Night of the Wolves (22 page)

Cody stood, setting his plate down, and paced over to the window, where he stared at the drapes as if he could see through them.

She got up and hurried to join him. “Cody, it has to be my father. It
has
to be.”

He set his hands on her shoulders, staring into her eyes. “No, Alex,” he said sadly, “it doesn’t.”

“But—”

“Don’t you think I understand how you feel? No,” he said, shaking his head, “no, of course you don’t, because…” He met her eyes, his own dark with the intensity of his gaze. “Alex, I keep thinking, praying, that it was
my
father.”

She gasped, stunned, and backed away from him. “What?”

He let out a sigh, turned and strode toward the bed, where he stopped with his back to her. Finally he turned to face her. “You don’t know,” he said softly, “because I haven’t told you. God knows I keep the truth from the world as much as I can.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Cody. What truth?” she demanded.

“I was born in New Orleans, Alex, but I was conceived out here, on a ranch near Victory. It still exists, and I still own it—the land, and what’s left of a bunch of fallen-down, rotting buildings.”

“But what does that mean?” Alex asked. She felt an overwhelming sense of dread, but at the same time, she wanted to know the truth, everything, no matter what he had to say.

He sighed. “This…war didn’t just start. And this isn’t the only place vampires have tried to take hold. It’s just
easier out here, where one of them can slip into a town and make a meal of the population.”

“You’ve hunted vampires before. Obviously,” she said.

He walked back to her and set his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her eyes, and when he spoke, it was sadly, his voice filled with pain.

“Alex, I
am
a vampire.”

“W
HAT
?”
SHE GASPED
. He…must be crazy, driven mad by his continual search for monsters. “Cody, that’s impossible. I’ve seen—”

“Alex, why do you think I can only use
my
blood for the transfusions?” He released her, stepping back, and his voice turned almost cold. “I’m an anomaly, as far as I can tell. The story I got as a child was pretty confused, but my mother didn’t believe my father had been dead for very long. But he came home to her—when all the evidence says he was lying dead on the plain. The way I figure it, my father was attacked and…turned, but somehow he made it back to her, and that was the night I was conceived. He loved her deeply, and—I know she loved him. The idea of finding a new husband never once occurred to her. And, like you, she never believed that a man she loved so much could be evil. But as I grew up, it became apparent that I wasn’t quite your usual kid. If I was injured, I healed. I was riddled with bullets during the war, and everyone was sure I was dead. When it turned out I was alive, I was discharged and sent home to heal. Except I already
was
healed. That’s why I went to medical school, though. I wanted to help others heal.” He paused. “I have some other unusual abilities, too. I can move like lightning, and if I
concentrate, I can cloak myself, like a shadow. I have a superhuman strength. And my hearing and eyesight are acute. I really am—a vampire, Alex. Half vampire, anyway, which I guess is why I don’t need an invitation to enter a house.”

His story was insane.

“Cody, I know you believe what you’re saying, but it’s just because you’ve been doing this so long that you’re…You’re just strong, that’s all, and you’ve got…you’ve got good blood,” she said weakly.

“No, Alex, I am half monster,” he said firmly.

“You don’t drink blood!”

“Yes, I do.”

Despite herself, she felt her hand slip to her throat. “But—”

He shook his head, turning away from her again and striding across the room. “I don’t take human blood, Alex. Like anyone, I get most of my nutrition from food, and I learned as a child to subsist on any kind of blood when food just wasn’t enough. And to go a very long time between…drinks.”

“So what kind of blood do you…?” she whispered.

“Cow’s blood, Alex. I’ve been known to hang around a slaughterhouse or two,” he said dryly.

“Cow’s blood,” she repeated.

“Wild pigs did well enough when I went to war,” he said.

Alex blinked. “Wild pigs.”

“Right. Once, as a child, I bit the family dog. I really loved that dog, and because of me, he almost died. When he made it, I knew that I’d never touch a dog, or any pet, again. Or a coyote or a wolf, for that matter. They’re too much like dogs.”

“Chickens?” she suggested.

He turned around and met her eyes again. “Chickens—if I have no choice. They don’t provide much blood, not like a cow or a horse.”

“Oh.”

“It’s true. Every word I’ve spoken is true. I never wanted to come to Victory. I wanted to heal the injured—boys from the North as well as the South—as they straggled back into New Orleans. I wanted to deliver babies. But I’d gotten a reputation, I guess you’d say, and I worked for the government on a few cases before the war. And now I’m here because Brendan had heard about me, and he asked me to come out and help him with what was going on here. So you see, Alex, my father is out here somewhere, too. And I need to find him.”

All Alex could do was stare at him. After a long moment he turned, went back over to her dressing table and picked up his plate.

“I’ll take this to my room and leave you to your thoughts.”

He walked away, closing the door behind him, and she couldn’t even manage to move.

She couldn’t—wouldn’t—accept what he’d said. He was crazy. He’d been doing this too long.

And yet…

That first night…

He
had
moved like a shadow himself, slipped up behind Milo in a way that had seemed almost inhumanly effective. He knew exactly what he was doing. He…

It’s true. Every word I’ve spoken is true.

He believed it. And after what she had seen…

She believed it, too.

She sprang into action, hurrying to the door, throwing it open—and then she froze, staring.

He’d set his plate down on the dresser and was at the washstand. His shirt was gone, and he was lathering himself up almost frenziedly. He scrubbed his face and chest, then drenched himself in cold water, letting it sluice over him. His back was to her, but when he looked up, she could see his face in the mirror.

And he could see her.

“What?” he demanded. His tone was sharp, as if he was trying to create a wall between them.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“I think I laid it out simply enough. My father became a vampire. Then he went back to my mother—and I was conceived. Therefore, I am half vampire. Half monster. And I’ve figured out that I’ll never get to go home and go back to simply being a city doctor—delivering babies and setting broken legs.”

“So?” Alex said.

He turned around, mopping his face with a towel, frowning as he looked at her. “So…what?” he asked, scowling.

She strode into the room, facing him. Close. Almost backing him into the washstand. “I never took you for a coward.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” His eyes narrowed.

“So you have a little quirk in your pedigree,” she said, then smiled. “This is America. I’m some kind of Northern European mix. Between them, Tess and Jewell have Chinese, African, Mexican and Indian blood. God knows what Jigs is.”

He allowed himself a small, grim smile. “Nice try, Alex, but that’s not quite the same as being half vampire.”

“It is for you, Cody. You use your birth, the abilities you inherited, for good,” she said softly.

He pulled her against him for a long moment, and she could smell the clean scent of soap on his chest.

“Alex…”

“Even if you’re going to hunt vampires all your life, there’s no reason not to allow yourself to care—not have a home to go back to after you go hunting.”

He cupped her face, lifting her chin. “You still don’t believe me, do you? I’m a monster.”

“And you still don’t believe
me
, do you?” she whispered. “I don’t see you as a monster. I see you as the man who saved my life. I see you as the man I want…for however much time I can have, whenever that time may be.”

“No, Alex, I have no right. I
never
had the right….”

“Cody, for the love of God, will you please let me have the last word, just this once?”

He fell silent, staring at her.

She lifted herself on her toes, finding his lips, kissing them softly at first, then passionately.

“Cody, I need you tonight,” she whispered against his mouth.

He wrapped his arms around her again, his chin resting atop her head, and he said, “I don’t know what the future will bring, Alex. I honestly don’t know.”

“None of us do,” she assured him.

And then he kissed her. Maybe, in his own mind, he felt he had to prove his humanity, because he was gentle, his kiss feather light. He lifted her as if she were precious and
laid her down so tenderly that she was aware only of the softness of the mattress beneath her.

He stretched out beside her, stroking her cheek, staring into her eyes….

“Alex…”

She sighed softly, somehow knowing what was in his mind.

I’ll stay here. I’ll protect you. I’ll be your strength against the night.

Overwhelmed by need and desire, she suddenly took command and straddled him, working at the buttons on her tailored shirt as she leaned down over him, her hair feathering against his chest, eliciting a soft groan that only fed her own hunger.

She threw the shirt aside and kissed him, her lips wild and hungry, her tongue passionate and demanding.

He rose to the challenge, returning her fever with his own, cupping her head, rolling with her, seeking to free her from her remaining garments. She helped, sliding her riding breeches down over her hips before shifting her hands to the buckle of his belt, then dipping her fingers beneath his waistband. His eyes met hers, and she bit back the words she couldn’t say.

I don’t care who or what you are. I don’t care that we’ve only known each other a few days, the strangest days of my life. I know there will never be anyone else like you. I’m falling in love with you. No, I
am
in love with you
….

No. She couldn’t say those words.

So she made love to him instead, and she gasped in sweet pleasure as he returned each brush and gesture, as they turned into a tangle of stroking, touching, kissing
and teasing, awakening an ever greater arousal. Finally they rocked into climax together, the moment seizing them with a sweet violence that swept them up into the wonder of the flesh, then allowed them to drift down still filled with the wonder of what could never be truly touched, truly understood, the power of the heart and the soul.

Afterward they lay together quietly for a while, just breathing.

“Alex,” he said softly.

“What?”

“Neither of us can take the chance of being fooled.”

“What?”

He was staring up at the ceiling, but his arm tightened around her.

“We both want our fathers to be…good. Not monsters. Not killers. But if they should come to us, we can’t allow ourselves to be fooled. We can’t let hope cost us our lives.”

“Of course not,” she whispered. “I can be strong. But we’ll learn the truth. We’ll bring down Milo, and then we’ll discover that there can be such a thing as a good vampire. That shouldn’t be so hard for you to believe. You say you’re a vampire, and you’re good.”

“I
am
a vampire,” he said. “And yes, I’m good, or at least I try to be.”

“See? I told you that was the truth,” she said.

He pulled her against him. “We’ll find out soon enough, I’m afraid,” he said softly.

And then she knew.

Tomorrow night the full moon would be here.

I
T CAME AGAIN
. The dream in which she saw her father.

She was out riding, and then there he was, opening his arms to her, the essence of him still there, as strong and good as it had ever been.

There was a rumble in the sky, but it wasn’t thunder, because there was no rain on the horizon.

Instead she saw a red cloud, billowing and rising, and blocking out the sun.

And even as the sun sank, the moon began to rise.

She could hear him, but distantly. He was calling her name, and he seemed to be warning her. Telling her to…

Run!

Suddenly he was by her side, and they ran together until they reached the caves, the same caves that had given Chief Tall Feather and his clan their name of Cave Warriors.

The caves where they interred their dead.

They ran through the caves, penetrating deeper and deeper into a maze, until suddenly her father stopped, his face twisted in horror.

A trick. It’s a trap.

And then Cody was there.

Get away from her, Eugene. You might not want to, but you can hurt her
.

No…she’s my daughter.

Then he stopped, and Alex realized both men were listening to something past the limits of her hearing.

They’re coming!
Cody said.

Alex woke with a start. Cody was wrong about her father. She
knew
he was wrong. The dream might not happen just as she had seen it, but still, it was a foretelling.

Her father was out there. Her father, not Cody’s, had saved the people who had survived in Hollow Tree.

She rolled over, anxious to tell him, anxious to make him understand that she knew—
she knew
—her father would never hurt her.

But Cody was gone, and daylight was streaming through the window.

She leaped up and hurried back to her own room, where she washed and dressed quickly, choosing breeches and a shirt again, thinking that this didn’t seem likely to be a day requiring a ladylike ensemble. She industriously brushed her teeth with baking soda, then ran downstairs, but before she could get very far, she paused.

She could see out the front window.

And what she saw was Linda Gordon, in a shirt and breeches just as she was herself, standing out on the balcony of the saloon.

Linda took a look around, then slid town the drainpipe to the ground, kicking up a small clod of dirt as she landed. She hurried around back, to the small barn behind the saloon, and reappeared a moment later on horseback.

Alex started to shout for someone to come, but she
hesitated. It was broad daylight, and she wanted to know where the hell Linda was going. She wouldn’t accost her; she would just follow her at a distance.

It would be completely safe.

She hurried out the door and around the side of the building, pausing beside the window of the dining room, because she could hear Bert talking anxiously to Father Joseph. “How can we be certain? Cody Fox plans to bring John Snow and his family in here by tonight, but how can he be certain he’s not bringing in—a family of vampires?”

“We just have to trust in Cody—and God, of course,” Father Joseph replied.

“We’d better keep a lot of holy water around, that’s all I can say,” Bert said worriedly.

Holy water.

As she passed the back door, Alex slipped quietly inside. She found the priest’s portmanteau against the wall, where the weapons would be in easy reach whenever they were needed, and she hunkered down, opening it in silence. She grabbed several of the vials of holy water and slid them into her shirt pocket. She paused, then collected a bow and a quiver of arrows, too, grateful that there were plenty of people to keep carving weapons. If they ran out of broom handles and fence pickets, well, the banister could always be taken apart.

She hurried to the stables and slipped a bridle over Cheyenne’s head, then leaped Indian-style onto the mare’s back.

When she reached the street, Linda was gone, but she remembered the direction Linda had taken and leaned low against Cheyenne’s neck, saying, “Speed now, Cheyenne. We’ll slow down once we pick up her trail.”

The mare pranced nervously, which was good.

She was ready to race.

C
ODY AND
B
RENDAN
had started out at the crack of dawn, just as the first pale streaks of morning had cut across the darkness.

When they reached John Snow’s, the man was excited to see them. His granddaughter had been doing very well. And though last night there had been vampires in the sky, there had only been a few, and they had simply been circling, watching. “I think they were like scouts, on a reconnaissance mission, or vultures, seeking out the dead. One or the other. But we brought down two of them.”

“May we see them?” Cody asked tensely.

John nodded. “You’re just in time. We have taken the precautions and were just about to bury the remains.”

Outside, behind the house, John had the corpses under a tarp. He pulled it back.

He had indeed taken every precaution. The heads had been removed, and the hearts cut out.

Neither had been more than thirty at the time he’d been turned, and they couldn’t have been turned long ago, since they hadn’t immediately decayed into ash or a puddle of putrefaction. Cody didn’t recognize either man. His father wasn’t there, and neither was Eugene Gordon, or John would have said something.

And certainly not Milo Roundtree.

No.

Milo was biding his time, letting others go in.

He was letting his soldiers perish while he tested his prey.

“Go ahead and bury them, John,” Cody said, replacing
the tarp. “But quickly. We need you to bring your family into Victory by tonight,” he said.

John frowned, and Cody wasn’t surprised. He had expected the other man to balk.

“We can fight here. We have proved it, Cody.”

“John,” Brendan said, stepping in, “we know that you and your sons—and your entire family—know how to fight. But there may be a mass attack tonight. It’s the night of the full moon. And quite frankly, we need your help to save Victory.”

Cody lowered his head, smiling slowly. Leave it to Brendan.

John Snow nodded sagely. “A united front…Yes, my sons and I will help. April owes her life to you. Perhaps the entire family, since we know how the infection spreads. We will come into town. It will take no more than an hour to finish with this refuse—” he nodded toward the corpses “—and ride in. We will be well ahead of the sunset,” he promised.

Satisfied, Cody thanked him. “The boardinghouse is full right now. The sheriff has taken up residence in the saloon, and there’s still room there.”

“That will be fine, Cody Fox,” John Snow assured him. “We will go wherever is necessary. We will come to fight.”

S
HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN
.

Linda was heading for the caves.

Alex had thought that she’d escaped the other woman’s notice, but as she trotted past the entrance to the first arroyo, she was startled to see Linda waiting for her.

She had dismounted and was leaning against the rock wall.

“Alexandra. To what do I owe this honor?”

“I’ve caught you. Red-handed,” Alex said flatly.

Linda smiled. “You’ve caught me doing what? Riding?”

“I saw you slide down a drainage pipe so no one would see you and ride out of town. That seems like proof of guilt to me.”

Linda was standing, while Alex was still mounted. She felt it gave her an advantage.

But Linda was apparently not impressed. “I’m not a vampire,” she said flatly.

“Then you’re infected—and you tried to kill Jigs.”

“I’m not infected,” Linda said, sounding weary. “And I would never hurt Jigs.”

“Oh?” Alex said.

She reached into her pocket for one of the vials of holy water, uncorked it swiftly with her teeth and poured the entire contents onto Linda’s head.

“What did you do that for!” the other woman demanded, sputtering.

She was wet.

Other than that, the water seemed to have had no effect on her.

“Oh, my God! You brat,” Linda said. “You dumped holy water on me, didn’t you? I told you—I’m not a vampire!”

“Then what are you doing out here?” Alex demanded.

Linda sighed. “I’m here to see your father,” she said.

C
ODY AND
B
RENDAN
returned to the boardinghouse in midafternoon.

Cody was uneasy and had watched the sky the entire ride. Already it seemed that the usual blue of the Texas sky
was turning to a bloodred shade. The sun had begun its descent. Even though there were still hours of daylight, he could see the pale orb of the moon, ghostlike, just beginning to rise.

He walked over to the saloon to tell Cole and Dave that John Snow’s family would be coming.

The men had already prepared their weapons for that night. There were an abundance of stakes set in strategic places, and the men had been melting silver and casting silver bullets. Bows and quivers filled with arrows were lined up on the bar.

“Jigs?” he asked Cole.

“Weak as a kitten. I don’t think he’ll do us much good tonight, if the attack you suspect does come,” Cole said. “But I don’t think he’ll turn on us, either.”

“Someone in this house will,” Cody said. “Be prepared.” He looked around. Everyone was present and accounted for—except Linda.

“Where is Linda Gordon?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Cole said. “I don’t think she’s come down yet.”

He looked at Cody, then swore softly and ran up the stairs. Cody heard him bang on her door, then throw it open. A moment later he ran back down. “Gone,” he said.

“Watch out for her return,” Cody told him.

He strode across the street to the boardinghouse. He had to make sure, but his gut was certain Alex would be gone, as well.

He ran into Father Joseph—definitely the Lord’s warrior—in the hall, inventorying their weapons.

“Have you seen Alex?” he asked.

Father Joseph frowned. “No, but I haven’t seen her leave, either.”

Cody swore and raced up to their rooms, bursting into one and then the other.

He had known he would be wasting time.

He hurried down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Brendan called out to him when he reached the front hall. “Cody, wait. I’ll go with you.”

“No, you have to stay here. These people need your experience. I’ll be back with Alex.”

He hurried out with long strides, resaddled Taylor and followed the two sets of hoofprints leading out of town.

A
LEX HAD DISMOUNTED
and was sitting on a rock with Linda, sharing the canteen of water Linda had brought.

“He never wanted you to see him like this,” Linda explained. “He didn’t even come to me right away, only when he had no choice and it was time to warn me, and that’s when he told me what had happened. Milo took him by surprise when he was riding back from Calico Jack’s. He doesn’t remember what happened to him, only waking up in his coffin with a terrible hunger—and an amazing strength. He dug his way out…and ran, trying to figure out what Milo had done to him. He took refuge in these caves, where he lived off bats.”

“Oh, God,” Alex said.

“He came to me, not long before you returned. I started bringing him raw meat and blood from the butcher’s. He’s not evil, Alex.” She sighed. “A while back, he took to hiding out in Hollow Tree. He knew the town, and he felt safe there, less likely to be recognized. But then Milo and his men came, and he came back here again.”

“I never believed he could be evil,” Alex said. “But I’m sorry. I did think you were a bitch and a whore.”

“I was a whore—until I met Eugene,” Linda said quietly. “After his…death, I went back to the saloon because it was an easy place for him to come see me.”

“I’m truly sorry,” Alex said. “I shouldn’t have judged you.”

“I understand,” Linda told her. “Your father…he’s been afraid that you’ve been seeing him in your dreams. He told me that you have visions.”

“Sometimes,” Alex admitted.

“That’s how Milo teaches his gang to get to people—in their dreams. That’s how Milo tried to get to you. He knows that Eugene is out here somewhere, and once he’s taken over Victory, he’ll come for him. But he has a lot of power. He was able to tap into your father’s mind, because your father was one of his kills, and could reach you. He tried to lure you out, and you were open to him.”

Alex shivered, thankful for Cody—Cody, who had saved her.

She frowned suddenly, stood and looked out across the plain. “Linda?”