Page 10 of Twilight Destiny

“Darlin’, I know everyone you were with yesterday, everything you did.”

Rosa hugged herself, thinking that was probably the most disturbing thing he’d said yet.

Saintcrow stretched his legs out in front of him. “Kincaid is an old vampire. Almost as old as I am, although the vampire who turned me was much stronger.”

“Does that matter?”

He nodded. “The stronger your sire, the stronger you will be. My sire was ancient when she turned me.”

Rosa digested that for a moment. “So, if I wanted to be turned, I should find a powerful vampire?”

“Exactly. Ethan is stronger than Micah because I was stronger than Lilith. And also because I did a blood exchange with Ethan several years ago. I did something similar with Micah a while back, so he can be awake during the day.”

Rosa frowned. If she decided to be a vampire, would Saintcrow do that blood exchange thing with her, too, so she wouldn’t have to sleep the days away? “You mentioned Lilith before. Who is she?”

“One of the vampires who lived in Morgan Creek. She was a nasty piece of work. No one liked her.”

“Why did she stay? Why did you let her stay?”

“When I came to Morgan Creek, life was a lot more dangerous for vampires than it is now. There were hunters everywhere, and the government was offering big bounties on our kind. I found this place when it had been abandoned and decided to stay. Now and then, some mortal would wander in. Others of my kind heard about a vampire hideout in Wyoming and made their way here. I allowed them to stay with two conditions—they were not to hurt or kill the humans we kept here. To do so meant death. There were no second chances. The other condition was, once they came here, they couldn’t leave.”

“Why not?”

“Vampires gossip just like anyone else. I didn’t want to take a chance that the wrong people might hear about this place. It was a perfect set-up,” he said, somewhat sadly. “Until Kadie crossed the bridge.”

“How did you keep everyone inside the town?”

“I put wards on the bridge and around the mountains. The wards allowed people to come into the area, but prevented both humans and vampires from leaving.”

“What are wards, exactly?”

“It’s like vampire witchcraft.”

Rosa shook her head. It was all so fascinating. The more she learned, the more intrigued she became. Imagine being such a powerful creature, living for centuries, immune to age and disease? In spite of her earlier trepidation, she found herself thinking being a vampire didn’t really sound so bad after all.

Saintcrow chuckled as he read her thoughts. She was so young, so innocent. Sure, being a vampire had some perks. And he wouldn’t be human again if he could. But there was a sweetness to life that was denied vampires. The knowledge that human life was brief made it more meaningful, more precious. The ability to father a child was forever lost to vampires. For centuries, he’d told himself he didn’t care, that it didn’t matter, but deep down inside, where he rarely looked, was an emptiness that could never be filled. His only regrets in life were that not only had he lost the ability to father a child, but he had denied Kadie the opportunity to have a baby of her own.

“Saintcrow?”

“What?”

“Where did you go?”

He frowned at her then grunted softly. “You don’t want to know. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

He took her to a nightclub, but it was as different from the last two as day from night. The lighting was subdued but not dark, the men and women just ordinary people who laughed and danced and indulged in steak and lobster, shrimp and chicken.

Rosa ordered prime rib, rare, a baked potato, broccoli, and a green salad.

Saintcrow ordered a bottle of red wine that cost more than she spent on food in a month.

“What are we doing here?” she asked when the waitress left to turn in their order.

“I thought you’d like a change of pace.”

“I’m not going to meet any vampires in here,” she said, glancing around.

“So, you’re still looking for someone to turn you?”