His Dark Embrace

She was dreaming. She had to be dreaming; there was no other explanation. One minute she was relaxing on a warm, sunny beach, laughing with Sam, and the next, she was wandering through a haunted house, her heart pounding loudly in her ears as she ran from room to room, looking for the only man who could save her.

And that was how she knew it was a dream. The only man indeed.

Wake up. She had to wake up. And even as she tried to escape sleep’s hold, he appeared. Tall and dark, he loomed over her. A long black cape fell from his shoulders, making him seem even larger and more forbidding.

She stared into his eyes. “Go away. I’m dreaming.”

“You must want me here,” he said, his voice a husky purr.

She shook her head. “No. That’s impossible.”

“Is it?” He held out his arms and she went to him willingly, her face lifting for his kiss, her eyelids fluttering down as his mouth closed over hers. Heat ignited in the deepest part of her being and ran through her veins like liquid fire. She clung to him, afraid to let go, as his tongue stroked her lower lip.

Her moan was part protest, part pleasure. In a distant part of her mind, she knew it had to be a dream because he was a vampire and she would never willingly have kissed him. Would she?

In the way of dreams, there was no sense of time passing. His lips moved over hers in a seemingly endless dance of seduction.

He continued to kiss her as he swept her into his arms and carried her up a long winding staircase that seemed to go on forever until, finally, he kicked open a door at the top of the stairs and stepped into a room as black as pitch. It was disorienting, being held in the dark by a man she couldn’t see.

“A light,” she murmured. “I want a light.”

Wriggling out of his hold, she stumbled forward, searching for a window. Miraculously, her fingers slid over what felt like a velvet curtain and she drew it back, smiling as a shaft of bright golden sunlight illuminated the room.

Sunlight! No, she thought frantically, sunlight was bad. Clumsy in her haste, she tried to close the curtain, but it was too late.

There was a horrible cry, a hiss, the stink of burning flesh.

She screamed, “No! No!” as Kaiden disintegrated before her eyes, screamed again as an errant breeze whispered through the room, scattering the ashes that had been left behind.

Sky bolted upright, her body bathed in perspiration. “Kaiden!” She switched on the bedside light, her gaze moving frantically around the room. Relieved to find herself alone in her own apartment, she slumped back on the pillows. That was by far the worst nightmare she had ever had.

She mopped her brow with a corner of the sheet, then closed her eyes, waiting for her heart to stop pounding, her breathing to return to normal.

Lying there, recalling her dream and how horrified she had been when Kaiden had been destroyed, she admitted what she had feared all along.

Human or vampire, she was in love with him.

Chapter 17

Girard sat up, instantly awake and alert. No aches and pains, no disorientation. He felt young, vigorous, and hungry.

“Ready to hunt?”

Vampire or not, having Cassandra materialize in front of him made him jump. “Dammit, woman, if I wasn’t a vampire, you’d have given me a heart attack.”

“Come along,” she said with a toss of her head. “You still have a lot to learn about hunting.”

Leaving his hotel room, they walked down the street side by side.

“Tonight we’ll work on your technique. For one thing, it isn’t necessary to terrorize your prey, or rip their throat to shreds,” Cassandra remarked with a knowing grin. “Unless you enjoy it.”

If he could, he would have flushed with shame. He hadn’t meant to behave like the monsters he had once destroyed, but the smell of the woman’s blood, the rapid beating of her heart, the scent of fear on her skin ... he had been like an addict who was unable to control his addiction. He’d had no thought save one—to take what he so desperately craved as fast as he could.

“Nor is it necessary to kill them,” Cassandra added.

“No?”

She shook her head in exasperation. “I thought you were a hunter. Don’t you know anything about us?”

“Of course I do!” he exclaimed. “And one thing I know is that vampires kill! I watched Thorne kill my wife!”

“That was over thirty years ago.”

“What difference does that make?” he demanded angrily.

“I also heard it was self-defense.”

“Self-defense or not, my Marie is just as dead.” Squaring his shoulders, Girard looked her in the eye. “Are you going to tell me you’ve never killed anyone?”

“No, but as I have always said, do as I say, not as I do. So, tonight, let’s try a little restraint, shall we? I’ll teach you how to hunt without killing. If you want to kill in the future, don’t do it in any city where another vampire makes his lair, or your new life will be over before it’s really begun. Most of us are very tidy. We don’t like to leave bodies where they might be found. It’s much easier to drink from a few and leave them alive, their memories wiped clean, than to dispose of a body drained of blood without arousing suspicion. Do you understand?”

He nodded curtly.

“Good. I’m assuming you know what will destroy you, and that you need to find a secure lair?”

“Of course I do,” he muttered. “I’m not an idiot.”

“To my knowledge, Kaiden is the only vampire who resides in Vista Verde. You would be wise to leave here as soon as possible. If you plan to stay in a town inhabited by a vampire older than you are, which will be every vampire you meet for a while, it is customary to make your presence known and ask permission to stay. Our numbers are not as large as they once were, but most big cities have their share of the Undead. If there are more than one or two, the oldest is usually designated as the Master of the City, and you would do well to stay in his or her good graces. Places like Vegas and Rio are popular with our kind as they attract a lot of tourists and transients.”

She paused, her nostrils flaring. “Just ahead, a man and a woman. Do you smell them?”

Girard nodded, his whole body throbbing with anticipation.

“Remember, we’re not going to kill them.”

“Are you through lecturing me?” he asked impatiently.

“I don’t like your tone.”

“And I don’t like being treated like a child.”

She smiled in spite of herself. “Thus endeth the lecture. For the time being.”