Keepers of the Flame (Trilogy Bundle) (2 page)

Katrina stared at her for a few seconds, her ruby red lips pursed, then she nodded. “So, are you going to the prom with Eric? What?” She asked, feigning innocence as Luanne rolled her eyes and opened the car door.

“Has anyone told you that you're too nosy, Grandma?” she asked before stepping out of the car.

“Hey, who are you calling Grandma?”

***

I shook my head as I walked into the house I'd shared with my grandma since I was sixteen. Katrina could be impossible sometimes, but I loved her with every fiber of my being. I didn't tell her this, but I had nightmares that someday she would be taken from me. I know this is somehow connected to what happened three years ago, but I didn't want to think about that. I glanced back and saw her with a small shopping bag. Looking at her, it was easy to understand why I called her by her name and told people she was my aunt. What else could I do? How did you go about explaining that, even though your grandmother looked like a young thirty-year-old, she was actually a hundred-and-fifty-three-year-old vampire? Did I say
vampire?
Sure I did. You don't believe they exist? Well, that's exactly how we like it. And yes, I did say
we.
You see, it's something I didn't talk about then and it's not something I like to talk about now, except with those like us. Sharing such information would probably have earned me a vacation at the funny farm.

I entered the cool interior of the home and sighed with relief. We were in the middle of summer and the heat outside was killing. But that wasn't why I loved Katrina's home. It was like living in an exotic cave. The walls were a very pale blue with one section painted in dark grey, and the windows had heavy curtains that were always drawn. The darkness was softened by soft lamps in different parts of the living room. I felt my tension melt away as I sank my feet into the beautiful rug that grandma had told me was an Ambusson rug. When I first came to live with her, I'd been entranced by the patterns on the rug. I looked around me, felt that familiar ache in my chest, the emptiness that had been my companion for the past three years. When was this all going to get better?

I try to live like a normal person. It's not easy when you know you're different. As much as I've tried to blend in, I still stand out and I hate that. I want to be normal. Is that too much for a girl to ask? With a grandmother like Katrina who is always into one escapade or the other, it might be too much to ask. Still, I had no idea she would go as far as to make my life completely unlivable.

Since it was summer and I didn't have to be in school, I decided to indulge my nocturnal side and spent the day sleeping. So it was not until
five p.m. before I woke up and my room was a complete world of its own with an ensuite bathroom and a fridge stocked with almost every snack I could want. Hmm, I suppose you're now wondering about whether I drink blood or not. What can I say? I'm a vampire and the craving for that hits me every now and then. But I'm not like any vampire you've heard about. I was not
made
a vampire; I was born one. We are known as the
parereans
or the Born, as we are sometimes called. So we can go out in daylight if we want to, although we prefer not to. I can see my reflection in a mirror, though I have no idea why I would want to. It's just my face that's going to be staring back at me. And yeah, we can manage our craving for blood, when it does strike.

So sometime around eight p.m. I decided to go down for a real meal, something hot. As I went down the stairs, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Something wasn't right in the house, there was a foreign aura and it was a dangerous one. Strangely, the stone I was wearing as a pendant didn't give a warning like it usually did. I paused and pulled it out of the t-shirt I was wearing on top of my shorts. It sparkled brightly and looked almost alive in my hand, but that was all. How odd. With a frown, I tucked it back into my t-shirt and continued downstairs. I heard laughter coming from the kitchen and knew immediately it was Katrina. With a small smile, I walked in and stopped dead.

Katrina turned and saw me and flashed a smile at me. “Lu darling! Glad you're finally up, come meet my friend.” She gestured to her companion.

I turned reluctantly to look at him and felt a zap go through me. Honestly, I literally felt my entire body zap. I looked into his eyes and immediately forgot where I was. They were the bluest eyes I'd ever seen, but it was more than that. They were almost spellbinding and they seemed to draw me into their depths. I felt as though I was drowning in his eyes and was so grateful when Katrina's voice pulled me out.

“Luanne, this is Dylan. I've hired him to be your bodyguard.”

I'm not a shy person or anything like that. Okay, maybe I'm a little reserved, but that doesn't mean I'm shy. However, when I stared at the guy standing in Katrina's kitchen looking at me with what looked like faint disdain in his eyes, I wished I hadn't pulled my hair into a ponytail. If I had left it flowing, it could have given me something to hide behind.

“Hi Dylan,” I said quietly, averting my eyes away from the stranger. I could feel my heart beating and he made me feel defensive and I couldn't even say why. I went to the refrigerator and poured out the special drink that was created to stave off the craving I was suddenly feeling.

I stood still, the cold air from the refrigerator cooling my body. That was when Katrina's words suddenly dawned on me. I was sure I'd misheard her, I mean what other explanation could there be. As pleasantly as I could, I turned and saw two pairs of eyes looking at me. In Katrina's eyes, I could see that she was looking at me as though I should be leaping for joy. As if! As for the stranger, well I suppose I should refer to him as Dylan; I couldn't read anything in his eyes. I turned back to my grandmother with my mouth hanging open.

“Sorry, Katrina. I could almost swear I heard you say
bodyguard,
” I said when I could finally find my voice.

Even though my tone was pleasant enough, I guess it didn't fool her. She suddenly straightened her posture and frowned at me. “You're not gonna be difficult about this, are you?”

Me, difficult? She had practically ruined my life and she was calling me difficult? Instead, I shrugged and took a sip from the drink before speaking. “No,
Aunt
Katrina, I'm not gonna be difficult. Simply send him back wherever he came from and we'll pretend this never happened.” I waved a hand in the general direction of where the stranger –
Dylan
– was standing. Without looking at him, I sensed the change in him and everything in me went on alert. I shuffled on my legs, trying to hide my nervousness.

“Luanne, you know there's no other way. The attacks have been getting frequent and you're in no position to defend yourself. Those sporadic bursts of power you've had were pure luck or more like defense mechanisms. What's going to happen if you're outnumbered?”

I felt my chest getting tighter once again. I couldn't believe Katrina was taking that tone with me and in front of a stranger.
Thanks Katrina
, I thought bitterly.
Let the whole world know how inept I am
. “But is it too much to ask that you discussed this with me?” My voice was beginning to rise, that's how mad I was. “How could you just foist a bodyguard on me?”

“I did it for your own good, Luanne.” Katrina's voice was uncompromising. I'd never heard her this stern about anything before. Ever.

I gritted my teeth and almost stamped my feet in impatience. “For my own good! How is this for my good, Katrina? Just tell me that? Have you taken a good look at him?” I turned to stare at the, at Dylan. He was exactly what I didn't need in my need to blend in.

“What's wrong with me?”

I turned to see the amused smirk on his lips and felt like wrapping my hands around his gorgeous neck. And he was gorgeous. He had thick, dark wavy hair and eyes that were so blue they were definitely azure. He was quite tall too, but what was remarkable were the sleek muscles bulging around his arm. He looked like a movie star and a military man all rolled into one. He was one of those people who drew attention like a magnet.

“What's wrong with you?” I spluttered. “You are a damned magnet!”

“No swearing, Luanne,” Katrina scolded.

I had the grace to look ashamed, but it didn't last for long. I turned to her and said, “Katrina, please don't do this to me. How can I go to the prom with him tagging along? He'll draw attention wherever he goes. He looks like a movie star for goodness sake!”

“You take him to the prom with you,” she stated baldly.

I looked at her in horror. How could she do this to me? Eric Cooper was finally going to ask me to the prom. I'd had this ginormous crush on him throughout the school year and after not noticing me for several months, he'd finally called. Now Katrina was going to ruin that. “Katrina...” I wailed, not caring that I sounded like a five year old in front of the movie star - erm, Dylan, but this was ridiculous.

“I'm afraid my mind is made up, Luanne. You won't go anywhere without Dylan and that's final.”

I bit my lip and stared at her. Even as mad I was, I couldn't hate her, which sucked. I wanted to hate her with everything in me but she was my only family left. “This isn't fair.” Great. I really was regressing.

She walked toward me and gave me a hug, then looked into my eyes and said, “I love you, Lu. I can't bear to lose you.”
Too.
She didn't say it, but I heard it and it immediately took the fight out of me.

I hugged her back with a sigh and stepped back. I quickly rinsed my cup at the sink and turned to walk out.

“Where are you going?”

I turned to see them both watching me. “I'll be in my room. Surely I don't need your permission to go to my room; neither do I need a bodyguard there, do I?”

I noticed Dylan raise one of his bushy black eyebrows and narrowed my eyes at him. It occurred to me that I'd finally managed to call his name without stumbling over the stranger word and that made me even more determined to stay out of his way.

“Fine, dear.”

I turned and stalked out. There had to be a way around this bodyguard thing and I was determined to find it.

“She's going to try to run.”

I looked at the beautiful woman standing beside me. I'd heard so much about Katrina Kylor; she was a legend in her own right. Yet here she was, standing in her kitchen in a simple caftan and eyes that sparkled. She was nothing like I'd expected, and yet she was much more than I'd been prepared for. I turned back to gaze at the kitchen door where the granddaughter had just disappeared and felt a reluctant smile tug at my mouth. I shrugged lightly and said, “I've taken care of that.”

She smiled and nodded once, and then, her eyes clouded with worry, she laid a hand on my arm. “She's been through a lot, so try to be patient with her.”

She'd phrased it like a request, but we both knew it was an order. I told her I would and asked the problem that was troubling me. “These attacks; what form have they taken? I was only told that she needed protection from attempts on her life but I'd like to know what I'm up against.”

I didn't tell her that the call had come when I was within inches of getting a vampire I'd been after for the last five years. My men and I had been close to his hiding place. We'd finally been gaining in on him in spite of the dance he'd led us on when I'd been recalled by the headquarters. Thinking about it made me want to gnash my teeth in frustrated fury. There were a thousand-and-one protectors who could have acted as bodyguard to the rich girl. Hell, it was a job for a rookie protector. Yet they'd called me to do it. Maybe I was being punished for something I knew nothing about.

I thought I'd hidden my thoughts well, but I obviously hadn't done a good job. She stepped back briefly and silently commanded me to look at her. Yes, telepathy runs strong among our kind, although we don't normally send telepathic messages to people we're not familiar with. So I turned to her in surprise. I couldn't read her thoughts, which was a first for me. Actually, a second. I'd also been unable to read the rich girl's thoughts. That was definitely weird.