Blood Red (35 page)

To her amazement, there was also an older black woman there, carrying a huge cross and a machete, and flanked by a handsome black man and a stunning young black woman. Lauren realized that she had seen the younger woman before, at the hospital. She was Deanna's nurse, the one who had gone mad, although she seemed to be just fine now.

The older woman stepped forward. “It's over, then?” she asked Mark.

He reached out, drawing her to him. “It's over, Ms. Lockwood. Thank you.”

“I told you I knew what I was up against,” the woman told him, drawing away and shaking a finger at him. “You've just got to have a little more faith in folks, you hear?”

“Yes, ma'am.” Mark looked at Sean. “How are you going to explain this one?” he asked.

Lauren took a good look around the yard and gasped.

There were dust piles and soot streaks everywhere.

There were also bones, and a fresh headless body. She winced.

“I think it'll poetic justice if we pin it on the taxi driver,” Sean said. “Though I'll have to think about how to explain him ending up without a head.”

“Really, Sean,” Maggie protested. “Sometimes you can be so…”

Sean sighed. “Maggie, his ID is false. The guy's real name was Wayne Girard. He was found guilty of twenty-seven murders, then escaped—I'm sure with our pal Stephan's help. I'll have some fast talking to do, but he can take the blame.”

Lauren walked over to Maggie and Sean, and everyone from Montresse House. They all hugged her—hard.

“Cop by day, vampire hunter by night,” Bobby said lightly, winking.

“You all need to get the hell out of here,” Sean said. “Except for you, Bobby, Mr. Fearless Vampire Hunter. You get to stay and help me clean this mess up. More cars are on the way,” he said quietly.

His wife gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and headed for her car. By then the others had come up from the basement, and Mark beckoned the two women closer.

“You three,” he said, including Lauren, “go with Maggie. Jonas and I will get back on our own.”

“Jonas…” Deanna murmured.

“Jonas will be fine,” Maggie called. “Get in the car. Come on. It will be much easier for Sean and Bobby if we get out of here.”

Deanna exchanged one last long kiss with Jonas before Maggie sighed and grabbed her arm, almost throwing her in the car.

As they drove away, Lauren looked back. Mark and Jonas were still there with Sean and Bobby. Maybe they meant to help with the clean up. But how would they explain their presence when the rest of the cops got there?

“What will the other cops say when they see Mark and Jonas?” Deanna asked worriedly.

“They won't,” Maggie said.

“They'll fly back,” Heidi said cheerfully

Lauren waited for Maggie to correct her.

She didn't.

It was over, Mark thought

By the time he returned to Montresse House, it was very late and the house was quiet.

He spent a long time showering, and as he tried to wash away more than just the soot—seeking to dispel the hatred and bitterness that had ruled him for so long—he kept telling himself that it was over. Really over. Stephan was dead.

But he felt hollow. Drained.

When he stepped out of the shower, he saw that he was just about healed already. The outside didn't matter, though.

He felt as if hid insides were all torn apart.

He should have told her.

But he hadn't been honest and she'd found out on her own, and. now he'd lost her.

No, he'd never really had her.

He lay down in bed, glad that he could open the doors to the balcony and feel the soft breeze wash over him. Maybe when he closed his eyes he would no longer dream.

No longer see her walking toward him, all in white. See her smile.

Katya had loved him, trusted him enough to tell him the truth about what had happened. And though he hadn't believed her at first, he had believed
in
her. He had fought with Stephan over what he had done to her, and it had been who had turned him. It was something Stephan had relished…until he had realized that it didn't matter to the two of them. They would have their wedding, and they would have it in a church. When she had been vulnerable and unaware, Stephan had been able to hypnotize Katya. But not after she had realized what he was and what he was doing. She'd had a will of steel.

But his father…

God, his father! So strong, so loving, so proud. He'd told Mark what had happening, but Mark had never imagined his father would so willingly give up his own life to slay Mark's intended bride. He hadn't known that his son had been turned as well, or that there were ways to fight the evil nature of their new way of being.

So what now? Mark asked himself. Now that it was over.

Lauren would leave. She wopuld be going home with Heidi, though Deanna…

There was no question. She was staying.

With Jonas, who had turned out to be the real deal.

He closed his eyes; he needed to sleep. Needed to stop tormenting himself.

He froze suddenly, aware that his door had opened. He carefully opened one eye.

Lauren was walking toward the bed. Softly, silently. She smelled of soap and shampoo and simple sweetness. She was wearing a white silky nightgown, her hair like a sunset against it.

She paused, then lay down at his side and rose up on one elbow, staring at him.

“There will be no more keeping the truth from me—the absolute, complete and total truth—ever again,” she told him.

He opened his eyes. She had sounded so fierce, but there was a slight smile curving her lips.

“Lauren…”

“Shut up and listen. I thought I'd never been more afraid in my life than when I first got out there tonight. But then…I thought I had lost you, and it was a fear that was ten times more terrible. So here's the thing. Don't protect my feelings. Even if I'm going to be angry.”

“I was, er, actually a little worried about you being more than angry if I told you the truth about myself,” he said softly.

“I admit it. At one point I might have been afraid of you. But now…I think we've gotten to know each other really well, even if it's been in a short but very intense amount of time.”

He smiled, then turned on her fiercely. “What part about me telling you to stay in this house didn't you understand?” he demanded.

“I had to go,” she protested.

“Not without telling me.”

“But you might have stopped me,” she said.

“Damn right.”

She smiled, and her lashes fell; then her eyes rose to meet his again. “Seriously, Deanna and Heidi…I couldn't risk their lives. We still don't know if Susan is going to make it or not.”

“I believe she will,” he said firmly.

“The point is—” she began.

“The point is that you don't listen,” he teased her.

“The point is that from now on I always get the truth from you,” she told him.

“Because intelligent people believe in vampires?” he asked wryly.

“When they can't help but see what's happening,” she told him softly.

“From now on, will you swear to tell me before you run off trying to save anyone? And will you have faith in me?” he demanded.

“Yes,” she said. And then she touched his face, leaned closer to him and spoke against his lips. “Now…hold me, please. Because I don't care who—or should I say
what
?—you are. I have never known love like this before. So…please, show me that you feel the same way.”

He did.

And the hollowness was gone.

He was whole, as he had never thought he could be again.

I
t was the most gorgeous wedding. The church was filled with flowers in dozens of colors. A royal blue runner ran down the aisle and out through the church doors.

There were old friends in attendance.

And new ones.

The groom was handsome, tall and dark.

The bride was far more than beautiful. Her happiness literally glowed.

She entered to the strains of a beautiful love ballad.

“That's gorgeous,” Deanna whispered to Heidi where they stood waiting at the altar.

“He wrote it,” Heidi whispered back.

Lauren kept walking down the aisle on the arm of Big Jim, who was giving her away. He wore a smile broader than Texas as he handed her over to the groom.

The vows were as beautiful as the song that had accompanied the bride's progress. Mark and Lauren had written their vows themselves. Not everyone in attendance fully understood them, but many there did. The promise to love through eternity, come what may. The vow that love was undying. The usual words in some ways…dramatically different in others.

They left the church in a rain of rice and cheers.

The reception was held on the grounds of Montresse House, where the smells of barbecue and gumbo fought for dominance. As afternoon turned to evening, Big Jim's band jammed, and the groom even joined them for a while, until he saw his bride watching him with something private in her eyes.

Then he was done playing. He left the stage and walked over to her.

“The truth, the whole truth,” he told her, “is that I love you.”

She laughed and said, “I would never doubt you.”

The moon glowed down, and it seemed as if they were dancing on brilliant white clouds and that they would do so forever.

Perhaps some things were eternal.