Embrace the Night (8 page)

Vojalie nodded and smiled. “And there you have it.”

Hannah tilted her head. “Vojalie, it can’t be that simple. I mean he’s Jude, it’s the whole blood rose thing, it’s Margetta-the-freak.”

At that, Vojalie laughed outright. “I have every reason to believe she would hate being spoken of like that.”

Vojalie then settled her hand on Hannah’s arm. “Try to shift out of the horror you’re feeling and approach this situation as you would if you were dating a human. Be with Jude for a time. The bond is only completed when your mating frequencies engage and lock into place, and not a moment before. And that has to be a decision of the will; it can’t be forced.

“If after a time, you find you can’t tolerate either being with him or being a blood rose, we can address the issue together. For instance, we could devise a number of security measures to protect you from unwanted mastyr attention. How does that sound?”

Hannah breathed yet another sigh of relief. She’d felt so trapped, unable to see any kind of alternative. But these simple, very workable suggestions eased her. Maybe she was a blood rose, but it didn’t mean that she had to commit body and soul to anyone unless she wanted to.

As her gaze drifted over the dark stretch of the Strait that led all kinds of ships and smaller craft into Puget Sound, she suddenly felt a sense of impending loss. Kellcasse was a beautiful realm full of canals, waterways, and small lakes all set in lush woodland.

But Port Townsend was her world, her life. How could she ever leave the Gold Rush to make a life with Jude on Castle Island? The whole prospect seemed impossible.

~ ~ ~

Jude had been to Hannah’s home a few times before and liked the way she’d improved it over the years. The house was essentially a small cottage built on the hillside with a view to the open waters of what he knew to be Admiralty Inlet.

She’d opened up the walls that separated the living, dining and kitchen to create one larger space. Very nice. And she’d decorated with white, lots of black and dark grays then an occasional shot of pink. She had a piece of carved driftwood on the round, solid wood dining table, but other than that, and a couple of paintings of wooded beaches, she’d chosen against a typical maritime look and feel. No rope-bound tables, anchors, or seagulls in her place. Not even one seashell.

Her place was modern and charming.

Even so, his guard-size body seemed to take up too much space, and he thought it a fitting way to describe their present predicament. This vast wave had washed through both their lives, leaving her with unwanted powers, and building within him a lust for her hard to contain because she was a blood rose.

He’d been one hundred years without the influence of a woman in his life. How could he possibly embrace one now? Forget that he’d made a decision to keep away from long-term relationships. Just what kind of life could he even offer Hannah?

He had two jobs. He oversaw the day-to-day running of his realm, staying in touch during his waking daylight hours with all the various city and community leaders. And once full dark arrived, he patrolled with his Vampire Guard seven nights a week.

And Hannah had her bar.

None of this made sense to him. It would be one thing if his blood rose had been a realm-woman, who knew and understood everything about Kellcasse, his role, and who he was as a vampire. But Hannah owned a bar in Port Townsend and spent every waking minute there. Even on a simple, logical level, how would this even work?

When Davido moved onto the porch and waved for him to follow, Jude joined him willingly. He’d hoped to have a chance to talk privately with Davido and was grateful when Hannah had invited Vojalie to the roof deck.

Leaning on the porch railing, the troll smiled up at him, his blue eyes crinkling and the three rolls of his forehead lifting slightly. “So you are the latest mastyr to get struck by lightning, eh?”

Jude laughed. “Lightning. You’ve described it exactly right.” He leaned his forearms on the railing as well and shifted his gaze out to sea. He liked Davido, one of the ugliest trolls in the Nine Realms. But he was ancient, wise, and had tremendous charisma. If he’d been a vampire, he would have been fierce. But his troll height, at least a foot shorter than Jude’s, had forced him to carve out a different kind of life for himself, one that he wore with grace.

“I didn’t know until I fed from Hannah, what was really going on. We’d had a mutual attraction for months, but each of us had kept the stops on. Then a wraith-pair showed up at dawn outside the Gold Rush and Hannah saved my life by burning the mated vampire.”

“Sweet Goddess! You didn’t mention this when we pathed together this morning. How did she burn him?”

“She’s harnessed fire in a way I’ve never seen before.”

“My wife will be well-pleased to learn of this. She said she was feverish until you called. Now I understand why.”

Jude shifted slightly to face him. “What would you do in my shoes? I mean, if I leave her alone, another mastyr is bound to come after her. And the worst ones won’t hesitate to abduct her.”

Davido left the railing, pivoting toward Jude, as he rubbed his thumb in the valley between the top two ridges of his forehead. “Give her a helluva lot of security, and maybe stick close for the next few days. Nothing is settled until you forge a bond with her. I know this feels sudden, but it seems to me, with what you’ve just told me, that your relationship with Hannah has been building for a long time.”

“I suppose if you look at it that way.” The sound of laughter drew his attention inside the house. The women had descended, Vojalie elegant and remarkable in a flowing lavender and green casual gown and Hannah in her blue jeans and white shirt.

At least she was smiling, which was a good sign.

He couldn’t help turning in her direction like a compass needle drawn to true north. From the time he could remember, he’d thought Hannah beautiful beyond words, especially close up. Her eyes were her best feature, then her full, high cheek-bones, her straight nose, her lips. Or maybe it was her expression, as though lit from within with the sheer joy of life.

“Try to think of it,” Davido said quietly, “as a problem to be resolved, or even a string of small problems, rather than a massive disaster that needs to be torn asunder.”

“It feels huge.”

Davido laughed. “Love always does.”

But before Jude could counter this completely inaccurate remark about ‘love’, Davido moved swiftly inside. He crossed to his wife and took her hand, kissing her fingers. The old troll seemed to be a great romantic at heart.

Jude remained by the doorway, watching but not listening. Hannah didn’t know how well she fit into his world, or how comfortable she was with realm-folk. But then she’d been raised in the Gold Rush, and from the first day that the U.S. had opened up official relations with the Nine Realms, her father had welcomed Realm-folk into his bar. Jude had held Hannah when she was born and had seen her through every phase of her life.

But even from the first, she’d had a real love of life that he’d responded to. Maybe he’d even encouraged her, pushed her to go to college back east, to take a summer and tour Europe, even to spend a month on a sailing ship. He was sure in that time she’d meet a soul like her own and return to Port Townsend with a husband.

In the end, she’d come back engaged to Mark Jackson, a controlling asshole that had made Jude want to punch his lights out. Jude had never been happier when Hannah dumped his sorry ass. Sell the Gold Rush. What a douche!

Hannah’s mother had died way too young, when Hannah was only seven. Jude had spent time with her then, as did many of the realm-folk, who saw her as orphaned, even though her father was a loving, involved parent.

The fact that she’d ended up with realm abilities seemed natural, since Kellcasse, by way of its people, had been such a huge part of her life all these years.

But how could they possibly make a life together? And maybe more importantly for the immediate future: How was he supposed to keep other mastyr vampires away from her?

Chapter Four

When Hannah bid Vojalie and Davido goodnight and watched them vanish, she put a hand to her forehead. She turned to Jude. “It’s one thing to watch you fly, but they just disappeared.”

“I know,” he said, nodding. “That couple has a helluva lot of power.”

“I’m so glad they came.”

“It’s a sound idea to have security for you. I should have thought of it myself, but I was too caught up in the situation to see clearly.” He then told her that one of his lieutenants, Paul, and another powerful Guardsman, would serve as her bodyguards, whether here in her home or at the bar, or wherever she needed them to be. They had orders to contact Jude at the first sign of the approach of another mastyr vampire, or any other trouble.

Hannah felt tremendously relieved. She might even be able to relax a little. “Thanks for taking care of this.”

He frowned. “I only wish I could stay with you, but I need to be out with my Vampire Guard. We still have unanswered questions about the recent massacre in the north, and I’ll be heading out there later tonight to see for myself. Not to mention the two wraith-pairs that actually crossed the Sound earlier at dawn. I need to figure out what’s going on, and the only way I can do that is in Kellcasse.”

“You have to go, Jude. It’s for the best on every front. I’m sure of that.”

He drew close and took both her hands in his. “We’ll figure this out for you, Hannah. I want you to be at ease and comfortable despite the changes you’re going through.”

“Vojalie gave me some hope. She said I’d always be a blood rose, and we could find ways to keep me safe from encroaching mastyr vampires.”

“Absolutely. Like I said, we’ll keep exploring options and create a security detail that will work for you.” Jude’s frown deepened. He’d never appeared so upset before.

“What’s wrong?” Hannah felt his unease.

He shook his head. “I feel like somehow this is my fault. I mean, I’d been dogging your heels, anyway, making every excuse I could to be at the Gold Rush. And now you’re a blood rose.”

“You can’t blame yourself. I felt the same way. Whatever this is, fundamentally we both felt the same way.”

Even as Hannah said the words, she felt very strange, like she was in the supply closet all over again and Jude was there watching her. She took a deep breath, trying to settle the butterflies down, but once more her knees felt really weak.

For her — and this was the hardest part of all — she felt so much for Jude, longing to be with him, craving him.

He still held her hands, but he moved closer. “I just wanted to be near you.” He then smiled. “And I’ll never forget that moment, which now seems absurd. I mean, you had a bottle of ammonia in one hand and ugly yellow cleaning gloves in the other. It wasn’t exactly a romantic place or time. I thought what harm could there be?”

At that, Hannah chuckled softly. “No, not romantic at all. Then everything changed.”

“Hannah, I’m so sorry. If I could undo that moment, I would. I’d meant absolutely nothing by it.”

“I know. I believe you.”

When movement hit the corner of her eye, she yelped as two vampires landed on her porch. Jude even moved to position himself in front of her protectively. He relaxed immediately afterward, of course, when he saw who they were, then headed to the door.

She recognized them both as well. Paul was one of Jude’s lieutenants and the other was one of his team leaders, Alex. Her heart warmed at the thought that Jude had sent two of his best men to guard her.

He glanced back at her. “Your detail has arrived.”

She offered each a beer, but their refusal was firm; they were on duty. After Jude talked things over with his men, Paul and Alex took to the air to stay in flight above her house.

Jude returned to her. “You won’t be seeing them, Hannah. They’ll be in the air, patrolling your home the entire time. If anyone approaches, they’ll hold them for questioning, then they’ll call me. I’ll return immediately to deal with the situation. Okay?”

“Of course.”

“And when you’re ready to head to the Gold Rush, or anywhere else, just contact Longeness, and he’ll let either Paul or Alex know.”

For the first time since Jude had pushed her to an awareness of what she’d become, she finally began to trust that things might just be okay. “That sounds good. And thank you so much for bringing Vojalie and Davido in. I adore them both, and Vojalie really did calm my nerves.”

“Good, I’m glad.” He nodded briskly, moving back to her, but his gaze suddenly caught and held in a way that stole her breath.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I’m remembering. And Hannah, for what it’s worth, the time I spent with you in the bunkroom was one of the finest experiences of my life. I want you to know that.”

Her chest rose and fell with each deep breath she took. “I feel the same way.”

She leaned toward him with no particular intention in mind, but he must have read something deep in her soul because he quickly took her in his arms and kissed her.

Hannah held onto him, feeling sad and aroused all at the same time. The divide between them was so great, as big as the entire breadth of the Strait. Despite the changes she was undergoing, she was human and intent on living a human life and Jude was, well, Mastyr of Kellcasse Realm.

She gave herself to that kiss, however, feeling it could possibly be the last time she’d ever feel his lips on hers again or his powerful arms holding her tight.

He pulled back, but before she could say anything else, he strode to the open doorway, then launched into the air.

~ ~ ~

Jude headed to his house situated on Castle Island in the middle of Kellcasse Realm. The island was renamed in the last century to reflect the home his wife had built for them. Despite his sadness of losing his family, some of his best memories were inside the castle. Of being with Naomi, and of course, his daughter, Joy, who had been born there. The castle was always a welcome destination point.

He flew carefully, however, even a bit slower as he headed home, his gaze panning the horizon constantly for sign of the Invictus, or anything else out of the ordinary. He passed over a number of villages, many lit with candles and oil lamps, and a few with electricity.