Christmas With a Vampire

by Merline Lovelace

  She was wet.

  Remembering her pursuers, Sarah bolted upright. She raised her hands to ward off the enemy. A curious draining sensation made her limbs lethargic. Her gaze fell to the circle of silver encasing her right wrist.

  Trapped by silver, she couldn’t shift or perform magick. Terror and confusion collided together. Sarah fisted her badly shaking hands. They wanted her afraid. The Morphs would feed on her fear as she lay dying. Let them try. She’d go down fighting. A growl rumbled deep in her throat.

  “Feisty little thing, aren’t you?”

  The deep timbre of the sensual voice sounded both familiar and dangerous. She inhaled and a delicious, spicy scent filled her senses, tugging at her memories. This was no Morph. She smelled vampire.

  “Who are you?” she demanded.

  “Ho, ho, ho.”

  She knew that voice. From where? Sarah turned. A man sat on a chair, a damp robe clinging to his powerful body. His face was hidden, his body silhouetted by the outdoor lights ringing the pool. The scent of chlorine covered him, as well.

  He’d briefly, sweetly, kissed her. No, not a man, but something much more powerful and deadly, someone she knew. Her fingers grasped her wet clothing with growing dismay.

  Yuck. Poly ester. How did she wind up wearing this?

  Then she remembered.

  She’d been driving home after visiting distant relatives in Maine in hopes of finding a mate and had been in such a rush that she’d failed to wear the perfume that usually masked her scent. The Morphs picked up her trail. And sensing a vampire nearby, and knowing how Morphs feared them, Sarah detoured through the tiny seaside town of Anderson. But in town, the aging Ford’s transmission finally bought it. A band of gangly Santas cheer fully bearing tools offered help. But instead of Mr. Good wrench, she got…

  Gremlins.

  They had been in human form, then shifted into little green head aches. They took the watch from her wrist, chanted something, and she found herself trapped inside a plastic body.

  She gingerly touched her temple, recalling the man’s warm mouth moving over hers.

  “Why did you kiss me?” she accused the silent figure.

  “I saved you from drowning.” The man stood and hovered over her, his face in shadow. “It’s called CPR,” he drawled.

  He bent over, grasped her hand and pulled her to her feet. Surprised by his strength, she studied her rescuer. The gap in his robe revealed an intriguing triangle of muscled chest. Fascinated, Sarah reached out to run her hand over it.

  He stepped back. “Get out of those clothes. I have towels and a warm robe.”

  Panic raced through her. “I’ll just dry off like this.” Sarah shook her body, flinging water droplets.

  “I would expect as much. You always were very much the wolf.” Stray moon beams glinted off two gleaming fangs as he flashed a humorless smile.

  She shivered. But an odd, poignant yearning collided with instinctive caution. The vampire turned his face to the light. Sarah recoiled in startled recognition. Once she’d thought he was the world, then her world changed and everything spun around like a crazy carnival ride.

  “Oh, Adrian.” Joy filled her as she stepped forward to hug her old friend. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

  He swept her a courtly bow, his gaze mocking as he straightened. “A valid assumption, Sarah, since the last sight I had of you was of your lovely ass racing away as I was dying. I believe we have a score to settle.”

  He hadn’t for got ten or forgiven. Sarah dropped her arms. “How did you find me?”

  “My little green friends are quite adept at flushing out scents, especially wolf, since few Draicon invade my territory.” His white teeth gleamed in the moonlight.

  “Adrian, you’ve got to take the bracelet off. The two Morphs that escaped are after me and if they come here, you’ll be caught in a very personal, ugly war.” Her voice dropped to a pained whisper. “I don’t want to do that to you again.”

  Adrian raised a dark brow. “You’re not leaving. Not until you help me settle old business.”

  He flicked a switch and light flooded the room. Two deep gouges demarcated his cheek.

  Sarah smothered a gasp with the back of her hand. “You can’t get hurt, you’re a vampire.” Contrary to human myth, vampires were living, breathing creatures born to their extraordinary powers. Their beauty, swift ness and grace made them deadly enemies.

  The sneer on Adrian’s mouth became more pronounced. “Do you like the artwork? The sunlight weakened my ability to heal.”

  Her hand automatically went to her bad leg. “Adrian, I didn’t want to leave you, but your family had arrived. I knew they would rescue you.”

  A shadow chased across his face. Was it regret? “Did you assume as much? They would not. My clan’s code forbade rescuing me after I broke the rules unless I humbled myself by begging for help. So I begged, they saved me and then banished me for a decade. I’ve been alone, except for the gremlins, my daylight guardians.”

  “I don’t under stand your people. Why should you have to beg for help?”

  “Because I’m the next in line to lead our clan, and when I break a rule, it holds more consequences than if the others do it. My punishment is greater. The rules were meant for a reason, to keep me safe and separate me from all except our people.” Adrian looked as if the confession pained him.

  Shock slapped her like a wet towel. “You’re Marcus’s heir? You never said anything.”

  “Because I didn’t want you to feel intimidated or treat me differently. When you asked for my help, I gave it to you, despite my father’s angry objections.” Ice coated his voice as he stepped closer. “I never imagined you’d run away when I needed you most.”

  His warm breath feathered over her chilled skin. “Do you know what it’s like for a future leader of the most powerful vampire clan to be defeated by the enemies of another species? To admit a weakness to his family? To cast aside all he is and condemn himself to years of solitude? It’s not half as agonizing as feeling your flesh burn until you’ll say anything, do anything, to escape the sun.”

  She could feel the heat of his barely banked rage as if emanating from that very sun, but this heat held an icy blast. Sarah wrapped her arms about herself.

  “I didn’t realize…”

  “I abandoned my family and took the side of a werewolf. I did it all for you, because you asked me.”

  His voice dropped to a bare whisper. “Once I would have done anything for you.”

  Her heart stilled. “I called you a couple of days after the battle to see how you were recovering, but the phone was disconnected. And I couldn’t risk more than that phone call, much as I wanted to go back to you. It was too dangerous for us.”

  “I was already gone, banished to Maine, and shunned by all other vampires.”

  “I’m sorry, Adrian. I never thought it would come to this.”

  “It has.” Icy-blue eyes met hers. “And now you’re mine.”

  A slight shiver skated up her spine at the possessive note in his voice. She had to put distance between them. The Morphs were dangerous, but the feelings she still harbored for this vampire were also lethal.

  “Revenge is an asinine motivation,” she told him.

  “Not revenge, Sarah. Something much more important.” His expression hardened. “You’re very necessary to me right now. If I can’t find and defeat the Morphs who escaped me, I’ll be banished for good and never rule the clan after my father steps down.”

  She closed her eyes against the coolness in his gaze. Once she had basked in the warmth of his presence, cherished their time together as they met in secret. Ignoring stern warnings from their families, they’d formed a close friend ship eleven years ago, linked by a common love of old movies, books and engaging discussions about world affairs. Sarah’s pack was wary of vampires, and his clan disdained all Draicon.

  And then she asked Adrian to fight with her against her enemies because she coul
d not face them alone. Never had she imagined he would pay such a terrible price.

  Little could be done about the past. She must focus on the present. Her father was safe for now, en trenched among the human world after she’d phoned him last night. But he’d worry, and track her down if she didn’t get home to Connecticut by Christmas. James was blind. Without her, he couldn’t go anywhere without resorting to magick. And magick would leave a bright spectral trail for the Morphs to follow, as shiny as gold coins winking in the sunshine.

  “If I could have changed things, I’d never ask you to stand with me. But you can’t keep me here now.”

  “You’re my Christmas gift. I never return gifts.” He circled around her with a vampire’s deadly grace and lethal quiet.

  Her chest felt hollow as she realized her friend was gone for good. In his place was a dangerous vampire who wanted to use her as he wished. With the bracelet on her wrist strip ping her powers, she was helpless against him.

  I’ll find a way out. She must. Her father depended solely on her.

  In the moon light Adrian’s blue eyes gleamed like lasers. He caught her in one hand beneath her chin. Breath caught in her throat as he studied her face as an artist would study a sculpture in progress. His gaze dropped to the slender curve of her neck.

  “Like what you see?” she snapped.

  “You’ll do nicely.” He dropped his hand.

  “For what? I warn you, I bite.”

  A deep chuckle rumbled from his chest. “So do I.” He leaned closer. “My bite is better than yours. You wouldn’t feel anything, except a slight sting, and then…ecstasy. I make women cry out, even scream before they faint from the pleasure.”

  Sarah’s insides tightened at the thought of his warm mouth pressed against her chilled skin. Kissing his way up her throat, those white fangs sinking into her neck as she clutched him, moaning as he suckled her.

  Hunger flared on his face. She waited in breathless anticipation to see if he would finally capitulate to the need driving him each time they were near. But he only snagged a thick terry-cloth robe from a clothes-peg and draped it over her shoulders. “You’ll find out soon enough what I want. In the meantime, let’s get you into the house and warm.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  SITTING AT THE kitchen table, Sarah kept her face expression less. Once his friend, now Adrian’s captive. Though she had to admit, it was a beautiful prison.

  The mansion was tasteful and welcoming. Brown leather sofas and over stuffed fabric chairs sat before a river rock fire place in the living room. French doors that opened to the pool deck held a stunning view of the jagged cliffs and moonlit ocean beyond. A recessed bar featured gleaming crystal stemware and a wine rack. Inside a locked glass cabinet was Adrian’s rare collection of Revolutionary War muskets and can non balls. Books were strewn about the coffee table. Seeing the wine and books had given her a pang of nostalgia, remembering the times they’d spent talking about books while sipping the fine vintages Adrian liked to collect.

  He’d shown her to a lavish bedroom. Adrian allowed her to shower. Sarah had sighed with pleasure at the luxury of all the hot water she needed. By the time she’d emerged from a bathroom the size of her apartment, she’d seen that her battered suitcase now sat on the plush blue rug. She’d dressed in a cranberry sweater, her one pair of good black corduroy trousers and boots, and went down stairs. The designer jeans, the ones she’d sweated and saved for, were in shreds. Adrian actually looked slightly abashed when she told him.

  “I apologize. The gremlins’ taste usually runs to Dolce & Gabbana, not Guess.”

  He offered to purchase another pair. Sarah demurred. Adrian could afford to buy a yacht filled with Guess jeans, but she didn’t take handouts.

  Sarah now studied her captor. Adrian stood well over six feet, with wide shoulders and a hint of muscle beneath his clothing. In black wool trousers, a black silk shirt and designer loafers, he had an air of elegance and so phistication.

  He was breath takingly handsome. Heavy, dark brows sat over sharp blue eyes. His chin was strong and square, his lips sensual and full. Dark brown hair fell almost to his collar, clipped shorter than when she’d last seen him. The two deep gouges on his left cheek stood out in stark relief. Even the scars did not mar his beauty, but gave him a dangerous look.

  Arms folded, Adrian leaned against the Sub-Zero stain less refrigerator.

  “Release me, Adrian. I have to get back home, where it’s safe.”

  “Back to your mate? He can’t protect you as much as I can.”

  Arrogant, confident vampire. “I have no pack anymore, and no mate.”

  His expression remained hooded. “He’s out there. You’ll find him eventually, as all Draicon do with their destined mates.”

  “If they’re still alive. Mine isn’t. My destined mate died long ago.”

  Was that surprise flaring in his keen gaze? “You were waiting to find him when we were friends. I honored your commitment to mate with him. I never even…”

  His voice trailed off, but she knew what he meant. Never even kissed you.

  She bit her trembling lip, remembering his soft kiss after he’d rescued her from the pool. “He was killed when I was just a child, years before you and I ever met.”

  Adrian’s mouth thinned. “Your father told me he was alive.”

  “James was afraid of you becoming too friendly with me. Draicon males can scent when another male has been…intimate with a female. And a vampire, well, a vampire is to the Draicon, you know.”

  “No, I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me? Lay it out, Sarah. What are we? Enemies?”

  Bitterness lashed his voice. He looked as remote as the Arctic.

  “You know your clan and my father would never approve of us,” she whispered. “Your own clan punished you for taking my side. My father warned that vampires and were wolves can’t be friends. Our passions run too high. Family loyalty must come first or we lose everyone close to us. You and I…”

  Words hung unspoken in the air. We were never meant to be.

  “I already lost my clan for ten years and high passions can also make for very pleasant pastimes, Sarah,” he said in a dangerously soft voice.

  “Why did you bring me here, Adrian?”

  “I’ve never taken a werewolf before. I hear they are quite wild in bed.”

  Tendrils of heat curled through her at the image of his muscular body naked as he turned to take her into his arms. Adrian’s gaze burned into hers.

  “What do you really want?” she asked again, her heart racing.

  “You.”

  He glided toward her with inborn grace and bracketed his arms on the chair, caging her. She breathed in his masculine scent. Even among all the males of her kind, none had ever compared to Adrian.

  Ice filled his gaze once more. “My clan won’t take me back until I restore my lost honor by defeating the Morphs I failed to kill. Any efforts I’ve made to find them have failed. My clan arrives in a few days for the convocation at midnight on Christmas Eve when I must prove I’ve killed the enemy. I need you to lure the Morphs here for me.”

  Real fear replaced rising desire. “I’ve hidden from these Morphs for ten years and now you want me to be bait? You must hate me, Adrian.”

  His gaze softened. “I would never allow them to touch one hair on your pretty head. I’ll protect you, Sarah.”

  “And during the day?” She tried to push away, but he kept a firm grip on her chair.

  “The gremlins will watch over you. Their magick is very powerful.”

  “Oh, sure. They managed to convince me that they could fix my car. That’s magick.”

  His mouth crooked up in a charming grin. “They did fix your car instead of eating the engine. I’d say that was very good magick.”

  The grin stilled her. She saw the old Adrian, full of mischief and fun. For a moment, time slid back. How she wished she could have told him the full truth when she pleaded for his help that night on the shor
e.

  Regrets were a waste of time. “You don’t seem to under stand. These Morphs will stop at nothing until I’m dead.”

  “Why do they want you so much, Sarah? There’s a host of other Draicon out there to feed off. What is it about you they crave?”

  Raising her chin, she met his hard look with a brave one. “James and I are on our own. We’re packless, and more vulnerable because we have no one to stand with us against an attack.”

  “What happened to your mother and sister?”

  Tears burned in her throat. “Dead, that day you and I fought on the beach. My father and I ended up running for our lives.”

  He looked stunned. “I’m sorry, Sarah. How did it happen?”

  “An unexpected enemy killed them.”

  Adrian pulled out a chair, sat beside her. His gaze sharpened even as he held her hand in a comforting gesture. “That day we fought on the beach, you said you needed my help because your pack was protecting your mother. She was pregnant with the heir, and your sister and father stayed behind to guard her, as well. So what happened? Where’s your pack?”

  She said nothing.

  “Tell me.”

  His voice carried a hint of command, layered with a vampire’s natural enthrallment. Sarah fought against it.

  “They scattered. It’s a moot point, okay? What’s important is the Morphs after me will destroy anything and everything that stands in their way.”

  He leaned closer, so close she could count the bristles shadowing his hard jaw. “Bring them on. I’ll defeat them for you, win back my clan’s approval. No Morph can best me.”

  Power shimmered in the air. She didn’t doubt he could take on a legion of them without breaking a sweat. The ones he’d battled would never have scratched him, if not for the rising sun.

  The Morphs could take her life. But Adrian could take her heart, and then shatter it like glass. She’d spent the past decade picking up the shards of her former life. Hadn’t she already endured enough?

  Sarah pushed away from the table. He blocked her way. Adrian’s long fingers gently caught her wrist. “You will stay here.” His thumb stroked over her skin, creating a flare of pulsing desire. “I’ll keep you safe, Sarah.”