Love At First Bite

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  During the journey she had managed not to let the doubts about what she was doing creep in. There was too much to do to pacify her wrangling companions during the first leg of the journey and too much fresh and strange to be interested in at Gibraltar. Then with the necessity of bribing the Turkish captain and hiring bodyguards for the second leg of the journey, she’d hardly had time for second thoughts.

  Now she was here, where Davie might be.

  She was surprised that there were only three ships in the harbor and very few people on the quay. Her experience with harbors said that they were usually teeming with workers and passengers and sailors. Those in evidence here seemed to be hurrying about in a sort of random panic. The city spread out above her, the whitewashed adobe buildings with their red tile roofs marching up the hill. Palm trees drooped in the hot April sun. The bougainvillea might be colorful beneath the fine coating of dust, but one couldn’t really tell.

  She swallowed. Second thoughts came down in buckets now. It suddenly seemed very much harder than she imagined to find Davie. He had said he’d start in Casablanca, but that didn’t mean he was still here after more than six weeks.

  Well, no use crying before the milk was even surely spilled. The first thing was to acquire a roof over her head. She stalked up to a single cart, finished dumping its cargo unceremoniously by the dockside. The driver shook his head and made a woeful sound when she asked after the Prince Hotel. He dropped her and her trunk in front of a modern building in the Georgian style without ceremony. A stream of obviously English people flooded into the street.

  “You there, with the cart!” an older man accosted her driver. “To the harbor. I hear a ship has come in.”

  “That’s my cart,” a hefty woman with several ostrich plumes in her brocade turban protested in a screeching voice. Several others joined in the melee. Emma looked about for a doorman. Not seeing one, she hoisted her trunk by one handle and dragged it through the doors.

  Inside, chaos reigned. The uniformed attendant behind the desk was arguing with several people. Luggage was stacked everywhere and guests, predominantly men, were rushing about with neck cloths askew and without apparent purpose, contributing to the pandemonium. “Excuse me,” she shouted to the man behind the desk, as several of those accosting him threw up their hands and rushed away, creating a gap. “May I check in?”

  “Check in?” The man frowned. “Everyone’s checking out!”

  “Why?” she asked. Several people turned to her in astonishment.

  “The embassy evacuated,” the deskman explained.

  “Blood in the streets,” a portly woman wailed.

  “The end of the world as we know it.” This from a gentleman with long white mustachios.

  “The place isn’t safe for civilized people.”

  “Murders every night.”

  “People drained of blood.”

  The crowd parted as several more people just dropped their bags and ran for the door under the onslaught of this litany.

  Emma felt the blood drain from her face. Davie had said it would be dangerous, but the reality of a city in panic shook her. He must be here. But if the embassy had been evacuated, how would she find him? She took hold of herself and gave herself a mental shake. Let them panic. She had a purpose. She had to find Davie.

  The man behind the desk looked around wildly at the crowd rushing for the door and simply deserted his post. Good, Emma thought. She grabbed a key labeled “106.” That might be on the first floor. She dragged her trunk upstairs. She didn’t stay long in the room, though. She pushed out through a lobby now nearly empty and into the heart of the city.

  What few people were left all seemed to be hurrying this way and that with bundles on their backs or chickens under their arms or carts full of rugs or furniture or pots, whatever they had. Panic crept into Emma’s soul. She tried to stop several people to ask them if they had seen a tall, blond Englishman, but they shook her off and hurried on.

  Tears of frustration welled up into her eyes. Had she come all this way only to be denied by a city in panic? She found herself at the open-air market surrounded by stone arches of Romanesque design. Most stalls had already been deserted and their goods abandoned. Some were being looted openly. Others had their wares scattered and broken. Shouts echoed around her. As she turned, she saw in the harbor below a ship weighing anchor, its sails flapping into place. Only one ship remained. Retreat was being cut off even as she failed in her purpose. A man with very bad teeth leered at her and said something unintelligible. He grabbed her arm. She twisted away and ran farther into the market, ducking under cloth hung over ropes for display.

  Her breast heaving, she crouched under the fabric. Her breath slowed. She looked up. They were burnooses. That would cover her blonde hair. She pulled one that looked smaller off the line and over her head, twitching up the hood. There, that was better. Now what to do? She peeked over into the next stall. Canvasses stretched across wooden frames were stacked neatly against the tables. She spotted charcoal. The stall belonged to an artist…

  Emma had an idea. She slipped into the stall. A charcoal… canvasses, and a knife.

  Very well. If she could find some nails and a hammer, she had the beginnings of a plan.

  They swung through the empty streets, silent, senses pushing out into the night, searching for the ones who would be waiting. Davie saw clearly in the dark now. He no longer wondered why Fedeyah and Rufford never needed candles. He had been hunting with them for nearly a week. Rufford insisted he act only as backup since he was still so newly made. But that did not make the battles any less horrific. Or his horror at his new condition less intense. He wondered that Rufford and Fedeyah were still sane.

  Everything had changed in the last week. Davie could call his Companion and use its power to draw the darkness for translocation or to compel a weaker mind. His strength amazed and appalled him, as did the painful burns sunlight caused on skin and eyes. These were signs that he had left his humanity behind. And the sexual need was so intense it had been a torment during the last days. He clung to Rufford’s assertion that he didn’t have to be like Asharti, but privately he had his doubts. Who knew to what he would stoop when the need for blood or sexual fulfillment raged through his body?

  Whenever Asharti seemed near enough to invade his thoughts, he would conjure up an image of Emma and let the love he had seen in Emma’s eyes the last time they met banish his memory of Asharti’s whips and fangs. Images of Emma did not banish the erections, though. Quite the contrary. And thinking of how repulsed she would be by his new nature created bleakness in his belly but didn’t counteract the power of her image on his body.

  Perhaps worst of all was the strange exhilaration that threatened to overwhelm him sometimes. How dared he feel so alive, so whole, when he was a creature of night and nightmares? Would he burn in hell for what he had taken from Rufford?

  “We’ll have trouble feeding with all the humans leaving town,” Rufford muttered as they strode down a winding alley toward a broad avenue lined with jacaranda trees.

  Davie still chose to take his blood from a cup filled by Rufford or Fedeyah from the wrist of a donor. He couldn’t bear to think of drawing his power to elongate his canines and plunge them into a living throat.

  They’d been having trouble feeding at all since Davie couldn’t procure for them in daylight hours. They holed up wherever they could, easier in the last few days with so many houses vacant. They’d tried feeding before the nightly conflict began, but often the battle came to them before they were ready, with so many of Asharti’s minions about. After the battle, they were in no condition to find what they needed. They’d gone without last night. With no blood, how would they keep their strength up?

  Rufford backed against a wall at the corner of the boulevard and peered around. Suddenly he straightened. “Well, Ware, do you happen to have a relative named Davie?”

  Davie gave a start. “It’s Vernon Davis Ware,” he said in a low voice. “
My family and oldest friends called me Davie.” Why had Rufford grown curious now?

  Rufford simply pointed. Davie peered into the night. A canvas was tacked to a building across the alleyway at the other corner of the intersection. On it was written, clearly, in charcoal or some such, “Davie Ware. I’m at the Prince Hotel.”

  Davie was drawn across the alley, enthralled. Who knew him as Davie that might be here in Casablanca? And what was that stuck over the nail that held the canvas?

  God! It was a lock of yellow hair, bound by a strip of ribbon.

  He turned on Rufford. “Miss Fairfield!”

  The scent of cinnamon wafted down the boulevard. “They come,” Fedeyah said. Davie drew his sword. Damn!

  “Get to the Prince Hotel,” Rufford said through gritted teeth.

  “I won’t leave you two to face them.” Shadows drifted out onto the boulevard.

  “Think, man! You can’t leave her alone in Casablanca now.”

  Davie counted. Eight? His gut twisted. Rufford was right, but his duty was here. “Why did she come?” he muttered.

  “You have to ask?” Rufford’s grin was wicked. He motioned with his head. “Lucky dog. Get out of here.”

  “Four to one,” Davie warned.

  “We’ve had worse.” When Davie still hesitated, Rufford lifted his brows. “I’ve got Old blood in my veins, man.”

  Davie took a breath of night air, redolent with jasmine and ominous with cinnamon. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “You’ll never find us. We’ll use the hotel as our safe house.” Rufford drew his sword as he scanned the street. “Protect her. We’ll see you at dawn.”

  Davie took off at a run for the waterfront.

  Chapter Five

  Emma sat, quiet for the first time in days, and looked out on the night from her small balcony. It wasn’t that she wasn’t frightened. She was. But there was nothing more to be done. She had posted her signs all over the city this afternoon even as the teeming hordes left town. The harbor was empty. The last ship had sailed on the evening tide. From where she sat she could see several fires burning in the town, but the looting now seemed sporadic. She had gathered lamps from several other rooms to be sure she had enough oil, and locked her door. She was going to sit here day and night with a light burning like a beacon until Davie came for her. She wouldn’t let herself think of how angry he would be that she was here or that he might not even be in the city to see her signs. Every piece of common sense said this would work out badly. So she resolved not to listen to her common sense.

  The hotel was quiet behind her. The shouting in the streets had grown distant. So she clearly heard the pounding of boot heels taking the stairs up from the lobby two at a time. Her heart leaped into her throat. She would be raped and killed in the next minutes, or…

  She looked to the door. He burst through it as though it were made of paper, lock and all. “Davie!” She ran to him without thinking, relief flooding her. The door twisted into the room on broken hinges. He took her in an embrace that was like to break her ribs. She didn’t care.

  “Emma!” he said into her hair. “Emma, what are you doing here? This is no place for a woman.” But the chastising nature of the words was lost in his lips moving through her hair, his breath warm. He was wearing only a shirt open at the collar and trousers and boots. He hadn’t shaved in several days, but that didn’t make him seem unkempt, only rugged and more male than she remembered. She had never seen him without a coat and waistcoat. The hardness of his body beneath his shirt and the exotic scent of cinnamon he wore combined to assault her senses.

  But he’d asked a question. What was she doing here? And she’d never really thought what she would tell him. He held her away from his body and looked at her with hungry eyes. His gaze roved over her and stopped at her hair. “Oh,” she said apologetically, shaking her head, now full of unruly blonde curls. “I cut off all my hair to make the signs.”

  Davie gave a lopsided smile. “I like it.” Then his grin collapsed. “Oh, Emma, it’s too dangerous here. You shouldn’t have come!”

  She couldn’t avoid this. “I… I couldn’t sit at home and let you face… whatever it was you were facing. And don’t you dare tell me I’m only a woman and I couldn’t help.” She felt a strange anger rising in her breast. What was she angry at? That he put himself in danger? That he hadn’t offered for her? That he hadn’t had the courage of his convictions…

  She gathered herself. “If you don’t love me, Major Vernon Davis Ware, tell me straight out and I’ll go home. But if you do… then we belong together, no matter the circumstance. I’ll not be a burden on you. And I’ll stay out of the way. But I can help you; I know I can.”

  He looked at her with such intensity in his eyes it made her feel faint. He seemed so… alive. He was magnetic, hypnotic even. Had he been this attractive when she’d last seen him? It must be the air of danger that made him seem to vibrate with energy. “This isn’t a diplomatic mission, Emma. It’s a war.”

  “Plenty of women follow the drum.” She swallowed. “I’ll work in the hospital with your wounded. I’ve volunteered in the hospital in London, you know. Or I’ll cook, or I’ll wash for your men. I’m not proud, Davie, and I’m not delicate.”

  He was running his hands up and down her arms from shoulders to elbows, apparently unaware that he did so. His gaze roamed the room. “Emma, Emma, you don’t understand.”

  She grew surer of herself. “You must tell me you don’t love me if you want me to leave.”

  “You know I love you,” he almost snapped. “Or you wouldn’t have come here…” He seemed to recollect himself. “Your reputation… did you have a companion? Your brother?”

  “I hired two females and a retired officer as escort.” He looked relieved. Well, he’d better know the worst. “I dismissed them in Gibraltar. How could I bring them here with all the rumors of blood in the streets?” Now distress furrowed his brow. “I don’t care a jot for my reputation, Davie. I love you. I’ll bind your wounds, and barter my jewels for chickens for your stew. I can’t stay at home going to parties where the worst thing anyone can imagine is that Lady Jersey is with someone else’s child again. And don’t think I’ll ever love anybody but you. You were talking nonsense that day in Grosvenor Square. If you won’t have me, I’ll go to Paris or Vienna and set up on my own and I’ll die without knowing the joys of marriage. I won’t settle for some loveless union with a duke or a poet.”

  He smiled ruefully and sighed. Then he touched her cheek with the back of his index finger and stroked gently. “My brave, rebellious Emma. You always did have more courage than any ten girls put together.”

  She wished he would take her in his arms again. As a matter of fact, she wished he would do more. She wanted to cross some line from which she couldn’t retreat. In spite of her brave words, she needed to put England and home and small social concerns beyond her reach, to remove any risk that she might just run home with her tail between her legs if the going got rough. Today in Casablanca she had realized that the going might get very rough. She wanted to leave who she was behind entirely. She slid her hand up behind his neck and pulled him down to her. He looked… well, frightened. She brushed her lips across his, not quite believing she could be this bold. She really was a rebel!

  “Emma,” he breathed into her mouth. “You don’t know… what I might… do.”

  “Yes, I do, Davie,” she said with more confidence than she felt inside. “At least I know what I’m hoping you’ll do.” To punctuate her statement, she slid her hand underneath the open collar of his shirt. The skin at the nape of his neck was damp in the heat of Casablanca. “We love each other. You’re going to show me how to love you.” She was going to give up her virgin state in order to cross her line. All she had to do was convince him.

  “You must save that for your marriage bed.” He was breathing hard. She sidled into him and felt the shocking hardness under his trousers roll against her hip. He wanted her! />
  “That can be my marriage bed,” she breathed, pointing to the bed in the other room of the suite. “When we can find someone to perform a ceremony, we will make it official.” She saw the conflict churning behind his eyes. How dear that he was so concerned for her he would try to suppress his physical desires. But she wasn’t going to let him do that. “If you want me, take me,” she challenged. “But know I don’t give myself lightly. It will be our troth.”

  A thousand thoughts careened and collided in Davie’s head. The thing in his blood shouted down his veins, throbbing with life and a sexual intensity that muddied his thoughts. He shook his head as though to clear it. He couldn’t make love to Emma. Who knew what he might do when in the throes of passion? And he couldn’t marry her either. She didn’t know he was a monster. He couldn’t let her stay in Casablanca where horror stalked the streets. He’d be dead soon, or, if he lived through this terrible campaign, he’d live forever. Neither would be good for Emma.

  And yet… she needed the protection of marriage, at least in name. He could not let her go to some foreign city alone, to fall victim to the first rogue she met. If she bore his name, he could write to Charles. Davie’s family would look out for her. Then she could return home to the comfort of England and her own family at least. He’d make up some tale as to why she had abandoned her chaperones. He’d think of something.

  Very well. He’d find someone to marry them, if he lived through the night. He swallowed and tried to breathe, and took her in his arms. “I am yours,” he whispered. “For as long as I live. My name will be your protection, and all that I have.”

  “For better or worse, ‘til death do us part,” she recited.

  He swallowed, then nodded.