Samhain Publishing

In a world of darkness, she is his light.

A Midnight Justice story

It’s a dark and stormy night, and Luna Masters is in trouble. Buttoned-up court reporter by day, by night she fights crime as Luminescence, drawing power from the moon. No moon, no power…and she’s about to pay with her life.

As her consciousness dims, a man steps from the shadows. But he’s no savior. It’s Scythe, a villain whose reputation for evil is legend. When she awakens, at first she’s surprised to be alive. Then enraged to find herself tied to his bed. Naked.

Scythe is livid. A minor superhero like Luna has no business on his turf, and he plans to enjoy administering punishment, Yet somewhere in the night, pain turns into pleasure…then into something wicked and sexy that shakes them both to the core.

Though Scythe warns her away, Luna’s passion for justice draws her back into the dark, to her masked lover’s side. For good, or evil? Only the dawn will tell… 

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Copyright © 2012 Kimberly Dean
All rights reserved — a Samhain Publishing, Ltd. publication

Chapter One

The warm summer night weighed on Luna as she tread quietly through the back alleys of Newcropolis. The humidity in the air made it hard to breathe, and her clothes clung to her skin. Smells from dumpsters clashed with the reek of alcohol and urine, but the stench stayed trapped close to the ground, unable to rise and disperse. Breathing through her mouth, she edged along the brick buildings towards her destination.

The darkness of the night emphasized the closed-in feeling, and she glanced anxiously at the sky. The thin wedge visible between the tall downtown buildings was black as coal. Only a few stars peeked through, and definitely not the moon. It was at low crescent tonight and not yet high enough on the horizon.

Heat lightning suddenly crackled. The streaks spread out like an electrified spider web, highlighting the underside of the fat, low-hanging clouds.

It was those clouds that put a shiver down her spine. A few she could handle. Total overcast would blot out her powers, meager as they were tonight.

She checked her palm unit. Sneaky Nick was still at the Crying Foul. He’d have to leave there soon if her intel was correct, but would it be before the sky was totally socked in? She judged the clouds again. Nick was true to his name; he was one sneaky son of a bitch. This might be the only opportunity she had to bring him in.

Putting her chin down, she pressed onward. She was pushing it, she knew, but she just couldn’t give up when she was this close. She’d been tracking him for weeks, but every time she’d thought he was in her grasp, he’d somehow managed to evade her.

The risk was worth it.

She concentrated on her task. She didn’t need that much time. All she had to do was shine the light on him and notify others of his location. Ideally, if he moved on the schedule her source had indicated, she could shine that light while he was in the act of robbing Bell King Jewelers.

Nearing the back of the shop, she evaluated her options. Smelly as it was, the shadow beside the dumpster behind the Chinese restaurant next door would provide the best cover. Swinging her dark cape around herself, she crouched and hid.

Time seemed to split as she waited. On the ground, it slowed to a halt. No breezes flowed. The club down the alley pumped out the same music over and over again. Even the rats scurrying for food were sleepy and slow. Nick was taking his time.

The storm wasn’t. The clouds barreled in, thickening above her. They crowded together as the rumble of thunder came closer and closer.

Luna kept her gaze plastered on the one remaining star she could spot. A star meant there were still holes in the cloud cover and the power of the moon could find its way to her.

The star blinked out…then came back… It had just gone out again when a rat in the middle of the alley jerked its head. Detecting something, it scurried under the dumpster next to her, and her senses went on high alert. She peered into the darkness, searching for movement, while her ears hunted for the slightest sound. It wasn’t long before she heard footsteps. As quiet as the unseen visitor was trying to be, his approach echoed off the bricks behind her.

She waited until she heard the scratch of metal against metal. A lock was being picked. Adrenaline pulsing, she looked to the sky. One star… She just needed one…

There!

Spreading her cape wide, she stepped out of her hiding place. Reaching deep inside, she sought her power. She was used to it waxing and waning. Tied to the moon, it was ever in flux. She’d learned how to adjust and use what she had.

Tonight was no different.

Flipping back the hood of her cape, she let her white-blonde hair show and lifted her face. The power was dim, barely a spark, but it was there. A low beam of bluish light emanated from her and radiated towards the man trying to break in to the jewelry store.

Flinching at the glow, Sneaky Nick turned towards her. Fear made his eyes bug as he stared, but his brow furrowed and those beady eyes narrowed as his expression changed to anger.

“On low beams tonight, Luminescence?”

Fingers of warning trailed down the back of Luna’s neck, but she couldn’t show weakness. “I save the high beams for the big fish, Nicky.”

Her light wasn’t her only power. Like the moon’s gravity controlled the tides of oceans around the world, she held the power of attraction. Only she didn’t pull water, she pulled people. She just needed to focus on him until the authorities or one of her cohorts closed in on the scene.

Twitching, Nick looked up and down the alleyway. With one last reluctant glance at the jewelry store door, he began backing away from her.

She followed, sweat beading her brow. She couldn’t let him out of her sight. If he ran before someone came, all her work would have been in vain.

It took a moment before she realized it wasn’t sweat on her forehead, but raindrops.

Those fingers of dread at the back of her neck wrapped around her throat, and her steps faltered. Breathing deeply, ignoring the stench, she struggled to keep her light glowing. Nick might seem like an insignificant weasel, but he was dangerous, and she was alone with him in a dark, desolate alleyway. She clung to the wavering energy. She had to hang on.

She focused on him, emitting what light she could, even as the rain intensified. Her hair dulled as it grew damper, clinging to her neck and her shoulders. She searched with her senses for anyone, anything that could come to her aid.

She knew the exact moment when the cloud cover bunched together and blocked out the source of her power. It wasn’t the rain splattering down on her face or the earsplitting thunder overhead. It was the fatigue that shot through her, robbing her of her breath.

Her arms dropped to her sides and her knees wobbled. She’d forced too much. She’d dug too deep.

Now she was going to pay.

Realizing the trouble she was in, she grabbed for the taser she kept on her hip.

She was too late.

Sneaky Nick hit her like a freight train, slamming her backwards. She toppled over, landing awkwardly on a moldy, moth-eaten mattress that hadn’t made it into the nearby trash bin. She bounced back up, but Nick already had her by the throat.

Circling behind her, he knocked her taser to the ground and tightened his stranglehold. “Do you know how sick and tired I am of having you do-gooders follow me?”

His fingers bit into her neck, and stars dotted her vision. They weren’t the good stars, the ones that might guide her to her powers. These were red and white sparks flashing before her eyes.

“And a low-level heroine like you,” Nick scoffed. “You know what you are, honey? Bait.”

Luna struggled to think. Desperate, she slammed her heel down on the man’s instep. Rain had slickened his shoe, though, and she slid right off. Jamming her finger upwards towards his eyes, she tried a different attack. He caught her wrist in his free hand and merely laughed.

“I know how you work, baby.” His hips swiveled against her in a slimy caress. The rain was coming in a steady downpour now, and they were both drenched and panting. “You get yourself in trouble and you call for help. Then the real superheroes come flying in to save the helpless little woman.”

His finger slid down her bare stomach. “They’re probably hoping they can score a piece of ass in return. Do you do that, golden girl? Is that how you keep all the big strong men at your beck and call? You certainly dress like it.”

His breaths were hot and wet against her ear. “I could find some uses for you—if only you hadn’t pissed me off. This was supposed to be a big score for me tonight.”

His forearm lifted, pulling in and up, making her rise on her tiptoes. “Bitch.”

Luna clawed at his arm and kicked backwards at his shins. Her throat felt tight and raw, compressed. Opening her lips, she struggled to breathe, but rain filled her mouth, choking off the thin breaths she was able to take.

It occurred to her in her fragmented thoughts that she was going to die here, in this deserted, smelly alley…with a man named Sneaky Nick at her side…and a hungry rat at her feet…

The thunder of her pulse in her ears quieted. Or maybe that was the thunder overhead… Her knees sagged. Lightning flashed behind her eyelids. Or maybe it was in front of them. It was too hard to tell.

Footsteps echoed down the alleyway, and she dreamed she heard a shout. Her heart leapt at the thought of rescue, but it slowed again at the lack of oxygen.

Another roar blended with the constant ringing in her ears, and her last support disappeared.

She crumpled to the ground atop Nick.

Greedily, she sucked in air. Valuable, delicious air. She couldn’t get enough, but the prickle at the back of her neck wasn’t leaving. Sneaky Nick… She had to get him in her sights. She rolled off him but couldn’t find the energy to run or stand or even crawl.

Yet he didn’t follow.

Confused, she stared down at the man who’d just tried to kill her. He was a lifeless heap sprawled out on the moldy mattress. There was red pooling beneath him. Was that blood?

Adrenaline surged and she scrambled back, getting only a few feet away from him before her strength vanished. What had just happened? How had he ended up there? And why wasn’t he moving?

The prickling at the back of her neck spread until her entire body was quivering in warning. On her knees, Luna looked up. Unable to support her head, her neck tilted back. A dark shadow hovered over her, big and lurking. Thunder crashed and lightning struck almost simultaneously. The bright light illuminated the figure in front of her, and her eyes widened in the rain before drifting shut. Her gasp stuck in her damaged throat. She’d pulled someone to her, all right, but not someone she wanted.

Terror clutched at her gut even as she tilted sideways onto the gritty, dirt-covered cement. She patted the ground, looking in vain for her taser.

This man wasn’t one of her own. He wasn’t one of the do-gooders, but the worst of the worst. A big fish. She’d gone from low-level thug to the deadliest blade of them all.

Words couldn’t squeeze through her throat. In the end, only her lips moved. “Scythe.”

Then everything went black.

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