Page 40

K adie sat at the kitchen table nibbling on a blueberry muffin and sipping a cup of hot chocolate.

She remembered buying the dishes, the pots and pans, and the silverware.

When she had been Rylan’s prisoner, he had told her to buy whatever she wanted.

For spite, she had made a long, long list of the most expensive items she could find, including the Jonathan Alder sofa.

She traced the flower pattern on the Spode china cup, recalling how excited she’d been when it arrived.

She recalled the day when she had first met Rylan.

She had thought him a monster then and with good reason.

Morgan Creek had been a safe haven for vampires at the time, a place where there was no need for them to hunt because they had a ready source of food provided by the unfortunate souls who, like her, had wandered across the bridge and were not permitted to leave.

The captives had been provided with food and shelter, a library, a movie theater, a swimming pool, a restaurant. Everything but their freedom.

To her horror, Saintcrow had taken a liking to her and brought her here, to his lair.

She had hated and feared him in the beginning but, gradually, he had won her trust and her heart.

To please her, he had freed the prisoners, although a few of the women who had no family and nowhere else to go had chosen to stay in town.

Years later, Ethan had come along and convinced Saintcrow to modernize the town and the rest, as they say, was history.

Needing some fresh air, Kadie undressed in the living room. She had taken a change of clothes out of the closet in the bedroom lair and carried them upstairs. She quickly pulled on the jeans and the blue sweater, stepped into a pair of sneakers, and left the house.

The cemetery was just as she remembered it.

She had often felt ghostly spirits here.

Many of the names of the deceased were familiar—Rosemary Holmes, Shirley Hague, Donna Stout.

Brittany Thomas, who had committed suicide.

Leslie Miller, who had been killed by the vampire known as Quinn, although killing the humans had been strictly forbidden by Saintcrow.

The women and a handful of men had become friends, comforting one another, sharing laughter and tears, reminiscing about loved ones they would never see again.

Kadie sighed. As Rylan had said, the past was past, but what was she going to do about the future? She knew Rylan would love her no matter what she decided, just as she knew he was hoping she would choose to live as he did.

But did she want to be a vampire again? That was the million-dollar question.

She glanced at the bright blue sky. Did she want to give up the warmth of the sun on her face again?

Give up the taste of hot coffee on a cold winter morning?

Give up all the foods she so enjoyed eating again?

Survive on nothing but someone else’s blood?

Did she want to give up the chance to be a mother before it was too late?

As a vampire, she had accepted that motherhood was out of the question.

But now … now it was again a possibility.

She imagined herself rocking an infant, holding it to her breast, tucking it into bed at night, seeing its first smile, hearing its first word, taking it to school.

She had given up all hope of such things when Saintcrow turned her.

Did she want to give them up a second time?

How was she ever going to decide? One thing for sure, vampire or human, she loved Rylan Saintcrow with all of her heart and soul. That, at least, would never change.

Kadie was about to turn and head for home when there was a silvery shimmer in the air and a woman materialized beside her. A beautiful woman, with long, blonde hair and light brown eyes.

A woman who was a vampire.

Startled, Kadie took a wary step back. How had a vampire made it across the bridge and into town? She knew Rylan had warded the town and his lair against vampires and hunters and, hopefully, against the necromancer, Luca.

“Kadie,” the woman said. “How nice to see you upright.”

“Who are you?” Kadie asked, hating the tremor in her voice. It was never a good idea to show fear or weakness to the Undead. At the moment, she would have been happy to be a vampire again.

The woman laughed softly, obviously amused. “Being one of us wouldn’t do you any good,” she said. “You could never defeat me.”

“What do you want?”

“I want your husband. And I intend to have him.”

Kadie stared at her. “Who are you?” she asked again.

“I’m Saintcrow’s sire.”

Not good, Kadie thought. Not good at all. She was trying to think of something to say when Rylan appeared at her side.

“Eleni, get the hell out of here.”

“Is that any way to talk to the one who made you?”

“Just go.”

“We had a deal, dear boy. It’s time you paid up.”

Saintcrow snorted disdainfully. “I thought we settled that.”

“I guess you thought wrong.” Eleni’s predatory gaze moved over Kadie. “Is she as tasty as she looks?”

“You’ll never know,” Saintcrow said, slipping a protective arm around Kadie’s waist.

Eleni smiled, showing a hint of fang. “You can’t watch her all the time,” she remarked. “I’ll be in touch with you soon. We need to renegotiate our deal.”

She didn’t give him a chance to reply, merely vanished from sight.

“What kind of deal did you have with her?” Kadie asked.

Saintcrow blew out a sigh. “I’m not sure you want to know.”

“I’m sure that I do.”

“We can talk about it at home.” And so saying, he drew her closer and transported the two of them back to the big gray house on the hill.

Once inside, Kadie sat on the sofa, arms crossed over her breasts. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?” she suggested.

“You never had a virus,” he said. “Luca, who we thought long dead, apparently managed to escape the soul-catcher. At least his soul did. In an effort to avenge himself on me and Kincaid, he cast a spell meant to incapacitate us. Only it didn’t go as planned.

Instead of striking us, the curse affected all the young vampires in Wyoming, rendering them unconscious.

Many died. All those we consider family were in Arizona at the Ravenwood reunion.

All except you. Since Kincaid and I are both ancient, we weren’t affected. ”

“What does that have to do with your sire?”

“I’m getting to that. The curse rendered you unconscious, helpless.

It lasted for months. Kincaid and I tried to find Luca and when we finally did, we discovered his soul had taken over the body of a young girl, who he quickly abandoned.

We managed to find him again, and again he eluded us.

At the moment, we have no idea where he is, or whose body he’s inhabiting. ”

Kadie tapped an inpatient foot on the floor. “What about Eleni?”

“She came to see me one night when I’d about given up hope that you would ever recover.

She said she had been thinking about me and wanted the two of us to spend some time together.

I refused.” He held up a hand when Kadie started to speak.

“When she made a veiled threat against your life, I agreed to spend a week with her—”

“You did what?”

“Calm down. I agreed to the week, with the stipulation that there would be no intimacy between us. Kincaid and I were at a loss as to what to do until we got wind of some ancient artifact called the Methuselah Stone. We went to see Izabela and some wizard by the name of Romar. They agreed that if we could find the Stone, it might have the power to cure you. But no one knew where it was. As it turned out, Eleni had the Stone and said she would cure you. For a price.”

“What did she want, as if I couldn’t guess?”

“Just what you think. She agreed to give me the Stone if I’d spend the night with her.

Don’t get your feathers ruffled. I found a loophole in the deal we’d made.

She gave me the Stone, but she didn’t know how to control it.

Izabela did. When Eleni said it was time for me to pay up, I reminded her that she hadn’t actually been the one to cure you and that, technically, Izabela had healed you.

Eleni wasn’t happy, but she seemed to go along with it at the time. ”

“Apparently she’s changed her mind.”

“Yeah.”

“You aren’t thinking about doing what she wants, are you?”

Sitting down beside her, he said, “I don’t know. She’s centuries older than I am. She has the power to force me to do whatever she wants.” The fact that she did was infuriating. He had spent centuries in control of his own life, answerable to no one, a law unto himself. Until Eleni came to town.

“I won’t hear of it!” Kadie exclaimed, her eyes shooting sparks. “You’re my husband, not hers.”

“No sense getting riled up about this, sweetheart. I have no desire to take that viper to bed, but we’ve got to be sensible. It’s just one night.”

Kadie shook her head. “What makes you think if she gets one night, she won’t want two?”

Saintcrow shrugged. “What’s the alternative? I let her kill you? That’s not an option.”

“I think you want to sleep with her.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You seem all too willing. After all, she is beautiful. And sexy.”

“Kadie, if I’d wanted to sleep with her, I had plenty of chances to do so while you were unconscious.

I’d do anything she asked if it meant keeping you safe.

I love you, Kadie. Only you. Never anyone else.

” Slipping his hand into his pants’ pocket, he withdrew a small dark-blue velvet box and handed it to her.

Kadie’s heart skipped a beat when she opened it and found her rings inside.

Rylan had wanted her to have the very best and spared no expense, though she would have been happy with a plain gold band.

The emerald-cut diamond engagement ring winked at her as he lifted the rings from the box and slipped them on her finger.