Kissed by Darkness(74)

Fortunately for the door, there was no need for mysterious flying rocks. Jack tested the door and it slid open easily. Call me crazy, but while I could accept an open mudroom window, a big ass sliding glass door left open was another story entirely. “Jack,” I hissed at him. “I don’t think … “

It was too late. The light inside snapped on and Brent Darroch sat there in all his creepy Julian Sands glory. He looked for all the world like some kind of wannabe king with his velvety high-backed armchair, surrounded by his neck-less goon squad minus Clive and the scrawny guy. Only instead of a scepter, he held a very large pistol. Freaking fantastic.

There was no point in running back the way we came. A quick glace over my shoulder revealed Clive and Scrawny lurking behind me, Clive with a smug look on his face and a really big gun in his hand. Damn. He ushered us inside with a wave of his gun for an audience with his majesty. Scrawny took up the rear.

“Welcome back, Miss Bailey.” Darroch’s oily voice sent chills down my spine. Not the good kind either. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. And my old friend, Jackson Keel, how lovely to see you. It’s been, what, at least ten, fifteen years.”

“Twenty,” Jack growled. I could see the muscles working in his jaw. If he wasn’t careful he was going to grind his teeth flat. I wondered vaguely if a Sunwalker’s teeth could regenerate like the rest of him. I’d have to ask him sometime. You know, when we weren’t about to die horrible, agonizing deaths.

Darroch waved his hand airily. “Has it truly been that long? Well, six of one, half dozen of the other. Isn’t that how the saying goes, Miss Bailey?” I ignored him. “Well, I really must thank you both for being so accommodating. When I planned this all out I had no idea it would be so … easy.” He smirked at us.

“You’ve got the amulet, Darroch. You’ve had it for twenty years. Why do you need us?” Jack snarled. “You took it the same night you … ” He broke off. The look on his face told me something really nasty had happened that night twenty years ago.

Darroch smirked. “Yes, the same night I killed your little plaything. It was such a pity. I wouldn’t have minded having her to myself for awhile.”

The sound Jack made could only be described as a scream. It made my blood run cold. There was so much hate and anger in that scream. He launched himself at Darroch, but Scrawny threw himself in front of Jack, and slammed him halfway across the room with a single kick. Damn, but he was good.

Jack may have been a 900 year old warrior, but he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell against Scrawny, who’d obviously seen one too many Jet Li movies. I tried to help, but Darroch waved me back with his gun.

Next thing I knew, Clive waded into the fray and knocked Jack on the head with the butt of his gun, dazing him. Clive and Scrawny made short work of tying Jack up and propping him against the nearest wall.

Jack may have been dazed, but he wasn’t out and he was still pissed. “Darroch, you fucking … I will kill you for what you did.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Keel. You don’t have a chance in hell of touching me. So stop being so melodramatic.” He waved his hand airily and Clive kicked Jack viciously in the ribs, sending him toppling sideways.

“Darroch, you jack ass, what did you do that for?” I snapped. “He’s already tied up. What do you want us for, anyway?”

Darroch looked at me from hooded eyes. Eyes as cold and dead as the vampires I killed. I knew without a doubt then that twenty years ago Darroch had somehow murdered a two thousand year old Sunwalker. A Sunwalker who’d been important to Jack. Whether she’d been just a friend or more than that I didn’t know and didn’t care. It wasn’t the time for personal vendettas. It was the time for surviving and surviving meant finding out all I could about Darroch’s plans for us and the amulet.

I didn’t know why Jack hadn’t sought revenge before. I sure would have. But he’d claimed to have his reasons. Said he’d made promises. One of these days he was going to have to explain those promises.

“Well, that’s the thing, you see.” Darroch flicked an imaginary piece of lint from his pant leg before crossing one leg over the other. “I’ve been trying to access that damn amulet for years, only to discover, and this will amuse you, Jack, that I am not strong enough!” He threw his head back and laughed uproariously. “Can you imagine? Me! Not strong enough! Me, not pure enough. Me, a member of one of the most influential families in the United States of America, a descendent of nothing more than a Commoner! Can you believe the injustice of it?”