Dalton, Tymber - Brimstone Blues [Brimstone Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (20 page)

“Can’t get too much worse.” She fell quiet for a few minutes. “Matthias, when is your birthday?”

“May eighteenth.”

“What year?”

“Every year.”

She looked at him, laughed, and playfully shoved him.

“Hey, you shouldn’t pick on a man whose birthday falls on the same day Mount St. Helens exploded.”

“No?”

“You should have heard the jokes.”

Taz smiled, certain Albert had come up with a few doozies. She gave Matthias credit, he hadn’t mentioned leaving Yellowstone once. Curled against him, breathing in his scent, she closed her eyes. “Can we leave tomorrow?”

He kissed the top of her head. “If that’s what you want.”

Taz took a deep breath. “After breakfast. Let’s get all the bullshit behind us. Get the London stuff over and done with.”

He propped himself up on one elbow. “Taz, we can hold off on that. They will wait until you’re ready.”

“That’s just it. If you give me an out, I’ll never be ready, never want to do it. Running isn’t going to solve this. Let’s get it over with.”

He kissed her. “All right, sweetheart.”

* * * *

“I have to get the oil changed in the Mustang,” she said at breakfast after they’d packed and checked out. “It’s overdue from the drive out.”

“There’s a garage at Fishing Bridge. I’ll call when we’re done, see if they can do it this morning. If not, I’m sure we can find a place in Cody.”

Taz started to nod when she felt a rumbling in her brain and had to bite back a snarky comment.

What the hell is
wrong
with me?

Matthias frowned. “What’s wrong, Taz?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just got this weird feeling when we were talking about the oil change—”

“NO!”

Her eyes darted around the restaurant. “Did you hear that?”

Matthias’ eyes narrowed. “Hear what?”

She looked around and shook her head. “I’m just jumpy.” She forced a smile. “I’m going to say something you won’t hear me say very often, big guy.”

“What’s that?”

She reached across the table and touched his hand. “You all warned me a couple of weeks ago, before we came out here, that I wouldn’t feel like myself.”

He nodded.

She took a deep breath. “You. Were. Right.”

He laughed and squeezed her hand. “
Cara
, thank you, love.”

“No, ‘See, I told you so?’”

He crooked his finger, and her heart melted as she leaned across the table. He kissed her. “It doesn’t matter as long as I have you to love. My reason for living is to make you happy. You’re the first thing I’ve had to live for in a long, long time.”

* * * *

The jumpy, edgy feeling didn’t abate. In fact, it worsened the closer they drove toward Fishing Bridge. Thank goodness Matthias was behind the wheel. Taz had a feeling if it was her, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from turning around.

He let her out at the gift shop complex and she forced herself to sit on a bench in front on the porch and not chase after him.

“No! NO NO NONONONO!”

What the hell was wrong with her? The constant, worrying drumming in her brain would drive her nuts if it didn’t stop soon. It was like the phantom voice had gone as psycho as she’d felt a few weeks ago. It was an oil change, and yet she felt like someone was going to get murdered.

Matthias walked up five minutes later, looking concerned.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You don’t look good.”

“I don’t feel good.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to call the jet? We can be in Gardiner in a little over an hour.”

“No, I’ll be fine. I’m just—”

losing my mind

“—jumpy, that’s all. Going through one of those weird phases.”

He offered his hand, and she took it, squeezing hard and enjoying when he squeezed back. They strolled through the gift shop and ate ice cream. It almost felt like being a normal couple.

Normal.

Whatever the hell
that
was.

When they picked up the Mustang an hour later, something akin to relief washed over her. She found herself bending down to look at the ground underneath the car.

Matthias watched her with an amused expression. “What are you doing?”

She looked at him as she straightened. “I don’t know.” That’s what worried her—she didn’t.

“That’s not a comfort, love.” He held the passenger door open for her.

Without any ability to stop it, the words tumbled from her mouth. “Did they use synthetic oil?”

What the fuck? Great, let’s hope I don’t start swearing uncontrollably.

Matthias raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Yes. I had them use the brand Rafe always used. Why?”

Yet another uncontrollable verbal tic. “Did they put on a new drain plug washer?” She clapped a hand to her mouth.
What the fuck?

Matthias froze. “What?”

Taz swallowed hard and forced the words out, this time through her fingers still over her mouth. “A drain plug washer?”

The half smile curled his lips. “Yes, I made sure they did. Rafe was always adamant about that. It’s the least I could do for him.”

The mental drumming finally dissipated, and she relaxed during the drive into Cody.

* * * *

The mysterious voice didn’t return. Neither did the uncontrollable verbal tics. Alone with Matthias, they took their time retracing her route from Cody, back through the Bighorn Mountains to I-90.

“I must admit I’m impressed,” he said.

“Why?” She fought the urge to tell him to go faster. Matthias held it at a comfortable seventy-five on the interstate. She preferred eighty, at least. The powerful pony was more than capable of it.

“How quickly you made it out here.” Their fingers were laced together, and he brought her hand to his lips, kissing it. “I’m not angry. Just please don’t ever run off like that again. If you need time alone, I will always give it to you.”

“Being followed by guards isn’t time alone, Matthias.”

He glanced at her before returning his eyes to the road. “Taz, we had no idea where you were, where you were going. I’m not saying I would have had people tailing you—”

“Bullshit.”

He looked at her again and spotted her knowing smile.

“Okay, so I would have had you followed. Tim had people watching over you from the time you entered Yellowstone and you weren’t aware of it.” Now wasn’t the time to mention the daily security detail back home.

“What?”

He nodded. “He told you we have operatives all over the park. Once he figured out where you were going, he was prepared.”

She looked out the passenger window. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“We know. We don’t want to make you feel like that, either.” He squeezed her hand. “I love you, and I’m damn sure not letting anyone take you away from me now that we’re together. If you need time alone, ask for it. I’ll readily give it, as much as you want.”

“I want to go away for a month, alone.”

“Done.”

She turned back to him, studying his face. “I was kidding.”

“I wasn’t.”

She frowned. “You mean you’d let me up and leave, alone, for a whole month, no questions asked?”

“I’m not saying I wouldn’t miss you. And yes, I would take precautions for your safety. If what makes you happy would be to leave for a month, then I will give it to you.” He pulled over to the shoulder. Fortunately the interstate wasn’t that busy in this desolate part of the country.

He turned to her and removed his sunglasses so she could see his eyes. “Taz, I love you. Whatever I must do to show you, to prove to you that I will do anything for you, I will do it. If you ask for time alone, I will give it. I will follow you to the ends of the earth if you ask. I will die and kill for you.”

She finally removed Rafe’s sunglasses. “Why?”

“Why what,
cara
?”

“Why do you love me like that?”

He touched his forehead to hers, nuzzling her with his nose. “The heart knows what it knows. And the soul always comes home.” He kissed her, and before she could get too into it and drag him into the backseat, he sat up and caressed her cheek. “Just know that I willingly love you, Taz. Not because I’m under a spell, not because I’m forced to.” He put his sunglasses on and put the car in gear and drove as she studied his profile.

* * * *

The long drive gave them plenty of time to talk. “What’s the deal with Murry?” she asked.

“Why?”

“He told me to ask you.”

Matthias smiled. “Murry is interesting, to say the least.”

“How about saying more than the least?”

“He’s a familiar.”

“Which tells me bubkis. Isn’t that a witch thing or something?”

“According to popular lore, yes. Animals as spirits isn’t an idea limited to witches. It’s a popular theme in Native American and other cultures, too.”

“Where did he come from?”

She realized he didn’t want to answer.

“Matthias?” she gently prompted.

“Rafe gave him to me. He belonged to Cassandra.”

She closed her eyes and fought a wave of dizzying grief, felt it pass. “Why didn’t he keep him?” she whispered.

“Murry was too painful a reminder.”

Now, it seemed, he was again.

“You know, you keep telling me what we are isn’t anything supernatural, yet I keep finding out about things like
daemon pulverem
and familiars and all this other crap, which isn’t exactly textbook Science 101 material.”

“Considering scientists can’t even unravel the origins of the universe yet, does it truly surprise you to know there are things that defy current scientific explanations? There are yogis who can control their body temperature through meditation. Animals hibernate for winter in a form of suspended animation without eating or drinking. Yet awake, they would die if they went several days without water. There are cicadas that only emerge once every seventeen years. There are things science hasn’t even discovered, much less begun to figure out.”

“But a cat who’s over four hundred years old? You expect me to believe that?”

“Did you ever expect to believe you’re a vampire?”

He had her there.