I nodded. It made sense. Even if she doled it out over time, it would take years to share her blood with all the Vampires.

  “But that’s not the only reason,” Rafe said. “Being able to walk in the daylight gives her an edge over most of the rest of our kind. You understand?”

  Oh, I understood, all right. It gave her a decided advantage to be able to be awake when all the other Vampires were asleep and helpless.

  “What are your grandparents doing here?” I asked. “I thought they were in France.”

  “Mara summoned them.”

  “Another council of war?”

  “Another council of peace,” Rafe said. He slipped his arm around my waist and drew me closer. “Do you want to talk all night?” he asked, nibbling on my ear.

  “I don’t know,” I murmured. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Oh, a little of this,” he said, trailing slow, hot kisses along my neck. “A little of that.” His hands skimmed over my body, leaving a quivering mass of desire in their wake.

  “I’ll give you an hour to stop that,” I said, and surrendered to the magic that was Raphael.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I woke smiling the next morning. It was getting to be a habit, I thought, one I didn’t want to break.

  Humming softly, I turned on the radio in the kitchen while I poured myself a cup of coffee.

  “…in other news, longtime resident Susie McGee is still missing.”

  Susie, missing? I turned up the volume.

  “According to her husband, Mrs. McGee went to a parent-teacher conference three nights ago and never returned home. Her car was found on the edge of Brawley Woods late last night. Mr. McGee was questioned at length by the Oak Hollow Police Department and later released. In what may be a related story, Mark Littlejohn has also been reported missing. According to his wife, Mary Littlejohn, Mark went bowling with a couple of friends three nights ago and never came home. The police are currently questioning Mark Littlejohn’s associates at work. If you have information relating to either of these missing persons, please call the Oak Hollow Police Department. In the meantime, local police are advising residents to be sure to lock their doors and windows and to remain inside after dark. In stock market news…”

  I switched off the radio. Two people had gone missing on the same night. That didn’t sound good. I didn’t want to believe that anything bad had happened to Susie, so I searched my mind for some other explanation. Maybe she and Mark had run off together. I shook my head. Even if such a far-fetched scenario was true, Susie would never have left her kids behind. She might leave her husband, but never her sons. What if Mark was the father of Susie’s new baby and Rick had found out and…and what? Killed them both and buried the bodies? I shook my head. There had to be another explanation, something a little less gruesome.

  I couldn’t imagine Susie sneaking out to meet another man. As for Mark Littlejohn, I had never met the man and knew nothing about him except that he owned a roller-skating rink on the outskirts of town.

  Susie was still much on my mind when I opened the store later that morning. Who would want to hurt a pregnant woman? Poor Susie…I thrust the thought from my mind. Until I knew otherwise, I refused to believe the worst.

  Edna and Pearl stopped by later that afternoon. Instead of their usual colorful attire, they both wore black from head to foot, relieved only by tinkling silver bracelets, dangling earrings in the shape of crosses, and silver necklaces.

  “Isn’t it awful, dear?” Pearl murmured. “Poor Susie! And Mark. Such a nice boy.”

  Edna clucked softly. “I knew something like this would happen, what with all those Vampires and Werewolves stalking the streets after dark.”

  Pearl laid her hand on my arm. “Susie was a friend of yours, wasn’t she?”

  “Yes. Have you heard anything?”

  “No, only what they said on the news this morning. But when people go missing in Oak Hollow…” Pearl’s voice trailed off.

  Edna nodded. “It’s so sad. I don’t know how Rick will raise those boys without her.”

  “Stop it! She’s not dead. I can’t believe it. I won’t!”

  “I know how you must feel, dear,” Pearl said kindly. “But it’s better to face the truth, however ugly it might be, and then put it behind you.”

  “We’re on our way over to see Rick and offer our condolences,” Edna said. “We just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing.”

  “Be sure to go right home tonight,” Pearl said.

  “And lock your doors,” Edna added.

  “I will. If you hear anything…”

  “We’ll let you know, dear,” Pearl said.

  I stared after them. They had to be wrong. Susie couldn’t be dead. She just couldn’t be.

  I was thinking about closing the shop early when Rafe arrived.

  It was the first time I had seen him when it was still light outside. “You’re here early.”

  “I heard about Susie.”

  Tears stung my eyes. “Do you know what happened to her?”

  “No, but I have a pretty good idea.”

  “She’s not…”

  “I don’t know. I was going to go look for her, but I wanted to make sure you were all right first.”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “And I’m coming with you.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “We’re wasting time.”

  He didn’t argue further. I grabbed my purse, locked up the store, and followed him to his car. By the time we reached the cutoff to Brawley Woods, the sun had set, plunging the world into darkness. There were only a few houses out this way, and they were set a good distance from the road. There were no streetlights, no illumination of any kind save for the car’s headlights and a few scattered stars.

  I tapped my fingertips on the armrest, trying not to think about what we might find.

  Thirty minutes later, Rafe pulled off the road. There was no sign of Susie’s car. I supposed her husband or the police had taken it back to town. How many other people had disappeared that no one knew about? I fingered the cross at my throat, wondering if it would really protect me.

  Rafe came around to open the door for me, and I got out of the car. “Now what?”

  He signaled for me to be quiet; then, closing his eyes, he lifted his head and sniffed the wind.

  He stood so still and blended into the shadows so perfectly, it was almost as if he was a part of the night. He looked so otherworldly standing there that it sent a shiver down my spine. The word Vampire whispered in the back of my mind, reminding me once again that there was an immense gulf between us that I could never cross.

  Abruptly, Rafe took my hand in his. “This way,” he said, and plunged into the woods. The trees grew thick here, their branches intertwining to form a thick canopy overhead. The ground was covered with pinecones, bits of bark, and broken branches.

  As I stumbled along behind Rafe, I wished my night vision was as good as his obviously was. I couldn’t help thinking that looking for someone in Brawley Woods was like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack. The woods covered thirteen square miles of ground that were crisscrossed with deep crevices and gullies and pockmarked by dozens of caves. What chance did we have of finding Susie, if she was even out here?

  We had been walking about twenty minutes when Rafe stopped. He sniffed the air again; then, veering to the right, he continued on.

  The trees weren’t so thick here. I shivered as the wind shifted. Glancing up, I saw that dark gray clouds were gathering overhead.

  Another ten minutes ticked into eternity, and then I heard it, a funny whimpering sound, almost like an animal in pain. It made the short hairs prickle along my nape. “What was that?”

  Before he could answer, I saw a dark shape huddled on the ground beside a tree. My foot hit a branch, and the creature’s head jerked up, its eyes wild.

  “Susie!” I stared at her in disbelief. She was naked, and as the moon emerged from behind the clouds, I saw that she had been crying.

  “Go away!” She scooted backward, her hands awkwardly covering her nakedness.

  “Susie, it’s me.”

  “Go away!” A sob was wrenched from deep inside her as she continued to scramble backward. “Please, just go away.”

  “Susie, listen to me.” Rafe’s voice, low and mesmerizing, brought her to a halt. “We’re here to help you.”

  “No one can help me,” she cried, her voice filled with soul-deep anguish. “No one!”

  “Trust me.” Rafe moved toward her as he spoke. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She looked up at him, her arms crossed over her breasts, tears running unchecked down her cheeks. Leaves and debris were tangled in her hair, there were scratches on her arms and legs, scratches that were healing, fading, even as I watched. Most troubling of all was the dried blood on her inner thighs. Had she been raped? I glanced around, wondering where her clothes were.

  Rafe knelt before Susie. Gently, he wiped the tears from her cheeks. Removing his shirt, he draped it over her shoulders. “There now,” he said. “You’ll be all right.”

  She shook her head. “No, I’ll never be all right again. My baby, oh, my poor baby.”

  “Susie, what happened?” I asked, coming up behind Rafe.

  “Not now,” he said, and lifting Susie into his arms, he turned and headed back the way we’d come.

  I hurried after him, a thousand questions screaming in my head.

  When we reached the car, Rafe opened the rear door and settled Susie in the backseat. I crawled in beside her. She was shivering convulsively now. I put my arms around her, hoping to help warm her.

  Raphael started the car and turned the heater on full blast.

  “You’ll be home soon,” he said, speaking to Susie over his shoulder.

  “No! No, I don’t want to go home. I can’t go home! Please!”

  Seeing that she was on the verge of hysteria, I said, “We won’t take you home, I promise. You can stay at my place, all right?”

  Still shivering, she huddled against me, silent tears tracking her cheeks. Feeling helpless, I patted her shoulder, murmuring that everything would be all right.

  When we reached my house, Raphael carried Susie inside. I marveled at how gentle he was with her, how the very sound of his voice seemed to soothe her.

  I followed him inside, taking a quick moment to admire his bare back before I closed and locked the door behind us.

  “Rafe,” I said, “bring her into the bathroom.” Leading the way, I turned on the taps and added some scented bubble bath, hoping it would relax her.

  Rafe held Susie until the tub was full, then slipped his shirt off her shoulders and lowered her into the water.

  “Anything else I can do?” he asked, looking at me.

  I shook my head.

  “I’ll be in the other room,” he said. “Call me if you need me.”

  With a nod, I closed the door. Susie lay in the bathtub with bubbles up to her chin. She stared blankly at the ceiling.

  “Can I get you anything?” I asked.

  She shook her head, then whispered, “I wish he’d killed me.”

  “Who?” I asked. “Who did this to you?”

  “I don’t know. I was coming home from a meeting with Mrs. Blythe. It seems Jody has been causing some trouble in class.” She smiled wistfully. “He’s a good boy, you know.”

  I nodded. Jody was her youngest son. “Go on.”

  “I stopped at the light on the corner of First and Elm, and a man got into the car. He made me drive out to the woods and then…” She shuddered. “He dragged me out of the car. I thought he was going to rape me. I told myself I could live with that, if he’d just leave me alive. But he didn’t rape me. He…he turned into a wolf. A wolf.” She shuddered again. “He bit me….”

  She pushed her hair aside, and I saw an ugly red wound smeared with dried blood. I thought it odd that her other scrapes and scratches had disappeared, but the bite mark remained.

  “I don’t remember anything after that except…I had a horrible nightmare. I dreamed I was a wolf.” A single tear ran down Susie’s cheek. “When I woke in the morning, I couldn’t find my clothes and I…I panicked and started running, but I got lost in the woods.”

  She laughed, a dull, humorless sound. “I remembered reading somewhere that if you got lost, you should sit down and wait for someone to find you, so that’s what I did. I told myself that Rick would find me, that everything would be okay, that nothing worse could happen to me.”

  She looked at me, her expression bleak. “Just proves how wrong you can be. Hours passed and no one came.” She folded her arms over her breasts. “I was about to start walking again when the same man suddenly appeared. I told him to go away and leave me alone, but he just laughed. He said he’d come to help me.”

  “Help you? Help you how?”

  “I didn’t know at the time. I thought he was some kind of lunatic, because he wouldn’t let me go, but he gave me food and water. I slept the rest of the day. When I woke, he told me the moon was full and that I was going to change. Before I could ask what he meant…” She closed her eyes. “It happened.”

  “What happened?” I had to ask, even though I was afraid I already knew the answer.

  “I turned into a wolf. It was horrible, painful, frightening.” She placed her hand over her abdomen. “I miscarried in the middle of it.”

  “Oh, Susie, I’m so sorry.” And even as I spoke the words, I was overcome with relief. Thank goodness the moon wasn’t full tonight. And then I frowned. “You need to see a doctor.”

  “No!”

  “But…”

  “I’m all right. Don’t you know? Werewolves heal quickly.”

  I stood there, feeling totally helpless as I tried to think of something to say.

  “It’s probably for the best,” she said in that same lifeless tone. “No baby should have a Werewolf for a mother.” She opened her eyes and looked at me. “How can I ever trust myself to be alone with my children? What will Rick say? What will my parents say? The ladies at church?”

  Moaning softly, she clutched her stomach. “My baby, I want my baby.”

  Never in all my life had I seen such anguish reflected in anyone’s eyes. I yearned to comfort her, to tell her everything would be all right, but the lie tasted like ashes in my mouth.

  “Why?” she asked in a hoarse whisper. “Why didn’t he just kill me?”

  Later, after I bathed Susie and helped her into one of my nightgowns, I put her to bed in the guest room and tucked her in. I stood there a moment, my heart aching for her. I couldn’t begin to imagine the horrors she had experienced as she felt her body transform, nor could I truly understand her pain at losing a child. I had been tempted to tell her she could have other children, but I had quickly realized she wouldn’t find any comfort in that. Having another child, or ten, would never make up for the one she had lost.

  Blinking back my tears, I tiptoed into the hallway and closed the door behind me.

  Rafe was waiting for me in the living room. “Is she all right?”

  “She’s asleep.” I sat beside him on the sofa. “Why would anyone do such a thing to Susie?”

  Rafe didn’t answer, but then, I hadn’t expected him to. There was no answer, at least none that made sense. None that would heal Susie’s wounded heart. Only time could do that. Still, I wanted an explanation.

  “It isn’t fair,” I said bitterly. “She’s not involved in your war.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “Everyone’s involved whether they want to be or not.”

  “I don’t understand how either side can win. I mean, do the Werewolves intend to destroy every Vampire in the world? And what about the Vampires? Do they expect to destroy all the Werewolves? Even if it was possible, it would take years.”

  “The hotheads who started the fight don’t care about that. They’re like the old-time terrorists. They don’t care who they hurt or how many innocent lives they take, all they want to do is kill.”

  “And innocent people like Susie are going to be caught in the middle?” I shook my head. “It isn’t right!”

  “Hopefully, Mara and Clive will resolve it soon.”

  “How will they do that?” I wanted an answer, and I wanted it now.

  “I don’t know, exactly. I just know they’re working on it.” I must have looked doubtful, because he added, “They’re trying to talk some sense into the more militant ones on both sides.”

  “And if that doesn’t work?”

  “The ones who refuse to listen, who refuse to end the fighting, will be stopped.”

  “Oh.” I didn’t have to ask how that would be accomplished. Justice among the Supernatural creatures was notoriously swift and final.

  Worrying about the future, mine or Susie’s or Rafe’s, wouldn’t help. It never did. Feeling suddenly tired and depressed, I rested my head on Rafe’s shoulder and closed my eyes.

  I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Rafe was shaking me gently.

  “Oh, sorry,” I murmured. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

  “It’s all right.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “You should go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I walked him to the door where he took me in his arms and spent a few moments kissing me good night. One last hug and a warning to keep my doors and windows locked, and he vanished into the darkness. I stared after him for a moment, wondering if I would ever get used to the way he seemed to just disappear into nothingness.

  With a shake of my head, I locked the door, then went through the house, checking the back door and the windows before I went into the guest room to look in on Susie. She was sleeping on her side, her head pillowed on her hand. Her cheeks were damp with tears. It made me hurt inside to look at her, to know what she had been through, to know that she would have to live with what had been done to her for the rest of her life.

  Heavy-hearted, I went into my room to get ready for bed.

  I wasn’t sure what woke me. Sitting up, I turned on the light beside my bed and glanced around. Everything was as it should be. And then I heard it, the faint creak of the loose floorboard in the hallway.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29