by Lisa Kessler
Dear God, what a mess of a car.
He almost heard her telling him again that she was “restoring” the car and it just needed a new passenger door.
Shifting her slightly, he held her in one arm and reached inside to unclasp the elastic strap from the door handle. When he took a step back, the door creaked and fell open. He carefully lowered her into the passenger seat and reattached the elastic bungee strap to hold the door closed again.
He stared down at her for a moment, wanting to heal every cut on her soft skin. But he couldn’t, not yet. He needed to get her, and her car, far from this place so neither he nor Kate would be implicated in any way with the gruesome murder site.
It also meant he would have to drive.
In all his years, he had never driven an automobile. The closest he had come was watching various assistants through the years as they chauffeured him. He wasn’t sure he could even remember how to start the car, but right now he had no choice.
Grudgingly, he got into the driver’s seat, and finding the lever underneath, he pushed it back so he sat comfortably behind the wheel. After trying three different keys, he found one that slipped into the ignition.
From what he had seen over the past hundred years, driving was not a complex operation, and he was an immortal with reflexes far more keen than a human man.
How difficult could it be?
He turned the key and nearly jerked the wheel off the steering column when the car surprised him by lurching forward. The car went silent. The engine wasn’t running. What was he doing wrong?
He stared at the gearshift, wondering if he should move it. His frustration reared up, but his agitation would not make the car drive itself. He had to keep a cool head.
Not knowing what else to try, he pushed one of the pedals at his feet to the floor and turned the key again. This time the car didn’t move, and it roared to life. Grasping the gearshift, he jammed it into the first position and glanced over at Kate.
Why couldn’t she have owned a car with an automatic transmission?
Shaking his head, he put some pressure on the gas pedal and slowly released the clutch. Thankfully the car rolled a few feet, but without warning it jumped forward. He pressed the clutch back to the floor before the engine lost power again.
Calisto slammed his hand against the wheel, muttering under his breath in Spanish. At this rate it would take him all night to drive her home.
The faded yellow convertible pitched forward again, threatening to stall as he continued out of the parking lot, thankful it was late. The streets were fairly empty. At least he wouldn’t get into an accident with another car. Her car staggered ahead, lurching each time he tried to release the clutch, bouncing and jostling them both until Kate finally stirred and woke up.
“Are we out of gas or something?”
Calisto watched her with a tight smile. “Not exactly.”
Kate winced in pain when she laughed. “You can’t drive a stick-shift, can you?”
“Does it show?” Calisto pulled over, finally allowing the engine to stall.
She nodded her head slowly to avoid more pain. “Just a little. What happened?”
“You don’t remember?”
“I remember being mugged. And I remember seeing you, but everything after that is blank.” She watched his eyes as Calisto reached over to brush her hair back from her face, and his touch sent shivers through her body. This wasn’t how she had hoped she would run into him, but she learned a long time ago fate didn’t always work out the way you expected.
“He ran off when I found you. I tried to take you back to my house to clean up your wounds, but I am afraid your car had other plans.”
“I think I can drive.”
“Are you sure?” Calisto studied her. “You hit your head when he attacked you. I—”
“How did you find me?” Kate interrupted.
“I heard you scream. I got there as quickly as I could.”
“Thank you.” Unexpected tears filled her eyes. “I was so scared. I thought he was going to kill me… or… ”
Calisto turned and pulled her into his arms, stroking her hair while she wept. She’d never been so terrified. What if Calisto hadn’t heard her? What if no one had come to her aid?
Would she be in his arms right now, or in a morgue?
He whispered against her hair. “You are safe. No one will ever harm you again.”
Something about the way he said it made her believe him. She felt protected in his arms, and gradually her tears faded.
“I hoped I would see you again, but this wasn’t how I pictured it would happen.”
Calisto smiled, drawing back to meet her eyes. “I was under the impression you wanted nothing more to do with me, no?”
“I’m not sure what I want anymore,” she said.
He placed a tender kiss to her forehead and held her close. “Mercy Hospital is not far from here.”
“No, we don’t need to do that.” Just the thought of the health insurance nightmare of going to an emergency room made her head hurt. “I’m just scraped and shaken up. I’ll be all right.”
“Where are you staying? We can park your car and I will call a taxi.”
“No,” Kate trembled, shaking her head slowly. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to be alone just yet.”
“Then come back to my house. I will clean your wounds and you can rest.”
She winced when she pulled back to meet his eyes. “Are you a nurse?”
He tenderly brushed the backs of his fingers down her uninjured cheek.
“Do you need one?” He smiled.
Grinning, she asked, “Do you ever answer questions?”
“My answers do not please you?”
Kate rolled her eyes at him, laughing again, and flinched. “Stop it… It hurts when I laugh.”
“I am sorry. I would rather see you laugh than cry.”
She smiled. “Let’s find a safe place to leave my car… And I better drive before you give us both whiplash.”
Calisto nodded and handed her the keys. “As you wish.”
Chapter Fifteen
An hour later, the cab pulled away from Calisto’s driveway. He helped her inside his house and up the stairs to the master bedroom.
She looked around the room, her gaze lingering on the blank walls and undecorated furniture, as if she wondered why he hadn’t bothered to make the spaces cluttered and lived-in.
“I travel quite often. Lie down and rest while I get a cool washcloth for your face.”
Kate smiled. “How do you do that?”
He raised a brow. “Do what?”
“Sometimes you know exactly what I’m thinking.”
Calisto smiled and walked into the bathroom without responding. What could he say? He wasn’t trying to read her thoughts, but at times her mind reached out to his without any effort on his part. It had been like that for them well before he ever became a Night Walker. Tala used to tell him they shared the same heart. Lifetimes ago…
He came back with a cool, damp washcloth and laid it across her forehead.
“That feels better, thank you.”
“You are most welcome.” He sat on the edge of the bed, looking closer at the cuts on her lip and cheek, hating them.
Many decades had passed since he used his powers for healing, but seeing her wounded called to the Kuseyaay once more. He couldn’t let her suffer. Thankfully, he had been careful not to give her access to a mirror. Without any visual knowledge of the severity of her wounds, waking up to find them nearly gone wouldn’t be a shock.
He stroked her hair back from her face, waiting until her eyes drifted closed. Slowly he brought his fingertip to his mouth and cut the tip on his sharp fang until a bead of rich blood glistened on his skin. Leaning closer, he tenderly traced his fingertip over her bottom lip, watching his blood work its magic, repairing the open wound until her skin was once again whole.
With the tribes he used to place his mouth over their wound
s, and pierce his tongue so that the secret of his blood would not be revealed to them, but he wasn’t sure he trusted himself to taste the sweetness of the blood on her lips.
He stared at his already healed finger. Only her blood remained. He turned his hand, watching the blood glisten, enticing him with its rich crimson color. The alluring scent called to his thirst, and he fought to bury the desire deep within.
Disgusted with himself, he bit back the temptation and rose quickly from the bed. He disappeared into the bathroom and scrubbed his hands, watching the blood from her lip thin and finally slip down the drain.
He didn’t want to yearn for her blood, only for her heart and her love. Now he realized separating himself from his bloodlust would be far more difficult than he imagined. He would never hurt her, but he also needed to remember to feed well before spending time alone with her, not only to appear more human but also to control his thirst.
From the doorway, he watched her sleeping, memorizing every feature. He lit the candles on either side of the bed and dimmed the lights while she rested. Quietly, he walked into his closet to remove his jacket.
A shrill scream brought him to full attention.
“No! Don’t hurt her!”
The sound of Kate’s scream stabbed through his chest and he forgot to slow his inhuman reflexes. Instantly, he sat at her bedside. Kate sank into his arms, shaking and sobbing against his chest. Calisto frowned, stroking her hair, trying to bring her some comfort.
“No one will hurt you, Kate,” he whispered. “You are safe here.”
She clung to him, trembling. “I know… I have a recurring nightmare. It always happens this time of year, but now… ”
He waited for her to finish. When she remained silent, he drew back to meet her eyes. “What is it, Kate?”
Time froze when their eyes met. Deep within the shadows of her tear-filled dark eyes, he saw her. Tala. Her soul was there, and the knowledge of her past life now threatened Kate. Her soul struggled to remember, while her mind fought to forget.
And once again, he found himself unable to help her.
He couldn’t tell her of their past together. Even if she did eventually believe his story, would she then fear him? Would she loathe him when she learned he drank the blood of the living to sustain his own life? He couldn’t take the risk. She was here now, with him. She came back by her own free will, and he loved her. He would always love her.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had this nightmare. It comes back in the fall and it usually stops by spring. It’s always been exactly the same, but now… Since I met you it’s been changing.” She shook her head, trying to clear away her fear. “It’s getting harder and harder for me to sleep.”
“Why does it frighten you?”
“I don’t know. I guess because I feel helpless. The dream feels real. I can smell the sagebrush when she runs through the bushes. I see her running, and I can feel her body aching and her terror. She knows she has no chance of survival, but she runs anyway.”
“Who is she?” He wanted her to search for the name, wanted her to come closer to understanding.
“I don’t know. I never see her face.” Kate took his hand, her thumb brushing over his ring. “But she has a ring like this hanging around her neck. That’s why it looked so familiar to me before. I see it every night in my dream, dangling from a leather necklace.” She tapped her fingertips against her chest, her gaze haunted. “It hits her chest with every step when she runs.”
He watched her slim fingers trace the signet. Calisto’s jaw clenched, holding back the onslaught of emotion threatening to overwhelm him. Kate was being tormented by nightmares of her own death.
A death she never would have suffered if she had never loved him.
“You said the dream is changing?”
Kate nodded, holding his hand tighter. “Now I can see him jump from his horse and knock her down. She tries to get away, but he’s too strong. He pulls a dagger out of his belt and holds it to her throat. I hear her crying and saying something, but I don’t think it’s English.” She wiped away a tear and added quietly, “I’m just glad I still wake up before…”
Before he rapes and kills her, Calisto thought bitterly. At least fate protected her from that final truth. So far she hadn’t seen her own face in her dream.
Hopefully, she never would.
He lifted her chin as another tear escaped the corner of her eye. Without a word, he leaned in closer until his lips lightly brushed her warm skin, lingering against her cheek. He kissed away her tear and drew back slowly. His heartbeat pounded in his ears.
“You are shivering,” he whispered.
Kate nodded, leaning closer. Her breath teased his lips. Calisto closed the distance between them, his lips finally meeting hers, brushing and caressing. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her in close, crushing her breasts against his broad chest. He could hear her heart racing as he deepened the kiss. Every cell in his body screamed out with longing. He never wanted it to end.
No kiss had ever tasted so sweet.
Kate slid her hands up his chest, around his neck, loosening the leather tie that bound his long, dark hair. She pulled it free, tossing the tie away and running her fingers through his hair. Every touch aroused new desire inside of him, and when their lips parted and his tongue reached gently for hers, the sound of her soft moan reached into his soul, breathing life into a long dormant part of his spirit.
Calisto was lost. Lost in her arms, in her kiss, lost completely in loving her. The rapid pounding of her heartbeat and the feel of her body pressed tightly to his brought his hunger to life. But it wasn’t a hunger for blood.
Without breaking the kiss, he laid her back onto the bed, covering her body with his. Her fingers tangled in the back of his hair, holding him, wanting him, and he felt alive again. He let his hands move slowly down her body, molding over every curve. Her back arched into his touch, and he growled with desire and longing.
Centuries had passed since he felt this passion, and he was quickly losing his mind with want for her.
Forcing himself to draw back from the soft warmth of her lips, Calisto looked down into Kate’s eyes, his thumb brushing over her temple slowly. He wanted to tell her he loved her, wanted to remind her. But he couldn’t push her like he had last time he held her.
His gaze wandered over her face, stopping at the abrasion still marring her soft cheek. He pressed a tender kiss over the scrape, carefully brushing his tongue across the tip of his sharp fang. His blood passed through his kiss, washing over the broken skin and working its magic to heal the blemish left behind from the attack.
She hummed softly. “That made my skin tingle.”
Calisto caressed her newly healed cheek. “I hope I will always have that effect on you.”
Her dark eyes fluttered open, and the blissful smile on her lips took his breath away. She brought her hand up to his cheek, her gaze never straying from his. The warmth of her touch intoxicated him, until his only desire was to lose himself in her arms forever.
Slowly he turned his head to place a tender kiss in her palm.
“I’ve never felt this way before.” She brushed his hair behind his ear, her eyes wandering over his face. “I feel like I’ve known you forever, but I don’t know anything about you.”
“I feel the same,” he said. “Perhaps we know each other far better than either of us suspects.”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I had to come back.”
His lips brushed hers again. “I feared I might never see you again.”
Kate nodded, a soft smile teasing her lips. “I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me again after what I said.”
Calisto raised his head, his gaze holding hers. “There was nothing I wanted more in this world than to be near you again, Kate. I only stayed away because you told me that was what you wanted.” He caressed her cheek. “If you had not come back to San Diego, I would have visited Reno again. Whether you wanted to
see me or not.”
She stared into his eyes and smiled, her fingers sliding slowly through his hair.
“I like your hair down,” she whispered.
“You always did.”
He claimed her lips before she could question his response.
When her embrace tightened around him, his worries eased. How could he have been so careless? But he already knew. The feel of her fingers in his hair, the sight of her beautiful eyes smiling up at him, she hypnotized him, taking away his rational thought and replacing it with emotions lost to him centuries ago. Tala lived again, locked away inside the body of Kate.
And he loved her more now than he ever had before.
Kate was drowning, and she didn’t care. The moment his cool hand brushed the bare skin of her back, she surrendered to the passion that wrapped her in its fiery arms. Calisto’s arms. Her entire body burned, engulfed in flames of desire. This was passion she’d longed for, and never experienced with anyone else.
Calisto’s hand journeyed up her spine, his fingers quickly freeing her from the binds of her bra. Kate moaned when his hand slid up to cup her full breast. Her back arched into his touch, instinctively offering herself to him. His caress sent lightning arcing through her veins, making her nipples harden with need. Heat shot through the core of her body until she was breathless. This urgent, burning hunger was more than desire, a desperate yearning to feel him close to her, touching her.
Her hands moved up his chest, her tongue tangling with his. Kate’s fingers worked feverishly to free the buttons of his shirt, hungry to explore every curve of his frame. The sound of his moan, the feel of it against her lips, made her tremble with longing. She wanted to touch, taste, and love every inch of him until they were both lost forever in each other.
Calisto broke the kiss just long enough to pull her shirt free of her body before once again fusing his lips to hers. The moment her breasts pressed against his bare chest, he was lost. Passion consumed them both. He tore away the rest of their clothes, surrendering to the urgent craving for closeness. No barriers remained between them.
