“Susie…”
“Maybe they’d be better off without me.”
“Stop that! Rafe’s grandparents were both Vampires, but they raised his mother. I’m not saying it was easy. They had to hire nannies to look after her during the day, but they managed, and she turned out just fine. If they could do it, so can you.”
“You’re a good friend, Kathy. You always say just what I need to hear.”
“Can I ask you something? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“You want to know what it’s like, being a Vampire.”
“How did you know that?” Geez, I hoped she couldn’t read my mind, too. It was bad enough knowing that Rafe could do it.
“It’s what I’d want to know, if I were in your place.”
“So, what’s it like?”
She ran a hand through her hair again, then looked at her fingernails, as if seeing them for the first time. “I haven’t been one very long, you know, but, well, so far, it’s quite amazing. I think I’m going to like it.”
It wasn’t the answer I had expected. Oh, I knew Rafe was happy being a Vampire, but he wasn’t like other Vampires. He hadn’t sought it out; no one had brought him across. He had been born to it, grown up with a Vampire father and Vampire grandparents, but Susie…I shook my head. “Are you serious?”
“You can’t imagine what it’s like.” She leaned forward, her words coming quickly now. “Everything looks the same, yet different. Your T-shirt, for instance, I can see every individual thread. Colors are brighter, sounds are clearer. I don’t need my contacts any more,” she said, smiling. “I can see better and farther than I ever could. I can hear things I never did before. The flutter of a moth’s wings, the whisper of the wind in the trees, the ticking of a clock from somewhere upstairs…the beating of your heart.”
Her words made that heart beat a little faster. She still looked like Susie, but she was a Vampire now. I needed to remember that.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” Susie said, and I heard the hurt in her voice, the disappointment.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right. I guess I can’t blame you.”
“What was it like, hunting with Rafe?” Even as I asked the question, I couldn’t stifle a twinge of jealousy because Susie had shared a part of Rafe’s life that I never would.
“So much different than I thought it would be. I didn’t think I could do it, drink blood, but he made it easy.”
“Wasn’t it disgusting?”
Her gaze slid away from mine. “It should have been, but it wasn’t. It was…pleasant.”
Pleasant? Pleasant! I didn’t know what to say to that. A day at the beach was pleasant. Spending time with your loved ones was pleasant. Getting a full-body massage was pleasant. But drinking blood? No way!
Silence fell between us. It wouldn’t have bothered me before, but it bothered me now. I wondered what Susie was thinking, couldn’t help being somewhat amazed that she had adjusted so quickly to being a Vampire when she’d had so much trouble being a Werewolf. The absurdity of it all made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Susie’s life would never be the same again; but then, neither would mine now that I had pledged my life and my love to Rafe.
“At least the four of us can still be friends,” I said, thinking aloud. After all, I didn’t really have any other friends in town, certainly none Rafe and I could share an evening with.
“That’s true, isn’t it?” Susie remarked with a win-some smile. “I won’t have to pretend with you, or make excuses about why we can’t go to lunch.”
I grinned at her. “Right.” I suddenly felt a lot better. Maybe everything would work out after all.
But later that night, curled up on the sofa, hovering on the brink of sleep, I wondered if I had made the right choice in deciding to stay with Rafe. I loved him, loved everything about him, but now tiny doubts insinuated themselves into my thoughts. In choosing to stay with Rafe, I had distanced myself from my family. I would never have children or grandchildren, never cook a big Christmas dinner for my husband and kids, and while I didn’t want kids right now, I had hoped to have one or two in the future. After all, I was only twenty-three years old. I still had a few good years left in me….
I shook off my doubts. I had made my choice, and I would make the same one again.
Yawning, I checked the time. It was almost two. “The guys will be here any minute,” I said, switching off the TV.
“I can’t decide if I’m relieved or disappointed that nothing happened,” Susie said. “I sort of expected Edna and company to show up any minute.”
“I know what you mean. Maybe we should just leave town, now, tonight.”
“Don’t you think they’d come after us?”
“I don’t know. Actually, I’m surprised
they
didn’t leave town. We should have gone to the police and pressed charges.” Funny, none of us had thought of it earlier.
“Do you think they would have believed us?”
I shrugged. The police weren’t known for being sympathetic to the Supernatural community, or to those who associated with them. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“Edna and Pearl must have some powerful friends somewhere,” Susie said thoughtfully. “I mean, how else did they get our pictures on the news? For that matter, how did they get our pictures, period?”
“Beats me. They must have taken them while we were drugged.” Now that I thought about it, we’d all looked sort of spaced-out in the photos. Hopefully, the national news media wouldn’t pick up the story. “I’ve been wondering about something else, too.”
“What’s that?”
“How did two elderly women who aren’t doctors convince the Oak Hollow police chief that we were infected with some mysterious virus?”
“Maybe the police are in on it, too.”
Now there was a scary thought. “You might be right,” I said, warming to idea. “Being a police officer would be the perfect cover for a hunter. The cops can come and go pretty much as they please, poke into other people’s business, snoop around at any hour of the day or night without arousing suspicion, lock up anyone they want for twenty-four hours without a warrant.”
Susie nodded in agreement and then, for no reason that I could see, she sat up straighter, her body tensing as she stared at the front door.
“What is it?” I asked. “Are the guys here?”
“No.” She stood up, and I saw her eyes begin to change.
I felt a whisper of power flow through the room as Susie’s eyes took on a reddish glow.
“It’s Travis Jackson,” she said, “and he’s not alone.”
A sudden rush of adrenaline had me jumping to my feet. This was the visit we had been waiting for, but now that it was here, I suddenly found myself wishing I was anywhere else. I had no Supernatural powers at my command, no weapons with which to protect myself. Why hadn’t I bought a gun? But then, I had never thought I would need to defend myself against my own kind. I remembered telling Rafe earlier that I had Susie to protect me, but looking at her now, even with her eyes red and glowing, she didn’t seem like she would be much help. She was shorter than I was and slender as a willow. And she had been a Vampire only a couple of days. Maybe that didn’t make any difference; maybe Vampires came equipped with all their powers immediately on being turned. And maybe they didn’t. Why hadn’t I asked Rafe about that sooner?
I froze as someone knocked on the door. There was no point in pretending we weren’t home. The lights were on, smoke would be visible rising from the chimney.
“I’ll get it.” Susie was moving toward the door as she spoke.
My gaze darted around the room as I searched for a weapon. When this was over, if I survived, I was buying a gun! Since I didn’t have one now, I grabbed the fireplace poker and held it behind my back just as Susie opened the door.
“Susie.” Jackson’s voice was filled with wry amusement. “I didn’t expect to find you here, but it saves us a trip, doesn’t it?”
“What do you want, Travis?” Susie asked.
“I think you know.” He looked at her a moment, his eyes narrowing. “Vampire?” he murmured, looking momentarily confused.
“We’re not going back,” she said. “Your serum doesn’t work.”
“That’s why we need to try again.” His hand delved into his jacket pocket and reappeared with a small glass vial. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Really? Is that why you kidnapped me, locked me in a cage, and stuck a needle in my arm?”
From where I stood, I could see his jaw tighten. “Let’s do this the easy way, shall we?” he asked, and threw the contents of the bottle into her face.
Susie reeled backward, an inhuman shriek of agony hissing from her throat. I watched in horror as the skin on her face and neck began to blister.
Holy water,
I thought.
The two men behind Travis lunged forward. Grabbing Susie by the arms, they wrestled her to the ground, flipped her onto her stomach, and cuffed her hands behind her back.
Shouting, “Leave her alone!” I lifted the poker and slammed it across the back of the nearest man as hard as I could.
He let out a roar of pain as he rolled away from Susie.
I was lifting the poker to hit the other man when Travis came up behind me. He jerked the poker from my grasp, then backhanded me across the face. I reeled backward, my cheek burning from the force of his blow, my eyes watering.
I heard someone let out a shriek filled with pain and terror. I blinked to clear my vision, and when I looked again, I saw one of the men who had been holding Susie sprawled on his back on the floor, a bloody hole where his throat had been. The man I had hit was frantically trying to crawl toward the front door, but the angry Were-tiger biting his leg wouldn’t let go.
Travis Jackson stood with his back against the far wall, his eyes wide with fear as he stared at Rafe.
I stared at him, too. This was Rafe, my Rafe, I told myself, but it was hard to believe. Clad in black from head to foot, his eyes blazing like the fires of hell, he looked like the angel of death come to call.
Travis shook his head as Rafe’s hand closed around his throat. “No,” he gasped. “Please, no.”
“Only brave when you’re on the winning side?” Rafe’s voice was as cold and unforgiving as the grave. “You’ll never hurt me or mine again.”
All the color drained from Travis Jackson’s face. “Please.” His voice was little more than a hoarse whimper. A dark stain spread over the front of his trousers, filling the air with the strong scent of urine as he begged for his life. “Please.”
I must have made a noise of some kind, because Rafe turned his head to look at me, his eyes glittering. He was every inch a Vampire now, more powerful and frightening than I had ever seen him.
I looked at him, my heart pounding.
Don’t do this.
The words rose in my mind.
Please don’t do this.
I couldn’t bear the thought of watching Rafe kill Travis Jackson. I knew Rafe wanted the man dead, and maybe Jackson deserved to die for what he’d done, but not like this.
Rafe’s hand tightened around Travis Jackson’s throat. I could feel Rafe’s struggle as he fought down the urge to kill Jackson. Because of the blood bond between us, I knew what Rafe was thinking, feeling. The desire for vengeance, the lust for blood, and the urge to surrender to what he was burned strong within him.
And yet, for my sake, he fought it back. I saw it in the fading red glow in his eyes and in the gradual relaxing of his grip on Jackson’s throat, though he didn’t release him completely.
“Jackson, look at me.”
Travis lifted his fearful gaze to meet Rafe’s.
“You don’t deserve it, but I’m going to let you live.” Rafe’s gaze locked with Jackson’s. “You’re going to go back to Texas. You’re going to forget everything you ever knew about hunting, about Supernatural creatures, and about the formula your grandmother concocted. No matter what anyone says to you, you will never remember any of this. To try to do so will cause you unbearable pain. You will forget everyone in this room, everyone that was in the lab. When you leave here, you will forget this place. You will go home and destroy any and all records and photographs that have anything to do with the Supernatural community, and then you will destroy any and all records, correspondence, and photos held by Edna or your grandmother or the school in Texas. Do you understand?”
Travis nodded woodenly. “Yes, master.”
“If anyone mentions the word Vampire or Werewolf to you, it will make you violently ill and you will refuse to discuss it. If you ever attempt to hunt me or my kind again, I will find you, and I will kill you. Do you understand?”
Travis nodded again. “Yes, master.”
Rafe’s eyes narrowed to mere slits. His power flowed through the room, making it hard to breathe. It whispered over my skin and caused the short hairs to prickle on my nape.
Travis’s body tensed, then began to tremble. All the color drained from his face as he pressed the heels of his hands to his temples. “Stop,” he gasped. “Please.”
“Remember the pain,” Rafe said, his voice harsh, “And do not betray me or mine again. Now get the hell out of here.”
Moving like some kind of movie zombie, Travis left the room, one hand still pressed to the side of his head.
Only then did I look at Susie. Cagin had freed her hands and was wiping her face with a washcloth. She moaned softly every time he touched her, and I recalled Rafe telling me that holy water burned Vampire flesh like hellfire. The left side of her face was raw and red, the right side didn’t look quite so bad. Rafe’s face had healed in a remarkably short time, but he had been a Vampire longer than Susie. I wondered if she would heal as fast as he did.
I glanced around the room. The bodies of the two men Cagin had savaged were nowhere to be seen. They couldn’t have just disappeared, which made me think Cagin must have dragged them outside while my attention was focused on Rafe and Travis. Were they both dead? What had he done with the bodies?
“Kathy.”
I looked at Rafe, relieved to see that he was my Rafe again.
“We need to get out of here,” he said.
“You got that right,” Cagin agreed. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t argue.
I pulled a long sweater coat on over my pajamas, grabbed my keys and my handbag. Rafe picked up my suitcase, and we followed Susie and Cagin out the door. Rafe waited while I locked up, and then we got into Rafe’s car, which was parked out front.
I glanced out the window as we pulled away from my house, wondering if I would ever see it again.
“Drop us off at my place,” Cagin said when Rafe pulled away from the curb.
“Do you think that’s wise?”
“We’re not staying,” Cagin said. “I just need to pick up a few things.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Where are you going?”
“I’m not sure,” Cagin replied. “Just somewhere the hell away from here until Susie has a handle on things. Then we’ll come back and get her kids and find a new place to live.”
I looked at Susie. She sat very still, as if the slightest movement caused her pain. Fine white lines bracketed her mouth. The burns on her cheeks and down the left side of her neck looked raw and red, as if someone had tried to scrape away her skin with a dull knife. I hoped she would heal as quickly as Rafe.
“I’ll miss you,” I said.
“I’ll miss you, too.” She delved into her handbag and came up with a pen and a small notebook. She tore out a page. “This is my cell number, and my e-mail address.” She quickly wrote them down and handed me the paper. “Let’s keep in touch.”
I tore off the bottom of the page she gave me and wrote down my cell number and e-mail and passed it back to her.
A few minutes later, Rafe pulled up in front of Cagin’s house.
“Thanks for the ride and everything,” Cagin said.
“Yes,” Susie said, “thank you so much.”
“Watch your backs,” Rafe said. “Don’t trust anybody.”
With a nod, Cagin opened the door and got out of the car, Susie’s bags tucked under his arm.
“Be careful, both of you,” Susie called before following Cagin into the house.
I looked at Rafe. “Do you think they’ll be all right?”
“I’d lay odds on it.” Reaching over, he gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.
“Do you think we’ll be all right?”
He slid a glance in my direction before putting the car in gear. “Don’t you doubt it for a minute.”
With a sigh, I rested my head against the back of the seat and closed my eyes. Hard to believe I had moved to Oak Hollow for some peace and quiet. I sure hadn’t had much of it.
After a time, I sat up. We should have been back at Rafe’s by now. A look out the window showed we were on a narrow two-lane road.
“Where are we?” I asked. “Where are we going?”
“A place I know where we can spend the rest of the night.”
“There isn’t much night left.”
“We’ll be there before dawn.”
“Good thing,” I muttered. If there was one thing I didn’t want, it was to watch Rafe go up in flames. “Do Vampires really go up in smoke if the sun touches them?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you ever…never mind.”
“Seen one?” A muscle clenched in his jaw. “Just once.”
“Was it someone you knew?”
He nodded.
“A friend of yours?”
He shrugged. “More of an acquaintance.”
“What happened? Was it an accident?”
“No, Thor wanted to die. He was an old Vampire. One night he told me he was tired of existing, tired of…of everything. In the morning, he walked out into the sunlight. I couldn’t stop him, couldn’t do anything but watch….”
I shuddered at the image that rose in my mind. “What a horrible way to die.”
“It was quick, like flash paper. One minute he was there, the next he was gone.”
I couldn’t imagine such a thing. And even if it was quick, it must have hurt.
Rafe spoke to the car’s computer, telling it where to go, and then he drew me into his arms. Utterly weary, I rested my head on his shoulder and slept.
The slowing of the car roused me. Feeling as though I had been asleep for hours, I lifted my head, looked out the window, and frowned. We were in the middle of nowhere. A tall mountain thick with trees and brush rose up on our left.
“Where are we?” I glanced at Rafe, and in spite of myself, felt a little frisson of fear slide down my spine. It was foolish to be afraid. I knew he would never hurt me and yet…
“You’ll see.” He grabbed a large canvas bag out of the backseat, then got out of the car.
I waited, my heart pounding, while he came around to open my door. Taking my hand, Rafe started walking toward the mountain.
“Where are we going?” I asked, unable to disguise the tremor of unease in my voice.
“It’s a surprise.”
I hoped it was going to be a pleasant one.
As we drew closer to the mountain, I saw the opening to a cave. When I tried to hang back, Rafe tugged on my hand. All I could do was follow as he moved unerringly into the darkness.
“There aren’t any bats in here, are there?” I asked, and my voice echoed off the walls. “Or bears?”
“No.”
Gradually, the cave grew brighter, though no light was visible, and then, as the cave grew taller and wider, I saw a large flat area covered in dun-colored sand. Several warm, furry blankets were spread on the ground. Dozen of candles in all shapes, sizes, and colors sat on a narrow earthen shelf cut into the cave wall. I guessed that Rafe had lit them with the power of his mind.
He dropped the bag he was carrying on a corner of one of the blankets.
“What have you got in there?” I asked, my imagination working overtime.
“Food,” he said with a grin. “I can’t have my bride going hungry.”
Bride. Warmth spread through me. With all that had happened in the last few days, the fact that I had pledged my heart and soul to Rafe hadn’t been uppermost in my mind.
I glanced at our surroundings. “I never thought I’d spend my honeymoon in a cave.”
“It’s not where you are,” he murmured with a roguish grin, “it’s who you’re with.”
“How did you ever find this place?”
“When I first moved to Oak Hollow, I did a lot of exploring to pass the time. One night I stayed out too long. I was about to bury myself in the earth when I saw the cave. I spent the day in here. I came back whenever I needed to be alone, away from the temptation of too many beating hearts. And no,” he said, reading my thoughts, “I’ve never brought anyone else here. Only you.”
And so saying, he took me by the hand again and led me deeper into the cavern. The walls grew closer together as we left the light behind. I thought I heard the sound of falling water, and then, abruptly, the cave grew wider again, and I saw a small waterfall that spilled into a placid blue pool. A profusion of night-blooming flowers and lacy ferns grew around the edge of the pool. Looking up, I saw that there was an opening overhead, revealing a patch of indigo sky dotted with stars.