As Twilight Falls

“Jeremy, what are you doing here?” she exclaimed.

“The women sent me,” he said, gasping for air.

“What’s wrong?”

He held up his hand, then bent over, hands on his knees, while he caught his breath.

Kadie stared at him. It took only a moment to realize what had brought him here.

Straightening, he brushed a lock of hair out of his face. “Marti’s missing,” he said. “None of the women were up to the walk, so I volunteered to come and tell you.”

“Missing?” she asked, feigning ignorance. “Are you sure?”

Jeremy nodded. “We’ve looked everywhere. No one’s seen her since last night. You know what that means.”

Kadie nodded. Everyone in town would assume that one of the vampires had killed her.

“I guess we’ll never know which bloodsucker did it,” Jeremy said bitterly.

“Does it really matter?” Kadie asked.

“No, I guess not.” He glanced past her into the house. “Do you like it here?”

Kadie shrugged. “It’s as good as anywhere else.”

“What about Saintcrow? Is he treating you okay?”

“Yes. Better than I expected. When you go back to town, will you tell Rosemary and the others I’ll be there as soon as I get dressed? Or you can wait, and I’ll give you a lift.”

“Thanks, that would be great. It’s a long walk.”

“I’d ask you in, but I’m not allowed to invite anyone inside. Sorry. I’ll only be a minute.” After closing and locking the door, Kadie hurried upstairs.

She dressed quickly in a pair of jeans and a sweater, tugged on socks and a pair of boots, ran a brush through her hair, and was out the front door fifteen minutes later.

Jeremy shook his head as he settled himself in the Corvette. “You sure hit the jackpot,” he exclaimed, fastening his seat belt. “This car is sweet.” He ran his hand over the dashboard. “And fast. Zero to sixty in less than four seconds.”

“I wish I could let you drive it,” Kadie said.

“Yeah, me too.” He settled back in the seat, arms folded over his chest. “Like I said, you hit the jackpot. Living with the head vamp. Driving his car. None of the other bloodsuckers can feed off you. In this town, that’s the brass ring.”

“Is Lilith mean to you?”

“Mean? You have no idea. She’s as mean as she is ugly.” He tugged his shirt collar down, revealing several nasty-looking bites on the side of his neck. “She’s an animal.”

Kadie stared at the bite marks. Instead of neat holes, the marks were jagged and red.

“I’ve got bites in places I can’t even show you. She doesn’t bother to heal them and they’re painful as hell. She doesn’t like Cooper for some reason and now that Freeman’s gone, I’ve become her favorite snack. She makes me do things, perverted, evil things . . .” He shook his head, his expression bitter. “I hope someone rips out her heart and she burns in hell.”

“I’m so sorry,” Kadie murmured. Casting about for a less gruesome subject, she asked, “What did you do before you came here?”

“I was engaged to be married, and studying to become an architect. I came out here for the weekend with a couple of buddies two summers ago. We got drunk and I guess we got separated. All I know is, when I came to, I was here. Alone.”

“I’m sorry.” The words were inadequate, but what else could she say? She wished she could tell him there was hope, that she might be able to persuade Saintcrow to let him go, but she had sworn not to reveal that Saintcrow had freed Marti and Carl, and if there was one thing she had learned, it was that it was impossible to keep secrets from Saintcrow.

“You can just let me off at my house,” Jeremy said. “The ladies said they’d meet you in the library.”

“Thanks. Why don’t you come with me?”

He shook his head. “I need to get some rest while I can. Lilith will be wanting me as soon as the sun goes down.”

Kadie nodded sympathetically, waved good-bye after dropping him off, then drove to the library. After shutting off the engine, she sat in the car a few moments, gathering her thoughts.

When she went in, Brittany waved at her from behind the desk. “Terrible thing about Marti,” she said, her voice hushed.

Kadie nodded, then went into the conference room. Brittany followed her and quietly closed the door. All the town’s women were there, including Frankie.

Rosemary’s cheeks were tracked with tears. “She’s dead, Kadie,” she said, sobbing. “Marti’s dead.”

Kadie laid her hand on Rosemary’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. How could she do this? How could she let these women, who had known Marti far longer than she had, think their friend had been killed by a vampire? She suddenly hated Rylan Saintcrow for making her live a lie, and for causing these women unnecessary grief.

Listening as they shared memories of Marti, she was tempted to tell them the truth, that Marti was alive and well and home with her family. But then she looked at Rosemary, who had been here for twenty years, and at the others. Brittany had been here for almost as long. Would it be fair to admit that she had convinced Saintcrow to let Marti go? Would it give them hope for their own freedom? Would they expect her to do the same for them, and hate her when she couldn’t?

She was glad when the gathering broke up.

Returning to the car, she sat behind the wheel for several moments before pulling away from the curb. As she drove toward Saintcrow’s lair, her gaze was drawn to the mountains. It was a beautiful day. She had nothing to do. Why not go exploring?

On a long stretch of road, she put the pedal to the metal and found out why Saintcrow loved this car. Going zero to sixty in under four seconds felt like flying, but it was nothing compared to zooming down the road with the speedometer hovering near ninety. She had never driven that fast in her life and her good sense quickly took over. Saintcrow might survive an accident at that speed. She most certainly wouldn’t.

She took a road that veered to the right and found herself in a part of the town she had never seen before. Vaughan had told her it had once been a cattle town, and here was the proof. After parking the car, she got out to stretch her legs. The place looked like an old western movie set, she thought, glancing around. There was a saloon, a telegraph office, a hotel. The buildings were in sad shape, roofs sagging, doors askew, the wood gray with age. The jail, made of red brick, had fared better, although the door was missing. Beyond the town, she spied what remained of a few corrals.