“Carolyn?” I asked incredulously. I didn’t think she was powerful enough to pull this off.
She waved her hand in front of her as if shooing off a fly. “This is merely Carolyn’s body. Her soul has gone to hell.” She smoothed the red gown flowing over her hips. “She does look good on me though, doesn’t she?” She laughed a maniacal sound, shrill and threatening.
“Oh come now, Ian. Do not be coy. I know you are with us.”
I jumped at the sound of his voice in my head.
“Elizabeth. What is it that you want?”
“I want what I’ve always wanted. Beauty, youth and power; your Leah’s power to be precise.”
“You cannot have her, Elizabeth. She is mine.” His voice was fierce.
She swapped at a stray strand of hair. “She was Fang’s property first.” She replied casually, as if her two children were fighting over a toy. Only I was the toy and I didn’t appreciate being considered property.
She motioned for Fang to remove my gag. He yanked it down me violently so that it lay loosely around my neck.
“I don’t belong to anyone,” I warned. I wished they would hurry the fuck up and get here.
“There, you see, Ian, she is what they call … a free agent.”
“She is mine!” He growled. “The Marquis do not take encroachment lightly.”
Another casual wave of her hand. “As well you would know.”
She walked, no glided, over to me. It was an eerie movement that sent shivers down my spine. “What if we should give her the choice? I can feel the bond between you but I can also feel the deceit. Would she still be so willing to come to your arms if she knew of your lies?”
“I did not lie,” he retorted.
“You manipulated her. I can feel her confusion.” She cocked her head as if listening to something only she could hear. “She really does not know, does she?”
I tried to clear my head of all emotion. Whatever I was feeling right now I fucking wasn’t sharing with her.
She walked a slow circle around me. “You see, Ian seeks vengeance from me. He sensed your power and knew that I would seek it out. He used you…” she ran her finger over my cheek, “…to get to me.”
“You lie!” I yelled it at her, even though I could feel the truth of it.
She smiled a sinister little sneer, all thin lips and hatred. “I see why you chose her for your pet, Ian. She is spirited. Smart, too. I was most impressed that you were able to decipher the runes. It was a test of your intelligence.”
Ian was silent. “Ian? What the hell is she talking about?” I said out loud.
“I am sorry, my love.” He spoke softly. “I did not mean for it to come to this.”
“You son of a bitch! She’s telling the fucking truth?” I said this in my mind. I didn’t want Elizabeth to know any more than she already did.
“In the beginning, yes. I suspected that Elizabeth would seek your power but that is not why…” He paused. “That is not why I love you.”
“Did you control Zarendia? The runes?”
“No. Zarendia was a powerful clairvoyant. She was perfectly capable of leaving the runes behind as a sort of road map. I merely followed her suggestion to keep you close, keep you safe.”
“It was all a ruse.”
“It was quite brave of Zarendia to fight off Elizabeth and her wolves to protect you.”
“Elizabeth controls the wolves?”
“She can, yes. I suspect it was one of her newly turned vampires that put the snakes on your porch as well.”
“You used me.” I hoped my mindvoice didn’t give away the pain ripping though my heart.
“I am being honest, my love.” His voice was quiet.
“Don’t ‘my love’ me ever again you deceitful bastard.”
“The time for talk is over.” Apparently Elizabeth was in on our conversation anyway. “I have so enjoyed watching you manipulate her, Ian. You molded her to your will and all the while I was living under your roof, standing in the very heart of your dominion and you were oblivious. Carolyn was so easy to acquire.” She smoothed her hands down the front of her gown. “Her love for you and hatred for your human pet allowed me the perfect opportunity to assume her form.” She waved her hands down the front of her body as if to demonstrate. “Shall we proceed?”
Elizabeth nodded toward Fang and he started to drag me toward the pentagram. There was a black pillar candle lit at each point of the pentagram. “I think what I will enjoy the most, Leah Wolfe, is that Ian will be able to feel everything that you feel. He will know what torment he is causing you as your mind relinquishes your free will to me. Then he will know what I allow Fang to do to you before I take your soul and he will feel me absorb your powers as your life finally slips away.”
“Elizabeth, NO!” Ian roared.
Fang undid one handcuff on my wrist to secure it to the post inside the pentagram. I took that moment to ram the heel of my hand into his nose. I heard a satisfactory crunch of bone and blood began to pour from him. Before he could regain himself I dropped to the floor and kicked him backward with everything I had. I scrambled forward as he stood and again I kicked him backward. I was one more solid kick from where I wanted him but he wasn’t going to give me the chance. In a blur of speed he came at me, teeth bared, and bit into my arm, dragging his fangs all the way down to my wrist. I screamed in agony as fire ripped though the wound.
“What the hell is going on, Elizabeth! I promise I will kill you for this!” Ian screamed in my head. “The Marquis be damned.”
I heard Elizabeth laughing as I rolled to the side and scrambled to my feet, placing myself closer to the entrance of the cave. Fang ran at me. I stooped to the floor and turned in one even movement. I sat on my ass and gave the one final kick I was hoping for.
Fang let loose a high screeching wail as he fell out into the fading sunlight. He frantically beat at the flames consuming him until he was nothing but ash blowing on the wind. It took mere seconds. Apparently he was much younger than Ian and still had no resistance to the sun.
Elizabeth didn’t spare a moment of grief for Fang. “Tsk. Such a pity he was so weak. A mere fifteen minutes more and the sun would have been down. Fifteen minutes and he would not have burned.”
She seemed amused by what had happened to Fang. She really was a cold-hearted bitch.
I felt rather than saw Elizabeth move behind me. She made a show of turning that would make any runway model envious. Her red gown billowing so close to the burning candle on the far point of the pentagram. She clapped her hands together in a show of applause.
Rage colored my vision until bright red edged the fringes of my sight and I saw the flames from the candles surrounding the pentagram leap toward Elizabeth. I felt no movement of air, felt nothing that would have stirred the flame.
I scooted backward until my back was pressed against the wall of the cave. I could hear sirens in the distance and knew that help was minutes away. I didn’t know if I had those minutes to spare.
“Why, Elizabeth?” I asked trying to stall. “Why did Ian need his vengeance on you? I at least deserve to know that much.”
“You deserve nothing, human!” Contempt filled her voice.
“Tell me!” I screamed in her face. Glad that the force of my words hid the fact that I was scared shitless.
She smiled, a creepy little curve of her lips. “I made Raven kill Ian’s lover. Just as I will kill you now.”
So that explained his hatred of Raven. Raven had killed Emily. “Why? Why did you need Emily dead and how did you make Raven kill her?” I asked, desperately stalling for time. Precious time.
“Emily was not worthy of Ian. She was human, mortal!” Her voice was thick with disdain. “Raven was more than willing to protect his beloved brother. I told him that Emily would be the end of Ian, that she was cursed.”
“And he believed you?”
“He would do anything to protect Ian.” She laughed.
Fury heated me
like hot lava ready to bubble from the mouth of the volcano. I forced that fury toward the candles and saw the fire leap. She was an arm’s length away from me now and closer to the torches than the candles. I pushed my anger into the torches, willing them to do as I commanded, and in the blink of an eye, the flames leapt toward her, engulfing her as she screamed, a high, piteous sound.
In a matter of moments she was dust and I was left alone, staring at the blackened spot of the cave floor where Elizabeth had just stood.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I stood in the dark, damp cave and shook my head repeatedly and quickly. My body was trembling and I was cold.
Oh, so cold.
I’d wanted the flames to engulf her. Hell, I’d willed them to do it.
I hadn’t truly expected it to happen.
I couldn’t have made it happen.
I sank to the cave floor, huddled and sobbing. What am I?
That’s how Ian found me. He placed his hands on each side of my face and stopped my head from moving. He looked into my eyes and then kissed me as if reassuring himself that I was really there.
I wanted to sink into the kiss, to let the heat that he began to infuse my body with travel to every corner of my soul and chase the evil away. I wanted to fill my body with the warm scent of him, flood my senses with the taste of him until the sick and evil feelings that lingered within me were gone.
I pushed him away.
He was an empath and that gave him the ability to feel what I felt.
Right now I felt betrayed.
“You used me.” My voice quivered and I hated myself for it.
“My love…”
I held my hand up.
“Don’t.” I shook my head as tears began to sting the back of my eyes. Tears I refused to let fall.
He stood there, staring down at me with hope, determination, and for one brief instant, a flash of fear flitted through his eyes.
I stood and walked toward the door.
“Leah?” Ian called as I neared the doorway.
I stopped. I didn’t turn to face him but I stopped.
“You are mine.”
I turned to him. “I do not belong to anyone, Ian.”
His eyes pierced mine. “Can you honestly tell me that you don’t love me?”
The first tear trickled down my cheek. I opened my mouth to tell him no, to tell him that I didn’t love him.
But I couldn’t.
In spite of everything, I did love him.
“Love isn’t enough, Nightwalker.”
My resolve disintegrated and the tears flowed freely.
Without a word I walked out of the cave into the night.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Joaquín immediately embraced me and I held on to the first shreds of humanity I’d had in too long. Within moments there was a flurry of activity. Thin streams of light from the flashlights that searched for Alli shone all over the desert and into every cave and crevice that could be found. I refused treatment from the waiting ambulance until she was found. Joaquín finally relented and gave me a flashlight. Every available officer was scouring the desert along with Ian, Joaquín and me. A half an hour into the search, Falcon, Raven and Cougar arrived to join us.
I was making my way up a small hill when Alli emerged from a nearby cave, carried in the arms of Falcon. Cougar and Raven carried the bodies of the other two vampires out of the shadows and secured them with nets made of silver.
It was over.
Alli had been afraid to go to the car so she ran in the opposite direction. She’d hidden deep in the cave and was unconscious when Falcon found her.
She’d refused to be placed in the waiting ambulance until she knew that I was okay. She was weak and dehydrated. Her small body was covered with scratches and bruises, but she had survived.
I said a silent prayer of thanks, kissed her and sent her to the hospital. Wilson turned the investigation over to Ramírez and climbed into the ambulance with Alli.
As I watched the ambulance navigate the rough terrain of desert toward the main road I felt a set of strong hands grip the top of my shoulders.
“Samuel.” I smiled. I was still going on pure adrenaline.
“I thought you gave up this line of work,” he commented as I turned toward him.
“I did.”
“Mm-hmm.” He looked me over from top to bottom. Not in a sensual way but more of the way a father would look over a child who’d gotten hurt.
“How’s that working out?”
I let out a quick chortle filled with disbelief and amusement.
“Nothing but rest and relaxation,” I proclaimed with all the sarcasm I could muster. “You should try it.”
“You should have called me if you were going to play with the monsters. He held his hands to his chest in mocked pain and shook his head slowly. I’m crushed, Leah, really.”
I gave a quick roll of my eyes.
Joaquín took that moment to loudly clear his throat.
“Sam, this is Joaquín Wildhorse.” I motioned toward Joaquín.
Sam sneered and gave Joaquín the once-over, one eyebrow raised disapprovingly. I suppressed a smile.
“Joaquín this is Samuel Anderson, Director of Supernatural Investigations of Non-Human Species.”
The shocked expression on Joaquín’s face was a Kodak moment.
“SINS, for short,” Sam added as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Now let’s get Leah off to the hospital and clean up this mess.” He looked at me. “Shall we?”
I was too tired, too battered and bruised, and just too damn everything to argue. I let Sam lead me to the waiting medics and climbed onto the gurney. The medics began their preliminaries and I sank down into soft sheets and let them.
After they shoved me into the ambulance, Sam bent down close to my face. “The offer is still on that table, Leah.” He raised his eyebrows with the look that told me he was intensely serious. “You, more than anyone else I know, realize the magnitude of what we face with this shit.”
With that, he retreated, shut the ambulance doors and gave two thumps on the outside to signal the ambulance to leave.
Epilogue
To my relief, Alli and I stayed only one night in the hospital to be patched up, rehydrated and watched over. I went home with Alli and Wilson and temporarily moved back into my old room. Wilson had gone back to my place and brought over the few remaining personal belongings that had survived the original attack on my house.
Samuel had come by before he hopped a plane back to Manhattan to check on me and reiterate the job offer.
I’d been thinking long and hard about it.
Ian had attempted to visit on several occasions. As powerful as he was, he was still subject to vampire restrictions and couldn’t cross the threshold without an invitation.
No invitation had been offered.
That didn’t stop him from invading my dreams and I don’t really know what will happen between us, what I want to happen between us.
The bond between us existed whether I liked it or not and each night he was with me.
Promises of apology and passion filled my dreams and I woke up each morning sweating, pissed off and undeniably tempted.
Today, I picked up the phone I’d been staring at for the past two weeks and made the phone call that I knew was inevitable.
“Sam.”
“Leah?”
“I’ll take the job.”
The End
About the Author:
Rhonda Print and her lifelong love of reading were inspired by the beauty of the desert southwest to write Nightwalker, the first book in the series. She is diligently working on the second book. She lives in Arizona with her husband and three children. You can visit her at rhondaprint.blogspot.com
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