“And she left you here to clean up the town?”

  “More or less.”

  “I need to go home,” I said, “and since you’re going back to Oak Hollow, I think I’ll just go with you.”

  “Dammit, Kathy, don’t you listen? Didn’t I just say you were staying here?”

  “Yes, you did, and I said I was going with you.”

  “Stubborn woman.”

  “So you’ve said. Now, do you want to spend the rest of the night arguing with me?” I trailed my fingertips down over his chest, lower, lower. “Or making love?”

  “Is that a trick question?”

  “Speaking of tricks, don’t even think of trying to leave without me. No turning into mist and sliding under the door.”

  Laughing softly, he rose over me, his dark eyes glowing with desire. “I have a trick or two I think you’ll like,” he murmured, his voice husky.

  I locked my hands behind his neck and drew his head down. “Show me,” I whispered. “Kiss me and make the world go away.”

  “It would be my pleasure.”

  I thought it was just words, but the walls around us shimmered and disappeared, and in their place I saw rolling hills and fields of flowers and trees. Fluffy white clouds drifted lazily across a pale blue sky, and in the distance, I heard music that was both soft and sensual.

  “More Vampire magic?” I asked.

  “You like it?”

  “It’s perfect. Tell me you love me.”

  “I love you as I’ve loved no other.” He rained kisses across my cheeks and my brow, the tip of my nose. “I love you as I will never love anyone else, in this life or the next.”

  “And I love you.”

  “I know. And I’ll never let you forget it.”

  I ran my fingertips over his shoulders and down his arms, my hands measuring the width of his biceps. Sliding my hand between our bodies, I caressed the hard ridges in his belly, then slid my questing fingertips down to the juncture of his thighs.

  “Careful,” he said, his voice low and husky.

  Lifting my head, I nipped at his chin. “I’m through being careful.”

  “That’s my brave girl.”

  Turning my head a little to the side, I brushed the hair away from my neck. “Make love to me, Vampire.”

  A hint of red glowed in Rafe’s eyes. He lowered his head until all I could see were his eyes. He uttered a low growl, and I felt the scrape of his fangs against my skin. When his mouth found mine, the real world melted away. Every touch was heightened, every sense intensified. The brush of his skin against my own was like nothing I had ever felt before, sensuous and erotic. I trembled at his touch, as he trembled at mine. His mouth was hot as he showered me with kisses. My hips arched to meet him, my body quivering with anticipation, and then we were no longer two, but one. One heart, one mind, one body.

  I love you, I love you. The words whispered in my mind, over and over again.

  I writhed beneath him, wanting more of him, wanting all of him. I sobbed his name, reaching, reaching for that which eluded me. I gasped as his body quivered, shuddered, exploded deep within me, filling me with warmth, carrying me over the edge of desire into ecstasy. Sated and utterly content, I clung to Rafe’s shoulders while aftershocks of pleasure rippled through me.

  Murmuring his name, I closed my eyes as sleep carried me away.

  I woke to the sound of someone calling my name. I opened my eyes and closed them again, certain that I was dreaming.

  “Wake up, dear.”

  Fear shivered through me. I took a deep breath, determined not to let it show, “Pearl, what are you doing here? How did you get in?”

  Sitting up, with the sheet drawn up to cover my nakedness, I glanced around the room, looking for Rafe, but there was no sign of him. Instead, I saw Edna standing inside the doorway with five men; I recognized two of them from the lab. They had come loaded for bear this time. The men were armed with short-barreled rifles that I was pretty sure were loaded with silver bullets. Edna held a large vial I assumed was filled with holy water. My stomach clenched as I remembered the effect it had had on Susie and Rafe. Pearl held a snub-nosed pistol in one hand, and a sharp wooden stake in the other. Men and women alike wore heavy silver crosses on thick silver chains around their necks.

  “Did you really think we’d let you get away?” Edna asked. “You’ve seen too much, know too much.” She moved toward the bed, her eyes narrowed. “Where’s Raphael?”

  I shrugged. “How should I know?”

  Pearl slapped me hard enough to make my ears ring. “We don’t have time for games, dear.”

  “I don’t know where he is.” That much was the truth. I had awakened in his arms a few hours before sunup, and we had made love until dawn. I had no idea where he was now.

  “Bring her,” Edna said. “He won’t get away from us this time.”

  One of the men used his rifle to gesture toward the door. “Let’s go, sister.”

  I looked at Edna. “Do you mind if I get dressed first?”

  She muttered something unladylike under her breath, then said, “Make it quick.”

  Holding the sheet around me, I went into the bathroom and shut the door. My clothes were folded on the sink top where I had left them the night before.

  I dressed slowly, my thoughts racing. Where was Rafe? When had he left the motel, and why? I slipped the cross and chain over my head, then sat on the edge of the bathtub and put on my shoes.

  Tapping my fingertips on the rim of the tub, I looked up at the window. It was small, but I thought I might be able to fit through it. My purse, my keys, and my phone were in the other room, but that couldn’t be helped.

  Taking a deep breath, I climbed on the edge of the tub and unlocked the window.

  “Going somewhere?”

  I scowled at the man standing in the alley. He made a shooing gesture with his gun. “Back inside with you now.”

  With a sigh of defeat, I closed the window just as someone knocked on the bathroom door. “Time’s up, dear.”

  Muttering an oath, I opened the door, wondering if this nightmare would ever end. Once again, I found myself sitting in the back of a van, my heart in my throat as I wondered what Pearl and Edna had planned for me now. At least I hadn’t been drugged this time.

  I had expected our destination to be the lab in Oak Hollow; instead, I found myself back in the silver-lined room I had been in once before. Edna tossed me a pillow and a blanket and told me to make myself comfortable. Before she closed the door, I overheard Pearl say something about rounding up another group for more tests as soon as they dispatched the last of the previous subjects.

  Dispatched. The word had a nasty ring of finality to it.

  I didn’t know where Rafe had gone, but I was glad he hadn’t been there when Edna and Pearl and their henchmen arrived. Although he could be active during the day, I didn’t know how strong his powers were when the sun was up, or if he could have taken on Edna and Pearl and five men at the same time.

  I blew out a sigh and closed my eyes. I was getting awfully tired of being used as bait. I just hoped Rafe wasn’t foolish enough to try to rescue me again, because if they got him in here with me, I didn’t know how we would ever get out.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Rafe stood in the doorway of the motel room, his hands clenched at his sides. He had known before he opened the door that Kathy was gone, just as he had known that Edna and Pearl had been there. He caught the scents of five men, two that he recognized from the lab.

  He swore softly, thinking he had been a fool not to end this sooner. He had intended to settle things with Edna and Pearl the night before, but then he had heard Kathy’s voice in his mind. Her unhappiness had been more than he could bear. That, coupled with his own need to see her, to hold her, to make sure she was out of danger, had sent him to the motel in River’s Edge. He should have gone back to Oak Hollow as soon as he knew Kathy was all right. Instead, he had spent the night making love to her, and now, because of him, her life was in danger again.

  It took only minutes to follow her scent to the deserted meat-packing plant on Oak Tree Road. Muttering an oath, he paced the shadows, then dissolved into mist and slid under the door. He sensed Kathy’s presence immediately.

  Hovering near the ceiling, he saw Edna and Pearl sitting at one end of a long table, several notebooks and folders spread out in front of them. At the other end of the table, six men were playing poker. A number of rifles, handguns, and wooden stakes were piled on a smaller table, along with several glass bottles that Rafe assumed held holy water.

  “I still don’t know what they did to Travis,” Pearl was saying. “But they’re going to pay for it. He was the best hunter in the business!”

  “Except for you and me,” Edna remarked.

  Pearl smiled fleetingly, then slammed her fist on the table. “I can’t wait to get my hands on Cordova! I’m sure he’s behind this. All our records in Texas have been destroyed, and all our files at the lab. Damned Vampire, sticking his nose in places where it doesn’t belong! Well, he won’t get away this time. As soon as we take care of him, we’ll find Cagin and the McGee woman, and that’ll be the end of it.”

  “Almost seems a shame to destroy Cordova,” Edna said. “Such a good-looking man.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Edna Mae Turner, you’re just saying that because you think he has a cute butt!”

  Had he been in corporeal form, Rafe would have laughed out loud. Cute butt, indeed!

  “It’s a good thing I had the formula in my head,” Pearl muttered. “It made it a lot easier to concoct the new one. You know, instead of destroying Cordova, maybe we should just try the new formula on him and the girl.”

  “Whatever you want,” Edna said agreeably, “but I still think you should write the new formula down.”

  “Maybe later.”

  “Do you think whatever Vampire whammy Cordova put on Travis is permanent?”

  “I don’t know. Did you see how he acted last night? One mention of the word Vampire and he practically went into hysterics.”

  Pleased with what he had heard, Rafe left the building and assumed his own form, then reached for his cell phone. All the rats were in one trap. All he needed now was a little backup.

  Susie ran her hands over her face, then glanced at Cagin. “Does it look as bad as it feels?”

  Joe shook his head. “No, it looks a lot better.” He ran his finger down her cheek. “There’s only a small red place here.”

  “What about the other side?”

  “It’s healing.”

  Susie sank back on the sofa. She had planned to get her children and leave town, but she couldn’t let them see her like this. Instead, she had convinced her mother to take the boys on a little vacation for a few days. She hated for her sons to miss school, but it couldn’t be helped. With a sigh, she rested her head on the back of the sofa. Sometimes she felt like she was living a nightmare from which there was no escape. She didn’t know what she would have done without Joe. He was her only comfort these days.

  When her cell phone rang, she picked it up, expecting it to be her mother or Kathy.

  Instead, she heard Rafe’s voice on the line.

  “Susie, is Cagin there?”

  Rafe stepped out of the shadows when Cagin and Susie arrived. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” Cagin said with a grin.

  “Is Kathy all right?” Susie asked.

  “Other than being cold and scared, she’s fine.”

  “So, how do you want to handle this?” Cagin asked.

  “Like I told you, there are six men in there with Edna and Pearl. Lots of hardware.” Rafe glanced at Susie. “And holy water. I figure the best way to play it is to go in hard and fast. We should be able to break down the door and take out the men before they know what’s happening. Once the men are out of the way, we’ll take the women. Cagin, you’ll have to dump the holy water.”

  Cagin nodded. “No problem.”

  Rafe looked at Susie. “You up for this?”

  She lifted a hand to her face. “Are you kidding? After what they did? Just try and keep me out. Besides, Kathy’s in there, and good friends are hard to find.”

  Rafe winked at her. “Let’s do it.”

  It went like clockwork. Cagin undressed and then shifted, Rafe kicked in the door, and the Were-tiger sprang inside, with Rafe and Susie right behind him.

  The people inside the building looked up as the door flew open, the surprise on their faces quickly turning to fear. Edna and Pearl scrambled away from the table, apparently trusting that the men would protect them, but the men were too slow. By the time they reached for the guns on the table, it was too late, although one of them managed to fire a round that struck Cagin in the thigh. With a growl, Cagin sprang across the table. Three of the men went down amid a flurry of growls, teeth, and claws; Rafe dispatched two of the men, leaving Susie to deal with the last one. It was swift and brutal and over in a matter of minutes.

  Shifting back into his own form, Cagin grabbed the bottles and dumped the holy water outside while Susie and Rafe backed Edna and Pearl into a corner.

  When Cagin returned, Rafe noted that he had taken the time to get dressed again.

  “Now what?” Cagin asked, glancing from Rafe to the two women.

  “Keep an eye on these two while I get Kathy,” Rafe said, “and then we’ll decide what to do next.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  I was pacing the floor, my mind in turmoil, when the door swung open. At first, all I saw was a dark silhouette that looked familiar.

  “Rafe? Rafe!” I flew into his arms, thinking I had never been so surprised or so happy to see anyone in my life.

  “Rescue party’s here,” Rafe said, giving me a hug.

  “How did you find me?”

  His gaze moved over my face. “I’ll always be able to find you. Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine, now. Are you all right? How’d you get in here. Where are Edna and…”

  He silenced my questions by kissing me. When I came up for air, I saw that we weren’t alone.

  Susie and Cagin had Edna and Pearl trapped in the far corner of the room. For the first time since I had met them, Edna and Pearl looked subdued, their faces pale. Moving deeper into the room, I stared at the six bodies sprawled on the floor at one end of a long table. The scent of blood and death made my stomach churn. The bitter taste of bile rose in the back of my throat.

  I looked up at Rafe. There was no remorse in his eyes when he looked at me. I could only hope it had been self-defense.

  “Let’s get this over with,” Cagin said.

  I followed Rafe across the room, my stomach churning with apprehension. “What are you going to do with them?” I asked, though I was dreading the answer.

  “What do you think?” Cagin asked, a growl in his voice.

  “But…” I looked up at Rafe. “Are you just going to kill them in cold blood?”

  His gaze met mine. “Don’t you think they deserve it?”

  I didn’t know what to say. Edna and Pearl had killed innocent people. True, some of the ones they had killed hadn’t been people in the true sense of the word, but they had taken innocent lives. I remembered the fear and humiliation I had felt while I waited in that awful cage, the horror that engulfed me when they injected me with their formula, the pain that had wracked my body. I could have been killed. We all could have been killed.

  I looked at Edna and Pearl. You had to admire their courage. They were both glaring at Rafe, as though daring him to do his worst.

  “Kathy?” I felt the weight of Rafe’s gaze as he waited for my answer.

  “I don’t know.” Maybe they deserved it, maybe not. Who was I to make such a decision?

  “Well, I know!” Cagin said. “Look at Susie’s face!” His power filled the room, and I knew he was eager to shift into the tiger and rip out their throats.

  “Wait.” Rafe’s voice, soft as dandelion fluff, stopped Cagin in his tracks. “I have a better idea.”

  “Better than killing them?” Cagin asked. “I don’t think so.”

  “Call it poetic justice,” Rafe said.

  Taking a step forward, he reached for Edna’s hand. Lips compressed in a thin line, she recoiled from his touch.

  In a blur of movement, Rafe grabbed her by the forearm. “Time to pay the piper,” he said. She struggled in his grasp, but she was no match for Rafe’s strength as he propelled her across the room. For the first time since I had met her, she looked old and scared.

  I stared after him. I knew suddenly what he was going to do. It gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t look away. Preternatural power filled the room. It made it hard to breathe, lifted the hair along my nape.

  Edna’s eyes grew wide with revulsion when she realized what he intended to do. “No!” She tried to escape his grasp. “No, damn you!”

  “Oh, yes,” Rafe said.

  His fangs extended, and his eyes went red as he pulled Edna into his embrace. She sobbed once, a sound that tore at my heart, and then she fell silent. Though it seemed he drank from her forever, in reality only a few minutes passed before he lowered her body to the floor. Kneeling beside her, he tore a gash in his wrist and then held the bleeding wound to her mouth. When she resisted, he forced her to drink. After the first swallow, she grabbed his wrist and held it to her mouth as though she were drinking from the fountain of youth. How quickly revulsion turned to need.

  Sickened, I turned away to find Susie watching avidly. Her eyes were bright, her body quivering, as she watched Edna drink from Rafe. Cagin’s expression was impassive.

  Realizing what her own fate was going to be, Pearl darted toward the door, only to be stopped by Cagin. She put up a good fight for a woman her age, but, like Edna, her strength was as nothing when pitted against a creature with Supernatural power.

  She renewed her struggles when Rafe stood and walked toward her.

  She stared at Rafe, her eyes narrowed with hatred. “Damn you,” she said. “May you rot in hell for all eternity.”

 

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