Travis lifted one brow. “We?”
Ronan nodded. “You. Me. and Mr. Overstreet.”
“Shouldn’t that be four?” Shannah asked.
Ronan smiled at his wife. “Only if we run into trouble that I can’t handle, love.”
After agreeing to meet with Ronan and Overstreet the following night, Travis returned to Sara’s house. He found her and the writer at the kitchen table playing Gin Rummy. “Who’s winning?”
“He is!” Sara declared acerbically. “But he cheats!”
Overstreet tossed his cards on the table, then sat back in his chair. “So? Was Shannah happy to see you?”
“Not particularly.”
“You were gone for quite a while. What did you talk about?”
Propping his shoulder against the door jamb, Travis folded his arms over his chest. “It seems there’s a dark undercurrent in Susandale.”
“What are you talking about?” Sara asked.
“Ronan said there’s something shady going on in this town.” Travis glanced at Overstreet. “From what he said, I gather he thinks there’s a master vampire pulling the strings, and that they’re selling people to other vampires. I told him about Joey Cannon. Ronan wants to meet with you and me tomorrow night.”
“Me?” Overstreet squeaked. “Why does he want me there?”
“I have no idea, but I guess you’ll find out.” Travis shifted his gaze to Sara. “He thinks there must be fifty vampires in town.”
“Fifty!” The color drained from her face. “Do you believe him?”
Travis nodded. Now that he knew how to use his preternatural senses, he had no doubt about it.
“He’s very bitter, isn’t he?” Shannah remarked, taking Ronan’s hand as they strolled down the dark, deserted street.
“What did you expect, my love? A hug and a warm welcome?”
“Of course not. But …” She shook her head. “I thought we were friends.”
“Friends? The man was a hunter. He kidnapped you to get to me.”
“I know, but he seemed genuinely concerned about me when I got sick. And he did try to save me from you because he thought I was in danger.”
“That was his biggest mistake.”
“He was only thinking of my safety. He didn’t know you’d turned me.”
“I fear that’s something he’s never going to forgive. Or forget.”
“I think you’re right. And I’m sorry for that. I have so few friends.”
Ronan stopped abruptly, his gaze searching hers. “Are you unhappy, Shannah?”
“No! No. It’s just that …”
“You don’t have to explain. I’ve changed your whole life. I’ve been a vampire for so long, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have friends you can talk to. People you can trust.”
“I don’t have any regrets, Ronan. I love our life together. I wouldn’t change anything.”
“But?”
She smiled up at him. He knew her so well. “It’s just that he was the last friend I made before you turned me, and even though it was a rocky friendship at best, I guess I was clinging to that. It’s silly, I know, but it hurts that he hates me now. Even though I don’t blame him.”
He drew her into his arms and held her close, one hand lightly stroking her hair. “Do you want to go home?”
“Do you think we should?”
“It’s up to you.”
“I think we should stay and clean up the town first.”
“What are you now, the marshal of Dodge City?”
She laughed at that, as he had hoped she would.
“No, but if the vampires really are selling people … We have to stop them. Not just for their sakes,” she said earnestly, “but because it’s the right thing to do.”
“I hope you never lose that delightful spark of humanity, my love.” He said it lightly, but he meant it, just the same.
Chapter 17
Overstreet took his leave soon after Travis returned. Sara walked the journalist to the door, bid him a cordial goodnight, then went into the kitchen to clear the table and tidy up the kitchen.
Travis lingered in the doorway, admiring the sway of Sara’s hips as she moved about the room. After listening to Ronan’s assessment of what was going on in town, he was reluctant to leave her alone. While it was true that no vampire could enter her house without an invitation, that didn’t mean one of the human inhabitants couldn’t break in and force her out of the house where she would be vulnerable to the vampires.
Sara glanced at the clock on the stove as she wiped down the counter and dropped the towel over the back of a chair. “It’s late,” she said, yawning. “I need to get some sleep.”
“Yeah.” He shoved his hands into his pants’ pockets.
“What’s wrong?” She felt the tension radiating from him, saw it in the tense set of his shoulders. “Travis? You’re scaring me.”
“I don’t mean to. Sara, listen. I don’t think you should be alone tonight.”
“Why not?”
“Things have changed. This isn’t the sleepy little town I thought it was. Ronan told me how to expand my preternatural senses and it’s changed everything. You shouldn’t be alone. Not after dark. And not during the day.”
“Now you’re really scaring me.”
“A little fear is a healthy thing.”
Funny, she thought, Carl had said the same thing not long ago.
Taking her hand, Travis led her into the living room, then sat on the couch and pulled her down on his lap. “I don’t know if the humans who live with the vampires are aware of what’s going on, but we need to go on the assumption that they do. Which means you can’t trust any of them, either. I think maybe you should close the store for a while.”
“I can’t afford to do that. I’m barely making ends meet as it is.”
“Maybe we can get Overstreet to stay with you during the day,” Travis said, thinking out loud. “I’ll see about getting him a couple of stakes. And some holy water,” he added, remembering how it had burned Ronan’s flesh. “I’ll relieve him when the sun goes down.” Caressing her cheek with his knuckles, he said, “Maybe you should just go home.”
“No!” Sara shook her head vehemently. “I won’t do that.”
“Maybe move to the next town for awhile, then.”
“Do you really think I’m in danger? I mean, why now? No one’s bothered me before.”
“Well, how about taking a few days off and just staying home until we find out what’s really going on? Overstreet can keep you company.” At the store or here, in Sara’s house, Travis intended to see that Overstreet had weapons to repel invaders, human or vampire.
“All right,” Sara agreed reluctantly. “If you really think it’s necessary.”
“I do. Better safe than sorry.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m going to spend the night here, if it’s all right with you.”
“Okay. The bed in the guestroom is made up. Just make yourself at home.” Sliding off his lap, she kissed him good night, though she doubted she would get any sleep after this evening’s startling revelations.
Travis prowled through the house, his thoughts chaotic as he reviewed what Ronan had said earlier about the town, and as he considered the thrill he’d experienced while expanding his senses. he wondered what other powers he might possess that he was not yet aware of.
But most of all, he thought about Sara. He was determined to protect her, no matter what the cost. She was the best thing in his accursed life. He realized there was a chance that she might never want to see him again after all this was over, but if that was the case, then so be it. Her life meant more to him than his own.
It was near dawn when he went to the window to stare out into what was left of the night. Of course, due to his preternatural vision, he had no trouble seeing in the dark. And what he saw was troubling indeed. A motor home was parked across the street, its door facing Sara’s house. Three men—all vampires—stood on the sidewalk. As Travis watched,
two of them went into the motor home. The coach rocked violently for a moment, then the two men exited the coach. The first one carried a man over his shoulder. The second, a woman.
The two vampires and their burdens vanished from sight. The third vampire got behind the wheel of the RV, turned on the engine, and sped away.
Travis cursed under his breath when he saw a young boy, perhaps five years old, staring out the back window of the RV, his pale face frightened and streaked with tears.
Shit! Should he go after the boy? Doing so would leave Sara unprotected. Torn, he left the house in pursuit of the motor home. He found it abandoned in a ditch six miles out of town. There was no sign of the boy, his parents, or the vampires.
As desperate as he was to search for the kid, the first painful rays of the rising sun drove Travis back to the shelter of Sara’s house. Inside, he went downstairs to the basement and closed the door. The sofa would have been more comfortable than the cement floor, but he needed the darkness.
He had time to make one quick phone call before the dark sleep carried him away.
Sara woke to the sound of someone pounding on the door. She opened one bleary eye and tried to focus on the clock on the nightstand beside the bed. Five-thirty. She groaned as the pounding increased.
Throwing back the covers, she staggered down the hall. A glance into the guestroom show the bed was empty. At the front door, she looked through the peephole. “Carl!” she exclaimed. “What are doing here? Do you know what time it is?”
“Yeah.” He sounded as groggy as she felt. “Travis called and told me to haul my lazy butt over here ASAP.”
Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she unlocked the door. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.” He lumbered inside, still in his pajamas.
Sara closed and locked the door behind him. Scuffing into the living room, she paused when she noticed the sofa was empty. Hadn’t Travis said he was spending the night? He wasn’t in the guestroom. He wasn’t in the living room. Where was he?
“I’m going back to bed,” she murmured. “The couch is yours if you want it.”
Sara tossed and turned for an hour before she gave it up for a lost cause. Pulling on her robe and slippers, she padded into the kitchen, put on a pot of coffee, then sat at the table, her chin resting on her steepled fingers. Moving here had seemed like such a good idea. Now it seemed like a nightmare.
She looked up as Overstreet shuffled into the kitchen and dropped onto the chair across from hers.
“I should have stayed in New Jersey,” he mumbled crossly.
Sara nodded sympathetically. “Coffee?” she asked, rising.
“Sugar, no cream. Thanks.”
She filled two cups, added sugar to both, milk to hers, and returned to the table. “Have you noticed things seem to be going from bad to worse?”
“Oh, yeah. I guess you know that Travis asked me to spend the day with you. And to remind you that you’re not supposed to go to work.”
“We talked about it last night. Maybe you should start spending the night here so we can both sleep later in the morning.”
“We’ll see.” Lifting his cup, he drained it in three long swallows. Pushing away from the table, he refilled his cup.
“Do you have any idea what Ronan and Travis are planning to do?”
“Not a clue. I’m guessing we’ll discuss it tonight. Although I don’t know why they want me there. I’m no vampire hunter.”
“Have you ever thought how ironic it is that Travis was once a hunter and now he’s what he hunted? It would make a great novel.”
“And I’m going to write it. As soon as I get out of this town.”
“Seriously?”
He nodded. “I’ve got the outline in my head.”
“Promise you’ll send me a copy when it’s published.”
“You know I will,” he said with a wink. “Maybe I’ll dedicate it to you.”
“That would be awesome. Just think, I’ve met two famous authors without even trying.”
Sara and Overstreet passed the day watching old movies, napping, and playing endless hands of Gin Rummy.
As the sun went down, Sara found herself glancing at her watch time and again. Travis was usually here by now, so, where was he?
Travis met Ronan at the hospital as soon as the sun went down.
“I thought I told you to bring Overstreet,” Ronan said.
“I wanted to see you alone first. I want you to teach me how to dissolve into mist and think myself wherever I want to go. And anything else a good master teaches his fledgling.”
Irritated and amused, Ronan lifted one brow. “Do you now?”
“I deserve it.”
“Really? Why?”
“Because you turned me, dammit.”
“It was your decision.”
“The lesser of two evils,” Travis retorted.
“I admire your grit,” Ronan said. “But the truth is, there’s nothing to dissolving into mist, or transporting yourself from one place to the other. The power is in you. You just have to believe you can do it, whether it’s crawling up the side of a building like a spider or shape-shifting.”
“Shape-shifting?”
“I prefer wolves.” The words were still in the air when the vampire disappeared, and a large black wolf stood in his place.
Travis stared at the beast. And then he grinned. How awesome was that?
Ronan shifted back to his own form. “Impressed?”
“Where do your clothes go?”
“That,” Ronan said with the first real smile Travis had ever seen, “is a mystery no one can answer.”
“So, if I want to dissolve into mist, I just have to believe I can do it and it happens?”
“Mind over matter, that’s all it is,” Ronan said, remembering that he’d said the same words to Shannah not long ago. “You think it, believe it, do it.” He chuckled softly.
“It can be a little scary the first time.”
Travis grunted, unable to believe his sire had ever been afraid of anything. Putting everything else out of his mind, he pictured himself as a thick gray mist floating in the air … and it happened. And it was scary as hell, just as Ronan had said. He saw the world through a hazy cloud. Sound was muted. He had no sense of touch or smell.
And then he felt himself drifting aimlessly.
Fear shot through him as he floated out the open window. Below him, the hospital grew smaller and smaller. Shit! What was he supposed to do now? He tried to concentrate but his mind was frozen with fear as he imagined himself drifting ever upward toward the stars. Disintegrating into nothing.
Concentrate! He imagined himself gradually drifting toward the earth, knew a sense of relief when thought turned to action. He pictured himself back in the hospital and a moment later, he was there. I want to be me again!
He blew out a shaky breath when he realized he had form and substance. “Damn! I’m not sure I ever want to try that again.”
“But you will. And because you were turned by a master vampire, your powers are stronger than most.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Ronan glared at him. “You will not call me that.”
Travis nodded as the vampire’s preternatural strength rolled over him. It was like being crushed beneath an overwhelming, invisible weight. He breathed a sigh of relief when Ronan withdrew it.
“Anything else?” his sire asked.
“How do I transport myself from one place to another?”
“The same way you turn into mist. Mind over matter. It’s as simple as that. Any more questions?”
When Travis shook his head, Ronan said, “Let’s take a walk through the town.”
After leaving the hospital, they turned right and headed toward the residential section. It had been dark for about an hour and the streets and sidewalks were deserted.
“These houses are all inhabited by vampires,” Ronan remarked as they reached the end of the last street. “All but the one
on Hampstead. The vampire who owned the house is dead, but his mate still lives there.”
“Did you detect any sign of humans being imprisoned anywhere?”
“No. But the scents of dozens of humans lingers in the air. Many are fresh, which leads me to believe they’re still here.”
“So, where are they?”
“The only possibility I can think of is that they’re being kept somewhere underground.”
“Assuming you’re right, how do they get their prey to the buyers?”
“A good question. I’m also wondering if they kidnap people from other towns. I can’t imagine this place gets that many visitors.”
“Last night, two vampires kidnapped a couple from a motor home. A third vampire drove the vehicle away, with a kid still inside.”
“Of course. They’d have to dispose of the vehicle.”
“What do you think happened to the boy?”
Ronan didn’t answer, merely looked at him.
Travis nodded. Either they intended to sell the kid, or the vampires had a fondness for young blood. He shook the thought away. “So, the vampires sleep all day. A few of their mates work the businesses to give the town a look of normalcy, which is why no one has bothered Sara.”
Ronan nodded. “She’s window dressing, like the other women.”
“Are we done here?” Travis asked. “I need to get back to Sara’s so Overstreet can take a break.”
“Go ahead. I’m going to look around some more.”
“Where’s Shannah?”
“She went to get a room at the hotel in the next town. I’m going to meet her there later.”
“Tired of bedding down in the hospital?”
“Indeed.”
With a grin and a wave of his hand, Travis headed for Sara’s.
He found her and Overstreet in the living room watching Frasier reruns, a large bowl of popcorn between them.
“Sorry I’m late,” Travis said, dropping a burlap bag on the floor. “How was your day?”
Overstreet grunted. “Long and—nothing against this lovely lady—boring.”
“You can take off now, if you want,” Travis said.
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