Vampire King of New York (28 page)

He knew the invaders had killed half of his household staff, before they retreated. He wasn’t sure why they retreated. They had started to break the door down but stopped shortly after Max and Evelyn left. He’d received all this information from the Arnhem Knights that arrived on the scene. Noblesse was among them. A few of the assassins were sighted and pursued. The others got away. It was the same scenario over and over that worried Max. There was an attack. A few were pursued and usually caught. But others always got away. It was orchestrated. If it had been less than obvious that the mysterious master vampire was after him, now there was no doubt.

Evelyn wiped her face. “Max, are you mindtalking with the Arnhem Knights?”

“Yes, my love.”

“Were many killed defending us?”

“Some of my household staff.”

Evelyn could feel her heart shaking. “Does David know where we are?”

“He does now and recommends we stay put for a while.”

She nodded. “So we’re laying low like fugitives. What are you going to do for clothes?”

“I’ll order some tomorrow.”

She got up and walked down the hall.

“Where are you going?”

Evelyn walked into her bedroom and started rummaging through the closet again. Max brought out a very flimsy long white evening gown. “Will you wear this for me?”

“Not tonight, Max. I’m going to wear pajamas and sleep in this room, because I need to get my head together.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea. Is that the bed you shared with your husband?”

“No, I got rid of that bed the day after Jack was buried. I was angry about his mistress and all those years he worked late in the city, all the nights I waited up for him. I was stupid not to see it. So I bought this sleigh bed to start over. It has a feather mattress.”

“You’re going to think this is strange, but I have the exact same bed in my home in Iceland. I saw it in a catalog and ordered it shipped the same day. The sleigh styling is great for dreams and the down mattress is like heaven.”

“I don’t know about that. I couldn’t sleep very well, when I first tried it out. Then I moved to New York.”

“We should move this bed down to the guest room and exchange it for the bed there. That way you can sleep with me,” he suggested.

She shook her head. “I love you, Max, but tonight I need to be by myself. Please.”

“Okay.” He went out of the room and down the hall. She didn’t follow.

Max went to lie on the bed. It was comfortable but lonely. He was acutely aware of Evelyn up the hall in her room. He felt her lay on the bed and fall asleep. He would try to sleep but this wasn’t convincing Evelyn that he would make a great husband. Max took off his robe and slipped under the covers. The light remained on in the hall.

He closed his eyes and immediately fell into a dream.

Evelyn was standing in a graveyard looking down at a stone.

She wept, and he took her into his arms. “He was just a little boy. It’s not fair to lose him.” He held her, as her body convulsed in agony. Max woke and sat up. She was crying all alone in the sleigh bed, and her pain washed into him and became his.

Unable to bear it any longer, Max got up and walked down the hall. Her door was ajar. She seemed so small and helpless in that big bed. Max climbed in and hugged her.

“Evie, I’m here. Please, don’t cry all night. It’s not good for you.”

She sniffed and opened her eyes. “Maybe I can cry it out of me. Maybe then the pain will go away. Max, I’m dying inside. I can’t stop the hurt I feel.”

He kissed her on the head then on the lips. She swooned in his arms.

After a long time, she wiped her face with her hands. “Let’s go to your room. I’m not going to get any sleep here.”

When they got out of bed, Evelyn paused. “I didn’t find you anything to sleep in.”

“I’m fine the way I am.” He picked her up and carried her down the hall. They didn’t speak but went right to bed. The fireplace glowed warmly across the room. She relaxed against him, and he rubbed her back.

“Sleep, my Evie.”

She cuddled against him still wearing the blue silk pajamas, and he nothing at all. “Max, if I said yes to your marriage proposal, what would happen next?”

He leaned on his elbow to look at her. “That would be up to you. You could choose whatever ceremony would make you happy. Afterward we would leave for my home in Iceland. I want you to see how beautiful it is. Then I’ll take you on a honeymoon around the world.”

“Where would we live?”

“We could live part of the time in New York and part of the time in Iceland.”

“Max, I don’t know how to say this, but I need to be near my sister. When I thought she was dead, I grew empty inside. I’ve only had her back for a short while.”

He caressed the side of her face. “I will leave where we live up to you. I don’t care as long as I’m with you.”

She kissed him, but it was a chaste kiss. Evelyn rolled over and drew his arms around her. “I really need sleep. I still feel shaky inside.”

“I know.” He kissed her hair. “It will pass. I can promise this. I’ve known terrible pain and eventually you live through it until it grows into a sad memory. Then one day you’ll smile, and you remember only all the happy moments.”

Evelyn took one of his hands and raised it to her lips, kissing his fingers. “Thank you, my Maximum.”

Just hearing her say her private name for him filled him with such contentment. He was the happiest man alive, and he did feel alive with her in his arms. Her small heartbeat slowed, and she fell asleep. Max watched the flames on the hearth rise and fall. There was no doubt in his mind now that they would marry.

Dreams can be unpredictable
.

Svenna stood on the edge of the fjord looking down. He walked up to her and she turned. But it wasn’t Svenna. It was, but it wasn’t. It was Evelyn.

“Reynard, why did you bring me here?” Looking at the ground, she shook her head and then looked at him in confusion. “Max?”

“Svenna?”

“No, but I have spent my entire life seeing through her eyes. Seeing you.”

“I have dreamt about you for over a thousand years, Evelyn. Never giving up. Begging the gods.”

“You asked Freya to find me.”

“Yes.”

He quickly grabbed her and pulled her to safety.

“I love you, Max. If only you were human, then things wouldn’t be so complicated.”

He scratched his head and with a smile said, “If I were human, I would still be a shapeshifter.”

Evelyn gazed down at the wolf ring on her finger. “Can we change this scene?”

“Why?”

“We need to go to the library at the Arnhem Society.”

Before he could ask any questions, they were standing in the library. Lily A. Snow, the historian for the Arnhem Society and only other human to ever enter this vampire sanctum, was bent over an ancient tome.

She spoke without looking up from her reading. “Can I help you find something?”

“I need to know more about shapeshifters,” Evelyn said.

Lily looked up. “There are over a thousand books on shapeshifters. Is there something more specific you want to know about them?”

“Mating,” Max added. “We mean their mating habits, how they choose their mates.”

Lily left the table and walked down several rows of shelves. They followed at her heels. Reaching up, she brought down a dusty brown book and handed it to Max. He sat at a desk and went to the table of contents.

“Here is it? How to Know Your Mate. Page fifty-seven.” Nervously he flipped to the page. “A shapeshifter knows his or her lifemate at first sight. The reaction is quick, definite, and biological.” Max smiled.

“So you knew I was your lifemate, because you’re a shapeshifter?”

“I knew who you were the moment I saw you.”

The dream changed again
.

Evelyn knew this village. She was Stevla, barely in her womanhood. If only she could escape before dawn. In the briefest moment, Stevla lingered gazing up at the stars and wondering what destiny would bring her. A few cook fires still burned, their embers dancing in the night air and disappearing. The scent of pine wafted in her nostrils and for an instant, Stevla felt free.

A roar. She stumbled then ran. Arrows split the sky. Stevla fell into the mud. Men with painted faces and horns on their heads stormed into the village. Heads rolled into the dark, cut off by axes. Swords flashed silver in the dwindling light.

Crawling on her hands and knees behind a hut, Stevla dared to peek out. A rough hand grabbed her and dragged her from her hiding place.

Time stood still. He with his eyes like a frozen winter’s day gazed at her, a confused expression on his face, as if he didn’t expect to see her there. He was about to speak when a shadow passed the edge of her vision. The tall blond, broad shouldered, and strong-armed, held her suspended in time. She couldn’t think or move. His warm gaze bathed her with visions of passion, tenderness, a hearth of her own.

“No.” The warrior shouted, pushing a horned one away, tugging on Stevla’s arm at the same time. The defeated one roared rushing at them again. The warrior pushed her aside. Swinging his sword, he cracked the hammer’s handle. The horned one stumbled backward. The blond warrior shouted and his enemy retreated into the dark.

Svetla was about to crawl away, when he threw her over a shoulder. She screamed but with all the screams and cries in the massacre, hers was unheard. It wasn’t until water splashed all over did she realize she was headed for a North man’s boat. Squirming and wiggling to free herself from the arms holding her only earned her a slap on the rump.

The world swirled as he climbed into the boat with her over his shoulder. She whirled around and fell down onto a small soft hill. Looking up with fear in her heart, she was relieved to see the golden haired warrior who had saved her.

Other women on the ship screamed, and for the first time Svetla knew what was going on. They were being raped.

The blond one fell on top of her. He held her against him. She whimpered and implored, “Je vous en prie, Monsieur. Ne fais pas ça, s’il vous plaît. Non, non.”

“Do not be afraid, my little one,” he said in her language.

She stopped moving.

“I will not harm you, just do as I say.”

His eyes held her transfixed. This was the moment when he knew. Evelyn understood what he had meant about knowing at first sight. Living the event again, she saw the details with new clarity.

Evelyn woke and stretched. Several questions were foremost in her mind. Then she noticed that Max wasn’t in bed.

“Max!” She got up on her knees.
I’m alone. Where is he? What if something’s happened to him?
Cold fear dripped down her skin.

The door burst open.

Chapter 17

Max rushed into the room carrying a tray of food. He put it down on the blanket chest at the foot of the bed and hurried to take her into his arms.

“What’s wrong? You screamed my name?” He looked around, expecting to find some creature half-hidden in the corner.

She shook her head. “No. I was just scared when I woke and didn’t find you. We narrowly escaped, in New York  . Oh, God.”

He put a hand on her cheek. “It’s okay.”

Evelyn laughed. “I wanted to talk to you about my dream. In it, I knew everything you were feeling, but I can’t seem to remember it right now.”

“You need to eat. You didn’t eat enough yesterday.” He got up and brought her the tray, placing it on her lap. Then he sat cross-legged opposite her.

“Where did you get all this food? I know I didn’t have anything in the house except for some cans of soup when I left.”

“While you were asleep I went through your kitchen and found your book of important numbers. I called the food delivery service and explained I was your guest and put it on my credit card. In addition to sending for some clothes and blood from a special delivery service.”

“Special delivery blood?”

“There are several vampire-owned companies that provide the service.”

She gasped. “What if the master vampire traces us here, because of your credit card trail?”

He laughed. “Evie, vampires don’t think that way, especially ancient ones.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, she giggled. “Max, you’re an ancient with a credit card.”

They both laughed.

Max was relieved to see that smile on her face. She’d been so sad that it worried him. “Fortunately for us, vampires and humans don’t think alike.”

“Really, Maximum?” She unbuttoned a few buttons of her pajama top.

He couldn’t help but drop his gaze to admire her sexy cleavage. “Okay, now that’s really unfair.”

“Unfair?”

He forced himself to look at the food. Picking up a fork, he stabbed some scrambled egg and held it up for her.

“Are you going to feed me? You know there’s no way I’m going to eat all this alone. I could feed you?”

“All right.” He held up the fork again and she took a bite.

She did the same and he ate.

“You do realize a single human wouldn’t normally eat this much, right? I mean you got carried away with your cooking.” She took another small bite that he carefully placed in her mouth.

“She might if she were with child.” He accepted another mouthful from her fork.

Then she dropped it with a clang.

“Max, are you planning to get me pregnant? Did you make another call to purchase Shuma?”

“No, my Evie. I will only get you pregnant when you ask me to, and I must insist that before I become a father, I want to be your husband.”

The blush started pink right beneath the skin. Very attractive. She looked away. He touched her face briefly, barely making contact, but still he felt the heat rising in her body. The rhythm of her heart increased. She bit her lower lip.

“I know women in this age have children without being married. They feel that they don’t need a man around the house. I need you, Evie. I love you.”

Like a rose, her blush gained full bloom with fiery brilliance, her breath rising and falling in shallow gasps. Her body temperature increased too.

Max enjoyed being near her, being able to sense her like this. Her feelings of desire and confusion washed over him in equal waves.