Darkness Calls
Falling Prey to Passion FBI agent Diana Reyes knew too much about the darkness of the human soul.She had spiraled into that underworld once before–and vowed never to fall again. Until she met him. Powerful, dangerous and the key to catching a psychotic killer, Ryder Latimer was everything she couldn't have–and everything she wanted.He haunted her nights, shattered her reserve and made her feel…more than she ever had before. But once she learned his secret, would his sensual promises of eternal love be enough to garner her forgiveness? For Ryder was more than a lover of the night…he was a vampire.
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Darkness Calls
Caridad Piñeiro
To Samanthaâ
Thank you for understanding about Momâs quirks
and time away to write, for your support in everything I do, and for all the love that you give me. You are the best, and I am very, very proud of you!
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 1
His was a life filled only with empty dreams, if one could call those fleeting thoughts in a vampireâs sleepless nights dreams. His existence was without end and ruled by a loneliness that made each day harder to bear than the one before.
High above the crowd, Ryder Latimer smelled the sting of the alcohol as the humans drank and spilled it in copious amounts in their search for oblivion or nirvana. Acrid smoke from cigarettes floated high into the air, and in that hazy cloud were the underlying tones of sweat. Sweat laced with lust, he thought, sniffing the air and detecting the ripe pheromone the humans exuded as they played their pitiful mating rituals.
Scents, he had discovered, were important to a vampire. Musks and other aromas literally brought out the beast in him. He normally avoided the smells, but it was tough to do in a crowd as large as this.
This far up, the sounds of the band and the crowd were garbled. Indistinct. A low buzz, like static, and a heavy thumping vibration from the bass of the music. An insistent lub-dub lub-dub, like the beat of a heart.
Ryder closed his eyes, placed his hands on the metal railing of the catwalk and the vibrations traveled up his arms. He took a deep breath, absorbing the smells. Soaking everything up as if by doing so he could restore a small part of the life he had lost when a strange turn of events during the Civil War had condemned him to this solitary life. It was a fleeting moment, the human scents and sounds racing through him, enervating him as he stood near the ceiling of the club.
In no time, however, Ryder was back to normal, watching like a disinterested deity, bored by the repetition of the activity below. Every night the same scene was replayed. Until tonight.
He had discovered in this morningâs paper that there was some killing going on in that mob of humans. The murderer had struck last week and then a few nights ago. Maybe he would hunt another soon, Ryder thought, glancing down and wondering who might be the next one to be taken. Who might become another trophy for the psycho stalking his club. The papers hadnât mentioned The Lair, but Ryder had no doubt it was here that the hunt was on.
Ryder had sensed something different in the last few weeks, that unique smell of bloodlust that had made him wonder if another of his kind had come to feed. A club like this would be an excellent place to select a victim and then cull them from the herd.
He looked down once more and he saw her, standing at the edge of the crowd, searching for someone.
It wasnât possible, he thought as he hurried along the catwalk, keeping the apparition in sight. For nearly a century sheâd been in his dreams. Or maybe it was better to describe them as his restless nocturnal musings.
Regardless, Ryder had stopped questioning why the spirit came to him. Sometimes she arrived at times of unrest, the visions she brought portents of things to come. At other times, when the monotony and uncertainty of his existence made him question why to go on, sheâd come to soothe his soul and give him the peace he was unable to find elsewhere.
But tonight, she was no longer just an apparitionâor was his loneliness deluding him?
He struggled to get a glimpse of her face, but even with his vampire night sight, he still couldnât be certain his imagination wasnât getting the best of him.
After all, for more than a century, he had been virtually alone with only a human keeper and his apparition to comfort him. Maybe that was why his mind and eyes were playing games with him tonight. It was just a trick, Ryder told himself, and yet he stood, poised on the edge of the catwalk. Watching. Waiting. Hoping.
The loud, driving beat of the bass pulsed through Diana Reyesâs body, the vibrations pulling at something deep inside her. On stage, a guitarist thrashed around, his arm wildly circling as he strummed chords in sync to the pounding of the band behind him. A spotlight focused on him, picking up the gleam of sweat on his lean torso and the dark, swirling artwork on his upper right arm and shoulders. With a final jump and strum, the song ended, but the band quickly launched into another, its rhythm and violence not much different from the first.
Diana withstood the assault on her eardrums, watching from the periphery of the large crowd. There was a crush of bodies trying to make their way deeper into the space. Beyond them, other patrons lounged at tables along the border of a dance floor that was so packed she wondered how anybody could move to the music.
