by Nina Bangs
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ken hurrying toward her with a man following behind him. She didn’t get a look at her vampire, but it was enough to know she had a warm body to talk to, or maybe a cold one. If it could talk, she’d interview it. “Tonight I’ll be talking to a vampire. Our guest was kind enough to fill in on short notice for Bill Sykes. I’ve never met him before, so we’ll be meeting him together for the first time.” She turned to smile at her guest.
And froze as the man Eric had identified as Taurin lowered himself to the chair beside her. He smiled at her. A beautiful smile filled with warmth, charm, and deception. She lifted her gaze to his eyes. A mistake. They were cold, dark, and utterly ruthless. He didn’t attempt to mask them behind a false layer of friendliness. Donna rubbed her arms to dispel her sudden rash of goose bumps. She didn’t dare look at Eric.
Say something. Ken poked her in the side and whispered in her ear. “All of America probably thinks you took a bathroom break. His name’s Taurin Veris. Do your thing.”
She nodded and put on her professional face. “Taurin Veris is a practicing vampire and has been kind enough to stop by to tell us something about his life.” Or death. Donna tried on a bright smile and hoped the corners didn’t sag. “Welcome to Donna till Dawn, Taurin. Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself first.” While he was talking, she’d scope out Eric’s reaction.
“A practicing vampire? You make it sound like a religion.” His voice was smooth and compelling, his laughter sincere. “First of all, you have no idea how much I wanted to be on your show. You’re very special.”
Taurin sounded as though he was delivering a coded message. But it wasn’t meant for her, because she didn’t have the key. He looked into the audience, and Donna followed his gaze. Eric’s chair lay on its side where he’d evidently knocked it when he rose. Taurin and Eric locked gazes, and the air almost crackled from the tension. Eric stood with hands clenched. His hands said furious, but his expression said nothing. No anger, no fear, just . . . stillness. It scared her into speech.
“Thank you. But this is about you now. Tell us where you’re from and how you became a vampire.” She chanced a glance at Eric. He’d taken a step toward the table.
“I was born in Italy six hundred years ago, but in the last five hundred years I’ve lived in many parts of the world.” He paused to allow the audience its collective gasp. “I became vampire when I was twenty-eight years old.”
Donna recognized a possible great guest when she heard one. Her talk show host persona kicked in. “Wow, that’s fascinating. Who turned you, and how did you feel about it?” She slid her gaze over to Eric. He’d moved forward a few more steps. It was a slow deliberate stalk. Uh-oh.
“My older brother turned me. And no, I didn’t think it was too cool.” He shrugged. “I guess in his own mind he didn’t think he had a choice. I’d been wounded in battle, and it was either turn me or let me die. It took me a few hundred years to get over my mad.”
Okay, so far so good. “Tell me a little about your lifestyle. Do you live alone or belong to a group? What’re your goals?”
Eric had shifted his approach and was working his way around to the back of the table. He must know he wasn’t going to be able to sneak up on Taurin. Then what? That’s when she saw Brynn, Conall, and Holgarth. They were unobtrusively placing themselves at different spots around the table. This was not good. Taurin might be trapped in the middle of their circle, but so was she. Donna didn’t know what was going down, but she didn’t want to be part of it.
Taurin was also assessing the situation and acknowledged it with a slight smile. “I belong to a loosely knit group of vampires called night feeders. Most of the night feeders aren’t very powerful, so three or four hunt together.”
“I see. Does that mean you have other night feeders here with you tonight?” Please, no. She didn’t intend to sit here talking to her listeners while the three McNair brothers did battle above her unprotected head with a bunch of phony vampires. She had her standards.
Taurin smiled at her, and for the first time she realized what a spectacular-looking man he was. Dark hair that had been a little tousled by the wind softened his hard face, and he’d probably have a great mouth and eyes if he weren’t so scary. Of course, he wasn’t any scarier than Eric, and she thought Eric was fine indeed.
“No, I hunt alone. Two hundred years ago my brother was destroyed. Another vampire clan caught him alone, and he wasn’t powerful enough to protect himself. That was a wake-up call for me. I focused on making myself strong enough to bring closure to my brother’s destruction. The time has come.”
He speared Eric with a glare that even Donna understood. We were talking bad blood on a mythic scale. Keep him talking. “Describe how you get . . . nourishment.” Fine, so she was a weeny. She didn’t want to say blood for fear it might be a trigger word.
Taurin turned his attention back to her, but Donna could see he was distracted. “Since I’m so old, I don’t have to feed very often, once every week or so. And it doesn’t take much blood to satisfy me.” He smiled. “You don’t have to worry about me leaving a trail of drained bodies as I drink my way through Galveston.”
“All of Galveston just sighed its collective relief.” She’d roll right into the calls. She didn’t think even Eric would pounce on her guest while all of America and a live audience listened. Talk about unwanted publicity.
Thank heavens there were tons of calls that ate up the rest of the night. Donna learned more than she’d ever wanted to know about vampires. The weird part? Taurin made it all seem real and logical. He was a wonderful guest, and she’d love to have him back on the show if the McNair brothers didn’t tear him apart as soon as the program ended. During one of the commercial breaks, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket so she could call 911 if hostilities escalated.
Just when Donna thought she was home free, someone in the back of the audience put up her hand. Donna’s early-warning system said it was Sparkle-the-sensual-pissant-Stardust. Don’t answer that hand. But with a sense of inevitability, she pointed toward the waving hand. “You have a question?” Her whole show was built on a foundation of always acknowledging questions from listeners. She might not know the answer, but she was always willing to give the caller a voice.
Her early-warning system was right on target. Sparkle stood up and offered a finger wave to Taurin. “Reports say that vampires are so much more sensually satisfying than humans because they can manipulate the human mind. I mean, they’re supposed to be able to create all kinds of erotic images and sensations in our brains. Personally, I find that incredibly sexy. What do both of you think?”
Taurin’s smile glazed the eyes of all the women in the front row of the audience. “A vampire has more sensual tools than you could possibly imagine, and mental seduction is only one.” He turned his smile on Donna. “What’s your take on it, Donna?”
I think Sparkle should stay in her damn candy store. Donna smiled sweetly at Sparkle. “I agree.” She’d taken a page out of Eric’s “How to Answer Questions in Two Words or Less” handbook and found it immensely satisfying. Especially when Sparkle glared at her and sat down. But the satisfaction was fleeting. What was it with Sparkle and vampires? And would she pop up during every show to ask a vampires-and-their-sex-lives question?
Four seemed like it would never roll around, but finally she was able to sign off with “Thanks for giving us some fascinating insights into vampires, Taurin. And thanks to all the listeners who’ve joined us. Stop by tomorrow night, everyone, as we once again broadcast from the Castle of Dark Dreams in Galveston, Texas.”
Donna felt completely drained as she did her limp noodle imitation and watched people slowly drift away. No one spoke while the drifting took place. Personally, Donna was too scared to talk. Finally only the McNair brothers, Holgarth, Taurin, and Chicken Little remained.
Taurin leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Well, Eric, it’s been a few years.”
&
nbsp; “How did you find me?” His voice was soft, deadly. Suggesting that finding him was not a good thing.
Taurin shrugged. “I paid a lot of people a lot of money to find you. Someone finally reported they’d seen you in Galveston, and the castle seemed a logical place to start. Last night Donna mentioned her guest for tonight. I paid Bill a visit. It wasn’t hard to remind Bill of that important meeting he had at midnight and how happy his old pal Taurin would be to take his place. Bill’s mind is open to all kinds of suggestions.” He glanced at Donna. “By the way, Bill’s a fake.”
Eric nodded as if Taurin’s mad rambling made perfect sense. He was into his still mode again. “It ends tonight, Taurin.”
“I don’t think so. I really only stopped by tonight to let you know I’d be hanging in the neighborhood. Don’t want to mess up your brothers’ nice castle, so we’ll take this somewhere else on another night.” He glanced at her. “And I sure wanted to meet Donna.” Again, a look passed between the two men that only they understood.
“I don’t think so.” Eric moved closer, a cold pitiless predator stalking his prey.
Donna might not know what history lay between the two men, but her gut instinct told her Eric was the more dangerous of the two. His silence spoke of deadly intent, and suddenly Donna knew she had to stop whatever was about to happen. She was a talk-show host, for crying out loud. She hadn’t come to Galveston to referee a brawl. You know it’s more than that. No, she wouldn’t think about it being more than a brawl.
“You’re making me really nervous, guys.” She stood and pushed her chair away from the table. “I pass out at the sight of even the teeniest drop of blood, so that’s why I’m going to walk Taurin out to his car. He was my guest, and I’m sort of responsible for him.” She glanced down at Taurin, who was looking at her with a bemused expression on his face. “To avoid murder and mayhem, I’d advise you to come with me now.”
“No.” Eric’s voice was a soft hiss of menace.
“No?” Donna raised one brow. “No, as in I may not walk my guest to his car?” Okay, Eric was scary. She pumped up her deflating courage with false bravado. “Sorry, but unless there’s a minefield between here and the parking lot, I’m walking.” She cast Taurin a withering glance. He’d come here looking for trouble, but she’d save his butt this one time. “Let’s go.”
Only when they were finally in the almost empty parking lot did Donna dare breathe. Every second she’d expected to feel Eric’s hand on her shoulder, but surprisingly, no one had followed them. Taurin stopped beside a silver Honda Accord, kind of a tame car for someone who claimed to be a vampire. Where was the rush, where was the Batmobile?
“Thanks for trying to keep me safe.” He leaned against the car. “But you only postponed the inevitable.”
“And that would be?” She wanted to shake the truth from him.
He shrugged. “One of us will be destroyed.”
Donna wrapped her arms around herself as a sudden cold breeze whirled past her. Could Galveston even produce a cold breeze at this time of the year? Obviously, yes. “Destroyed? Don’t you mean killed? I can guess that whatever is between you and Eric has to do with your brother, but resorting to savagery isn’t the answer.” This guy had some heavy issues, and she didn’t know what to do to keep him away from Eric. Donna knew Eric-the-publicity-shy would be furious for what she was about to do, but it only made sense. She eased her hand toward her pocket. She’d already memorized Taurin’s license number. As soon as he started to drive away, she’d call the police.
Reaching out, he pulled the phone from her pocket. “Sorry, I can’t let you do that. You think I’m crazy.” His smile said he wouldn’t hold it against her. “But I really am a vampire, and that breeze you just felt was Eric warning me off.”
“Vampires don’t exist, and give me back my phone.” Maybe saying he didn’t exist wasn’t the smartest thing to tell someone who needed to check into the nearest mental health facility, but it was almost dawn and she was tired.
Some emotion moved in his eyes. “Oh, we exist. We certainly do exist. Look at me, Donna.”
For the first time, she felt a little afraid of him. Wide-eyed, she stared at his face and watched in horror as it changed. His eyes elongated and grew almost black as his pupils swallowed the irises. His mouth seemed to grow fuller, and she had a sickening suspicion of what was causing that fullness. He smiled at her, exposing long, sharp canines. “Next time I appear on your show, we’ll share this memory with your listeners.”
Every breath seemed to be instantly sucked out of her lungs. She couldn’t even muster a terrified squeak. But there was nothing wrong with her feet. Turning, she raced toward the relative safety of the castle. Scaredscaredscared. Her heart pounded, her breath came in gasps, and Taurin had not turned into a vampire right in front of her eyes.
“But he did, talk-show lady.”
She heard Eric’s voice a split second before she slammed into the rock-hard wall of his chest. And as she looked up at his unsmiling face, she realized he had just read her mind. But that seemed relatively minor compared to what she’d left in the parking lot. Fearfully she looked over her shoulder. The Accord was still there, but Taurin was gone.
“Where?” Where were her bags? She was going home.
His soft laughter seemed out of place in the horror this night had become. “Where did Taurin go? That’s not his car, so you wasted your time memorizing the license plate. And you won’t need your bags. Taurin is no danger to you. I’m the one he wants. After a good sleep you’ll see the advantage of staying the whole week.”
Surprised, Donna glanced at him. From the moment she’d stepped into the Castle of Dark Dreams, she’d felt that everyone would sacrifice to the gods of late-night radio if they thought it would send her back to New York. “You want me to stay?”
For a moment she read confusion in his eyes. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
Too bad. It wasn’t going to happen. “He’s a vampire.” What else was there to say? Once a vampire moved into the neighborhood, there went the property values, and she was gone.
“Hmm. I think that’s what he was trying to tell you all night.” He put his arm across her shoulders and pulled her to his side. They walked to the castle together. “I’ll take you to your room and stay with you until you calm down.”
She simply nodded. Amazing how relative fear was. Just a few short hours ago, she would’ve pegged Eric as the scariest of the scariest. Now Taurin had leap-frogged right over Eric.
“Will you go hunting for him?” Please say no. The intensity of the fear she felt for Eric shocked her. Sure, she’d be concerned for anyone in danger from a . . . vampire. But not this concerned.
As he pulled the great hall door open, she could sense his frustration. “No, it’s almost dawn and he’s gone to ground until the sun sets. After I leave you all snug in your bed, I’ll take some precautions.”
She didn’t ask what kind of precautions, because he probably wouldn’t tell her. No one wanted to tell her anything. Except for Lola and Asima. They wanted to tell her everything.
“I’m definitely going home. Since Sunday I’ve met a ghost, a telepathic cat, and a vampire. Things like this don’t happen in New York.” She followed him into the great hall, where everyone sat around the banquet table waiting for them.
“Yeah, you’re right. New York is normal America. And you didn’t tell me you’d met a telepathic cat. It’d be nice to know things like that before you dropped the bombshell on the air.” He waved to his friends, indicating he had everything under control.
He didn’t have everything under control. There was a real vampire somewhere outside the castle. That didn’t sound like under control to her. And why didn’t Eric seem more afraid of Taurin? Donna was sure afraid.
She made Eric take a detour to the restaurant. It closed at five, so she just got in under the wire. She ordered a sandwich and chips to go. Donna also bought a piece of chocolate cake. Chocolate cured almost everythi
ng. She didn’t know about vampiraphobia, though. Eric ordered nothing. She was almost to her room when she realized she’d forgotten to order lemonade. Oh well, too late now.
Once inside her room, Donna sat on the side of her bed while Eric stared at Sweetie Pie and Jessica. They were looking a little puny. If vampires really existed, then maybe plants did thrive where hot sex happened. What did she know?
Leaving him to contemplate the plants and what lies he should tell her about tonight, Donna went into the bathroom and changed into her “hideous” shirt. She’d save the bustier and whip for another night.
When she came out, he hadn’t moved. “I’ll be okay.” Please say you’ll stay for a while. She probably should’ve squeezed out a few hysterical tears to convince him not to leave, but she didn’t manipulate people that way. She believed in a direct frontal attack, which was why her family spent most of their time being mad at her.
Eric shifted his gaze to the arrow slit where the first light of dawn showed. “I can’t stay, Donna. Hysterical tears would’ve made it tougher, but I’d still have to go.”
He could read her mind. So what? Everything paled in comparison to Taurin. Later she’d want to know how he did it. Right now she didn’t care. “Sure. I understand.” No, she didn’t understand, and yes, he’d hurt her.
She propped herself up in her bed with her food. She’d eat the cake first. Chocolate cured hurt feelings.
And she wasn’t kidding herself about him staying. If he’d stayed, it wouldn’t have been to merely hold her for a few hours. If she ever climbed into bed with Eric McNair, it would be heat, light, and magic. She’d been ready to have sex for all the wrong reasons, but it would’ve been right for her tonight.
“Donna . . .” He stared at her, and for the first time she felt he was at a loss for words.
