His Dark Embrace

“Take his head?” she asked, horrified.

“Or you can set him on fire. Whichever you decide, you have to do it quick.”

Skylynn sat on the edge of the sofa, one hand pressed to her stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“I’m sorry, love,” Thorne murmured. “This hasn’t been much of a honeymoon, has it?” Sitting beside her, he put his arm around her shoulders, quietly cursing himself for making her a part of his life. If he hadn’t been so selfish, he would have left town long before things went this far.

“She won’t be alone again,” Sam said, his voice gruff. “I’ll be with her every night. If I have to, I’ll hire someone to watch out for her during the day.”

“We’ll both be with her at night,” Thorne said, “but you’re right, hiring someone to stay with her during the day is a good idea.”

“Why do I need someone in the daytime?” Sky asked. “He can’t come after me then.”

“No, but he can send someone else.”

Sky buried her face against Thorne’s shoulder. “I hate this.”

“It’ll be over soon.” Thorne glanced at Sam. Damn! Why hadn’t he thought of it sooner? The blood link. It had allowed Desmarais to find Sam.

It would also allow Sam to find Desmarais.

Chapter 42

“You want me to find Desmarais?” Sam stared at Thorne. “How the devil am I supposed to do that?”

They had come home from Vegas earlier that night. As soon as they’d arrived in Vista Verde, Sam had changed his clothes and gone to see Lisa’s parents. Thorne had spent the early part of the evening moving some of his things into Skylynn’s bedroom. His original plan had been for her to move in with him, but at the moment, it seemed easier for everyone concerned if he stayed with Sky and her brother.

It wasn’t until Sky went upstairs to get ready for bed that Thorne had a chance to talk to Sam, alone.

“How’d Lisa’s folks take the bad news?” Thorne asked.

“About how you’d expect.” Sam shook his head. “I thought her old man might take my head off, but he didn’t blame me. The only good thing to come out of all this is that two more people want Desmarais dead.”

“Speaking of Desmarais,” Thorne said. “There’s a link between the two of you.”

“What kind of link?”

“A blood link. It’s how he followed us to Vegas. If we’re lucky, it’s how we’ll find him.” Since Sam hadn’t ingested Desmarais’ blood, it was a slim hope, at best, Thorne mused. But it was all they had. “Close your eyes and concentrate on Desmarais, on his whereabouts.”

Sam shook his head. “I don’t think I can do that.”

“You can and you will. We can’t keep waiting for Desmarais to strike us. We need to carry the fight to him, catch him with his guard down.”

Sam nodded. Closing his eyes, he tried to picture Desmarais in his mind—an old man with gray hair and cold, calculating brown eyes, his body shrouded in a gray cloak—but all he could see, all he could think about, was Lisa lying dead on the street, blood dribbling from the wounds in her chest.

Sam shook her image away and tried again. Desmarais, you bastard, where are you? But, again, images of Lisa flooded his memory. How was he supposed to concentrate on Desmarais when he was overwhelmed with guilt? If he hadn’t asked Lisa to go to Vegas with him, she would still be alive, smiling, and happy.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Sam opened his eyes to find Thorne standing beside him.

“Let it go for tonight,” Thorne said.

“No! You’re right. We need to find him. I need to find him!”

“Tomorrow night will be soon enough,” Thorne said quietly. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No.” Sam ducked his head and surreptitiously wiped the tears from his eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was filled with remorse, his expression haunted. “I can’t even go to the damn funeral in the morning.”

“I feel so bad for him,” Skylynn said when Thorne told her about his discussion with Sam. “He’s lost so much. Our parents. Grams. Granda. And now this. I know he just met Lisa but they really seemed to hit it off... .”

“It would never have worked out.” Thorne undressed and slipped into bed beside Skylynn. Propping a pillow behind his head, he slipped his arm around her shoulders.

“Why not?”

“Werewolves and vampires don’t mix. Sooner or later, one of them would get angry and the fur would fly.”

Sky snuggled closer to Thorne. So much had happened in such a short time, it was hard to think straight. They had been kidnapped by Desmarais. She had begged Kaiden to turn Sam into a vampire. Sam had regained his memory. She and Kaiden had been married. Before they had even made love as husband and wife, Kaiden had left her alone in their marriage bed. I’ve got to go, he had said. Sam’s in trouble. She could hardly have objected.

And now Lisa was dead, and Sam was in mourning for a girl he hardly knew.

“Our marriage didn’t get off to a very good start, did it?” Kaiden stroked his knuckles over her cheek. “But I’ll make it up to you when this is all over. I promise.”

He just hoped it was a promise he could keep.

Chapter 43

Because Thorne didn’t trust Sam to protect Skylynn on his own, he decided they would both stay with her after the sun went down. Knowing that Sam needed to feed at least once a night, Thorne considered teaching the boy how to call prey to him. But after thinking it over, he decided against it, at least for the time being. It wasn’t an easy thing for a young vampire to master. For one thing, it took a great deal of concentration to control another’s mind, something most fledglings had a difficult time doing in the beginning. Not that you could blame them. New vampires had a lot to deal with—incessant hunger, a constant barrage of sounds and smells, learning how to control one’s increased strength and preternatural senses, the loss of old friends, family, and lifestyle. In the beginning, it was easier, and much more satisfying, to hunt for prey than call it to you.

Shortly before midnight, Thorne went out in the front yard. Standing there, cloaked in the drifting shadows of the night, he opened his senses, searching for prey in the neighborhood.

After twenty minutes, he gave it up as a lost cause. There weren’t many young people in the area and it seemed as though all the old folks had gone to bed.