Night's Pleasure (Children of The Night 4)

Savanah stared at her reflection in the mirror above her dresser, imagining Rane bending over her neck, his eyes glowing red, his arms imprisoning her as he sank his fangs into her throat…. Of course, he would cast no reflection. She wondered how female Vampires applied their make-up without looking in a mirror. How did they try out a new hairstyle, or decide on new clothes if they couldn’t see how they looked? She remembered the night she and Rane had gone to the mall and he had bought that long black duster that looked so good on him. She now knew why he hadn’t wanted to check it out in the mirror.

How could she be in love with one of the very creatures she was supposed to destroy?

With a sigh, Rane rolled onto his side. He had known that, sooner or later, Savanah’s curiosity would get the best of her. She was a newspaper reporter and she was a woman. Add the fact that she was also thinking of becoming a hunter into the mix and her snooping was inevitable. He knew he was taking a chance, resting in her home, but at the moment it wasn’t his life he was concerned about, but hers. And if she decided to drive a stake into his heart, well, so be it. Better to be sent to hell by the hand of a beautiful woman than by some heartless, no-account hunter.

He swore softly. Why were a Werewolf and a Vampire working together? Or were they? He could understand why a Vampire wanted the books now hidden under the spare tire in the trunk of his car, but of what interest would the volumes be to a Werewolf? Was he wrong to assume the only reason Savanah was in danger was because the books now belonged to her? What other reason could there be? Since she hadn’t yet made a kill, he was reasonably certain that he was the only one who knew that Savanah intended to follow in her father’s footsteps. Not that it mattered. So long as she was in danger, he intended to do everything in his power to keep her safe.

Since Savanah couldn’t decide where she wanted to go, Rane made the decision for her.

“The mountains,” Savanah exclaimed. “You have a place in the mountains?” She couldn’t have been more surprised if he had sprouted horns and a tail.

Rane grinned at her. “It’s not mine. It belongs to an old friend of the family.” In point of fact, it was Mara’s place. Through the years, she had acquired property in a number of towns and cities, not only in the States, but in a good many foreign countries, as well.

“The mountains,” Savanah muttered, and went back upstairs to pack some warmer clothing.

An hour after sundown, they were ready to go. Rane had packed earlier that evening. It didn’t take long to throw his clothes into a suitcase. Since he had no permanent home, he carried everything he owned in the trunk of his car. He had canceled his remaining tour dates and settled up with the owner of the house he had been renting.

He carried Savanah’s bags outside, waited on the porch while Savanah locked the front door.

“My car or yours?” he asked.

“Yours,” she answered without hesitation. Her car was nice and relatively new, but nothing like his.

Rane stowed their suitcases in the trunk, made sure her mother’s books were where he had left them, and then slid behind the wheel. “Ready?”

Savanah bit down on her lower lip, then nodded. “Ready.” She had canceled the newspaper, put a hold on her mail, informed Mr. Van Black that she had decided to take him up on his offer of an extended leave of absence.

Settling back in the seat, she sent a sideways glance at Rane, wondering what in the world had possessed her to think that going off to the mountains with a Vampire she hardly knew would be safer than staying home. But it was too late to worry about it now. For better or worse, she had put her life in his hands.

It was a beautiful drive, even in the dark. As the road wound ever higher, more and more stars were visible in the night sky. A full moon cast her light over the earth, bathing the tips of the mountains in silver splendor, while the car’s headlights cut a wide swath through the darkness, occasionally startling a deer grazing in the meadow that stretched for miles along the side of the road.

Soft music came from the car stereo, lulling Savanah to sleep.

Rane took a deep breath, filling his nostrils with the scent of the woman beside him. He saw her clearly in the darkness. Her eyelashes lay like golden fans against her cheeks. Her hair fell over one shoulder in a fall of moon-shadowed silk, leaving the other side of her slender neck exposed to his view. The whisper of her life’s blood flowing through her veins was like sweet music to his ears, the smell of it more enticing than the sight of her smooth, unblemished flesh. His gaze lingered in the hollow of her throat.

His hands clenched on the steering wheel. What madness had tempted him to bring her to this lonely place in the mountains? No one had come here in years. If he lost control of his hunger, there would be no one to save her, no one to hear her scream.

Chapter Nineteen

Savanah woke when the car came to a stop. “Are we here?”

“No. I thought you might want to buy a few things before we reach the cabin.”

Glancing out the window, she saw that they were parked in front of a small market.

Rane followed her inside, then trailed behind her as she walked up and down the aisles, filling her cart with the basic necessities.

She shopped quickly and in less than half an hour, they were back on the road.

She was dozing when the car stopped a short time later.

Sitting up, she glanced out the window. To her left, surrounded by tall pines, sat a large white, two-story house with a slate-blue roof and a covered veranda. Beyond that was only darkness.

She looked at Rane. The word Vampire whispered through the back of her mind, sending a shiver of unease skittering down her spine. What was she doing here, with a man—a Vampire—she had known for only a few weeks? She told herself there was nothing to be afraid of. He’d had numerous opportunities to drain her dry if he was so inclined. She told herself she was just being silly. She was tired from the drive. She had been under a lot of stress, what with her father’s death and learning that Rane was a Vampire. But no matter how many excuses she made, she couldn’t stifle that little innate twinge of fear that was experienced when creatures of prey were in the presence of a predator. And then she stiffened her spine as she remembered that she was a hunter, too! She had a sharpened stake in her handbag and a bottle of holy water in her coat pocket to prove it.

She forced a smile when Rane shut off the ignition and turned to face her.

“Second thoughts?” he asked.

“No,” she said quickly. Too quickly. “Why?”