Love Your Entity (22 page)

“We aren’t a gang. It’s more like a clan—”

“I don’t need to hear the details,” she said as he parked in front of their house. “I am not going to become a vampire. I refuse to allow that to happen. End of discussion. Show me the map out here where Hal can’t see us.” She dug in her purse for her flashlight and aimed it at the piece of paper Ronan handed her.

She looked it over. It was drawn in dark ink with no identifying information, such as “X marks the spot” or even north/south. “Something isn’t right with this.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It looks like it’s been cut in half,” she said.

Ronan swore as he took it from her and studied it himself.

“Are you sure the rest of it isn’t still in that casket?” she said.

“Yes.”

“Hal was probably too smart to put all his eggs in one basket or all his map pieces in one place. Although we still have no idea where his body actually is.”

“Maybe that’s where the rest of the map is. With his body.”

“Well, you’ve got forty-eight hours to find it and the treasure. I don’t have superhuman powers.”

“You speak to the dead.”

“And I yell at the undead!” she shouted at him. “It doesn’t seem to be doing me any good.” She’d been roped into this mess against her will. Her stomach rumbled with hunger pains. Maybe that was why she was so dizzy. “If I don’t eat, I’m going to pass out,” she said, getting out of the car.

Pulling out her smartphone, she ordered a deep-dish Chicago-style pizza with extra mushrooms. She had to change her order when she learned it would take an hour to make it and deliver. So she ordered a thin crust pizza instead.

As soon as she walked inside, she headed for the bathroom to take a shower and wash the cemetery dust off. “Do not talk to me for at least an hour,” she warned Ruby before she slammed the door in the ghost’s face.

She’d smudged the bathroom earlier with sage to prevent spirits from entering the room. The technique worked best in small spaces, so it wouldn’t do for her bedroom. But she had to have one small iota of privacy. If she couldn’t even pee without an audience then she was going to loose it completely.

Not that she wasn’t already on the verge, teetering there. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stood under the shower, using some of the soap that Zoe had given her as a housewarming present before wondering if it was spelled. Hell, even the soap around here wasn’t safe.

Muttering under her breath, she reached for her makeup kit, which had a small bar of soap from the last hotel she’d stayed in. That should be safe enough.

Okay, she had to calm down. She had to be logical.

But that was hard to do when wild thoughts kept zinging in her head. How could she be sure that her father wouldn’t come after her? What if he’d followed her home from the cemetery? What if he joined forces with Hal to punish her?

This was playing out more like a horror movie by the minute.

And then there was the entire Voz thing, where he would turn her into a vampire if they didn’t find the key in time. Unless Sierra was no longer bonded to Ronan. Which meant she had to have sex with him in the next forty-eight hours. Better make it sooner than that to be on the safe side.

Not that there was anything safe about having sex with a vampire. She was going to have to talk to Zoe and Daniella about that. She needed to get them alone, without Ronan being present. Or Hal.

She washed her hair and let the water sluice over her, rinsing away the bubbles but not her anxiety. Was that evil incarnate she’d sensed this morning after the séance at Zoe’s house a manifestation of her father? Or did it represent Voz somehow? But Voz was a vampire, not a spirit.

Maybe evil was evil. It didn’t matter what paranormal world it originated from. This was all new territory for her. Wondering what her heroine would do didn’t help because Nicki had never had to deal with anything like this. Plus there was the fact that Nicki was a fictional character.

The lack of hot water made Sierra finally turn off the shower. She couldn’t stay in there forever. After drying off, she tugged at the pile of clothes she’d grabbed on her way in—underwear and a soft microfleece top and pants in black.

She was finally starting to feel warm again after that incredible otherworldly cold in the cemetery. She quickly blow-dried her hair and then emerged, ready to welcome the pizza delivery guy.

He arrived a few moments later. She paid him and gave him a nice tip before closing the door and carrying her dinner to the dining room table.

The aroma made her mouth water. The sight of Ronan standing nearby wearing black pants and a soft black V-neck sweater also made her mouth water. There was something about a guy going SOS—sweater on skin. He’d apparently decided to clean up too after his time in the cemetery. His dark hair was still slightly damp and fell over his forehead.

Oh yeah. He definitely looked good enough to eat. And to lick. And to kiss and nibble.

He gave her a fiery yet cursory look and then headed for the wall where the built-in bookcase had been before Hal pulled it down. He started feeling the wall.

“What are you doing?” She stood next to him. Big mistake. Because the wall suddenly shifted and shoved them into a pitch-dark space.

Chapter Eighteen

“What did you do? Get us out of here!” Sierra demanded.

“This must be a hidden passage,” Ronan said.

“Ya think?”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic about it,” he reprimanded her.

“My pizza is out there and I want it now.”

Her eyes adjusted enough to the darkness that she could just barely make out Ruby, playing her tiny finger violin. “So you want your pizza. Tough tinsel. I want to head into the light. We all have problems.”

“Do you know how to get out of here?” Sierra asked.

“No,” Ronan said.

“Yes,” Ruby said.

“Then get us out,” Sierra told Ruby. “Or I won’t tell you the message I got from Johnny.”

“When did you see Johnny?” Ruby instantly demanded

“At the cemetery.”

“Tell me what he said or I won’t let you out,” Ruby said.

Sierra had had enough of being bossed around by supernaturals for one night. Her mother had raised her not to use a certain four-letter word. So instead, Sierra gave Ruby the finger. “F you!”

“I’m guessing you are speaking to Ruby the ghost,” Ronan said.

“Yes.”

“How’s that working out?” he asked.

“Not very well at the moment,” Sierra admitted

“The two of you can fight it out later,” Ronan said. “I don’t have time to waste.”

“Like I do?” Sierra retorted. “There’s a pizza out there with my name on it.” She sensed his movement. “Wait. Where are you going?”

“I’m going to see where this tunnel goes,” Ronan said.

“You can come back another time to do that. Another time when you have a flashlight.” Like the one she’d brought to the cemetery and dropped on her father’s grave.

“I can see just fine in the dark,” he said.

“He’s a vampire, remember?” Ruby told Sierra. “But he shouldn’t go exploring.”

“Ruby doesn’t want you exploring,” Sierra told Ronan.

“You and the ghost can stay here then,” he said.

“No way!” Sierra latched onto his arm.

“Afraid of the dark?” he drawled.

She had been temporarily when it had gradually occurred to her after her father’s death that he might come to her. Seeing him at the cemetery tonight had shaken her to her core. So had seeing Voz. So while normally Sierra wasn’t afraid of things that go bump in the night, this night was a little different.

When she didn’t answer his question, Ronan put his arm around her and tucked her close against him. “You’re safe with me,” he said.

Was she safe? Really? He was a vampire. How safe was that? She had a vampire bond with him so every time he kissed her she wanted to have sex with him. Not just
want
as in
I want to lose a few pounds
but as in
I want to, need to, have to.
No way by any stretch of the imagination could that be safe.

No, it was more like spontaneous combustion. That’s what it was.

Sierra should run in the opposite direction but she was locked in a secret tunnel with him in the dark. And she had that bond thing going on, meaning she was stuck on him like white on rice. She slid her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest for a moment. She could hear his heartbeat. Slow and deliberate.

“I thought vampires didn’t have a heart,” she said.

“Who says I do?” Ronan countered.

She loved the way his voice rumbled through her. “I can hear your heart beating.”

“We have organs. If you mean a heart that pumps blood, then yes, I have a heart.”

“But you don’t think you have a heart as in feelings?”

“No.” His voice was curt.

She shifted so she could see his face. It was pitch-dark but her eyes had adjusted a bit. Ruby was illuminated so Sierra had been able to see her. But Ronan was a mystery.

“If you have no feelings then why did you agree to save your sister?” she said.

“I owe her that much.”

“Loyalty is a feeling.”

“I knew her before I was turned.”

“So you’re saying that since you were turned, you haven’t had any feelings?”

“No.” Now his voice was curt and cold.

Ronan was determined to ignore the way she cuddled against him. Why did she have to ask so many damn questions? Why couldn’t she keep her mouth shut? Hell, why did she have to show up in the first place?

Because she was his key to communicating with the ghosts.

Shit! What if
she
was the key that Voz was talking about? What if the key was a person not a thing? His reaction was profound, twisting his gut and sending all his protective instincts into overdrive. Yes, Sierra asked questions and she got under his skin. But as much as he tried to deny it, she was
his
and he would die for her. The realization hit him like the proverbial ton of bricks. He would never allow her to die for him or to suffer because of him. She was already too much at risk as it was.

If Sierra was the key, no way was he turning her over to Voz. Never. No matter what the consequences might be.

He struggled to get his thoughts in order. His sire’s proclamation at the cemetery tonight had thrown Ronan. He knew some things about vampire bonds, but did not know that because of the bond Sierra would have to go with him if he was returned to being an indentured vampire.

She’d told Voz that the Master Vampire had set Ronan up to fail. Which made it sound like she didn’t have much faith in him solving this mystery.

He tried to be logical. If Sierra was the key, then why hadn’t Voz just taken her at the cemetery? Yes, Ronan would have fought viciously to the death to protect her, but Voz was the one entity in the world that was stronger than Ronan. Voz knew that as surely as Ronan did.

So it couldn’t be Sierra. He heaved a sigh of relief. The mere thought of his redhead being touched by Voz had almost driven him over the edge.

But what if that “key” person was Ruby or even Hal? None of this made sense. They weren’t people any longer. They were ghosts.

Just as he wasn’t a person anymore. His days of dating in high school and college, of falling in and out of love, of wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor were long gone. He’d lost his humanity in the war to end all wars. When he’d left this house, people were growing victory gardens and angry mobs were hanging effigies of the German kaiser. After completing boot camp, he’d gone on a transport ship with thousands of other guys. German subs prowled the Atlantic, sinking ships and threatening theirs.

They’d landed in France and were ordered to the front lines within days. He’d heard the horror stories about the conditions in the trenches, but nothing had prepared him for the reality. The deadly hail of shrapnel and high-explosive shells. Death also threatened from the German planes above, diving down so you could hear the wail of the propeller before dropping their bombs. Land mines littered the ground, ready to rip a soldier apart the instant it was detonated with a footstep.

He should have died then. Instead Voz had found him and dragged him away, draining Ronan’s blood and replacing it with his own. The battles had continued long after any mortal wars ended. Ronan had killed countless vampires and some humans along the way. Going to that cemetery tonight had made that memory hit home. Vampires didn’t get graves. They got even.

He was a vampire now.

Sierra had no intention of becoming a vampire. She’d been very blunt about her feelings on that issue.

She was allowed to have feelings. He wasn’t.

Ronan switched his attention back to his surroundings. The darkness reminded him of the dungeon in Voz’s castle. But he had no more time for those visceral memories. He needed to focus. The wall was brick and covered in cobwebs. He brushed them away. He’d need both hands for this.

“Stay here,” he told Sierra, setting her a few feet behind him.

He should have known she wouldn’t obey orders.

She hooked her hand in the waistband of his jeans. “Just making sure you don’t take off and leave me here.”

“I would never do that.”

“Damn right you won’t,” she said. “Because I’ve got hold of you.”

He didn’t point out that if he moved at vamp speed, he could still take off and she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

Instead he concentrated on the surface of the bricks, looking for one that might jut out or differ from the others. He quickly realized he could do this faster if he didn’t have Sierra tethered to him. Maybe the best thing to do was to see where this passageway went. So he reached around for Sierra and once again tucked her against his side.

Looking ahead, he discovered that the floor seemed smooth up to the right-angle turn. When they turned the corner, they moved toward what he assumed was the back of the house where they reached a metal spiral staircase going down.

“Can you see anything?” he asked Sierra.

He watched her squint. “Not much.”