His Dark Embrace

Stepping out of the shower, he went to the bedroom window and glanced at the house across the street.

It looked like every light in the place was on. All the curtains in the front of the house were closed. He was pretty sure all the doors and windows were locked up tight, too. Well, he couldn’t blame her for being scared. She was only human, after all, reacting the way any mortal would when confronted with a monster.

Not much point in going over there tonight, he thought with a rueful grin. She would never invite him in. Of course, since she had invited him in once, he didn’t have to ask for her permission. Or go through the door. But it was unlikely she was aware of that.

Thorne raked his fingers through his hair. He could just imagine Sky’s reaction if he suddenly appeared in her living room. Especially in his current state of undress!

Dammit! He had known better than to take her to bed, known it would be dangerous when he wasn’t fully in control of his restored vampiric powers, his thirst, or much of anything else. But it was hard to think straight when the beat of her heart sang to him, when the scent of her blood enflamed him, when a single kiss went through him like chain lightning.

How was he ever going to repair the damage he’d done?

Sky went through the house a second time, making sure all the doors and windows were locked, then paced the living room floor, trying to remember everything she had ever heard about vampires, but all she could recall was that they drank blood and slept in coffins.

Only one place to find the answers, she thought. Thank goodness for Google! Sitting at her computer, she quickly typed “vampire” into the search engine, then sat back, stunned by the number of hits that came up. Good grief, there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of vampire Web sites.

She picked one at random, clicked on vampire traits, and quickly scanned the list. Vampires could transform themselves into mist, bats, and wolves. They couldn’t cross running water, were repelled by garlic and crosses, were burned by silver and holy water, and didn’t cast a reflection in a mirror.

She frowned. That couldn’t be true. She had seen Kaiden’s reflection when they danced together.

Another site noted that the Undead couldn’t enter a dwelling without an invitation. A footnote at the bottom of the page explained that such an invitation could be revoked by merely saying the words.

“Could it be that easy?” Sky muttered. Feeling a little foolish, she took a deep breath, then murmured, “Kaiden Thorne, I hereby revoke any and all invitations, past and present, whether extended by myself or my grandfather ...”

Her grandfather? Had he known about Kaiden? Of course he did. She remembered the night she had crept down to the lab and heard the two of them talking. Granda had been experimenting on Kaiden, she was certain. It explained so much.

“By myself or my grandfather,” she repeated, And then, as an afterthought, she added, “Or Sam.” She nodded once. “That should cover it,” she said, and resumed her research.

Every country in the world had legends about vampires. In the old days, unexplained sickness and death were often attributed to the work of the Undead. A plague in the village? Must be a vampire on the loose. Did your cow suddenly dry up? Could be a vampire in the neighborhood.

Sunlight would destroy a vampire. Which explained why Kaiden mowed his yard in the dark. But didn’t explain how he had been able to do it during the day only weeks ago.

Other ways to destroy a vampire included lopping off its head or driving a wooden stake into its heart. The best way was to employ both methods, then burn the body and scatter the ashes.

Sky shuddered as she imagined chopping off Kaiden’s head. Had people really done that? Her stomach clenched just thinking about it.

If you couldn’t bring yourself to chop off the creature’s head, it was believed that driving a stake through its heart and into the ground would keep the thing from rising again. Burying it facedown was also recommended to keep the Undead in the ground where they belonged, the belief being that if they tried to dig their way out, they would only dig themselves deeper into the earth.

She skimmed several other Web sites, but most of them said basically the same thing. Vampires were evil, soulless creatures, parasites who survived on the blood of humans. Until Bram Stoker published his now-famous book, vampires had been pretty much off the radar. The story of Dracula had revived people’s interest in the paranormal and the occult. Then Bela Lugosi came along and portrayed the infamous count in a movie. Anne Rice wrote a bestseller. Frank Langella played Dracula. His sexy portrayal on the Broadway stage had women swooning in their seats. Sky had seen the movie version. It took very little imagination to picture Kaiden Thorne in the role. No acting required.

Kaiden was a vampire. He had been a vampire when she went trick-or-treating at his house. He had been a vampire when she drew all those silly hearts on the cover of her notebook. He had been a vampire when he kissed her ... and when she kissed him back.

Pushing away from the desk, she went into the living room and peeked out the front window. There were no lights showing in the house across the street. What was he doing? What was he going to do with her?

The thought made her shiver. She was pretty sure that he didn’t go around telling people what he was. She hadn’t seen any mobs with pitchforks lately, but if there were vampires, there might still be vampire hunters. Did vampires dispose of mortals who inadvertently discovered their secret? Or did they turn them into monsters like themselves? She supposed it was wishful thinking to hope he would just go away.

Lordy, what should she do? Call the police? She shook her head. What could the cops do? What to do, what to do? Search the phone book for Vampire Hunters R Us? Stock up on holy water? Carry a wooden stake and a hammer in her back pocket?

She crossed her arms over her breasts and took several deep breaths.

“Calm down, Sky, you’re getting hysterical.” But she couldn’t help it. It all seemed so Stephen King-ish. Ordinary girl meets monster in small town.

It was late, she thought, yawning. She should go to bed. “Yeah, like that’s gonna happen tonight,” she muttered.

Smothering another yawn, she went into the living room, then settled down on the sofa and snuggled under a soft, furry blanket.

She would watch TV tonight.

She could sleep in the morning.

Like the vampire across the street.

Chapter 13

Girard sat on the sofa in his hotel room, a cup of coffee cooling on the table beside him while he thumbed through the battered notebook he had compiled over the years. It held the names of all known existing vampires, vampire slayers, and vampire hangouts.