She scarcely heard the words that were spoken over the grave, felt numb as she shook hands and received condolences from her friends and coworkers.
She stood at the graveside long after the mourners had left, unable to tear herself away.
“Savanah? Are you ready to go?”
At the sound of her uncle’s voice, Savanah glanced over her shoulder. Arthur Gentry was ten years older than her father and had a net worth of several million dollars. He lived in a swanky penthouse in New York, leased a new car every year, and had a summer home at Hyannisport. From time to time, she had seen his picture online or in the New York papers, always with a beautiful woman on his arm, but rarely the same woman. Savanah had often wondered why her uncle had never married; it seemed he could have his pick of the ladies.
The last time Savanah had seen her uncle had been at her mother’s funeral. When she called to tell him of her father’s passing, she had been surprised when her uncle said he was flying in for the service. Arthur and her father had had a bitter quarrel over thirty years ago, and as far as Savanah knew, they had barely spoken a word to each other since. Her father had never told her what the fight was about, but it hardly mattered now.
“He was a good man,” Arthur remarked quietly. “An honorable man. I’m sorry for the years we spent apart.”
“What did you fight about?”
He hesitated, as though debating whether or not he should tell her, and then said, “Your mother. Come on, let’s go get a drink.”
Savanah followed him to where his rental car, a new Lincoln convertible, was parked, waited while he opened the door for her, then ducked inside. The interior was luxurious, outfitted with every extra imaginable.
“Any place in particular you’d care to go?” Arthur asked.
Savanah gave him directions to the club where Rane had taken her, but when they reached the place where it should have been, it wasn’t there.
“That’s odd,” she remarked. “I was sure this was the address.”
“No matter,” Arthur said, “we’ll find a place.”
A short time later, he pulled into the parking lot of Sid’s Tap Room, handed her out of the car, and followed her inside. Savanah had only been to Sid’s once before. It was a hangout for the older crowd, mostly retired men who wanted to get out of the house for a few hours. There was a pool table in one corner. Pictures of prominent sports figures lined the walls. Arthur ordered a shot and a beer. Savanah asked for a white wine spritzer.
“Why did you and Dad fight over my mother?” Savanah asked.
“Because I was in love with her, too.”
“You were?”
He nodded.
“Is that why you never married?”
“Yeah. I’d been in love with the most wonderful woman in the world. I never found anyone who could take her place, and I wasn’t willing to settle for anything less.” He shook his head. “I begged her to marry me. I could have given her the world, but she didn’t want the world. She wanted Will.”
“But after so long…” Savanah shook her head. “Surely there have been other women you cared for.”
“Two or three, but they couldn’t hold a candle to your mother, and after a while…” He shrugged. “After a while I was too set in my ways to change, and too stubborn to settle for second best.”
Their drinks arrived then. Arthur tossed back the whiskey as if he couldn’t go another minute without it, then stared into the empty shot glass. “I miss her every damn day. My only consolation, and it’s damned little, is that Will made her happy.” He picked up his beer and took a long drink. “At least they’re together now.”
It was late afternoon when Arthur drove Savanah home.
“Would you like to come in?” she asked. “We could order some takeout for dinner.”
“No, thanks, I’ve got a plane to catch.”
“So soon?”
“Too many memories here,” Arthur said, glancing past her to the house. “If you ever need anything, call me.” Taking her hand, he gave it a squeeze. “I mean it, Savanah. Anything at all, day or night. Whatever I have is yours.”
“Thank you. And thank you for coming. It meant a lot to me to have you here.”
Arthur Gentry blew out a heavy sigh, then patted her arm. “I just wish I hadn’t let my pride keep me away from you and your father for so long. Keep in touch with your old uncle now, hear?”
“I will.” Leaning toward him, she kissed him on the cheek, murmured “Good-bye, Uncle,” and got out of the car.
Standing on the sidewalk, she watched him drive away, thinking that a new car every year and millions of dollars in the bank didn’t guarantee happiness.
Feeling more alone than she ever had in her life, she walked up the stairs to the porch, unlocked the front door, and stepped inside.
The silence of the house engulfed her; the emptiness screamed in her ears. Never again would she hear her father’s voice welcoming her home or asking how her day had gone. Never again would she share a quiet evening with him, or engage in a lively discussion about the day’s events. Should she marry, he wouldn’t be there to walk her down the aisle. He would never see his grandchildren, never hold a granddaughter on his lap, or take a grandson fishing. Her father was gone, stolen from her by some blood-thirsty creature of the night.
After closing and locking the door behind her, she retrieved her mother’s Vampire hunting kit from under the bed and went through it piece by gruesome piece, familiarizing herself with each item. The stakes were long, smooth, and sturdy, the points very sharp. The mallet was heavier than it looked. Was it only her imagination, or did the vials of holy water feel warm to the touch? A wave of revulsion swept through her as she picked up a small hand-saw. She told herself she could do whatever was necessary to avenge her father, but inwardly she was assailed by doubts. Too bad she wasn’t hunting Werewolves, she thought with a morbid grin. You could kill them from a distance with a silver bullet. So much easier and less messy than driving a wooden stake into a creature’s heart, or cutting off its head.
It wasn’t until later that evening, as she relaxed in the bathtub, that she remembered being unable to find the nightclub where Rane had taken her. After getting out of the tub, she slipped on her robe, went downstairs, and pulled the phone book from the desk drawer.
“Hell’s Hollow,” she murmured, thumbing through the pages. “Where are you?”
It was nowhere to be found. She went through the H’s twice, but to no avail. There was no listing for Hell’s Hollow. Picking up her cell phone, she dialed Information. They had no listing.
Frowning, Savanah tapped her fingers on the desktop. The nightclub existed. She had been there. Why was there no listing? And why hadn’t she been able to find the place this afternoon?
The answer popped into her mind. Because Rane didn’t want her to. And why wouldn’t he want her to find it again? Because it was a Vampire hangout, of course. How could she have been so blind? No doubt everyone in the club had been a Vampire or dating one.
The thought had no sooner crossed her mind than the doorbell rang. She knew it was Rane before she answered the door.
“Speak of the devil, and he appears,” she murmured as she went to let him in.
Rane’s gaze moved over Savanah, noting the sadness in her eyes. He had never lost anyone he loved. Save for the pain of separating himself from his family, he had never experienced grief.
Savanah frowned when he continued to stand on the porch. “Are you coming in?”
“Are you inviting me?”
“What?” She frowned at him a moment; then, remembering that she had rescinded her invitation, she said, “I forgot. Come on in.”
He followed her into the living room, sat beside her on the sofa. Her sorrow was a palpable presence in the room. Wordlessly, he opened his arms.
Savanah took refuge in his embrace, finding solace in the strength of his arms around her, in the presence of another soul. She frowned, wondering if Vampire
s even had a soul, but at the moment, it didn’t matter. She didn’t want to be alone with her grief.
They sat in silence for a time. Finally, unable to hold back her tears, Savanah buried her face in the hollow of his shoulder and wept.
Rane blew out a sigh. At a loss for words, he stroked her back, brushed a kiss across the top of her head. Her hair was soft and smelled of strawberries.
“I’m sorry,” Savanah murmured as she sat up. “I didn’t mean to cry all over you.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I just can’t believe he’s gone,” she said, sniffling. “Have you ever lost anyone?”
“No.”
“Have you ever loved anyone?”
“Just my family.”
Savanah reached for a tissue from the box on the end table. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “Haven’t you ever been in love?”
“You mean besides now?”
She looked up at him, startled by his words. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I’m in love with you.” It was wrong, and he knew it. He had no right to love her, or any woman. He had done despicable things, horrible things, for which he would find no forgiveness in this life or the next. But the fact remained that he had fallen in love with her. He shrugged. “I thought you should know.”
“Rane…”
“You must have known, or at least suspected.”
“I guess so, but…”
“The idea displeases you.”
“No, but…”
“But I’m a Vampire and you’re a hunter,” he finished for her. “And you’re thinking it’s going to make it difficult to take my head.”
“Rane, what a terrible thing to say!”
“Maybe, but it’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?”
“It crossed my mind,” she admitted.
“I give you leave to try.”
He had told her that once before, she thought, and not so long ago.
“I need to find the Vampire who killed my father,” she said, determination replacing her tears. “She’s not going to get away with it.”
“How are you going to find her?”
“I don’t know. I don’t suppose you’d help me.”
“I might.”
“Would you? Really?” She looked at him, her eyes filled with hope. “I mean…really? You’d help me hunt one of your own?”
He grunted softly. “She’s not ‘one of my own.’”
“But she’s a Vampire?”
“So it seems.”
“Where are my mother’s books?”
“In a safe place.”
“Where?”
“It’s better if you don’t know.”
Her brows drew together in a frown. “They’re my books now,” she said, her words slow and deliberate. “I want them back.” She had very little that had belonged to her mother. The books weren’t the kind of thing a mother usually passed down to her daughter, but one of them had been written by her mom and that, more than any other reason, made it important to her.
“I’ll give them back to you when I’m convinced you’re out of danger.”
“You promise?”
He nodded.
“Say it.”
“I promise,” he said with a wry grin.
She wasn’t sure she believed him, but what other choice did she have?
“It isn’t safe for you to stay here.” He ran his fingertips up and down her arm. “I want you to come with me.”
“I can’t just leave. I’ve got to settle my father’s affairs. I’ve got a job, and—”
“None of that matters now. You won’t be safe here as long as that Vampire knows where you live.”
“But she can’t come in unless I invite her.”
“She’s already had an invitation.”
Savanah frowned, and then murmured, “Oh,” with the realization that her father had unknowingly invited his murderer into the house. “Well, I’ll just rescind it.”
Rane shook his head. “She’s not working alone.”
“How do you know?”
“I picked up the scent of a Werewolf on your property. I don’t know if they were working together or not, but I’d rather be safe now than sorry later.”
“A Werewolf wouldn’t need an invitation, would he? Or she?”
“No.”
She thought it over for a moment, then asked, “Where do you want to go?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. We can go anywhere you want, so long as you don’t tell anyone where you’ll be.”
“I can’t hide forever,” she said, and sighed. “I’ll call Mr. Van Black and ask him if I can have more time off. Tomorrow’s Thursday. We can leave Friday night, if you want. Or Saturday.” The more she thought about leaving town, the better it sounded. It might be good to get away for a while.
“Friday night,” Rane decided. “We’ll leave at sundown.”
Savanah nodded.
“All you have to do now is decide where you want to go.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“In the meantime, I think you should get something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You need to eat.”
She didn’t feel like arguing and she didn’t feel like cooking. With a huff of annoyance, she went in search of her cell phone, thinking that pizza didn’t sound too bad.
Life was never what you expected, she thought as she waited for the pizza place to answer. Here she was, planning to go away with a man for the first time in her life, but not for any of the reasons she would have thought.
No, she was going off with a man who wasn’t really a man at all, and not for some romantic rendezvous in an exotic locale. No, not Savanah Gentry. She was running away from a murderer, and not just any old murderer, but one that was a Vampire, or perhaps a Werewolf.
Oh, yes, she thought again. Life was strange, indeed.
Chapter Seventeen
“Why isn’t she dead?”
“He’s always there with her.”
Clive slammed his fist on the table, muttered an oath as the wood cracked beneath his hand. Damn the Cordova men. They protected their women like knights of old. An admirable quality, to be sure, but damned annoying at the moment.
“I don’t know, Clive,” Tasha said. “Maybe you’ll have to do this one yourself.”
He grunted softly. “Perhaps.” But there was no hurry. He knew where the woman lived. It was doubtful she would be leaving home anytime soon. After all, she had just buried her father. Being mortal, she would need time to grieve, time to go through her father’s belongings and decide what to keep and what to part with.
Or perhaps he would wait and see if Cordova’s ardor for Savanah Gentry cooled.
In the meantime, there were other hunters out there, hunters with years of experience to their credit, which made them far more dangerous than William Gentry’s un-learned daughter.
Chapter Eighteen
Savanah hadn’t planned to go to work the day after the funeral, intending to use the time to clean the house and pack for her trip with Rane, but when she got up that morning, the idea of spending the day at home alone held no appeal. Not only that, but going into the office would give her a chance to clear up a few matters still pending, matters that couldn’t be handled over the phone.
Yesterday, at the graveside, Mr. Van Black had told her to take as much time off as she needed. She had thanked him and said a week would be fine. But that was before Rane had convinced her that her life was in danger. When she got to work, she would tell Mr. Van Black that she had decided to take an extended leave of absence.
In the shower, she found herself wondering where Rane had gone. He had stayed the night with her last night. After she had eaten dinner, they had spent what was left of the evening watching a late movie, and then she had gone to bed. He had stretched out on the bed beside her, on top of the covers. The fact that they weren’t going to make love filled her with relief and
regret. On one hand, it would have been nice to lose herself in his embrace, to forget, if only for a short time, the horrors of the last few days. On the other hand, she wasn’t quite ready to make love to Rane again now that she knew what he was. To be honest, she wasn’t sure if she would ever be ready.
Savanah dressed quickly, then went downstairs, her heart skipping a beat when she saw Rane sitting on the sofa watching an early-morning news program.
She stared at him a moment, then glanced out the window. Yes, the sun was up. And so was he. How was that possible? Everything she had ever read about Vampires said they were compelled to seek their coffins at sunrise, and the sun had been up for hours.
Maybe he wasn’t really a Vampire. The thought made her hopeful heart skip a beat. “Rane…?”
He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Good morning.”
“I thought…How can you be awake?” Hardly daring to breathe, she waited for his answer, hoping he would tell her he had been playing some horrible joke, that he wasn’t really a Vampire at all, just a shape-shifter, as he had said.
He shrugged. “The sun doesn’t affect me the way it does most Vampires. I don’t know why. Probably because my mother was mortal.”
She frowned at him. “So, you can go out during the day?”
“No, but I don’t have to take my rest until I’m ready.”
She pondered that a moment, and then frowned. “If you can’t leave the house, where are you going to…ah…you know?”
He lifted one brow, amused by her rising concern for where he intended to succumb to the Dark Sleep. “Will it bother you if I rest here?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never had a Vampire for a house-guest.”
“I’m not particularly crazy about the idea of sleeping in a hunter’s house, either,” he remarked dryly.
“Talk about strange bedfellows,” Savanah muttered.
“I promise not to bite you if you promise not to take my head.”
Savanah grimaced at the grisly image. “It’s a deal.”
Rane took notice of her attire for the first time and frowned. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Nights Pleasure Page 13
