Page 27 of Darius

“Darius?” she softly slurred.

“Shh. Go back to sleep. I’m here now,” he whispered quietly.

“Want to go home…” she mumbled.

Darius smiled. “I’ve come to take you to our house, Zoí mou. Give me a moment, and we’ll go, okay?”

“Okay,” she said before settling back to snore softly once again.

She’d be safe in that bedroom. Darius stood, turned, and walked back into the shadows.

Darius watched the remaining three men of the crew laughing and ribbing each other over the game. They didn’t seem to have a care in the world, but he’d create a few worries for them.

“I’m out. I’m going to grab a snack,” one said as he threw his cards on the table and pushed his chair back to stand up. “Anyone else want anything while I’m up?”

“How about a beer?” asked another of the other two men.

“Not while we’re on duty. I’ll get rid of the evidence that we raided the stash.” He chuckled and picked up the highball glasses before heading for the kitchen. “I’ll check the fridge for a Monster drink or something.”

Darius crossed the shadows to arrive in the kitchen first. Helping himself to a chef-quality knife, he waited for the door to swing inward. He regretted that the man’s terror could only last a few seconds as he sliced open his throat. He deserved to suffer much more for daring to touch Mara. Even the spray of the blood couldn’t distract Darius. As the man lay twitching in the dark on the floor, Darius returned to monitor the other two.

A few minutes later, a guy said, “Can you beat a straight flush?”

“Fuck no!” The loser tossed his cards into the center and pushed himself up to his feet. “I’ll hit the can while we’re waiting.” He headed down the opposite hallway.

“Guess that leaves me to check on our guest,” the winner said as he rose from his seat and turned to head for the bedroom. Before he could take two steps in that direction, a muffled noise emerged. He whirled to face the kitchen door. The dying man’s last jerk must have hit a cabinet.

“Larry? Are you okay in there? Did you find the Monster?” Moving to the kitchen with Darius trailing him in the shadows, he turned on the light to discover Larry sprawled on the floor with his hands over a gash in his neck in a fruitless attempt to stop the flow of blood. From the ever-growing pool on the floor, Larry was a goner. The iron scent of blood filled the air. Even a Monster wouldn’t help Larry now.

Before the man could react, Darius stepped from the shadows behind him and caught the man in a viselike grip with his arm wrapped around his throat. He pulled him backward as a darkening haze enveloped them. Darius pressed his lips close to the man’s ear. “Today, the monster found him.”

Carrying the attacker into the shadow world Darius had traversed a million times, Darius viewed the hellish landscape, remembering what he’d felt during his initial trip. Things a sane mind couldn’t describe shifted in the bleak territory. Safety didn’t exist here. The first time he’d vanished by accident into the shadows had terrified Darius. He’d emerged to find several strands of gray in his beard as well as being five hundred miles away.

Shadow walking was rare among vampires. No one else in his clan had that ability. Learning how to survive using this skill had almost killed him.

“What is this place? Get me out of here!” the man screamed, making his second mistake of the night.

Noise attracted attention in this dangerous place. Darius had learned to walk quietly and to keep his clothing from rustling. Even the slightest sound would betray you here.

Darius pried the man’s desperate hands from his shirt. Funny how Darius had changed from the man’s worst nightmare to the person the kidnapper turned to for safety. Darius would never protect a man who’d endangered his mate. Ignoring the petrified cries of his target, Darius snapped the man’s fingers to prevent him from hitching a ride back and evaporated. Hopefully, the creatures who hunted there would take their time devouring him piece by piece.

The quiet of the penthouse seemed shocking after the whistling wind and bloodcurdling sounds from the shadow world. Darius smiled as a toilet flushed. After breaking the lightbulbs in the room, he waited patiently, staring down the hall for the last of his human prey to appear.

When the final man opened the door to find the lights in the living room were switched off, he froze. The brightly lit bathroom behind him cast his long shadow down the hall and across the room. Darius guessed he debated whether to lock himself in the bathroom or to investigate. Drawing a gun from a holder at his waist, he cautiously stepped into the hallway.

“What the hell, guys? I don’t think this is the right place for mood lighting.”

No one answered.

“Larry? Bill?”

Panic gathered in his voice. Time to stop this. Darius stepped from the shadows behind the man, grabbed him by the collar, and whispered, “The dark fits my mood. Let’s see if you like crappy lighting.”

Before the man could react, Darius shoved him toward the darkened shadow in front of him. The man’s arms shot up to brace himself against the attack, but he passed through the wall into the gloom beyond. The wall then returned with a resounding “pop,” and silence once again returned to the apartment.

Handled, Darius sent to his clan.

About time you stopped playing around. Donovan’s dry tone broke the tension and made Darius smile.