Immortal Sins (21 page)

Vilnius rented a car at the airport. It was amazing how much had changed in the fifty years since he had last been to America. He didn’t remember the freeways being so crowded, the buildings so large or so numerous. Of course, there had been similar changes in the rest of the world, as well. Houses springing up where there had once been only acres of green fields. Highways snaking their way through towns and cities, over mountains and along the coasts.

He had always admired the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and endless optimism of the people of America, but he much preferred his own land, where life was slower and not so crowded.

He stopped at the first hotel he came to. The clerk informed him that there were no rooms available without a reservation, but five minutes and one quick spell later, Vilnius was relaxing in the bridal suite on the top floor, a bottle of expensive champagne and a basket of fruit awaiting his pleasure.

Americans
, he thought,
they certainly know how to live
. He glanced out the window, surprised by the sense of lethargy that tugged at him. He had expected to be eager to confront Rourke; instead, he found himself thinking of Luisa, wondering how she had died, and if she had suffered. He was even more surprised to find himself grieving her loss. He had scarcely thought of her in three hundred years. Now that she was gone, he could think of little else. He had once had plans for his daughter. He had intended to free her from the painting at some future date and continue her instruction in the art of magic, perhaps even teach her the Dark Arts. What a pair they would have made.

He was mourning, he thought, with no small measure of astonishment, mourning for his only child, mourning for what might have been had she not sacrificed her innocence to that bloodsucker.

Turning away from the window, he moved restlessly through the room. He had never been one to do anything halfheartedly. His only daughter was dead and he would mourn her after the manner of his people. For the next seven days, he would sprinkle ashes on his clothing and deny himself food and water. Each night, he would light a candle to commemorate her life.

And when his period of mourning was over, he would destroy the man who had defiled her.

Ana Luisa woke with the setting of the sun. Opening her eyes, she saw Ramon lying on the bed beside her, the sheet pulled up to his waist. Propped on one elbow, he smiled at her when he saw she was awake.

“Were you watching me sleep?” she asked.

He wrapped a lock of her hair around his finger. “Maybe.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “I like looking at you.”

“Even when I am sleeping….” Her voice trailed off. “It is not really sleeping, is it? I did not fall asleep. One minute I was awake, and the next, darkness enveloped me. I did not dream….” She looked at him, her expression troubled. “It really is like death, isn’t it?”

“You’ll get used to it.” Leaning forward, he kissed her cheek. “You’re not sorry I brought you across, are you?”

“No, it is just different than I thought it would be. I think there will be more things to get used to than I expected.”

“You’ll get used to everything, in time,” he said. “I promise.” He kissed her again, longer, deeper. “And time is something we’ve got plenty of.”

“Have you been a vampire a very long time?”

“Five years, give or take a month or two,” he replied with an easy grin. “In the vampire world, I’m just a baby.”

“Do you like being a vampire?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“All of it?” she asked.

“All of it,” he said with conviction. “And you will, too.”

“Even the blood part?” she asked dubiously. “I did not really think much about that.”

He laughed softly. “Even the blood part.”

“How did it happen? Did you want to be a vampire?”

“Not at the time. I had a good friend who started acting strange, you know? He stopped hanging around with our crowd, wouldn’t talk to anyone. I went to his place one night and asked him what was wrong. He didn’t want to tell me, but I kept buggin’ him. Finally, he said, ‘You wanna know what’s wrong with me? I’ll tell ya. Hell, I’ll show ya!’”

Ramon shook his head. “He showed me, all right. Showed me his fangs, and then buried them in my throat. I don’t remember much after that. When I woke up the next night, I was in his house, but he was gone. I never saw him again.”

“How awful! You must have been terrified.”

He grunted softly. “You could say that. I didn’t know what to expect, or what to do, but I figured it out.”

She considered that a moment before asking, “Do you have a family?”

“Sure. They live in Mexico. My old man owns a fishing boat. My two older brothers work with my father. I have an older sister who lives in San Francisco, and a younger sister who lives in Fresno.”

“Do they know what you are?”

“No.”

“Do you see them very often?”

“We all go home every year or so and spend a few days with our folks.” He winked at her. “My mother will be happy to meet you. She was beginning to think I’d never settle down.”

Ana wasn’t sure she wanted to meet his family. What if they didn’t like her? Then again, what if they did? It would be nice to be part of a large family. It had been lonely growing up as an only child. She’d had no one to play with, no one to confide in. Her father hadn’t allowed her to play with the children in the village; considering her parentage, she doubted if the children would have been allowed to play with her, either. As a child, she had wished for brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and cousins.

“Are you very rich?” she asked.

“Who, me? Not hardly.”

“But you do not work.”

“Sure I do. I’m on vacation right now. I don’t have to go back to work for another two weeks.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m the night manager at the local market.”

She pondered that a moment, thinking that she really didn’t know very much about him, and then she smiled. She had years to learn everything there was, she mused, and then frowned. “Do I look the same?” She ran her hands over her face and down her throat. Never again would she see her reflection in a mirror.

“More beautiful than ever.”

“Do you remember what you look like?”

Ramon lifted one brow, as if amused by her question, and then frowned. He hadn’t seen his reflection in over five years.

“I have pictures to remind me,” he said, and knew a moment of regret that he hadn’t taken Ana’s photograph, but then realized it wasn’t necessary. If she wanted to remember how she looked, he would take her to a studio and have her portrait painted. Hell, they could have one painted every year if she liked.

Ana smiled when he told her about having her portrait painted. “Maybe we can have one made of the two of us,” she suggested.

“Sure, whatever you want.”

“Will people know what I have become?” she asked, then answered her own question. “They will not. I did not know you were different when first we met. Yet now…” She stroked his cheek, ran her fingertips down his arm. “Now, I see it so clearly.”

Ramon brushed a kiss across her cheek. “Things will only get better. You’ll be amazed at what you can do. Every sense is heightened, every touch magnified.” He laughed softly as her eyes widened. “Yes, making love will be better than ever.”

“I cannot imagine that,” she said with a shy smile.

“Shall I…” He frowned as someone knocked on the front door. Reaching for his jeans, he muttered, “Who the devil can that be?”

Ana Luisa shrugged, then offered him a seductive smile. “Do not be gone long.”

“Don’t worry.” With a wink, Ramon zipped his fly and went to answer the door.

Ana Luisa stretched languidly, then sat up at the raucous sound of male laughter. Curious to see who had come calling, she got out of bed and pulled one of Ramon’s T-shirts over her head.

Entering the living room, she found Ramon talking to two women she didn’t recognize, and a man she recognized all too well. It was Maitland, the man who had threatened her in the alley. What was he doing here?

“Ramon?”

He turned to her with a smile. “Ana, these are friends of mine….”

“How can you bring him here?” she exclaimed, glaring at Maitland.

Ramon moved to her side and slipped his arm around her shoulders. “Calm down, chica. You can’t blame Maitland for putting the moves on a pretty woman….”

“Is that what he was doing?” Ana Luisa demanded. She shook her head. “I do not think so. I think I would be dead now if you had not interfered. I do not want him here.”

“Now, listen, Ana—”

“No, you listen. I do not trust him.”

Ramon looked at Maitland, a clear warning in his eyes. “He won’t hurt you. You have my word on that.”

“How can you be so sure?” Ana demanded.

“Because he knows if he so much as lays a finger on you, I’ll destroy him.”

At Ramon’s words, tension thrummed through the air like lightning about to strike. The two female vampires glanced at each other and then looked at Ramon, as if waiting for him to say something, do something.

Ana Luisa looked up at Ramon, her head tilted to one side. “Would you?” she asked. “Would you destroy him?”

Ramon nodded. “No one will ever hurt you or scare you again. I swear it.”

Ana Luisa smiled, touched by his words and the conviction in his voice. “I believe you, but I still do not want him here.”

Ramon grunted softly. “Sorry, Maitland, but you heard the lady.”

Maitland’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. “You’re throwing me out?”

“Looks that way.” Ramon smiled at Ana. “She’s the lady of the house.”

Maitland threw an angry glance at Ana Luisa, then turned on his heel and stomped out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Ana Luisa nodded and smiled as Ramon introduced her to Nita and Jan, but her mind was on Maitland and the malicious look in his eyes. Perhaps she had been too rash in denouncing the man. She bit down on her lower lip, wondering if what she had just done would somehow come back to haunt her.

Before she could worry about it too much, a sharp pain speared through her. With a gasp, she looked at Ramon. Had something gone wrong? He hadn’t told her there would be pain.

Ana saw Jan and Nita exchange knowing glances. What did they know that she didn’t?

“It’s all right, chica,” Ramon said, taking her by the hand. “The hunger is always worse the first night after the change. Come, it’s time to go hunting.”

“You’re leaving?” Kari stared at Rourke, unable to believe what she was hearing. “What do you mean, you’re leaving? Why? When? Where are you going?”

“To retrieve my father’s sword.”

“But…I thought…” She frowned, then shook her head in disbelief. “You don’t mean to go after Vilnius, do you? Are you crazy? Have you already forgotten what happened to you the last time you crossed him?”

“The sword is mine,” Rourke said adamantly. He stood and began to pace the floor. “It is all I have left of my father. All I have left of my old life. Vilnius has stolen three hundred years from me. I will not let him take the sword, as well.”

“But…I…how soon are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night! I can’t possibly get time off from work again so soon.” Kari sat up, her fingers drumming on the end table. “That’s not near enough time to book a flight or find a hotel, or…”

“That will not be necessary this time.”

“Oh,” she said, then frowned. “Why not?”

“I can get there under my own power.”

“You can? How?”

“Preternatural flight, I suppose you could call it.”

“Why didn’t you go to Romania that way?” she asked, then shook her head. “Never mind. I think I know the answer. You needed my help in getting Ana Luisa here.”

Rourke nodded. “I can never repay you for that.”

“It was nothing. I was glad to help.”

“It was a very great imposition on your funds and your time. I will never forget your kindness, or your generosity.”

Kari blinked back the sudden urge to cry. Was he leaving for good? Was this his way of saying good-bye?

Lifting her from the sofa, he drew her into his arms, one hand cupping her cheek. “Nor can I ever thank you enough for freeing me from that wretched painting.”

“Rourke…” She looked up at him, her heart aching, her thoughts torn. There was so much that she wanted to say to him, and yet, if he was leaving, the words in her heart were best left unsaid.

He smiled faintly, and then he lowered his head and kissed her, a gentle kiss that flowed through her like sun-warmed honey, thick and hot and sweet. She moaned softly when he deepened the kiss, his tongue dueling with hers as his arm drew her closer.

Her body responded immediately, every nerve ending sparking to life. She wanted him and now he was leaving. She was sorry they had never made love. For a fleeting moment, she was tempted to surrender her will to his, to let him take whatever he wanted. Even knowing he was leaving and that she might never see him again, she was sorely tempted to beg him to make love to her, though judging from his arousal, she wouldn’t have to beg very hard.

“Rourke…”

He looked down at her, his eyes dark with desire. Her skin tingled where his hands touched her. Her lips still felt the heat of his kisses. Her body ached for the fulfillment only he could give, and yet, as much as she wanted him, needed him, she couldn’t say the words. It was bad enough that he had her heart. She could already feel it breaking at the thought of never seeing him again. If they made love and he left her, never to return, she knew she would never recover.

“I’ll miss you,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper.

“Will you?”

She nodded, her eyes swimming with unshed tears.

There was nothing to be gained by prolonging the moment, or by promising that he would return. Though it pained him to leave her, he knew it was for the best, for Karinna and for himself. It was time to remember that he was a vampire and she was prey. Expecting them to have a life together didn’t make any more sense than putting a sparrow in a cage with a tiger and expecting them to live happily ever after. It just wasn’t going to happen.

“Ah, Karinna.”

“Will I ever see you again?” She hadn’t meant to speak the words aloud. They made her sound weak, needy, pathetic. She wished she could call them back, but it was too late.

He gazed down at her, and though he didn’t speak, she saw the answer in his eyes, tasted it in the tender kiss he brushed across her lips. He murmured her name again and then vanished from her sight.

Kari stared at the place where he had stood only seconds before, thinking he had gone out of her life as quickly as he had come into it.

With a sigh, she went up to bed, only to lie there wondering if things would have turned out differently if she had surrendered to him. If they had made love, would his last kiss have been a promise to return instead of good-bye?

A tear slid down her cheek. She’d never know the answer now.

After leaving Karinna’s house, Rourke stalked the dark streets in search of prey. He fed long and often, feeling his power increase with each feeding, whether it was from a homeless man, a slightly intoxicated woman, or a young punk who was out looking for trouble and found more than he could handle.

Rourke drank from them all and sent them on their way. He needed to be strong for his upcoming journey, but, more than that, he drank for the sheer pleasure of it. He hadn’t told Karinna how much he had missed the warmth of it, the taste of it, the tantalizing scent of it, or how it filled all the cold, empty places inside him. Remembering how he had longed for nourishment when it had been denied him, Rourke drank until he was replete.

He had spent three hundred years in that accursed painting, and not a night had gone by that he hadn’t berated himself for being a fool, not only for going to Ana Luisa’s house, but for letting the taste of her blood, her virgin blood, cloud his senses. Only when he had felt the sting of her blood on his tongue had he realized she was not only a witch, but a virgin, but by then, it had been too late. Weakened by the taste of her blood, he had been helpless to protect himself when Vilnius had stormed into the room.

But he would meet the wizard again, and soon. Vilnius would not find him such an easy mark this time!

Hours later, his hunger satiated at last, he made his way to the shed in Karinna’s backyard. As he sank into the darkness of oblivion, his last conscious thought was that once he had retrieved his father’s sword he would have to find a new lair.

Kari woke early after a long and restless night. She had dreamed of Rourke again, dreamed that he was back inside the painting, and that she was trapped there with him. In her dream, the castle had been warm and cozy instead of cold and forbidding. The walls had been painted a cheery blue, Oriental carpets had covered the stone floors, velvet draperies had hung at the windows. The kitchen had contained the latest state-of-the-art appliances. She had enjoyed wandering through the forest, sailing in the boat, and riding the horse, but most of all, she had enjoyed spending her nights in Rourke’s arms. Instead of being frightened or eager to escape the painted world they inhabited, she had been perfectly content to remain there with him.

Now, lying in bed staring up at the ceiling, she wondered if the dream held some deeper meaning, though she had no idea what it might be. Nor did she have time to worry about it. She didn’t have the luxury of lying about analyzing her dreams. She had a busy day at work ahead of her.

Throwing off the covers, she headed for the bathroom and a hot shower.

It wasn’t until she turned off the water and stepped out of the stall that she realized she was crying.