Dawn's First Light

Lori shrugged her ponytail free from his grip and slid her arm through the strap of her dress, tugging it in place. She did love him. His past, none of it mattered. She had so many plans for the future. And none of them meant anything, if he weren't part of them. He lay on the blanket with his eyes closed. She traced the flutter of his lashes with her fingertips. She'd tamed the beast. And he purred like a kitten beside her.

It wouldn't be easy, loving Keene. But, nothing worth having ever was. Her mom might never forgive her for the choice she was about to make. Her dad wouldn't even begin to understand. So much for so long had been kept a secret from him. He didn't know the truth about the world. They'd been careful and discreet. Not even Maggie had the slightest comprehension about the secrets she was born to be part of. Lori had grown up knowing everything. But, for some reason, her mom had sheltered Maggie. Maybe, it was because of this. For the first time, Lori began to wonder, if her mom knew how hard it was to love an immortal.

Keene occupied her every thought. When she saw him, her knees shook and her heart pounded. So intense was the effect that he had on her. She'd give up everything she'd ever known to be with him. He was everything to her and she could not imagine a future without him. "She does."

Keene's heart soared. Lori had said the words and they were heavy with meaning and laced with sincerity. She loved him. He'd finally found the part of his soul that was missing. The part Roark had stolen from him. He kissed her deeply and with all his heart, sealing the unspoken vows between them with the tip of his tongue. He rolled Lori onto her back and cupped her face in his palms. It was wrong to drag her into his life. And she should hate him for being so selfish. Somehow, he'd find a way to make it right. He could not become human for her. If it were possible, he would give up eternity to spend the next fifty or sixty years with her. She could die for him. Become what he was and they could live forever, together. That decision was one he could not make for her though. All he could do was love her, holding on to the hope that something would split them apart.

He traced the apples of her cheeks with his thumbs and claimed her lips with a hungry kiss. Lori sighed into his mouth. He inhaled the breath and trapped it in his lungs. He would not take her life. But, he could lend her his strength. This between them was right. And there was nothing in the world he wanted more than to know her and be known in every way possible. She asked him for no secrets. And he'd agreed. She would see his awful past and he hoped she could look beyond it to the man that loved her more than life itself. She would know his heart and that it beat only for her. "Lori, I love you.' He didn't want a temporary bonding. He'd found his life and his heart. He wanted forever in its limited promise of their precarious future. "Be my mate. Give me everything you are and take everything I am from me."

"Keene," Lori lay on her back. The ground was hard beneath the soft grass under the soft blanket. Keene's weight pressed down on her. His length ground into her pelvis through the thin material of the dress and the dense canvas fabric of his pants. He asked her for forever. Tomorrow, she'd be twenty years old and she saw nothing beyond this moment with this man. There was so much at stake. Her life. Her future. But, all she could see was him. Everything she felt was for him. Every hope, every dream slowed down to the single breath hovering on her lips.

There would be no going back. No quick end. No ifs', ands', or buts', and no way out. And she could never conceive wanting one. Bonding was as permanent as death. And it was in his arms, kissed by his kiss that she wanted to die. "Yes."

Keene's hands worked the tender skin on her inner thighs, wandering higher to the sheer lace panties she wore. His fingers slid beneath the border and teased at her damp curls till she was quivering and panting beneath him. In his eagerness to get to her he tore them free and discarded them into a heap on the blanket. Spread wide, exposed for him with nothing but open air and trees for walls, she fumbled with his fly and eased his erection free.

Keene growled at the friction of her palm on his hard cock. He grappled with the grass beneath the blanket to keep from sliding into her and taking her right here. He would never make love to this woman fully clothed with his pants around his hips. There would never be anything between them when they came together. He eased back and began peeling away the layers of his gear. Boots. Pants. Weaponry. T-shirt. He wanted nothing but flesh on flesh contact with the woman he loved.

Lori blushed at Keene's unabashed nudity. Anyone could happen across them. One of the brothers. A hiker. Anybody. And he crouched on his knees naked as the day he was born, slipping in behind her to work the zipper down her back. "Keene, somebody could see," she whispered.

"Shh, I'd smell and hear them long before they saw us. We're alone," he whispered. The daylight around them had faded into the pale, gray haze of evening. A breeze rustled through the tops of the trees promising a cool night after the relentless heat of the day. Keene kissed a path down Lori's spine as he released her zipper and peeled the bodice down her arms. Gently, he unhooked the bra and cupped her breasts in his hands. Nipping at the tanned skin of her shoulders, he traced the pale tan lines from her bikini straps with the tip of his tongue. She tasted salty and sweet. The essence of summer sweat blended with her natural taste.

Keene's caresses were very convincing. Not that it took much work to get her past her shyness and out of her clothes. Naked in the woods with a man...with Keene...stretched out beneath him, about to make love...to him. She shuddered as a cool breeze gusted over her skin. Aching and wet, quivering with urgency, Lori stared up at him, meeting his eyes and matching the intense, hungry expression as he slid into her. Clasping his shoulders, she felt him move inside of her. Stretching and filling her, loving her past the brink to the place where nothing else existed but the two of them.

Keene felt Lori getting closer and closer to orgasm. Her tight sheath gripped him, creating the most wonderful sensation of wet friction. He suckled her breast, teasing the tip with his tongue till he extracted a cry of pleasure from her parted lips. She grappled with his shoulders, drawing him down to her chest. His fangs tingled with the need to find purchase in her tender flesh. Pumping inside of her, gripping her thighs to wrap around his hips, he buried his length to the hilt and nipped his wrist. Pressing the wound to her mouth, he struck, giving and taking of the pleasure of their joined bodies and their mingling blood.

Lori came hard and fast, bucking and thrusting against Keene as she milked the release from him. Every sensation of his body sliding in and out of her was magnified through the link forming between him. She could feel his orgasm and the pleasure she gave him rocketing through his body and the sheer joy of it brought her again. She could hear him in her head, whispering words of love to her as he drank from her and she drank from him.

Shivering from the sudden onslaught of cold in her limbs and confused by the sensory overload. From every sight, every sound, every smell, and taste amplified to the point where she could not block them, she clung to Keene. This was what it was like to be him. To be immortal. A vampire. And it was not death. It was life.

Keene held Lori and rubbed her back to soothe her as her body adjusted to the potency of his blood. He hated that the link produced such painful side effects. In a few minutes the worst of it would pass. He crooned to her, softly whispering in her ear. Easing her through the worst of it.

Lori hazarded to open her eyes, staring at Keene. There were so many things she didn't see before. A small scar grazed his chin. The dapple of gold mixed in with the silver-gray of his eyes. The way his lips curved up at the corners as he smiled. The magic of his voice and the way it calmed her. She sat naked, tracing his features in wonder. He truly was a beautiful man in so many ways. On the exterior, he was glorious. And on the inside, where he protected the inner most layers of himself, he was more human than any person she'd ever met.

She'd seen his past as it was lived through his eyes. And it was a wonder he'd survived any of it. Roark was a bastard. He'd tortured Keene to gain his compliance. And the things Keene had done, he'd done them to save lives. Yes, he'd killed. But, he was not a killer. He took no pleasure from the act. And the burden of every life he'd claimed in Roark's service weighed heavily on his soul. "I see you, Keene. And if it's even possible, I love you more now than I did before."

Keene blinked past the tears of relief gathering in the corners of his eyes. She loved him. She'd seen the worst of him and she still loved him. Lori's fingers gently swept up his tears and she brought her fingers, pressing the drops to her lips. Keene pried her fingers away from her mouth and brought them to his lips to kiss the tips. "I'll die to keep you safe. Never doubt that."

"Keene, from now on, we live and we die for each other."



Chapter 44

Roark stayed close to the fringes of the small, sleepy town. Keeping to the shadows and back streets as he tracked the girl's scent. The girl was the key to recovering the traitors. Roark lifted his nose up high in the air, drawing the essence of the town through his nostrils. In the country, there was on acrid fumes from busses and the rot of decay to confuse the trail. He wound through the quiet neighborhoods and tracked her scent to an ice cream shop. The windows were dark and vacant. The shop closed for the night. From there, finding her location was piece of cake, or rather, a scoop of fudge ripple.

Angel tottered along behind him, trying to navigate the scent. She slowed him down. But, he needed her to learn. Roark stalked through the shadows, sliding across front yards and in between houses until he found the origin of the scent. Curious about the home's inhabitants, he let himself in through a screened in side window, gently landing on his feet in what appeared to be a living room.

A female snored intently in front of the TV. Could he really be this lucky and Keene had left his plaything unattended. Drawing closer he inhaled. The scent was close, but the girl wasn't the one he was looking for. Families tended to share similar scent characteristics. The girl was a sister, perhaps. He crept up the stairs to the bedrooms and slid through an open door. And there was mom, dozing contently beneath the covers. Roark was tempted to let Angel devour the pair. But, thought the better of it. There was no need to give the game away till it was time.

Silently, he moved through the house and left the way he let himself in, through the side window. The girl wasn't in the house. Curiosity and her scent, led him to the backyard and up a flight of stairs to an above garage apartment. Yes. This was more like it. The girl's scent was strongest here. Maybe, he should knock and announce himself. But, it would be so much easier and quieter to just snatch her out of the bed. Twisting the lock, he let himself into the apartment.

Judging by the strength of Keene's scent in the apartment, the girl kept poor and unfortunate company. Keene had quite literally been in her bed. Roark made his way to the bathroom. Not bothering with the lights, with his superior vision he didn't need them anyway. He picked up a hairbrush from the counter and fondled the stray golden blonde strands stuck in its bristles. He sifted through her mail and casually tossed the unopened envelopes onto the kitchen table where they had laid untouched. He knew four key things about her; her name, her hair color, her scent, and that Keene was definitely her lover. Investigating further, he riffled through the backpack resting on the floor beside a shabby, rat tattered couch. Grinning as he found what he was looking for, he plucked the school ID from its plastic sleeve.

"What about Kayla?" Angel demanded. He said he was training her. She had no idea for what. Except maybe to stroke his ego as she blindly followed him around like a lost puppy. Keene had been here. She could smell him. The place reeked like humans and sex. Something she never would have associated with Keene. Angel picked through the cheap dime store makeup with a disgruntled huff and moved into the living room to see what held her master so enthralled.

What in the hell were they doing here in this dump? She knew Kayla's scent. She'd caught dim traces of it on the clothing Kayla had left behind. There wasn't the faintest trace of it in the air. So what? Keene got lucky. Good for him. But, what did that have to do with anything?

"Not now. In time," Roark huffed, silencing Angel with a wave of his hand. He slipped the ID into her hand and whispered, "This girl is the key to what we both want."

"Who is it?" Angel asked. The girl was young and pretty, very much Roark's taste in companions, but the key to revenge? She didn't get it. To placate her master, she studied the picture on the ID. A college student at the local vo-tech. Big whoop. Angel rolled her eyes and handed the ID back to Roark. "And?"

"The girl is Keene's lover," Roark answered impatiently. He was beginning to seriously doubt his protégé. She had the stomach for killing. But, as for the intelligence to put the simplest plot into motion, she was lacking. Greatly. He didn't have time to lead her by the hand.

"Lover?" Angel had never seen Keene show the slightest interest in females. He wasn't gay, obviously. He'd probably picked the girl up on campus, taken her home, and fucked the shit out of her. But, Keene actually take a lover? Not likely. Roark had the wrong idea. "How is this helpful?"

Roark rolled his eyes and chuckled, clucking his tongue at Angel. She hadn't noticed the female's scent clinging to Keene's clothing on the night of their reintroduction. The threat of death tended to do that to a person and too often the subtleties were lost in the adrenaline rush. "You'd be surprised what a few feminine tears can do to a man."

"You plan to kidnap her?" Angel asked in disbelief. They were far into the brotherhood's territory. And Roark planned to snatch one of the unsuspecting town's people out from under their noses. They'd be lucky if they got away with their lives.

"Yes. Now you're learning." He patted Angel on the head. "I'm going to hold her hostage and trade her life for his." As an after thought he added, "And Kayla's." Currently, he had no idea how he was going to get his hands on the girl. Keene probably had her sequestered at the compound under lock and key. But, something would present itself. It always did.

"What if he doesn't come?"

"He will. Otherwise, I'll have a new addition to my harem." Lori was young and pretty. Roark hardened at the thought of the many things he could break her. Hell, he might keep her alive out of spite, once he had Keene in his grasp and the man was finally dead. Or maybe, he'd make Keene watch him strip her humanity away bit by bit. That would be fun. No matter, he had no doubt she'd make a most amusing plaything.

Angel swallowed back the disgust rising in her throat. Roark truly was a twisted

son of a bitch. The man had it coming in spades one of these days. She just hoped she found a way to save her own skin before that day came. Angel flipped through a notebook left on the kitchen table and read the note tucked inside. Gently, she slid it between the pages and set the notebook where she'd found it. Keene really did have feelings for the girl. She was going to hate herself for whatever part she was going to play in Roark's quest for vengeance. She knew it. But, what was one human life compared to the satisfaction of exacting her revenge on Kayla. And Roark had been as good as his word, so far. "What do we do now?"

"We pay the brothers a visit."

*****

The mood on the bluffs was somber. The brothers stood at full attention, paying homage to the dead woman's memory as the last of the fire burned down to hot, glowing coals and the winds, gusting off the bluffs, carried the ashes into the sky. Lori sat on the ground, close to the boundary of the woods, wrapped in a blanket, watching her man do his duty.

She was proud of Keene, who held his duty in highest regards. He stood still as a statue. His sword held high, pointed skyward as a sign of respect. The night air was damp and chilly for this time of year. The brothers would remain in formation until the last of the ashes was lifted to the heavens by the breath of the goddess and the dying embers grew dark and cold. Lori hated funerals. Her mother would say they were a necessary part of life and as such were therapeutic. Lori tended to disagree. She hated that the woman's family would never learn of what happened to her. That she died because of a world she never knew existed. She'd never had a chance.

Roark closed in on the brothers. Angel hid in the woods, flanking the right. Prepared to take the woman captive at his signal. The unmistakable stench of wood smoke clung heavily to the ground in thick, white tendrils. Was there a party and they'd forgotten to invite him? Most likely, they were offering up the remains of Angel's last victim to their goddess. Unnecessary, but he did appreciate the brotherhood cleaning up the mess.

Angel was proving to be quite the pain in the ass. But, as long as she served her purpose, he'd allow her to live. She was the fastest vampire he'd ever seen. They'd been crawling through the underbrush when he caught her scent and came up with his plan. While the Sons were distracted with him, she'd swoop in and snatch the girl up. Simple. And if they caught her, it was better her life than his.

He rolled his eyes at the brotherhood's religious display. Really, what was the point? He'd sent many humans to meet their maker, if there were such a thing. And in all that time, he'd never so much as felt the vaguest spark of a human's soul or the presence of a deity. He supposed, that once he took command, he could use their religious beliefs to manipulate the brothers into compliance. Maybe, set up a golden calf for them to bow to instead of an invisible, cold, unfeeling, and imaginary goddess. The whole display was nothing but a waste of time. The brotherhood would be better served out on patrols, protecting the fragile humans they claimed to love from fiends like him.

Roark stepped into the clearing like he owned his place. "I hate to interrupt this little gathering. But, I believe you have something in your possession that is very dear to me." He held up his hands, indicating that he was unarmed. Faster than one could say decapitation, he was surrounded by the brothers. Their blades poised at the ready, aimed in any number of critical locations.

Dane called off his warriors. There was no way he could permit an attack on an unarmed man, even if it was on scum like Roark. "You have no business here," he growled.

"Ah but I do." Roark searched for Kayla amongst the brothers. Smart girl. A brother he recognized from the city towed her up a narrow path leading away from the clearing. She stared at him, wide eyed and trembling with fear. Stumbling over her feet, she fell to her knees and quivered in silent hysterics. "Kayla, have no fear of me. I've come to take you home where you belong. Don't you want to see your dear sister, Angel again?"

Kayla froze at the sound of her master's voice as he spoke her name. Her heart pounded in terror and her lungs froze, trapping the air inside of them. Bryce gently grabbed her under her arms and hauled her to her feet. He moved to lift her as her knees buckled. Kayla's eyes drifted from Keene to Roark and then to Bryce. Dread seized her, causing her body to shake. Their silence and the intentness of their gazes said more than words ever could. "Angel?" she gasped. "What have you done to her?"