Logan gazed into Mara’s eyes as he murmured, “I will.”
“Then, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife and child, bound together by your love for one another, and by the laws of the land, from this night forward.” The priest smiled at Logan. “You may kiss your bride.”
Logan wrapped his free arm around Mara’s waist and drew her close to his side. “I love you, wife, now and forever,” he murmured, his voice husky.
“And I love you,” Mara said, “now and forever.”
Logan smiled at her and then, careful not to crush the baby between them, he bestowed his first husbandly kiss on his bride while their son and an ancient priest looked on, smiling.
Epilogue
One week later
Lou McDonald sat with her feet propped on a corner of her desk. Weeks had passed and she’d had no word from Mara or her companion. The baby would be several months old by now and she was dying to know if it was a boy or a girl, if it was normal or vampire. Or perhaps some bizarre combination of both.
She had contacted everyone she could think of who might have a clue as to Mara’s whereabouts, but to no avail. Either her snitches didn’t know, or they just weren’t talking. Cindy wasn’t having any luck on her end, either.
Lou was about to close up shop and call it a day when her computer notified her she had a new e-mail. She didn’t recognize the screen name.
Dropping her feet to the floor, she opened the message.
McDonald, your fee has been credited to your bank. FYI, Bowden is dead. Ramsden and his wife are dead. Mara has regained her powers. Logan Blackwood
Lou read the message a second time. Scowling, she muttered, “The least he could have done was let me know if the baby was a boy or a girl.”
Two weeks later
Savanah Cordova sat on the sofa, her mother’s black book open on her lap as she brought the journal up to date, noting that Travis Jackson had been destroyed by hunter Louise McDonald. She added the names of Dr. Thomas Ramsden and his wife, Janis Leigh Ramsden, noting that the former had been destroyed by Mara, and the latter by her own husband.
Turning the page, she added the names of Ed Rogen and Sasha (no known last name), noting that both had been killed in Reno, Nevada, by Logan Blackwood.
And the battle raged on, she thought as she closed the book, and wondered what kind of world her daughter would inherit. Would Abbey be a hunter? It was in her blood, after all. And what of Derek? Had he inherited his mother’s vampire heritage?
Would Derek become Nosferatu when he reached puberty, the way Rane and Rafe had?
Would Derek and Abbey Marie be friends?
Or enemies.
Only time would tell.
Six weeks later
Mara sat in the nursery, quietly rocking her son. In the last few weeks, Derek had regained the weight he had lost while in Ramsden’s custody. His cheeks were rosy with good health. His appetite was excellent. He slept through the night, and rarely cried.
And every now and then, after the sun had set, his deep blue eyes shone with a faint red glow, proving that he was, indeed, his mother’s son.
Dear Readers,
I’m excited and relieved that Mara’s story, Night’s Mistress, is finally a reality. She’s an amazing character. As many of you know, she started out as a minor player in Night’s Kiss. I never had any plans for her to be in the subsequent Children of the Night books. But there was something about her that captivated me . . . and my readers, also.
I wrote the first draft of her story quite some time ago and even announced in the back of Night’s Pleasure that her book would be coming soon. But then . . . it didn’t. I began to have doubts about the story, which is unusual for me. And I began to get letters—lots of letters—asking where her story was and wanting to know more about this ancient vampire. With so many people writing to tell me how much they liked her and how eager they were for her story, I began to wonder if anything I wrote would live up to my readers’ expectations. Not a good place for a writer to be!
But, a promise is a promise, so I went through the manuscript again. And again. And finally, at long last, I’m happy with Mara’s journey. I hope my readers will be, too.
I almost forgot. Congratulations to Linda Lattimer, Ingeborg Deyaert, and Farrah Pettis for winning my Name the Hero contest.