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Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
512 Forest Lake Drive
Warner Robins, Georgia 31093
Night Song
Copyright © 2007 by Sharon Cullen
Cover by Scott Carpenter
ISBN: 1-59998-688-4
www.samhainpublishing.com
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: November 2007
Night Song
Sharon Cullen
Dedication
To John, for all those nights we sat on the back deck, looked into our trees, and talked. I love you. ~ Sharon
Chapter One
“I hafta go potty.”
Aiden’s alarmed gaze swung down to the China doll standing in front of him. He’d been sitting in the shadows of his porch, so engrossed in studying the fine legs of the woman in the driveway next door that he hadn’t seen the munchkin arrive on his step.
Great going, Reed. If she’d been an enemy, you’d be in trouble. But this was no enemy staring him in the eye. The little tyke, not much over three feet tall, shifted from one foot to the other and Aiden’s alarm grew.
Oh, no. No way. Not on my porch.
“Lydia.”
The little girl didn’t so much as blink at the impatient call. She stuck her fingers in her mouth and shifted again. She and Aiden stared at each other for several long moments while her jaws worked their back and forth motion on her fingers and her toes did a little dance every few seconds.
“Hey, idiot, mom’s calling you.”
A tow-headed boy bounded up Aiden’s steps. The girl didn’t take her eyes off Aiden and he had an almost uncontrollable urge to shift in his seat.
“Gotta go potty,” she said around her fingers, her big, China blue eyes staring at him, as baby-fine blond curls floated around her pink face.
And you expect me to do something about this? The words almost left his mouth, but he mentally stuffed them back down his throat.
The boy snickered and turned blue eyes exactly matching the little girl’s to Aiden as if asking, so whatcha gonna do now?
“Lydia.” The impatient, feminine voice came from the side of his house.
The boy grabbed the girl by the upper arm, causing her fingers to slip from her mouth.
She opened wide, emitting the loudest “Ow” Aiden had ever heard.
“Come on,” the boy said over her protest. Aiden almost rose to pull the two apart. By sheer force of will, he made himself remain in the deepening shadows and away from the waning sun’s rays.
“Stop your yellin’,” the boy said with a roll of his eyes. “You want the boogey-man to know you’re outside and come and get you?”
She immediately stopped screaming and shot a frightened glance at Aiden, as if he were the boogey-man. He suppressed a smile.
“He’ll suck your blood,” the kid added and Aiden’s smile faded.
Now that wasn’t funny.
The girl’s eyes filled with tears as she stared at him over her shoulder while her brother dragged her down the steps. Aiden had been watching this little family long enough to get the dynamics down. There was one more sibling somewhere and a mom who heated his blood every time he looked at her.
So far, he hadn’t seen a dad or husband.
“You the boogey-man?” Lydia asked from the bottom of the steps.
Aiden opened his mouth to deny the charge, but closed it just as fast. Lydia would do well to hold on to her fear of monsters. They were closer than she thought.
The boy made high-pitched ghost sounds, letting go of his sister and curling his hands in the air as if to grab her. “See my fangs. Maybe I’m the boogey-man. Maybe you shouldn’t sleep at night in case I come in your room and suck your blood.”
Lydia shrieked and took off running, a dark stain spreading down her jean-clad legs.
Aiden rose as the boy doubled over and laughed. “That’s not funny,” he said, using his best glower to intimidate the little punk.
The kid, who couldn’t have been more than ten, straightened and looked at him with a belligerent expression. “Yeah? So what’s it to you?”
“Maybe you’re the one who shouldn’t sleep at night.”
The blood drained from the boy’s face and Aiden licked his lips, then gave him a lop-sided grin.
“Robby Carmichael, what have you done?” The mother came striding across Aiden’s driveway. Parts of her long, dark ponytail had come free of its elastic band and fell over her shoulder.
He’d always been intrigued by humans and enjoyed watching them. There was something fascinating about this one. Her gaze narrowed on her son and Aiden had to bite back a laugh at her obvious frustration. This was why he preferred to stay single and had successfully avoided parenthood for the past three hundred years.
But the mom… Wow. She could make him seriously forget his single lifestyle and that was dangerous. Dangerous to his peace of mind. Dangerous to the community. People’s lives depended on his concentration right now.
Maybe even her life.
Or her kids.
He’d told himself that’s why he’d kept an eye on her over the past weeks. To protect her. It was all a lie, of course. He watched her because he wanted her.
She stared up at him with tired amber eyes. “I’m sorry. I hope they weren’t bothering you.”
“Not at all.” He kept himself in the shadows, his gaze flickering to the horizon where the last rays of the setting sun blanketed the sky in roses and violets.
She turned and grabbed her son’s elbow. “What am I going to do with you? I swear to God, Robby, stop scaring your sister with these stupid tales of boogey-men. They don’t exist.”
Aiden watched the soft sway of her hips as she walked away. Tanned legs peeked out of worn, denim cut-offs. Never ending legs. His mouth watered. His hands shook
He continued to stare long after her garage door shut and the crickets picked up their night song.
Amy rested her head against the back of the chair and savored her sip of wine. God, she was tired. Just ten more minutes. Ten minutes of peace and quiet wasn’t asking for much, was it? She opened her eyes and stared at the star-studded sky. It wouldn’t be too long before she wouldn’t be able to sit on the back deck, drink her one glass of wine, and watch the stars. Already the wind was turning brisk. Fall was fast approaching and with it came those famous New England winters, but right now she wouldn’t think of that.
For several moments her mind wandered. Would her oldest, Claire, pass her math test? If she didn’t, it wasn’t for lack of studying, but the poor girl struggled so hard with math. And science. And language arts. Amy sighed in frustration. She felt for her daughter, truly she did, but sometimes getting the girl through a grade was like pushing that famous rock up that slope. Hard. Frustrating. Impossible.
Now Robby. That boy was a genius and it got him into trouble every single time. He was too damned smart for his own good.
Her mind continued to drift and eventually it landed on the image of her new neighbor. She should really introduce herself formally; take him something homemade to welcome him to the neighborhood. It’d been three weeks since he’d move
d in, but she just didn’t have the time. Or the energy.
But, holy cow, what a man. He’d stuck to the shadows so her quick, curious glance only revealed a tall form—wide shoulders, narrow hips, long, long legs. His voice, though… She shivered, remembering the deep musical quality, and he’d only said three words, for heaven’s sake. But those three words had poured over her like melted butter on hotcakes and made her feel just as delicious.
Stop right there, Amy Carmichael. She didn’t want to feel like warm butter over hotcakes. She didn’t want to feel delicious. She didn’t have time for such feelings and she sure as heck wasn’t going to fall for another man. Not after dealing with her ex-husband. The jerk.
She took a healthy swallow of wine. She wouldn’t go there. Rob Carmichael—the snake—didn’t deserve her thoughts and he certainly didn’t deserve the energy it took to hate him.
She stood so fast wine sloshed over the rim of her glass and splattered her hand. Sucking the liquid from her skin, she looked out toward the woods that grew behind her house, then turned and headed inside.
Aiden stood frozen just inside the line of trees. She hadn’t known he was there, watching her. She couldn’t have known. He’d been too quiet. But still, it seemed as if she’d stared right at him as she sucked the spilled wine from her fingers. He shifted uncomfortably. As soon as her tongue flicked out, he’d grown hard. How the hell was he supposed to deal with this attraction?
His inflamed erection pressed against the soft denim of his trousers and he almost groaned with a need so strong, so powerful it almost scared him. A light went on in the house and she appeared in the kitchen window. The warm glow of the light threw her into silhouette as she reached into a cupboard and pulled something out. He was the worst kind of voyeur. His hands clenched at his sides. His jaw muscles ached as he ground his teeth together.
For a small moment, he pictured himself inside the house, helping her with the dinner dishes, tucking her kids into bed.
Taking her to bed.
He jerked himself back to reality. What the hell? Where had that come from? He didn’t do kids. And he didn’t do domestication. No way. He spun on his heel and fled back to the safety of his own home, where he had plans to make.
A boogey-man to catch.
Chapter Two
“How’s the search?”
Aiden downshifted to second gear as he took the turn in his SUV, and tried to keep his cell phone shoved between his ear and his shoulder. “Not good,” he said, his gaze scanning the streets. “He must’ve gone to ground.”
Damn. And he’d been so close, too.
Ben, the man in charge of running the complicated network of Rogue Hunters, and Aiden’s best friend, sighed in resignation. “Just keep at it.”
They signed off and Aiden spent the rest of the night searching, his sixth sense telling him time was running out.
The sun began to peek over the horizon and he cursed, glancing at the digital clock on the dash. He’d stayed out way too long. Even with the darkly tinted windows, the interior of the SUV started to heat up with the first rays of sun poking through the lavender sky. Swinging the car around, he headed back to his house, sweat beading on his forehead even as his mind went to the sexy mom next door and the uncontrollable thread of excitement winding through him at the thought of maybe catching a glimpse of her before he headed to bed.
Man, he was pathetic. And ridiculous. He wouldn’t be catching a glimpse of anything if he couldn’t outrun the sun. His SUV rocked back and forth when he reached the driveway and stomped on the brakes. He rounded the front of the vehicle, raced against the curling fingers of new sunlight, and vaulted up the porch steps, hissing at the fiery path the sun burnt from his shoulders to his heels. A sigh of relief escaped him as he stumbled inside the cool, dark interior of his house.
He rolled his shoulders and grimaced. He’d be red for sure in a few hours. Checking his watch, he headed for the kitchen and the already brewing pot of coffee, inhaling deeply the scent of the percolating, rich Colombian beans. If there was one thing he loved about his life, it was the creature comforts he was able to afford, like great coffee and electronic gadgets.
After pouring a cup, he went into the living room and looked out the dark-tinted glass of his front window.
Her van still sat in the driveway. He settled a shoulder against the wall and waited. For the most part, being a vampire wasn’t all that bad—he loved it, in fact. Except for times like these when a certain human woman caught his fancy. It’d happened before, this attraction to a human, but he’d been able to fulfill his needs and move on.
Getting involved with a human was a bit tricky because they went out in the daylight and that wasn’t something he could do. He could only use his job as an excuse for so long before they started getting suspicious.
He took a sip of coffee and waited for that one glimpse of her. No way would he get involved with her. For one thing, he didn’t have the time, and women demanded inordinate amounts of time. For another, he didn’t get involved with women who had kids. The thought alone made him shudder. Except when he pictured that little one, Lydia. She was a cute one, all right.
No, there weren’t many downfalls to being born a vampire. Except the sunlight thing. But since he’d never experienced it, he wasn’t sure what he was missing. He guessed the only reason he’d want to go out was to see the human population during the day.
And really, humans weren’t much different than vampires, except they ate food and died a lot younger. Yet they’d always held a certain amount of fascination to him that he’d never been able to figure out.
His stomach grumbled and he realized he’d put off feeding, too concerned with searching for Cerian, too preoccupied with watching his beautiful neighbor. Tonight he’d have to feed first thing or he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his search for the rogue vampire.
His patience was rewarded when she came striding out, Lydia on her hip, Robby racing ahead and the oldest one, Claire, dragging behind.
She looked good this morning, her hair brushed until it shone with red highlights, her charcoal skirt riding just above the most delicious knees he’d ever seen. And he wasn’t a knee man by any stretch of the imagination. She laughed at something Robby said and bent into the mini-van, her skirt hugging her rear end, hitching up until he thought for sure he’d glimpsed black, satin panties. His fingers tightened on the coffee cup as his body hardened. She lifted one foot, a high heel dangling from her toes, revealing an arch he longed to kiss. Aiden groaned, certain he would explode right then and there without any contact.
Suddenly she straightened and looked toward his house. He took a quick step back. An instinctive reaction since she couldn’t see him through the tinted window anyway. Robby and Claire climbed into the car after a quick squabble with a lot of poking at each other.
The van’s motor sputtered, then reluctantly turned over. Aiden shook his head and took another sip of coffee. She needed a new car. That one had definitely seen better days. The paint had peeled in spots, the hubcaps were long gone and most days he could hear it choking and shuddering down the road.
Then, in a swirl of exhaust fumes, they were gone, and Aiden breathed out a sigh, not of relief but of regret.
He turned from the window and made his way to the bedroom when a pang of hunger no human food could quench nearly made him stumble. Damn, he needed to feed.
It was a little different if a vampire needed to eat. Humans got grumpy but vampires got mean. As in violent mean, and that wasn’t a good thing for the people nearby.
Starving, a vamp could suck a human dry in minutes and kill his unintended victim. Since killing humans was against vampire law, there were some serious consequences to that. Also, a hungry vamp was just itching for a fight and, more often than not, tended to start one. Some turned those fighting instincts toward sex, not caring if their partner was willing. So, all in all, it wasn’t good for a vampire to go hungry—he could wreak all kinds of havoc that
would draw attention to his race. And if there was one thing the Vampire Council hated, it was unwanted attention.
Plus, Aiden had enough violence in his job as a Rogue Hunter. A special division of the Vampire Council, Rogue Hunters were a few select vampires who hunted and eliminated those who consistently stepped over the boundaries of propriety to draw unwanted attention to the vampire race. Because of his elite training, Aiden was very careful to feed every few days so he never got overly violent.
His gaze darted to the windows. He swallowed and ran a shaky hand through his hair. He’d waited too long to feed and, damn it, he’d forgotten to restock the refrigerator. Ben was always telling him he needed an assistant for these things but Aiden figured he’d gone hundreds of years without one, he could go longer. He probably should have listened to Ben.
Weak with the need to eat and unable to go anywhere to get nourishment, he slipped naked between the cool satin sheets. It was going to be a long, torturous day before the sun sank below the horizon and he could go out into the streets in search of food.
Amy took the steps to her new neighbor’s house, a plate of homemade cookies in her hand. When the beautifully restored Victorian had gone on the market a few weeks ago, her kids had hoped a family with children would move in but that hadn’t happened. One day there was a for sale sign on the lawn, the next there wasn’t. One day the house was empty, the next it wasn’t. And there certainly weren’t any kids.
She’d come home from work a few days later to find that the new owner had replaced all the windows with specially tinted ones, like the kind found on cars. Strange.
She raised her hand and knocked. Curious, she took a step to the side and tried to peer through the large picture window beside the door, but couldn’t see anything in the dark glass other than her own reflection.
She cast a quick glance out to the street. The sun was sinking fast and she had to hurry or she’d be late picking Claire up from choir practice. Maybe she should just leave the cookies on the doorstep and come back later. She bent down to place them on the porch when the door swung open, nearly silent on its hinges. She craned her neck and looked up. Her neighbor stood in the shadows, well away from the door.
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