His Dark Embrace

“Sam, what’s wrong?”

“You told me Granda was dead, but it didn’t mean anything to me then. I couldn’t remember him ... or how much he meant to me.” Sobs shook his shoulders. “How much I loved him.”

“Oh, Sam.” Sitting beside him, she put her arm around his shoulder. “He loved you, too.”

“I didn’t even get to say good-bye.”

“He went quietly, in his sleep. There was no chance for anyone to say good-bye.”

“I want to see him ... his grave.”

“All right. We’ll go when we get home.” She looked at Kaiden, a question in her eyes.

“We can leave tomorrow,” he said. “As soon as the sun goes down.”

Chapter 38

The trip home was uneventful. Sam was ready to feed by the time the plane landed. After cautioning Sam to be quick and careful, Thorne transported himself and Skylynn to her house.

When they arrived, Thorne circled the house. Only after assuring himself that no one was lurking in the shadows did he allow Sky to open the front door. Inside, he took her hand and then went from room to room, making sure no one was there and that no one had been there while they were away. It bothered him that Sky wouldn’t have anyone to look out for her during the day now that Sam was a vampire. Not that Sam had been much help against Desmarais, but at least Sky had had company during the daylight hours.

“I’m going to take a shower and slip into something more comfortable,” Skylynn decided once Kaiden was satisfied that the house was safe. She had been wearing the same clothes since Desmarais whisked them off to England.

“All right.”

“Do you want to come up and wash my back?”

“And your front.”

Grinning, she started up the stairs, only to pause, one hand on the banister. “What are we going to do about Desmarais? He got in here once without any trouble. What’s to stop him from doing it again?”

“I’ll be with you at night. During the day, I want you and Sam at my place.”

“How’s that any safer than here?”

“My house is better fortified than yours. I’ve warded the windows and the doors against intruders, human and vampire.”

“Warded? You mean, like magic?”

“Something like that. Only master vampires are capable of it.”

Skylynn looked at him wide-eyed for a long moment; then, with a shake of her head, she continued up the stairs, muttering, “You learn something new every day.”

Thorne watched her until she was out of sight; then, opening his preternatural senses, he honed in on his link to Sam. After assuring himself that the boy was safe, Thorne went up the stairs two at a time to see how Skylynn felt about washing his back after he washed hers.

Sam was on his way home when he felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere around him, like the change in the air before a storm. Although he was newly turned, he knew immediately that the woman who appeared beside him, seemingly out of nowhere, was ancient. Preternatural power swept over him and he realized instinctively that she could squish him like a bug with no trouble at all.

“Good evening, Samuel.”

He swallowed the fear that rose like bile in the back of his throat. “Hey.”

She laughed softly, displaying even white teeth and lethal fangs. “No need to be afraid.”

“Who said anything about being afraid?”

Again, a peal of almost girlish laughter, so at odds with the calculating look in her eyes. “I can smell it on you.”

“Since you know who I am, how about telling me who you are?”

“Don’t you remember?” she asked, pouting.

He shook his head.

“You could say that I’m your grandmother.”

Sam stared at her, confused. His grandmother? What the hell was she talking about? And then he laughed as he realized what she meant. This was the vampire who had turned Kaiden.

“Grandma,” he drawled. “What big teeth you have.”

Her hand shot out, curling around his throat like a garrote. “The better to eat you with, my dear.”

Sam stared into her face, into a pair of eyes gone bloodred. Damn, he hadn’t even seen her move. Did she mean to kill him?

“Kill you? Of course not,” she said, releasing her hold on his throat. “You really don’t remember me, do you?”

“Should I?” he asked, and then felt his eyes widen with the shock of recognition. “You!” he exclaimed, wondering how he could have forgotten the first time they met. “You were the woman in the bar. You got me drunk.”

She shrugged. “I was bored, and you were so ... entertaining.”

“Are you bored now?”

“No, merely curious. Kaiden has never turned anyone before. Somehow, I thought it would be your sister.”

“What do you know about Skylynn?”

“I know everything Kaiden knows, including what he’s doing now,” she said with a smile. “I would advise you to take your time getting home.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Think about it.”

Sam frowned at Cassandra, but she was gone before he could ask her anything else.

Sam stared after her and then, realizing what she meant, he chuckled. Had Skylynn been intimately involved with any other man at any other time, he might have hurried home to defend his sister’s honor, but he figured it was too late for that. Besides, Skylynn was a big girl, old enough to know what she was doing. Then, too, she was engaged to Kaiden. In some countries of the world, that was as binding as a marriage contract.

He ran a hand over his jaw. So, he had an hour or so to kill—the thought made him laugh. In the last few days, the word kill had taken on a whole new meaning.

Hands shoved into his pants pockets, Sam strolled down the street, whistling softly. He didn’t know if it was luck or chance or some kind of vampire instinct that led him to the Scarlet Cabaret. He felt a rush of supernatural power as soon as he crossed the threshold. Scattered among the Goths and wannabe vamps, he sensed the real thing. At first he thought it was Cassandra, but she was nowhere to be seen. He ducked behind a pillar as a horrible thought occurred to him. What if it was Desmarais? But even as the thought occurred to him, he knew it wasn’t Desmarais. He knew the monk’s stink and he wasn’t likely to confuse it with anyone else’s.

Swearing softly, he moved toward the bar.

The bartender was a petite brunette with big brown eyes and a mouth meant for kissing. “Hey, handsome, what’ll you have?”