Defeat the Darkness (Hearts of Darkness) (12 page)

“Speaking of coming and going, when are you scheduled to come home?”

“As soon as the new surgeon can take over. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better.”

“Really?” Shelby scooped her hair off her neck and clipped it up. The chair looked inviting. Although she was surprised to hear him say that after how he’d been acting, it relieved her some. “I thought you were doing what you dreamed of here.”

“If dreams are nightmares,” he mumbled.

She sat down and stared at him, wondering what he meant. “Has it been so bad?”

“Forget I said anything. I’m physically and mentally drained. Once I get back on my feet, I’ll be okay.”

“Kyle, maybe you should come home with me.”

“I can’t. Not yet. There’s too much unfinished business.”

“What’s so important you’d risk your health?”

“Don’t ask—” he warned, holding up a hand to stop the onslaught of questions, and glanced around the tent. “Believe me, it’s very important.”

“Okay, then—”

“Look, why don’t you clean up?” He looked at his watch before pointing toward the
washbasin and towels. “I have to check in with Dr. Salazar anyway right now. You’ll meet him later.”

“I’d like that.” The idea of meeting the international humanitarian who she’d spoken with on the phone, intrigued her.

Kyle approached, surprising her, close enough to tilt her chin up so she had to look at him. His pupils looked huge, dark, and practically covered his entire iris. When he spoke, his voice was deep, low, and sounded like black velvet.

“Shelby, don’t leave the tent without me.”

Could she encourage him to keep talking? It was doing something to her insides—something naughty.

“O-okay?” The warm sensation between her thighs disappeared, and an uncomfortable compulsion forced her to consider doing as he asked. She did manage to break through her wayward thoughts long enough to question him. “What’s out there?”

He shook his head at her, and gave her a wry crooked smile she wished she understood.

“It’s dangerous.” Kyle circled her as he spoke and pressed the compulsion deeper. “Trust me. Just don’t leave. We’ll talk when I return. Deal?”

Kyle hated compelling her but it was for her own good. Shelby nodded, but looked confused and slightly flushed.

“Say it,” he ordered, sending the suggestion.

“D-deal,” she said, and her response sounded as shaky to Kyle as the hand she extended.

He took it and cringed at the feel of her warm skin against his and he noted Shelby’s brow furrow.

“It’s nothing.” He couldn’t risk being around her. She was already suspicious. Too smart for her own good, that one, he thought.

Turning away, he closed the flap behind him and lef
t her. He hoped his compulsion affected his strong-willed Shelby. For her own safety, she had to heed his warning.

Hurting her this way was the hardest thing he’d ever done. And there was no doubt
he was hurting her. Even without his newfound powers, her body language was clear evidence of her disappointment. When he’d finally had the guts to face her, he saw the pain in her eyes and the stiff way she held her spine.

The late afternoon sun hid in the shadows of the canopy, but the effects were lessening. Even he felt more energized. Soon, Amyra would awaken and want to feed from him. Then she would hear about the
redheaded woman who came to the camp looking for him. She’d wonder who Shelby was to him and when she found out—and she would find out—she’d use his love for her to destroy him. There would be no stopping her.

The anger caused fangs in his mouth to extend. He took a few cleansing breaths to get himself under control before showing up on Victor’s doorstep.

Kyle swore beneath his breath. He’d have to hurt Shelby to protect her. At first, his greatest fear was Amyra would destroy everything he and Shelby had together. With Shelby here in camp, his new fear was she’d use Shelby to get to him.

“Too late,” he hissed. She’d already accomplished the first by turning him into a demon like herself. It was already too late for him. He wouldn’t allow Amyra to use her as a pawn.

Shelby didn’t suspect how he felt, how hard it had been for him not to touch her. It had been almost impossible to act cold and uncaring. His hands still itched to touch her, to run his fingers through her hair, clasp her close, and kiss her sweet lips.

He lifted his fingers and sniffed. Yes, her scent lingered where he’d touched her chin. Delicious. If he stayed, he was afraid the scent of her blood would drive him mad. The damn fragrance of her skin was bad enough to make him forget himself. Almost.

Then he recalled her trusting eyes and knew he’d never let harm come to her. Never.

Chapter 14 Hunger

Kyle hoped Victor had answers. He needed to convince Shelby to go back to safety—to return to her career and to Max. He wanted her to live a full rich life and have the children he could never give her. Now he had nothing to offer her except a life with a monster. The one important thing was getting her on the next boat out of there and keeping her safe no matter what.

“Dr. Lachlan, you seem preoccupied.” Victor Salazar’s voice brought Kyle back to the present.

Without realizing, he’d walked straight into Victor’s office without knocking on the makeshift door. Kyle had more than one reason to see Salazar. The man might offer a quick solution for getting Shelby out fast.

“I have plenty on my mind. Sorry if I’ve been distracted lately.”

“Let us walk where there is privacy.” Salazar said, and fell into step beside him. “Doctor, if you don’t mind me saying so, you look like hell.”

Usually always so polite and correct, Victor’s blunt statement shocked him. Kyle stopped walking and grinned, entertained by the frank statement.

“No offense taken. I guess I do look pretty ratty. My fiancée didn’t recognize me at first.” He ran a hand through the hair he’d tried cutting. By daybreak, it had grown back to his shoulders. “I probably should tie this stuff back.” He put the hand to his chin and scrubbed. “And shave.”

Salazar laughed. “So your Shelby has arrived? I’m sorry I frightened her when I called, but she was your emergency contact. I thought she should know you were missing.”

Kyle liked Victor, the man who ran the makeshift hospital. The other doctor’s voice was deep and rich. He exuded confidence,
passing it on to everyone else. Even during the worst of situations, he had a way of keeping everyone calm.

“Yes, but… She shouldn’t have come.”

“For now, I’ll leave you with this unsolicited bit of information. Not every jaguar in the jungle is believed to be a shifter. Some jaguars are just what they appear, and as sad as it is to have to kill one...”

Kyle waited for Salazar to finish. He thought the approach was a strange
way of fishing for information. Besides, what would he tell him?

His story was preposterous.

“...it’s not the same as killing a human, or is it, Dr. Lachlan?”

He shook his head, not trusting his voice to answer. He wished that
were the case.

“In any case, self-defense is a necessary action against any deadly predator,” Salazar finished.

“I understand what you mean. But what are you saying? Do you know more about the shifter story than I’ve been told?” Kyle couldn’t do this alone. If someone had information, he’d find a way to get it. “I need to know because...I have more to add.”

Salazar’s poker face gave away a small tell, so Kyle dropped the bomb. “The jaguar that attacked me was a rogue shifter and it bit me. Julian helped me survive, and he stayed with me while I went through the shift.”

If he expected the other man to be surprised, Kyle didn’t see it in Victor’s expression or body language.

The man stared at him a long moment as if inspecting him before he said, “I have been around a long time. If there are any questions I can answer for you I will be willing to try.”

Kyle had a million questions. For one, Victor’s scent was too similar to Amyra’s for him not to question the coincidence. “What do you know of the directress?”

“Amyra? I see.” Salazar’s eyes opened wide, the poker face gone now.

“No. I don’t think you do. Amyra captured me. Do you believe in any of this?”

“Yes, Kyle. I do.”

Salazar seldom used his first name. What did the sudden familiarity between them imply? The whole situation was worrisome. The jungle beyond the perimeter of the camp held secrets the outside world didn’t know about. Even after witnessing his own experience, he was in denial. If Salazar took all this in stride, Kyle would be forced to face reality and believe the unbelievable. The way to uncover the truth was to face it.

“There’s more to my story.”

Kyle filled Salazar in about Amyra as they walked across the compound toward the surgery. The older man remained quiet until Kyle said, “Dr. Salazar, you smell like her.”

“Yes, I suppose I do. Amyra is also my maker.” Salazar stopped walking and met Kyle eye to eye. Victor’s pupils turned into swirling pools of molten silver.

“Although I sense a bit of her scent in your blood, at the moment the jaguar is stronger.”

“Then tell me. Does this mean I’m rogue?”

“Rogue? You? No. You must be a born jaguar shifter to go rogue. The vampire bite disagrees with their blood and infects them. But I see how all this does complicate things for you. Are you going to tell your fiancée?”

“Where would I start?” Kyle shook his head.

“She cares about you a great deal. Start from the beginning.”

“That simply? I don’t know. Tell me your story. How did she change you?”

“I was a doctor of sorts in ancient Spain where she found me. I had been arrested for heresy, and the race to see if I would burn at the stake or die of the plague in the rat-infested prison was closing in on me quickly. Amyra claimed she had need of my gifts for healing. At the time, I was considered something of a mystic. Among others, I had the gift of sight. I read thoughts. She wanted my powers.”

“How did you survive the transmutation without becoming the demon she is?”

“I didn’t—not entirely. I harbor demon characteristics in my blood. When I feel the demon rise from time to time, I temper it. I keep myself satisfied with donor blood, and my old gifts serve me well. Amyra is basically evil and was from the beginning. The demon within her controls her. Did she tell you how she achieved immortality?”

The bitch was a deadly viper to anyone who didn’t serve her evil purposes.

“No, but I gathered she killed the Pharaoh, her husband, to attain it.”

“Yes, him and thousands of others over the long years. Hers is a very long story.” Victor spit the words out, full of venom and distaste.

“She’ll be coming for me at sundown to feed. I haven’t been able to shift since the first night. I believe it’s because she’s kept me too weak.”

“You are correct.”

“I’m worried. If I can’t keep her out of my head, how can I protect Shelby?”

“Slow down. Do not worry about the young woman. I will make sure she is safely out of here on the first boat in the morning. You can watch over her during the night. After she is gone, I will find donors to feed you without Amyra knowing. You must drink from the vein to gather your strength. Bagged blood won’t work to strengthen you enough to fight her.”

Kyle’s insides turned. The idea of drinking blood no longer disgusted him, but the ramifications of what he’d become suddenly hit him like a lightning bolt. His life as he knew it was over. “Victor, I don’t think I can handle all this.”

“You can with training and my assistance. But for your safety and mine, you must not think about our plan or reveal what we do when you are with anyone else.”

“I know how to handle blocking Amyra from my thoughts if I concentrate. I just worry about anyone else being able to do the same.”

“Trust me. I’ve learned what to divulge to Amyra and what to hold back. What about your Shelby?”

“I’ve convinced her we’re through—that I don’t want her anymore. If Amyra reads her mind, she’ll only see what I’ve managed to plant in Shelby’s thoughts today. It’s killing me to hurt her like this.”

“Sad, but necessary. Then she will be safe. Excellent.”

“Safe, but broken. The pain on her face when she looks at me twists my soul, but there’s no hope for us with me like this and her...Well, she wants children and a normal life. What can I offer her now?”

“Perhaps later, you will tell her the truth and allow her to decide.” Salazar held up one finger. “But not yet. For her own safety you were right to make her believe you are finished with her.”

“I hate this!” Kyle ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t allow anything to happen to her.”

“Heart break is nothing compared to the pain and suffering of Amyra’s torture techniques—as I believe you may well know, my dear friend.” Victor squeezed his shoulder.

“Tonight Amyra will come and expect me to feed from her. She’ll take my blood, too.” He covered his face with both hands and shook his head. “I don’t want Shelby to see that.”

He didn’t expect Shelby to stay by his side, not since he was this out of control monster. If there was a remote possibility of a future together, that chance would end the minute she saw him with Amyra. No woman would ever understand or forget what appeared to be an erotic sexual encounter fueled by blood.

Added to the sensual nature of feeding from one another, he wasn’t sure he could control the new monster within him the way Victor could. He needed time and training.

“What is it Amyra really wants from me?”

“That is obvious. She wants your power. As she ages, she seeks unusual humans to share her blood with in order to strengthen her own. You are a jaguar shifter now, and she wants that power. Before she can assimilate the jaguar’s essence, you must be vampire. She had to turn you. Even though she drank from you before, she wasn’t able to take on your true nature. Once you turned vampire, your blood provided her with what she needed to attain the jaguar gift.”

“So the blood she’s been taking since I transmuted to vampire five days ago, is strengthening her?”

“Yes. She is taking on the catlike qualities.”

“Yet she only lets me drink small amounts from her.”

“You need human blood to feed the jaguar. She is starving you with her blood in order to keep you weak on purpose. I wonder why?”

“Because I struck a bargain with her. When I agreed to drink from her, she vowed to release me from her control at the end of one month. The way she convinced me to drink from her was by making me believe her blood would provide the strength I needed to escape.”

Salazar’s laugh sounded sardonic. “The woman is devious. Her blood is useless. It weakens your jaguar and the jaguar is what you need for strength. The one thing capable of fueling the jaguar is human blood. The cat can hold back the demon in you.” Salazar tapped Kyle’s chest. “Always remember you are first of all human, and human blood will keep the demon from gaining power over you.”

Victor put a large hand on his shoulder. “Come with me. I have friends who will help if it means there’s hope of stopping the dark one.”

“What do you mean?” Kyle asked as he followed Victor into the jungle along an invisible path through dense underbrush and hanging vines.

“She weakens as she ages.” They paused along the path, and Victor listened to the voices up ahead. “We will find you a human host, and I will guide you through your first feeding.”

“I don’t know.” Kyle gripped Victor’s arm. “What if I can’t hold back?”

“You forget. I am at full power. I can stop you, boy.” Victor grinned and cocked his head in the direction of the voices. “Hear the heart beats? Smell that? Pure human blood. You will still be weak after one feeding. I will be able to control you and so will Amyra. But it will be enough to keep the demon at bay and each time you feed, you will become stronger.”

“Why are you doing this—helping me?”

“There is only so much I can do against my maker. I believe when you are at full force you may hold the power to control her. At least you may prevent her from taking more of your power, and she will weaken.”

“Ha! I doubt it. I’d have to be as ruthless as she is to defeat her, and I haven’t fallen that low, yet.”

“We will see, doctor. Over the long years, I have seen what men will do out of necessity to save themselves or ones they love. Don’t underestimate yourself or your abilities. You are smart and quick. And good is always stronger than evil.”

Kyle let the moment of hope fill him. “She must have weaknesses. Isn’t that why she needs me?”

“Yes, and I will tell you what they are.” Victor clapped Kyle on the back and said, “Our volunteers are just up ahead.”

“
Hola
,
amigos
,” he shouted, and then went on, gesturing between the men and Kyle. They spoke in the native dialect Kyle didn’t understand. He couldn’t make out more than a word or two here or there, but it wasn’t necessary since he already knew where the conversation was headed.

One heavily muscled man said something and waved him forward. Victor explained, “He wants us to follow him. He is the one who will allow you to drink from his vein.”

As they entered a closed hut, Kyle asked, “A man?”

“The man’s blood is stronger, and he is more resilient. He will build up his blood supply again more readily than a female. And he will not risk his women to one who is newly turned.”

“He’s afraid I’ll hurt them.” Kyle made the statement and nodded. He understood the man’s concern.

Kyle had his own.

After experiencing the unbridled arousal feeding caused, he was wary of taking blood from a man. He wondered whether he’d be sexually aroused by drinking the man’s blood, and if he was, where would it lead?