by Nina Bangs
“Hopefully, they gum up your dental works enough so you can’t tear out any throats. I don’t think you want that kind of exposure.”
Sparkle plucked at her clingy black top, and if Eric didn’t know better, he’d think she was nervous. But he did know better. The only thing that would shake Sparkle Stardust was someone declaring sex extinct.
He exhaled sharply and let some of his fury go. Sparkle was right. A frontal attack would accomplish nothing except make Ms. Media Shark suspicious.
“You’re right. Losing my temper won’t help.” Eric frowned. “But I have to make sure she doesn’t find out the truth.” He didn’t want her reporting to her listeners that a vampire, sexual demon, and immortal warrior ran the Castle of Dark Dreams. She had the kind of audience that would actually believe her. He glanced down at the candy, but his heart wasn’t in his choice tonight. Of course, he didn’t have a heart, so it could never be involved in anything. He ran on pure instinct and intellect. His only true enjoyment came from his companionship with Brynn and Conall plus the gratification of his senses. And with his enhanced senses, Eric was talking gratification on a mythic scale.
“Why’re you so worried? You’re an immortal. You have superhuman strength, superhuman eyesight, superhuman everything. She barely comes up to your shoulders, for crying out loud.” Sparkle paused to reload. “And I’d strongly suggest the chocolate-covered cherries tonight.”
“Yeah, give me the cherries.” He hardly noticed Sparkle’s shocked expression as he thought out his plan of attack. “And I’m worried because if she gets the truth out there, I’ll have to find somewhere else to live. I won’t let that happen. I can’t kick her out, though. The owner told Holgarth we had to welcome her. She’ll be great for business.” To hell with business. “But I have to protect Brynn and Conall. We still have enemies who’d love to take us down. I’ll have to keep her busy doing other things besides snooping around and then broadcasting her discoveries to the world.”
“So you’ll distract her?” Sparkle’s eyes glittered with rapt interest as she handed him his box of cherries.
“In a major way.” Eric met Sparkle’s gaze and for the first time let her into his mind to catch a glimpse of who he really was. He watched her eyes flair in alarm as she took a step back. She understood now—what lived in his dark places, and what he was capable of. And no one, not even a cosmic troublemaker, had better mess with him. “Fear and confusion are powerful distracters.”
“You could always sidetrack her with a week of sizzling sex and depravity.” Hope lived in Sparkle’s amber eyes.
Eric knew his smile was cold and emotionless. “Whatever it takes.” He speared her with a hard stare. “And I know you’ve forgotten all about Eric Mackenzie. Only McNairs live in the Castle of Dark Dreams.”
“Of course. I’m very good at keeping secrets.” The wicked gleam in her eyes said that she was no stranger to secrets.
“Got to go. It’s almost time for my part in the next fantasy.” Dropping his money onto the counter, he left the store. But just before he closed the door behind him, he heard Sparkle’s excited, “Yes!”
Donna walked across the drawbridge, then stopped at the massive castle gates. The guys had already taken care of the equipment and gone into the castle, but she’d wanted a few minutes to glance around the park. She hadn’t gone far, just far enough to get a glimpse of the pirate ship as it sailed around the lighted man-made lake. For a mini-second Sparkle’s pirate fantasy flashed across her mind trailing the memory of black hair, broad shoulders, and spectacular buns.
Put it away, Nolan. She’d procrastinated too long. No more excuses for not facing the three brothers and her quest for all things dark and evil. Fine, so she’d do the facing and questing tomorrow. Tonight she’d sleep the sleep of the dead.
Donna frowned. Maybe that hadn’t been the greatest metaphor.
All thoughts of dark and evil vanished as the massive gates slowly swung open accompanied by a crack of thunder and jagged streaks of lightning. Hey, pretty impressive special effects. A thin gray-haired man with matching long pointed beard waited for her inside the gates. He wore a gold-trimmed blue robe, and his tall conical hat was decorated with gold suns, moons, and stars. Clichéd, clichéd. But he was still a pretty imposing wizard until you realized the hat added almost a foot to his not so imposing height.
Her gaze shifted to his face. Narrowed gray eyes and pursed lips assured her she was lacking in all ways that were important. Donna decided he was ten feet tall if you factored in his power to skewer victims with just a gimlet stare.
“I am Holgarth, and you are late, madam. Everyone has grown impatient waiting for you. Customers are scheduled at twenty-minute intervals. You have set back our schedule exactly”—he paused to glance at his very nonwizardy watch—“fifteen minutes. That is not acceptable.”
“What?” That’s about all she could muster in the face of his disapproval.
“Please hurry.” He stepped forward, clasped her arm, and propelled her into the courtyard. The gates closed behind her with an ominous thud. “The castle’s owner insisted that you be introduced to the Castle of Dark Dreams by taking part in one of our fantasies. I haven’t the foggiest idea why. Now, what type of fantasy did you have in mind?”
“Fantasy?” In her mind’s eye a hard-muscled pirate captain beckoned to her from the deck of his ship. “Uh, what’re your choices? Give me a minute to—”
“We don’t have time for indecision. Schedules must be maintained.” He paused at the keep’s intricately carved doors and raised his arm.
For the first time she noticed the wand he held. Of course. What was a wizard without his wand? He waved the wand with a dramatic flourish and the doors creaked slowly open.
“So I see I must choose a fantasy for you.” He sighed as though her indecisiveness was a burden almost too great to bear. “You will be the beautiful peasant serving girl attacked by the deadly vampire Eric the Evil, who craves your blood and wishes to turn you into a wicked creature of the night like himself. Are you paying attention?”
“Right. Peasant girl. You know, you guys should have your fantasy choices posted—”
“Good. Upon attack you will make some appropriate noises of distress which will alert the Immortal Warrior.”
“Who?”
“Please refrain from interrupting. We are now”—he looked at his watch again—“eighteen minutes behind schedule.”
He hurried her into the great hall. It was empty except for a small gallery at the end of the room filled with people who Donna assumed were watching the action while they waited for their turn at a fantasy. In the distance Donna could hear voices raised in anger. She glanced around. High vaulted ceiling. Stone fireplace big enough to warm the toes of a whole army. Long table set on a raised platform. Colorful tapestries hanging on the walls. The assorted armor and weapons looked authentic. Impressive room.
“The Immortal Warrior will engage the vampire in battle. And while the warrior is defeating the forces of evil, the handsome prince will carry you away in his arms.” Holgarth slid his gaze down his long nose in an obviously contemptuous assessment of her body. “I do hope the prince has been working out.”
Donna opened her mouth to voice her outrage, and then . . . she laughed. She couldn’t help it. This whole thing was ridiculous.
The wizard arched one brow at her. “I am amusing you, madam?”
Donna’s laughter faded to chuckles. “Look, I’m tired and all I want to do is go to bed. I don’t want to play games. I have to be ready to do some preliminary investigating tomorrow so I have something to report to my listeners.”
If Donna hadn’t shifted her gaze to his eyes at that exact moment, she would’ve missed the flash of triumph there.
“If you insist. I’ll tell the owner you chose not to participate.”
Donna narrowed her gaze. He’d manipulated her. He didn’t want her to take part in the fantasy and thought if he was obnoxious enough she�
�d refuse. Which she had.
“Why the hell does she have to be part of a fantasy tonight? It’s bad enough she’s going to be here for a week poking her nose into everything.” The unidentified male voice echoed from somewhere in the castle.
The wizard glanced toward a doorway. “It’s unfortunate you heard that, but I’m sure once everyone is exposed to your sweet nature they’ll change their attitudes. I’ll just go and tell them you chose not to participate in the fantasy.” He offered a smile rife with insincerity.
“Wait. I’ve changed my mind. I want to do the fantasy.” She hated being manipulated, and she’d poke her nose anywhere she wanted this week. Donna didn’t know what the problem was with these people, but she intended to find out. The castle’s owner had assured the station she’d be welcomed.
Some welcome.
“Very well, madam. I wouldn’t worry overmuch about the angry glares of those in the gallery who see you cutting in front of them. Although when you’re finished, you might want to leave by another exit.” Holgarth was chipped ice over stone. And as he turned toward the hallway, he muttered a word Donna easily identified as having four letters.
She smiled. Everyone here would learn quickly her loyalty was to her listeners, and she definitely did not have a sweet nature.
Minutes later the actors drifted into the great hall. The king and queen took their places along with all of the other costumed extras needed to reenact a medieval feast.
A woman wrapped a large apron around Donna and tied it in the back. “Sorry. Usually we’d give you time to change into period dress, but Holgarth’s all bent out of shape because we’re running late.” She came to stand in front of Donna and studied the effect. “Afraid you don’t look too medieval.”
“What should I do?” I should take off this dumb apron and go to bed. Too late now.
The woman smiled at her, and Donna felt a little better. “Just do what they tell you to do. They’ll guide you through the fantasy.” She hurried away.
Marooned in the middle of the great hall while everyone bustled around her, Donna did some silent whining. Where were Ken and Franco when she needed support? And why hadn’t the three brothers, maybe even the mysterious owner, welcomed her instead of a grumpy wizard? She’d be giving this place tons of free publicity during the next week. Where was the respect?
“It grows warm in here. I have need of my fan.” The queen beckoned imperiously to Donna. “Bring me my fan at once.”
Show time. If she was going to be here for a week, she may as well get over her mad and make the best of it by showing a little enthusiasm for her fantasy. Hey, she might even meet a lust-filled creature of the night. I should be so lucky. “Uh, where is your fan, Your Majesty?”
“Where it always is, stupid girl.” The queen pointed to one of the many darkened doorways.
Okay, Donna would play the game. She didn’t have to know where the fan was. The fan was just an excuse to lure her into the dark where the evil vampire would jump her. At least she’d get a look at the three brothers in action.
While Donna went in search of the fan, the players continued acting out their feast. Once in the hallway she found it led to a spiral stone stairway that disappeared into the darkness. She started to climb. Only a few dimly lit sconces broke the suffocating blackness. At the top of the stairs the darkness was complete. How creepy was this?
Suddenly Donna froze. She wasn’t alone. Primal senses whispered that something waited for her. Something so scary that fear clogged her throat. Its presence touched her with malevolent fingers. And every one of her survival instincts inherited from very smart ancestors shouted for her to race down the stairs and never climb them again. Okay, cancel her wish for a creature-of-the-night encounter.
“You canna escape me. ’Tis useless to try.” The voice emerged from the darkness, a low husky promise of impending doom. Male. Very male.
Reality check. This was just an actor, and no one threatened her. Yeah, tell that to her primal instincts.
Time to take control. She was letting the voice and the darkness get to her. Lights. Whatever was about to happen couldn’t happen in complete darkness because then she wouldn’t be able to see the show. And it was only a show. She had to remember that.
Donna stood still while her imagination filled the silent darkness with menace, and whoever stalked her drew slowly closer.
She could feel a cold shiver beginning between her shoulder blades and creeping down her spine. Donna wouldn’t let the shiver turn her spine to mush. It was the complete silence that fed her fear, so she’d break the silence.
“I need the queen’s fan, evil vampire. So why don’t you turn on a light, jump me, I’ll scream, and we can keep Holgarth’s schedule moving right along?” There, she’d addressed the situation, and now she felt more in control. Sort of.
One candle flickered to life in a wall sconce, and in its dim glow Donna saw the dark shape of a man.
“Come to me, woman.” His voice was a husky temptation, making carnal promises of unspeakable pleasure if she obeyed him. Sure sounded like one of the lust-filled pod members to her.
Donna to brain, this . . . is . . . not . . . real.
Panic started in her throat, cutting off any “appropriate noises of distress.” Her panic spread in overlapping waves. His voice was a compulsion, and strictly without her permission her feet started moving toward him.
No! She wouldn’t let this—whatever “this” was—happen. Donna pictured herself, always the queen of calm and cool, admitting to her audience that a silly role-playing fantasy had scared her witless. She stopped walking.
“You resisted my call. That intrigues me. But you willna escape.” His soft laughter mocked her foolish attempt to defy him. “Give yourself to me, and share with me the life flowing through you.”
She did not want to intrigue this man, and no way would she share anything with him. “What happens to women who resist your call?” Stupid, stupid question. Please don’t tell me.
She sensed his shrug. “It matters not. Few have tried, but those who did couldna escape their fate.”
What fate? All kinds of biting and sarcastic replies piled up at the back of her throat, but she couldn’t get them past the huge boulder lodged there.
Donna controlled her need to swallow hard. No use in calling more attention to her throat than necessary. She tried to think logically, because logic was the only thing that might defeat his all-enveloping sexual compulsion. And the vampire’s call was sexual. She recognized it on a primitive level that needed no explanation.
She had to make him human like any other man. Talk to him. “You must be Eric McNair. Or should I call you Eric the Evil? You’re good, you know. And that Scottish burr is perfect. A vampire Highlander—symbolic of all things sexual, sinister, and über alpha male. Talk about great premises. I can understand why some of my listeners think this whole thing is real.”
“You speak so you may push back the darkness. But if you surrender to its heat, its need, you’ll know what joy it may bring.” He moved closer, but he was still in shadows.
“Right. Joy. I don’t think so.” She opened her mouth to scream.
Suddenly he loomed over her, blocking out the flickering candle’s meager light. When had he moved? She hadn’t seen him move. The darkness distorted her perceptions of time and space. Fear washed over her. Her scream froze in her throat. What good was a scream if you couldn’t use it when you really needed it?
“Dinna scream yet, or you’ll miss all the pleasure.” He leaned toward her, his long cloak a dark symbol of ancient evil and folded bat wings.
She’d pass on the pleasure. Now if she could just make her vocal cords work and her feet obey her command to run like hell, things would be okay.
Then she did something incredibly stupid. What a humbling experience to know that in a time of crisis, you didn’t always do what was brave or smart. Donna closed her eyes. If she didn’t see anything, maybe it wouldn’t happen. Was th
at logical, or what?
Now that she couldn’t see, her sense of touch scurried to take up the slack. Rough cloth scraped against her arm while smooth strands of his hair touched the side of her face. His breath heated her neck, and then his lips touched her throat where her pulse pounded so hard it might as well be shouting, “Bite me!”
The warm glide of his tongue across her skin sizzled and sparked to nerve endings unused to any kind of sizzling or sparking. The chain reaction was cataclysmic. Fear was no longer part of the equation. Her nipples were sensitive points of pleasure-pain as they rubbed against her blouse, and nothing less than the pressure of his lips, the heat of his mouth on her breasts, would be enough. Need pooled low in her belly, and a sense of heaviness, a belief that something had to happen, that she couldn’t stand it unless he . . .
Then she felt the slide of his fangs against her throat.
She stilled as fear made a return appearance. Teetering between unreasoning lust and numbing fear, she balanced on the thin edge of reason. This isn’t real. What I’m feeling isn’t real. He’s just a terrific actor. But it sure felt real to her.
The decision was taken from her. He raised his head and stepped away just as she opened her eyes. Now that he wasn’t blocking the candle glow, she could see his face.
Horror warred with fascination. Long black hair was a dark curtain around his face. Overlarge elongated eyes with pupils so dilated she couldn’t tell what color his irises were seemed almost hypnotic. And the slight slant of those eyes gave him an exotic look.
His mouth. She drew in her breath on the savage beauty of that mouth. Sensual lips made fuller by the fangs they hid, lips that made her slide the tip of her tongue across her own bottom lip as she remembered the feel of them touching her neck. Lips that tempted her to stand on her toes so she could press her mouth to his and test their firmness. Lips made to bring pleasure to a woman’s body.
He smiled. A smile filled with wicked knowledge. Mesmerized, Donna stared at his bared fangs and finally understood. She’d never believed women who claimed the lure of a vampire could be a sexual turn-on, but she did now. It was the uncertainty. He could use his mouth, his body, to give incredible pleasure, or use that same mouth to end a lover’s life. The power, the choice, was his. A vampire was the ultimate alpha male.
