Darkness Taunts Read Free Page A

furrowed my brows. If Nik was talking about it, there had to be something to it. He wouldn’t bother with unsubstantiated rumors.
    “You were eavesdropping on him, weren’t you?” I asked. Not that I didn’t want to know what Nik said, but I had to at least make a show of disapproval. I’d read that in one of those parenting advice guides.
    “Well, it’s not my fault if he talks loud enough for me to hear him from outside his office.”
    Uh huh. She wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t telling the whole story either. “What did he say?”
    She shrugged. “All I caught was that they might need your help to deal with it.”
    “I’m not going to Juneau,” I said. “If they come here, that’s a different story, but I’m not going out of my way to help them.”
    “That’s what I thought.” She smiled. “They shouldn’t be making you do dangerous stuff like that anyways.”
    There was a time when I loved the thrill of danger. I’d grown out of it. I had Emily to think about now and keeping up with her kept me busy enough.
    “Don’t worry. I’ll just refuse. They can’t make me do it.”

Chapter Two
     
    I needed a hot shower. The temperature had begun to drop by the time Emily and I got home. Cold weather had a way of chilling my skin and seeping into my bones until I could hardly think. With the exception of my six year stint in the army, I’d always lived in sunny California where most of the time people could wear shorts in the winter and keep their tans looking great while they were at it. Not in Alaska.
    After letting the water run long enough to get hot, I stepped into the spray. It was the one time of day I truly felt warm. For a little while I could close my eyes and let myself relax where no one could see me or bother me. No judgment or accusing glares. Just peace and quiet.
    Nik owned the house where Emily and I currently lived. He’d intended to fix it up after he bought it, but a sleep spell put on him delayed his plans. Variola, a four hundred-year-old vampire-witch hybrid, had been behind that little setback.
    After I woke him from the spell, we’d worked together against Variola. He’d been the only chance I had for getting my best friend back and he needed my help to get around the vamp-witch’s magic. Once it was over, I wasn’t allowed to leave town, but I’d been adamant about getting my own place. He’d insisted on getting a crew of his minions to do what was probably the fastest remodel in history. The house was about a quarter of a mile away from his, putting it within easy reaching distance if trouble came our way.
    I had enemies out there who wanted me dead and he took his job as protector seriously. It didn’t matter that I didn’t want his help. I’d hoped to go somewhere far from all supernaturals where Emily and I could live a normal life. Nik and his powerful friends had different ideas.
    The water from the hot shower soaked into my skin. I scrubbed away the lingering scent from the troll who’d been at the shop earlier. My poor nose would never be the same. Her ickiness was probably in my hair too.
    I grabbed the shampoo bottle. It was a fancy brand that helped keep my dark auburn hair shiny. I had to order it off the Internet because no store in town carried it. There were very few things I splurged on these days, but my bath products were among them. They would be the last thing to be sacrificed if my financial situation got worse. Starting a new life in Fairbanks had eaten away at my savings and my job at Felisha’s shop didn’t make up for it all. It would help if I didn’t insist on paying rent to Nik, but I had enough supernatural debt without having to tack on more.
    Shampoo ran into my eyes when I bunched up my hair to scrub it. I started to duck my head under to rinse when an all too familiar presence flashed in behind me. Speaking of enemies lurking out there ready to take me down—this one couldn’t decide whether to kill me or keep me alive.
    I turned