“That would actually be amazing. I could see her going for that. Especially with her friend here. I will have my lawyer send over the paperwork and we can do this tomorrow and everything will be official by the end of the week.”
Dru couldn’t help but feel himself constantly smiling. Very little could take his happiness away, unless it consisted of something happening to Tara or the children. He kept pushing Blaine and her cohorts out of his mind. He didn’t want that kind of stress and didn’t need it. If he got too worked up about it, he could risk losing his temper and then things could go very wrong. Blaine really would become nothing but a blood bag for his beloved and their children.
* * *
Tara took Cyndi on a tour of the many rooms. She had to show her the library, the ballroom, and the museum room upstairs as well as the bedrooms in which she would choose the one she wanted to use. She showed the doors of Ardo and Salvador’s rooms, so that Cyndi knew not to go in those. As they walked around, both felt giddy with the future prospects.
“How does it feel knowing you’re going to be a mom, though?”
“Bizarre, especially since I am still trying to deal with the fact that I’m a vampire! And,” she held her left hand out to Cyndi, “I’m getting married!”
“Oh wow! That looks old, beautiful but something from a long time ago.”
“It was his mother’s.”
“He’s a natural vampire too, right?”
“Yes, he is. They think that is why I was able to conceive. Natural males are the only ones who seem to be able to have offspring. Females can be natural or made, though Ardo says he has only known of made females, turned by a natural, to have the ability to give birth. Salvador has only seen births between two natural parents.”
After Cyndi picked her room, Tara took her out to show her the grounds. She introduced some of the frequent guards to Cyndi as well. As they walked through the gardens, Tara inhaled the sweet fragrances. It was harder for Cyndi to enjoy, it being dark and the moon only a slice in the sky. The air was a bit cold for her too, making Cyndi hug her jacket close as they walked the grounds.
Tara realized her friend was having a difficult time trying to see the place during a late fall night, so she headed back toward the manor. As they approached the rear entry, Tara’s hearing picked up something coming from the front, down by the guardhouse.
“Cyndi, get inside and go get Dru and the others. Something is happening at the guard station.”
“No, you need to come in with me, if something happens to you and those babies, they will have my head.”
Tara debated before pushing her friend in the house and running with her new vampiric speed around the house. She hear Cyndi yell at her and then the back door banging, Dru must have heard or the guards alerted him. She was almost down the drive and could see the small brick building at the front gate and a red pickup truck idling in front of the gates. As she approached, she heard the sounds of gun fire and someone yelling. Tara sped up and ran faster toward the commotion. She heard Dru, and probably Salvador, not far behind her, but she still managed to make it to the scene before they did.
“Shots fired, we have a guard down and a civilian injured but armed. We need police backup and an ambulance.” Tara could hear one of the guards on the phone.
“Ma’am, please stay back!” Another guard yelled at her from the door way of the building, causing a head to pop up on the other side of the truck.
Tara had a moment to think, to dive sideways as a bullet whizzed by her. She didn’t know exactly how the healing for vampires worked, but she did know that Dru would kill her if she was badly injured for being headstrong. Her anger was peaking, though. Who was this and what were they doing?
“We gonna kill your little vamp whore, you rapist asshole!”
Tara shook her head in bafflement. What was going on?
“Blaine told us what you did to her! You can’t get away with that shit!”
Tara heard more shots firing off as she saw Dru and Salvador rush by her. There was the sound of the man grunting and a growling noise coming from the other side of the truck. Either Salvador or Dru had tackled the man.
“Dru, the police are coming! Don’t kill him!” Tara tried warning him.
CHAPTER 15
Tara was trying to see what was going on, worried more about Dru killing the guy before the cops got there than anything else. She could smell the blood from the dead guard and the injury from the man. The man smelled familiar. She tried to place it and for some reason could only remember her incident with the red headed bitch in the woods.
Was that where she had smelled it? As her thoughts tried to put together something cohesive, she saw Dru stand, holding the man’s arms behind his back. Feeling confident that everything was going to be okay, and hearing the sirens in the distance, Tara headed back up to the manor. With her paperwork issues, the police was not something she wanted to have to deal with right then.
As she began walking around the manor, she saw something out of the corner of her eye and smelled the very familiar smell of someone else’s blood. Tara ran to the limp form on the ground, and tried to feel for a pulse. Cyndi wasn’t moving. Tara looked for the source of the blood and noticed the hole in Cyndi’s abdomen.
As she rolled her over, she saw the exit wound on her back. Her friend was dead. Tara’s darkness was rearing in her, and was driven even wilder by all of the scents of fresh blood.
Part of her wanted to make sure her friend didn’t go to waste, that she devoured what remaining blood she had. The other part was disgusted with the thought, terrified at herself for wanting to do something so depraved.
She looked around, trying to figure out where Cyndi was heading and where the shooter had gone. That was when she noticed a piece of paper in Cyndi’s hand. She pulled it out and straightened the tight little ball to see that it was a scrap ripped off of something. Tara screamed a loud primal noise when she saw what was scrawled there.
Blaine’s name, a phone number, and bulleted points about Tara’s pregnancy and her registration issues. The writing was all in Cyndi’s curly style, as Tara had seen on many patient charts and notes. Tara felt her heart ripped in two. How could she have done this? Why would she have done this?
Tara began searching Cyndi’s pockets until she found her phone. Swiping away the screen lock, she checked the text and phone logs. Cyndi and Blaine had talked back and forth on numerous times, starting back shortly after Tara called Cyndi from Dru’s for the first time.
The text messages showed Blaine trying to convince Cyndi that Dru had wooed her, raped her sexually and for blood, and had refused to turn her because she didn’t want to be his slave. Cyndi was skeptical at first, but Blaine had pictures, probably doctored since her interactions with Dru had been over half a year ago, and told a convincing story of a rich vampire who liked weak willed women.
Blaine had also told Cyndi about Tara, trying to say that Dru had made her return and participate in nights of debauchery and that Tara was always crying and scared but Dru would threaten Cyndi’s life.
The lies went on and on, but the gut punch was in the last few text messages. Cyndi telling Blaine that Tara was pregnant, Blaine convincing Cyndi that the babies couldn’t be Dru’s because he was a vampire and that he probably impregnated Tara with another man to have future blood slaves and that he had tried to have her do it as well.
Throwing the phone at Cyndi’s body, Tara screamed again. She saw the shadow of someone coming towards her from the house. Her body coiled to leap and stopped a second in time as she noticed it was Ardo.
“She betrayed me! She lied and she went behind our backs! That stupid red headed whore is in on this!”
Ardo glared at the body and looked around at the wooded area beside the drive.
“Is anyone else here? What happened?”
“Dru stopped a guy in a red truck at the gate. He shot and killed one of the guards, but another one got a round off in him. When I left t
he police were coming and Dru had the man pinned.” Tara shook her head, her teeth extended, ready for a hunt, “someone shot and killed Cyndi while I was down there.
But the paper in her hand and her cell phone, god damnit! She was talking to that Blaine chic. Telling her everything. And that woman made up all kinds of shit about Dru and me to convince her to do it.”
She felt her body shake, she needed to run, to kill. Ardo approached her slowly and grabbed her shoulders. She looked up at him and he met her eyes.
“You must control the hunger, the anger. Dru needs you, we need you. There is nothing you can do.” Ardo squeezed her shoulders then stepped back.
“You should go inside. I will go get Dru and tell him what has happened here and get the police up here.”
“You can’t! Her phone and that paper have information about me and about my situation on it. They’ll investigate and then we will have a shit ton of more problems on our hands!”
Ardo nodded and bent down grabbing the paper and the phone.
“I will destroy them. You need to go. We don’t need them questioning you or looking into you right now.”
Tara nodded. She took a last look at the woman she thought was her friend. She remembered all their times together at the hospital, coffee dates, nights watching stupid movies at each other’s apartments to stay awake all night when they were off so they wouldn’t screw up their night schedules, her friend’s worry about her now, her laughter and joy at being part of the babies’ lives. Tara felt her heart tear and harden at the same time. She wanted to cry and she wanted to be angry and both were tearing her in two directions.
Turning her back, she headed to the back of the house as Ardo headed down the drive. Her gut was twisting. She didn’t trust Ardo now. Or Salvador. What if they were in on it? Or what if they were here for the babies and wanted to take them to another vampire, an older one who wanted to raise them. There had been so much talk about how many issues could arise, no one considered the very few people trusted with this would turn into the people who would cause the biggest problems.
As she approached the back door, she realized they hadn’t addressed the issue of who had shot Cyndi. Suddenly feeling uneasy, Tara turned to scan the woods around that side of the house. She didn’t see or smell anything suspicious, but she couldn’t be sure. All of her senses were going haywire.
Unsure how to proceed, she decided to go in and hide. As ridiculous as it seemed, especially with her new abilities and strength, Tara was just worn out from everything. She hadn’t been joking when she told Cyndi that she hadn’t really thought about being a mom because she was still coming to terms with being a vampire.
Tara headed straight up to the third floor. She used her card and the code to go into the museum room. No one could easily get in except Dru and she figured she would be able to see a ways down the front drive from one of the small shuttered window ports. As she watched and waited, though, she realized she knew who and what the problem was. It would be rather easy to take care of it all, herself. She remembered the number on the paper in Cyndi’s hand. Pulling out her cell, she texted Blaine.
This is Tara. I think we need to talk.
It didn’t take long before she got a response.
I don’t think we have anything to talk about.
Well, you turned my best friend against me, killed her, and had one of your cronies attack our guards and kill one of them. I think we have a lot to talk about.
Cyndi’s dead?
Don’t play your games with me. Where are you?
Why, so you can sic Dru after me? I don’t think so.
I’m not as petty as you. I fight my own battles. Where?
Fine. Where you attacked me the other day. Keep the guards clear and make sure the cameras are off.
I will clear out the cameras only if you do the same.
Fine. Thirty minutes.
Tara took an unnecessary deep breath. Her anger penetrating every pore in her body. This thing needed to be dealt with. For her friend, for her future husband, and for her children. She was surprised the dumb bitch didn’t just report her. She knew Tara was unregistered and pregnant, she had a lot to work with and yet didn’t. Clearly this was why she was nothing more than a one night stand to Dru. The woman was an imbecile.
Tara grabbed one of the simpler daggers and shoved it down her hiking boot. She looked around and didn’t see anything else that wouldn’t be suspicious. As she headed back through the house, she stopped in the kitchen and grabbed the ball of twine that Katia used in roasting meats.
There was no one out back, Cyndi’s body still lay in the drive, but the police would be inspecting it, so she couldn’t do anything about that. As she walked toward the woods in the back, she noticed something shining in the leaves. Leaning down, Tara realized it was a gun, something large caliber. More worrisome was that she recognized the gun.
It was one of the older designs with some historic significance that Dru kept in his study. Looking down at the gun, the distance from the house, and where Cyndi was, Tara realized that Ardo had done something. He had killed Cyndi.
He hadn’t seemed as thrilled as Dru and Salvador at her being at the house and helping with the pregnancy, and if he had discovered what risk she was bringing by exposing Tara to a human, one known for causing problems, then he could have very well took it upon himself.
She supposed he used the gun to make it look as if the humans had done it. A drained body, or even one with a bite or broken neck, would point directly to one of the vampires. She couldn’t decide how she felt about this. On one hand, he had done them a favor and was protecting Tara and Dru. On the other, he killed her friend. But if she had found out, wouldn’t she had done the same? With her crazy emotions and bloodlust rage?
Maybe he didn’t forget that too, to and wanted to prevent Tara from having to deal with it. Why would Ardo work so hard to protect Tara and Dru? She didn’t understand, but she had more important things to worry about right now. Tara realized she would have to deal with it eventually, but one violent issue at a time.
Making her way through the trees, Tara tried to think of how she would deal with Blaine. Killing her would be bad, and could cause a lot of issues. But that was what Tara wanted to do. Between the jealousies of this woman ever touching Dru, the aggravation she had been causing, her obsessive stalker issues, and now her knowing about Tara’s secrets.
She could imagine her calling in the authorities to do her dirty work, and she didn’t look forward to that happening either. Tara figured she would see what she was walking into first, and then decide how to proceed. She just hoped the woman came alone.
* * *
Dru couldn’t believe the night could get any messier. The police had Jared in the back of one of the cruisers, under arrest. Two officers walked with Ardo up to where Cyndi’s body was. They didn’t think the perpetrator of that had stuck around, but Dru had a feeling he never left, as he smelled the faint odor of gunpowder on Ardo. After what Ardo told him, though, he was more grateful than anything. Although he could see this having a serious impact on Tara. He hoped she actually went into the house and stayed there, out of the way of the cops.
The cops were used to anti-vampire groups causing issues. With Jared having a checkered past and the W.A.V.E. group being connected, there wasn’t much investigating to be done. The police wrapped it up to another terroristic act by anti-vampire extremist. They were charging Jared with first degree murder, several counts of attempted murder, and trespassing.
Dru would have to get with his lawyers to try to work a deal to perhaps get the name of the second shooter. Dru didn’t see that being necessary. He wanted Jared behind bars and knew that he would never give them a second shooter, and so there was no point in going that route. His lawyer would have to come up with a legitimate reason.
After the reports and police were done, Dru and Salvador headed back to the house. Ardo was waiting for them out back. His face looked more somber than usua
l.
“She isn’t here. I think she was up in the third floor, the door was shut all the way, but she isn’t there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Check if you don’t believe me.”
The three vampires swept the whole house but couldn’t find any sign of Tara. Dru hurried to his office to check the camera footage. As he loaded up the present views, he noticed the camera had spotted Tara and Blaine before it was blacked out. He felt a wave of anxiety and fury. Somehow, Tara was that way. He doubted anyone made her go, but if she thought her friend’s killer and Blaine would be back there, she would be out for blood. She was going to kill Blaine. Slamming his fist into the desk top, causing the wood to splinter around the indention, Dru roared in fury.
He wanted to kill Blaine himself. Why couldn’t they be left alone? Better yet, why did he have to let women come back to his house before he met Tara? His libido and needs are what brought this on. And now his future and happiness was in jeopardy.
“Salvador, stay here and watch the manor. Ardo, come with me. I think Tara is fixing to take care of our problem, but she may just be making a lot more for us to deal with. We need to go, fast.”
Ardo nodded and they headed out the back. As they raced through the woods, Dru felt the swirl of emotions grow. No matter what happens, Blaine was not long for the living world.
THE FINAL CHAPTER
Tara stood legs braced, arms crossed, staring at this woman who was causing so many issues. She lacked intelligence, courage, and any real substance. Tara felt no threat personally, but the anguish the woman had caused and the issues she could cause for Dru and their children was not something she could easily tolerate.
Her fury must have shown in her eyes, as Blaine stood shaking before her. The tremors making the woman appear small and pathetic. Tara snarled, showing her teeth in a way that made her feel slightly childish but vicious nonetheless.
“So what do we do now? You gonna kill me?”
“Thinking about it. You had my people killed.”
Cured By Blood: A Vampire Pregnancy Romance Page 12
