The Reluctant Goddess (The Montgomery Chronicles Book 2) (3 page)

“What did she mean, I’m a danger to you?”
 

“Nothing. She was just surprised to see you here. I’ve never invited a woman to stay at the castle.”
 

I pushed that thought aside for the moment.
 

At my door he hesitated. “We have to talk about what happened tonight,” he said.

I only nodded. I hoped that the discussion had something to do with his changing into a golden retriever. Maybe the presence of his mother was a deterrent. Maybe he just didn’t want to fess up.
 

I stared after him for a moment before I closed the door.
 

Dinner had been an annoyance. So, too, Janet Travis, but the biggest regret I had was that I hadn’t finished my cheesecake.
 

Do I have my priorities in order, or what?
 

Although it was early, I got ready for bed. Trying to kill a master vampire had exhausted me. I took Nonnie’s potion, got into bed and turned off the light, grateful for the red glow of the intercom on the bedside table. Somehow, knowing that Dan or Mike was within hailing distance reassured me.
 

I woke up sick to my stomach. I made it to the bathroom with seconds to spare, throwing up my excellent dinner until nothing was left in my stomach.

Maybe there had been something in the potion I should worry about. Or maybe this was just part of the whole process. Or it could be a reaction from whatever Il Duce had slipped me two nights ago. Please, God, don’t let it be early, early morning sickness.
 

I sat against the bathroom wall, not daring to move. I congratulated myself on my wisdom a few minutes later when the retching began again. When it was over, I wanted to press my cheek against the cool terrazzo floor. I was shaking violently, sweat pouring off of me. I couldn't remember ever being as sick. No, there was that time in college when someone had given me a beer and a shot. More than one, actually. I'd spent most of that night in the bathroom.

It looked like I was going to do the same tonight. But it was worth it if the potion worked.
 

The very last thing I wanted was to be pregnant with a vampire's child.

C
HAPTER
T
HREE

Lassie, is that you, boy?

The knock on the door woke me up. I had spent most of the night in the bathroom and when my stomach finally settled it was nearly dawn. I glanced at the clock. Ten. I hated waking up that late, because it meant everything was pushed back a few hours. Even though I wasn't working any longer, I still wanted a routine, some feeling of normalcy.

The knock came again. I got out of bed, opened the door, peering around it. Dan stood there with a tray in his hands. The smell of coffee and waffles drifted tantalizingly toward me.
 

"I'm not dressed," I said while looking longingly at the waffles.
 

My stomach grumbled, but I didn’t know if it was from hunger or nausea at this point. All I knew was that everything hurt below my chest. I don’t get sick very often, but when I do I seem to make up for all the healthy times.
 

“We need to talk.”
 

“Okay,” I said. “Give me a minute to get into the bathroom. I’m really not dressed.”
 

I’d changed into a clean nightgown around three and it was one of those short things with matching panties.
 

He nodded.
 

I closed the door on him and scampered to the bathroom.

I was presentable, if the word encompassed jeans and a top, in record time. I finger combed my hair. Makeup? Oh, who cared right now?
 

He had set the tray on the circular glass table on the broad balcony. My borrowed room overlooked the front of the castle and beyond, to the lake. I averted my eyes, not willing to recall the events of the night before. I might consider myself a strong woman, but I'm intermittently strong. I have weak moments, too.

He poured me a cup of coffee and placed the plate of waffles in front of me along with three different colored syrups.
 

Once upon a time I had been cautious about how much sugar I ate. I wasn't low carb, per se, but I did avoid certain foods. I don't suppose it mattered anymore. Did vampires get diabetes?
 

Another question – how many questions did I have? A hundred? Coming up on a thousand?
 

Maybe I should be one of those people who simply accepted everything without curiosity. But I'd never been that way even when…my thoughts stuttered to a halt. Even when I was alive. Although my version of vampirism hadn’t altered my life all that much it seemed to be affecting the people around me.

My grandmother had defaulted to a witch. My mother had become a killer.
 

“I didn't have a chance to debrief you last night," he said. “How did it go with Maddock?”
 

So we were going to pretend that he wasn't a golden retriever and had the power to shape shift. Or maybe in his canine guise, he didn't understand the world with human knowledge. Did I need to tell him he’d rescued me?
 

“As well as I expected," I said.

"Were you able to inject him with the virus?"

I nodded. "I stuck him, but it was through his clothes. It felt like I made contact, but I'm not sure. I wasn't about to let Il Duce get naked.”
 

He only nodded at that. “He's not going to leave you alone."

That didn't require any comment on my part. I knew that. He knew that. The whole world knew that.

According to Niccolo Maddock, I was one and a half times a vampire, a creature who, because of her nature, might be the savior to all vampires. I could walk in the sun. I had a menstrual cycle. Ergo, I was fertile. To test out his theory, Niccolo did his best to impregnate me. Which was why I was diligently taking my grandmother's potion morning and night. I was going to have to take the gawdawful stuff again, as soon as Dan left.
 

"I can protect you here, Marcie," he said.

I didn't argue with that, either. I felt safe at Arthur's Folly or maybe it was simply being around Dan. A tall muscular kind of guy, the former Ranger exuded confidence I clung to, especially now. I wasn't feeling all that brave and adventurous and most definitely not kick ass.

Plus, he smelled good, like sandalwood, something sweet, and pine. Like walking through the great outdoors with a sugar cookie. Who wouldn’t love that?
 

"I want to learn how to shoot a gun," I said. "And I don't think it would hurt to take some martial arts classes."

His smile trembled on his lips but wasn't given permission to grow any farther.

"I can show you some moves," he said.

"You probably have a gym on the premises, don't you?"

He nodded.

"Do you have a shooting range?"

“I do.”
 

I took the first bite of my waffle. Topped with a mixture of berries, it was the most delicious thing I'd put in my mouth since the last meal I'd eaten here. Bliss made me close my eyes for a moment, savoring the powdered sugar and the syrup that tasted like a combination of honey and apple juice. Sweetness zinged through my veins, making me feel like I might survive my nausea after all.

That thought brought me back around to Dan's earlier comment.

"I've got to stop him somehow," I said.

"How are you going to do that?"

I shook my head, took another bite of waffle, partly to give me time to formulate an answer, but mostly because I loved the waffles.

“If the situation were different," I said, finishing my bite. "I would appeal to the Council. But I'm afraid that if I told them what Maddock thought I could do, I’d end up chained in a basement somewhere and used as a broodmare."

"Which is exactly what Maddock wants to do to you," he said.

I knew that. Stripped of all its fear, all of the accessories of terror, the point was that I was nothing more than a uterus and a blood supply. I had no consciousness that mattered. I wasn’t Marcie. If I represented hope, it wasn’t for who I was as much as what Maddock thought I could do.
 

I couldn't go anywhere near the Council.
 

I picked up my fork and started eating again. Say what you will, they were damn good waffles.
 

When I was just myself, Marcie Montgomery, insurance adjuster, single woman, I didn't have all the answers for my life. I didn't know if I was going to find someone to love, if I was going to buy a house or a new car. I didn't know if my income was going to increase or if I would get sick with something terminal. I didn’t know if it was going to rain tomorrow or if next winter would finally be cold.
 

Yet as a human, I didn't have as many important questions as I did now. What was the meaning of my life? Who am I? What am I?
 

I had a feeling I’d better get used to this uncertainty. It was probably part and parcel of who I was.

"Maybe my grandmother’s coven would help me if they knew the whole story."

“I think you’d be more likely to start an internecine war.”

I decided to tell him the whole truth. "My father was a vampire," I said. "I don't know who he was, but Maddock does. I think he killed him."

"Vampires can't have children.”
 

"That's the common wisdom, isn't it? They’re not supposed to have anything to do with witches, either. My mother comes from a long line of witches. You take my mother, combine my father and voilà! You have me."

He didn't speak for a moment.
 

“Is that why you can do the things you can do?” he asked. “Eat and go out in the daylight?”
 

I shrugged. “I haven’t the slightest idea, but it makes sense. I’m a hybrid, so I can do odd things.”
 

"Why doesn't Maddock just use you as a donor?” he asked. “Why bother with a child?"

It was a question I hadn't considered.

“Antibodies? A rejection factor? The child would be half Maddock’s, so maybe that has something to do with it.”

What the hell did I know about the science of genetics? I was a genetic mutation, something that shouldn’t be alive but was.
 

“I can’t go to the police. They have no jurisdiction over vampires. I can’t go to the Council, because they would salivate to get me under their control. That only leaves the witches, unless you know of some other paranormal group that could help.”

I looked pointedly at him. “Like shape shifters? People who seemed to be one thing, but were another?”

I’ve met plenty of those people as humans, like Bill for example. My former significant other had seemed to be a loving, caring human being, but he’d ended up being a hundred and eighty pounds of golfing, basketball playing, football nut. He liked baloney and grilled cheese sandwiches, sex on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and someone else balancing his checkbook. If Bill was deeper than that, he’d never revealed it to me.

Maybe that was my fault. I had been willing to accept whatever someone gave me. How odd that the new vampire, Pranic, Dirugu Marcie wasn’t.
 

I sat back and regarded him steadily. Dan was a good looking guy, if I was into good looking guys lately. His jaw was well defined, his lips full. His green eyes were shielded by long, fluttery lashes, a feminine feature that did nothing to soften the square lines of his face. His eyes had the ability to pin me in place but softened regularly enough to give me the impression he was kind. He was also stubborn, secretive, and a golden retriever when he wished to be.

I remembered the packet that Eagle Lady had given me. She was the instructor for my vampire orientation class, who had an unfortunate resemblance to an eagle. I’d gone to her for advice and she’d immediately broken her promise of confidentiality and told Niccolo Maddock what I’d said. That first class had been informative, however. She’d provided me with information about other paranormal creatures, members of the Brethren.
 

I couldn’t remember all the information about shape shifters and I really didn’t want to get into a discussion about their history, modus operandi, religion, and general worldview. Right at the moment all I really wanted to know was if Dan changed into Mutt. Did I have him to thank for saving me from Maddock?
 

Maybe I was going to have to be more direct. I drank the rest of my coffee, set the cup down on the saucer with a delicate clink, my eyes focused on the china rather than him.

“Are you my dog?”

Could I even claim a dog as mine if the dog wasn’t really a dog? I was sad about that and the feeling of loss surprised me. I’d never had a dog before and I had willingly accepted Mutt into my life. I’d even considered enrolling for training classes, taking him to the vet for a checkup, making sure he was on heartworm medication. All the things a responsible owner does with a pet. But I don’t suppose I have to worry about the vet appointment and all the other things if he wasn’t real.