"The Dark Stranger" © VeGirl 2014

When I wake up there is movement in the house. Vincent is no longer laying next to me and I bounce upright. Quickly I pull my jeans and shirt on while I make my way out the door. Hushed voices make me hurry a little more careful while not alerting my presence as I descend the stairs. In the kitchen Vincent is sitting with Damian.

"Good morning," Damian calls before I enter the kitchen.

I walk through the door and look out the window. "Morning? Isn't it night?"

Damian snickers. "Morning for me."

Vincent smiles and reaches his hand for me and I take it. "Good morning," he murmurs and pulls me close to give me a deep kiss that makes me blush. Vincent motion for me to sit down and I take a seat while he pours coffee in a mug and hand it to me.

I furrow my brows and look at Damian.  "How does this thing work?" I cast a worried look to the hallway so we won't be interrupted. "Can't you be out at all during daytime?"

He smiles and shrugs his brows. "If I want to keep going, I better avoid daylights."

"Or what...?"

"I go up in flames like a dry twig."

I shudder.

"So I have done my best to avoid it so far." Damian smiles at me. "And then there is the fatigue..."

"The sleep of the dead?"

Damian chuckle. "Dead as a doornail."

"Yeah you're no defender during daytime." I murmur while sipping the coffee and glancing at Vincent. Our lovemaking the night before has left a sweet ache within me and my cheeks heat up at the thought. "How are your wounds?" I ask to distract myself.

"Much better today," he says with a glance towards Damian. "How does this thing work? I'm not turning into a vampire now, am I?"

"Haven't you read Anne Rice?"

"Huh...?"

"Interview with a vampire...?" he hints.

"Oh, wasn't that the movie with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt?" I remember.

Damian snickers. "Girls and their references... Yeah that's the one."

Vincent's hand is finding its way to my thigh which he starts to caress as Damian explains how to turn somebody into a vampire. I have a little difficulty in focusing as Vincent's hand gets bolder in finding my sweet spots.

"So... as a human you have to die with vampire blood in your system and that usually passes in a day or so."

"Uh huh..."

"And then you have to feed on human blood..."

"Oh..." I am totally distracted.

Damian studies us in a scrutinizing way and I casually sip my coffee. Nothing going on here...

"So...what about the side effects...?"

"Huh...?"

He smirks evilly towards me before he turns to Vincent. "How about headache?"

"No problem, maybe it doesn't work like that on angels."

"Perhaps not..."

Silence fall while I keep sipping coffee, Vincent keeps groping me while I try to look conspicuous and Damian has a smug grin while studying us.

"What about the other side effects then...?"

"Huh...?"

"There usually is a little...how to put this...? A little better connection with the beast within..." He grins wickedly.

Vincent and I freeze.

"No, nothing like that at all."

* * *

"What are you doing up, it's the middle of the night." Laura is yawning wide as she enters the kitchen. "Have you turned the day and night totally around?"

"Yeah...I'm more of a night person..." Damian says with a twinkling glance at her and a smile that could charm the panties of anyone. "Come here."

She smiles and I can almost see her heart flutter as she walks over to him and snakes her arms around his neck from behind. Damian caresses her arms while slowly sliding the tip of his nose along her skin. It feels intimate enough for me to avert my eyes.

I turn my eyes to Vincent instead and am met with a hungry look. My entire body tingles as his eyes roam over me. I can't believe how hot his hungry eyes make me; is it because we've been parted or could it be Damian's blood.

The side-effect.

To not throw myself over him I look over at Damian and Laura and that is when I notice his eyes being dark around the edges and the whites inside his eyes has already turned a scary shade of blood-red.

My heart skips a beat and I panic as my eyes flutter towards Laura who has rolled her eyes upwards in delight. She looks like she wants him too simply do her right there.

I kick his shin and his eyes flung open immediately there is such a carnal hunger in those red eyes that I am ready to throw myself over the table and volunteer; to offer myself as either partner or dinner; I don't care which.

Slowly those eyes of his changes back to their usual dye and lose the decorative smoky eyeliner. His smile indicates that he knows exactly what I have been ready to offer. "No need to be jealous, sugar..." he murmurs smug.

I huff while pursing my lips. "Don't you think we need a plan?"

"Yes." He takes a deep content breath while caressing my cousin's arms. "What do you suggest?"

"How should I know?" I snarl frustrated. "I have no idea what we're up against?" The air starts to crackle around us and it takes some time for me to realise it is my own doing.

"First of all, there are the vamps from last night...I think my family can find them, but then there's the guys that kept Vincent shackled."

My eyes flicker towards Layla who is still standing behind Damian, now with eyes wide in horror as Damian keep talking. "What kind of creatures can hold a freaking angel prisoner for ten years?"

We all hear Layla gasp and I squint my eyes close. It has been good to keep Layla in the dark, now everything is out in the open again.

Thanks a lot!

Before Layla have got her bearings straight enough to know what she wants an answer to first, Damian gently tugs her arm to make her round the chair he is in. "Come here sexy." His voice holds a sugary lure that almost makes me want to plop down in his lap. With a grip on her chin, he tilts her face towards him, gives her a smouldering kiss before he looks deep into her eyes. "This is completely natural, and you will remember nothing of the subject." He then kisses her again and she snakes her arms around his neck.

Vincent clears his throat and I notice the fire burning in his eyes. "How long is his freaking boner gonna last?" He growls and rearranges a protruding part of himself that makes me forget about death-threats immediately.

"Is it wearing off?" Vincent snickers wickedly, definitely aware of our predicament. "Just say when if you need another hit." He holds out his wrist towards his friend who snorts.

"Vampires..."

"Yes, we're awesome, aren't we?" he croons Layla while kissing her along the jawline. She willingly tilts her head to give him access to her vulnerable throat.

"Hrm, hm.. " I harrumph. "She's my cousin; not a buffetable!"

"Yes, you're right; I should tap your vein instead. I can't wait to sink into your flesh, delicious." His voice has that allure that is almost impossible to resist. Once again I'm not sure if I want to offer my carotid artery or if I want to spread my legs for him. I growl in frustration.

"Would you stop with the innuendos?" Esme walks into the kitchen. "You're distracting me when I have to come up with a plan to save you lot."

"Sorry," I murmur and get on my feet. "Could use some fresh air, would you join me?" I am not really offering her a choice and she luckily understands and accepts the offer.

The night air is amazingly cool as we plop down in the swing on the back porch.

"As I see it," Esme starts right away. "There seems to be two threats or more; first you and Vincent has been hunted for some time now, that's nothing new. Then there's somebody that apparently was on your tail from Tucson...?"

"Yeah, Damian says they're vampires and that his "family" can take care if that." I do the air quotes very clear with my fingers. I don't really trust his type of... creature yet. And I don't see myself as a racist over that.

"Then we can strike that from our immediate danger list."

"Yeah," I exhale a heavy sigh determant to investigate him later. "What about turning the time again?"

"I can't change back the time already; it could be disastrous." The look in Esme's eyes tells me that she has tried and been forced to pay the consequences in the past.

"Can we bring them to never-never?" I hiss.

"As your nickname indicates; I'd say no." Esme raise her eyebrows in a questioning manner. "I was nearly court-martialled the last time I brought a human in there," she mutter.

Layla, we can't bring Layla then, I deduce. "But what about Damian?"

"Didn't he indicate that angelic blood reminds him of fairies?" Her brows are again raised high, this time in a challenge that wrinkles her forehead beneath her red curls.

I contemplate this for a while. "So... we need to shackle him..."

"I'm looking forward to it, sugar." Damian's voice interrupt us before he steps out on the porch and when he does, his face has a cocky expression, but his eyes has darkened. "Will it be a threesome?" He looks over at Esme with that panties-charming smile and I nearly growl.

"I don't think you can handle me, sugar-lips," Esme comments and it is as if a challenge alights in Damian's eyes immediately.

"Let's try," he whispers and I feel suddenly that I ought to walk through that door before they starts strip each other's clothes off. "Let's see who backs off first?"

The air is humming between them.

"Would you please simmer down?" I hiss. "I'm trying to save your ass, snaggletooth."

"Yes; I can step out of this equation just like this." Esme is smiling a sweet and innocent smile. "...if you don't want me."

"Who said I don't want you...?" Damian's voice once again got that sleek smooth tone of voice that made shills run along my spine in a good way.

Emotions fill my entire being and unable to stop I walk up to him and grab the sides of his shirt. "Please get with the plan," I say through clenched teeth. "Or I will jump you and then Vincent has to kill you."

A wide smile spreads on his face. He simply raise his eyebrows as if to say; really? "So what is the plan?" His eyes wander over my face as Esme tries to run the cliffnote version.

"Yes, my family is already on the rouges case; they will be answering the court. You say you have hunters on your back?" He breaks the eyelock and turns to Esme with interest now. "What if I call in my family?"

"It makes you sound as if it is the mafia."

He chuckled darkly. "Oh, this is much worse."

I rolled my eyes.

"What I still haven't figured out is who is powerful enough to hold an angel trapped for ten years like in Tucson." He has furrowed brows. "Some angelic guards or... what?"

Esme looks like she has been bitch-slapped. "Oh... what if it is some witch or warlock?" Her eyes is wide open. "If it is, we gotta get out of here, and I mean this second!"

"Where to?" Damian asks.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Have you heard of vampires more than in books and movies?"

Esme knits her brows in a tight line as Damian steps closer to her. "You haven't because we don't kiss and tell," he whispers.

.