Radiance (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #3) (21 page)

“
Any way you look at it, I’m at a dead end. How do I go on without my child? Do I just bury myself in hunting vampires and in a relationship with another vampire hunter? Those things do help, but…”

“
But they don’t compare to what you had with your daughter.”

“
Exactly. You’re a loving mother, so you understand.” My voice got quivery. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen my daughter. I don’t know if she’s a vampire. Or human. Or dead. Or alive.”

“
I’ve been searching for her, too,” Sam said.

“
Still?”

“
Of course.”

“
Bless you. I didn’t know you were still on the job. Honestly, I’m heartbroken and fresh out of places to look.”

“
Where are you now?” she asked, her voice worried.

“
Except for Mikhail, who’s providing security for Ambra’s room at the hospital, and Jade and Nariko, who have Corbin the big bad werewolf on a leash in a park until moonset, the others went to Denny’s to eat. I took a bus from the hospital to Randy’s Donuts.”

“
On Manchester, by the airport?”

“
The one and only,” I said.

There were several moments of silence on her end.

“Sam, you still there?”

“
I just thought of something. You must return to the beginning.”

“
I don’t understand.”

“
Wait outside Randy’s. I’ll pick you up.” Sam hung up.

Then it hit me.

Full circle.

Chapter Twenty-two

Randy’s Donuts was about to close at midnight and Ron and Larry, the guys behind the counter, told me they would re-open at four a.m. They looked tired. I bought my box of donuts and walked outside. They locked the door behind me.

It was a mild night, not even jacket weather. I could see a few stars. Southern California was all lit up and the air was misty and warm, almost like bathwater.

Smells of the nearby airport—jet fuel, traffic, and hot concrete—made my nostrils flare. My healing nose still hurt. I would never let anyone head-butt me again, that was for sure.

I stood in the parking lot under the giant donut sculpture and scarfed warm glazed donuts, one after another, while I watched planes take off and land at LAX. On about my eighth donut, my longtime cravings for both donuts and plane watching were just about satisfied when the vampire took me by surprise.

Soundlessly swooping upon me and seizing me in her talons, she rose straight up into the night sky. We zoomed so fast that my cheeks were flapping from the G-force and the box of donuts was torn from my grasp.

Besides me, her talons also clutched what looked like a pair of pants stuffed with her clothing. I was impressed at her foresight.

When I caught my breath, I said, “Sam, when you said you’d pick me up, I didn’t know you meant it literally.”

The leathery-winged creature with strange eyes seemed to nod in amusement.

Good to see you, old friend.
I sent her a thought and knew she heard it because she clutched me tighter in a way that was comforting, even though she was a creature that looked like a cross between a giant fruit bat and a baby pterodactyl. She had me in her talons, but all I could feel was trust.
I missed you a lot.

No one ever says that to me anymore.
I heard her say the thought in my head.

I replied silently,
They should. You’re pretty damn special.

The creature made two little cries that sounded like a croon. Except more birdlike—
awww-awww
.

Where?
was her next thought.

“
You want the address of my old house?”

The strange eyes blinked patiently.

“Head toward Malaga Cove. It’s easier to show you than to tell you the address. Do you know where the Wayfarer Chapel is?”

She nodded slightly.

I sent her a mind picture of the aerial view and she went that way. Obviously, she knew the Southern California coastline.

I heard the almost-deafening roar of a jet coming straight for us. Samantha did a sudden bank and roll, lifting us out of the path of a 757. Then she cut through a hot, acrid jet wash from another jet that left me gasping for a few moments. I could taste jet fuel exhaust and I coughed.

“That was a close one.”

I don’t usually fly near the airport
came her thought.

“
Seems wise,” I said aloud.

Sam sped up and left behind the airport traffic. Her leathery wings flapping hard, she headed toward the property that I had once loved and still owned, but had not seen since my wife’s…
burning.

Tears streaked down my cheeks, whether from the aftermath of jet fumes or from renewed grief, I didn’t know. I liked my grief to be private, but since my wife had been killed and my daughter kidnapped, my life had been under a microscope by my vampire hunter friends and by Samantha. It was a little uncomfortable that everyone knew so much about me.

I guided Sam to my family acreage, which was empty of buildings since I had blown up my burned house and let it slide into the sea to thwart the cops from thinking I had murdered my wife. If I was honest with myself, it was a way to make sure that I could not come back to stay.

“
Down there,” I said softly, and pointed to my mom’s overgrown perfume garden on the edge of the cliff.

Sam landed softly on the grass and let go of me and also, the pair of pants stuffed with her clothing.

I walked to a bench facing the sea and sat without looking back, so that Sam could put on her clothes in privacy after she transformed.

When I heard her walk up behind me, I saw out of the corner of my eye that she was dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank top with a sweatshirt-weight hoodie over it. The hood was deployed and she had on a floppy sunhat over the hood. She zipped up the hoodie and put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it. I saw that she was wearing gloves. She was completely covered, except for her face, which was white with sunscreen cream.

I looked up. “You’re wearing sunscreen.”

“
Well, duh. The sun will be up soon.”

I nodded. “Sit down. Soak in the view.”

She sat next to me. “I can’t imagine owning a piece of property right on the ocean. It’s spectacular.”

“
It’s been in my family for over a hundred years.”

“
Incredible.”

“
This property would have been Kristin’s someday.”

“
Don’t talk about her like that. She’s not dead. I’ve been checking my sources for such things at the police department.”

“
Thank you. Do you still think she’s in California?”

“
I believe so.”

I sucked in air and let it out. “This feels surreal.”

“When’s the last time you were here?”

“
The day that Megan was murdered—burned—and Kristin was kidnapped.” I let go of a shuddering breath. “Ambra came for me and took me away from the crime scene. We even fought and killed a vampire together at an overlook on the way out of here.”

“
I didn’t know that. Ambra’s special to you, isn’t she?”

“
I’ve been lucky, Sam. I’ve loved and been loved by two special women. Megan was a wonderful wife and mother. I don’t think we even had one disagreement. She joyfully lived for me, and for our child. She was tender and nurturing. Selfless.”

“
And Ambra?”

“
Ambra is the anti-Megan, who was the old-fashioned, all-American homemaker who did everything I asked, without question or doubt. Ambra is confident, strong, loyal, brave…and passionate. We regularly save each other from death. We’re brutally honest at a gut level that’s sometimes painful. Ambra knows her own mind and she’s not likely to change it for anyone.”

Sam laughed. “Ambra sounds like me.”

“It’s a less-polite relationship than I had with Megan, that’s for sure. Ambra’s out of my league in so many ways, and yet, she chose me and somehow, we
fit each other. Ambra is more like me than she is like Megan was. She’s almost the female version of me. So, as you can imagine, we clash heads sometimes.”

“
Powerful women are different.”

“
So true. Everything that Ambra does is for her cause, keeping the world safe from evil vampires. She’s stubborn to a fault and opinionated, too. Yet, she’s my soul mate, my sounding board and often, the distinct voice of reason in my life.”

“
That’s beautifully terrifying. And vice versa.”

“
No kidding. Tonight, after a conversation I would rather not explain, I asked her to marry me.”

“
Holy moly.”

“
Don’t get too excited. I was clumsy about the way I asked her and my timing was off. She told me to ask her again after I find Kristin.”

“
Sounds wise.”

We looked at the moon over the ocean and didn’t speak for several minutes.

“So, where do I look now for my daughter?”

“
Here.”

“
Here? Now?”

Sam smiled and there were happy tears in the corners of her eyes. “I hear a child’s heartbeat.”

Chapter Twenty-three

“
Which way?”

Sam angled her head. “That way, into the trees.”

I jumped up off the bench and Sam followed me.

“
We’re heading for Kristin’s tree.”

“
What tree?”

“
Where our initials are carved—hers, mine and Megan’s. She called it her wishing tree.”

I ran toward it. My boots thrashed the overgrown grass and my heart thumped wildly.

When I saw her, I skidded to a halt. The moonlight spilled on her face like milk and her long blonde braid looked like silver.

Near her wishing tree, Kristin was sound asleep in a sleeping bag. Next to her was a backpack with clothes and books spilling out of it, a shopping bag stuffed with groceries, a flashlight, an umbrella and scattered art supplies. Her head rested on a travel pillow and a pair of new tennis shoes were right next to the sleeping bag. A short distance away, I also noticed two beat-up ten-speed bikes.

“Kristin!” I yelled.

She awoke with a startled cry. “Daddy! Oh my God, Daddy! You’re here!”

She scrambled up from the sleeping bag. She was several inches taller and quite a few pounds heavier than the last time I’d seen her. Barefoot and in shorts and a tank top, she launched herself at me, almost knocking me down. She was so strong that for a moment, I wondered if she was a vampire.

“
Hi, sweetie. Are you okay?”

“
Daddy! I’m not a vampire, if that’s your first question after all this time.” She covered my cheeks with her kisses. “Feel me. I’m warm. I’m human!”

“
Yes, you are!” I hugged her.
Thank God!

“
Your hair is black now?” She flung her arms around my neck and cried against my shirt.

“
Yeah, it’s black now.”

“
What happened to your nose?”

“
I had to get a new one. I was playing the ‘got-your-nose’ game with some little kids and the game got out of hand.”

“
Oh, Daddy, you’re still the same funny father.”

“
Yay.” I pulled her to my heart and kissed her blonde head. She had grown so much!

“
Where have you
been
?” I choked out.

“
Running. Traveling. Hiding. Looking for you.”

“
By yourself?”

“
No. I have a friend.” Kristin looked into the tangle of overgrown bushes in the perfume garden. “Come on out. My dad’s here!”

A tall figure glided out of the shadows. I immediately recognized her long black and white dreads and her coat made of human hair.

“Delilah!” I shouted, incredulous. “Look out, Kristin!” She stepped back and I drew my silver blade out of my boot.

“
No!” Kristin screamed.

Samantha Moon leaped to my side immediately, a blur streaking past the corner of my eye. “Stay behind me, Rand.”

“Sam, you look out. I don’t want you to be hurt…I thought I killed you, Delilah!”