by Ruby Raine
“Okay, William. I’ll agree to that. For now.” Charlie shook his head. “We should have seen it though. Don’t you think?”
“There were signs we missed.” Michael shrugged. “The shopping spree with Emily. The new dresses. The caring about what she looked like before leaving the house. The sudden wanting to leave the house, voluntarily. And since when did Melinda ever go to a late night coffee or movie?”
“Yeah. All of that. Well, it is what it is. I guess we’ll just have to be adults about it all and let her find her own way.”
“And hope to hell it isn’t the biggest mistake of her life,” Michael dreaded.
“Yeah, and that too,” Charlie frowned.
William held down a silent snarl. He intended to make sure Melinda didn’t get hurt, by any man. And if he ever found out she had been, the delinquent would not live to see another day.
“So, what about that Lizzy Deane?” Michael cast a lifted eyebrow in William’s direction. The vampire growled in annoyance.
“I think a certain vampire got a little reacquainted with his human side tonight.” Charlie held back a grin. “That Lizzy is quite the spitfire.”
“Lizzy is different, no doubt. But human, and you both know my stance on dating humans.” It was time for a reminder apparently. For himself as well.
“No one said you had to date her,” Michael taunted in a whisper.
Charlie’s breath hitched in attempt not to laugh.
William’s eyes narrowed, a warning glare shooting back at the brothers.
“Yup, pushing my luck,” surrendered Michael. “I’m ready to get the hell outta here. Let’s get this cleaned up. I gotta date of my own, and some bed sheets to hide under.”
“And just how is it that once again us guys are left behind to do all the cleaning?” Charlie rubbed the stubble on his chin.
William rolled his eyes. “And by us guys, you actually mean me.” His silhouette darted about the room and in minutes, everything was packed into the baskets and ready for departure.
“I’ve never been so glad you’re on our side than right now,” Charlie told him.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this tired,” commented the vampire as they worked their way out of the cave.
Michael nodded at Charlie, expecting him to explain to William what had occurred earlier that day with Eva, but Charlie blew him off.
Michael shrugged. “It’s your problem anyway.”
William waited for an explanation.
Charlie just replied, “Tomorrow, William. Much, much later tomorrow, after many long hours of sleep.”
The sheriff met them outside the cave. “All finished then?” Mack asked, sounding as tired as they each looked.
“It’s done,” Charlie told her. “Everyone else go home already?” He glanced around, seeing no one else lingering about.
“Yup. Eva came out, found her dad and took him home straight away. He was fine, don’t worry none ‘bout it. And that girl, Lizzy, my word! What a wiry little hoot and a handful she’s gonna be. Came running up to me, gave me the biggest hug, just ‘cause she could, and then yelled at her brothers ‘cause they hadn’t driven the truck down to the end of the dang road to pick her up!”
Charlie chuckled. “Yeah. I pity the man that dares take on that challenge.” He took a side-glance at William and chuckled again.
The vampire scowled.
“It is most definitely getting freaky around here, Mack.” Charlie let out a tired exhale.
“And for some reason, I get the feeling it ain’t gonna end any too soon.” Mack adjusted the gun holstered at her waist.
“I so very much hope you’re wrong.” Charlie didn’t want to deal with more crazy right now.
“Did Melinda leave with Emily?” asked Michael.
“Sure did, just a minute ago. Looked pretty happy too after kissing that young man.”
“Great,” frowned Charlie, his teeth grinding together.
“I’ll see you boys around,” winked Mack, heading towards her patrol car.
“Night, Mack,” Michael called out. He turned to William. “You riding with us?”
“No. I rather fancy a stroll this... I wanted to say fine night, but fine doesn’t seem to fit.”
Charlie patted his shoulder. “See you in the morning, William.” He slipped into the jeep, letting Michael get behind the wheel. By the time he’d started the engine and looked into his mirror, William had gone.
“What a day, huh?” Michael pulled out onto the road.
Charlie just shook his head, nodded, and tossed him a raised brow in exhausted agreement.
“A lost old man with a map we’ve never heard of, that just so happens to belong to the Deanes,” started Michael. “Who had, have, a secret room of doors under their manor, timed with the arrival of two Deane family members and the return of another; a ghast, whom one of our not-so-savory ancestors hated and cursed.” He sucked in a breath. “The Soul Hunter as well as our father, just might still be on the Isle. Plus, if that’s not enough, you’ve got this wacky attraction thing going on with Eva Jordan, and our sister is apparently nutso over the youngest Deane brother. And...” he stopped for air.
“And?” prompted Charlie tiredly.
“Actually, I think that about covers it.”
“Okay.” His reply sounded empty.
“Man, you really are spent. You need to get some sleep, Charlie.”
“That’s my intention, just as soon as we get home.”
MELINDA LEFT EMILY in the kitchen waiting for Michael and headed to bed. She wanted to avoid any confrontation with her brothers, at least for one more night. It was stuffy, so she opened her bedroom window.
No breeze. Summer was so short on the Isle, no one ever bothered to install modern luxuries like air conditioners. They only had a few weeks each summer it ever got hot enough to need it.
Tonight was one of those nights. It hadn’t seemed so hot earlier in the cavern of death.
She stripped down and took a quick shower. Once out she put on some undies and a tank top. Too hot for anything else. After just minutes snuggled up under her sheet, she kicked it off. Too hot. Too hot. Too hot!
She stared up at the ceiling. When she’d come out of the cavern Riley had grinned, so happy to see her follow. She had walked right up and kissed him, without worry or fear or confusion. She pulled a play from Lizzy’s book. Why not? Life was short and you never knew what would happen the next day.
She had never felt freer than when she’d kissed Riley, without care. Lucas didn’t look pleased but Lizzy had clapped and cheered exuberantly. It was out in the open now. She couldn’t take it back. And it appeared her brothers wouldn’t stop her. That had surprised her more than anything.
They had all departed after that, headed for home. She told Riley she would call him the next afternoon as she planned on sleeping in. But now that she was in bed she didn’t feel tired. The butterflies returned to her stomach, and she blew out a restless breath.
“He isn’t going anywhere,” she reminded herself happily. “I’ll see him tomorrow.”
After closing her eyes, she eventually drifted off to a light sleep. But she kept waking, tossing and turning, until finally her body gave in and surrendered to a deep slumber.
A vivid dream charged into her subconscious instantly.
Sweat erupted on her skin.
Her breathing sped up, a moan escaped her lips.
Her hand swung up to her neck and she gasped out William’s name.
She awoke, bolted upright, her skin sizzling and her blood boiling.
The dream was so vivid she swore for a moment the vampire was standing at the end of her bed. But after a hard blink she saw she was alone. He wasn’t in her room.
She wiped her brow, plunking back down.
If William had been standing in her room, she’d have made moves bolder than anything Lizzy Deane could have come up with. He wouldn’t have been able to say no to her.
“Why
? Why? Why?” she whined, her breath weighted with pent up frustration.
The dream had been an exact replay of a previous dream. She and William floating in a white bed across a vast sea. Nothing for miles except the two of them.
Melinda recalled a specific detail she hadn’t before. In this dream, William wasn’t a vampire. He couldn’t have been. His skin was warm to the touch. Soft and yet firm, like a well-toned man. His skin wasn’t the hardened ice of a vampire. He had color in his cheeks, and a beating heart. And yet her hand had gone protectively to her throat.
Why? He hadn’t bitten her. No. It was his lips driving her into madness. His tongue laving at that spot at the base of her neck just above her chest.
She closed her eyes and let out a shudder. Damn, he could taste that one little spot and send fire raging through every nerve.
“Shit. Just stop. This has to stop.” She let out an unsatisfied, embittered groan and pounded her legs and feet up and down on the bed like a child having a tantrum.
She sat up and put her feet on the floor. After a second she went to her bathroom sink and filled a glass with cold water.
Why did she keep having this dream? Was it some kind of prophecy? She’d had the same dream more than once now. Why? Was there some detail she needed to pay attention to? Something she was missing and hadn’t seen yet?
Was it meant as a warning that Riley was wrong for her? That he could not be trusted, and William could? Or was it simply a dream she wasn’t ready to let go of yet? And had no meaning other than, I want William, and I love him. She gasped.
Shit. I did not just say that.
“It can’t be prophetic.” She downed another glass of water, the fire inside cooling. “He was human. There’s no way.”
Melinda got back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
“I can’t be in love with two men.”
Her heart couldn’t take much more. And it wasn’t fair to William or Riley.
Every time she thought the choice had been made and was confident in that choice, everything just got tossed up into the air again.
“Life was so much easier when I didn’t leave the house,” she let out in an exasperated tone. The confines of her bedroom were starting to look better and better with each passing minute.
WILLIAM WAKEFIELD SPIED into the Deane Manor, looking for his target, biding his time.
He was in no hurry.
His moment came an hour later, around midnight, when he heard the voice of Riley Deane shouting to his brother that he was going to grab the mail before heading to bed.
Lucas was busy getting Lizzy settled in. She had eaten an entire pizza, drank a six-pack of beer, danced to heavy metal and then proceeded to get sick. Her first night back into humanity was starting out a little rough.
But William had found it entertaining to behold. He wondered what it would be like, to be given another chance at living out his human life.
It was a useless thought.
William dashed to the mailbox at the end of the winding driveway, lying in wait for Riley to arrive. When he finally made it, Riley heard a low voice call out his name.
William stepped menacingly out of the shadows.
Riley’s gut reaction was to cover his throat with his hand.
“It would not do you any good,” stated William. “Don’t worry. I’m not here to hurt you.” Not tonight, his tone warned.
Riley gulped, dropping his hand.
“You see, it appears that the Howards have, what would you call it, accepted the fact that Melinda wants to be with you.”
“I know,” he said, trying to find his voice. “Sh-she told me.”
“I’m sure I don’t actually need to say this, but I’m going to anyway.”
“I got it,” Riley stopped him. “Don’t hurt her. Not one single hair on her head. I assure you I have the most honorable of intentions.”
“I hope that is true. Be clear, I have no qualm with tearing you limb... from... limb... should that ever change.” William spoke each word crisply, sure to show his teeth each time.
Having said his piece, he turned to leave, when Riley stopped him in his tracks.
“You’re in love with Melinda, aren’t you?”
William turned back, his face blank. “My feelings are of no consequence. Suffice it to say, I will see no harm come to her on my watch.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” countered Riley.
William’s eyes pinched together, unsure what he meant by this statement.
“You didn’t deny it,” Riley clarified. His face ashen, he decided he’d pushed his luck enough. He grabbed the mail and started back towards the manor. He took a chance glance back, but the vampire appeared to have gone.
William returned home minutes later. It was late and the house was quiet. Everyone had gone to bed. He motionlessly dashed up the stairs and quietly opened the door to Melinda’s bedroom, standing at the foot of her bed.
Riley was right.
He was in love with her. He could not deny that truth any longer.
But it did not matter. Admitting it made no difference to the outcome.
He peered down at her. She was restless. Her sleep, intrusive.
And only now he realized, practically naked. His eye traced the curvy outline of her hips, roving upward to her breasts. His tongue ached to taste the skin there.
He closed his eyes.
He needed to leave.
Watching her like this was perverse. A dangerous violation.
Melinda’s pulse quickened. Blood rushing to her heart.
He licked his lips unconsciously, imagining the red slick from her veins slathered across his tongue.
His eyes pried open. His personal calling card, that heart flutter that was all his...
Had she awakened and caught him standing there?
No. She slept. Fitfully.
Did that heart flutter mean she was dreaming of him?
The thought pleased him in treacherous ways.
He needed to know. To see it. He had slipped into her mind before.
He entered into her dream with ease. What he saw almost knocked him to his knees.
William gripped the bedpost, barely able to keep himself upright as he witnessed her dream. The white bed. The sea surrounding them. He, sitting in the middle of that bed, Melinda entangled around him.
Warmth.
Hers and his.
He let out a gasp. His hand slapped against his chest, grabbing at it.
A beating heart.
He gripped the bedpost, forcing himself to release it before it crushed underneath his grasp. In this dream, she’d made him human. Just a man. A living man, with a living, beating heart. Warm blood pulsed through his veins.
She couldn’t possibly think of him as just a man.
He was proving right now he’d never be a man, but forever a predator.
He yanked himself out of her mind and stepped closer.
Make it real, a voice sung out in his mind. Take her. Claim her. She wants you to.
Melinda let out a moan that shook him to his core. Blackness scourged his eyes. He licked the bottom of his fangs.
Her body lifted suddenly, sitting up, her eyes catching his.
William fled.
Out of the mansion. To anywhere and nowhere.
His mind raced. His fangs ached. His icy veins burning with outrage.
He’d come so close. Too close. Melinda would have been helpless against him.
But she would have discovered the truth. He was a monster. Never a man.
He’d been a mere second away from Melinda never looking at him the same again. From never hearing that heart flutter again. Perhaps he should have done it, to make her see what he really was. To frighten her out of loving him.
It was better than what he was thinking.
Watching, no spying on her dreams, was despicable, abhorred behavior.
And the penalty was a flood of desire and need unlike anything he’d h
ad in over a hundred years. Not even when he’d been with his beloved Angelina.
He crept into the night, scouring the streets of The Demon Isle in search of what he needed.
A victim.
His teeth needed to ravage skin, and free blood.
He stopped.
Would he really succumb to this? Had he no measure of control?
“Well, well, well. What are you doing roaming around at this hour?” someone asked him as if he’d been caught doing something wicked.
He spun around, a wild look in his eyes.
“Lisbeth Deane,” William replied sharply.
She pursed her lips. “Looks like you’re having an even worse night than I am.”
His face softened. A moniker of control seeping into his blood-lust addled brain.
“Sorry. You’ve caught me at a...”
“Perfect time,” she finished. A wry smile curving at her lips.
He shook his head in a tight fashion, but did not elaborate.
“My first night back in my body didn’t go exactly as I hoped,” she pouted. “Over indulged. Got sick. Got better. Discovered this really intense stuff called mouthwash. Took another bath. Tried to sleep. Could not. Kind of feel like I’ve been asleep for the last two hundred years, so I decided to take a walk. You have no idea how freaking awesome it is to feel your own two feet touch the ground.”
He looked down, seeing her feet were bare. His gaze wandered up her thin frame; thin but defined. The hem of her dress stopped mid-thigh. His eyes froze on her chest. Her inhales and exhales drew him to the pert rounded curves peeking out at him. Her long brown locks lay lazily across her skin, covering her shoulders.
“What’s got you all worked up?” she prodded with a breathy exhale. “I’d like to think it was me, but wow! You are one pent up vampire.”
