Book 2, IMMORTALS series

Dorchester Books
Love Spell
Paranormal Romance
June 2007
ISBN 0505527022
ISBN13 978-0505527028

Order IMMORTALS: THE DARKENING

Created at the dawn of time to protect humanity, the ancient warriors have been nearly forgotten, though magic lives on--in vampires, werewolves, the Celtic Sidhe, and other beings. But now one of their own has turned rogue, and the world is again in desperate need of the IMMORTALS.

A werewolf and bounty hunter, Lexi was badass to the bone. She had no problem protecting herself in the seedy underground vampire clubs of New York City. Until the Immortal she had tried to summon actually appeared. It wasn't the intricate tattoos around his well-defined muscles that intimidated her; it was the raw power she saw shimmering in his golden brown eyes, power mingled with lust. Though she longed to give in to the passion and pleasure he promised, they first had a curse to break, a brother to find, and a whole legion of vampires to prevent from joining ...THE DARKENING.

 

REVIEWS

♥♥♥♥ "In book two of this spine-tingling series, Popp demonstrates her deft characterization and plotting ability as she propels the story forward while enriching the romance. Make a place on your keeper shelf for this outstanding series!" - Romantice Times BOOKreviews

"...a fast-paced read with an intriguing story that pulls the reader in from the very beginning. Popp adds her own brand of action, moving the story along and creating an exciting story that leaves the reader wanting more." - Tracy, Paranormal Romance Writers

 

EXCERPT

Chapter 1

The blaring noise of the alarm roused Lexi Corvin from a deep slumber and she awoke feeling drugged and irritable. She wanted to rip the offending piece of electronics from the wall and toss it through the window of her fifth story apartment, but knew she couldn’t afford to keep buying new clocks – or replacing window panes. So, instead, with great restraint, she merely slammed her hand down on the snooze button to quiet the obnoxious noise.

Resisting the urge to go back to sleep, she cracked open her eyes and found herself squinting against the bright sunlight slipping through the curtains, giving the room a disgustingly cheery warmth that was at complete odds with her mood.

The week before a full moon was always hard on werewolves. It was the time when their animal side grew stronger and preservation of the species was guiding instinct both in terms of protection and reproduction. Translated into human terms, it meant she was bitchy and horny.

If she was still living in upstate New York with her pack, she would simply shift to wolf form and spend the next week hunting prey and frolicking with the available males. That wasn’t really an option anymore, now that she lived in the city. She had bills to pay; food to buy. That took money and people who took off a week or two each month to be a “wolf” didn’t hold jobs very long. That’s why she’d done the next best thing and found a job that particularly suited her. Bounty hunter.

Shoving back the covers, she dragged herself out of bed and stood up. She took a couple of minutes to stretch, trying to loosen muscles that had become tight and sore after chasing down four skips the day before. Crime was up which meant business was good.

Crossing the bedroom to the TV, she turned it on and flipped through the channels until she found the news. Lately, it was more depressing than ever. The world – or at least her little corner of the Big Apple – was going to hell in the proverbial hand basket. Last night, alone, there’d been another gang fight in Central Park, leaving five teenagers dead and another three seriously injured. In Murray Park, where the city’s most upstanding citizens lived, a fourteen-year-old boy had gone berserk and shot his parents and younger sister before turning the gun on himself. On the opposite side of the island, another man had stabbed his girlfriend multiple times following an argument, killing both her and their unborn child. Five more people were mysteriously missing – making a total of twenty-three in the last four weeks – and the police had no more clue now about how the different people were related or what had happened to them than they did after the first disappearances. The number of random street muggings was up, as were the number of rapes, and the police were advising everyone to stay inside after dark – much to the annoyance of the local night club owners who were fighting back by offering nightly specials.

Lexi flipped the station and watched a reporter standing outside the mayor’s office giving an update on the rumor that the city officials were debating on whether or not to call in the National Guard to patrol the streets both day and night. Lexi shook her head and turned to yet another channel, this time finding a TV evangelist asking his congregation to petition their government for stricter Conversion Laws because he felt the number of vampires in town had dramatically risen in the last six months.

She turned off the TV and walked into the bathroom. Had she really thought that by moving to the city she’d escaped the raw animal violence that came from living with the pack? It seemed that she only traded it for a new, darker kind of violence – though she couldn’t remember it being this bad five years ago. Only in the last eight to twelve months, as far as she could recall.

The same eight to twelve months that a powerful demon had been working to destroy all the living magic in the world. Lexi could practically hear her friend Heather’s voice in her head.

She stood in front of the mirror and gazed at her reflection. The light grey eyes staring back at her looked tired. She’d let Heather talk her into going to a Coven of Light meeting last night and had stayed up too late, listening to the witches discuss possible strategies for dealing with what they perceived to be a dire problem.

Like Lexi, Heather was a witch, but while Lexi preferred to operate on her own, Heather belonged to the coven and they believed that the growing problems witnessed on the news, not just locally but around the world, were the work of a powerful demon.

Lexi didn’t know who this all-powerful demon was and frankly, she found it hard to believe the coven’s predictions of doom and gloom if the Big Bad wasn’t stopped. Like most magical creatures, she’d learned the basic laws of physics at an early age. The world was comprised of two types of magic: living and death. The natural state was for both magics to exist in balance. Should there be an increase in one, then the world found a way to compensate by producing an increase in the other until they were once again in balance. The Coven of Light witches were convinced, however, that Big Bad was going to act so quickly, the world would not have a chance to restore the balance and would thus be destroyed – in the most literal sense. The world would cease to exist.

It had been weeks ago when Heather had first told her about the demon and Amber Silverthorne, a witch in Seattle. Amber had actually had an encounter with the Big Bad while investigating the recent murder of her sister. She’d almost died, too, but then one of the Immortals had suddenly appeared to protect her.

It was at that point in the story that Lexi had almost walked out on her friend. Was she supposed to believe the Immortal’s existed? Please. Demons. Immortals. Myths and legends.

She picked up a brush and started working the tangles from her long black hair.

The legend went that when the world was new, five aspects of the Mother Goddess had taken human lovers and born five immortal sons. Each with near god-like powers of his own, these Immortals protected Earth and the fledgling race of humans from the powers of dark magic, which sought to destroy them. As the human race matured and learned to fend for themselves, however, there was less need for the Immortals’ protection and they were Called into service fewer and fewer times until finally, some time during the Middle Ages, they stopped being Called altogether.

Yet, when she had scoffed, Heather had insisted she was telling the truth and in the entire time Lexi had known Heather, the woman had never lied to her. This made her story harder to dismiss and so Lexi had stayed and listened to the rest of it.

According to Heather, Adrian, the Immortal, and Amber had worked together to expose the demon and his plot to destroy the world, but their attempt to vanquish the demon had failed due to interference from a mostly unlikely source - Tain, the youngest Immortal. He had disappeared over seven hundred years ago and it was believed he was the unfortunate victim of powerful dark forces.

To have him suddenly reappear as the demon’s cohort was a stunning blow – and not just because of the emotional betrayal. Tain’s and the demon’s combined powers proved to be more than Adrian and the Coven of Light witches could overcome on their own. They needed help. They needed the other three Immortals and so after a desperate search to find the long-missing Calling spell, witches around the world had joined their powers together and on the Beltane, they had Called the remaining Immortals to appear. Heather had begged Lexi to participate because they needed as much living magic power as possible to make the spell work. Still not one-hundred percent convinced, Lexi had nevertheless agreed.

To her amazement, the spell had almost worked. She’d caught a brief glimpse of at least one of the other Immortals in her scrying flame. Unfortunately, the spell had also Called Tain, who appeared on the scene with the Big Bad at his side and the spell was broken before any of the other three Immortals could materialize.

Lexi put the brush down and held up her hands to look at the palms. Fire was her medium for casting spells and that night of the Calling, she'd had to hold a fireball in her hands for longer than she'd ever had to before. In the end, all she’d had to show for her effort were first degree burns across her palms and fingers. That was a week ago and the only evidence of her participation now was a slight pinkish tint to her skin where the burns had healed.

Why she’d let Heather talk her into going to a Coven meeting, she wasn’t sure except that maybe, in some small way, she thought she might be able to help. Last night’s meeting had shown her that the witches were feeling at a loss as to what to do next. In a very real sense, they’d played their Ace and lost.

But even with a Big Bad trying to take over the world, Lexi still had a job to do. Working her waist-length hair into a braid, she secured the end with a hair fastener. When she finished, she pulled off her night shirt that read “F*** You and Your Anger Management Class” and pulled on her working uniform of black leather sleeveless shirt, pants and Dockers. It wasn’t that the outfit was the most comfortable to work in, but in it, she looked tough and a lot of times, taking down a skip was as much about psychology as it was sheer speed and strength.

As she prepared to leave her apartment, she felt the prickle of pent-up magic along her arms. She’d need to visit Ricco soon to help her siphon off some of it before the build-up of magical energy killed her, not that she’d ever let it get that bad. She smiled at the thought of all the ways the dark-haired, blue-eyed vampire gang leader had helped her before. Ah, Ricco.

Ricco was the First Fang of the Bloods, the largest vampire gang in town. At just a couple inches taller than she was, with wavy dark hair, blue eyes, strong features and a well-honed body, he was the most in-demand male working the back rooms of his night club. Being a werewolf, Lexi’s first choice in sexual partner would not, normally, have been a vampire. However, there was nothing “normal” about the relationship she had with Ricco. That first night, long ago, when she’d needed his services the most, he’d shown that he could easily keep up with the vigorous appetite of a shifter and the only thing he asked for in return was a little blood. Under the circumstances, the advantages far outweighed the slight discomfort of being that close to a death magic creature.

Still, a wild night with Ricco came with a price-tag of regret and self-loathing the next morning because while she liked Ricco, she didn’t love him. He was a means to an end and she despised herself for using him. It’s just that she didn’t have a lot of options.

Heaving a sigh, she left her apartment. Stepping out of her building, she discovered a beautiful, clear May morning waiting for her, with just enough of a breeze that in the shade, one could actually catch a chill. She stood on the sidewalk, letting the sun warm her as she looked around. Hell’s Kitchen in the morning was a place unlike any other. People everywhere were hurrying about their business seemingly unaware that they were surrounded by others just like them. Unseen, the smell of fresh baked breads and pasties mingled with gas fumes from passing cars. The area had a life of it’s own and that was the reason Lexi lived here.

She started walking , listening to the chatter of people as they hurried about their business. Over the din of traffic, she heard the distant blare of a cruise ship’s horn as it pulled out of dock. At the corner, she waited for the traffic light to change before crossing to the other side where she stopped at her favorite kolache shop to grab a bite to eat. By the time she reached the office of Blackwell Bail Bonds, she was in a better mood.

"Morning, Marge," she greeted the secretary at the front desk. Then she crossed her arms across her chest and gave the petite, older woman a reproving glare. "I thought you were going to quit?”

“I quit last night, honey,” Marge said in her deep, gravelly voice. She took another drag off the remaining half-inch of her cigarette. “It worked so well, I might try it again tonight.”

Lexi shook her head. “Those things’ll kill you, you know?”

“Yeah, well, at my age, there’s not much point in giving up something I enjoy.” She exhaled a puff of smoke and coughed a couple of times. “What’s going on with you? You look like shit this morning.”

"Late night," Lexi said evasively, not bothering to elaborate when Marge raised her eyebrows. She wasn’t sure Marge would believe her if she told her a demon was trying to destroy the world. "Who are we going after today?" she asked, pulling the top case file from her in-basket. She was hoping for a difficult rundown; or maybe someone would resist her arrest so she’d have an excuse to rough them up just a little. Such things were frowned upon, but she would relish a bit of a fight just to work off her frustration – sexual and otherwise.

She opened the file and read over the case. “You’re kidding me, right?” She waved the file in the air. “This is a fucking fairy. I’m not going after him.”

Marge tsk’d at her in disapproval. “Such language.”

Lexi tossed the file back in her box and cocked her head in apology. “I’m sorry. Let me rephrase. I’m not going after that fucking leprechaun.” She looked at the other inbox and plucked out the top file resting there. “What kind of skips does TJ have?”

TJ was the other bounty hunter at Blackwell. He was a year or two older than she was and six feet of pure muscle. Behind that muscle was a keen intellect, which made him deadly for a human. Despite her werewolf abilities, Jonathon Blackwell still typically assigned the tougher cases to TJ.

She opened the file. "Maurice Gonzales. Charges of spousal abuse. Seven priors. Substance abuser.” This was more like it. She glanced at Marge over the top of the file. “I’m taking this one."

"Lexi, you know the rules. Jonathon assigns the cases and he specifically gave that one to TJ.”

“It’s not fair,” Lexi said. “The Leprechaun’s a lush. He’s probably passed out somewhere, so he’ll be easy to find, and he’s so tiny that TJ can carry him in a backpack.”

“If you don’t like the cases you’re assigned, you’ll need to take it up with Jonathon." Marge’s scratchy voice was firm as she stood up and came around the desk. Taking the file from Lexi, she set it back in TJ’s box. “All I know is that I put it in TJ’s box. Now, if you’ll excuse me." “Where are you going?”

“If you must know, that coffee went right through me. Have a good day,” she hollered over her shoulder as she headed for the bathroom in the back.

Lexi’s gaze found the coffee mug sitting on the desk, looking shiny and clean. She glanced over to the coffee machine and saw the carafe, sitting empty and dry on a hot plate Lexi would bet was cool to the touch. She smiled to herself and pulled the Leprechaun file from her inbox and placed it in TJ’s box after pulling the Gonzales case back out. Then, before Marge came back, Lexi left the office.

She walked to the nearest coffee shop and read through the specifics of the case while she drank a cup of coffee. Thumbing through the pages of the report, she familiarized herself with his address and acquaintances. Gonzales didn’t have a day job, so she decided to check his apartment first. There was always the remote chance he was there.

Closing the folder, she threw her trash away and left the coffee shop. She walked around the corner and spotted a trash dumpster. Going to the other side of it, she looked around to make sure she was hidden from casual onlookers. Seeing that she was, she held the file folder up with one hand and flicked her other hand at it. A burst of flame shot through the air and consumed the file until there was nothing.

She hadn't burned it; merely sent it back to her apartment where it would be out of her way.

Too bad she couldn't transport herself as easily, but transporting things magically was tricky; especially if you were trying to go someplace you’d never been to before.

Gonzales's apartment was only about a twenty minute walk and it felt good to burn off some excess energy. Not unsurprisingly, he lived in a building where security was nonexistent and there was nothing to stop her from going straight to his apartment.

The young woman who answered the door looked out warily. There were fresh bruises around her jaw and right eye that didn’t completely hide the discoloration of her older bruises. She looked like she didn’t weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet and Lexi wondered what kind of scum her husband was to beat her up. She was almost eager to give him a try at someone who could fight back.

“I’m looking for Maurice Gonzales," Lexi told her. “Is he in?” She tried not to appear too obvious as she looked past the woman’s shoulder into the apartment.

“Why are you looking for my husband?”

“I’m from the bail bond agency. He missed his court appearance, so I’m here to take him back to jail.”

It was hard to miss the look of surprise that crossed the wife’s face. “He won’t go. I tried to remind him the other day and...” She gave a small shrug, but Lexi didn’t need her to finish the sentence. She’d tried to remind her husband of his court date and he’d beat her up.

“I understand your concern, but I think he’ll find I can be very – persuasive.”

"He is very strong," the woman cautioned.

“Stronger than a werewolf?” Lexi asked, smiling when the woman’s eyes opened wide in surprise.

A slow tentative smile broke out across the woman’s face. “Maybe not.” She glanced behind her at the small boy playing with toys in the middle of the room before turning back to Lexi. “If you take him to jail, how long will he be there?”

“That depends on whether I think there’s a chance he’ll run again. If I do, he could be there until his new court date – which could be several weeks from now.”

“Several weeks would give me time to pack up and leave.” She stopped talking while she thought about it. “If I tell you where he is,” she said finally. “Will you call and tell me when he’s in jail?”

Lexi nodded. “I will.”

“Big John’s Ice House.”

Lexi smiled. The day was looking up. She thanked the young woman, got her phone number and then left. Big John’s wasn’t more than five blocks away, so again, she walked.

Inside, the place was more crowded than she would have liked since it was almost lunch time, but she spotted Gonzales immediately.

He was sitting at a table with several other men, playing cards. Despite the dim lighting, she saw he had stringy dark shoulder-length hair and a jagged scar across his left cheek. When he held up his cards, she saw the prison tats across his fingers.

Lexi thought about the strategy she was going to use. According to his case file, he was a little taller than her own 5'10" and he outweighed her by a good fifty pounds. She had a couple of options for taking him in - all of which would be easier if she could get him someplace by himself.

Stepping behind a floor to ceiling column, she unbuttoned the top couple of buttons of her shirt and pulled the band from her hair, letting it cascade down her back. Under the circumstances, it was the best she could do to soften her appearance.

Stepping up to the bar, she ordered a drink. As she waited, she passed her gaze over the room, making sure to linger on Gonzales until he saw her. When their eyes met, she gave him the barest hint of a smile and then kept looking around the room, making sure she looked at Gonzales at least once more before turning her attention to the drink the bartender had just handed her.

She pretended to daintily sip it, though the truth was that she had no intention of drinking anything from this place. After a minute, she rose and, throwing one last shy smile at Gonzales, walked out of the bar. Now, if she was lucky, Gonzales would take the bait and follow her out.

She walked slowly to the end of the building and stopped to wait. Just when she was about to give up and go to plan B, the door to the bar opened and Gonzales stepped out. She saw him look around and, spotting her, he gave a big smile. His teeth were heavily stained from tobacco use and she wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a dentist. She had to work hard to keep disgust from showing on her face.

As he came toward her, she eased around the corner. There was a small, gravel driveway that led to a parking area behind the building and she walked along it, hearing Gonzales’s hurried footsteps as he came after her. Briefly, she turned her attention of listening for sounds of anyone walking nearby who might potentially feel compelled to interfere.

The hand on her arm, pulling her to a stop came sooner than she expected. He must be eager, which suited her fine. The sooner she put him behind bars, the better everyone would feel. Schooling her features, she turned and gave him an innocent smile.

"Someone as pretty as you shouldn't be in this part of town by herself," he said. “Maybe I should make sure you get home safely. Or, better yet, how about you and me go someplace we can get to know one another better?" His breath hit her in the face like a wet moldy blanket, making her want to gag.

Instead, she laughed. “Not if you were the last man on Earth." It took a minute for him to figure out that she’d turned him down and when he did, he got mad. The grip on her arm grew painfully tighter as he yanked her forward. If she'd been a normal human female, she might have been in real trouble.

"Someone needs to teach you some manners."

"I know you don’t mean you. Now - Let. Go. Of. Me." She enunciated the words, wanting to make sure there was no miscommunication, but she couldn’t help adding with a mumble, “You stupid fuck.”

He stared at her for a second as if he couldn’t believe what she’d said. As the comment finally registered, she saw him get mad. About damn time. She had a full second to brace for the impact when he backhanded her.

It was still hard enough to knock her head to one side and split open her lip. As pain lanced through her, she felt the wolf in her rise. She was dangerously close to shifting, but managed to keep everything but her eyes from changing.

"What the hell...?" He sounded confused.

"Maurice Gonzales," she said quietly, dabbing the blood from her lip with a finger. "My name is Lexi Corvin and I’m a registered bail enforcement agent. You missed your court appointment and jumped bond. I'm taking you in."

He jerked back as if he'd been hit. "Fuck that." He turned and she knew he was going to run, so she grabbed at his collar and hauled him back, but he was a big man and didn't come easily.

He turned and hit at her, trying to break her grip. She hit him back, just as hard as she could. The pain shooting through her hand was nothing compared to the agony that came when his meaty fists connected with her face and stomach.

She did her best to ignore the pain and lashed out at him again, first hitting him with several quick jabs to the chest followed by a round-house kick to the side.

She may have crossed the line of ethics in luring her skip into a fight, but her sense of justice couldn’t pass up the opportunity to beat the crap out of a man who liked to hit women.

Maurice was no slouch at fighting though and Lexi knew she was going to have to tap into her lupine strength soon or she’d be the one left bleeding in the driveway. She was just gathering her energy to morph when there was a sudden explosion of light off to the side that was so bright, Lexi had to close her eyes. A shock wave rippled outward, buffeting her with so much force that she had to fight to keep her balance.

When she dared to open her eyes again, a concentration of smoke or mist was starting to disperse and in the middle of it stood the figure of a man.

He was a giant, with dark, unruly hair that fell almost to the collar of his sleeveless black duster, which hung open in front, revealing a bare, well-muscled arms and chest, both covered with tattoos. His black leather pants hugged slim hips and muscular legs – and his boots seemed to be of a style much older than any Lexi had seen.

His striking features seemed familiar to her and it was with a sudden shock that she remembered where she’d seen him before. It was during the Calling spell, when one of the Immortals had appeared briefly in her scrying flame. At the time, his face had been distorted in pain, but it was one she’d never forget. This was an Immortal.

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