Eternal Kiss of Darkness (Night Huntress World 2)

In the bedroom, Mencheres's mobile phone began to ring. She glanced over. "Do you need to get that?"

"It can wait."

He thought of the manila folder he'd given Bones. It contained all of Kira's information

- details Gorgon had gathered that Mencheres refused to look at with the notion that the less he knew about Kira, the simpler it would be to purge her from his thoughts. Now he would let nothing, not even the ring tone indicating that it was Bones calling him, interrupt him from hearing about this part of Kira's past.

"My mom contracted bacterial meningitis a little after we broke up. Before Tina and I knew it, she was just gone. We were devastated. Pete stepped up and helped with the funeral, took care of things - he was amazing. He apologized for everything before, said he'd realized his mistakes and even wanted to marry me. I wasn't sure, but . . . the Department of Children and Families was sniffing around Tina. She was just sixteen, my dad wasn't her dad, and her real father didn't want her. If I married Pete, Tina would have what they considered a 'stable home environment,' and she wouldn't go into foster care.

So even though I'd just turned nineteen and I still had doubts, I married him." She paused to give Mencheres a dry smile. "As you can imagine, Pete had not miraculously changed. His possessiveness grew worse. Soon I had no friends, college was put off, and the only family I saw was Tina because she lived with us. I was miserable, but I decided to wait it out until Tina turned eighteen before I left him. I think Pete suspected what I intended. His fits of anger got worse, and he started beating me." Mencheres said nothing, but in his mind, he was already ordering Gorgon to duplicate the information he'd gathered about Kira so he could find this Pete and kill him. Yes, he knew the sort. No, they never changed.

"I tried to hide the bruises from Tina because she was already dealing with enough hell from her disease. Then one day, when I was cleaning in the attic, I found a few bags of white powder and a pile of money stuffed in a box. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Pete was doing. I called his partner, hoping he'd step in, but that was a mistake.

Pete denied it, said I was crazy, his partner buried the information, and Pete beat me unconscious. Threatened to kill me if I ever breathed a word about the money or drugs to anyone again. Strange people started showing up at the house at all hours after that. I knew Pete was dealing or worse, and it scared the hell out of me because of Tina. I had to try and get help again, no matter what he'd threatened me with. There was an old cop, Mack Davis, who I'd met at my wedding. Pete said he was with Internal Affairs. So I went to see him."

Her voice changed from the flat, emotionless tone she'd used in her retelling to something softer and richer. That alone told Mencheres that Mack Davis had not failed her.

"Mack believed me. Set up a sting on his own to catch Pete because he knew that with the long line of cops in Pete's family, someone would probably tip Pete off if Mack went through normal channels. Inside of a month, Mack had all the proof he needed from video, recordings, and things I gave him to go straight to the DA. Pete and a couple other officers involved were arrested for running drugs. I was one of the star witnesses at Pete's trial. The judge locked him up for thirty years, but Pete was killed in prison within a year of his incarceration."

Kira paused to look straight into Mencheres's eyes. "I knew how former cops were treated by inmates when I testified against him. I even knew, deep down when I first went to see Mack, that it would result in Pete's death. But though a part of me still loved him, I did it anyway. Pete's family calls me a murderer, but I didn't kill him. He chose his actions, and that sealed his fate. I regret his death, but I don't regret saving myself and my sister."

She glanced away then with a self-deprecating shrug. "After I saw how one good cop like Mack could reverse the damage so many bad ones had caused, I went to college, got a degree in criminal justice, and went through police academy. Aced it, too, but despite getting my certification in law enforcement, no police agency would hire me.

Some of Pete and the other cops' friends blackballed me. So instead of being a police officer, Mack got me a job to train as a private investigator. It's not much beyond chasing cheating spouses and a ton of paperwork now, but it has potential later for making a difference in people's lives. Mack died a year ago. His credo was to save one life, every chance he got. He ended up saving a hell of a lot more than one, and now it's my goal to do the same."

Chapter 19

So many emotions ran through Mencheres. Satisfaction that the man who'd abused Kira was dead. Admiration for her icy bravery at such a young age. Gratitude toward the human who'd interceded for her. Anger at the policemen who'd denied Kira a job out of loyalty to those who'd disgraced the law. Above every emotion, however, was empathy.

He knew the agony she'd felt being the cause of death to someone she'd once loved, even if Kira hadn't been the actual instrument. Yes, he was all too familiar with the pain of making that choice, then having to carry it through to the bitter, bloody end. Few people would ever know how heavy a weight that was to carry.

Of all the people in the vicinity of that warehouse three weeks ago, to have Kira be the one who'd followed his voice and come through that door had to be more than coincidence. It had to be fate.

But with that looming darkness waiting for him, could Kira be fated to be the cause of his death? In so short a time, her position in his life had risen to one of great importance.

No one else in two mill ennia had been responsible for such a large change in his actions, thinking, and feelings. Cold reason was what had kept him alive throughout these many long, war-filled years, but whenever he was near Kira, reason left him. If he sought to stave off that impending dark void, his best chance was to cut Kira off from him. Those ruled by emotion instead of reason were so much easier to kill, as he well knew.

Yet, looking at Kira, he cared not about reason or death. Or his phone, which began to ring again.

Mencheres slid through the water toward her, drawn by the same inexorable compulsion that led moths to dance with flames. He'd had several lifetimes' worth of reason, cold machinations, and, ultimately, emptiness. Perhaps the moths knew what he didn't, that the joy of the flame was worth the price of destruction.

He intended to find out.

Kira's eyes darkened to a richer shade of green as he approached. He set his hands on either side of her, bracing against the ledge of the tub as he rose to his knees. Her legs brushed his chest, the water running down him soaking the ends of her dress, but she didn't draw away. Instead, her scent flared with desire as she slowly perused his body.