Blood Haze (3 page)

“You
tell your bitch of a mother, that what I do is my business. I don’t know how
she found out about me, but if I ever see her again, I’ll kill her. You tell
her that, you hear me!” the woman yelled.

Arabella
shrank back. She’d had a lifetime of learning not to fight back. Within
seconds, Tobias had cleared the bar and had grabbed the woman by the arms and
was dragging her backwards. The woman spewed her evil words all the way out.
Two in one night. How long was she going to have to worry about people
attacking her? Her mother had been dead nearly a year.

Drew
handed her a napkin and she blotted under her eyes to get rid of any running
mascara. “Oh, my gosh!” Maggie exclaimed. “What was that about?”

“I
don’t know,” Arabella finally answered. “Must have thought I was someone else,”
she said. She’d made it a point to never discuss anything about her mother…
even if it meant lying. That came from a lifetime of preservation as well.

Arabella
glanced at Drew and saw his lips tighten before he realized she was watching
him. Smoothing out his expression, he said, “Do you want to go, Arabella?”

He’d
called her
Arabella
, not
Ara
, which was his pet name for her.
That meant he was upset.

She
gave Maggie a tight smile. “Would you mind?” she said to him.

He
placed a hand against her back. “No, of course not. Maggie, I’ll see you on
Monday.”

“It
was nice to you meet you,” Maggie said.

“Yes,
same here,” Arabella responded automatically.

As
Drew leaned forward to place money on the table to cover their bill, Arabella
caught the ever-watchful eyes of Lynx Rogan. He raised his eyebrows in
question, but she quickly looked away, embarrassed.
 

Drew
was pensive on the drive home. She sat silently watching him for a long while.
Unease had her looking away to stare unseeingly out of the window. “I’m sorry
we had to cut our evening short,” she said quietly without looking at him…
afraid to look at him.

“It
is, what it is,” he said noncommittally.

Her
stomach muscles tightened. Was it fair to keep forcing him to endure scenes like
what had just been played out? Not once, but twice? Not really wanting to know
the answer, she asked perversely, “Are you happy, Drew?”

Silence
met her words and she turned her head to see him purse his lips. With a slight
shrug, he finally said, “For the most part.”

His
evasive answer made her feel off-kilter. “Maggie seems nice.”

“She
is. A bit young, but nice enough,” he replied, his tone indicating his discomfort
at the course of the conversation… or his guilt. Arabella just couldn’t be
sure.

“She
seems… uncomplicated,” she said softly, as her own insecurity rose up within
her.

Drew
gave her a questioning glance before turning back to the road. “Well, she
is
a woman, so she has her own levels of
complication,” he said with a slight laugh.

Arabella
gave a slow nod of her head, before turning once again to stare out the window
as they passed the familiar landmarks she’d seen for most of her life.

“Do
you want to tell me what’s going on?” Drew asked.

“Nothing,”
she replied softly.

“Do
you want to talk about your glimpsing earlier?”

She
blinked as the images replayed in her mind. “No,” she whispered.

“Arabella,
the women at the bar were jerks.”

She
allowed her head to loll against the headrest and looked at his profile. The
green lights from the dash gave his beautiful features an ashen hue. He’d been
her defender for most of her life. It apparently was a hard habit for him to
break. “It’s not that… not really. It’s just, well… I know I’m a lot to take
on.”

He
pulled up in front of her house and parked the car. He switched off the
ignition, and turned to face her. He studied her for a long moment before
lifting a hand and gently traced her features. She couldn’t help but remember
when Lynx Rogan had done exactly the same thing. But she didn’t gasp at Drew’s
touch, instead, it just felt comfortable. She had some serious issues. She
closed her eyes so he couldn’t see her errant thoughts. This was Drew… she
loved him… he was her best friend.

“You
are
a lot to take on sometimes,” he
agreed. “But I love you anyway. What’s going on?” he asked softly, as he
continued to caress her face.

“You
seemed so carefree and happy with Maggie.”

His
hand stilled momentarily as he stiffened before brushing her hair behind her
ear. “And you don’t think I’m that way with you?”

She
leaned into his hand, the same hand that had held hers on their first date at
the movies; the same hand that had touched her so gently the first time they’d
made love; the same hand which had held hers when it seemed the whole town had
turned against her family; and the same hand that had held her when she’d
fallen apart when first her father died, then her mother. She stared up into
his eyes and whispered, “Not in a very long time.”

“You’ve
heard all my old jokes, hundreds of times already… Maggie hasn’t,” he said,
dropping his hand.

“I
want you to be happy… you deserve to be happy,” she told him simply.

He
brushed his lips against her forehead. “Again, I am for the most part.”

“Happy
or comfortable?”

His
eyebrows scrunched, as he contemplated her question. “I’m both those things.”

“Me,
too,” she whispered, as she snaked her hand around his neck to pull him to her,
and kissed him softly. “Me, too,” she repeated again, not sure who she was
trying to convince more, him, or herself.

Drew
wrapped his arms around her and drew her up against him, and held her for a
long moment. Finally, brushing his lips against her temple, he said, “I have an
early meeting tomorrow, and then I need to drive up and see my mother in the
retirement village. I’m supposed to meet up with your brother after that. We’re
hooking up with some guys from our Rowing Team. I don’t know how late we’ll be.
So, I’ll just plan to see you on Sunday, okay?”

She
gave a nod of her head, “Okay, please be careful… and watch out for Ian. You
know how he tends to over-indulge.” She paused, before adding emphatically, “I
do
love you, Drew.”

“I
know.
It’s just you and me, kid
,” he
said in his best Humphrey Bogart imitation.

She
smiled at the old line. He was right, she knew all his stuff… and that was
okay.

~X~

Lynx
Rogan stood on the balcony outside of his bedroom and stared up at the
star-filled sky. A soft breeze ruffled the curtains in the room behind him,
outside of that, and the random howl of a distance coyote, the night was silent.
He lifted a square, squatted-glass to his lips and sipped at the smooth
bourbon. He rolled the woodsy-tasting liquor around his tongue, before allowing
it to slide down his throat.

Arabella Marks
.
An image of the woman swirled around his mind just as the bourbon had rolled
around his mouth. That she was a beauty was a given – what with her long, dark
hair and crystalline-blue eyes. She had a soft, shapely body that would
automatically draw any man to her. But Arabella Marks had a secret; he’d seen it
in her eyes. He wasn’t sure what it was yet, but he would find out. That secret
made her feel vulnerable which would cause any man she met to be drawn to her;
which then, would make them want to protect her – and to desire her.

He’d
been surprised when he’d tried to draw her to him via the power of his gaze,
but she’d been strong enough to resist him. He couldn’t remember that ever
happening in all of his seventy years. Normally with humans, you gazed into
their eyes and then could command them to do whatever you wanted. But this
woman, she was different somehow… harder to reach… or stronger willed maybe.
She’d been tempted, he’d felt it, but she’d pulled away both times. He wondered
what it would feel like to have her choose him for himself, and not because of
the gazing. Maybe he’d try it and see.

“Ah,
here you are,” Karmyl said from the double, French-doors.

Karmyl
Rogan, his natural-born sister – if natural, was what they could be considered.
It was natural in the sense, they’d both been born to the same vampiral
parents, and were the only two actually related, out of all that lived in their
haven on the estate of Night Shade.

 
“Here I am,” he replied.

Lynx
had realized Karmyl had been up to something. She’d been determined since he’d
arrived from Cape Horn that he visit the Night Owl. Since Karmyl amused him,
and since he was closer to her than any other in their haven, he humored her.
Lynx liked women, especially human women – with their soft skin and rushing
blood. He liked to toy with them, take what he wanted, then walk away. They
were not a challenge. Female vampires on the other hand, while more
challenging, didn’t really spark him like the humans. And while there were many
in the vampire community who thought it a sacrilege to treat humans humanely,
he wasn’t that shortsighted. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, they
needed the humans for their very existence. So, if one could obtain desirous
pleasure before feeding, why not?

“So…
what did you think?”

That
his sister had had an ulterior motive, he’d had no doubt. Upon seeing the
exquisite Arabella, he’d known exactly what that motive was… or who, to be
exact.

“Think
about what?” he said, to toy with her.

“About
the last presidential election…” she responded in exasperation, “Arabella, you
loon!”

“She…
seemed nice,” he said, then laughed at the expression which crossed her face.

“I
think she’s perfect for you,” she declared.

“Do
you now?”

“Yep.
I think, you think so as well,” she replied assuredly. “You could use a little
fun in your life. You’ve become far too serious in recent years.”

He
gave an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. The less Karmyl was involved in his
love-life, the better.

She
gave him a long, speculative look before changing the subject. “We need to talk
about the upcoming Blood Haze.”

“What
about it?”

“How
do you want to handle it this year?” she asked, as she plopped down onto a
padded chair.

He
sighed. As the head of their haven, it fell to him to ensure the Blood Haze was
conducted in such a manner, as not to draw any undue attention. “We’ll do like
we did last year. We’ll have a masked ball. It seemed to be a big hit with the
people in town.”

“We
need to begin sending out invitations then. Blood Haze is fast upon us.”

“When
are the others due back?” he asked.

Outside
of the two of them, there were five others which incorporated the Rogan haven: Nicolas
and Felicia – the only married vampires in their midst; Talon- who’d been integrated
into their haven only a short while; Selena – whose beauty had become a curse;
and finally, Tara - the youngest of their group.

“Within
the week, I think,” she replied.

He
gave a small nod of his head. “Okay, we’ll compile a list, then when Felicia
gets here, we’ll have her prepare the invitations. Get with Selena about the
party preparations – she’s good at that kind of thing.”

The
sky was beginning to lighten and with eyes that squinted against the coming
light, Karmyl covered her mouth as she yawned. “Okay, oh Esteemed Leader,” she
murmured sleepily.

Chapter 2

Arabella
had been asleep for only a short time when the dreams began. She once again saw
the shadow of what she knew to be a man as he kissed his way up the long column
of a woman’s neck. She could smell the leather scent of the car’s interior and
the flashing of lights as cars passed by. She watched as the man’s hand snaked
its way up under the hem of the woman’s little black dress. She heard the
woman’s gasp as his hand gently eased her black thong down. She jerked awake
and sat straight up, gasping. She wiped at the trickle of blood from her nose.
Who were these people she kept seeing? She reached to her bedside table and
grabbed a tissue and pressed it to staunch the flow of blood.

Exhaling
unsteadily, she lay her head back down once her nose stopped bleeding.
Exhaustion had her closing her eyes once more. This time the dream was
different. A blurry man eased a woman down onto a couch as the woman began to
claw at his clothing. The man chuckled at her impatience. He reached behind her
and slowly unzipped her dress. The dress swirled as it fell, as if it were
weightless. The man leaned forward and placed his mouth against the woman’s
breast and she arched into his touch.

Arabella
sat up gasping again. Her body tingled at her voyeuristic dream. The pleasure
the woman had received, seemed to transfer to her own body. She lifted a hand
and pressed it against her aching breasts. How could she be so hot and
bothered? She swallowed against the desire which seemed to inflame her entire
body. She felt needy and her body throbbed in frustration. She was more turned
on than she could ever remember. She immediately felt guilty and forced her
hand to fall away from her breast.