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  Immortal Destiny

  Born to Darkness

  By

  Lorraine Kennedy

  Copyright March 2011

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

  Other Titles by Lorraine Kennedy

  Twilight Hunters Series

  Book 1 -Vampires 101

  Skinwalkers Trilogy

  Book 1 – Bad Moon Rising

  Immortal Destiny Series

  Book 1 - Born to Darkness

  Book 2 - Night Breed

  Book 3 -Wolves and Black Roses

  Book 4 -Tears of the Vampire

  Realm of the Wolf Series

  Book 1 - Wolf Dance

  Book 2 - Moon Calling

  Novellas

  The Pirate’s Dark Revenge

  Soul Eater

  Song of the Annunaki

  Phantom Rider

  Short Stories

  Tahitian Magic

  Mabasa’s Fire

  Seducing the Wolf

  Indian Outlaw

  Chapter One

  Through the haze of smoke, Nicole looked at the man that she had been sent to find. Beneath the red and blue lights of the stage, he appeared ethereal, almost dreamlike. His fingers played across the strings of the guitar so fast that her eyes could not detect movement.

  The music vibrated through the room. To listen to it was to be pulled into a world of enchantment, where reality blended with fantasy. Nicole felt her heart beating faster as the notes he played filled the small nightclub.

  Until that moment he had been looking down as he played, but abruptly he lifted his head to peer out at the crowd. His gaze came to rest on Nicole. His icy-blue eyes locked with hers. As he stared at her, he seemed to look right into her soul. His dark hair fell in waves around his shoulders - glistening beneath the glare of the lights.

  His black clothing hugged his muscular frame, leaving little to the imagination. Not that Nicole would let her imagination get away with her. After all, she was here on business. Even as his gaze drew her in and she felt the first prickles of pain behind her eyes, she had to keep reminding herself what Ethan had told her.

  Don’t look into his eyes!

  Those were his exact words, and precisely what she’d made the mistake of doing.

  He stepped up to the microphone, and his deep - smooth voice vibrated in her ears. He sang of passions, darkness and unfulfilled hunger.

  Her mouth went dry and she began to shake. She lifted her drink to her lips. Nicole now knew why the infamous Alec Norwood could make women lose their minds.

  She hadn’t believed it for a moment. Sure she’d heard of him. Who hadn’t? He was quickly turning the local rock scene on its head. His dark music was like nectar to the troubled soul, and his looks were enough to send a woman’s common sense right out the window.

  But you’re not another one of his groupies. You’re here for a reason!

  Nicole wouldn’t let herself be put under Alec Norwood’s spell. She struggled to focus on the task at hand.

  The rest of the members of Necro were just as dark as he was. The music was perfect, not one of them missing a note or a beat. When the song ended, they went into a slow - haunting melody. Nicole felt the music come over her like a soothing warm blanket.

  She suddenly felt tired, as if she’d been drugged. Getting up from the table, she made her way through the crowd toward the ladies room. Maybe if she could splash some cold water on her face she’d feel better.

  * * * *

  Alec watched the woman rush away from her table near the stage. She had a strong mind that was able to withstand his probing. He had felt her scrutiny while she watched him, but he had been unable to read her thoughts.

  There was something about the woman that pulled at him - stirring feelings that he had not felt in centuries. It was as if he knew her, or had known her in another form - another time.

  She was attractive. Dark but innocent, and nothing like the women that followed him around every night. Those women were exotic and beautiful, but their spirits were tarnished. He felt darkness in this woman, but a different kind of darkness. It was the type of darkness that can grow out of despair.

  Unlike the rest of the crowd, she was dressed plainly. She wore her dark hair in a simple - down to earth style. The casual jeans and white blouse she was wearing, looked great on her. The woman was dressed nice, but it was obvious that she hadn’t come to Dark Wind to impress anyone.

  As simple as her appearance was, it was her eyes that drew him in. Her dark brown eyes were warm - like the sunshine. It was as if she’d captured the sun in her eyes and brought it with her wherever she went.

  The warmth of the sun was something that he had not experienced for a long time. To look up and see the essence of that eternal light in her was as stimulating as the scent of the blood that ran through her veins.

  She was here specifically to see him, but not for the same reason the rest of the women in the little nightclub. What could a girl like her want with someone like him?

  When the song ended, he glanced at the other members of the band. “I’m going to take a break,” he told them.

  They stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. Why would someone with a vampire’s endurance need a break?

  * * * *

  Feeling better, Nicole left the women’s restroom. She did not notice the figure that lurked in the shadows until it was too late. A hand snaked out from the darkness to grab her. Startled, she let out a yelp.

  “Let’s take a walk,” he told her as he led her through the crowd and toward the exit.

  At first Nicole was too startled to object. By the time she recovered, she was already outside. It was dark - too dark for Nicole to feel comfortable with someone she didn’t know. The moon was not quite half full so there was not much light. There was a small blue neon sign above the door that depicted a bat with outspread wings, and a single light in the little parking lot.

  “Who are you?” he asked, wasting no time getting to the point.

  So he had noticed her watching him and wanted to know why.

  “Someone sent me here to give you a message,” she told him, fighting the urge to look into his eyes.

  She’d found out just how hypnotizing his eyes could be and she sure didn’t want to take the chance of coming under his spell. Not while they were alone, and not while she was vulnerable.

  “Now you have my undivided attention,” he told Nicole, stepping a little closer and taking her hand in his. “You’ve had my attention since I first set eyes on you.”

  His sweet - spicy scent was distracting. Suddenly her head filled with images of tangled - slippery bodies, moving together in the most erotic of dances. Nicole shook the thought from her head, wondering where it had come from.

  “Ethan Lamont said to tell you that it is urgent he sees you as soon as possible,” she explained, her voice cracking from nervousness.

  Nicole was startled by the hard glint in Alec Norwood’s eyes. “I told him never to contact me again.” Though his voice was barely a whisper, he radiated danger.

  She instinctively took a step back. “I’m just the messenger.”

  Abruptly his demeanor changed and he smiled. “And a very attractive one.”

  Nicole smiled but said nothing. Determined that she would not fall allover herself for him like so many other women did.

  Alec stepped closer, backing her up against the white - cinderblock wall. He was less than an inch away, his lips close to her face. “Who are you?” he asked in a low voice.

  Nicole resented the intrusion into her personal space. He was t
oo close. Her heart was beating so fast that she thought it would burst from fear, and from the sheer exhilaration of being so near him.

  “My name is Nicole. I work for Ethan,” she said. Her voice betrayed nothing that she was feeling.

  Alec leaned in even closer - his lips almost touching hers. “Do you like being close to me Nicole?”

  Nicole brought up her hands and pushed him away. “You’re too close,” she told him.

  “But isn’t this what you want … what you have been thinking about since you sat down to watch me?”

  The amusement in his voice was even more irritating than his boldness. “You flatter yourself.”

  Alec cocked his head to one side. “Is that so?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell Ethan that I will meet him in our usual place … in two days.” He bowed mockingly to her and then turned to leave, but stopped and looked back at her. “Don’t hang around out here. It can be very dangerous after dark.”

  Then he was gone.

  Nicole continued to stare after him, long after he had gone inside. What did he mean by dangerous? Ethan had told her that the people Alec hung with were not the type that she’d want to get to know, but he didn’t exactly say they were dangerous. He’d only told her that it was not a good idea to be at the Dark Wind any longer than was necessary. When she’d tried to get more information out of him, he’d been very evasive.

  Something just wasn’t right with all of this.

  Something just wasn’t right with Alec Norwood. He was probably the most magnetic - alluring man that she’d ever met, but it was more than that. As soon as she found herself alone with him, she’d felt like a 12-year old that had just been left alone with her first crush. But the feeling was far more powerful than that. You would have to times that feeling by a thousand to come close to what Alec Norwood had made her feel when he stepped close to her.

  * * * *

  Ethan pulled the car to the curb and switched the ignition off. In the fading light of dusk, the Lafayette Cemetery appeared even more eerie than usual.

  Confused, Nicole looked over at her boss. “I thought we were supposed to meet Alec Norwood?”

  Ethan leaned over to open the dash box. Reaching inside, he pulled out a flashlight. “We are meeting him. This is where he likes to meet so that no one will know about it,” he informed her.

  Nicole shook her head. “I’m lost. Why can’t anyone know?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough. If I were to tell you right now, you’d never believe me.” Ethan gave her a secretive smile and handed her the flashlight. “Don’t turn this on unless I tell you to.”

  Ethan got out of the car and Nicole followed him, wondering what kind of mess he was going to get them into this time. Working with Ethan had been an adventure. When she’d first hired on with his agency, he’d told her that she’d be doing detective work, but not like anything she’d ever seen before.

  Nicole figured that she’d be doing some type of mundane office work, filing papers or something. Why would he hire her for anything else? It wasn’t like she was a real detective or anything.

  Before working for Ethan, she’d worked at the mini mart down the street from her apartment. One night she’d been working late and Ethan had come in the store to pay for his fuel. While she was ringing up his purchase, a masked gunman entered the store and demanded that she open the register.

  The first thing that had come to mind was not that her life was in danger, but that her job might be in danger. If she lost her job, she’d have no money to pay rent, and she’d be out on the street. Instead of opening the cash register, she grabbed the baseball bat that she kept hidden beneath the counter. Then she swung it at the guy.

  The man lost his grip on the gun and it fell to the ground. This gave Ethan enough time to tackle and subdue the guy. It had been a close call, and a stupid move, as Ethan had informed her, but that was the beginning of her working relationship with Ethan.

  Impressed by her bravery, Ethan had offered her a job working with him at his P.I agency. Nicole didn’t know a thing about investigative work, but the pay was immensely better so she took him up on his offer.

  It didn’t take long to realize that Ethan wasn’t your average - everyday P.I. For one thing he seemed to work closely with the police and was always very secretive about those cases. And then there was that first case that he’d trusted her to work on. They had to track down a psychic that was getting into people’s heads and stealing their financial information. That case had really boggled her mind, but it was the first taste that she’d had of what it was that Ethan actually did.

  “Nicole!” Ethan called to her.

  She looked up to see that Ethan was already well ahead of her. Nicole didn’t like the idea of walking through a city of the dead alone, so she quickened her step and fell in behind her boss. With short dark hair and wire-rimmed glasses, Ethan looked like someone that should have been in a cubicle, instead of traipsing around a cemetery at night. But as Nicole had quickly discovered while working with Ethan, looks could be deceiving.

  Ethan stopped in front of a large tomb. The carvings on the tomb were intricate and beautiful, attesting to the status of whoever rested within. On top of the tomb was an angel, her wings and arms spread to welcome the deceased to the afterlife.

  Nicole suddenly felt chilled, despite the warmth of the evening. She was alarmed when Ethan pulled open the door to the tomb.

  “What are you doing?” she gasped.

  He motioned for her to follow. A nearby streetlight illuminated the interior of the tomb enough to make out shadows. She was startled when she felt movement nearby, and she reached out to grab Ethan.

  Ethan chuckled. “Go ahead and switch on the flashlight now.”

  In the middle of the large tomb was a concrete crypt that was used to hold a coffin. Alec was sitting on top of it. Her first thought was that she was glad there was a heavy cement cover on the crypt so that she would not have to see the coffin inside. Her next thought was how strange and exotic Alec appeared. It was as if he existed apart from everyone around him. Like he was some type of dark god.

  His fascinating eyes fell on Nicole, and again she felt herself drowning in those icy blue pools.

  The spell was broken when he turned his attention to Ethan. “Well … if it isn’t the one that is out to save the creatures of the night?” Alec dripped sarcasm.

  Ethan smiled. “It’s good to see you again Alec.”

  “What was so important that you had to contact me, regardless of the fact that I told you to never do that?”

  The smile vanished from Ethan’s face. “There has been a murder in the Quarter. A tourist was found with his throat ripped out. They’ve managed to keep it out of the news so far … but this killing has vampire written all over it.”

  Nicole turned sharply to face Ethan. She wondered if he had indeed lost his mind.

  “And you want what from me?” Alec asked him.

  “I need you to find out if it was any of your people. This can’t be happening, or you’ll have vampire hunters all over the place,” Ethan warned him.

  Alec gave them a dark smile. “You can’t seriously believe that I can do something about every wayward vampire that steps over the line?”

  “Are you both crazy?” Nicole had heard enough and decided it was time to intervene. “Vampires! Get real already! If there is some psycho killing people and thinking that he is a vampire … that’s one thing, but vampire hunters?”

  Alec laughed. “So I take it that your assistant hasn’t a clue to your real nature.”

  Nicole looked over at Ethan, again wondering if they were both mad.

  Ethan shook his head. “I haven’t gotten around to telling her yet.”

  Alec slipped off of the coffin and sauntered over to where Nicole stood near the tomb’s entrance.

  “Well let me have the honor of instructing her on the nature of true darkness.”

  Nicole backed away from him.r />
  Ethan stepped between them. “I wanted to let her down gently.”

  Nicole was getting more nervous by the minute. What the hell was she doing? She was in the Lafayette Cemetery, having some type of strange meeting in a tomb? This was a long way from ringing up doughnuts and coffee at the mini mart.

  “I think I’ll wait outside,” she murmured.

  “Not a good idea.” Alec stepped in front of the entrance to block her escape. “There are all sorts of dangers lurking around these old cemeteries after dark. Haven’t you heard the warnings to stay out of the New Orleans cemeteries at night?”

  “Ethan!” Nicole found that she was truly frightened by Alec’s strange behavior. How could he draw her in one minute, and terrify her the next?

  “Alec, I will explain the situation to her later, but right now there is something that you need to know.”

  Alec turned his attention back to Ethan. “And that is?”

  “Someone came to see me a few nights ago. He gave me some interesting information. He said that Omar has the secret to the curse … that he has always known but has kept the knowledge hidden away.”

  Alec waved his hand. “Stories … that’s all. There is no secret. We are what we are.”

  “Yes, that is the common opinion,” Ethan smiled. “But Alec … this person was of the wolves. He also said that Omar is gathering an army. He intends to make the entire world his realm.”

  This caught Alec’s attention. “Is that so? I thought that the wolves were extinct by now?”

  Nicole was listening to the exchange, feeling as if she’d stepped into a nightmare from which she could not wake.

  “He said that Omar also knows how the vampire can live in the light … without becoming ill,” Ethan explained.

  Again she heard Alec laugh. “Even if there is any truth to this, it is doubtful that we could get Omar to share this information.”

  “Omar has in his possession, an object that will prove that he has kept the truth hidden.”

  “I see.” Alec placed his arm around Ethan’s shoulder. “You are trying to entice me into joining the Light Seekers.”

  “You can get close to him … we can’t.”