I stood at the motel window, staring out at the rain. Too restless to stand still, I turned away from the window and paced the floor, my thoughts in turmoil, my heart aching. I was angry with myself for driving Rafe away, and angry with Rafe for walking away without an argument. Had he loved me so little?
I slammed my hand against the wall. That was unfair. It wasn’t Rafe’s fault that we were apart, it was mine. I had thrown our happiness away with both hands because I had let my doubts and fears get the best of me. There were no guarantees in life. Yes, the odds were good that Rafe would outlive me by hundreds of years, but what if he didn’t? And what difference did it make? Life was uncertain, and more so every day. I could get run over by a car while crossing the street. Rafe could be destroyed by a Vampire hunter. Instead of accepting that and holding fast to whatever time we could have together, I had let my fears of an unknown future drive us apart.
Resting my forehead against the cold window pane, I closed my eyes.
Rafe, Rafe, where are you? Please don’t shut me out. I was wrong. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.
The inside of the club was dark, quiet at this time of the night save for the clink of glassware and the murmur of voices.
Rafe stood to one side of the entrance, his gaze moving over the room, skipping over couples in his search for a female who was there alone.
After a time, he choose a woman sitting by herself at the end of the bar. She wore a white sweater and an ankle-length green skirt. He told himself the fact that her hair was golden blond and her eyes were green, like Kathy’s, had nothing to do with his choice. Lots of women had blond hair and deep green eyes.
“Lying to yourself again,” he muttered as he walked toward her.
She glanced up as he approached.
“Is this seat taken?” he asked.
“No.”
He gestured at her glass, which was nearly empty. “Can I buy you another?”
“Sure.”
“What are you drinking?”
“Scotch and water.”
He ordered another drink for her and a glass of red wine for himself. Her name was Sonja and she had just turned thirty. She worked for a real estate company, had recently ended a two-year relationship, and lived alone.
She was ripe and ready for the taking, Rafe thought, but he wasn’t interested in her body, only her blood.
It took little effort to convince her to leave with him. Once outside, he led her into the shadows and drew her into his arms. She was soft and pliable, her skin warm beneath his hands. The hunger rode him with whip and spurs, urging him to take her, to take it all, to give up the fight and surrender to the reality of what he was.
His power flowed through him, heightening his senses. The scent of her blood, warm and vital with life, filled his nostrils. The beat of her heart was echoed in the thunder that rolled across the skies.
He was a Vampire, and she was his for the taking.
He ran his tongue over his fangs, then bent the woman backward over his arm.
She was prey, and he was the hunter.
He was lowering his head when Kathy’s voice, thick with tears, whispered through his mind.
Rafe, Rafe, where are you? Please don’t shut me out. I was wrong. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.
Lifting his head, he glanced over his shoulder, almost expecting to see her standing there.
Rafe, please come back to me….
With a low growl, he released the woman from his thrall and then, thinking he was a damn fool, he followed the sound of his beloved’s voice.
Fighting the urge to cry, I went into the bathroom and turned on the light. After undressing, I stepped into the shower. With hot water sluicing over my body, I could pretend the wetness on my cheeks was water and not tears.
Once started, the tears came harder, faster. How long could a person cry before they dehydrated?
So, I’d made a mistake, but it wasn’t irreversible. It couldn’t be. In spite of the danger, I would go back to Oak Hollow and find Rafe. I’d tell him I loved him, that I would always love him, and hope that he would believe me, and forgive me.
Unwrapping a bar of soap, I washed my face. When I rinsed away the soap and opened my eyes again, Rafe was standing outside the shower door.
I blinked at him, wondering if he was real or if I had been so desperate to see him again, I had conjured his image from my imagination.
I watched him undress, my gaze moving avidly over every inch of exposed flesh, and then he opened the door.
“You want to get rid of that?” he asked, gesturing at the silver chain and cross that I now wore day and night.
Happiness bubbled up inside me like warm champagne. He was here, and by the look of him, he wasn’t mad at me. I ran my fingertips over the chain. “I don’t know if I should take it off,” I said, as if I was giving it serious thought. “A girl can never be too careful.”
“Take a chance,” he said, flashing a wicked grin. “Walk on the wild side with me.”
“You tempt me, sir.” Batting my eyelashes at him, I lifted the chain over my head, leaned out the door, and placed the cross and chain on the sink top. I grinned inwardly when Rafe dropped a washcloth over them.
“That’s the idea,” Rafe said, and stepping into the shower, he closed the door. Taking the soap from my hand, he began to wash me, first my neck, then my shoulders and my arms.
I trembled at his touch, afraid to speak. If this was a dream, I didn’t want it to end.
I had never felt anything as erotic as Rafe’s strong, soapy hands sliding over my flesh. Once, I had imagined what it would be like for the two of us to shower together. The reality was better than my wildest fantasies. Desire stirred within me, hot and slick. A glance at Rafe showed that my nearness was having a similar effect on him.
When he had washed me from neck to heel, I took the soap from his hand. “My turn,” I said, surprised at how breathy and sexy my voice sounded. It was an amazing feeling, running my lathered hands over his taut flesh, feeling his muscles quiver with longing at my touch, watching his eyes grow hot as my hands moved over his body, lower, lower…
With a growl, he turned off the water, swung me up into his arms, and carried me to bed.
He made love to me without a word, and I reveled in it.
He was here, and he was mine. There was no need for words. The look in his eyes, the sweet caress of his hands said it all eloquently.
Later, satisfied and sated, with my head pillowed on his chest, I whispered that I was sorry.
He covered my mouth with his fingertips. “Don’t,” he said quietly.
“But…”
“You don’t need to apologize for being human, for being afraid of the unknown, for wanting a home and a family.”
“Yes, I do.”
Rafe turned on his side so that we were lying face-to-face, our legs intimately entwined. “I knew what you were thinking, feeling.” He pressed his hand over my heart. “I knew how you felt, in here, but I let my pride get in the way of my good sense. I told myself I didn’t need you, and I walked away.” He lifted one hand, his fingertips sliding over my lower lip. “I’ll never leave you again,” he said, and I heard the promise in his voice, “unless you tell me to go.”
“It’ll never happen.” The short time we had been apart had been enough to convince me that I never wanted to be parted from him again. “Will you promise me something else?”
“Anything.”
“Please don’t ever shut me out again. I tried to find you and I couldn’t.”
He stroked my cheek, brushed a lock of hair from my brow. “I’m sorry. It will never happen again.” He blew out a sigh. “You saved me, you know.”
“What do you mean?” My hand slid over his chest. I loved the feel of his bare skin beneath my palm, the fact that I could touch him and taste him to my heart’s content.
“I was leaning toward the dark side,” he said with a wry grin. “I had decided to stop fighting what I am and take what I wanted. I was about to feed when I heard your voice.” He paused, his jaw tight. “Another minute, and I would have taken her. I would have taken it all.”
“But you didn’t. That’s what’s important. You didn’t.”
“You can’t know how hard it is,” he said, and there was no humor in his expression now, and none in his voice. “How hard it is to forever deny yourself that which you crave most, to smell it and taste it and not touch it.”
I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like for him.
“That woman owes her life to you.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, either.
He shook his head. “If I’d taken her, I would have regretted it the rest of my life.”
“From now on, we’ll be strong for each other. Just promise me one more thing.”
“Whatever you want.”
“Promise you’ll never turn me against my will.”
“I promise.”
I snuggled against him. I hated to ruin the moment between us, but it couldn’t be helped. “On the news tonight…”
“I heard. You were smart to leave town.”
“I didn’t know about that until later. Someone broke into my house. They broke the lock on the front door. I didn’t wait around to see who it was, or if they were still there.”
He squeezed my shoulders. “Like I said, smart.”
“What’ll we do now?”
“You’re going to stay here.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going back to Oak Hollow to put Edna and Pearl out of commission.”
“Why can’t Mara and Clive do it?”
“Clive took off for South America last night to take care of the last of the rebels. Mara’s gone to Texas to put a certain school out of business.”
“And she left you here to clean up the town?”
“More or less.”
“I need to go home,” I said, “and since you’re going back to Oak Hollow, I think I’ll just go with you.”
“Dammit, Kathy, don’t you listen? Didn’t I just say you were staying here?”
“Yes, you did, and I said I was going with you.”
“Stubborn woman.”
“So you’ve said. Now, do you want to spend the rest of the night arguing with me?” I trailed my fingertips down over his chest, lower, lower. “Or making love?”
“Is that a trick question?”
“Speaking of tricks, don’t even think of trying to leave without me. No turning into mist and sliding under the door.”
Laughing softly, he rose over me, his dark eyes glowing with desire. “I have a trick or two I think you’ll like,” he murmured, his voice husky.
I locked my hands behind his neck and drew his head down. “Show me,” I whispered. “Kiss me and make the world go away.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
I thought it was just words, but the walls around us shimmered and disappeared, and in their place I saw rolling hills and fields of flowers and trees. Fluffy white clouds drifted lazily across a pale blue sky, and in the distance, I heard music that was both soft and sensual.
“More Vampire magic?” I asked.
“You like it?”
“It’s perfect. Tell me you love me.”
“I love you as I’ve loved no other.” He rained kisses across my cheeks and my brow, the tip of my nose. “I love you as I will never love anyone else, in this life or the next.”
“And I love you.”
“I know. And I’ll never let you forget it.”
I ran my fingertips over his shoulders and down his arms, my hands measuring the width of his biceps. Sliding my hand between our bodies, I caressed the hard ridges in his belly, then slid my questing fingertips down to the juncture of his thighs.
“Careful,” he said, his voice low and husky.
Lifting my head, I nipped at his chin. “I’m through being careful.”
“That’s my brave girl.”
Turning my head a little to the side, I brushed the hair away from my neck. “Make love to me, Vampire.”
A hint of red glowed in Rafe’s eyes. He lowered his head until all I could see were his eyes. He uttered a low growl, and I felt the scrape of his fangs against my skin. When his mouth found mine, the real world melted away. Every touch was heightened, every sense intensified. The brush of his skin against my own was like nothing I had ever felt before, sensuous and erotic. I trembled at his touch, as he trembled at mine. His mouth was hot as he showered me with kisses. My hips arched to meet him, my body quivering with anticipation, and then we were no longer two, but one. One heart, one mind, one body.
I love you, I love you.
The words whispered in my mind, over and over again.
I writhed beneath him, wanting more of him, wanting all of him. I sobbed his name, reaching, reaching for that which eluded me. I gasped as his body quivered, shuddered, exploded deep within me, filling me with warmth, carrying me over the edge of desire into ecstasy. Sated and utterly content, I clung to Rafe’s shoulders while aftershocks of pleasure rippled through me.
Murmuring his name, I closed my eyes as sleep carried me away.
I woke to the sound of someone calling my name. I opened my eyes and closed them again, certain that I was dreaming.
“Wake up, dear.”
Fear shivered through me. I took a deep breath, determined not to let it show, “Pearl, what are you doing here? How did you get in?”
Sitting up, with the sheet drawn up to cover my nakedness, I glanced around the room, looking for Rafe, but there was no sign of him. Instead, I saw Edna standing inside the doorway with five men; I recognized two of them from the lab. They had come loaded for bear this time. The men were armed with short-barreled rifles that I was pretty sure were loaded with silver bullets. Edna held a large vial I assumed was filled with holy water. My stomach clenched as I remembered the effect it had had on Susie and Rafe. Pearl held a snub-nosed pistol in one hand, and a sharp wooden stake in the other. Men and women alike wore heavy silver crosses on thick silver chains around their necks.
“Did you really think we’d let you get away?” Edna asked. “You’ve seen too much, know too much.” She moved toward the bed, her eyes narrowed. “Where’s Raphael?”
I shrugged. “How should I know?”
Pearl slapped me hard enough to make my ears ring. “We don’t have time for games, dear.”
“I don’t know where he is.” That much was the truth. I had awakened in his arms a few hours before sunup, and we had made love until dawn. I had no idea where he was now.
“Bring her,” Edna said. “He won’t get away from us this time.”
One of the men used his rifle to gesture toward the door. “Let’s go, sister.”
I looked at Edna. “Do you mind if I get dressed first?”
She muttered something unladylike under her breath, then said, “Make it quick.”
Holding the sheet around me, I went into the bathroom and shut the door. My clothes were folded on the sink top where I had left them the night before.
I dressed slowly, my thoughts racing. Where was Rafe? When had he left the motel, and why? I slipped the cross and chain over my head, then sat on the edge of the bathtub and put on my shoes.
Tapping my fingertips on the rim of the tub, I looked up at the window. It was small, but I thought I might be able to fit through it. My purse, my keys, and my phone were in the other room, but that couldn’t be helped.
Taking a deep breath, I climbed on the edge of the tub and unlocked the window.
“Going somewhere?”
I scowled at the man standing in the alley. He made a shooing gesture with his gun. “Back inside with you now.”
With a sigh of defeat, I closed the window just as someone knocked on the bathroom door. “Time’s up, dear.”
Muttering an oath, I opened the door, wondering if this nightmare would ever end. Once again, I found myself sitting in the back of a van, my heart in my throat as I wondered what Pearl and Edna had planned for me now. At least I hadn’t been drugged this time.
I had expected our destination to be the lab in Oak Hollow; instead, I found myself back in the silver-lined room I had been in once before. Edna tossed me a pillow and a blanket and told me to make myself comfortable. Before she closed the door, I overheard Pearl say something about rounding up another group for more tests as soon as they dispatched the last of the previous subjects.
Dispatched. The word had a nasty ring of finality to it.
I didn’t know where Rafe had gone, but I was glad he hadn’t been there when Edna and Pearl and their henchmen arrived. Although he could be active during the day, I didn’t know how strong his powers were when the sun was up, or if he could have taken on Edna and Pearl and five men at the same time.
I blew out a sigh and closed my eyes. I was getting awfully tired of being used as bait. I just hoped Rafe wasn’t foolish enough to try to rescue me again, because if they got him in here with me, I didn’t know how we would ever get out.