by Claudy Conn
“MacFare—he isn’t normal…he had this sword. It disintegrated m’mother…” The words seemed to unhinge him, and he began laughing wildly again.
“Where is this cottage?”
Clara slapped him again. “Answer—you stupid fool.”
“Stockton…on Darby Road.” The squire began to giggle. He saw his death in her eyes, and then Pentim’s fingers were around his throat. He couldn’t breathe…
Pentim snapped his neck and left him to crumble in a dead heap at the foot of the oak. “Gather everyone—into the van at once. We are for Stockton!” he ordered Clara and turned to come face to face with a vampire he knew and often avoided. Damon, who was a good six inches taller, broader, younger in appearance, stood quietly disdainful.
Pentim’s eyes narrowed, and he nodded his head. “Damon.”
“Indeed…that is my name.”
“As much as I would love to stay and chat with you…and I would because there are matters we need to discuss…I am in a bit of a hurry.”
“Are you?” Damon studied his fingers and then looked once more into Pentim’s eyes before casting a glance towards Clara.
Pentim noticed her intake of breath and her softening of expression. It irritated him. He had heard that Clara and Damon had once been lovers.
“Get the fuck out of my way, Damon. You don’t want to cross me.”
“Oh, but I think that I do, and probably shall—sooner than later.”
“What do you want?”
“I will give you a chance to get out of this intact, Pentim. You have a large, powerful clan. You don’t need Shawna.”
Pentim saw Clara stiffen. He could see this annoyed her. She was jealous. He smiled to himself. What the hell did Damon have to do with Shawna? “You know nothing.”
“I know she won’t be taken. You will only end by getting yourself or her killed. Is that what you want?”
“Get out of my way and stay out of this, Damon. I have the might to hurt you if you persist.”
“You think you have the might.” Damon’s grin was a sugar-coated threat.
“Damon…you would not like to be taken by my people.”
“Try—see if that is possible.”
Pentim’s eyes twitched. Damon was a loner. There was very little known about him, other than he was super-powerful. Pentim did not wish to get into a spitting match with him. “Clara—go and collect the others and meet me at the van.”
Clara had started to walk by both Pentim and Damon when Damon reached out and took hold of her hand. He put it to his lips and looked into her eyes under Pentim’s angry glare. “Clara…it pains me to see you with him.”
“I had no choice… You left me in the wind,” she whispered back.
“I didn’t want to. I gave you a choice.”
“I couldn’t do what you asked. I need blood, Damon, human blood, just as humans kill the cow and eat their meat. I usually only kill what I need. I am not you, and I can’t deny what I am.” She raised her free and shaky hand towards his cheek. “I wanted you to love me, but you don’t. I know you never will.” She pulled her hand from his and vanished into the darkness.
Pentim snorted and said, “So that is it. You have a grievance with me because of Clara. I did not steal her from you, and if you joined us…you could have her back.”
“I am here for one thing—to warn you off the child, Shawna.”
Pentim inclined his head. “We will meet another day, Damon—that is my warning to you.” Using vamp speed, he left Damon at his back—a very bad mistake.
* * *
Shawna woke up feeling refreshed and revived and found Chad’s arms around her. She snuggled in the bed and felt comforted. He had fed her the pig’s blood in slow stages, and then he made a potion—a drink from the Blood Orchard—and made her swallow it down although it tasted vile.
She looked at the clock. It was nearly eleven, which surprised her. She had thought it would be later—much later.
She hadn’t just awakened on her own though—something had shaken off her deep sleep. Pounding—heavy pounding below—at the front door. It started up again. Who could that be?
Chad was up and pulling on his gray jogging pants, an odd look on his face.
Shawna lay back and gazed at him dreamily. He was glorious to look at, with his hard, sculptured chest covered in intricate rune patterns. His hair was a mass of tawny shades of blond around his handsome face. “Stay here, Shawna. I’ll see who it is…”
She smiled warmly at him and snuggled into her pillows, but when a few moments went by and he did not return, she frowned and a worry set in. Was he okay?
She got up, threw on navy sweats, pulled on her sneakers, and padded down the hall and down a few steps, where she stopped short. She could hear him whispering. She could hear a young woman giggling, and then the woman said, “You never took back the gate card…so I thought I would use it tonight… Do you miss me, love?”
She didn’t hear Chad’s reply, but there was something in the air that felt like betrayal, and Shawna flinched.
She took the next step quietly and sat there, fully aware that she was spying. She could see that Chad was standing in the Great Hall, not quite fully in her view. The woman stroking his face was quite a beauty.
Shawna watched the redhead fling her arms around his neck. He didn’t seem to try and stop her, and then all at once—he was locked in a kiss.
He had just left their bed…
And he was in the arms of another woman…
Shawna felt a jolt of pain skittle into her muscles before it tore through her heart. From where she sat, Chad was making no effort to deter the woman. In fact, he appeared to be kissing her back.
What had she been thinking to allow a playboy like him to wind his hands around her heart? She had been a fool. He had been using her all along. He had always wanted Pentim, and she had always been his ticket to that game.
He had seduced her with words and touching and more words…for one reason only: to keep her with him, to draw Pentim out.
Shawna ran to her bedroom, pulled on her silver cuffs, slipped her mirror into her jogging pants pocket, and grabbed her ‘special switchblade’ and her navy hoodie. She was set. She took up the keys of her Jeep from her nightstand where Chad had put them earlier that evening. He had said that he shifted back to the cottage to retrieve her chest of artifacts and had left them in the Jeep in his haste to get to her. Yeah, right—he lied…he’s a liar. The word liar tore at her heart.
Without any understanding of what she was doing, and with only one goal—to run, and run, and somehow outrun the pain—she took the hallway to the backstairs. She nearly fell in her rush but caught herself. She switched into vamp speed out the backdoor and into her Jeep.
The cool air hit her in the face but did nothing to clear her mind, which was fuzzed over with hurt. She felt the salt from her tears slide over her lips. She sat back in her Jeep and bolstered herself as she started the engine. At first she allowed the Jeep to just slowly move forward, and then with a foot pressed hard to the pedal, she peeled out, leaving dust and gravel in her wake.
* * *
Chad MacFare’s voice was hushed. He had no wish to hurt Mary Beth, but he had to get her out.
He knew Shawna well enough to know she would not tolerate watching another woman work him. He stepped back and tried to nicely ask her to leave. “You have to go, Mary Beth…you canna be here…”
“Why? Have you got another woman upstairs—in the bed where we slept together…?”
“Hush now…” Chad glanced up the wide staircase. “You canna be saying that now…you have to leave. You and I…well, I always told you, Mary Beth…told you on that last evening when you left…”
“I know. You want to keep it simple. Well, I am here to do just that…we can keep it simple.” Her hands went around his neck, and she pulled him in for her kiss.
Chad frowned and took her hands in his to push her off, but he didn’t want to bruise her
and she was holding on with all her might. She managed to free her hands and throw them around his neck, reach up and lock lips for a moment before he freed himself. “No, Mary Beth…you have to leave.”
“Oh…you do have someone upstairs!” Her eyes narrowed, and then she shrugged. “Well, it isn’t as if we don’t see other people. Right then, she can have you tonight…but I will see you to—”
“You’ll not be seeing me again, and she…she doesn’t just have me tonight…she has me for all my tomorrows.”
Mary Beth stepped back, her mouth agape. “Never say so!”
It was then that Chad heard the start of the engine. He dove for the front door just in time to watch Shawna peel down the drive. “Och no, what have ye done? She must have seen you kissing me…” His hands went through his tawny mass of hair.
~ Twenty-two ~
PENTIM’S NOSTRILS FLARED as the scent of his daughter’s blood wafted through the air in the cottage. He took a step forward and saw his daughter’s deep, dark red blood all over the carpet, all over the hardwood floor…
“Shawna…” he whispered. “I have already made him pay.”
The scent of rich blood had Clara uneasy. She had fed and didn’t have the bloodlust at that moment, but nevertheless, it did excite her. She thought Pentim’s daughter must be dead—so much blood loss; however, she kept quiet and hung back. She knew better than to annoy him at that moment.
A murderous expression had twisted Pentim’s features. If evil had a face, it was his. He looked as though he wanted to kill, and he stomped through the rooms, raising his fists and shaking them. “We must find her. Where would this MacFare have taken her?”
WB walked into the cottage and sniffed. The scent of Shawna’s blood made him close his eyes. Hastily he glanced at Pentim and saw that he was enraged. He waited and controlled himself. He was heartily sick of this chasing about. He wanted it over with and soon. He had noticed the sign of an estate, Darby Gray, as they passed its entrance on the way here. It had an unusual scent.
“No doubt this MacFare lives nearby—probably down the road.”
“Let’s go and see.” Pentim growled.
“There is no trace of blood outside this cottage, and no recent scent of her outside…” Clara offered musingly. “She did not leave in the ordinary way.”
Pentim regarded her with interest. “You are proving to be an asset. How then did she leave, little Clara?”
Clara shrugged. “Perhaps he had her well bandaged and carried her. Perhaps her scent is disguised by his and his, my Prince, is strong and different—so different.” She licked her lips as she sniffed at the air.
“Then track him, Clara. Into the van…keep your head out the window and track his scent.”
“I shall try…” Clara offered doubtfully.
“You will do it.”
“Yes, my Prince.”
* * *
Shawna sobbed in spurts. Wet tears gushed from her eyes and rushed down her cheeks—and even so, she caught the scent of several vampires just before she saw their van.
Shawna gasped, stopped her car, and started to back up to make a three-point turn on the narrow road. She zeroed in on her hearing ability and heard the jumble of their voices—they seemed to all be talking at the same time. There was a female vamp amongst them, and she heard her shout out. “It’s her…my Prince…coming towards us…”
Shawna squealed into her turn and raced back towards Darby—she had no choice. However, they were already speeding up along side her Jeep. Clara was at the wheel and gave her a sneer as she gently bumped their van into the Jeep and made it swerve.
Shawna’s car skittered, squealed, and nearly went into the ditch. The vamps used the opportunity to pull out in front of her and block the road.
She could try smashing through them. What would that accomplish? Perhaps nothing good, but it was all she had…that and her magic.
She softly spoke the words of a spell to keep herself conscious should the impact with the earth be devastating. She had to come out of this whole—she couldn’t allow them to see how much magic she owned, so that she could use it when the time came…
What she needed to do now was get something heavy to pin her gas pedal in place. She looked around the car and found her denim handbag. She smiled as she spelled it, making it instantly heavier, and wedged it onto the gas pedal. She simultaneously took her foot off, testing—good, speed maintained!
She aimed her Jeep for the dark and large van just ahead. She was only half vamp, but there were some advantages she had that they didn’t. Daylight and bright lights didn’t affect her adversely. She played with her engraved silver wrist cuffs, quietly chanting the spell. The engraved runes started to tickle as she whispered the words. She had an advantage—she was a witch.
She would need to roll as she threw herself out of the car. She had vamp strength, perhaps not as much as a full vampire, but her sorcery skills would make up the difference. Rolling out of the racing Jeep shouldn’t do too much damage with her shield in place.
She had only one shot. She needed to get out, roll, jump up, and use vamp speed to rush across the field to the woods.
She opened the car door, pushed herself out, and rolled onto the grass with a heavy thud that made her immediately feel sore all over. Ignoring the pain, Shawna was up and on her feet and running across the meadow towards the woods that would take her back to Darby Gray.
Her Jeep went smashing into the van while Pentim and his vamps were still staring at the oncoming vehicle, believing she would stop. They didn’t realize until too late that she wasn’t in the Jeep.
They floundered about, screaming at one another before they collected themselves and jumped out of the van to give chase.
Pentim glanced around and then peered into the field where he saw a flash of movement. He knew at once and called his vamps together with a growl of irritation, and they all went in pursuit.
* * *
Chad followed Mary Beth out of the house and frowned to see a dark BMW coming up the drive and pulling into his courtyard. “Who the hell…?” he muttered under his breath as he watched the pretty redhead slam her car door and speed past the new arrival.
Damon got out of his sporty vehicle, and Chad could see the dark amber of his glittering eyes. He suddenly had a very bad feeling.
“What are you doing here, and how did you get through my gate and past my wards?” He didn’t wait for Damon’s response as he dove into the central hall and retrieved his sheathed sword and strapped it on.
Damon followed him, but Chad was already on the front steps. He grimaced. “What—is the sword for me?” he shook his head. “To answer you, your gate code might keep out most humans, but I’m not human. Your wards don’t recognize me as a vampire. I don’t drink human blood—like Shawna, I never have. Now, let’s cut to the chase—where is she?”
“None of your business,” Chad snapped. “What the hell are you doing here, and what the bloody hell is your interest in Shawna?”
“We don’t have time for this.” Damon stared hard at him.
“Listen to me, English,” snapped Chad derisively. “Answer the question, and I’ll decide what we have time for.”
Damon’s eyes lit with the challenge, but his voice was low and grim. “Controlling, aren’t we? I can’t fathom what she sees in you, but there is no accounting for taste. Too bad you couldn’t have controlled this situation a little better.”
Chad took a threatening step towards him. Damon smirked and put up his hand. “Like I said, we don’t have time for this, but later, should you wish, we can make the time.”
“What do you have the time for?” Chad spat at him.
“Aye, first, I will tell you that the squire is dead, but not before he told Pentim where she could be found. So I’ll ask you again—where the fuck is she?”
Chad closed his eyes and stood for a moment as he tried to see her in his mind’s eye. The tattoo on her neck gave him a sense of her, and that
sense told him she wasn’t too far. He suddenly realized she was in trouble. Where were the visions when he needed them? He needed to know where she was, what kind of trouble she had encountered. “Damn it all to bloody hell! She took the Jeep and took off. I was just going after her.”
“Then we’ll go after her together.” Damon was already turning to get back in his car, glancing back to find Chad behind him. He saw that Chad only had moccasins on, and he raised a brow at Chad. “No shoes?”
“These will have to do. As you say—no time.” Chad grumbled as he put a hand on Damon’s shoulder. He would have to shift. He shifted to Darby Road, and once there, Damon took a step away from him, his dark brows up. “What the hell was that, and what are you?”
“No time…we have to go further up the road.” Once more he had his hand on Damon’s shoulder as he parted the airwaves and stepped through, Damon in tow.
This time the two stepped through a misty cloud onto the paved Darby Road just short of Shawna’s damaged and stranded Jeep.
There was no sign of her, and only a broken light and side mirror was evidence that another car had even been there.
Chad closed his eyes, and at that moment he felt frozen with fear. Her name was a whisper on the wind. “Shawna…”
“She ran there…” Damon was already in the field, his arm stretched out, his finger pointing. He was sniffing—picking up her scent as he closed his dark eyes. “She stood her ground here. She fought them off—there were two male vamps and Clara. She fought them, held them at bay, here…but something happened…”
Chad’s mind opened up, and suddenly he saw it all. He hadn’t had a vision in so long, but now it unfolded for him like a movie on a screen. He saw Shawna standing with her fists in the air, her wrists touching. She was wearing something on both of her wrists—the ancient and magical cuffs. They gave off a blinding light, and the vamps had their hands over their eyes and were stepping back from her. Three vampires blinded and in some discomfort.
Shawna backed away from them, ready to run. She never saw Pentim, who had come up behind her, behind the light…
Pentim made a double fist and brought it down on the back of his daughter’s head. Shawna had gone down.
