Night's Mistress (Children of The Night 5)

Damn! If he lived to be a hundred, he would never forget the night she had told him what she was, shown him what she was. He didn’t know what he had been expecting her to show him. Certainly not what he had seen. Not that she had looked like a monster. Even sprouting fangs and with a faint reddish glow in her eyes, she had been beautiful. No, the horror had been in knowing what she was, knowing that he had made love to the same kind of monster that had preyed upon his father and left his mother barely clinging to life.

Shaking off his morbid memories of the past, Kyle put brush to canvas, but the thought of taking his son far away lingered in the back of his mind.

Chapter Thirty-three

A week later, Savanah insisted on taking Mara out to lunch and a movie.

“I don’t know about you,” Savanah said, “but I need a little R and R. It’s amazing, how exhausting motherhood can be. I don’t know how women who have more than one kid manage to stay sane. Come on, my treat.”

So it was that Mara reluctantly left Derek with Kyle, and Savanah left Abbey Marie with Rane.

“This was a good idea,” Mara admitted over lunch.

“Do you feel any better about being human again?”

“The truth?”

“Of course.” Savanah took a sip of her iced tea.

“I don’t think I’ll ever like it,” Mara said. “Although I do like this.” Using her fork, she gestured at her dessert, a large slice of seven-layer chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing. “We never had anything like this when I was mortal the first time,” she said, taking a bite.

“No doubt about it, chocolate is a woman’s best friend,” Savanah remarked, grinning. “I don’t know how we’d get through life or PMS without it.”

“So true.” Mara closed her eyes, savoring the rich taste. She might be able to survive being human, as long as there was chocolate. “I wonder if Kathy ever misses mortal food.”

“I don’t know, I’ve never asked.” Savanah plucked the cherry off the top of her hot fudge sundae and popped it into her mouth. “I was surprised when she asked Rafe to bring her across. I mean, she was barely twenty-four. I thought she’d wait a few years, you know?”

“I guess so,” Mara agreed. But it wasn’t really hard for her to understand. Why get older if you didn’t have to? Why take a chance on coming down with some horrible disease? Or being crippled? Or killed in an accident? After all, people died in cars and planes every day, and even a vampire couldn’t bring the dead back to life.

“She’s going to be a vampire for a very long time,” Savanah went on. “I would have thought she’d want to enjoy being human a little, at least until she was closer to thirty, anyway. Oh, well, to each his own.”

“I take it you’re not looking forward to becoming a vampire, then,” Mara remarked.

“Not really, although sometimes it appears very appealing. After all, no one wants to get old, or sick.”

“And the other times?”

“I’m sure it’s wrong, but there’s no other way to stay with Rane. He says it doesn’t matter, that he’ll love me no matter what I do, but . . .”

“You don’t believe him?”

“It’s not that. I know he’ll always love me, no matter what, but”—she leaned across the table—“I don’t want to saddle him with an old woman. He’s young and virile, and he always will be.”

Mara nodded. Savanah didn’t have to spell it out.

“Besides, I don’t want people to see us together and think I’m his grandmother.”

They went to the multiplex after lunch. Mara tried to enjoy the movie, but her thoughts kept wandering toward her son. She told herself there was nothing to worry about. She had left the baby with Kyle before, though not for this long. It was all she could do to keep from calling home. She was relieved when the end credits rolled and she and Savanah left the theater.

Outside, Savanah said, “It’s a good thing it wasn’t a double feature.”

“What do you mean?”

Savanah shook her head. “I saw the way you kept glancing at your watch. I’ll bet you don’t have any idea who was in the movie or what it was even about.”

Mara grinned sheepishly. “I guess I’m just being silly, but I worry every time I’m away from the baby.”

“Trust me, you’ll get over it. I’d suggest we do a little shopping, but I think I’d better get you home before you have a nervous breakdown.”

They chatted amiably on the way home. This was what girlfriends did, Mara thought. They went to lunch, they exchanged recipes, they bragged about their children, complained about their husbands, and shared their dreams for the future. It was a good feeling, having someone to talk to, someone to confide in.

“We’ll have to do this again soon,” Mara said as Savanah pulled up in front of the house.

Savanah nodded. “I’ll give you a call next week. Tell Kyle hello for me.”

“Yes, I will. Give my love to Rane.” Mara waved as Savanah backed out of the driveway, then stood on the porch for a few minutes, thinking how lucky she was to have Savanah for a friend. With Savanah’s help, she just might get the hang of being human again after all.

Mara glanced around the front yard. Maybe she would try her hand at gardening. She could plant some red roses on either side of the front porch, and maybe some daisies along the fence. She wanted to paint the inside of the house, too. All those white walls were driving her crazy. And since it seemed they were going to be here for a while, she might as well have some of the furniture from the Hollywood house shipped here. If this was going to be their home, it would be nice to have some of her favorite things around her.

Leaning against one of the porch uprights, she gazed into the distance. Unbidden, an image of Logan rose in her mind. What was he doing now? Was he still living in Hollywood, surrounded by beautiful starlets, or had he fled the country? The thought of never seeing him again sat like a heavy weight on her heart. Was he still angry? Did he truly hate her now? Could she blame him if he did?

Shaking his image from her mind, she opened the front door and went inside. Kicking off her shoes, she called, “Kyle, I’m home. Did the baby give you any trouble?” She frowned when there was no reply. “Kyle?”

Thinking he might be putting Derek down for a nap, Mara dropped her handbag on the sofa and made her way to the nursery, but Kyle wasn’t there, and the crib was empty.