Desert Flame by Nicole R. Taylor

Author:Nicole R. Taylor [Taylor, Nicole R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nicole R. Taylor
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

For the first time in his long life, Frederick Marmaduke Hardy told his entire sordid tale to the Exiles of Solace…and in the presence of one human police sergeant. He wasn’t a superhero with an origin story; he was just a pitiful man who’d had his mortality stolen from him.

“Little did I know that fun to a man like Darius was more akin to mindless slaughter. He inflicted worse than I’d seen or received at Port Arthur. Ten times worse…”

“He said you’d betrayed him,” Kyne said.

“I did.” He raised his gaze to the elemental. “I’d agreed to give him my unwavering loyalty, but in the end…I left him. It seemed I still had remnants of humanity lingering inside me after all.”

“Now I understand why you signed the shop over to me,” Eloise murmured. “When you went out there, you saw him.”

Kyne narrowed his eyes and turned his glare onto the vampire. “You signed the shop over to Eloise?”

Hardy nodded. “It needs to be a safe place. Darius won’t be able to enter.”

“He seemed to know you were here,” Kyne went on. “He wasn’t even a little surprised to see you.”

“I would’ve said something if I had known Darius had his fingers in this,” Hardy told him.

Would he have, though? His history with Darius was troubled to say the least. The vampire’s idea of teaching was to bring out all his worst qualities. Torture, blood, and pain—that’s what Darius was…and it was why he’d left.

“Who is he exactly?” Vera asked. “What’s his deal?”

“Darius is the oldest vampire to have ever walked this Earth,” Hardy replied.

“This Earth?” Eloise frowned.

“He claims he comes from another Earth, just like this one,” the vampire went on, knowing there were multiple realities existing alongside theirs. “He was the first of our kind in this world and the origin of all vampires here. He was made by another, almost two thousand years ago, by a man who was said to be the first created.”

“Created,” Vera mused, “not made. What kind of magic could create a vampire?

“It doesn’t matter if he was made or created,” Hardy said. “He’s still the oldest vampire in the world, and that makes him the most powerful. His meddling in human affairs goes back a thousand years, making him beyond influential amongst the elite of our world, and that’s without using compulsion. Darius is all the bad things about being a vampire. He’s ruthless and unfeeling, a hunter who relishes each kill.”

“That’s how he got EarthBore to follow him so easily,” Kyne said as if he hadn’t heard the last part of Hardy’s explanation.

“They’re compelled,” Drew said. “That’s what I sensed.”

Kyne turned. “Who?”

“The human workers,” the shifter replied. “Their auras had this strange taint… I reckon he’s mind controlling them all.”

“Since when can you see auras?” Finn asked with a pout.

“Since Coen has been teaching me,” Drew fired back. “When I shift, I can see more than you’ll ever know.”

“Give it a rest,” Vera scolded. “Trust you two to make this about yourselves.

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