His Dark Embrace

He was trembling uncontrollably when he sat beside her.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” she murmured, stroking his cheek. “When you rise tomorrow night, you will be strong again, virile, vital. Isn’t that what you want?”

He nodded, suddenly incapable of speech as her eyes went red.

She smiled, revealing a hint of fang and then, with the speed of a striking cobra, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her fangs in his throat.

He cried out once, the instinct to survive overwhelming all other thoughts until, suddenly, it didn’t seem to matter anymore. The world faded away as he grew weaker, weightless. His eyelids closed, seemingly of their own accord, and he imagined he was swimming in a tranquil sea of bright crimson.

And then everything went black.

Chapter 14

Sky woke abruptly. Jackknifing into a sitting position, she glanced around the living room, relieved to see that it was morning. She had survived the night. She was safe until sundown.

Safe from Kaiden Thorne.

Scrambling to her feet, she grabbed her cell phone, called the airport, and booked a flight to Chicago. When that was done, she hurried up the stairs, threw a few things into a suitcase, changed her clothes, and drove to the airport.

Two hours later, she was airborne.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. She had never cared for flying, but right now she was grateful for anything that would put a lot of miles between herself and Kaiden as quickly as possible.

She came awake to the sound of the flight attendant announcing that the weather in Chicago was a chilly forty-two degrees.

Feeling as though she was in a fog, Sky collected her luggage, stowed it in the trunk of her rental car, and left the airport.

And all the while, the words Kaiden is a vampire played through the corridors of her mind, over and over again.

It felt strange, climbing the stairs to her apartment. So much had changed in such a short time. Her view of the world and her place in it had shifted radically. If there were vampires, she shuddered to think of what else might be out there.

She nodded to old Mrs. Cranston as they passed each other on the stairs. Mrs. Cranston was an odd duck if ever there was one. Summer or winter, she wore men’s tennis shoes, broomstick skirts, brightly colored blouses, a long brown coat, and a floppy-brimmed straw hat adorned with a big purple flower.

Sky took a deep breath when she reached the landing. Hers was the only apartment on the third floor. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. The living room looked just as she had left it. Her blue jacket lay on the floor beside her snow boots, the heavy coat she had decided to leave behind was folded over the back of a chair. Her plants had withered; the furniture was covered with a fine layer of dust.

She dropped her suitcase beside the sofa and went into the kitchen. The words Kaiden is a vampire echoed through her mind while she watered the plants, dusted the furniture, vacuumed the rugs.

Moving like a zombie, she went into the bedroom and began taking her clothes from the closet and laying them out on the bed.

Kaiden is a vampire.

The words continued to circle through her mind like a vulture over a fresh kill while she folded her clothes. She stuffed the essentials in a suitcase and put the rest of her things aside to be packed into boxes later. She cleaned out the bathroom shelves and drawers.

In the living room, she dropped onto the sofa and stared blankly at the floor. Maybe she shouldn’t go back to California. Maybe she should sell Granda’s house and stay here. She was pretty sure Mr. Laskey would let her have her old job back.

Kaiden is a vampire.

What, exactly, did that mean as far as she was concerned? And how did she really feel about it, deep down inside? The only word that came to mind was scared: totally, completely freaked out. It was her Halloween nightmare come true. Vampires existed. And if they existed, what about all the other monsters that Sam and Granda had assured her were just in fables and old wives’ tales? An odd question for a woman her age and yet, learning that Kaiden was a vampire had turned her world upside down. Maybe the sky wasn’t blue. Maybe the world wasn’t round. Maybe good didn’t always triumph over evil.

Maybe she was going out of her mind.

She sat there for a long time, trying to decide what to do. She had a good job in Chicago, assuming Mr. Laskey would take her back. She had recently bought new drapes for her apartment. Her best friend was here. Harry was here, although that wasn’t necessarily a reason to stay.

She blew out a sigh of exasperation. Maybe she should just go back to California. You couldn’t beat the weather there. She loved that you could go to the beach and the mountains in the same day, that you could wear shorts all year long. If she stayed in Chicago, she would have to sell Granda’s house and that just seemed wrong. All of her best memories were there.

And Kaiden was there. She told herself that was a bad thing, but the truth was, she missed him. Even knowing what he was didn’t change that. Worse, she thought she might be seriously in love with him. Definitely a reason to stay in Chicago because, try as she might, she couldn’t see any way for her and Kaiden to have a life together.

Frustrated because she couldn’t decide what to do, she picked up her phone and ordered a pizza, a Caesar salad, and a soft drink for dinner, then went into the bathroom and took a nice, long shower, hoping it would clear her mind.

She was standing there, eyes closed, hot water flowing over her shoulders and down her back, when she heard Kaiden’s voice, softly entreating her to come home.

Expecting to see him standing behind her, she whirled around, her feet slipping on the wet tile as she tried to cover her nakedness with her hands.

Heart pounding with apprehension, she glanced around the room. It took her a moment to realize he wasn’t actually there, that the voice she had heard had come from inside her head. And how scary was that?

Skylynn, come home, he had said. Let’s talk about it.

Talk about it? Yeah, right. What was there to say? Hi, Kaiden, what’s your favorite blood type? Tasted anybody good lately?

She lifted a hand to her throat as a horrible thought occurred to her. What if he had taken her blood?

Hands trembling, she turned off the taps, stepped out of the shower, and reached for her robe. In the bedroom, she sank down on the edge of the bed. Had Kaiden taken her blood? Was that why she’d had that awful dream about dying? Why she had dreamed that Kaiden was a vampire? Had she known, subconsciously, that he was feeding on her?

The very idea made her grimace with revulsion. How could he drink blood? What happened to the people he drank from? Did he kill them? Why hadn’t he killed her?