Nights master, p.24
Night's Master, page 24
part #3 of Children of The Night Series
We went to Susie’s house first. She packed a bag, and then Rafe drove us to my place.
“We’ll be nearby,” he said. “I’ve taken your blood, Kathy, and Susie’s, too. If anything happens in there, I’ll know it as soon as you do.”
“I’m not worried,” I said.
“No?”
“All right, maybe a little.” I slid my arms around his waist. “I love you.”
“I know.”
“Reading my mind again?”
He shook his head. “I can see it in your eyes.” Drawing me closer, he kissed me, and then whispered, “I can’t wait to get you alone.”
His words and the husky tone of his voice sent a shiver of anticipation down my spine.
He kissed me again and then headed for the door. Cagin kissed Susie on the cheek, then followed Rafe out of the house.
The sound of the door closing behind them echoed in my mind. Rats in a trap, I thought as I locked the door, that’s what we were, and then I told myself I had nothing to worry about. I had a Vampire in the house with me, another one outside, along with a Were-tiger. If the three of them couldn’t protect me, no one could.
I looked at Susie. “So,” I asked, “do you want to wash up first, or should I?”
“Go ahead,” she said, “it’s your house, after all.”
“All right. Make yourself at home.”
I went into the bathroom, turned on the water in the tub, set the controls for hot water, and added lavender bubble bath. While waiting for the tub to fill, I went into the bedroom and packed a bag—nothing fancy, just jeans, T-shirts, and sweaters. I thought fleetingly of the bookstore. I hadn’t been there in days, but that didn’t seem important now.
Returning to the bathroom, I undressed and stepped into the tub, reveling in the blessedly warm water. I soaked for a good fifteen minutes, then, mindful that Susie was waiting, I scrubbed from head to foot and got out of the tub. Wrapped in a towel, I dried my hair and then, feeling 110 percent better, I pulled on a pair of navy blue-and-white-striped pajama bottoms and a navy blue T-shirt and went into the living room.
“Nothing like a hot bath,” I said, taking a seat on the sofa.
Susie looked up from the magazine she had been thumbing through. “Finished so soon?”
“I figured you were as anxious to wash off the smell of the lab as I was. I’ll fix us some coffee while you…oh, sorry.”
Susie smiled uncertainly; then, picking up her bag, she left the room.
I stared after her. If I had to choose between being a Vampire or a Werewolf, I’d pick Werewolf, hands down. They might not have all the Supernatural powers Vampires had, they might not live as long, but at least they could eat regular food and enjoy a cup of hot coffee.
I wandered through the house while I waited for the coffee to heat. I’d probably have to close the bookstore and leave town. The thought saddened me. I liked it here, but I didn’t see how we could stay after all that had happened.
I had started a fire in the fireplace and was sipping a second cup of coffee when Susie padded into the room. She wore a long pink robe over a pink and white nightgown, and a pair of fuzzy pink slippers. Her dark curly hair framed her face. She looked more like a pixie than a Vampire.
Her gaze slid away from mine as she curled up in one of the chairs. She seemed uneasy in my presence. Was it because she was uncomfortable with her new state of being, or because I was now prey?
Unnerved by her silence, I turned on the TV and began surfing through the channels. I wasn’t really paying attention until I saw Susie’s picture pop up on Oak Hollow’s community station.
“That’s me!” she exclaimed. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” I said, startled to see my own photograph and Cagin’s appear beside Susie’s, along with photos of the other men and women Edna and Pearl had kidnapped. We were all there, except for Rafe and the other Vampires, of course, since they didn’t photograph.
I leaned forward as the reporter, who looked extremely serious, stared into the camera and said, in a somber tone, “If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of any of these people, please contact the Oak Hollow Police Department immediately. The men and women in question are believed to have been inadvertently exposed to a rare and deadly virus that is extremely contagious. Symptoms include paranoia and delusions. Do not attempt to intercept these people yourself as they are considered armed and dangerous. Again, call the police if you have any information. In other local news…”
“I don’t believe it!” Susie exclaimed. “Edna and Pearl have all the nerve in the world.”
“We’re going to have to leave town,” I said, thinking the decision had been taken out of our hands. “After tonight, we won’t be safe anywhere in Oak Hollow, and probably not in River’s Edge.”
“We’ll have to tell the guys when they get here,” Susie said. “They’ll know what to do.”
“I hope so.” I quickly flipped through the other news channels. “Let’s hope it’s only been reported on the local station.”
We stared at each other a moment.
I sipped my coffee. If Edna and Pearl managed to get our photographs broadcast on the major news channels, we wouldn’t be safe anywhere.
After a moment, Susie ran her fingers through her hair, then folded her hands in her lap. “Kathy…”
“What?”
“Are we…are we still friends?”
“Of course,” I said, frowning. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
“Because of what I was, what I am….”
“Susie, I’m in love with a Vampire. Why would I object to having one for a friend?”
She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I can’t believe my bad luck. Just when I tell myself things can’t get any worse, they do! How am I going to raise my children?” A sob rose in her throat; a single red tear slid down her cheek.
That, more than anything else, seemed to emphasize the change in her.
“You’re still alive,” I said. “I’d call that lucky.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Cagin loves you.”
“He’s just another complication.” Susie pulled a tissue from the pocket of her bathrobe and blew her nose. “He asked me to marry him. Did he tell you that? How can I? He killed my husband. Oh, I know, Rick was about to kill me, but…” She wiped the tear from her cheek with a corner of the tissue. “I just don’t know what to do anymore. How could I have lived with Rick for so many years and never known what kind of man he was? Never suspected he was a hunter? If he hid that from me, I can’t help but wonder what else he was hiding. My mother always said I was too trusting. I guess she was right.” Another tear slid down her cheek, and she wiped it away. “I miss my sons. They must think I’ve abandoned them.”
“You can call them tomorrow night,” I said. “I’m sure they’re anxious to hear from you.”
She sighed heavily. “What can I say? Even if they were old enough to understand, I couldn’t tell them the truth about what happened to their father, or about anything else, for that matter.”
“You can tell them you love them.”
“Yes,” Susie said, very quietly. “I can tell them that.” She toyed with the sash on her bathrobe. “Maybe I should give them up and let my mother raise them.”
“Susie…”
“Maybe they’d be better off without me.”
“Stop that! Rafe’s grandparents were both Vampires, but they raised his mother. I’m not saying it was easy. They had to hire nannies to look after her during the day, but they managed, and she turned out just fine. If they could do it, so can you.”
“You’re a good friend, Kathy. You always say just what I need to hear.”
“Can I ask you something? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“You want to know what it’s like, being a Vampire.”
“How did you know that?” Geez, I hoped she couldn’t read my mind, too. It was bad enough knowing that Rafe could do it.
“It’s what I’d want to know, if I were in your place.”
“So, what’s it like?”
She ran a hand through her hair again, then looked at her fingernails, as if seeing them for the first time. “I haven’t been one very long, you know, but, well, so far, it’s quite amazing. I think I’m going to like it.”
It wasn’t the answer I had expected. Oh, I knew Rafe was happy being a Vampire, but he wasn’t like other Vampires. He hadn’t sought it out; no one had brought him across. He had been born to it, grown up with a Vampire father and Vampire grandparents, but Susie…I shook my head. “Are you serious?”
“You can’t imagine what it’s like.” She leaned forward, her words coming quickly now. “Everything looks the same, yet different. Your T-shirt, for instance, I can see every individual thread. Colors are brighter, sounds are clearer. I don’t need my contacts any more,” she said, smiling. “I can see better and farther than I ever could. I can hear things I never did before. The flutter of a moth’s wings, the whisper of the wind in the trees, the ticking of a clock from somewhere upstairs…the beating of your heart.”
Her words made that heart beat a little faster. She still looked like Susie, but she was a Vampire now. I needed to remember that.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” Susie said, and I heard the hurt in her voice, the disappointment.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right. I guess I can’t blame you.”
“What was it like, hunting with Rafe?” Even as I asked the question, I couldn’t stifle a twinge of jealousy because Susie had shared a part of Rafe’s life that I never would.
“So much different than I thought it would be. I didn’t think I could do it, drink blood, but he made it easy.”
“Wasn’t it disgusting?”
Her gaze slid away from mine. “It should have been, but it wasn’t. It was…pleasant.”
Pleasant? Pleasant! I didn’t know what to say to that. A day at the beach was pleasant. Spending time with your loved ones was pleasant. Getting a full-body massage was pleasant. But drinking blood? No way!
Silence fell between us. It wouldn’t have bothered me before, but it bothered me now. I wondered what Susie was thinking, couldn’t help being somewhat amazed that she had adjusted so quickly to being a Vampire when she’d had so much trouble being a Werewolf. The absurdity of it all made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Susie’s life would never be the same again; but then, neither would mine now that I had pledged my life and my love to Rafe.
“At least the four of us can still be friends,” I said, thinking aloud. After all, I didn’t really have any other friends in town, certainly none Rafe and I could share an evening with.
“That’s true, isn’t it?” Susie remarked with a win-some smile. “I won’t have to pretend with you, or make excuses about why we can’t go to lunch.”
I grinned at her. “Right.” I suddenly felt a lot better. Maybe everything would work out after all.
But later that night, curled up on the sofa, hovering on the brink of sleep, I wondered if I had made the right choice in deciding to stay with Rafe. I loved him, loved everything about him, but now tiny doubts insinuated themselves into my thoughts. In choosing to stay with Rafe, I had distanced myself from my family. I would never have children or grandchildren, never cook a big Christmas dinner for my husband and kids, and while I didn’t want kids right now, I had hoped to have one or two in the future. After all, I was only twenty-three years old. I still had a few good years left in me….
I shook off my doubts. I had made my choice, and I would make the same one again.
Yawning, I checked the time. It was almost two. “The guys will be here any minute,” I said, switching off the TV.
“I can’t decide if I’m relieved or disappointed that nothing happened,” Susie said. “I sort of expected Edna and company to show up any minute.”
“I know what you mean. Maybe we should just leave town, now, tonight.”
“Don’t you think they’d come after us?”
“I don’t know. Actually, I’m surprised they didn’t leave town. We should have gone to the police and pressed charges.” Funny, none of us had thought of it earlier.
“Do you think they would have believed us?”
I shrugged. The police weren’t known for being sympathetic to the Supernatural community, or to those who associated with them. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“Edna and Pearl must have some powerful friends somewhere,” Susie said thoughtfully. “I mean, how else did they get our pictures on the news? For that matter, how did they get our pictures, period?”
“Beats me. They must have taken them while we were drugged.” Now that I thought about it, we’d all looked sort of spaced-out in the photos. Hopefully, the national news media wouldn’t pick up the story. “I’ve been wondering about something else, too.”
“What’s that?”
“How did two elderly women who aren’t doctors convince the Oak Hollow police chief that we were infected with some mysterious virus?”
“Maybe the police are in on it, too.”
Now there was a scary thought. “You might be right,” I said, warming to idea. “Being a police officer would be the perfect cover for a hunter. The cops can come and go pretty much as they please, poke into other people’s business, snoop around at any hour of the day or night without arousing suspicion, lock up anyone they want for twenty-four hours without a warrant.”
Susie nodded in agreement and then, for no reason that I could see, she sat up straighter, her body tensing as she stared at the front door.
“What is it?” I asked. “Are the guys here?”
“No.” She stood up, and I saw her eyes begin to change.
I felt a whisper of power flow through the room as Susie’s eyes took on a reddish glow.
“It’s Travis Jackson,” she said, “and he’s not alone.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A sudden rush of adrenaline had me jumping to my feet. This was the visit we had been waiting for, but now that it was here, I suddenly found myself wishing I was anywhere else. I had no Supernatural powers at my command, no weapons with which to protect myself. Why hadn’t I bought a gun? But then, I had never thought I would need to defend myself against my own kind. I remembered telling Rafe earlier that I had Susie to protect me, but looking at her now, even with her eyes red and glowing, she didn’t seem like she would be much help. She was shorter than I was and slender as a willow. And she had been a Vampire only a couple of days. Maybe that didn’t make any difference; maybe Vampires came equipped with all their powers immediately on being turned. And maybe they didn’t. Why hadn’t I asked Rafe about that sooner?
I froze as someone knocked on the door. There was no point in pretending we weren’t home. The lights were on, smoke would be visible rising from the chimney.
“I’ll get it.” Susie was moving toward the door as she spoke.
My gaze darted around the room as I searched for a weapon. When this was over, if I survived, I was buying a gun! Since I didn’t have one now, I grabbed the fireplace poker and held it behind my back just as Susie opened the door.
“Susie.” Jackson’s voice was filled with wry amusement. “I didn’t expect to find you here, but it saves us a trip, doesn’t it?”
“What do you want, Travis?” Susie asked.
“I think you know.” He looked at her a moment, his eyes narrowing. “Vampire?” he murmured, looking momentarily confused.
“We’re not going back,” she said. “Your serum doesn’t work.”
“That’s why we need to try again.” His hand delved into his jacket pocket and reappeared with a small glass vial. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Really? Is that why you kidnapped me, locked me in a cage, and stuck a needle in my arm?”
From where I stood, I could see his jaw tighten. “Let’s do this the easy way, shall we?” he asked, and threw the contents of the bottle into her face.
Susie reeled backward, an inhuman shriek of agony hissing from her throat. I watched in horror as the skin on her face and neck began to blister. Holy water, I thought.
The two men behind Travis lunged forward. Grabbing Susie by the arms, they wrestled her to the ground, flipped her onto her stomach, and cuffed her hands behind her back.
Shouting, “Leave her alone!” I lifted the poker and slammed it across the back of the nearest man as hard as I could.
He let out a roar of pain as he rolled away from Susie.
I was lifting the poker to hit the other man when Travis came up behind me. He jerked the poker from my grasp, then backhanded me across the face. I reeled backward, my cheek burning from the force of his blow, my eyes watering.
I heard someone let out a shriek filled with pain and terror. I blinked to clear my vision, and when I looked again, I saw one of the men who had been holding Susie sprawled on his back on the floor, a bloody hole where his throat had been. The man I had hit was frantically trying to crawl toward the front door, but the angry Were-tiger biting his leg wouldn’t let go.
Travis Jackson stood with his back against the far wall, his eyes wide with fear as he stared at Rafe.
I stared at him, too. This was Rafe, my Rafe, I told myself, but it was hard to believe. Clad in black from head to foot, his eyes blazing like the fires of hell, he looked like the angel of death come to call.
Travis shook his head as Rafe’s hand closed around his throat. “No,” he gasped. “Please, no.”
“Only brave when you’re on the winning side?” Rafe’s voice was as cold and unforgiving as the grave. “You’ll never hurt me or mine again.”
All the color drained from Travis Jackson’s face. “Please.” His voice was little more than a hoarse whimper. A dark stain spread over the front of his trousers, filling the air with the strong scent of urine as he begged for his life. “Please.”
I must have made a noise of some kind, because Rafe turned his head to look at me, his eyes glittering. He was every inch a Vampire now, more powerful and frightening than I had ever seen him.
