by Terry Spear
She laughed, trying to break the spell he had over her. “I have to put some of this stuff away or I’ll never be able to climb into bed tonight.”
He wasn’t letting go and his grip around her grew tighter. “What can I do to help?”
She felt his need, his arousal hard and wanting, heard his ragged breathing and heartbeat increasing at a quickened pace, felt the heat between them spiraling upward, fought succumbing to the primal urges as her hormones tumbled out of control. She couldn’t do this. She kept telling herself that. They couldn’t do this. It was too dangerous.
Again, she tried to shove her feelings out of the equation. “You made a pretty good dinner yesterday. Have anything else?” Yet she couldn’t push him away, no matter how much she knew she should.
He brushed his mouth against her forehead. “Lasagna. Ready made in the freezer. Take a jiff to heat up.”
“Sounds good.” She thought that was it. That he would let her go now. But he leaned over to kiss her lips.
Summoning the fortitude to stop this, she quickly turned her head. “No involvement, Robert. We just can’t. You’ve got to leave and let me deal with Nicolai on my own. We can’t let our feelings get out of hand.”
He gave her a half crooked smile. “We’re already involved. And this ‘thing’ between us has already gotten out of hand. Admit it.” He expelled his breath in a heavy sigh. “But I took an oath as an officer and a gentleman.”
The wickedly seductive look he gave her told her that wasn’t quite true. But he kissed her uninjured cheek instead with a tender kiss. “I’ll get you something for your swollen cheek. Were you injured anywhere else?”
“One of the vampires rammed a chair into my shins.”
“I’ll have to take a look.”
“Anything to get me to drop my pants.” She raised her brows.
Smiling, he slid his gaze down her body to her Army trousers. “Yeah.” He looked at her face and touched her lip. “And they gave you a bit of a cut on your lip.”
“I did that when the chair hit me. I bit my lip. I worried I’d bleed, and the vampire would have been worse to deal with. You know…the bloodlust. I think your cane sword deterred him some.”
“Good. It’s my gift to you.” He nuzzled her cheek as his hands caressed her back. “Well, I’ve got some home remedies to put on all your hurts.”
She frowned when he didn’t make a move to leave the room. “Lunch? My stomach is grumbling.”
“Haven’t you ever heard of enjoying dessert first?”
“Hot fudge sundaes. That’s what I want for dessert.”
He made a sound of acquiescence. “All right. You win. For now.” The way he spoke said volumes. This issue of his letting her go wasn’t resolved.
He kissed her cheek, released her reluctantly, then left the room. She picked up a stack of her clothes already on hangers and carried them into his closet. As soon as she lifted the hooks onto the rod, the doorbell rang, shattering her nerves.
Thinking human hosts were at the door, she shoved the hangers onto the rod. After dashing out of the closet, she paused. Where had she left the cane? Damn. In the rental vehicle. She strode through the hall. The wrist knives would have to suffice.
When she entered the living room, Robert pulled the front door open to her disbelief. He stepped back. Three men stalked into the room. Three pair of dark brown eyes immediately caught sight of her, scanned her from the top of her head to the tips of her boots. Cataloging everything about her. Judging her.
Robert closed the door and clicked the lock shut.
“This is Crystal Anderson. Crystal, these are my brothers. Thomas.” He pointed to the tallest and obviously the oldest man with a touch of gray peppering his brown hair. “This is my middle brother, Samuel.” Robert motioned to the one in the middle with the slightly reddish hair, and to the youngest one on the end with streaks of blond in his brown hair. “And my brother, Mark.”
The men eyed her with wariness. She assumed the visit wasn’t for social purposes and already she was feeling defensive. She didn’t need their condemnation, or approval.
Thomas turned to Robert. “We need to speak with you alone.”
Robert looked at Crystal, his eyes almost imploring her to do as his brother asked. Family discussions were important ways of taking care of business. Outsiders weren’t welcome, and certainly not one as dangerous as they assumed she was.
She motioned to the hallway. “I’ll just take care of some things.”
She returned to the bedroom and paced across the floor. It was only noon. She still had about six and half hours left to search for Nicolai before it turned dark, and he came for her again.
Glancing at the side table, she smiled. Robert had set his rental vehicle keys on the table. First, she had to change out of her Army fatigues.
When she was dressed in black denims, boots, and a high-collared black western shirt, she seized the keys. He and his brothers could discuss away. She had some more hunting to do.
Crystal grabbed a handful of clothes, then strolled down the hallway. The men’s conversation ceased when they saw her coming. She smiled. “Have to do some laundry.”
She opened the door to the garage, then shut it. After throwing her clothes into the washing machine, she set the dial and pushed it in to start it. Hopefully the sound of the wash and the distance the men were from the garage would ensure they didn’t hear the opening of the garage door.
She hit the door button, then climbed into the SUV. As soon as she backed out, she realized she couldn’t shut the garage door. The controller was most likely in his convertible.
Not wanting to leave the door open for human hosts to get in, she parked the car outside of the garage, then walked back inside. After pushing the button on the wall, the door grumbled shut. With a deep breath, she opened the door to the kitchen, then closed it behind her. This would even work better. They’d wonder why she never came back from the laundry room otherwise.
Nodding to them, she continued to the bedroom. Then she turned on the television. After she adjusted the volume, she climbed out the window and shut it tight. The latch clicked shut automatically. Now it was time to do what she’d been born to do. Hunt vampires, albeit a little early in the day.
Seeing no one watching her, she headed for the SUV. When she reached it, she unlocked the door and climbed in. A white SUV sat curbside. The brothers’ vehicle. She sighed deeply. Hopefully it would take Robert and his brothers some time to discover she was gone. By then, she hoped to have ended Nicolai’s infatuation for her.
Finding Nicolai’s house took a while as Crystal had to backtrack the way she’d come through the small town. The auto dealership’s window had since been replaced. Nothing seemed out of place. Cars parked along the main street while customers shopped.
She continued toward Nicolai’s place in the same direction she’d walked. Not sure she’d find the house again as it had been dark, she looked for other signs, the blue pickup truck or other vehicles she’d seen parked out front of Dimitri’s house. Even a glimpse of a human host wandering around outside might lead her there.
Then she caught sight of two men dressed in black at a service station. She pulled across the street and waited while one pumped gas into a small black, foreign job. The other washed the windows. Of course, men dressed in black didn’t always mean they were human hosts. She only hoped she’d gotten lucky.
When they climbed into the car, she waited for them to pull onto the main road. To her disappointment, they headed in the opposite direction from Nicolai’s home. Still, they might lead her to another house…one she didn’t know about.
She turned the car around and followed them from a safe distance. When they turned right at a light, she drove on past. They continued on down the road. She turned right at the next light, then turned right again. Hightailing it back to the road they’d taken, she soon reached it, then turned left on it.
They were half a mile ahead of her. She steadied
her breathing, and continued the same distance from them. For twenty minutes, she tailed them, then they pulled beside a curb and parked. She turned down the street closest to her and idled the car, just in sight of them.
The two seemed oblivious to her and strode up the stone path toward the two-story pale blue colonial house. This time, she wouldn’t attempt the front door. She grabbed the cane.
For a second, she hesitated. Hopefully, it was a vampire’s house.
She took great strides to cross the alley between the homes, then finally reached the backyard of the blue colonial.
Curtains were drawn across all of the windows. Typical vampire lair. If the men lived there, and weren’t hosts, they’d open the curtains once they arrived home, wouldn’t they?
She sneaked around to the side of the house.
With a thin blade, Crystal worked on the window, finally jimmying the lock open. Barely taking a breath, she slid the window up.
She pushed the curtains aside, allowing the sunlight to stream into the room. A desk sat in one corner of the office and an oak bookshelf filled with antique books sat against one wall. Taking a deep breath, she climbed in through the window.
Crossing the floor like a sure-footed feline, she worked her way over to the door and listened. Men laughed from some distant room. Her stomach grumbled. Sure it would alert them to her presence, she frowned.
Then she pulled the door open slightly. Her heart beat out of control. Her brothers would have stormed up the stairs and killed the vampires. Not her. She preferred using caution in everything she did. Undoubtedly the gene she carried had something to do with it.
She entered the hallway and glanced at the stairs. She gulped as Lila, dressed in a black chemise, her dyed black hair loosened about her shoulders, stood on the third step, staring down at her as if she’d just seen a ghost. The woman would alert the whole house now. Crystal couldn’t injure her. Damn the gene that made her different.
Lila opened her mouth to speak or cry out, but she hadn’t time to utter a word.
A pudgy man stepped out of a room, and shouted, “Grab her!”
29
Pacing across his living room, Robert shook his head at his older brother. “Thomas, I’m not leaving Texas without Crystal.”
“Uncle Walter wants you returned home. We’re grateful she killed Yorovitch, but now that the job’s done, it’s time for you to return to Oklahoma. Go back to Fort Sill, do your Army job for the time being, but you need to be home near the family.”
“When I can convince her to come with me.”
“He doesn’t want you getting involved with her. I already told you this.”
Robert glanced at Mark and Samuel. They both watched him with intrigue. Would he go against the head of their family to have the girl? That’s what they all wanted to know.
“Robert, listen,” Thomas coaxed, “you said yourself you never wanted to make a permanent commitment with any woman. Certainly, this woman is way out of your league.”
Robert glared at him. “Meaning?”
“She’s different. She’s not like any huntress you’ve ever dealt with. And I’m talking about this gene of hers. Beyond that, she’s been raised differently from our huntresses. Ours don’t hunt. She does.”
“Damn it, she’s had to for her own self-preservation.”
“Don’t get riled. Maybe we can talk to her family and see if we can convince them to take her back in. That’s where she belongs. Here…with her family backing her.”
“It won’t work, Thomas. You know it won’t. They won’t just all of a sudden change their opinion of her and take her back.”
“She won’t be accepted if you bring her home with you.”
Mark shook his head. “He’s already got it in mind to take her home. Can’t you see the determination in his face? She’s already caught him. There’s no going back.”
Samuel let out an exasperated sigh. “Trouble lies ahead with that one. Big trouble.”
Crystal readied her cane as three young men piled out of a room with the other human host and ran toward her.
“Don’t hurt her,” Lila whimpered.
Crystal swung the cane at the black-haired man closest to her. He didn’t move out of the path of the weapon fast enough, and her powerful swing connected with his temple, knocking him out. She swung it again at the next shorter man who grabbed for her. After striking him in the head, he collapsed, and she bashed the other one in the same manner. The last man hesitated.
His blue eyes watched her with wariness, then he glanced down at his companions. Did he want to end up like them? In the next instant, he ran for the front door, yanked it open, and disappeared outside.
With the three men sprawled out on the floor before her, Crystal turned to see what Lila was doing. Lila’s eyes widened. Then she did an about-face, and ran up the stairs and screamed, “Kostya! She’s here. Kostya!”
Crystal’s heart sank. A trail of goose bumps streaked along her arms at the notion of fighting Kostya. Like her, he was different. Something about that made her hate to have to fight him.
She ran across the living area and jerked the curtains down from one of the windows. The sun sat high in the sky now, and none of its rays entered the house. If she could remove the roof, she’d have it made. Still, letting the light in, gave her some comfort.
While keeping an eye on the stairs, she pulled the door farther open in the event she wished to make a hasty escape into the sunlight. Then she yanked the remaining curtains down from the windows.
Neither Lila nor Kostya appeared. Was he hard to wake at this time of day? She paced. If she were a normal huntress, she’d dash up the stairs and confront him. But her heart wasn’t in it. No wonder huntresses with her special gene didn’t live long.
Then she took a deep breath. She had to do it, no matter what the consequences. With her heart thundering, she bolted for the stairs. The final thought she had as she charged up the steps was last one in is a rotten egg.
The hallway was surprisingly well lit, though no actual ray of sunlight touched it. All four doors to the rooms were closed tight. She headed for the one in front of her and shoved the door open. A bathroom. She pulled the curtains off the small window, then returned to the hall.
Still, no one stirred. Or was it that they waited for her in their darkened rooms? Sure. The odds were against her as she tried to locate them in the dark.
She approached the next door. The floorboards creaked beneath the carpet, giving her away. Her blood iced.
As soon as she gripped the doorknob, the door behind her flew open.
She whipped around and pulled the sword from the cane. Not Kostya. A man stood before her she didn’t recognize. Relief flooded through her like sunshine warmed her on a cold day.
His uncombed black hair dangled down to his hips, while black curly hair trailed down his milky white chest to ebony silk boxers. Dark eyes penetrated hers, attempting to will her, or distract her, she wasn’t certain. What was he waiting for?
Then she realized, unless they attacked her, forcing herself to take the offensive was another of her failings. She stiffened her back. Still he didn’t approach her. Then his lips moved up.
Did he realize her inadequacy?
The door behind her creaked open. No, he’d called a vampire to join him.
She twisted around to face the other. Not Kostya either. He must be lying in wait for her in his room still.
The one she now faced appeared older. A sprinkle of gray colored his temples. A black T-shirt and black satin pajama bottoms clad his thin body. Her gaze shifted to his face. His smoky black eyes stared into hers. Like the other, he didn’t attack. Did they know then what she was incapable of doing?
He glanced over at the other vampire and nodded his head just once.
Dread trickled down her back. The remaining door opened. Kostya entered the hall. Lila stood slightly behind him, clinging to the sleeve of his raven-colored robe.
Kostya gave Cryst
al a halfhearted smile. “You know we don’t like to be awakened at this hour. It makes us difficult to live with.”
“Nicolai disturbed my sleep throughout the evening, so I thought I’d repay the visit.” Crystal kept her sword ready. Her hands trembled slightly although her voice remained cool like his.
Kostya shook loose of Lila, pulled his black robe closed and tied the sash. “You must be tired then. I’d offer you my bed, but Lila shares it now. Perhaps one of the others would permit you to share his mattress with you.”
The other vampires chuckled.
Crystal frowned at him. “I wouldn’t think Nicolai would care for that.”
“Why do you think I suggested you sleep with them, instead of me?” His brows and lips rose.
“Then it doesn’t matter to you that they would be in trouble for it?” If nothing else, perhaps she could wedge a bit of dissention between the vampires.
“Nicolai would forgive them, if he knew it meant they kept you here for him tonight. As long as they didn’t get too familiar with you.”
Lila stroked Kostya’s arm.
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Return to bed, my love.”
“I want to stay.”
“No.” His voice had grown dark, demanding obedience.
She sighed deeply, then glanced at Crystal. “Join us, please.” Her words dripped with worry.
Crystal shook her head.
Lila squeezed Kostya’s hand, then returned to his bedroom and shut the door.
Without another moment’s hesitation, Crystal did what went against her own conscience. With a pirouette-type move, she swung around to kill the vampire closest to her.
The older man’s eyes grew big and his jaw dropped, surprise evident in his face that she’d attack him. With a shove of her sword, she skewered his heart.
Not waiting to see the effect on his body, she turned and charged toward the other vampire. He blocked her sword with his arm and cried out as the blade cut through his pale skin. Her feelings ran amuck as she tried to reason with herself. He had to die, or she would.
