“Who are you anyway?” I asked.
“Andre,” he said. “Private Investigator, but I’ll do anything for money.” He winked.
“You’re not human,” I said. “What are you?” I stretched out my Charmed senses and felt magic within him.
“I’m a vampire, princess. Same as you, but with a little extra dark superpower. I’m a full vamp though, and from what I can tell from your dismal amount of speed out there, you’re half.”
He dragged a chair from the wall and sat across from me.
“You have the Dark Charm?” I asked. “I should have figured; you ooze sleaze bag.”
“And you have a little special magic up your sleeve too, don’t you, princess? I bet you get a little hot now and then, don’t you?”
I narrowed my eyes.
“And with a name like Karolina Dalca…I bet you’ve got enough training to back up that look you’re giving me.”
He knew my name, my powers, and where to find me. My eyes fell over his body, sizing him up as he sat across from me. Strong jaw, tall, six feet and maybe four inches, and muscular broad shoulders. I could take him—if I took him by surprise.
Praise for M. R. Noble
“This book grabs you by the throat and does not let go! A fast paced, enthralling journey through a hidden underworld of vampires, werewolves, and other beings of the night who wield a fascinating array of powers to devastating effect. Compared to the more stay-at-home-type of vampires and werewolves I know, these protagonists are pushed beyond the human limit. I highly recommend you acquire this book and hole up somewhere safe for the ride.”
~Stuart Rutherford, actor from
What We Do In the Shadows
“Fans of Kim Harrison will be drawn into the imagery of Noble’s first book of the Dark Eyes series. In between bouts of fighting and the intensity of paranormal, dark fantasy, there are moments of comedy that make this series opener a real page-turner.”
~Booklist
Karolina Dalca, Dark Eyes
by
M. R. Noble
The Dark Eyes Series
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Karolina Dalca, Dark Eyes
COPYRIGHT © 2020 Margarita Rose Noble McBurnie
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Cover Art by Kristian Norris
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
PO Box 708
Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708
Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com
Publishing History
First Black Rose Edition, 2020
Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-5092-3278-9
Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-3279-6
The Dark Eyes Series
Published in the United States of America
Dedication
This book is dedicated to
every down-on-her-luck-woman out there
who needs a reminder that her inner strength
is the sharpest tool she has.
Acknowledgments
A special thanks to my sensei, who taught me that perseverance is a lifelong skill.
A scream from the rooftops thank you to Kirsten Koza, a brilliant writer, champion of wacky travel, friend, and humorist extraordinaire.
Thank you to my agent, Marisa Corvisiero, and my editor at the Wild Rose Press, Melanie Billings.
Thank you to the earliest reader, a fellow vampire enthusiast who encouraged me to “murder my darlings.”
To my fellow members of the WCYR, gratias vobis ago.
Lastly, an emotional heartfelt thank you goes to my husband, friends, and family for their interest and support.
Chapter One
Karolina Dalca
I was born in Romania, but it never had the chance to be my home. Instead, I wound up in northern Ontario, completing an extra credit internship in my tiny town, staring down the face of an alleged flasher. I readied the paperwork before my mentor, Constable Danny, interviewed the perpetrator. It wasn’t an ideal way to spend the summer, but my psychological profiling exam blew into flames—literally—and extra credit was the only way I would pass.
It was one-way glass, but as he looked ahead, it unnerved me to stand in his gaze.
My cell phone lit up with its silent ringtone. Mama called for the twentieth time. I hung up on her in an argument. She should’ve known better than to play with a vampire’s mood—half vampire or not. Mama immigrated here with her parents to start a new life away from the crime of the ‘old country.’ After this morning, it was safe to assume violence was everywhere, even in the towns with dirt roads.
Still, she insisted the arms of the vampire underground were out of range—if I obeyed the rules of my father’s kind. I grew up sheltered. The Charmed people of Romania stuck with their own. Grampa Dalca had an unnatural sense for people sneaking in and out of the house. I never knew if it was my family’s earth magic at work or if it was just his lived experience. I would have been grounded double my age by now if I wasn’t such a great negotiator.
Still, I was lucky to have a father figure to teach me to control my vampiric side and how to defend myself. As I looked down at the photos of evidence, the perp’s bruised penis, it was clear he’d picked a little girl who’d been taught to give a swift kick to the nuts. Not many girls are.
Constable Danny primed the perpetrator to enter the interrogation room.
Control, I reminded myself. It was the mantra Grampa Dalca gave me. I fought for my independence my whole life, and I only got this far by staying in control…mostly. If I lost myself when they finally let me sit in on an interrogation, I would fail.
“Are you ready?” Danny asked me.
“I couldn’t think of a nicer way to spend my summer than listening to you chat up perverts,” I said with a royal inflection.
“Does that mean you’re ready?” he asked, fighting a grin.
“Yes.”
“All right, kid. Just observe the process for booking. We’ll overlook the final paperwork when I’m done.”
He called me kid all summer even though I’ve got boobs and I’m of legal drinking age.
Danny guided the perp into the interrogation room.
I trailed behind them.
The perp looked up at me and smiled. It was the type of smile which peels back one’s skin with the sick feeling that he is liking what he sees. But nineteen is too old to be his type, way too old.
I thought of his provocation of the girl and the hairs on my arms stood at attention. A boiling feeling in my belly rose to my chest. My heart thumped like a battering ram against my ribcage. My fire magic pushed into my throat. I held it back, making my knees sink to the floor. This was my father’s doing. I inherited the genes for fire magic from him, and if I knew him, I’d tell him what an ass it made him. I focused on my mantra and my earth magic. While I did, my vampiric senses slipped through my concentration.