As Twilight Falls

Grunting softly, he returned home. Taking off his jeans, he crawled under the covers and drew Kadie into his arms. There were hours until dawn, hours to hold her close.

Smiling, Kadie lifted her arms over her head and stretched as she relived the night past. Rylan had made love to her so tenderly, it had brought tears to her eyes. Never before had she felt so loved, so cherished. Little had been said between them. No words of love had been declared. But there was a new depth to their relationship, one she dared not explore too closely. As much as she enjoyed his company and his lovemaking, she couldn’t ignore the reality of what he was, or pretend they had a future together. There were some things that even love couldn’t overcome. Not that she loved him, she reminded herself quickly, though falling for him would be all too easy. If only he was human....

She blew out an impatient breath. No sense dwelling on what could never be. And with that thought in mind, she went into the bathroom to shower.

Closing her eyes, she imagined that it was Rylan’s hands streaming over her body, his skin hot against her own, his mouth on hers, arousing her, carrying her away to places no mere mortal could ever take her.

Why did he have to be a vampire?

The thought was as effective as a splash of cold water.

Rinsing off, she grabbed a towel and stepped out of the shower. Would it be so bad to be in love with a vampire? She studied her reflection in the mirror, her fingers lightly stroking the place where Rylan had bitten her the night before. Bitten her! So what if it felt wonderful? So what if his kisses and his loving only made her yearn for more? He wasn’t human. Hadn’t been human for hundreds of years. He had killed people. He fed on their blood.

On her blood. She had to remember that.

“England?” Kadie gaped at Saintcrow. “You want to take me to England?”

They were sitting on the sofa, in front of the fireplace. Kadie had just finished cleaning up the kitchen.

“Not if you don’t want to go,” he replied dryly.

“Of course, I want to go.” England. Home of Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Stonehenge, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle—places she had heard about, read about, and longed to see.

She was a small-town girl. She had been born and raised in Morro Bay, a town with a population of less than eleven thousand. She had graduated high school, gone to college in San Luis Obispo, and worked part-time on the local newspaper. After selling a few stories, accompanied by her photographs, she had, much to her parents’ dismay, bought the Durango and hit the road. To Kadie’s surprise, her stories had gathered a following and the demand for her photographs had grown steadily. Of course, writing and photographing ghost towns and old mining sites didn’t take her to too many big cities. Visiting England had long been a dream.

“I’d love to go,” Kadie said. “But—can you leave here? What about the vampires? And Rosemary and the others? Who’ll look after them?”

“The vampires are gone. They left last night.”

Kadie stared at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. They were gone, just like that? “You don’t mean to go off and just leave everyone else here, do you?” If Rosemary and the others couldn’t leave town, they’d all starve to death in a few weeks, since Saintcrow was the one who arranged for supplies and brought them into town.

“Of course not,” he said. “I’ll make sure they get wherever they want to go.”

“Are you going to tell them tonight?”

He shook his head. “I’m leaving that up to you. There are bound to be tears and questions I don’t want to answer. You find out where they want to go, then make a list of who goes first, and I’ll see that they get there.”

“Why did you decide to do this?”

“Why the hell do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“You had a hand in it, but so did Vaughan. He’s been stirring the vampires up for some kind of revolt. I don’t need that. They can take care of themselves. At least they think so, and I’m tired of babysitting the lot of them. And tired of this place. When everyone else is gone, we’re leaving. I need to feed,” he said abruptly, and vanished from her sight.

Kadie stared at the place where he had been standing. The vampires were gone. He was freeing Rosemary and Nancy and the others.

He was taking her to England.

It was a lot to think about. But the only thing on her mind now was Saintcrow.

He seemed different. Withdrawn. Almost angry. She wondered if he was hurt because the vampires had decided to leave. Even though he wouldn’t admit it in a million years, she knew he worried about them. Which seemed odd to her. They were vampires. At the top of the food chain, so to speak. Other than vampire hunters and sunlight, what did they have to fear?

She waited an hour for Saintcrow to come back, and when he didn’t, she drove to Rosemary’s. The drapes were open, the house ablaze with lights; she saw several of the women milling about in the living room. Jeremy and Claude were sitting on the front porch stairs, swilling beer from bottles.

Kadie parked the car in the driveway. “Looks like a heck of a party,” she remarked, making her way across the grass to the walkway.

“Darn right!” Jeremy said with a crooked smile. “The bloodsuckers are gone. The house on the hill is empty!”

Claude reached into the ice chest beside him and pulled out a bottle. “We’re celebrating.” It was obvious he’d had more than one beer. “Wanna drink?”

“No, thanks.”

There was a party atmosphere inside the house, too. Kadie had never seen the women looking so happy, so relaxed.

“Kadie!” Rosemary hurried toward her and gave her a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here! I guess you know the vampires are gone? We would have come to get you, but no one wanted to knock on Saintcrow’s door in case he was still there. Is he?”

“Yes. I’m glad you’re here. I need to talk to you. All of you.”

The smile died on Rosemary’s face. “I was right, wasn’t I? He’s going to kill us.”

“No. No, nothing like that. He wants me to find out where you want to go.”

“Go?” Rosemary took a step back and dropped onto a chair, one hand pressed to her heart. “He’s going to let us go?”

“Who’s going?” Donna asked, coming into the room.

“What?” Nancy hurried toward them, the wine in her glass sloshing over the rim onto her hand. “Kadie, are you leaving?”