Night Walker (21 page)

“But it isn’t
yours
. All the drawers and closets are empty. There isn’t a single picture here, or anything that reminds me of you. The only room in this house that seems to have any of
you
in it is the 158 LISA KESSLER

office. The rest of this place is just an empty shell.” She brushed his hair back with her fingers. “I want to know Calisto, not the founder of Foundation Arts, or some man from an eligible bachelor list. This house and this bedroom aren’t you.” Calisto rose from the bed and offered her his hand. “Come with me, I want to show you something.”

Kate allowed him to help her from the bed and pulled her shirt back on. He slid his arms into his shirt but didn’t bother to button it.

He held her hand and led her downstairs.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

Calisto smiled, lifting their joined hands to kiss her knuckle. “To
my
bedroom.”

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Chapter Nineteen

Calisto led Kate onto the deck and down the stairs. The sight of her smile in the moonlight encouraged him that he’d made the right decision. He loved her, and she had a right to know him, more than anyone else ever would, even if he couldn’t share all of his secrets.

He was stunned, not only by her perception, but by his own desire to open up to her. Mortals were often in his home and no one had ever found reason to doubt him before.

But Kate wasn’t like everyone else. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to share his soul with her, or as much of it as he could.

“Your room is outside?”

“You ask far too many questions.”

“And you still manage not to answer them.” Calisto laughed. “Perhaps.”

Once they reached the sand, he took her around to the back of the house where the foundation met the sandy cliff. After he unlocked the double doors to the wine cellar, he froze.

He couldn’t let Kate go inside. Not yet.

On the wall of his private bedroom hung a large canvas that he’d painted lifetimes ago, after the mission burned to the ground. His last 160 LISA KESSLER

portrait.

He used to love using his brushes and oils, creating a new world of color and life on an otherwise dull canvas, bringing light and life out of nothingness. As a mortal man in Spain, he apprenticed with a Church artist, learning to depict the face of Christ or the Blessed Virgin. His artistic talent led to his selection to sail to the New World with Father Serra. He was a priest, and also an artist, responsible for many murals on the Mission de Alcala’s sanctuary walls to honor the Lord he served.

But this portrait was not of Christ.

The painting adorning the wall of his room was of his Tala. She wore his signet ring tied around her neck, and she had a Romneya bloom tucked behind her ear. He even captured the tiny crescent in her right iris, along with the secret smile she saved for him alone.

Until the night they took her from him forever.

He couldn’t let Kate see it. She would recognize herself, and he had no explanation for it. Maybe he should have waited to bring her here.

“Is this it?”

Kate’s voice jarred him from his worries and Calisto nodded.

“Yes.”

He hesitated to open the door. Kate looked up at him. “Is something wrong?”

“I have never had a visitor to my room. May I have a minute to be sure everything is as it should be?”

“Of course.”

He bent to taste her lips, then straightened and locked his gaze on hers. “Wait for me.”

He slipped through the door and into his room. Lifting the painting from the hook, he stared at the portrait and smiled. He didn’t need it anymore. She was alive again and waiting for him right outside. Carefully, he wrapped the canvas inside the sheet and slid it underneath his bed and into hiding.

He glanced around his room and, satisfied, stepped outside.

“Can I see it now?” She smiled.

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Calisto nodded with a crooked grin. “That is why I brought you here, no?”

§

He held the door open for her, and Kate stepped inside. She stared at the piano that now sat in the center of his room. Her mother’s piano.

She turned, smiling up at Calisto. “I wondered where it went.” She ran her fingertips along the lid of the baby grand piano. “I’m so glad it found a good home.”

“Your fingers have graced its keys.” He crossed his arms with a shrug. “I could not allow anyone else to touch it.”

“Have you played it?” she asked, looking back at him.

“Every night.”

“Really?”

“Of course.” He nodded. “It made me feel closer to you.”

“No wonder I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” She smiled.

“You were thinking about me too.”

“I feared I might never see you again.” He caressed her cheek.

She nuzzled into his touch. “I couldn’t stay away.”

“Good,” Calisto replied, his voice just above a whisper.

“Is it?”

“
Si
.”

“Why?” She tilted her chin up toward him.

Calisto took a step closer. “Because.” He kissed her tenderly, whispering against her lips. “I love you, Kate.” His lips fused with hers, and he lifted her into his arms, carrying her to his bed. Calisto lowered her slowly without breaking the kiss, his body covering hers. He slid his hands underneath her t-shirt, pushing the fabric up. Her skin felt soft in his hands, and the way her body writhed beneath him sent his desire soaring.

He needed her. Now.

He kissed her mouth, chin, down her neck, his lips and tongue tasting every inch of her skin, exploring every curve. She pulled his shirt down from his shoulders and he shrugged it off. Her warm hands ran up his back and into his hair, her nails massaging his scalp while 162 LISA KESSLER

he freed himself from his pants.

He looked into her eyes, and she saw silent passion that spoken words could never hope to communicate. Lying in his arms, she lived simply to love him. Her fingers tangled in his dark mane, pulling him closer until their lips met in a hungry kiss. His hips pressed forward, joining them, one in a passionate struggle for pleasure and closeness.

Kate rolled on top of him without breaking the kiss. His hands slid down the arch of her back to grip her waist. Gradually she softened the kiss, drawing back until she sat up, staring down at him.

Calisto filled her perfectly, completely. His eyes burned with carnal desire. She felt sensual watching his gaze moving over her curves.

She savored the feel of him inside of her, grinding against his slow thrusts. She dropped her head back, moaning his name. Calisto pushed up, kissing his way along her neck. His lips fused with hers in a hungry kiss as he held her tight in his arms, her breasts crushed against his chest. Kate wrapped her legs around his waist. She couldn’t get close enough. As her body reached its peak, she trembled in his arms, and gasped against his lips. “I love you, too.”

§

He was sick of hiding.

Time to push the battle forward.

Even though it appeared Kate was staying with the Night Walker, as long as she remained mortal, he had the upper hand. She held the key to his plan’s success. If he let her slip through his fingers now, the Night Walker had already won.

An unacceptable scenario. He had waited far too long for this.

His ambition would never accept failure.

Father Mentigo combed through his thick black hair, focusing his attention on his dark eyes in the mirror. He would make an imposing immortal. His tall stature already forced most people to look up to him. The sharp angles of his face and his hawk-like nose made his cold stares even more piercing and threatening.

Replacing the comb, he picked up his silver shears and clipped his hair, cutting until it rested at least an inch above his collar. He took a moment to admire his transformation, and then reached for the ivory-Night Walker 163

handled straight razor. With a steady hand, he slid the blade along the edge of his jaw, shaving off most of his beard. Every deliberate swipe of the blade carved out a new identity, leaving behind a thin, angular goatee that gave him more defined features. He felt his bare skin and inspected his new look.

Facial hair wasn’t tolerated in the monastery, but he was far from their reach now. He wouldn’t be a pious monk much longer anyway.

A twisted grin curled over his lips, causing the razor blade to slice into his now-uneven jawline. He smirked, watching his blood pool around the cut and slowly drip from his face.

He’d never been very pious. But he was an excellent actor.

He finished shaving, allowing his wound to remain open, bleeding.

Soon his body would be immortal, and wounds would heal almost the instant they were sustained. He dipped his index finger into the small puddle of blood pooling on the sink and held it up at eye level, marveling at the rich crimson color, the thick consistency, and the earthy scent.

Slowly, he brought his fingertip to his lips, sucking the blood from his skin, drinking in his own life. In the near future, it would be the blood of others that sustained him. The thought sent heat through his loins.

Bending lower, he licked the blood from the surface of the sink, savoring the coppery flavor of the last remaining traces of his blood.

How sweet it would taste when it flowed past his lips, still warmed by his victim’s pounding heart. Soon, he would have the strength he thirsted for. Very soon.

He tended to his cut before stepping out for the evening. His palms were clammy as he gripped the steering wheel of his car, the Latin chant repeating itself endlessly in the back of his mind, cloaking his true thoughts from any beings who might try to listen. His senses were on the alert, his eyes shifting from one side to the other, knowing that any shadow might hide the Night Walker. He had to be careful. It wasn’t time for them to meet face to face.

Not yet.

Tonight, he would meet someone else.

164 LISA KESSLER

Checking the address again, he pulled to a stop outside of the gated condominiums. He spotted her car inside the wrought iron fence and took a cigarette out of the glove compartment. He waited for almost an hour.

The blonde walked around the corner before he got out of his car to follow. It wasn’t hard to find her on the crowded streets. She had an air about her that commanded attention, and with her blonde hair falling past her shoulders, and her tight leather skirt, attention was exactly what she got. Men and women stepped out of her way, their eyes following her as she passed.

He wet his lips in anticipation. He could taste her already.

Her stiletto heels clicked out a confident pace ahead of him, then she disappeared into a dimly lit club. He followed, making his way through the masses of undulating bodies toward the bar. Once his eyes adjusted to the shadowy surroundings, he scanned the room.

His head pounded from the blaring techno music. He struggled to maintain the constant chant running in the back of his mind.

Until his plan came to fruition, he remained vulnerable. He couldn’t let the Night Walker find him. He would face the immortal when he was ready.

It couldn’t be the other way around.

He turned to the bar when the bartender delivered his drink. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her. She sat alone at a small table just to the right of him. Taking a swallow of his drink, he made his approach.

§

Betty sipped her margarita and glared at the dancing couples from over the salty rim of her glass. Even the blasting music and alcohol didn’t dull the anger that festered inside of her. She’d been pissed off since she opened Calisto’s door and found Kate Bradley standing there in nothing but his bathrobe. The bitch was probably in his bed at this very moment, planning to screw him stupid until he married her and wrote her into his will.

She drummed her perfectly manicured acrylic nails on the table, trying to stop picturing Calisto touching another woman. She needed
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to find a gorgeous guy to take her mind off of him, but so far she was still alone.

“Good evening.”

A nice pair of black slacks suddenly obscured Betty’s view of the club. She gave him her sultriest smile and allowed her gaze to wander up his body. “Hello.”

His voice was deep and rich, with an accent very similar to Calisto’s. He was over six feet tall, with dark eyes and hair. His thin, well-groomed goatee only added to the overall look of sophistication radiating around him. He looked like a man who usually got what he wanted.

Nothing on earth turned Betty on more.

She took another long, slow sip of her margarita, her eyes on his, making it plain that he now had her undivided attention.

“I hope that I’m not intruding, but a woman as beautiful as you should be dancing, not sitting.”

Something about the way he said beautiful sounded familiar, but she didn’t take the time to try to place it.

“Are you asking me to dance?”

He nodded with a hint of a smile and offered his hand.

She followed him onto the floor. Betty sensed the stares from the other dancers and loved it. She enjoyed knowing they were drawing attention, knowing people watched their bodies move in harmony with the beat, their hips driving with carnal desire. She smiled at him with bedroom eyes and got a jolt by the heated stare he gave her in return.

Her night was finally showing some potential.

She wasn’t sure how long they danced. Heavy, unspoken flirtation made it easy to lose track of time, but she needed a break. The last thing she wanted was to start sweating.

They applauded as the band left the stage for a break, and Betty took his hand, leading him back to her table. “You were pretty good out there.”

“Only when I have the right partner.” He gave her a sensual, almost dangerous stare.

166 LISA KESSLER

She sat but leaned forward to ensure he had a good view. “Thank you. You know, I don’t even know your name.”

“Jose. Jose Mentigo.”

§