally have found a cure for us by then. The Kelusis doctors had yet to figure out what had actually caused the sundering in the first place. They knew the mechanism, but not its origins. So far the best the Chirurgeons had been able to do was alter the Sundered psychically and bond them together so they wouldn’t starve to death. They hadn’t been able to stop the fade that eventually occurred, nor could they determine when an individual Sundered might become affected.
Dae sat quietly eating, watching his family interact around him. The symptoms are coming on fast. I probably only have a couple more weeks left.
“Damn it, Isaac, sit still,” Callum growled.
Damian glanced at the joy link. Isaac’s eyes held the truth of his feelings since his outward reactions were always manic and exuberant because of the energy he held. And right now Dae watched frustrated irritation skate across the brown. Uh oh, he’s spoiling for a fight.
With an exasperated huff, Erik slapped his papers down, obviously recognizing Isaac gunning for Callum as well. “Isaac, here, now.” He pointed at the floor in front of his chair.
The joy link bounced out of his chair with a loud whoop, and Dae saw relief sweep through his eyes. It was hard for Isaac to hold a coherent conversation once he had enough energy filling his ground. Unfortunately Erik couldn’t hold the individual strands for very long, so he couldn’t just siphon the joy link off all the time since the energy would just be wasted. But sometimes he made an exception.
Isaac crashed to his knees on the hardwood in front of their center. Erik placed the palm of his hand over Isaac’s heart and the joy link groaned. Erik only relieved some of the pressure, so it was a fast exchange.
“There. That should help. Now leave Cal alone.” Erik’s lips twitched like he was trying not to let a smile out.
Isaac drew in a deep, relieved breath. “Thanks, Erik. I don’t know why it’s so bad right now.”
He rose and walked much more sedately back to his seat at the table; there was only a tiny bit of bounce to his step.
Erik shrugged, but his attention was now on those around the table instead of his paperwork. Dae swallowed a big bite of food, not thrilled that their center was no longer distracted. Erik’s gaze landed on him, and it took all of his willpower not to freeze under his brother’s piercing stare.
“I need you to get the next set of papers out to Mr. Davies this morning, Dae. This should lock us into the house deal in Port Townsend for Jeremy’s family. This house is perfect for his descendant’s needs. And the family would really like a new location outside of Seattle.”
“I’ll put it on my list. Do you still want me to go out there?”
“Yes, but not until next week. When the final papers are ready. Today we just need to get caught up on stuff. Too much has gotten backed up with the conclave coming up. Speaking of, I have an extended council meeting tomorrow afternoon.”
“Did it get on the calendar?”
“No.” He sighed. “I just found out before breakfast.”
“Right. Then I’ll go through your schedule for tomorrow to make sure any conflicts are taken care of.”
A warm smile lit Erik’s face. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Dae.”
Damian snorted as expected, but inside he felt gutted. You’ll find out soon, brother.
*****
The crowd bustled by in the late afternoon sunlight a couple of days later. Damian slid to the edge of the sidewalk and planted his back against the sun-warmed brick wall of a building, the edgy need burning through his skin.
Keeping his power leashed was becoming harder and harder. It went hand in hand with the insatiable physical hunger that grew. He raised a burrito to his face, inhaling the spicy scent along with the emotion the crowd of humans released on the street like wispy tendrils, waving in a psychic breeze. The little trickles of love and lust that pattered onto his storeground felt like water dropped onto a hot stove. The desert was spreading fast, destroying the healthy, energy-rich sections that remained.
The need to hunt pushed at him.
He took a bite of the burrito in his hand. The unwelcome ravenous hunger gnawed at his belly. He restrained himself from bolting it like a starving dog—barely.
Dark energy brushed up against his, and Cassandra settled her shoulder against the wall beside him. A flash of fear shot through him that he suppressed, and he strangled his power, holding it in, hiding from her the extent of his need. Her wild midnight hair stirred in the summer breeze.
“Keep eating like that, you’re going to get fat.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and cast a look out of the corner of his eye while he took another bite. Then you don’t want to know that it’s my third.
“I would have thought after the dinner you packed away at home that you’d be out hunting, not supporting Taco del Mar. I’m starting to agree with Erik. He sent me to check on you. You OK?”
Damian swallowed the last bite and balled up the foil. “I’m fine.”
He cleared the gravel out of his voice and fashioned a smile to lead his sister away from the truth. Over the last few days, the hunger had gotten harder to control and harder to hide. He shook back the billowy cuff of his favorite white silk shirt and tossed the ball across the sidewalk, straight into a trash can. Cass snorted. He winked at her, then cast a roving eye across the hustle and bustle that was Capitol Hill on a summer evening, letting just enough of his power twine out to satisfy her. “I am hunting. There’s plenty of lusty thoughts and feeling floating through a crowd like this. But you know I’ve got a weakness for a good Mondo Burrito. I couldn’t help myself when I walked by. Tell Erik to back off.”
She searched his face, then pushed away from the wall and shook out her multi-hued skirts. “Boy you’ve been grouchy lately. You left early again, so you didn’t get notice that Erik wants to drain us all tomorrow. Make sure you come home at a decent hour. Where are you really hunting?”
A couple of young women clicked by, their heads tilted his way, their skirts inching up the backs of their thighs with each step. He ran his tongue across his lower lip and one smiled at him. The breeze stirred again, and the ends of his hair tickled the back of his neck. His power reared and he choked it back, letting the smallest tendril stir, reaching out lightly with his mind to brush the women as they passed. One of them ran her hand up her companion's arm to twine into her hair. He was rewarded with a burst of their heightened lust, and he pulled the wisp of energy in.
A smile cracked his lips and he let the couple move on as he returned his attention to Cass. “I’m going to head over to Decadence.”
“Don’t start another orgy.”
He rolled his eyes. “Come on. Give me a break.”
The corners of her lips tipped up.
“Where are your hunting grounds tonight?” he asked.
“I’m planning to ghost the halls of some of the hospitals on Pill Hill. Enough sorrow to fill an ocean. It won’t take much for me to amplify it. I should fill up tonight.” She fell silent.
“Now it’s my turn to ask, are you OK?”
Her lips firmed. “I envy you, Dae. I’m tired of causing so much sadness. Will this ever end?”
He brushed a spiral of hair behind her ear, the loose sleeve of his pale shirt a stark contrast to the dark strands. Pushing away from the wall, he gave her a quick hug. “I don’t know. My hope is gone, Cass. Only the family keeps me going any longer.”
“I can’t remember the centuries.” She paused, then cleared her throat. “Tristan’s family lost their sorrow link the other night.”
“Damn, I hadn’t heard. The Chirurgeons are working on it. You know that.”
The cobalt of her eyes flashed. “Of course they are. And I’m sure they’ll figure out a cure for us as soon as they quit hiding behind the court's laws and protocols. Even the king ignores his son. The rest of the Kelusis don’t care what’s happened to us. We’re an embarrassment. Handicapped Kelusis that aren’t worth acknowledging.”
He shook his head. He didn’t quite agree with her assessment of their people. He felt more like they treated the damaged Sundered as lepers. Leaning over, he kissed her forehead, which made her hiss in frustration.
“Knock it off. If I could still shift into my incubus, none of you would be so patronizing.”
“It’s not that and you know it, Cass. You are physically weaker than the rest of us, that’s a fact, but more importantly you have the responsibility of taking in the hardest energy.”
“No. Not the hardest. Sorrow is just the most depressing. All the links have challenges. Callum’s anger, Isaac’s insane happiness, your sexuality.” She shook her hair over her shoulder. “Time to get to work. See you tomorrow.”
He watched her saunter away, and the eyes of the crowd turned to follow the succubus as she passed.
With a sigh, he bent down to pick up the bag of burritos at his feet, glad that his sister hadn’t noticed it and questioned him on the contents. He slipped into the flow of people. Twice as many eyes tracked him as had Cass. He reached into the bag as he wandered and pulled out more food while he let his mind loose to hunt. He just needed to keep control.
I can’t believe Nathanial is gone. Tristan must be devastated. Lucky me, I get a preview of what my family will go through.
His stomach growled. It didn’t stop growling anymore. He ate faster and looked at what was left in the bag. I’m not going to be able to hide this much longer. I’m not far enough gone yet—Erik could still open the conduit.
He continued to amble, his mind pulling at the threads of emotion accessible to him as he passed—but the trickles only hissed into the sand inside him, dissipating almost as fast as they landed. Only a fraction of the energy he took in remained in his storeground. Frustrated, he pushed harder.
When he neared Decadence, he skirted the entry line to avoid the gate and made his way quietly to a side door. Since he was Kelusis, he had free access to the private doors when he wished it. And right now he wished not to draw attention to himself. He could learn from his mistakes.
He passed out of the last of the sun and into the dim interior near the kitchens. Smells of cooking food assaulted his nose, and his stomach growled. Gripping his now empty sack tighter, he shoved it into the first available trash can he passed.
Music reverberated through the building. The kitchen hall let out near the bar, and he tried to slip over to the tables near the railing, but Bob kept a sharp eye on his domain.
“Damian, what are you doing here? I know you were told not to come back for a few weeks.”
He froze midstep, then looked over his shoulder at the descendant. Bob swished a towel across the top surface, waiting. With dragging footsteps, Dae turned and walked over to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools. It was still early so the place wasn’t too busy.
“Kar was pissed. He doesn’t want another incident.” The bald-headed bartender pulled a glass down and filled it with red wine, placing it in front of him. “Letting you stay…this could get me in trouble with the enforcers.”
Dae rubbed the stem of the glass softly in his hand. “How would the enforcers find out? Are you going to call Karry?”
“The enforcers would most definitely pay attention if you break the law so spectacularly again, Dae. They aren’t going to miss another orgy.”
“That was an accident.”
The descendant’s fear of the Kelusis enforcers wasn’t unfounded. As an individual, a human didn’t stand a chance against any Kelusis, let alone an enforcer—not even a human descended from the Kelusis, like Bob, who had a greater chance of having heightened abilities. But as a species, the prolific and shorter-lived humans could pose a significant threat to their symbiotic nonhuman cospecies.
Bob’s gaze darted around the room before he focused on Dae again. “Accident or not, you started an orgy. I’m not the only one here who witnessed it or who might call you in.”
“Look, I won’t go onto the floor. I’ll stay up here. I promise.”
“Up here?”
Damian looked away from the bartender’s suddenly intent gaze, and his stomach took that moment to growl loudly over the background noise. The human’s hand gently turned his head back.
“So that’s why you lost control?” he said softly, his head tilted toward Dae’s noisy middle.
Dae squeezed his eyes shut to stop the tears that threatened at the sudden understanding and sorrow in the descendant’s gaze.
“How long do you have?” Bob asked.
He cleared his throat and pulled away. “I don’t know. A couple of weeks…maybe? Don’t tell Erik.”
“You’ve managed to hide your fade that long? I won’t tell them, but I doubt I’ll have to. They can’t miss it much longer.”
The words shot an arrow through his heart. “I just need to harvest as much as I can to give them.”
Bob shook his head, then moved to help a new customer who’d come up to the bar. Damian took his glass and found a table overlooking the dance floor below. He settled into the seat and started to tease out the threads of energy he could take in, the emotion dripping like acid rain onto the sunbaked sands of his storeground. Yet the need pushed him through the pain. Staying up here, the energy shouldn’t slip his grasp enough to start another orgy. Not like if he was immersed in it down on the floor. Focused, he watched the humans below dance in and out of the bright flashes of colored light, their bodies gyrating to the thunderous bass that throbbed in Dae’s bones.
A clatter on the table in front of him jarred him out of his focus. A plate piled high with steaming fish and chips now rested there. Silent, Bob met his eyes before turning back to his duties.
“Damn it,” he muttered. Having a descendant around—someone who understood what was happening to him—was annoying, but he picked up a hot piece of fish anyway, trying not to burn his mouth too badly. He wondered who had just lost their meal and went back to searching the crowd while he ate. A particularly enticing strand of energy wafted past his senses, and he grabbed it with his mind. His eyes followed the trail down to the base of the stairs on the left. In the shadows, a couple made out.
He swallowed the fish as he stroked the strand of energy and felt the response. He smiled and let his mind have more freedom. A careful crafting of images slid down the link. The man speared his hands into the woman’s hair as he backed her against the wall. Her leg snaked around his knee as she kissed him back. His gaze locked on the two, Dae took an absent bite of fish and jacked up their responses. He couldn’t hear their sounds over the music, but he could feel them through the energy—her moans and his groans as he slid his hands under her shirt.
The trickle of energy fleshed out into a rivulet. This held promise.
He sent them more inspiration. Soon the two writhed against the wall as they took their foreplay further than they had probably intended. The rivulet deepened into a stream. He sucked the power down into the sand of the once fertile loam of his storeground.
Completely focused on his work, he jumped when Bob touched his shoulder.
“Damian, you’re taking them too far here.” The bartender’s eyes held pity. “Move to a new source or get them out.”
“Don’t tell Erik.”
“Don’t incite another orgy and I won’t.”
He nodded and Bob returned to his bar but kept an eye on him. His attention returned to the two below him. Her shirt was rucked up over her bra, and the flap of his jeans gaped enticingly. Stifling a groan of his own, Dae pulled back on the reins and watched the two rise to the surface of awareness for a breath. The man rested his head on the wall beside his partner while she quickly yanked her shirt down. Then he pushed away from the wall and buttoned his fly before grabbing her hand. They both made for the stairs. Dae twitched the reins. He pushed away from his table and moved to set his stage.
The stream of energy had lessened somewhat, but the current still ran swift. They were the best find in weeks. He savored the flavor as he used a light hand to direct them. He set a path to cross theirs. The two had eyes only for each other, so allowing them to run into him and ostensibly knock him over was easy. Hands reached out, grabbing his arms.
“I’m so sorry,” the woman gasped.
“Sorry, bro. We weren’t watching where we were going.”
“Hey, no worries. Obviously I wasn’t either.” They hauled him up, and he pushed with a touch of the energy he’d collected so their pull yanked him into them seemingly on accident. He landed flush against the male, a hard ridge pressed into his thigh, and his eyes burned into the human’s. Dae shifted his leg, caressing the length through the denim, and the man smothered a groan. “Nice,” Dae whispered.
The woman giggled, and he peeled himself away sinuously, brushing his hand along the nape of the male human’s neck as he put a paper-thin separation between their bodies. A zap accompanied the sinking of his psychic tracer line. He echoed the human’s moan from the action and blinked, surprised. He normally had more control over his reactions, but then the woman squeezed his arm where she was still pressed to his side. He turned his attention to her. She leaned up and he let his lips settle over hers; his tongue snuck out to trace the seam of her mouth as his hand stole up to her nape. Another joint shock as his tracer sunk home. Instinct took control and his tongue plunged in.
“That is so hot,” her partner whispered, his body closing the miniscule gap again. The warmth of the human male’s hand settled on Dae’s backside and squeezed. He moaned into her mouth.
“Damian.”
He jerked back at the sharp reprimand. Bob’s scowl penetrated the haze that had started to form.
“You know the law, Dae,” Bob continued.
The human’s hand continued to caress his backside and Dae shivered. Law. Right. No sex with humans. The woman nipped his collarbone, and he realized that she had pulled the laces of his shirt loose. He started to disentangle himself and ended up pressed tight against the hard chest behind him.
The man whispered in his ear, “We were on our way home. Care to join us?”
The wet tickle of her tongue inched lower through the vee of his shirt. He suppressed another moan. Then the male joined in the tasting, raking his teeth into the crook of Dae’s neck. Energy ignited, and he couldn’t stop the deep need that tumbled out of his mouth.
It took a moment before he could get a coherent word to form. “I wish I could. Unfortunately I’m expected elsewhere.”
“Pity.”
With a sigh the woman stepped back and scoured him with hungry eyes. “Maybe a different night?”
Tempted to break the law more than he’d ever wanted to since his succubus half had been ripped out of him, he nodded agreement. The man gave his rear one last squeeze, then took his partner’s hand and started toward the exit, both casting hot glances over their shoulders.
The breath shuddered out of him, and he turned guilty eyes Bob’s way. The descendant bartender swiped a towel across the wood and watched him. His steps heavy, Dae forced himself over.
“I need to bring in as much food for them as I can. Before…”
“You should tell them, Damian.”
He shook his head violently. “No.”
The descendant continued to wipe the bar, but Dae could feel his disagreement. He couldn’t live with himself knowing he’d shortened his family’s lives by allowing them to lengthen his. The lure of the trace pulled at him. He looked toward the exit the couple had taken.
“Thanks for the fish.” He started away.
“Take care, Damian.”
Dae looked over his shoulder and caught Bob’s gaze, acknowledging the good-bye underneath the words. Then he turned to his trace and tracked the couple into the night.
The partying had only begun for the evening. Energy wisped around him as he walked through the crowded streets, but the potent lure of the two humans he’d already tasted drew him on. Their energy held a strength and purity he hadn’t drunk in lately. The line led him through the night across Capitol Hill.
The crowds thinned as he followed the trace and moved into tree-lined residential neighborhoods. In and out of the pools of light the streetlamps threw, the trail turned to mount stone steps. He eyed the old brick apartment building across the street and watched a light snap on in a third-floor apartment, then the woman’s figure paced by the glass. With a sigh of relief, Dae lowered himself to the grass at the curb and leaned against the rough bark of a big chestnut tree. Siphoning off a portion of the energy he was pulling in, he used it to bend the light around him, effectively rendering himself invisible, and set to work.
His eyes fixed on the square of light across the way. Regret unexpectedly hit as he watched the two return to their heated embrace through the glass. He could still feel their hands on his body. He shifted on the ground, the seam of his jeans pressed uncomfortably against his erection. He’d sprung to life at their first touch and had yet to subside.
The stream of lust he was tapped into swelled, and he pulled himself out of his thoughts and turned back to work. They had moved away from the window, but he didn’t need to see them physically. He could see them quite clearly in his mind as he started the first of the fantasies he needed to push them to the edge. The place where he would get the purest energy. The most filling food for his family.
The energy grew, tumbling and rushing like a river rising to flood stage. The sounds and sights echoed in his mind. The reality of their physical acts overlaid the waking visions he sent them in his mind. He pulled the reins this way and that as he rode their psyches alongside the riverbank of their energy. But then the reins slipped briefly in his grasp.
Slammed by the images they sent, he became immersed in fantasies of their own, involving him, even though their encounter had been brief. The sights, sounds, and touches in their psyches were so real that he couldn’t stop his body from responding. He groaned and pressed the heel of his hand into his groin. The fever in his blood intensified, and he ruthlessly yanked back control.
Ignoring the warning in his head, he pushed harder, driving them into a moaning, screaming frenzy. He could feel the first seed of doubt, the trickle of fear that wormed its way into their minds when they couldn’t halt their own momentum, when they couldn’t stop the lust that coursed through them and their bodies’ responses to it. Beyond caring, he drank in the torrent. The sand inside him sucked it up and greedily demanded more.
The humans’ passionate wails could now be heard on the street. He throbbed under the heel of his hand and sent the desire consuming him down the link.
On a piercing crescendo, he finally allowed them to climax, and sweat-soaked and trembling, they tumbled into unconsciousness in each other’s arms.
Dae blinked and focused on the darkened street. His breathing was harsh in his ears, the searing hardness under his palm unexpected and unwelcome. The desert inside him demanded more as the flood of lust energy waned once the couple passed out.
He tried to turn his mind and appetite to hunting new prey, but the stream that still trickled into him from them was too tempting. Approaching death took the threat of breaking the law out of consideration. For the first time in thousands of years, he plunged into Shadow, into the world of dreams, with the intent to feed.
In Shadow, he wove the scene, then pulled the two humans into his world. They came with a gratifying eagerness. His lips descended to hers, their lush softness open and roving of their own accord. A large hand returned to his rear, and he pushed back into it, moaning into her mouth. Wet heat trailed up the back of his neck. With a shudder, he surrendered to the power. His appetite insatiable, he pushed them further than they ever could have gone alone—riding them into exhaustion, demanding response after response. Their fear mingled with their pleasure. And the power poured into Damian.
After an indeterminate length of time, his toys’ responses faded, like the batteries run out in a Christmas gift. And he took a good look around for the first time, realizing what he’d done. What he’d allowed to happen.
Thank the stars I stopped in time.
The two humans lay sprawled, exhausted. Mind, body, and soul. If he had kept going, he would have killed them. The temptation to continue, to drain their energy dry, to the point that they would die, seethed under his tenuous control. Only when young did a Kelusis have to worry about draining the energy of another’s psyche to the point of death.
Backing away from what he’d done, Dae fled the shadowscape and disengaged from the dream with a jerk, slamming back into his physical body. It still clamored for relief. Disgusted with himself, he pushed to his feet and took a quick mental look at the two humans in their apartment. They would feel the effects of his carelessness long after tonight. Physically, emotionally, mentally drained, they would be sore and tired inside and out. He had pushed them hard just through the trace, but continuing in Shadow scraped the pulp out of the shell. It would take them weeks to rebuild their reserves.
I can’t go home tonight. Erik will be able to tell. Bob’s right. I won’t be able to hide this any longer.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he kicked a rock with enough force to chip the glass of the car window it hit across the street, and he spun on his heel to stalk into the night.
*****
“Another pointless attempt,” Alexis mumbled and viciously plunged her brush into the jar. “Why do I keep trying? Why am I still here?”
She sat back and stared at the mess on the canvas. No life, no spirit.
It looked like a person, the picture that was slowly appearing before her. But that was all. “I might as well draw stick figures.”
She absently grabbed a rag from the stand next to her chair and scrubbed at her finger without looking at it. Maybe if I add some more blue to the dress? She ducked her head to wipe the sweat from her temple onto the strap of her tank top. The August heat baked her little upper-story apartment during the day. But even at ten o’clock at night, it still hadn’t dissipated.
She sighed and continued to stare at the blobs of paint. Slowly in her mind they merged and swirled as she daydreamed a new pattern. It consumed her thoughts as she closed her eyes and relaxed. Instead of the Victorian lady next to a pond that she’d been working on, hillsides of gilded rows of trellised vines took shape, so real she felt she could reach out and touch what she saw. Her hard chair no longer beneath her, she could feel the sun vie with the crisp air that was the cause of the leaves changing. Damp earth and leaf mold filled her nose. Cropped grass carpeted the spaces between.
Heart pounding, she looked around. Her gaze pulled down one of the aisles, she craned her neck. In the distance an immense stone building watched over the grapes. The feeling of remembrance swamped her. She knew that building.
The memory of a sharp pain pierced her chest as movement caught her eye down the row. A broad back, encased in pale linen. Dark waves of hair caught in a cue at the nape of the neck. She stood frozen, anticipating, longing for him to turn.
Sound carried to her on the breeze. Leaves rustling, birds, the rumble of a familiar voice that echoed in her head.
Breath seizing, she watched as he started to turn.
The wail of multiple sirens on the city street jerked her in her seat. The pale washed-out hues of blue on the dress blended with the pond background on the canvas before her. No sunshine. No breeze. No vineyard.
She blinked. Haphazard canvases tilted here and there in the mess of her apartment. Just where she’d left them when she decided they wouldn’t suit. Clothes, supplies, and other belongings drifted out of boxes scattered between. She hadn’t bothered to do much in the way of unpacking when she’d moved in.
She shook her head, trying to clear the fog. I guess I fell asleep. Though the vivid images felt more real than any dream she could remember.
Stiff, she rose from her chair and stretched. Edgy energy infused her, the picture still vibrant in her mind. A sense of longing engulfed her, and she clenched her fist to keep from sweeping the unsuitable painting from her easel. Slipping around it, she stalked through the pathway of her possessions to the open sliding glass door.
A breath of cooler air swirled around her when she leaned against the rail, and the colorful lights of downtown Seattle twinkled in the summer night. Their cheery energy seemed at odds with her introspective mood, her unexplained longing—and underlying it, an unfounded yet undeniable anticipation.