by Trisha Baker
The sun! With an effort, Simon kept his face impassive, not wanting to alert Elizabeth and Meghann to the drift of his thoughts. Was it possible the blinding light Simon felt before had nothing to do with death?
Meghann suffused him with Mikal's blood and had no idea of the enormity of her actions. Simon could tell that by the green eyes following him without a trace of concern or apprehension. Meghann merely thought to heal his heart; she had no idea that she might have given him a gift of even greater value when she poured Mikal's blood into his dying body.
They'd discuss it later, Simon decided and kissed Elizabeth's forehead, murmuring, "You saved us from the sun so I owe you my life as well as I owe Jimmy Delacroix and your mother."
"Daddy," Elizabeth said with a husked, strained quality to her voice, like she was holding back tears. "You don't owe me anything. You're the one who came charging after me when Mikal kidnapped me. Mom told me she and Jimmy might have died if you hadn't killed all of Mikal's henchmen and weakened him before they arrived."
"The bodies." Simon's amber eyes darkened and he stared anxiously at his wife and daughter. "You did not leave that mess at the estate? How long have I lain unconscious? Mikal's infernal club was supposed to open this weekend."
"It's all right," Meghann replied calmly. "First, you've been unconscious for seven nights but we've taken care of everything in the meanwhile. Ellie told me that Mikal's body disintegrated after I pierced his heart with my blood teeth. As for Lee, Ellie put his body in the trunk so we could have a proper burial for him later. You know my father bought a plot at Calvary cemetery for me. Now that you're awake, we're going to hold a memorial service there as soon as possible for Charles and Lee. I got a double headstone for them ... I thought they'd like to lie together, under one banner."
Meghann's voice broke and Simon squeezed her hand while they all bowed their heads in memory of the brave friends they'd lost to Mikal's treachery. When Meghann raised her head again and met his eyes, Simon saw that though she loved him and would remain with him, she'd never accept his decision to transform Lee and bring him to Mikal's. Meghann would go to her own grave thinking she should have been the one sacrificed that Lee Winslow might live.
"The other vampire . . . that boneless woman," Ellie said, picking up the thread of her mother's explanation, "I just left her outside. I knew the sun would turn her to ash. As for the humans, I left them there but I set fire to Mikal's office. I didn't know if he had any incriminating documents. I figured the corpses would provide the authorities with an explanation for what happened and it did. Look, Daddy."
Ellie shoved some newspapers at him and Simon scanned the articles, seeing that the police were seeking the missing owner of Immortal Light, one Michael Hollingsworth.
Thank God the boy did not use any identity traceable to me, Simon thought as he read the papers, silently praising his daughter's intelligence. The mortal corpses and fire led the authorities to ponder a possible extortion scenario or drug deal gone sour. They believed Michael Hollingsworth was on the run or dead and they'd seized the estate while they launched a complete investigation.
Simon didn't worry about the authorities finding any incriminating vampire evidence. Even if Mikal had been foolish enough to leave written proof or perhaps some vial of his blood, nothing would point in the direction of him, Meghann and Elizabeth. They were safe and it did not matter if the authorities found disturbing clues. They would do as lawmen had done all the centuries Simon was alive—ignore what troubled them and go on with their lives, refusing to speculate that there could be immortals among them.
"So you got us safely home and made certain Mikal's actions would not come back to haunt us," Simon smiled at Elizabeth. "What has all this to do with bringing Jimmy Delacroix to me that I may thank him?"
Again Elizabeth and Meghann looked away from him before Meghann replied, "He is still weak after recovering consciousness. He's . . . uh . .. . not well enough to see you now."
"Right," Elizabeth chirped, her voice sounding hurried and deceitful to Simon's sensitive ears. His eyes narrowed as he considered his fidgeting wife and daughter—-just what were they attempting to hide from him?
"I'm going to go out for a while," Elizabeth said, leaping off the bed and scampering away from her father's scrutiny. "I mean, I'm sure you and Mom want to be, uh ... alone for a little while. Okay?"
"Fine," Meghann said before Simon could reply and Elizabeth made a hasty departure.
Simon started to glance at Meghann's thoughts to see what she and Elizabeth were attempting to hide from him but then he saw the grief and pain welling in her eyes and knew there was another matter he had to address first.
"Look at me, Sweet," Simon said and pushed her into the pillows, positioning his body over hers protectively. "We will speak now of Mikal and then put the matter behind us forever."
"I don't want to talk about him," Meghann cried in a taut, tinny voice. She tried to push Simon away, but he only held her tighter and grasped her jaw so she had to meet his eyes.
"We must," Simon told her, kissing her forehead as gently and reverently as he'd just done to Elizabeth. "I won't have you punishing yourself with this baseless guilt."
"Baseless?!" Meghann gave him an incredulous stare and the tears in her eyes bubbled over, following earlier tracks still evident on her pale, strained face. "Simon, I killed our son! I took his heart out of his body while he was still alive and lo ... look ... looking at me ... watching his own mother sacrifice him."
"Hush," Simon said and nestled her head against his heart while she wept. Simon stroked her hair, noting with a pang how dull her usually flaming red hair was. It wasn't just lack of fresh blood but grief and despair that had stolen Meghann's beauty from her. It was up to Simon to restore her, as she'd done to him. He had to make her see reason.
"Little one," he said as she continued to sob against him, "did Mikal leave you any other choice?"
"That's not the point—" she started to say and Simon put a finger to her lips to silence her, feeling an erotic thrill course through him from even that brief contact. He saw Meghann jump slightly and knew she'd felt it, too, though she looked horror struck that she could experience lust in light of the hellish experiences of the past week.
"It most certainly is," Simon said firmly. "What would have happened to our Elizabeth if you did not kill Mikal?"
'You don't understand." Meghann raised her head from his chest, beseeching him with tormented eyes that hurt his heart far more than Mikal's sword ever could. "I know I had to kill Mikal, that it was Ellie's life or his, what a danger he was to our existence with his plans to expose vampires to the world. But Simon, I didn't just kill him—I sacrificed him! I saw you dying before my eyes and my only thought was saving you. I ripped Mikal's heart out and never even thought about him being my son until it was over. How could I use my own son like that?"
"If you had not, I would be dead. Is that what you want?"
"Of course not!"
"Then forget your guilt," Simon ordered. "Mikal was misbegotten. His only aims were destruction and causing as much suffering as he could. The boy was mad, Meghann. He had to be put down . . . never doubt the rightness of your actions. My only regret is that the burden of his death fell on your shoulders. That is why I would not take you with me to rescue Elizabeth—I wanted to spare you the pain of seeing what our son was."
Meghann didn't look away but her eyes became thoughtful, mind turning inward while she analyzed his words.
"Was he always like that?" she finally said and gave him a searching glance. "Was there ever anything more to my son than that... that thing I saw?"
"What does that matter?" With an effort, Simon kept his voice calm and didn't snap at the nonsensical question.
"It matters!" Meghann turned on her side and grasped his hands, green eyes wide and imploring. "Simon, I never knew my own son and what I did see, in the moments before I had to kill him, horrified me. I'll never forget what it was like to look
in my boy's eyes and see nothing but unthinking, lunatic malice reflected back at me. Please, Simon. Tell me there was more to our son than the monster I encountered. Tell me there were moments in his life when you were proud to have a son. I can't stand to think we ... our blood ... produced something with no good in him at all."
Now it was Simon who turned away, refusing to meet her gaze. An awkward silence spun between them before Simon spoke again, his voice raspy and hoarse. "Our blood did produce something wondrous, Meghann: Elizabeth. How could I not be proud to sire her, a daughter who reminds me so much of you? She is everything I ever wanted from a child. You ask me was there more to Mikal than what you saw. My answer is yes, there was. Had there not been, I should have destroyed him long ago. But there were qualities—his brilliant mind, the powers I could never dream of matching—that stayed my hand.
"Ah, little one, I could tell you of long nights spent in conversation with our son, the happiness I felt at finally having a companion that matched my intellect. I could tell you of the joy I took in Mikal on those nights, how much I looked forward to bringing you our son. But such moments were fleeting and in the end, Mikal's intellect was no match for the sickness rotting his heart and sanity. Meghann, there could be no treatment for our son and his hatred for us meant it was his life or ours. I chose ours... yours, Elizabeth's and mine.
"Don't ever ask me about Mikal again, Meghann. I will not break my heart or yours thinking of what might have been, or of the scant fond memories I have of the boy. It is better to forget there ever was a Mikal and concentrate on Elizabeth, on the life we can finally have together."
Meghann put her hand on his shoulder and Simon knew that was her way of telling him she accepted his request, that she'd never bring Mikal up again. Neither of them would ever forget the strange, troubling boy that had been their son but to think of him would only break their hearts.
Simon turned around and Meghann didn't resist when he kissed her with a blinding intensity, for he couldn't forget those terrible moments at Mikal's when he lay alone and gasping for breath, certain he'd never see Meghann again, never again feel her arch beneath him and beg him to take her.
"You're sure you're well enough?" Meghann asked him as he pulled off the delicate silk robe she wore. Simon knew the question was a mere formality for Meghann was already drawing him closer, gently shoving him toward heavy, aching breasts seeking out the comfort of his hard-planed chest.
"If the time ever comes when I lack the strength to make love to you, I beg you to behead me," Simon murmured and bent his chestnut head down to suckle her, blood teeth teasing and nipping in a pattern that might be familiar but still had the power to knock the breath out of her and make her lie moaning and panting beneath him.
What an intoxicating armful she was, Simon thought as her hands and mouth devoured him with the same loving extravagance he'd spent on her. Long ago Simon lost count of the number of women in his bed, but none of them had ever pleased him the way Meghann did. Meghann's appeal for him wasn't based on great sexual expertise, for Simon had had that in the concubines he'd purchased when he was a mortal trader in the Levant and in professional courtesans like Gabrielle that he used to satisfy sophisticated desires. They'd interested him, some he even kept for years at a time, but never had he felt the devouring passion he had for Meghann.
"Fairie queen," he murmured against the cool hollow of her throat and watched her smile impishly at his words. That's what Meghann was to him, an enchanting creature like the wood nymphs Adelaide used- to tell him stories of. It wasn't merely that she was the most passionate woman he'd ever had in his bed but that there was something ... untouchable about her. Yes, that was it—even after all this time, Meghann still reacted to him with a core of innocence in her every gesture, and that had the power to drive him to heights of rapture he'd never approached with anyone else.
"Do you know the story of Diana?" Simon questioned when Meghann began to stir impatiently at the prolonged foreplay, very obviously ready for him to take her.
"The virgin huntress," Meghann said, attempting to force his mouth back to her breasts. "She rode through the night."
"As you will ride me, little one." Easily Simon swung her on top of him, firmly grasping her hips to guide her movements as they made love.
Meghann smiled her pleasure at the position and willingly bent down to allow him to capture her nipple as she thrashed about on top of him.
The voluptuous breasts swaying enticingly about his head and long curtain of bright red hair brushing his arms and chest made his blood hunger, which was not at all assuaged by the meager blood packs, roar to life—but Simon wouldn't feed from Meghann now; she was simply too weak and he could not have her sicken now. Instead, he brought his wrist to her mouth and husked, "Drink of me."
Meghann started to shake her head, no doubt as concerned for his health as he was for hers, but Simon shoved his wrist under her nose, knowing Meghann was too hungry for fresh blood to be able to resist the intoxicating scent much longer. Excited by the blood lust that made Meghann's green eyes turn to smoke, Simon forced her beneath him, driving into her eager, writhing body until her fangs finally emerged from dark red lips and she bit into him, sucking down his blood in a passionate frenzy.
As he'd expected, Meghann did not feed for long when her eyes suddenly bulged wide and her complexion took on an alarming, greenish tinge. Frantically, she tried to push Simon's wrist away and he felt her start to retch.
"No." Still inside her, Simon clamped down on her mouth with his hand, ignoring her miserable, pleading expression. "Keep it down, Meghann. Force yourself to keep my blood in you."
A choked whimper was Meghann's only response and Simon felt a moment of alarm when her eyes rolled back in her head—she seemed on the verge of fainting. But then color came back into her face and her eyes fluttered open weakly, looking up at Simon in bewilderment.
"It's all right," he whispered as he continued driving into her, kissing her and noticing that his blood tasted quite different—the iron taste much heavier than usual, along with an indefinable, pungent quality. No wonder Meghann got sick . . . but it had to be done. "It's all right, little one."
Meghann made no protest, the brief nausea apparently not dampening her passion as they rocked together, ending in a fierce explosion that made her tremble and cling to him afterward while he petted and soothed her.
"I'm hungry," Meghann finally sighed against his chest and Simon laughed, swinging her off the bed along with him.
"Then I must feed you—blood and food. Get dressed and we shall go out. Do you realize we have not shared a meal since I returned? Where is Elizabeth? She can accompany us."
Abruptly, Meghann paled and looked nervous again but gave Simon a coy smile before he could interrogate her.
"Silly man, Ellie left the house so we could be together." Meghann wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoe when she purred into his ear, "I don't want to share your company tonight. Can't we go out and forget... everything? Just enjoy each other?"
Coquette, Simon thought, knowing Meghann was hiding some anxiety beneath the cat's eyes and flirtatious grin curling on her lips. But he knew she wasn't being dishonest. .. Meghann did want to be alone with him, to have a chance to laugh and talk as they'd not been able to do yet.
"Of course we can enjoy each other," Simon said and kept smiling as Meghann bounded away from him to bathe, thinking he fully intended to find out what she and Elizabeth were hiding from him before the night was over.
Seventeen
After making arrangements for dinner, Meghann bathed with a scrutiny bordering on obsessiveness, counting the number of times her hands massaged her scalp as she shampooed and the number of strokes to pare her nails with the emery board. There was nothing eccentric about her behavior; it was simply the only way she could force thoughts of Jimmy and Ellie out of her mind.
She couldn't think about their relationship (even the word when applied to Ellie and Jimmy made
Meghann cringe) now that Simon was awake and able to read her mind with his usual impunity. Of course, Simon was no fool—Meghann knew he already suspected she and Ellie were hiding something but because of his illness, he hadn't been able to wring the whole truth from either of them.
How long do you think that's going to last, her thoughts demanded after Meghann toweled herself dry and attacked the tangles in her hip-length hair. You can't keep this from Simon forever.
Meghann sighed, her brow furrowing as the hairbrush worked its way through a particularly nasty knot. No, she couldn't keep Ellie and Jimmy's secret forever, however much she'd like to.
It wasn't that Meghann approved of them seeing each other, but no matter how she felt about the matter, she still dreaded the confrontation between Ellie and Simon that lay ahead. Right now, their relationship was nearly idyllic, the long-parted father and daughter loving each other wholeheartedly and doing everything within their power to please each other. But what would happen to that bond when Ellie finally witnessed her father's darkest side, saw the ruthless way he eliminated his enemies? For it would not matter now that Jimmy Delacroix had helped Meghann save Simon's life. Once Simon discovered he'd been in Ellie's bed, he'd never see Jimmy as anything but an enemy who had to be destroyed.
Meghann bit her lip in exasperation—she couldn't stop thinking these dangerous thoughts no matter what she did! Slamming the door on the disturbing matter, Meghann finished combing her hair and entered her dressing room. She glanced through her closets, discarding various outfits before settling on an all-lace shirtdress with a revealing neckline and scalloped sleeves. The outfit was sensual as well as elegant, the perfect combination to keep Simon's mind off anything but her.
Meghann smiled at her naughty plans and took a seat at her vanity table. As a vampire, she had no need of makeup but she wanted to put her hair up in Simon's favorite style . . . the one he'd lovingly take apart at the end of dinner.
