Real Vampires Know Hips Happen (3 page)

“He’d better not.” I couldn’t look at her as I ran my hand over Jerry’s strong jaw and the slight roughness of his beard, there no matter how often he shaved. To my relief he moaned and his eyes fluttered open. He stared up at me for a moment then glanced around the hallway before focusing on me again.

“Jerry, are you all right? How do you feel?” I leaned closer, willing him to say something.

“Like I took a knife in my gut. But if you’re offering to feed me back to health, lass, then I reckon I’ll be up and about in no time.” He grinned and slid a hand to the back of my head to draw my neck down to his mouth where his fangs descended.

“Here? On this cold stone floor? Let’s get you cleaned up and moved to your bed.” I tried to pry his fingers off of me but he wasn’t ready to let go. “Come on, Jer. This is ridiculous. I’ll feed you. But not here.” I glanced at his father and Mara, who both watched us.

“Tell her, Da. The lass seems reluctant. But you paid her well, didn’t you? I need to feed. Let’s get on with it so I can go after the bastard who stuck me. Did you see who did it?” Jerry jerked me close again.

“Wait!” I put my hands on his chest and shoved. “Look at me.” I bit my lip, terribly afraid that I knew what was wrong. “Jeremiah Campbell, just who do you think I am?”

“Your name? No notion. But you’re comely enough and your blood smells like fine wine, damned if it doesn’t.” He sniffed the air but his smile faltered when he pressed a hand to his chest. “Bloody hell but that hurts. Let’s get on with it. Quit playing coy and do your duty.” He struggled as he
tried to sit up, then looked at his father. “Da, was it a MacDonald? Tell William to saddle Thunder and we’ll ride out as soon as I’ve healed. We’ll teach them to attack us inside our own home.”

“Easy, lad. We’ll get whoever is responsible. Lass, let him drink.” Angus nodded at me.

I took a breath to keep from crying. God, please, please say I had it wrong. A comely lass bought and paid for? Jerry pulled me close until his fangs pierced my neck. He drew deep and I closed my eyes, slipping my hands up to cling to his silky hair. I sat on the cold stone floor in his father’s castle, the man drinking my blood holding me as if we were strangers. Jerry, my sire, the love of my life, didn’t know me. What was I going to do?

Two

I
felt his scalp but couldn’t find any lumps that would explain away his memory loss. Obviously Jerry hadn’t bumped his head when he fell or, if he had, he’d already healed. He eased away from my jugular and licked the punctures.

“Delicious. Wait for me and I’ll be happy to enjoy a bit of sport with you later, lass. But right now I’ve got MacDonalds to hunt.” He grinned and winked, then bodily lifted me off, patting my butt as he did so.

It didn’t take mind reading to see that he thought of me as nothing more than a stranger, bought and paid for to please him any way he wanted. I jumped to my feet and glanced at his father.

“Jeremiah, there’s to be no riding out for you, Son. Not tonight. I’ve got plenty of men looking for whoever sent Mara in here with that tainted knife.” The laird gave Jerry a hand up until the men stood toe-to-toe. Jerry wasn’t happy with his father’s order.

“But, Da, I’m fine now, fit as can be. The lass’s blood healed my wound and I’m ready to ride. Bring the horses
around and we’ll be off.” Jerry grabbed his father’s arm. “I heard enough to understand that it’s the witch the MacDonalds hired to curse us who must be behind this.”

I’d heard enough myself. “Mara, what exactly do you remember? Was the name MacDonald ever mentioned?” I was heartily sick of her. She’d fallen sniveling in a heap to the stone floor and I jerked her to her feet. “Pull yourself together. Obviously no one here is holding you accountable. Though why, I can’t imagine.” I gave Jerry and his father a sharp look.

“Mara is a family friend. Has been for years. Why should we doubt her word? And who are you to lay hands on her? Or stick your nose into our business?” Jerry pushed between Mara and me. “I don’t even know your name. Speak, woman. How do we know it’s not your work, this tainted knife and witch outside our gates?”

I opened and shut my mouth, for once speechless. Any hope I had that I’d misread him vanished. He really didn’t know me. Oh, God, no. I wanted to kiss him until he felt our connection. Press my body against his and show him how we fit. But he looked at me without a single glimmer of recognition and my bravado leaked out until I wanted to sink to the floor and soak his kilt with my tears. Who had done this and why?

“Son, this woman isn’t a stranger to me. And definitely not to you. The knife was poisoned. It’s messed with your mind.” The laird dropped a heavy hand on Jerry’s shoulder and I saw him squeeze hard. “You aren’t remembering things aright. What year do you think this is?”

“Year? What kind of a question is that, Da?” Jerry faced his father. “It’s the year of our Lord, fifteen hundred and ninety-six, of course.”

“No, my boy. It isn’t.” Angus staggered, suddenly looking older than the thirty or so he’d been when he’d been turned vampire. “Jeremiah, lad, we’ve had centuries pass since those days. You met this woman in London a few years after that
year and made her vampire. You don’t remember?” Angus eased Jerry back into the living room. “Sit. Rest. I can see this is puzzling you.”

“Puzzling me?” Jerry jerked away from his father’s grasp. “Stop it! What kind of sick game is this? Centuries? No, I don’t believe you.” He did collapse onto the love seat though and run his hand through his hair, a familiar gesture that brought a lump to my throat. I must have made a sound of distress because he stared at me.

“And you claim I made this woman? Turned her? I don’t create other vampires. You know that, Da. Unless she was in danger of losing her life.” He glared when I sat beside him again. Like we’d sat, oh, it seemed like days but had actually been less than half an hour ago. “Are you taking her word for this?”

“Angus met me long ago, Jerry. When you brought me here, to the castle. To meet your family.” I suddenly couldn’t breathe and had to stop to collect myself. His face blurred but I wasn’t going to cry, not until I finished this. “You made me vampire for love. We, we were in love, Jeremiah. You’ve loved me for more than four hundred years.” I brushed away the tears that had finally fallen despite my best intentions. Damn. I hated the suspicious look he still gave me.

“Impossible. I can’t imagine clinging to one woman for so long.” He looked down to where my skirt had ridden up to expose my knees. “Though when you dress like a doxy, I can see the advantages in forming an alliance with one such as you.” Suspicion was replaced by something I wanted to slap off his face. “A hot couple, were we?” He slid a hand up my leg.

I hissed and grabbed his wrist, ready to add to his injuries. I didn’t care if he was stuck in the sixteenth century, I was not going to be treated like a cheap whore. We were going to get this straight right now.

“Gloriana, calm down. Give the lad some time to get his head straight. Perhaps you should fetch him a fresh shirt.
You know where his bedroom is.” The laird settled into his chair and picked up a cordless phone.

“I’m not leaving this room. Get a servant to fetch it.” I glared at Jerry when he stood to strip off his bloody shirt.

“So we share a bed.” He grinned. “And in my father’s house.” He dropped the shirt on the floor. I could see his wound now, a jagged cut that was already a bright pink and healing. But it was his chest and strong shoulders that made me lick my lips. We’d been apart so long. Months. I itched to touch him, my anger vanishing as I remembered he’d been poisoned. This was witchcraft at its worst.

“Keep looking at me like that and we’ll both go get that shirt and take a fine long time doing it.” Jerry moved closer and pulled me up. He stared down into my eyes, searching, as if hoping he’d find something there he recognized. Then he shook his head. “Damn, but I can’t recall…”

“Never mind, Jeremiah. Here’s Bertie with your shirt. Get dressed and rest. I want to get to the bottom of this attack.” His father nodded to one of his men who’d escorted a dazed Mara into the room.

Jerry drew on the shirt and sat again, rubbing his forehead. I resisted the urge to sit beside him this time and walked around to hold on to the back of the love seat. The attack. Yes, we needed answers.

“Mara, call your fiancé and get him over here. Let’s see if he knows anything about this.” Angus held out the phone.

“He wouldn’t, he’s not involved—” She took the phone with shaking hands. “But I do want him here. He can take me home.”

“When we’re satisfied your story is true.” Angus frowned as he studied his son. “Witches, poisoned knives. Now Jeremiah’s brain is amuddle. There’s much to explain and I don’t like your riddle, miss.”

“It’s not…” She flushed, then punched in a number. “Davy, can you come to Castle Campbell? I, I had a spot of trouble here and I need you.” Her voice broke and she handed the phone back to Angus.

“Yes, McLeod, she’s upset.” Angus listened for a minute. “Just come here and we’ll let her tell you all about it. See you in a bit.”

“Davy McLeod? I thought you married MacTavish, Mara. Where is he? And what the devil were you talking into?” Jerry leaned forward, totally focused on Mara. Even the apparent novelty of the telephone had held his fascinated gaze longer than I had.

“I did marry Mac. But, Jeremiah, that was centuries ago. He’s, um, gone.” Mara looked away, refusing to meet Jerry’s intense stare. “Some things are best forgotten.”

“Gone? What the hell does that mean?” Jerry jumped to his feet. “I’ll not forget my best friend.”

“Mac was killed by a vampire hunter, Jerry. It was horrible. We all mourned him.” I laid my hand on his back but he shrugged it away. “His death did force Mara to finally admit that her child Lily is yours, not sired by MacTavish.”

“What’s this?” Jerry rubbed his forehead. “What is the lass raving about, Mara? Lily? I remember you had a child before you were turned. But—”

“Can we get into this later? Obviously you’ve been poisoned and it’s affected your reason.” Mara’s eyes were wide and she had her hands clasped in front of her. She looked appropriately pitiful and Jerry was usually putty in her hands. I waited for him to fold.

“My reason is fine. Spit it out, woman. If I have a child, I’ll know it now or I’ll shake the truth out of you.” Jerry moved before either Angus or I could react. He jerked Mara to her feet. “Do I have a child? Did you keep her from me?”

“Yes! I passed her off as Mac’s as long as he was alive. He doted on her. He was a good father.” Mara’s hair flew around her head when Jerry gave her a good shake. I couldn’t believe he was acting out his anger. The Jerry I knew never would have laid a hand on her.

“You don’t think I would have made a good father?” His teeth were gritted, his fangs down. I swear he was ready to rip her throat open.

“No, I don’t! Or at least not back then. You didn’t love me. You tumbled me in your father’s hayloft and then went on your merry way to take advantage of the next besotted girl. I was nothing to you. Why should I give you a child after that? Mac adored me. He would do whatever I wanted, give me the world. You hied off to London soon after you got your fangs and then brought home this twopenny whore, embarrassing your parents and—” Mara gasped when he threw her back into her chair.

“I have never wasted my blunt on whores, woman. And I don’t tolerate liars. I’m beginning to think this knife attack may have been your idea. That there was no witch. Where did you get the poison that jumbled my mind and where can we find the cure?” Jerry glared down at her.

“Step away from her, Campbell.” A man that I assumed was Davy McLeod strode into the room and grabbed Jerry by the shoulders. He practically threw him at me and I was happy to catch him. Jerry was out of my arms in a blink, though, obviously eager for a fight.

“Careful, McLeod. I’m in a temper and beating you to a bloody pulp would go a long way toward satisfying my urge for action,” Jerry snarled, his fists up and a wicked gleam in his eyes.

“What the hell’s going on here? Mara, love?” Davy ignored the taunt and scooped Mara up to hold her in his arms.

“It was awful, Davy. I, I attacked Jeremiah. But it wasn’t my fault. I was under a witch’s spell. You’ve got to believe me.” She looked up at him with tears running down her cheeks. Damn, how could she look so beautiful while crying?

“Of course I believe you. Why would you need to lie about something like that?” Davy gave Jerry a hard look. “Touch her again, Campbell, and I’ll end you.”

“You could try.” Jerry was obviously still eager for a fight.

“That’s enough. I hear my men returning. Let’s see what they found outside.” Angus stepped between them and we all turned toward the door. Several burly men in Campbell
plaid crowded into the room. They brought with them the smell of damp wool and cold air.

“No sign of a witch or a MacDonald, Laird. I’ve sent some men into the village to search further,” the obvious head of the group reported. He nodded at Jerry. “Glad to see you on your feet, Jeremiah.”

“Aye, I’m on my feet, but seems I’ve lost my mind, Fergus. What year is it?” Jerry turned his back on Mara and her fiancé.