Embrace the Night (11 page)

She wasn’t sure exactly what kind of response she’d been looking for, but he suddenly picked her up in his arms and flew her outside, onto the balcony, to a portion of the wall that would hide them from anyone inside.

He pressed her up against the stone and ground his hips into her. She felt his arousal and her legs lost function all over again.

He spoke hoarsely into her ear. “I’m going to mark you again and again, do you hear me? I’m going to fill you up so that no male, human or realm, will dare to touch you. Does that answer your question?”

He kissed her hard, so that her entire body just about melted into the stone behind her. What Jude could do to her with just a few words, the wonderful mass of his muscular frame, and his warm, moist lips.

She had that eternal sensation again of wanting to stay with Jude just like this, never moving, just being with him and feeling him, and having desire move like fire through her veins, forever.

Finally, he drew back, breathing hard. He held her gaze. “Part of me wants to apologize, but to hell with that. We’re in this, and you need to know everything, especially what it’s like for me.”

She grabbed his shirt again. “Jude, let’s make a pact right now not to apologize for anything that relates to this blood rose madness, okay? I know I’ll want to as well, but I think it’ll just make things more difficult.”

He nodded. “Agreed.” Slowly, he shifted his hips away from her, but stayed close. “And I need to calm down.”

At that, she smiled again. “What? You don’t want to face your men like this?”

She reached low and ran her hand the entire length of his arousal.

He arched and hissed. “Oh, Sweet Goddess, Hannah.”

She planted her hands on his face and kissed him with more affection than passion. “Do you know how many times I imagined kissing you just like that?” She couldn’t help but smile.

“No. How many?”

“About a thousand.”

“Is that all?” His turn to smile.

“Okay, I’m going inside. I need to freshen up a little, but I’ll join you for the meeting.”

“Good. I want you there.”

She didn’t try to prolong the moment. Instead, she located the downstairs bathroom and splashed water on her face. She stayed put, giving herself a little alone time to collect herself.

Ten minutes later, she heard Jude’s deep voice coming from the front living room and headed in his direction. She caught the décor along the way, as well as the style of the architecture and knew instinctively that a woman’s hand had been involved.

Probably his wife’s, the woman he’d lost all those decades ago.

As she entered the living room, she stayed near the entrance to the dining room. Seeing a dozen heavily muscled Guardsmen in one room was an overwhelming experience. Each ranged in height from six-three to six-six and wore what she considered to be their supremely sexy black leather-based uniform.

If the ceiling hadn’t been as high as it was, the room would have felt claustrophobic.

Jude relayed all that he knew about the mist, the sickly-sweet scent, the effects on him and also on Nathan, and his belief that Margetta had used the mist to kill the troll families in the north.

What he didn’t know was whether her wraith-pairs were immune or not. And if they were, the entire realm faced a crisis of enormous proportions.

“But how can we find any of this out?” Paul asked.

“I hate to say this, but only experience will give us the information we need. There’s just no other way. We don’t know where Margetta lives to try to spy on her.”

Hannah added her thoughts. “I get the sense that Margetta is just trying out what might be a new ability for her. If Jude and I make ourselves visible throughout the rest of the night, and the Guardsmen were spread out hunting for mist-sign, we could be anywhere at a moment’s notice.”

All eyes turned toward her, and she felt a warmth spread over her cheeks. For a moment, she wished she’d kept her mouth shut.

But Paul said, “That’s actually a very good idea. Better to have some control by hunting, rather than to wait for another slaughter.”

Jude met her gaze and she felt him press against her mind telepathically.
Hannah, I don’t want you in the line of fire.

But Jude, I already am and Paul’s right. Better to have some control in the situation.

Jude nodded, then addressed his men. “As you can imagine, I’m concerned for Hannah’s safety.”

“Everyone here is,” one of the Guardsmen spoke up.

“Here, here,” went around the men.

She knew these men and which ones had wives and families and what each laid down every night to battle the enemy. “I feel the same way about all of you. I hope you know that.”

Another said, “We do, Hannah. That’s why you find a couple of us passed out in your bunkroom every night at dawn.”

Laughter erupted this time and she joined them.

But when her gaze landed once more on Jude, she saw a look in his eye, of deep appreciation, that pierced her heart. She felt two things at once: The huge divide that separated them because the focus of each of their lives was so different and her ever-present affection for him.

She had to look away, to remember that she’d made a promise never to allow what was important to her to be set aside for the needs of a man. Maybe Jude wasn’t Mark Jackson, her ex. And yes, Mark was a real dick for demanding that she sell the bar to basically prove she loved him. But the situation had the same difficult resonance – what she’d have to give up and what Jude wouldn’t.

So she calmed herself down, wanting desperately to keep her perspective as the hours and possibly days wore on.

Jude brought the subject back to the point. “Here’s the way this needs to go. I want every Guardsman on patrol. And Paul, bring in everyone on leave. You’re to give this basic information to each of the men, about the mist, about Hannah, but that we need to draw Margetta out. One of my fears is that she’ll use some of our people again to try out her mist-making ability and more innocent realm-folk will die. So, let’s keep a sharp eye out for the mist. Heavy patrolling everywhere.” Which covered a lot of miles. But Jude’s Vampire Guard was three-hundred strong so no one balked at the order.

“And Reese, I know the shifters aren’t fully ready, but let’s put them on the ground. I’m thinking about that scent, it was sweet but in a way that smelled decayed. Maybe a shifter will have a better chance at locating the next intrusion.”

“I think that’s a great idea. They’re chomping at the bit to see some action.”

“Then tonight would be a good place to start. Go ahead and contact Rayle. I’ll leave you in charge of that part of the operation. Just get them out there.” Rayle was the alpha and had command of his men.

Reese took off.

They also discussed whether or not to alert the general population to the mist problem. The central issue became clear, that to let all of Kellcasse know about the killing mist could cause wide-spread panic. And if that happened, Jude would end up with more problems than his limited Guardsman force could possibly manage.

And never mind about the bad press Jude would receive in the Kellcasse Chronicle. He’d be crucified in print. One way or the other, this was shaping up to be a PR nightmare if he and his Guard didn’t figure out how to deal with the killing mist.

Hannah made her own contributions, her observations of the mist, of Margetta, how the ancient fae seemed able to pull the mist with her, and that Hannah’s fire dispelled it.

In the end, it was agreed that each of the team leaders would alert their men about the mist and the necessity of avoiding it, but to report any sign to Longeness and his staff at the Kellcasse Communication Center. Longeness had the ability to reach the Guardsmen all at the same time when needed.

As the Guardsmen dispersed, leaving by the front door this time, Hannah hurried with them for the simple reason that she loved to see vampires in flight, especially the super-fit Guardsmen.

Jude stood close to her, one arm around her waist.

As the last one left, he turned to her and said quietly, “I don’t like you looking at other men, either.”

“I wasn’t eyeing them as ‘men’. I was watching your Guardsmen fly. It’s an impressive sight.”

He growled softly and nuzzled her neck, nipping her throat. She gasped, since the possessive gesture lit her up.

But she pushed away from him. “Don’t start that or we’ll never leave this place.”

Jude remained where he was but she could see that he was using every ounce of his energy to retain control.

“Fine,” he said at last. “Then let’s fly.”

Chapter Five

Jude realized that taking Hannah into the air had one solid advantage: Her body was pressed up against his and he could keep her there. She slung an arm around his neck for balance, adding to the closeness. And for one of the few times in his life, he cursed the leather Guardsman coat he wore because it prevented him from feeling the swell of her breasts against his side.

If all went well, he’d have her back at Castle Island in a few hours, safe and sound.

Then he’d have her in his bed.

What are you thinking about, Jude, because the air has this wonderful spicy, peppery scent.

He chuckled.
Nothing much. You. My bed.

She sighed.
How long until dawn?

Too long.

But as they cleared the hills to the east and continued on a slow path in that direction, he decided he’d better get with it. He touched the com at his shoulder and contacted his communication center. “How we doin’, Longeness?”

“I’ve been collecting data from the time that Paul gave me your orders. So far, my staff says ninety-five percent of your Vampire Guard is in the air. And with the exception of one, whose wife is in labor, the remainder will be airborne within the next half hour.”

“Excellent. Any reports of mist?”

“Nothing yet.”

“I want to hear about even the smallest hint of trouble. Are you monitoring the civic forces?” Each county had a policing force that worked within county lines and Longeness could listen for reports of mist from their centers as well. In an emergency, Jude could command all the county teams.

“Yes, Mastyr.”

“Good. Again, let me know if anything even slightly off-center shows up, no matter which part of the realm.”

“Understood.”

Jude signed off and flew Hannah in an easterly direction. She was very quiet, yet he felt her intensity. “Are you comfortable?”

“Yes, thank you. But please don’t worry about me. I don’t need small talk, not at a time like this.”

“You must have read my mind.”

“Well,” she said, “I have known you a long time, that even in social situations you’re not given to trivia and useless chatter.”

“I guess you do know me.” He was smiling as he passed over a village built up along both sides of a canal. He heard troll laughter, a baby crying in the distance, a dog barking.

As he flew above a nearby woodland, he dropped lower to the earth and saw three shifters racing at top speed, going almost as fast as he could fly through the trails below. Reese had done a good job getting them in the field.

He felt himself relax just a little. He had every part of his realm covered right now; vampires flying back-and-forth, looking for Invictus or mist sign, shifters on the ground.

He flew Hannah over his land, talking to her quietly, naming the villages and towns, the creeks, canals, streams and lakes.

When he reached Kelltah Bridge, he hovered above it for a moment so that she could take it in.

“What a beautiful bridge.” She leaned forward to get a better view, holding his neck tightly.

“The bridge connects two distinct communities.”

“And I think this is one of your larger canals.”

“It is.” After a moment, he put them back in motion, passing over another mile or so of rolling hills and woodland. Again, he saw a squad of four shifters, in wolf form, racing along one of the ridgelines.

“They’re beautiful when they’re running. Elegant.”

He would never have described a rough shifter as elegant in either wolf or realm form, but seeing them through Hannah’s eyes he knew what she meant. “Shifters pride themselves even more than Guardsmen do on their athletic conditioning.”

Another village and waterway, arched with three bridges. Another woodland.

When Hannah stiffened, then gasped, he immediately drew them to a halt, hovering in the air. “What is it, Hannah? Do you see mist?”

“Oh, God, I’m so sorry. No, nothing like that.”

Jude looked around carefully, searching for mist despite her assurance otherwise. “Okay, so what caught your attention? Had to be something.”

“Jude, again, I apologize. It’s just that I suddenly realized that I can see really well and it’s nighttime.”

He worked to settle his heart down and to not yell at her because he could sense her remorse.

He put them in flight again. “That’s part of your power base, to see well at night.”

“I might not be happy about the blood rose thing and this fire-power I have, but I’m loving being able to see everything as though the woods are glowing.”

He turned north, wanting her to see one of their prettiest villages with a predominantly hard-working elven population. Many were expert stone-masons and it showed.

He told her what he was doing and wasn’t surprised that when the village came into view, she made many cooing sounds of appreciation. “It looks like a village in Britain. I swear every window has a window box jammed with flowers and trailing vines. And look at the flower baskets hanging from the lampposts.”

“I thought you’d like it.”

As he drew close to the center of the village, she asked, “What’s going on there? Look at all the lights strung everywhere. Is it a wedding? Oh, my God it is! A real elven wedding. Would it be rude to draw close enough to see their arms joined with a vine?”

Both the elven and fae communities made use of vines during the ceremonies, wrapped around both husband and wife’s forearms, to symbolize their bond.

He flew as near to the square as he dared, not wanting anyone to see them, then hung in the shadows for Hannah to get a good look. He wouldn’t disrupt the ceremony for anything.