Gathering Darkness: A Paranormal Romance Collection Read online

  So it was going there. Mia’s blush got worse. The thing was about the size of a tampon, and the thought of having something medical like that inserted in broad daylight was embarrassing.

  “Seriously?” he asked with incredulity. “After last night, you’re going to blush at this?”

  Mia refused to look at him. “Just do it already,” she mumbled, plopping down and hiding her face in the pillow.

  He laughed softly and did as she requested, sliding the little device inside her sore and swollen opening. It went in easily, and Mia didn’t feel anything for a few seconds until the tingling began.

  “It feels funny,” she complained, still shielded by the pillow.

  “It’s supposed to—that means it’s working.”

  The tingling went on for a couple of minutes and then it stopped. She didn’t feel sore anymore, which was nice, although the feel of the foreign object inside her was disconcerting.

  “It should be done by now,” said Korum, reaching inside her with his long fingers and pulling out the tube. “That’s it—all finished. You can stop hiding now.”

  “Okay, thanks,” muttered Mia, still refusing to meet his eyes. “I think I’m going to shower now.”

  He laughed and kissed her exposed shoulder. “Go for it. I have some things to take care of, so I’ll be out the rest of the day. The dinner will probably be a late one, so be sure to grab a good lunch.”

  And then he walked out of the room, finally leaving Mia alone to carry out the rest of the plan.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  As soon as Korum left, Mia sprang into action, her heart pounding at the magnitude of what she was about to do.

  Before hopping into the shower, she sent a quick ‘Hi’ email to Jessie, letting her know that she would be stopping by the apartment today and asking how Jessie’s Anatomy final had gone. Hopefully, John would see the email and contact Mia quickly. It was already early afternoon; due to her complete exhaustion, Mia had slept far later than planned, and there was a lot to get done before this evening.

  Korum had thoughtfully left her a sandwich for lunch, and Mia gratefully gobbled it down before heading out the door. When he did things like that—considerate little gestures—she could almost believe that he genuinely cared about her, and she would feel an unwelcome pang of guilt at betraying his trust. Even today, after everything that happened last evening, the thought of him coming to any harm made her feel sick. It was ridiculous, of course; he would most likely be fine—and even if he wasn’t, it was his own fault for invading Earth and trying to enslave her species. Still, she would much rather see him safely deported back to Krina, so she could resume her normal life knowing that he was thousands of light years away and would never bother her again.

  Or so she told herself.

  Deep inside, some silly romantic part of her wanted to cry at the thought of never seeing Korum again—never feeling his touch or hearing his laughter, never glimpsing the dimple that so incongruously graced his left cheek. He was her enemy, but he was also her lover, and she had gotten attached to him despite everything. The pleasure that he gave her went beyond the sexual; just being with him made her feel excited and alive, and—if she ever let herself forget the exact nature of their relationship—oddly happy.

  She could not imagine having sex with someone else after experiencing Korum’s lovemaking. It would be like eating sawdust for the rest of her life after first tasting ambrosia. It made perfect sense that he would be a good lover, of course; aside from whatever special chemistry he said they had together, Korum was also thousands of years old—and had had plenty of time to learn exactly how to please a woman. How could a human man compare to that? And she didn’t even want to think about how he made her feel when he took her blood. She wasn’t sure that it was healthy, to feel a pleasure so intense, but the thought of never experiencing it again was nearly more than she could bear.

  For the first time, she wondered about the xenos she’d heard about before. The motives of these people—who supposedly advertised online with the goal of entering into sexual relations with the Krinar—had always been a mystery to her. But she wondered now if they were perhaps truly addicted . . . if they’d had a taste of paradise and knew that everything else would pale in comparison. Korum had warned that addiction was a possibility for both of them if he took her blood too frequently. Mia shuddered at the thought. That was the last thing she needed—to actually develop a physical need for him. It was enough that she would probably miss him with every fiber of her being when he was finally gone from her life; the last thing she needed was to crave some elusive high that she could only achieve with him.

  There was no other alternative for her; she had to complete the mission. Their relationship was bound to end—it was just a matter of time. Even if she were willing to put up with his autocratic nature—or if she even went so far as to accept being his charl—he would tire of her in a few short years and then she would be alone anyway, completely heartbroken and devastated at his desertion.

  No, she had to do this. There was no other way. She couldn’t have lived with herself knowing that she’d had a chance to make a real difference in the course of human history and failed to do so because of her weakness for one particular K—for someone who regarded her as nothing more than his plaything.

  Arriving at her apartment, Mia was surprised to see that John was already there. So were Jessie and Edgar, the actor her roommate had apparently started seeing.

  As soon as she walked through the door, John asked if they could speak in private. Mia nodded and led him into her room, closing the door behind her. Before the door was fully shut, Mia heard Edgar ask Jessie if her roommate was seeing John as well, but Jessie’s reply was already inaudible.

  “I think I have it,” said Mia without any preamble.

  John’s entire face lit up. “You do? That’s great! How did you manage it so quickly?” Seeing the color flooding her face, he added hastily, “Never mind, that’s not important.”

  Mia shrugged and pulled the ring off her finger. There was a little indentation left behind on her skin. She sincerely hoped that Korum was not particularly observant when it came to women’s jewelry; otherwise, he might wonder why she’d worn that ring once and never again.

  “I need you to promise me something,” Mia said slowly, still holding on to the ring.

  “What?”

  “Promise me that Korum will not be harmed in whatever you’re planning to do.”

  John hesitated, and Mia’s eyes narrowed. “Promise me, John. You owe me that much.”

  “Why? He doesn’t deserve it—”

  “It doesn’t matter what he does or does not deserve. This is my condition for helping you. Korum gets safe passage home.”

  John looked at her and then sighed heavily. “All right, Mia, if that’s what you truly want. We’ll make sure that he gets safely deported.”

  Mia nodded and handed him the ring. “So what now?” she asked. “How long do you think it will take your Keiths to do something with this information?”

  He grinned at her, looking like a kid at Christmas. “They’ll have to look at it and make sure that it’s not more complicated than they think, but if they’re right . . . we could be looking at a potential attack within days.”

  Days? That was much faster than Mia had ever thought possible.

  “Won’t it take them time to make . . . well, whatever it is that those blueprints are for?” she asked hesitantly.

  He shook his head. “No, not that much time at all. Remember what I told you about how they manufacture everything using nanotechnology—and can make things almost instantly if they have the design for it?”

  Mia vaguely recalled something like that, so she nodded.

  “Well, they will now have the blueprints, and they already have the technology to create those designs. They just need to get that technology to a safe location outside of their settlements, and then they can manufacture the necessary weapons to pen
etrate the K Center shields. Once the shields are gone, the human forces will be ready.”

  Forces?

  “Is the government in on this?” asked Mia with surprise.

  John hesitated. “Not exactly. But there are those within the government who believe that it was wrong to sign the Coexistence Treaty, to allow them to build the settlements. These individuals are sympathetic to our cause and they have the ability to bring us reinforcements. Some of these are highly placed people in the Army and the Navy, as well as within the CIA and other equivalent agencies worldwide.”

  Mia looked at him in shock. She hadn’t realized the full scope of the anti-K movement. For some reason, she’d envisioned it as being a few hundred suicidal individuals within the Resistance—or those like John, who had a personal vendetta against the Ks—helped by a few human-sympathizing aliens. But it made sense, of course, that the freedom fighters couldn’t have come as far as they did—and gained the assistance of the Keiths—if they hadn’t had at least a decent chance of success.

  “Wow,” she said softly, “so it’s really happening then? We’re kicking them off our planet?”

  John nodded with barely contained glee. “It’s happening, Mia. If the information on this ring is as good as we hope it is, we’re looking at Earth’s liberation within a week—a couple of weeks at the most.”

  That was crazy. Mia tried to imagine what would happen when the Ks learned that they were being attacked. She remembered the days of the Great Panic and shuddered.

  “John,” she said slowly, “would they really go without a big fight? You know what happened before . . . how much damage they could do even with bare hands—”

  “That’s true,” agreed John, “they could definitely fight back—and it could get very bloody for both sides. That’s why the information you got for us is so crucial. You see, if the Keiths are right, these blueprints also contain the design for one of their most advanced weapons. Once the shields are down and we let the Ks know that we have this weapon, they would be suicidal to do anything but surrender. Because if they fight, we will use it—and every K in their colonies would be turned to dust.”

  “Turned to dust? What kind of weapon can do that?” asked Mia in horrified shock.

  “It’s weaponized nanotechnology on a massive scale. It can be programmed with very specific constraints, so we could set it to only destroy Ks within a certain radius and to spare whatever humans may be in the area at the time.”

  Mia’s eyes widened, and John continued, “Of course, we still expect some Ks to try to escape from the colonies when they learn of the attack, so we’ll have our fighters stationed all around to capture and contain those—and that could get bloody. We might still end up suffering heavy casualties, but we stand a very real chance of winning here.”

  Mia swallowed, feeling nauseous at the thought of any bloodshed. Knowing that something she did led to “heavy casualties” or extermination of thousands of intelligent beings—she didn’t know how she would handle that kind of responsibility.

  But there was no choice now, not that there had ever been any for her. Ever since she’d laid eyes on Korum at the park, her fate had been decided. Her only choice had been to meekly accept being his charl or to fight back—and she had chosen to fight. And now that decision might result in the loss of many lives, both human and Krinar.

  Mia bitterly wished she’d never gone to the park that day, had never learned about what goes on in the K Centers. If she could somehow turn back the clock and go back to her regular life, knowing next to nothing about the Ks, she would gladly do so—and leave the liberation of Earth to someone better equipped to deal with it. But she knew, and that burden felt unbearably heavy right now as she looked into John’s glowing face and imagined the upcoming bloody battle.

  “Mia,” said John, apparently sensing her distress, “please don’t forget: they came to our planet, they imposed their rules on us—and killed thousands of people in the process, until we had no choice but to give in. Do you remember how it was during the Great Panic?”

  Mia nodded, thinking of the terrifying chaos and bloody street fights of those dark months.

  Satisfied, John continued, “I know that your only exposure to them has been through Korum, and he has probably treated you nicely so far . . . because he thinks of you as his current favorite pet. But they’re not nice at all. They’re predators by nature. They evolved as parasites, as vampires, sustaining themselves by consuming the blood of other species. In fact, they developed humans for that purpose—to satisfy their own perverse urges with us—”

  That wasn’t exactly what Korum had told her, but she didn’t feel like arguing that point right now.

  “—and they have no regard for our rights. Most of them view us as inferior, and they would not hesitate to enslave us completely if it suited their purposes.”

  “I know,” said Mia, rubbing her temples to get rid of the tension. “I know all of that—that’s why I’m helping you, John. I just really wish there was another way . . . some way we could just make them go away without spilling any blood.”

  “I wish there was too,” said John, sighing heavily. “But there isn’t. They invaded our planet with force—and now we take it back from them in the same way. And if some lives have to be lost in the process—well, we just have to hope that not too many of them are on our side. It’s war, Mia—the real War of the Worlds.”

  John left, and Mia sat down on her bed to digest everything.

  How had she—a regular college student—managed to get involved in a war? Spying was something she’d always associated with glamorous secret agents, men and women who’ve had extensive training in everything from martial arts to defusing a bomb. A psychology major from NYU just didn’t fit the bill. Yet here she was, supposedly aiding the Resistance in their most important fight against the Ks.

  A terrifying thought occurred to her. Once Korum knew what was happening—that their settlements were being attacked—would he realize that she was the one responsible? Would he make the connection between his carefully guarded blueprints being stolen and the human girl he slept with every night? Because if he did—and he was still in New York at the time—then her days were likely numbered as well.

  A tentative knock on her door interrupted her dark musings.

  “Yes, come in!” she called out, relieved to have a distraction from that line of thinking.

  To her surprise and dismay, it was not Jessie. Instead, Peter stood in her bedroom doorway, his wavy blond hair and blue eyes looking even more angelic in the bright light of the day. There were still black and blue marks on his throat.

  “Peter!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to see you,” he said. “Your roommate told Edgar that you would be home today, and I just wanted to make sure you were all right after what happened that night—”

  “Oh gosh, Peter, that’s really nice of you,” said Mia, desperately trying to think of the quickest way to get rid of him. She couldn’t imagine that Korum would be pleased to know that Peter was anywhere near her right now, much less in her bedroom. He probably wouldn’t find out, but she didn’t want to chance it. It was enough that she had almost gotten him killed in that club.

  Peter was looking at her with a concerned expression. “What happened that night, Mia? Did that monster hurt you in any way?”

  “No, of course not,” she tried to reassure him. “He just got jealous—I never expected him to react like that, believe me. I’m really sorry about everything that happened. I should’ve never danced with you that night. You got hurt because of me—”

  He waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not a big deal. I was once beaten up in high school because the head quarterback thought I was flirting with his girlfriend. Believe me, this was nothing in comparison.” And he grinned at her, his smile utterly infectious.

  Mia smiled back a little. It was good to hear that he didn’t hold a grudge against her. But he still needed
to go away for his own safety.

  “Listen, Peter, thanks for checking up on me,” she said. “That was really sweet of you. But we now know that my boyfriend is not too keen on our friendship—and it’s really for the best if he doesn’t find out you were here—”

  “Mia,” said Peter seriously, his smile completely gone, “are you really dating that creature? I just never pictured you as a xeno—”

  “I’m not!”

  “You’re not a Krinarian, are you?”

  “Of course not! I’m not religious at all!”

  “Then why are you seeing him?”

  Mia sighed. “Look, Peter, that’s not really any of your business. He’s my boyfriend—that’s all you need to know. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that when we first met. I was just having a fun time at a girls’ night out. I really didn’t mean to mislead you in any way—”

  “That’s bullshit,” said Peter vehemently. “A boyfriend—that’s a human guy, not some vicious alien who drags you out of the club like that.” He paused for a second and asked quietly, “Mia, is he forcing you to be with him?”

  “What? Why would you think that?” Mia stared at him, wondering what would make him ask something like that.

  He looked back at her, his brows furrowed in a frown. “You just don’t seem like the type to seek out one of these monsters.”

  “What type is that?” wondered Mia, genuinely curious to hear the answer.

  He tugged at his ear in frustration. “Well, a lot of people in the entertainment industry actually . . . models, actresses, singers—they get bored and look for something to spice up their lives . . . They’re shallow, and many of them are stupid—all they see are the pretty faces and not the evil underneath—”

  “Evil underneath?” asked Mia, surprised that he felt so strongly about the Krinar. Prior to her own close encounters with Korum, she’d had zero exposure to the invaders and no real opinion about them. Maybe Peter was religious himself and believed the claim that the Ks were demons?