Dark Flames . Amy Blankenship

him. He could feel the malevolent energy in the air but ignored it for the time being. It was daylight and that alone was enough to make the most wicked of things hide and bide their time until the dark of night gave them back their freedom. Scrappy stopped occasionally to growl at something before trotting back after Michael.

      It wasn’t long before Michael realized where he was going and was soon standing in front of Night Light. He could feel Micah’s energy inside the building along with another that he was very familiar with. A bright smile lit up his face as he strode up to the doors and pushed them open.

      Once again Scrappy ran on ahead of him and right out onto the dance floor where Micah and Alicia were going through what looked like a knockdown, drag out brawl between the two of them.

      “Is this a private sibling rivalry, or can anyone join in?” Michael asked.

      Micah and Alicia stopped in mid-step and looked over at Michael. Alicia released a loud squeal and ran full tilt at Michael, hopping up on him to wrap her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, nearly toppling the vampire over.

      “She conned me into teaching her how to fight,” Micah explained, though silently he knew Alicia could wipe the floor with him if she tried harder. He cocked an eyebrow at the way Alicia had wrapped herself around Michael. Someone was going to have to explain to his sister that she wasn’t five anymore and doing that to a grown man was hard on them in more ways than one.

      Michael nearly groaned at the full body contact Alicia had granted him. She was Damon’s mate now and to stay in such close proximity for too long was sure to make Damon more than angry. He mentally smirked and wrapped his arms tightly around Alicia’s waist, making sure to press his face into her hair as he did so.

      Micah strode over and reached out, grabbing Alicia by the waist. He gently lifted and pulled her away from Michael enough to set her feet on the floor and loosen her arms from around the vampire’s neck.

      “That’s not the choke hold I taught you a few minutes ago.” He tried to make a joke out of it even though he could see the odd look in Michael’s eyes. It wasn’t a look of which Damon would have approved.

      “On the contrary, that was a pretty good choke hold,” Michael laughed, suddenly in a much better mood. He lowered his lips to Alicia’s cheek and gave her a quick kiss making sure to linger for just a second too long, “It’s good to see you.”

      Scrappy barked up at Micah then rose up on his hind legs next to the cougar. Micah grinned and kneeled down to rub the small dog behind the ears.

      “You brought more company with you,” Micah said.

      Alicia had perked up when she heard the bark and backed away from Michael. She couldn’t control the blush that rose up on her cheeks when she felt his hands slide away from her waist.

      “You were teaching Alicia how to fight?” Michael asked ignoring Alicia’s reaction. That was the last thing he needed… but that didn’t mean he couldn’t flirt a little bit.

      “Yes,” Micah growled. “I didn’t think the world would get to this point that I would have to teach my little sister to defend herself… much less fight back.”

      Michael tilted his head just a little as he stared at Alicia, “with the right training, no one would ever be able to hurt her again. That sounds like a wonderful plan to me. Mind if I join in?”

      Micah smiled and nodded, “Help yourself.”

      *****

      Boris sat at one of the tables in the main area of the club Love Bites with a deep frown on his face. Titus sat across from him with a matching expression with a mug of beer in front of him.

      “All of them?” Titus asked.

      Boris swallowed down his own beer before setting it on the table with a loud sounding thunk. “Because of the massive amount of demons that have been spotted on the streets, most of the clans have decided to make themselves scarce with the exception of Lucca and his werewolves. They’ve returned to the outer edges of the city and some of them are going as far as Mount Mitchell.”

      Titus nearly choked on his beer. “That’s on the other side of the country.”

      “It’s also the highest point east of the Mississippi,” Boris said. “About half the clans came out of the forests surrounding that area. They don’t want anything to do with what’s about to go down here in L.A.… and I can’t really say I blame them for returning home.”

      “Do they actually know what’s going on?” Titus asked.

      Boris shook his head, “Not really, but there have been too many demon sightings for their liking.”

      “And what do you want to do?” Titus sighed wondering if he’d come back to this city for nothing.

      “I’ll stay here with you and the rest of our clan,” Boris answered. “I don’t fear what might happen to me… I do fear what might happen if we don’t stay. This is our new turf and I find it a bit disturbing that the other clans are so willing to give up their territory.”

      The front door of the club opened and both men turned their attention toward the visitor. Titus raised an eyebrow when Damon stepped in and closed the door behind him.

      “Good evening.” Titus said without getting up from his seat. Why stand up when there was a risk of the vampire knocking him down again… depending on his mood. He couldn’t stop himself from rubbing a hand across his chin remembering the last punch.

      Boris kept silent wondering why the vampire was here. He’d learned long ago to avoid the creatures that were stronger than him as much as possible.

      The age-old story about vampires and werewolves constantly waging war on one another was a load of bull. It was the byproduct of some ancient human’s imagination that had happened to see one of their kind battling against a vampire-like creature a few centuries before… absolutely no truth to the legend at all.