Night's Pleasure (14 page)

“I guess so, but…”

“The idea displeases you.”

“No, but…”

“But I'm a Vampire and you're a hunter,” he finished for her. “And you're thinking it's going to make it difficult to take my head.”

“Rane, what a terrible thing to say!”

“Maybe, but it's what you're thinking, isn't it?”

“It crossed my mind,” she admitted.

“I give you leave to try.”

He had told her that once before, she thought, and not so long ago.

“I need to find the Vampire who killed my father,” she said, determination replacing her tears. “She's not going to get away with it.”

“How are you going to find her?”

“I don't know. I don't suppose you'd help me.”

“I might.”

“Would you? Really?” She looked at him, her eyes filled with hope. “I mean…really? You'd help me hunt one of your own?”

He grunted softly. “She's not ‘one of my own.'”

“But she's a Vampire?”

“So it seems.”

“Where are my mother's books?”

“In a safe place.”

“Where?”

“It's better if you don't know.”

Her brows drew together in a frown. “They're my books now,” she said, her words slow and deliberate. “I want them back.” She had very little that had belonged to her mother. The books weren't the kind of thing a mother usually passed down to her daughter, but one of them had been written by her mom and that, more than any other reason, made it important to her.

“I'll give them back to you when I'm convinced you're out of danger.”

“You promise?”

He nodded.

“Say it.”

“I promise,” he said with a wry grin.

She wasn't sure she believed him, but what other choice did she have?

“It isn't safe for you to stay here.” He ran his fingertips up and down her arm. “I want you to come with me.”

“I can't just leave. I've got to settle my father's affairs. I've got a job, and—”

“None of that matters now. You won't be safe here as long as that Vampire knows where you live.”

“But she can't come in unless I invite her.”

“She's already had an invitation.”

Savanah frowned, and then murmured, “Oh,” with the realization that her father had unknowingly invited his murderer into the house. “Well, I'll just rescind it.”

Rane shook his head. “She's not working alone.”

“How do you know?”

“I picked up the scent of a Werewolf on your property. I don't know if they were working together or not, but I'd rather be safe now than sorry later.”

“A Werewolf wouldn't need an invitation, would he? Or she?”

“No.”

She thought it over for a moment, then asked, “Where do you want to go?”

He shrugged. “It doesn't matter. We can go anywhere you want, so long as you don't tell anyone where you'll be.”

“I can't hide forever,” she said, and sighed. “I'll call Mr. Van Black and ask him if I can have more time off. Tomorrow's Thursday. We can leave Friday night, if you want. Or Saturday.” The more she thought about leaving town, the better it sounded. It might be good to get away for a while.

“Friday night,” Rane decided. “We'll leave at sundown.”

Savanah nodded.

“All you have to do now is decide where you want to go.”

“I'll think about it.”

“In the meantime, I think you should get something to eat.”

“I'm not hungry.”

“You need to eat.”

She didn't feel like arguing and she didn't feel like cooking. With a huff of annoyance, she went in search of her cell phone, thinking that pizza didn't sound too bad.

Life was never what you expected, she thought as she waited for the pizza place to answer. Here she was, planning to go away with a man for the first time in her life, but not for any of the reasons she would have thought.

No, she was going off with a man who wasn't really a man at all, and not for some romantic rendezvous in an exotic locale. No, not Savanah Gentry. She was running away from a murderer, and not just any old murderer, but one that was a Vampire, or perhaps a Werewolf.

Oh, yes, she thought again. Life was strange, indeed.

“Why isn't she dead?”

“He's always there with her.”

Clive slammed his fist on the table, muttered an oath as the wood cracked beneath his hand. Damn the Cordova men. They protected their women like knights of old. An admirable quality, to be sure, but damned annoying at the moment.

“I don't know, Clive,” Tasha said. “Maybe you'll have to do this one yourself.”

He grunted softly. “Perhaps.” But there was no hurry. He knew where the woman lived. It was doubtful she would be leaving home anytime soon. After all, she had just buried her father. Being mortal, she would need time to grieve, time to go through her father's belongings and decide what to keep and what to part with.

Or perhaps he would wait and see if Cordova's ardor for Savanah Gentry cooled.

In the meantime, there were other hunters out there, hunters with years of experience to their credit, which made them far more dangerous than William Gentry's un-learned daughter.

Savanah hadn't planned to go to work the day after the funeral, intending to use the time to clean the house and pack for her trip with Rane, but when she got up that morning, the idea of spending the day at home alone held no appeal. Not only that, but going into the office would give her a chance to clear up a few matters still pending, matters that couldn't be handled over the phone.

Yesterday, at the graveside, Mr. Van Black had told her to take as much time off as she needed. She had thanked him and said a week would be fine. But that was before Rane had convinced her that her life was in danger. When she got to work, she would tell Mr. Van Black that she had decided to take an extended leave of absence.

In the shower, she found herself wondering where Rane had gone. He had stayed the night with her last night. After she had eaten dinner, they had spent what was left of the evening watching a late movie, and then she had gone to bed. He had stretched out on the bed beside her, on top of the covers. The fact that they weren't going to make love filled her with relief and regret. On one hand, it would have been nice to lose herself in his embrace, to forget, if only for a short time, the horrors of the last few days. On the other hand, she wasn't quite ready to make love to Rane again now that she knew what he was. To be honest, she wasn't sure if she would ever be ready.

Savanah dressed quickly, then went downstairs, her heart skipping a beat when she saw Rane sitting on the sofa watching an early-morning news program.

She stared at him a moment, then glanced out the window. Yes, the sun was up. And so was he. How was that possible? Everything she had ever read about Vampires said they were compelled to seek their coffins at sunrise, and the sun had been up for hours.

Maybe he wasn't really a Vampire. The thought made her hopeful heart skip a beat. “Rane…?”

He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Good morning.”

“I thought…How can you be awake?” Hardly daring to breathe, she waited for his answer, hoping he would tell her he had been playing some horrible joke, that he wasn't really a Vampire at all, just a shape-shifter, as he had said.

He shrugged. “The sun doesn't affect me the way it does most Vampires. I don't know why. Probably because my mother was mortal.”

She frowned at him. “So, you can go out during the day?”

“No, but I don't have to take my rest until I'm ready.”

She pondered that a moment, and then frowned. “If you can't leave the house, where are you going to…ah…you know?”

He lifted one brow, amused by her rising concern for where he intended to succumb to the Dark Sleep. “Will it bother you if I rest here?”

“I don't know. I've never had a Vampire for a house-guest.”

“I'm not particularly crazy about the idea of sleeping in a hunter's house, either,” he remarked dryly.

“Talk about strange bedfellows,” Savanah muttered.

“I promise not to bite you if you promise not to take my head.”

Savanah grimaced at the grisly image. “It's a deal.”

Rane took notice of her attire for the first time and frowned. “Where do you think you're going?”

“To work, of course.”

“Oh, no, I don't think so.”

“Why not?”

“I don't want you going anywhere alone.”

“I went to my father's funeral.”

He shrugged. “You couldn't very well avoid that. And you weren't alone. Your uncle was with you.”

“I can call a cab. I should be safe enough at the
Chronicle
if I stay inside. Jolie can bring me home.”

“No.”

“Do you really think a Werewolf will attack me in broad daylight? There haven't been any reports of attacks during the day.”

“There's a first time for everything. Besides, I'm sure no one expects you to go to the office today.”

He was right, of course. Even though she was certain it would be perfectly safe for her to go to work, there was no point in taking chances when she didn't have to. Still…

As if sensing her indecision, Rane said, “I went outside late last night, after you had gone to bed. The Vampire who killed your father has been snooping around again, and the Werewolf, too.”

His words sent a cold chill down her spine. “How do you know?”

“Their scent was fresh. One of them left a footprint in the dirt alongside the house. It can't be a coincidence that they're showing up at the same time. They've got to be working together.”

Filled with a sudden sense of urgency, she said, “Let's leave tonight.”

 

Savanah went through the items in her suitcase a second time, wondering if she had packed more than she needed, then decided it was better to take too much rather than too little. For one thing, Rane hadn't said how long they would be gone, and she still wasn't sure where she wanted to go. Exotic locales flitted through her mind: Hawaii, Rome, Bora Bora, Cabo, Portugal. They all appealed to her, yet on some deep level she didn't quite understand, she was reluctant to leave the country. Frowning, she tried to think of someplace a little closer to home, some vacation spot where she had always wanted to go. Graceland? The giant redwood forest in Northern California? Yellowstone? Disneyland?

Savanah shook her head. She couldn't imagine Rane wanting to visit any of those places; the thought of a Vampire touring Disneyland struck her as ludicrous, somehow. She had to grin when she pictured him in the Haunted Mansion. It was one ride where he would fit right in!

She slipped her mother's Vampire kit under the layers of her clothing before closing the suitcase, then checked her overnight bag. She had packed everything she needed, save for her comb, brush, make-up, and toothbrush; she would add those later.

With nothing else to do, she decided to change the sheets on her bed. While carrying them to the laundry room, she paused outside her father's bedroom. Rane slept inside. Feeling like Pandora, she put her hand on the knob, then hesitated. Did she really want to see him when he was caught in the sleep of the Undead? Did Vampires dream? Would he know if she opened the door and peeked inside? Would he look like he was sleeping, or would he look like a corpse, pale and unmoving? An image of her father as she had last seen him flashed through her mind, and with it a knifelike stab of grief.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then moved on down the hallway to the laundry room, which was located adjacent to the garage at the back of the house.

Blinking back her tears, she dumped the sheets into the washing machine, added soap, and turned the dial to Wash. How had her life turned into such a nightmare? Her mother and father had both been killed by Vampires. How could she be in love with such an odious creature?

Leaving the laundry room, she paused again outside her father's door. Overcome by her curiosity, she took a deep breath and pushed the door open just enough to peek inside.

The first thing she noticed was that Rane had covered the room's single window with the bedspread so that no light entered the room.

He lay on the top of the blankets, his eyes closed, one arm curled behind his head, the other resting at his side. He had removed his shirt, shoes and socks. From where she stood, she couldn't tell if he was breathing. If she called his name, would he hear her? Her gaze moved over him, her fingers yearning to delve into his thick black hair, to trace the outline of his broad shoulders, to run her palms over his muscular chest and six-pack abs. How did he stay in such good shape? Did Vampires work out? Somehow, she didn't think so, yet she knew from experience that he was firm and fit. If only things were different. If she wasn't mourning her father, if Rane was an ordinary man, she would have crawled into bed beside him and awakened him with a kiss.

With her curiosity satisfied, she quietly closed the door and went upstairs to her own room.

At least he didn't look dead. She was grateful for that. And grateful that the burns on his cheek and neck had disappeared, just as he had said they would.

But he was still a Vampire, and Vampires killed to stay alive. How many lives had he taken in the last week? In the last ninety years? The possibilities were staggering. Even if he had to feed only once a month, he would have killed over a thousand people. And if he fed every night…

Until this moment, she hadn't really let herself think about his feeding habits. He had said he'd “tasted” her. She wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but obviously he hadn't had to kill her to do so. Maybe he had never killed anyone. Maybe all he needed to survive was a “taste” now and then. But even as she tried to convince herself of that fact, she knew it wasn't true. One of her mother's books had described, in lurid detail, how Vampires fed off their victims.

Savanah stared at her reflection in the mirror above her dresser, imagining Rane bending over her neck, his eyes glowing red, his arms imprisoning her as he sank his fangs into her throat…. Of course, he would cast no reflection. She wondered how female Vampires applied their make-up without looking in a mirror. How did they try out a new hairstyle, or decide on new clothes if they couldn't see how they looked? She remembered the night she and Rane had gone to the mall and he had bought that long black duster that looked so good on him. She now knew why he hadn't wanted to check it out in the mirror.

How could she be in love with one of the very creatures she was supposed to destroy?

 

With a sigh, Rane rolled onto his side. He had known that, sooner or later, Savanah's curiosity would get the best of her. She was a newspaper reporter and she was a woman. Add the fact that she was also thinking of becoming a hunter into the mix and her snooping was inevitable. He knew he was taking a chance, resting in her home, but at the moment it wasn't his life he was concerned about, but hers. And if she decided to drive a stake into his heart, well, so be it. Better to be sent to hell by the hand of a beautiful woman than by some heartless, no-account hunter.

He swore softly. Why were a Werewolf and a Vampire working together? Or were they? He could understand why a Vampire wanted the books now hidden under the spare tire in the trunk of his car, but of what interest would the volumes be to a Werewolf? Was he wrong to assume the only reason Savanah was in danger was because the books now belonged to her? What other reason could there be? Since she hadn't yet made a kill, he was reasonably certain that he was the only one who knew that Savanah intended to follow in her father's footsteps. Not that it mattered. So long as she was in danger, he intended to do everything in his power to keep her safe.

 

Since Savanah couldn't decide where she wanted to go, Rane made the decision for her.

“The mountains,” Savanah exclaimed. “You have a place in the mountains?” She couldn't have been more surprised if he had sprouted horns and a tail.

Rane grinned at her. “It's not mine. It belongs to an old friend of the family.” In point of fact, it was Mara's place. Through the years, she had acquired property in a number of towns and cities, not only in the States, but in a good many foreign countries, as well.

“The mountains,” Savanah muttered, and went back upstairs to pack some warmer clothing.

An hour after sundown, they were ready to go. Rane had packed earlier that evening. It didn't take long to throw his clothes into a suitcase. Since he had no permanent home, he carried everything he owned in the trunk of his car. He had canceled his remaining tour dates and settled up with the owner of the house he had been renting.

He carried Savanah's bags outside, waited on the porch while Savanah locked the front door.

“My car or yours?” he asked.

“Yours,” she answered without hesitation. Her car was nice and relatively new, but nothing like his.

Rane stowed their suitcases in the trunk, made sure her mother's books were where he had left them, and then slid behind the wheel. “Ready?”

Savanah bit down on her lower lip, then nodded. “Ready.” She had canceled the newspaper, put a hold on her mail, informed Mr. Van Black that she had decided to take him up on his offer of an extended leave of absence.

Settling back in the seat, she sent a sideways glance at Rane, wondering what in the world had possessed her to think that going off to the mountains with a Vampire she hardly knew would be safer than staying home. But it was too late to worry about it now. For better or worse, she had put her life in his hands.

It was a beautiful drive, even in the dark. As the road wound ever higher, more and more stars were visible in the night sky. A full moon cast her light over the earth, bathing the tips of the mountains in silver splendor, while the car's headlights cut a wide swath through the darkness, occasionally startling a deer grazing in the meadow that stretched for miles along the side of the road.

Soft music came from the car stereo, lulling Savanah to sleep.

Rane took a deep breath, filling his nostrils with the scent of the woman beside him. He saw her clearly in the darkness. Her eyelashes lay like golden fans against her cheeks. Her hair fell over one shoulder in a fall of moon-shadowed silk, leaving the other side of her slender neck exposed to his view. The whisper of her life's blood flowing through her veins was like sweet music to his ears, the smell of it more enticing than the sight of her smooth, unblemished flesh. His gaze lingered in the hollow of her throat.