Enigma, Maine, Bundle 4

by Iris Abbott

  “Me,” he confirmed in a firm voice that made her shiver.

  “Where am I?” She held her breath when he stepped closer, invading her space.

  “My bedroom and bed.” Raphael gave her a wicked smile that emphasized his fangs.

  Those two extra sharp teeth should have scared the crap out of her, but it was sexual heat, not fear that coursed through her body. She had to get out of the room and away from him before she completely lost her head and did something idiotic. Something she couldn’t take back.

  Tara’s eyes darted around the room. It no longer seemed to be the safe haven she thought it was before his arrival. Danger suddenly lurked in every dark corner. She tried to remind herself she should be afraid, but the intense sexual desire that sizzled between them in New Orleans, before she knew he was a vampire, was stronger than ever. It fogged her brain and overrode her common sense.

  She closed her eyes and slowly opened them, hoping something, anything, about the scenario, would change. It didn’t. Sharp eyes, so cold they reminded her of ice, continued to unblinkingly stare at her from a strong chiseled face with alabaster skin.

  “Where's Kara and Zoe? They’re all right, aren’t they?” She rubbed her arms. Her sisters wouldn’t leave her in the care of a stranger, especially a vampire, unless something was dreadfully wrong.

  “Zoe is with Drew, and Kara is asleep in one of the guest bedrooms. She’s a stubborn one that twin of yours.”

  “You have no idea.”

  She smiled for the first time since regaining consciousness. Her tightly strained muscles relaxed and Tara slumped against the headboard. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. That’s when she noticed that she was dressed in a man’s large black T-shirt. It smelled just like Raphael, and she knew without a doubt that it belonged to him.

  “Um, I don’t have a clue as to how I ended up in your home,” she said in confusion. “Especially if my sisters are all right.”

  “The creature you were fighting with got the upper hand and went right for the jugular, so to speak. You lost most of your blood, and your heart was about to take its last beat.”

  The tightening of his jaw and somber look on his face told her he wasn’t exaggerating. Her hand flew to her neck, but she felt nothing out of the ordinary. Tara’s fingers drifted over smooth skin. There were no gaping wounds, not even a jagged scar for her to find. She narrowed her eyes at him second-guessing his previous statement.

  “So you brought me to your lair and miraculously healed me, scars and all?”

  “Of course, there’s a little more to it than that, but you’re not ready to hear it.”

  “How long have I been here?”

  “Four days.”

  “Impossible!” She touched her neck again. Oh, crap! The skin was healed except for two small puncture wounds that she was pretty sure would match Raphael’s fangs.

  Tara glanced at him and bit back a scream. He managed to glide over to the bed without making a sound, and he stood only inches from her, close enough to touch. Her heart pounded hard enough for her to feel it hammering away in her chest. She dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands and took several deep breaths in a useless attempt to calm herself. She was a vampire hunter, and she didn’t want the vampire to see or smell her fear.

  “I want to see my sister,” Tara finally managed to get out through clenched teeth. She needed the reality check her twin could give her.

  Raphael shrugged. “It’s two a.m. She’s probably asleep, and you need to rest. Give it a few more hours.”

  The lyrical quality of his voice lulled her into a calmness of spirit she never felt before. She almost bought it until the insidious word vampire whispered through her subconscious, reminding her of the hidden dangers associated with Raphael. She blinked several times and fought off the mesmerizing quality of his presence.

  “According to you, I’ve already been here for four days,” she said in a soft and lilting voice. “That’s a long enough wait and plenty of sleep,” she added with a little more fire. She wanted to convince him that she was stronger than she actually felt.

  Before he could challenge her statement, the bedroom door flew open. Tara released a startled cry. Her terror turned to happiness as soon as she recognized her twin, Kara, standing inside the bedroom. She found the strength to stand and hurried forward to greet the woman who rushed to her side.

  Her sister wrapped two strong arms around Tara and squeezed hard. “Oh my God! I dreamed you were awake,” Kara exclaimed, “but I was scared to hope. You’ve been out for days.”

  Tara hugged her back with what little strength she could muster. “So I heard. I’m glad you’re here.” She glanced over her shoulder toward Raphael, but he wasn’t there. The sneaky bastard snuck out while she reunited with her sister.

  She took a wobbly step toward the door. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  Kara, the most self-assured of the three Myers sisters, hesitated. “It’s the middle of the night. We should stay put for a few hours,” she insisted.

  Tara couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You do remember that we’re in a vampire’s lair, don’t you?”

  Her twin gave her a duh kind of look. “Not something I’m likely to forget,” Kara said in a huff.

  “So, how do we know we can trust him? We’ve spent the last decade training to hunt and kill vampires, and now we’re supposed to suddenly trust one?”

  “Yes!” Kara said with an adamant nod of her head. “You were stabbed in the throat and bleeding out, seconds from death. Raphael saved you when nothing or no one else could. He’s watched over you, barely leaving your side since, making sure you survived and came back to us. A bloodsucker he might be, but we owe him more than can ever be repaid.”

  Tara briskly rubbed a hand over her face. As much as she hated to admit it, her sister was right. She let out a loud sigh. She might be on the road to recovery, but she was still weak. She was more likely to fall flat on her face instead of making a dramatic exit anyway. She wouldn’t give Raphael the satisfaction of saying I told you so.

  She sat down on the side of the bed and patted the spot next to her. She didn’t have much strength left, but she’d been resting for days. There was no way she could go back to sleep anytime soon. “Raphael said Zoe was with Drew. What’s going on with the two of them?”

  Kara shrugged. “A lot can happen in four days. Zoe has decided to move to Enigma. She and Drew are in a serious relationship, and Zoe accepted a partnership with Brittany at the self-defense studio.”

  Tara’s mouth dropped open. “Wow! You weren’t kidding. That is a lot.” It was almost too much for her to comprehend. It sounded like her older sister was making some significant changes.

  “Yeah. I could hardly believe it myself, but you should see the two of them together. Other than worrying to death over when you were gonna wake up, she’s the happiest I’ve seen her since Mom and Dad were murdered.”

  A heavy silence filled the room. Tara felt the comforting squeeze of her twin’s hand on her shoulder. “Zoe and I have been taking turns staying here, keeping an eye on you. She’ll be here sometime around nine with breakfast. Drew’s usually with her, so you can scope them out and ask a million questions if it’ll make you feel better, but she really is happy with him.”

  Tara took a deep breath. The smile she gave her sister was so big she could feel the skin on and around her lips stretch. “I’m glad. Zoe deserves to be happy. She took so much on her shoulders at such an early age.” She yawned and felt her eyes begin to droop. Maybe she’d been wrong about that sleep thing. As much as she didn’t want to agree with anything Raphael said, her body was telling her it needed more rest.

  Her sister must have realized it too. She picked up Tara’s feet and swung them over the edge of the bed, helping her to lie down. “Sweet dreams.” Kara kissed her on the cheek. “Hopefully by the time you wake up, Zoe will be here too, and the three of us will be together
again.”

  “Can’t wait!” She was already half asleep and her words slurred. Seconds later she was completely under. She didn’t know that her sister left after a few minutes to be immediately replaced by Raphael who would stand vigil over her this night as he’d done every night since Tara was gravely injured and he brought her into his house to heal.

  ****

  Raphael nodded at Kara’s reserved greeting as they passed each other. Neither of Tara’s sisters warmed up to him yet. That was fine because only one woman’s opinion mattered to him. And on the bright side, while they weren’t buddy-buddy, at least they hadn’t tried to kill him.

  His thoughts drifted from the sisters to Tara. All the tension that weighed him down the past four days fled his body, leaving him with an unexpected lightness inside. Finally, he was able to clear his jumbled thoughts and focus on something beyond the here and now. Since Tara finally regained consciousness, he could begin to win her over. Whether she knew it or not, she was already his. And he’d do whatever he had to do to make sure she stayed his.

  The physical desire burning through his body was more than lust. He shared his life force with Tara, and now their souls were invariably connected for all time. The driving need he felt to protect her before he gave her his blood was amplified to an all-consuming compulsion, an obsession, he had no hope of ignoring.

  He settled in for the rest of the night, watching her sleep, not daring to leave her side. He would have been there earlier when she first opened her eyes if he hadn’t stepped away to feed. Now he stayed just in case the dark stains of a nightmare marred her peaceful rest.

  THREE

  Raphael tried to lean back and get comfortable, but the hard, unyielding chair made it impossible for him to relax. Then again maybe it wasn’t the chair. He glanced at the varied group of beings gathered around him and bit back a sigh. He was a loner, always had been, and being this close to so many other alpha males made him more than a little nervous.

  To most people making his acquaintance, Raphael came across as courtly and charming. This morning, he felt anything but well-mannered. The dangerous situation had everyone, including him, on edge. Manners were the least of his worries, considering the dire circumstances.

  He cleared his throat and addressed Lucian and the other powerful and influential paranormal residents of Enigma, Maine who had a stake in taking down the vampire they’d dubbed the Puppet Master. He noted that Alessandro Russo, a vampire and the host of the Halloween party where the latest attack occurred, was absent from the impromptu meeting. “Four days out of commission is too long in a situation such as this. I trust that all is well with Russo and his mate.”

  Lucian, head of the council charged with keeping the peace between paranormal beings and humans, nodded his head in acknowledgment. “All puppets were dealt with, and everything at Russo’s castle has returned to normal. He and Julie are well.”

  “Good to know. I should have reached out to him but…”

  “Your priorities were elsewhere,” Lucian filled in the blanks. “We are all aware. I trust the hunter will live?”

  The head guardian was the most powerful being Raphael had ever met. Sitting across from the imposing Lucian was more than a little unnerving, even for a vampire more than four centuries old. “Yes. It was touch and go, but she pulled through and regained consciousness this morning. Her sisters are with her now. I thought it would be safe enough for me to slip out for an hour or two.”

  Drew Gannon, a member of the Enigma wolf pack, gave him a solid slap on the back. “Zoe was scared to death of losing her sister in much the same way she lost her parents. I saw how bad a shape Tara was in from the attack. What you did was no small thing. You have my sincerest gratitude.”

  He calmly accepted the shifter’s thanks even though he resented the interruption. He wanted to conclude business and return to his lair and Tara as quickly as possible. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her sisters to guard her because he did. What it came down to was the burning desire to have Tara near him at all times.

  “Updates?” he asked Lucian.

  “Nothing.” The head guardian’s voice seethed with frustration and anger. “Regular teams have been patrolling the surrounding area since the surprise attack during the Halloween party. Two more puppets have been found and destroyed, but there are no clues to the whereabouts of the vampire we seek or his identity.”

  Raphael expected as much. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Tara Myers safe, so I’m in this hunt until the end. I offer the council any help I can give.” He stood and shook hands with Lucian.

  “Any and all help is appreciated,” Lucian accepted on behalf of the council. “For now, I think it’s best if you, Drew, and Alexander keep a close eye on the sisters, make sure the vampire can’t get to them.”

  “Done! Now that Tara’s awake it won’t be long before she and her sisters are itching to join the hunt.”

  Drew growled his agreement to guard Zoe with his life.

  “I too will do all I can to keep Kara safe, though that woman is exasperating at the best of times,” Alexander, the guardian assigned to keep tabs on Tara’s twin, said with a twisted grin.

  “My sentiments exactly,” Raphael agreed. “But they’ve dedicated their lives to hunting vampires in order to protect mankind and avenge their parents. They won’t be easily thwarted.” He didn’t have to be inside Tara’s head to read her determination to fight with her sisters. She would not allow them to go into battle alone. And he had no intention of letting her face a hideous monster ever again without him by her side.

  Lucian sighed. “The council has been keeping tabs on the hunters for a while. They are more than capable but keep them close,” he warned Raphael, Drew, and Alexander.

  The hair on the back of Raphael’s neck stood on end. “Any reason to think they might be targets?”

  “A group of witches, including my mate, were the first targets in Enigma. All of them are mated to powerful paranormal beings living in this area. It is my theory the vampire is trying to strike at the council and its allies through their women.” His voice vibrated with anger.

  “The Gannons agree with Lucian’s theory,” Drew said.

  “It makes sense,” Alexander said. “If the original puppets managed to take out that particular group of women their mates, in their grief, would have been susceptible to attack.”

  Raphael noticed that Lucian didn’t dispute Alexander’s claim. Instead, he stressed the importance of keeping the women under their protection as safe as possible. A sentiment that Raphael wholeheartedly agreed with. Tara might not like it, but he was going to be glued to her side until justice was dispensed to the so-called Puppet Master. It was past time to wrap up things and return to his lair.

  ****

  “Well, so much for our first Halloween party in forever,” she attempted the joke but realized it fell flat when neither of her sisters laughed. Tara breathed deep and let out a long-suffering sigh. “I guess I win the award for party-pooper of the year,” she tried again.

  Zoe snorted. “No, that would be the zombie-like creatures who crashed the party with the intent to do harm.”

  Tara immediately sobered. “I feel awful for the Russos and their guests. I got the impression their Halloween bash is a much-anticipated event in these parts, and it was totally ruined this year.”

  Kara shrugged. “At least damage control was easy enough for the guardians to handle. And no one died, except for the bad guys.” She snapped her mouth shut and abruptly stopped talking.

  On the one hand Tara was happy no one fighting for the good of humankind was killed, but on the other hand, it didn’t do her self-esteem any good to know she was the only one the hideous creatures had gotten the upper hand on. Tara bit back another sigh. She didn’t want her sisters to treat her like fragile china. They did enough of that before she almost died.

  She used her foot to push them higher. Tara and her sisters were swinging in the porch swing inside th
e gazebo attached to the end of Raphael’s gorgeous Victorian house. She sat in the middle, and her sisters seemed content to let Tara control the pace. Her foot dragged across the porch, keeping the swing in motion. The soft swaying movement helped to calm her jittery and ragged nerves.

  In an effort to escape the unhappy thoughts haunting her, she glanced around, taking in everything that surrounded them. The extensive grounds of Raphael’s isolated estate, located somewhere on the outskirts of Enigma, stretched far beyond her sight. It was unfamiliar, but instead of making her feel uncomfortable the vastness and quietness of the place gave her a sense of safety and security. It offered peace of mind at a time when she least expected it.

  Tara inhaled deep, breathing in the fresh, crisp scent of the clean autumn air. Winter would arrive soon, and it was her least favorite season. Her parents were killed in the middle of winter. To Tara, it was a cold, dark time that made her think of death. It also reminded her of vampires, but not necessarily Raphael, and that she told herself, was a problem.

  Raphael shattered all her preconceptions of the horrible blood-sucking vampires of her nightmares. He made her feel instead of think. Her body ran hot with the need for him to touch her whenever he was near. That fact was scarier than any creature of the night who could rip out a throat and suck you dry in a matter of seconds. An arm touched her shoulder tearing her away from her thoughts and back to reality.

  "Hey, it’s just me,” her older sister, Zoe, said. “You okay? You zoned out on us for a few minutes.”

  Tara hugged herself. It sounded like a simple enough question, but she had no clue how to answer it. The Myers sisters had always been open and honest with each other. After all, they’d only had each other for the past decade.

  “I don’t know,” she answered with a shrug of her shoulders. “I feel like a little girl who’s shrouded in mist and separated from the rest of the world with no idea of where I’m going or what’s going to happen.” She shuddered. The analogy was disconcerting, but it accurately described her feelings.