Darkness Taunts Read Free

to make sure she didn’t report it back to her parents. She’d been unsurprisingly shocked when she woke up with his bleeding wrist pressed to her mouth.
    Even in a haven like Fairbanks, sups hid their real identities. We couldn’t let the secret get out through a teenage drinking incident. I should have been paying closer attention, but parenting stuff was still new to me and I’d had to learn the lesson the hard way.
    “No more parties. It was too crowded the last time and I couldn’t keep up with all your friends.”
    “But Mel,” she whined. “There’s nothing to do around here in the winter and Nik says he’ll help you supervise. I went and asked him about it last night.”
    She’d talked to him before coming to me. Great. I rubbed my face. Today kept getting better and better.
    “You should have discussed it with me first,” I said. “And what were you doing at his house?”
    A guilty flush rose up her cheeks. “Well, I was bored. You went to get the pizza so I went over to his place for a few minutes.”
    We didn’t live close to town. I’d been gone for over an hour to pick up dinner and a few things from the store. “I told you not to go over there without me. It’s not safe with all the vamps and werewolves running around there.”
    “Most of them don’t know what I am and they all like me anyway. It’s you they aren’t so hot about.” She frowned. It bothered her that they didn’t accept me, but I tried to keep that problem from her as much as I could—today being a good example.
    “The point is you’re not having a party,” I said.
    Better to get her back to the original topic before this conversation degenerated. I braced myself when her eyes turned pleading again.
    “Come on, Mel. It will be fine this time. I promise.”
    “No.” I shook my head. “With my luck, it’ll be even worse than the last time. Not to mention you’ve got Nik wrapped around your little finger. You’ll probably get him to look the other way for any stunts you try to pull.”
    She gave me a pouty lip. “I won’t do anything bad. Please.”
    I stared up at the ceiling and resisted the temptation to give in. She reminded me of myself at that age. I’d been orphaned and did anything I could to make myself forget the loneliness—including drinking and partying. Emily hid it well, but I knew her mother leaving her hurt. Stephanie had been a newly turned vamp, but she should have cared more.
    She didn’t even try to take her daughter away with her when we ordered her to leave the area. She took off as soon as she found out we killed her vampire-witch boss and most of her sup friends. A few got away, but we’d let Stephanie live for Emily’s sake. Since then, the teenager refused to talk about her mom no matter how much I tried to get her to open up.
    I sighed. Life hadn’t been easy for her and I didn’t like playing the bad guy. Letting her have a party so soon after the disaster with the last one would be pushing it, though. We’d have to find something else for her to do. Chick flicks and popcorn would be much safer.
    “I’m sorry, Emily.” I shook my head. “There’s not going to be a party. Maybe this summer after you’ve had more time to learn your lesson.”
    Her eyes widened. “This summer? But that’s too far away!”
    “You’ll survive. Trust me.” Why couldn’t she go to someone else’s party? At least then I wouldn’t be responsible. For some reason she didn’t like being away from home that much. Her friends always came to our place rather than the other way around.
    “Fine,” she said, giving me the kicked puppy look.
    This wouldn’t be the last of it. She’d bring the party topic up again, but at least for now I was off the hook.
    “Oh, I almost forgot.” She dropped her backpack by the counter. “I heard Nik talking on the phone about some demon problem or something going on in Juneau. He said your name too, but he got real quiet when he saw me coming.”
    I