Dropping the phone on the bed, she ran to open the door. “Micah, what are you doing here?”
“What do you think?” Striding into the room, he glanced around. “I came to make sure my little sister is all right.”
“I told you I was.”
“Yeah, well . . .” His gaze moved over her.
“Stop that!” she exclaimed as his mind brushed hers. “You have no right to be poking around in my head. I’m a big girl now.”
“Well, you haven’t gotten any smarter.”
“Would you please just calm down?”
“He’s drinking your blood and you want me to calm down? Really?”
“He doesn’t take much. Just a little bit. He says it soothes his hunger. And I know it’s true. Your buddy Saintcrow thinks Ethan and I are meant to be together.”
“I’ll kill him.”
“Ethan?” she asked, her voice rising with panic.
“No. That meddling Saintcrow.”
She snorted. “I’d like to see you try.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ve met the man. I’ve felt your power and I’ve felt his. No way you’d win.”
“I might not be able to destroy Saintcrow, but I can mop the floor with Parrish.”
“If you lay a hand on him, I’ll never speak to you again.”
Dropping down on the sofa, Micah cradled his head in his hands. “Sofia, do you know what you’re getting in to?”
“No. But he needs me. And I think . . .”
He looked up, his gaze knife sharp. “You think what?”
“That I’m falling in love with him.”
“Well, don’t.”
“Isn’t this a case of the pot calling the kettle black? I mean, you fell in love with Holly and you turned her. Why would it be any different if Ethan turned me?”
Micah stared at her, eyes narrowed, thinking there was no good way to answer that question. And then he frowned. “For one thing, Holly was twenty-five, and she was dying. You’re only nineteen. I told you before, you’re too young to make a decision that’s going to affect the rest of your life. A life that could be very, very long.”
“So, if I was older, it would be okay?”
“I didn’t say that.” He reached for her hand. “I won’t lie to you, Sofie. There are good things about being a vampire. But there are good things about being human, too. If you decide you want to spend the rest of your life with Ethan, I’ll make the best of it. But think long and hard before you make a decision that can’t be undone, before you give up your humanity and everything it entails. Promise me.”
“Didn’t I already promise you that once?”
He nodded. “Just make sure it’s one you keep. And I’m telling you now, if he turns you without your permission, I will kill him. You might want to tell him that.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sofia wasn’t looking forward to going to work Thursday morning. She’d never had much of a poker face and she was pretty sure Saintcrow would know something was troubling her. And she didn’t want to talk about it. Not with him. And definitely not with Ethan.
Saintcrow showed up at nine sharp. It took only minutes to get to Morgan Creek. He dropped her off at the house, gave her a long, probing look, and went to check on how things were going at the hotel.
He knows, she thought. He knows something is wrong. Heck, he probably knows exactly what’s bothering me. Well, she couldn’t be worried about it now. She had invoices to check and bills to pay.
She was sitting at her desk, running numbers, when she heard footsteps on the porch. Thinking it was one of the workers, she went to the front door. A woman with bright blue eyes and long brown hair stood there looking confused.
“May I help you?” Sofia asked.
“I don’t know. I was driving by and . . .” She shook her head. “Something drew me across the bridge. I don’t know why, but I had the feeling I’d been here before. That I’d seen this house before.” She lifted a hand to her neck, her fingers running back and forth, as if she expected to find something there. She smiled self-consciously. “You must think I’m crazy.”
Before Sofia could think of a reply, Saintcrow came striding up the walkway. “What’s going on?” he asked, and then he frowned. “Pauline? Is that you?”
At the sound of his voice, the woman made a slow turn. And then she gasped. “It’s you,” she murmured. “I’m not crazy, after all.”
Saintcrow muttered something in a language Sofia didn’t understand. But profanity sounds the same in any language, and he was definitely angry. Taking the woman by the arm, he said, “I think we should go inside.”
“No! No!” She flailed and kicked as he dragged her into the house.
“Saintcrow, what are you doing?” Sofia exclaimed as she followed them into the living room.
“Let me go!” Tears flooded the woman’s eyes. “Let me go! I never told anyone!”
A wave of Saintcrow’s hand slammed the front door. Sofia heard the click as the dead bolt slid into place. What the hell was going on?
Saintcrow pushed the woman into a chair. “Stay there.”
The power in his voice raised the hair on Sofia’s arms and sent chills down her spine.
“Pauline, how did you find this place?” His voice was softer now.
“I don’t know. I started dreaming about it last month.” Her face paled. “Dreaming about you.” She lifted her hand to her neck again. “All of you.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Sofia didn’t miss the threat in his voice.
Neither did Pauline. Unable to move, she stared at Sofia, her eyes filled with panic and a silent plea for help.
Sofia laid a tentative hand on Saintcrow’s arm. “Can I see you in the other room?”
When he nodded reluctantly, she led the way into her bedroom and closed the door. “She’s one of them, isn’t she? One of the people you kept here?”
“So Micah told you about that, did he?”
“Some of it. I know you kept people to feed on.” She couldn’t disguise the disapproval in her voice. “Was there more to it than that?”
“I don’t think you want to know.”
“What are you going to do to Pauline?”
“I’m going to wipe away her memory of this place. And me.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think?”
“So, it’s all true.”
He regarded her through narrowed eyes for several long moments. “Long before I met Kadie, Morgan Creek was a haven for a group of vampires. They came here to get away from hunters and because they hoped to find a safe place to live. I warded the town so any human who entered couldn’t leave.”
“You made them prisoners?”
He nodded. “They lived in these houses. We provided food and entertainment and anything else they wanted.”
“Except their freedom.”
He nodded again.
“And you fed on them.”
He shrugged. “They were prey. The vampires I allowed to stay here weren’t allowed to abuse them, or hurt them. Or kill them.”
Sofia sat on the edge of the bed, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. “How could you do such a despicable thing? What about their families?”
He met the condemnation in her eyes without flinching. “At the time, I didn’t worry about those things. I had promised my protection to any vampire who came here if they followed my rules.”
“You had no right.”
“That’s what Kadie said.”
“Kadie was here?” She remembered what Saintcrow had said, about the scent of Kadie’s blood drawing him out of the ground. Somehow, she hadn’t put two and two together. “Did you feed on her?”
He nodded. “Vampire,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“And she married you.” Sofia shook her head. “How could she?”
“She fell in love with me. Is that so hard to believe?”
“After what yo
u did? Yes.”
“It was Kadie who made me realize what I was doing was wrong. I sent the vampires away and let the humans go, but first I wiped the memory of this place from their minds. Apparently, in Pauline’s case, I’ll have to do it again.”
“That’s cruel.”
“I think she’ll be happier, not remembering. Don’t you?”
“If Ethan and I don’t stay together, are you going to erase my memories, too?”
“Probably. It’s a matter of survival, Sofia, nothing more.”
Saintcrow returned to the living room. Reluctantly, Sofia followed him.
He knelt in front of the woman, his gaze—faintly red—trapping hers. “Listen to me, Pauline. You will forget everything that happened here today.”
She stared at him blankly. “I will forget.”
“You were never here. You’ve never heard of Morgan Creek. There are no such things as vampires.”
“I was never here. There’s no such thing as vampires.”
“If you try to remember any of this, any of your past, it will cause you great physical pain.”
“Pain.”
“I’m going to take you home now.”
“Home.”
“How do you know where she lives?” Sofia asked.
“I read her mind. She lives in the same place she did years ago.” Taking Pauline’s hands in his, he pulled her to her feet, then wrapped his arm around her waist. “I won’t be gone long. She doesn’t live far from here.”
Sofia blinked, and they were gone. He had kept people here against their will. Kept them from their homes and families. From friends, jobs. Basically stolen their futures. Fed on them. How had Kadie ever fallen in love with such a horrible man?
She didn’t want to think about it.
She didn’t see Saintcrow the rest of the day.
She was relieved when Ethan came to pick her up.
In the blink of an eye, she was home. “Do you want to come in?” she asked, unlocking the door.
“Sure.”
Inside, Sofia kicked off her shoes, then went into the kitchen and put the coffee on. She stood at the counter, looking out the window, waiting for the coffee to brew. She didn’t turn when Ethan came up behind her.
“I saw Saintcrow before I came to get you,” he said. “He told me what happened.”
“Did you know what he’d done?”
“Yeah. I didn’t condone it, Sofie, and I wouldn’t have done it.”
“How could Kadie marry him? He’s a monster.”
“I guess you can’t choose who you love,” Ethan said. “But if you could, I’d choose you.”
His voice, soft and low, seeped into the very heart of her. He was a vampire. True, he hadn’t done the horrible things Saintcrow had done. But he might have, if Saintcrow hadn’t taken him in, taught him what it meant to be a vampire, given him a place to stay.
Sofia sighed. Maybe Saintcrow wasn’t quite as bad as she thought. Or maybe, deep down, they were all monsters.
She met Ethan’s gaze. He didn’t look like a monster, and he certainly didn’t act like one. She dismissed his need for blood. He couldn’t help that. She lifted a hand to her neck, a question in her eyes.
When he nodded, she tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes. His bite filled her with warmth. This was what the Morgan Creek vampires had done, she thought, with one big difference. Ethan didn’t take what he wanted by force. And she was willing.
Raising his head, he hugged her close. “Is what Saintcrow did going to change your opinion of me?”
“Of course not. You had nothing to do with anything that happened here.”
“So, we’re still on for tomorrow night?”
She smiled up at him. “Of course. I’ll bring a change of clothes with me.”
“Until then,” he said. And kissed her good night.
* * *
Saintcrow was late picking her up in the morning, leaving Sofia to wonder if he was angry with her for what she had said the day before. She could have lied to him, but he could read her mind, so it hardly seemed worth the trouble.
She could never condone what he and the other Morgan Creek vampires had done. She had tried hard to make excuses for him, to understand his decision to use people as a permanent food supply, but she just couldn’t. It was wrong, no matter how you looked at it. She tried to imagine what it must have been like, knowing you could never leave, that you would never see your loved ones again, that you were nothing more than a ready blood supply. How had Kadie endured it? How had she fallen in love with a man who could do such a thing?
She jumped when the doorbell rang, overcome with an unexpected sense of guilt for what she had been thinking. The Bible warned against judging others, but how could she help it?
Hoping her face didn’t betray her thoughts, she opened the door.
Saintcrow’s face was equally blank. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, his voice like ice over steel. “Are you ready?”
Nodding, Sofia grabbed her purse, a bag containing a change of clothes and a sweater. Fighting off the urge to shudder, she closed her eyes when Saintcrow put his arm around her.
He left without a word as soon as they arrived at her office.
Sofia dropped her things on a chair, then set to work opening the mail. For the first time, she wondered if the vampires had received mail when they lived here. And how Saintcrow had arranged for mail delivery now. She shook her head. She knew how he had managed it. He was a master vampire. All it would take was one trip to the postmaster, a little vampire mind control, and Morgan Creek would be on the map and on some mailman’s route. There were a number of bills, as well as several estimates for refinishing the pool. On the spur of the moment, Ethan had decided to add a playground area in one corner of the park.
She paid the bills that were due, put the estimates in a separate pile. In addition to the letters, several boxes arrived containing linens for the hotel.
She fixed a sandwich for lunch, washed it down with soda, and then, deciding she needed some exercise, left the house.
The sounds of men hard at work drew her toward the business district. The place swarmed with workers. A number of men were repairing the hotel roof. Others were pouring concrete in front of the tavern. Still others were demolishing the barbershop and beauty parlor. The library had a new coat of paint; the grocery store had been gutted. She was amazed at how much they had accomplished in such a short time.
She was about to go back to the office when she saw Saintcrow, agile as a monkey, shinny up a light pole to replace the old lamp with a new one taken from the bag hanging from his shoulder. Instead of coming down, he just sort of flew across six feet of ground to the next pole, and so on down the street, until he had replaced all the lamps.
Muttering, “He should be in the circus,” she walked away from the town, curious to see the park in the daytime, and the cemetery Ethan had mentioned.
The park had once been beautiful, she thought, though now many of the plants were wilted, the grass more brown than green. The pool in the middle looked worse in the light of day.
When she found a wrought-iron bench beneath a tree, she sat down and found herself wondering again what being trapped here had been like. How dehumanizing it must have been, to know you were seen as nothing more than food. Did the people ever try to resist? Were they punished for refusing? Or did the vampires just mesmerize them and take what they wanted? At least the people had a respite during the day, when the vampires were at rest. Saintcrow had provided a theater and a library for entertainment, a grocery store for the necessities of life—human life. Had the people formed friendships with one another? With the vampires? She shook her head. That seemed unlikely. How could you be friends with a creature who thought of you as prey?
Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt when Saintcrow materialized beside her. “Instead of wondering, why don’t you ask me?”
“Is there any way to keep you out of my mind?”
“I
f you have enough control, you can try to build a wall around your thoughts to block me.”
She looked skeptical.
“It can be done. Takes a lot of practice. To answer your question, the people here formed close friendships with one another. After I agreed to release everyone and the vampires were gone, some of the women chose to stay. Your brother fell in love with one of them. Always surprised me, what with her being so much older and everything.”
Sofia stared at him in disbelief.
“You didn’t know about Shirley?”
“Did she love Micah?”
Saintcrow nodded.
“What happened to her?”
“She passed away.”
Sofia sat back, stunned by the news that her brother had fallen in love with an older woman, and the woman had loved him in return. She didn’t recall Micah ever mentioning anyone named Shirley; if he had, she’d forgotten. Did Holly know?
Saintcrow slapped his hands on his thighs. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Kadie will be rising soon.”
Alone again, Sofia gazed into the distance, wondering how many other women had fallen in love with vampires.
And how many had lived to regret it.
Chapter Seventeen
Friday was pretty much like Thursday. With one exception. She had a date with Ethan. The butterflies in Sofia’s stomach grew more frantic as the hours went by. At five p.m. she closed and locked the front door, then went into the bedroom to get ready. She showered and washed her hair, laid out a pair of white slacks, a silky dark blue shirt, and heels, then went into the kitchen to find something to eat, because dinner with a vampire was out of the question—unless she was dinner.
She fixed a bowl of tomato soup and a toasted cheese sandwich, wolfed down a candy bar to bolster her courage, then returned to the bedroom, where she combed her hair and applied her makeup.
She had just brushed her teeth and put on her lipstick when the doorbell rang, sending the butterflies in her stomach into overdrive.
She took a deep, calming breath, felt it catch in her throat when she opened the door. Ethan looked gorgeous in a pair of black slacks and a pale gray shirt.
He whistled softly when he saw her.
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