Blade of Darkness: Bonus Scene Read online

  Blade of Darkness: Bonus Scene

  Dianne Duvall

  Dana smiled as she strolled down the hallway toward the room she and Aidan shared at David’s.

  They had both been pretty wired after the fight with Seth. Or rather with Gershom. So they hadn’t been able to sleep. Not until David had informed everyone in the house that there would be no hunting that night.

  She and Aidan had eaten dinner with the other immortals and their Seconds. Afterward, they had retired to their room, made love, and finally succumbed to slumber.

  When Dana had awoken with a hardy appetite and thirst a good ten hours later, she had found Aidan still sleeping deeply. So she had decided to brave the unknown and see if she couldn’t scare up another sandwich in the kitchen for brunch.

  She had instead ended up sharing several pizzas and laughs with Sheldon, Tracy, Ed, Brodie, and Darnell, David’s Second, as well as two elder immortals named Chaak and Imhotep, who had remained awake to guard them all.

  The more she encountered immortals and their Seconds, the more she relaxed and viewed them as a big, happy family. They seemed so normal. Even the immortals. Not at all what she had expected from a houseful of extraordinary beings who had lived hundreds—if not thousands—of years and wielded so much power they could take over the world, should they desire to do so.

  Thank goodness, they didn’t desire to do so.

  She frowned.

  Actually with Seth at the helm, the world would probably be far better off.

  But he and his immortals seemed content instead with safeguarding those they could in secrecy.

  Grunts and thuds carried down the hallway from the basement’s training room. She was tempted to peek inside and see who was fighting, but opted instead to return to Aidan.

  A door beside her swung open as she passed it. A hand shot out, curled around her upper arm and yanked her inside.

  Gasping, Dana stumbled a bit as the hand released her. The door slammed shut behind her… and she found herself in a tastefully decorated, vaguely masculine bedroom.

  Lisette, Sarah, Melanie, Krysta, and Heather faced her.

  She thought Lisette might have been the one who had yanked her into the room, but wasn’t sure.

  A human woman was present as well. Dana thought her name was Nicole. She was Krysta’s brother Sean’s Second.

  Ami was there, too.

  Dana wasn’t sure exactly what Ami was. She seemed human. But the immortals spoke of her as if she were something else. Something more. More than a gifted one, anyway.

  And they were unanimously very protective of her.

  The door opened, and Tracy slipped inside.

  The eight women then clustered together and regarded Dana with expectation, as though they had heard that her psychic abilities could foretell tomorrow’s winning lottery numbers and they were waiting for her to impart them.

  Their eyes shone brightly with… excitement?

  But none spoke.

  It was weird.

  “Um… hi?” Dana offered hesitantly.

  “So?” Lisette blurted, her pretty face lighting with a grin. “Is it true?”

  Dana’s mind went blank. “Is what true?”

  Tracy gave Dana’s shoulder a playful shove. “Come on! Don’t torture us. We want details. Give ’em up.”

  “Give what up?” Dana asked, smiling despite her confusion. They were like children trying to get the inside scoop on Santa’s bag of presents.

  “Did you really kiss Seth?” Melanie asked. “Heather said you did.”

  Lisette nodded. “You did, didn’t you? I can’t believe it!”

  Dana laughed. That’s what this was about? “Yes, I did. But—”

  Several of them erupted into speech, talking over each other and blurting so many questions and comments that Dana couldn’t sort through them all.

  She looked at Ami, who stood silently on the edge of the circle, her lips curling up in amusement.

  Ami shrugged. “They’re very curious,” she offered softly in explanation.

  “Yes, they are,” Dana agreed.

  Aidan had told her Ami was one of the fiercest fighters among them, but Dana found it hard to believe. She was so shy. So sweet. Dana just couldn’t imagine the petite redhead tearing apart crazed vampires with katanas. But she had apparently done a hell of a lot of that in the past.

  The women wound down and quieted.

  “Seth isn’t just their leader,” Ami said. “He’s like a father to them. To me, too. And he’s so powerful that none of the female immortals or Seconds would even think about coming on to him despite his obvious appeal.”

  “Well,” Lisette corrected, “some of us may have thought about it, or rather fantasized about it, but we would never have dared to act upon it or try anything untoward.”

  “I can see why,” Sarah tossed in. “He’s Seth. He’s… I don’t know… larger than life.”

  “Way larger than life,” Krysta added.

  Nicole sighed wistfully. “He’s so hot, though.”

  Tracy nodded. “I would’ve totally hit that if Seth wasn’t so freaking powerful and all-knowing. That shit is intimidating.”

  Ami’s smile broadened. “You know he’ll be able to read all of this in your thoughts, right?”

  Tracy’s eyes widened. “Oh, crap!”

  Lisette laughed. “Zach will, too. Or rather he already has. He’s in my head right now, making growly jealous noises. But I don’t care. He knows he’s the only man who can make me burn. And I want to know.” She met Dana’s eyes. “How was it? It was good, wasn’t it?”

  Dana pursed her lips. “I shouldn’t say. If I do, Aidan might read it in your thoughts and—”

  Lisette whooped. “It was good! I knew it! I knew it!”

  Krysta nodded with a grin. “She wouldn’t worry about Aidan’s reaction if it had sucked.”

  Dana winced and smiled at the same time. It was true.

  Ami shook her head. “You may as well tell them. They have hours to kill before tonight’s meeting and won’t think twice about keeping you here and badgering you until you crumble.”

  Dana groaned when the other women vowed to do just that. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”

  An expectant hush descended.

  “It was good,” Dana admitted. “It was really good.”

  More exclamations erupted.

  “But Aidan is better!” Dana called over the throng. She didn’t think they heard, though. They were too busy demanding more details.

  “Were his lips soft?”

  “Did he use his tongue?”

  “Did his eyes glow?”

  “Did he grab your ass?”

  “He grabbed your ass, didn’t he?”

  “Did he touch your breast?”

  “Feel you up a little?”

  “Or maybe a lot?”

  Dana laughed and again looked to Ami. “Is it really that big a deal?”

  Still grinning, Ami nodded. “According to Immortal Guardians’ gossip, Seth hasn’t touched a woman since he lost his wife thousands of years ago.”

  Dana’s mouth fell open. “Really?” That was so sad. And sweet. And unbelievable, all at the same time. Seth was hot.

  Ami shook her head. “That’s what they say. So the fact that you kissed him—even inadvertently, believing he was Aidan—is huge news in their world.”

  The women continued to pepper Dana with questions and offer speculations.

  Tracy sidled up to her. “I know what you’re thinking.”

  Dana eyed her with amusement. “I seriously doubt that.”

  Tracy grinned. “You’re finding it hard to believe that such immensely powerful, kick-ass warriors as thes
e who hunt and behead and tear apart vampires for a living would go all girly over you kissing Seth.”

  Dana laughed. “Actually, yes. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

  Tracy shook her head. “Most immortals have lived hundreds of years. Thousands even. And they’ve seen just about everything there is to see in this world. So when something surprises them… and this really surprised them… it’s kind of a huge deal because that just doesn’t happen very often. If at all.”

  “Oh.” Dana supposed she could understand that.

  Tracy lowered her voice. “Plus, their world can be pretty dark sometimes. So something light like this is all the more appreciated.”

  “Hey,” Sarah called over the chorus of voices. “Did anyone win the pool?”

  Ami gave them all a disapproving frown. “Are you serious? You all had a pool going?”

  Sarah rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding? Immortals and their Seconds bet on everything.”

  Tracy took out her phone. “Hold on. Let me check.”

  Dana looked around. “What was the bet?” It couldn’t have been about her. They had just met her.

  Tracy typed furiously on her smart phone. “The bet was when Seth would kiss a woman or vice versa. And it looks like…” She growled in frustration. “Damn it! Darnell won. Again. How does that handsome devil always know these things?”

  Ami laughed.

  Tracy’s face brightened. “Ooh. I wonder if Darnell bet on when Seth will fall in love again.”

  The women’s faces lit with renewed excitement.

  “Look it up,” Sarah encouraged her eagerly.

  Silence fell, heavy with anticipation that Dana found hilarious while Tracy again typed furiously on her phone.

  Tracy stopped. “He did.”

  “Well?” Krysta pressed. “When does he think it will happen?”

  Tracy’s mouth fell open as she raised wide eyes. “Holy crap.”

  * * *

  Aidan awoke at full strength and wondered how long he had slept. Stretching, he rolled over and reached for Dana… only to find her side of the bed empty.

  He sat up, his heart beginning to hammer.

  Where was she? No sounds came from the bathroom. The sheets were cold, indicating she had been gone for a while. Had Gershom popped in while he was asleep and taken her?

  The bedroom door opened.

  Dana entered and closed it behind her. “Hi.”

  He smiled, instantly feeling lighter upon seeing her. “Hi. Have you been up long?”

  She shrugged. “A few hours.”

  “Everything okay?”

  “Everything’s fine,” she said, but her expressive face said otherwise. Instead of smiling, she watched him warily.

  “What is it? Has something happened?”

  “Are you reading my thoughts?” she asked.

  “No. I told you I wouldn’t read them again unless you projected them or it was an emergency and your life was in danger. Why?”

  She bit her lip.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked, unsure of her mood.

  “Okay, here’s the thing,” she said, speaking faster than normal. “I’m going to tell you something, because I don’t want you to happen upon it unexpectedly and have it catch you off guard if you read my thoughts again at some point in the future, and if I don’t tell you I’ll worry about it, but it isn’t a big thing and I don’t want you to get upset.”

  Aidan blinked. “Okay.”

  She drew in a deep breath. “After lunch, the women all kind of cornered me and asked me if it was true that I had kissed Seth and wanted to hear all about it when I admitted I had.”

  Aidan clamped his lips together to keep from laughing. He could imagine how that had gone. “Let me guess. They wanted to know if it was good, and you told them it was.”

  “Yes,” she admitted in a small, hesitant voice as though she expected him to explode.

  “Of course it was good,” he said. “He’s Seth. He’s older, wiser and better at everything than everyone else. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s better at kissing, too.”

  She smiled, her shoulders wilting with relief. “I didn’t say he was better. Just that he was good.”

  He grinned. “You mean he didn’t make your toes curl?”

  Shaking her head, she climbed onto the bed and crawled toward him. “Only you can do that.”

  “So you like my kisses better, do ya?”

  Nodding, she straddled his lap. “Very much.” She leaned in for a kiss.

  Eager to oblige, Aidan slid his arms around her waist and indulged himself in a long, deep, pulse-spiking kiss.

  “Thank you for not being jealous,” she murmured.

  He slid one hand down over her lovely bottom. “The fact that you wanted to drive your knee into his groin after you kissed him erased any jealousy I felt.” Or most of it, anyway. The words she had just spoken eradicated the rest.

  Laughing, she kissed him again. And again. And again, teasing him with her tongue. “We still have a couple of hours to kill before the meeting,” she murmured.

  “Yes, we do.” He settled his hands on her hips, his blood heating. “How would you like to spend them?”

  She nipped his lower lip with her teeth, then whispered in his ear.

  Lust struck him hard and fast. Growling his approval, Aidan rolled her beneath him.

  Copyright © 2017 by Dianne Duvall

 

 

  Dianne Duvall, Blade of Darkness: Bonus Scene

  Thanks for reading the books on GrayCity.Net