Night's Master (25 page)

Rafe stood in the doorway of the motel room, his hands clenched at his sides. He had known before he opened the door that Kathy was gone, just as he had known that Edna and Pearl had been there. He caught the scents of five men, two that he recognized from the lab.

He swore softly, thinking he had been a fool not to end this sooner. He had intended to settle things with Edna and Pearl the night before, but then he had heard Kathy’s voice in his mind. Her unhappiness had been more than he could bear. That, coupled with his own need to see her, to hold her, to make sure she was out of danger, had sent him to the motel in River’s Edge. He should have gone back to Oak Hollow as soon as he knew Kathy was all right. Instead, he had spent the night making love to her, and now, because of him, her life was in danger again.

It took only minutes to follow her scent to the deserted meat-packing plant on Oak Tree Road. Muttering an oath, he paced the shadows, then dissolved into mist and slid under the door. He sensed Kathy’s presence immediately.

Hovering near the ceiling, he saw Edna and Pearl sitting at one end of a long table, several notebooks and folders spread out in front of them. At the other end of the table, six men were playing poker. A number of rifles, handguns, and wooden stakes were piled on a smaller table, along with several glass bottles that Rafe assumed held holy water.

“I still don’t know what they did to Travis,” Pearl was saying. “But they’re going to pay for it. He was the best hunter in the business!”

“Except for you and me,” Edna remarked.

Pearl smiled fleetingly, then slammed her fist on the table. “I can’t wait to get my hands on Cordova! I’m sure he’s behind this. All our records in Texas have been destroyed, and all our files at the lab. Damned Vampire, sticking his nose in places where it doesn’t belong! Well, he won’t get away this time. As soon as we take care of him, we’ll find Cagin and the McGee woman, and that’ll be the end of it.”

“Almost seems a shame to destroy Cordova,” Edna said. “Such a good-looking man.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Edna Mae Turner, you’re just saying that because you think he has a cute butt!”

Had he been in corporeal form, Rafe would have laughed out loud. Cute butt, indeed!

“It’s a good thing I had the formula in my head,” Pearl muttered. “It made it a lot easier to concoct the new one. You know, instead of destroying Cordova, maybe we should just try the new formula on him and the girl.”

“Whatever you want,” Edna said agreeably, “but I still think you should write the new formula down.”

“Maybe later.”

“Do you think whatever Vampire whammy Cordova put on Travis is permanent?”

“I don’t know. Did you see how he acted last night? One mention of the word Vampire and he practically went into hysterics.”

Pleased with what he had heard, Rafe left the building and assumed his own form, then reached for his cell phone. All the rats were in one trap. All he needed now was a little backup.

Susie ran her hands over her face, then glanced at Cagin. “Does it look as bad as it feels?”

Joe shook his head. “No, it looks a lot better.” He ran his finger down her cheek. “There’s only a small red place here.”

“What about the other side?”

“It’s healing.”

Susie sank back on the sofa. She had planned to get her children and leave town, but she couldn’t let them see her like this. Instead, she had convinced her mother to take the boys on a little vacation for a few days. She hated for her sons to miss school, but it couldn’t be helped. With a sigh, she rested her head on the back of the sofa. Sometimes she felt like she was living a nightmare from which there was no escape. She didn’t know what she would have done without Joe. He was her only comfort these days.

When her cell phone rang, she picked it up, expecting it to be her mother or Kathy.

Instead, she heard Rafe’s voice on the line.

“Susie, is Cagin there?”

Rafe stepped out of the shadows when Cagin and Susie arrived. “Thanks for coming.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Cagin said with a grin.

“Is Kathy all right?” Susie asked.

“Other than being cold and scared, she’s fine.”

“So, how do you want to handle this?” Cagin asked.

“Like I told you, there are six men in there with Edna and Pearl. Lots of hardware.” Rafe glanced at Susie. “And holy water. I figure the best way to play it is to go in hard and fast. We should be able to break down the door and take out the men before they know what’s happening. Once the men are out of the way, we’ll take the women. Cagin, you’ll have to dump the holy water.”

Cagin nodded. “No problem.”

Rafe looked at Susie. “You up for this?”

She lifted a hand to her face. “Are you kidding? After what they did? Just try and keep me out. Besides, Kathy’s in there, and good friends are hard to find.”

Rafe winked at her. “Let’s do it.”

It went like clockwork. Cagin undressed and then shifted, Rafe kicked in the door, and the Were-tiger sprang inside, with Rafe and Susie right behind him.

The people inside the building looked up as the door flew open, the surprise on their faces quickly turning to fear. Edna and Pearl scrambled away from the table, apparently trusting that the men would protect them, but the men were too slow. By the time they reached for the guns on the table, it was too late, although one of them managed to fire a round that struck Cagin in the thigh. With a growl, Cagin sprang across the table. Three of the men went down amid a flurry of growls, teeth, and claws; Rafe dispatched two of the men, leaving Susie to deal with the last one. It was swift and brutal and over in a matter of minutes.

Shifting back into his own form, Cagin grabbed the bottles and dumped the holy water outside while Susie and Rafe backed Edna and Pearl into a corner.

When Cagin returned, Rafe noted that he had taken the time to get dressed again.

“Now what?” Cagin asked, glancing from Rafe to the two women.

“Keep an eye on these two while I get Kathy,” Rafe said, “and then we’ll decide what to do next.”

I was pacing the floor, my mind in turmoil, when the door swung open. At first, all I saw was a dark silhouette that looked familiar.

“Rafe? Rafe!” I flew into his arms, thinking I had never been so surprised or so happy to see anyone in my life.

“Rescue party’s here,” Rafe said, giving me a hug.

“How did you find me?”

His gaze moved over my face. “I’ll always be able to find you. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, now. Are you all right? How’d you get in here. Where are Edna and…”

He silenced my questions by kissing me. When I came up for air, I saw that we weren’t alone.

Susie and Cagin had Edna and Pearl trapped in the far corner of the room. For the first time since I had met them, Edna and Pearl looked subdued, their faces pale. Moving deeper into the room, I stared at the six bodies sprawled on the floor at one end of a long table. The scent of blood and death made my stomach churn. The bitter taste of bile rose in the back of my throat.

I looked up at Rafe. There was no remorse in his eyes when he looked at me. I could only hope it had been self-defense.

“Let’s get this over with,” Cagin said.

I followed Rafe across the room, my stomach churning with apprehension. “What are you going to do with them?” I asked, though I was dreading the answer.

“What do you think?” Cagin asked, a growl in his voice.

“But…” I looked up at Rafe. “Are you just going to kill them in cold blood?”

His gaze met mine. “Don’t you think they deserve it?”

I didn’t know what to say. Edna and Pearl had killed innocent people. True, some of the ones they had killed hadn’t been people in the true sense of the word, but they had taken innocent lives. I remembered the fear and humiliation I had felt while I waited in that awful cage, the horror that engulfed me when they injected me with their formula, the pain that had wracked my body. I could have been killed. We all could have been killed.

I looked at Edna and Pearl. You had to admire their courage. They were both glaring at Rafe, as though daring him to do his worst.

“Kathy?” I felt the weight of Rafe’s gaze as he waited for my answer.

“I don’t know.” Maybe they deserved it, maybe not. Who was I to make such a decision?

“Well, I know!” Cagin said. “Look at Susie’s face!” His power filled the room, and I knew he was eager to shift into the tiger and rip out their throats.

“Wait.” Rafe’s voice, soft as dandelion fluff, stopped Cagin in his tracks. “I have a better idea.”

“Better than killing them?” Cagin asked. “I don’t think so.”

“Call it poetic justice,” Rafe said.

Taking a step forward, he reached for Edna’s hand. Lips compressed in a thin line, she recoiled from his touch.

In a blur of movement, Rafe grabbed her by the forearm. “Time to pay the piper,” he said. She struggled in his grasp, but she was no match for Rafe’s strength as he propelled her across the room. For the first time since I had met her, she looked old and scared.

I stared after him. I knew suddenly what he was going to do. It gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t look away. Preternatural power filled the room. It made it hard to breathe, lifted the hair along my nape.

Edna’s eyes grew wide with revulsion when she realized what he intended to do. “No!” She tried to escape his grasp. “No, damn you!”

“Oh, yes,” Rafe said.

His fangs extended, and his eyes went red as he pulled Edna into his embrace. She sobbed once, a sound that tore at my heart, and then she fell silent. Though it seemed he drank from her forever, in reality only a few minutes passed before he lowered her body to the floor. Kneeling beside her, he tore a gash in his wrist and then held the bleeding wound to her mouth. When she resisted, he forced her to drink. After the first swallow, she grabbed his wrist and held it to her mouth as though she were drinking from the fountain of youth. How quickly revulsion turned to need.

Sickened, I turned away to find Susie watching avidly. Her eyes were bright, her body quivering, as she watched Edna drink from Rafe. Cagin’s expression was impassive.

Realizing what her own fate was going to be, Pearl darted toward the door, only to be stopped by Cagin. She put up a good fight for a woman her age, but, like Edna, her strength was as nothing when pitted against a creature with Supernatural power.

She renewed her struggles when Rafe stood and walked toward her.

She stared at Rafe, her eyes narrowed with hatred. “Damn you,” she said. “May you rot in hell for all eternity.”

“Most likely,” Rafe said.

When Cagin dropped her arm, Pearl backed away from Rafe, but there was no place for her to go. When her back hit the wall, she let out a high-pitched squeal, like a rabbit caught in the jaws of a lion. She glared at Rafe, her expression one of mingled fear and defiance when he pulled her into his arms. Knowing it was useless to fight, she squeezed her eyes shut as he bent his head to her neck. And then, like Edna, she went limp in his arms.

And, like Edna, she took one drink of his blood and wanted more.

When it was done, Rafe helped both women to their feet.

For a minute, they looked at each other as if they were strangers, and then they joined hands.

“I don’t guess I need to tell you what happens next,” Rafe said, glancing from one to the other. “If you don’t want what I’ve given you, the sun will put an end to it. If you decide to accept it, I wish you well in your new life. Oh,” he said, glancing at the bodies behind the table, “you might want to clean up the mess.”

“Wait!”

Rafe looked at Pearl, one brow raised.

“Travis,” she said.

“What about him?”

“If I bring him across, what will it do to him?”

“I imagine he’ll be the same arrogant ass as a Vampire that he was as a hunter,” Rafe said with a shrug. “Just keep him the hell away from me.”

With their heads together and their arms around each other, Edna and Pearl staggered to the far side of the room. Clad in bulky sweaters, jeans, and comfortable shoes, they were the most unlikely-looking Vampires I had ever seen. I couldn’t help wondering how they would fare in their new life, and if being Undead would have any effect on their wardrobe. I laughed when I heard Pearl say this would be the best Halloween ever.

Rafe looked at me, and then he held out his hand, a question in his dark eyes.

I looked at Edna and Pearl. I looked at the bodies on the floor. I thought about what it would mean if I went with him. I thought how dreary my life would be without him. And because I loved him, because I couldn’t imagine a future without him in it, I put my hand in his and we left the building.

Susie and Cagin followed us outside.

“Well,” Cagin said with a wicked grin, “that was worth the price of admission. Now what do we do?”

Rafe looked at me and smiled. “Now,” he said, “I’m taking my bride home. How about you?”

Cagin looked at Susie. “What do you say, beautiful? Do you wanna get married?”

Susie smiled at him. “I think I’d like that.”

“Thanks for your help,” Rafe said, glancing at Susie and Cagin. “And keep in touch.”

“Will do,” Cagin replied.

Susie and I hugged, then Cagin took her arm and they disappeared into the darkness.

Rafe lifted me into his arms. “Told you they’d wind up together,” he said, and the next thing I knew, we were at Rafe’s house, in Rafe’s bed.

It was where I wanted to be, where I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

“No regrets?” he asked. “You’re sure this time?”

“I’m sure. I just wish…”

“What do you wish, love?”

“That we could get married, really married.”

“Means that much to you, does it?”

“I know it’s silly. It’s just a piece of paper, but…”

He put his fingers to my lips. “If it’s that important to you, then we’ll do it.”

“How? It’s against the law. No minister is going to marry us.”

Rafe grinned at me. “Hey, you’re forgetting who you’re talking to.”

I batted my eyelashes at him. “Don’t tell me. You’re going to arrange a little Vampire hocus pocus.”

“Something like that,” he said. “But first…” He drew me into his arms and kissed me and, as always when Rafe touched me, I forgot everything else. The past few days, Edna and Pearl, my close call with death, none of it mattered now. Rafe’s kisses were like liquid fire, heating my blood, melting my bones, leaving me breathless with wanting, trembling with desire.

Our clothing disappeared as if by magic, and then we were lying side by side in a delicious tangle of arms and legs and deep, wet kisses. When he rose over me, I was more than ready. I felt the welcome prick of his fangs at my throat as his body melded with mine, and then there was only pleasure, endless sensual pleasure, and Rafe’s voice whispering that he loved me.

I was getting married. I didn’t know where, I didn’t know who would perform the ceremony. Rafe said I shouldn’t worry about anything but buying a wedding gown, and I took him at his word. I chose a floor-length dress with a square neck and long, tapered sleeves. My veil was also floor-length, as delicate and beautiful as butterfly wings.

Susie and Cagin had agreed to act as best man and maid of honor.

It was near midnight when Rafe and I arrived at the place where we would exchange our vows. I was surprised when he pulled up in front of a church. It was a lovely old place, surrounded by tall trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. The fragrant scent of evergreens and flowers filled the air.

A priest was waiting for us inside the doors. He was of medium height with warm hazel eyes. His hair was black and wavy, laced with silver at his temples. And he was a Vampire. A very old Vampire. Power radiated off him like heat from a fire.

Rafe introduced him as Father Giovani Lanzoni.

“This is indeed a happy occasion for me,” the priest said with a smile. “Many years ago, I officiated at the marriage of Rafe’s grandparents and, more recently, at the marriage of his mother and father. And now this.” He beamed at us. “Truly, a happy day.”

I smiled back at him, momentarily saddened to think that I would never have children, never see them marry or have children of their own. Just then, Rafe squeezed my hand, and I wondered if the same thoughts were running through his mind.

A few minutes later, Father Lanzoni directed me to a room where I could change into my wedding gown.

I grew increasingly nervous as the minutes passed. I wished my parents could be there, but it just seemed easier this way. Getting married at night, while uncommon, wasn’t all that unusual. However, if my parents had been invited, they would have expected a reception with food and drink. And then there was my father, who photographed every occasion, large or small. Trying to explain why the groom and my maid of honor didn’t eat or drink and why they didn’t show up in the wedding photos was just more than I could handle.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard a knock at the door.

“Are you ready?” Susie called.

“Yes, come in.”

“Oh,” she murmured, “you look beautiful!”

“Thank you. So do you.” She wore a long green dress that flattered every curve, and a pair of white gloves. I stared at the mirror as Susie came to stand beside me. I was there, as plain as day. There was no image of Susie. “Does it bother you?” I asked. “Having no reflection?”

“It was kind of freaky at first,” she said with a shrug. “It made me feel like I didn’t really exist, but I’m getting used to it, like everything else. Come on, your bridegroom is waiting.”

I picked up the bouquet Rafe had given me, a single red rose surrounded by a froth of white roses and baby’s breath, and followed Susie out of the room.

The chapel was filled with old-world charm. The altar and the pews were carved from oak. Shafts of silver moonlight shone through the stained glass window above the altar. The carpet was a deep blue. A sad-faced Madonna stood in one corner, her arm outstretched.

Rafe was waiting for me at the altar. He had always been the most handsome of men, but now, clad in a black tux that complemented his dark good looks and emphasized his broad shoulders, he was devastating. My insides melted like hot wax when he smiled at me. Cagin stood beside him.

It wasn’t until I was following Susie down the aisle that I realized there were other people in the chapel. Rafe’s grandparents sat together, holding hands. Brenna wore a long-sleeved white blouse and a bright yellow skirt. Her only jewelry was the amber and jet necklace at her throat. Roshan wore a black suit that made him look dark and a trifle mysterious.

I didn’t recognize the other three people in the room, although I knew the man had to be Rafe’s father, Vince. There was no mistaking the resemblance between them. They both had the same thick black hair, the same straight brows, fine straight nose, and full, sensuous lips. The only apparent difference was the color of their eyes—Rafe’s were black while his father’s were dark brown. I assumed one of the women was his mother, Cara, but which one? The lovely blonde with the beautiful blue eyes and flawless skin who sat at his right, or the stunningly gorgeous creature on his left? I couldn’t help staring at her. Her skin was like smooth porcelain, her hair was thick and black and fell over her shoulders in rippling waves. She wore an elegant emerald green dress that exactly matched the color of her extraordinary eyes. Her only adornment was a heart-shaped ruby pendant. She, too, was a Vampire.

It was amazing. All the Vampires looked to be in the prime of life. If I hadn’t known that Roshan and Brenna were Rafe’s grandparents, I would have thought that everyone in the room was the same age, for none of them looked older than thirty, and yet I knew Roshan had been a Vampire for hundreds of years.

My nervousness ratcheted up another notch. What if his parents didn’t like me? What if they hated mortals? That seemed unlikely, since his grandfather and his father had married mortal women. Still, I couldn’t help feeling out of place.

All my worrisome thoughts vanished when Rafe took my hand in his. His voice whispered through my mind.
I love you now, forever and for always.
For a single crystal moment in time, I saw only Rafe, his eyes dark with love and desire, his lips curved in a smile that was for me alone. His hand held mine, warm and firm and reassuring. He loved me and nothing else mattered.