His Dark Embrace

Slowly, he sank back down on the mattress. “See you tonight,” he murmured.

His eyes closed and he went still.

Deathly still.

Skylynn chewed on her thumbnail. So, she was head-over-heels, crazy in love with a vampire. If she stayed with him, she would spend all her days alone. She ran her fingertips across his lips, over his broad chest, down his belly, then leaned forward and kissed his cheek, thinking that spending her nights in his arms would more than make up for the daylight hours she spent without him.

Chapter 19

Cassandra stood in the shadows, watching Girard as he called a young woman to him. The girl was extremely pretty and unblemished for a prostitute, leading Cassandra to believe that she hadn’t been out on the streets very long. Women who worked the streets tended to age rapidly. Their eyes took on a hard, world-weary look, their expressions were often wary. Most carried scars, souvenirs of repeated beatings by angry pimps, or from customers who liked it rough.

Girard fed quickly, erased the incident from the whore’s mind, and after giving her a pat on the rump, sent her on her way.

“You should have come to me years ago,” Cassandra remarked with a shake of her head. “You were born to be a vampire.”

Girard licked a drop of blood from his lips and then grinned at her. “I think you’re right.”

Cassandra linked an arm with his and they left the alley. To her surprise, she had become rather fond of Desmarais. He had quickly become a skilled hunter. He possessed a wicked sense of humor, and, like most vampires, he felt no remorse for what he did to survive. In her long existence, she had found that right and wrong most often depended on which side of the fence you were on.

“I’m still thirsty,” Girard confessed as they emerged from the alley and headed down the street.

Cassandra grinned wryly. “There’s just no filling you up, is there?”

He lifted one shoulder in a negligent shrug. “It tastes so good. And makes me feel invincible. I think I could feed from sundown to sunrise.”

“I think you must have done that last night,” she muttered, but there was no derision in her tone. Truth be told, she was proud of how quickly her most recent fledgling had adapted to his new lifestyle, and a little sorrowful that he no longer needed her guidance. “I’ll be leaving Vista Verde in a few days.”

“Leaving?” He looked up at her, startled by her announcement. “Why?”

“It’s a small town. Three vampires are two too many. Why don’t you come with me?”

“I don’t know.”

She came to an abrupt halt, her hand falling away from his arm. “You’re not still thinking of going after Kaiden, are you?”

“No, of course not,” he said quickly.

“Don’t lie to me, Girard.”

He stared at her, mute, damning her ability to read his thoughts, cursing the fact that he had not yet learned how to keep her out of his head, although he wasn’t sure that was possible, since she had sired him.

“You haven’t forgotten what I said, have you?”

“No,” he replied sullenly. “I haven’t forgotten.”

“I’ll know if anything happens to him. And I’ll know who to blame.”

“All right! You’ve made your point.”

With a nod, she linked her arm with his again. “Just so we understand each other,” she said. “Now, let’s go see if we can find someone to help satisfy that appetite of yours.”

Chapter 20

Nightmares, nothing but nightmares. He thrashed on the blankets that served as his bed. He had to go home. He had to get out of here. But where was here? Lonely and afraid, he wandered through the darkness, ever aware of the eyes that followed him. Red eyes that glowed in the dark. A voice in the back of his mind whispered that he must keep the secret, but he couldn’t remember what the secret was, or why he had to keep it.

Exhausted, he paused in the shadows to rest, and the eyes were there, staring at him. Into him. Through him. Unable to run any longer, tired of fighting an enemy he couldn’t see, he threw back his head and screamed and screamed ...

He came awake with a jerk, his body bathed in a cold sweat. The girl who brought him food and water twice a day sat beside him, her dark brown eyes wide.

When she saw that he was awake, she left the tent.

He stared after her. What lay outside? Who were the men in long brown robes who came and went so silently? They spoke in a harsh guttural language he didn’t understand. They were all armed with rifles and knives. Sometimes they stood on either side of him, shouting and gesturing at one another. Several times, he had been certain they were going to kill him. They had taken his clothes, his boots, his watch, everything he owned, and given him a long brown robe in return.

He lifted a hand to his left ear and snapped his fingers. Nothing. He’d definitely lost the hearing in that ear.

If only he could remember who he was, where he was.

He needed a haircut and a shave and a bath. He needed to brush his teeth.

He needed a doctor. Probably a shrink, since he had no memory of his past, no recollection of how he happened to come here, wherever the hell here was. Maybe it really was hell.

The woman returned a short time later, offering him soup, a chunk of hard bread, a tin cup of water. Because they kept his hands bound behind his back, the woman had to feed him.

It was humiliating.

He wasn’t sure, but judging by the thickness of his beard, he guessed he had been unconscious for more than a few days; whether from an injury or from being drugged, he didn’t know.

He had tried several times to speak to the woman, but she only shook her head, leaving him to wonder whether she didn’t answer because she didn’t speak English, or if it was because she had been forbidden to speak to him.

Pain throbbed in his skull and he closed his eyes.

Would this nightmare never end?

Chapter 21

Thorne came awake with the setting of the sun. As always, he awoke instantly aware of his surroundings. He was in his own bed, a bed he had shared with Skylynn only hours ago. Where was she now?

Sitting up, he opened his senses and knew within seconds that she wasn’t in the house. No doubt she had gone home. Well, he couldn’t blame her for that. There was no food in his house, nothing for her to do here while he slept.

Throwing back the covers, he padded into the bathroom and somewhat reluctantly washed Skylynn’s scent from his skin. Being a healthy male, he wondered how soon he could get her back into his bed. But not until he had fed. And that was something he needed to do as soon as he dressed. Last night, it had taken all the willpower he possessed to stop before it was too late. It was a risk he couldn’t take again.