The Vampire Laird (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery/Romance) (18 page)

Staying low, she moved from headstone to headstone, keeping her eyes on the men carrying the bundles up through the mausoleum and loading them in the two pickup trucks parked where Seth’s Land Rover had been. Finally, the lights were switched off inside and the doors closed. The last box was loaded and the first truck started up. Moving faster than she would have thought possible, she reached the gate just as the second truck started its engine. Hitching a ride on the back of a pickup truck was something she had never tried before, but nothing was going to stop her now.

The truck slid into gear then began to move forward quicker than she had thought, forcing her to leap for the ball hitch that jutted out from the back and fling her arms over the tailgate. She hung on for dear life, wondering just how long she could dangle there, but every second carried her closer to the manor and every second counted. He would have Charlie back there by now and who knows what he would be doing to her. If only she could find Zack, he would help. He and Charlie were…close…though what they felt for each other she had only just begun to understand since….. Her thoughts were interrupted as the truck hit a pothole and she was bounced off her perch, landing hard on the dirt road.

***

He lay looking up at a ceiling thick with shadows and cursed himself for a fool. He’d been drugged and now lay like a beetle on its back…his limbs useless. Somehow they’d managed it, though he’d been so careful not to eat or drink anything the others weren’t served. Then he remembered.

Orriana had joined them late. Wearing a black gown that clung to her in ways that left nothing at all to his imagination, she took the seat next to him. She was beautiful…there was no denying that…but evil seemed to cling to her like a cloying perfume. He laughed bitterly at his own metaphor…the curse of being a writer.

Seth had watched them through the entire meal, always the congenial host, but his heavy lidded gaze had been sardonic, his smile humorless, as she’d whispered in his ear and offered him bits from her plate. He remembered shaking off his revulsion, as she’d traced the contour of his ear with a long, red tipped finger, then dropped her napkin and he…being an idiot…played the gentleman and retrieved it for her, while she slipped something in his wine. He’d given her the perfect opportunity and he was supposed to be good at what he did?

But beating himself up wouldn’t help a thing, he told himself with a grim smile, as he tried wriggling his fingers again. They moved slightly this time and he felt the pins and needles tingle of returning sensation. His legs were another matter.

Some way to treat a guest, he thought wryly. Just how would old Seth explain all this in the morning? But then, he conceded with a grin, he had given him Charlie. He let his mind drift back over the time he had spent ‘taming the shrew’. It had taken super human effort not to take her as she lay before him. Her beautiful gray eyes flashing, her moonlight hair spilling over the black satin sheets, her full lips parted in invitation, her breasts….. “Dammit!” he cried out loud, as he felt
that
part of his anatomy responding. He was hard as a rock just thinking about her. He cursed himself again for being a fool and not taking what he wanted when he had the chance, then sighed. If that made him a fool, so be it. There would be another time. There had to be.

Suddenly, he felt something jump up on the bed next to him and heard a rumbling purr, then a cat kiss brushed his chin. “Cloud?” he asked in astonishment. “How in the hell did you get here?” The only answer was the sharp prick of kneading paws, as Cloud settled down next to him.

***

Consciousness returned slowly…just a drifting in and out…as a waiting reality teased her mind. With her head pounding like the devil’s anvil, she swore softly as she tried to move her hands without success.. Lifting her head, she opened one eye and looked around. She was dangling from the wall of a room that looked all too familiar…the hanging lanterns, the divans with their jewel colored pillows, the huge dragon poster bed where… Reality grabbed hold and hung on tightly, as she remembered everything with a hot rush. She had been wrestling for control of the shotgun when someone had hit her from behind. The
someone,
obviously, was Tilda…whatever she’d used remained a mystery. From the way her head hurt it could easily have been a chair.

She sighed. So much for saving her family. Now someone would need to save her, unless she could work her restraints loose. It only took her a few moments to realize the futility of that! There was no way she could reach the lock pick she
hoped
was still in her pocket. She shifted her weight to ease the strain on her arms, as she thought about Meg.

Would she do as she was told…there was that word again…
told
. When would she learn there was a better way than bossing her siblings, but she couldn’t help but remember the recent past and shuddered. Meg could have been killed because she hadn’t listened. But they should be safe in the mausoleum until Zack brought in help. They had to be!

She found herself wondering where Zack was at that moment. Probably trying to figure out a way to rescue them all, believing her safely hid with Meg and Allyn. Her eyes drifted to the bed with the dragon posts and she smiled in spite of herself. He had been so beguiling…so devilishly handsome…she had quite melted, as the most exquisite, intense pleasure had nibbled at her from within, demanding…

She shook her head and laughed self-mockingly, as a throbbing heat began to build deep in her center again. She really had to be crazy. Here she was, hanging from the wall like an old coat on a peg, waiting for Seth or one of his minions to do who knew what with her, and she was getting horny just thinking about Zack. She began to laugh in earnest just as the door clicked open and a tall figure stood there. “I have to wonder just what you could find so funny?” Seth asked with a smile.

***

Allyn watched in amazement as the pickup truck with Meg dangling off the tailgate headed up to the manor. His usually klutzy sister had made the leap of a lifetime, which he wouldn’t have given her a snowball’s chance in Hades of making, and was still hanging on. Now he was totally on his own and both his sisters’ lives may well depend on how well he managed what he would do next. He looked around. It was eerily quiet after all the chaos of just a few minutes ago. An owl hooted from the yew trees overhead and, distantly, a howl reverberated across the moors. That would be Orianna and her hound from hell on the prowl, he thought, quite probably looking for him and Meg. He swallowed the lump in his throat and willed his heart rate back to some semblance of normal.

“‘Feets don’t fail me now’,” he murmured to himself with a grim smile, as he pulled himself upright, using a headstone for support. His head swam and a wave of nausea made him spasm in dry heaves. Taking a few deep breaths, he waited till his head cleared and his stomach settled, then began to move forward through the tall grass. Across the graveyard, the church hunkered darkly, except for the light that shone from its square tower. He measured the distance with his eyes. It seemed miles away, but he would make it. He had to. Gritting his teeth, he began to move again, darting from headstone to headstone to avoid any chance of being seen.

Something rustled in the grass close by, then a wet feathery touch brushed across his face. He shivered. It was nothing, he told himself firmly. He didn’t…couldn’t…wouldn’t believe in the possibility of ghosts like the rest of the family. Even Rayne had been rather hysterical after her encounters at Hensley Hall. This Meaghan character…Orianna look alike or whatever she was… seemed pretty substantial to him. Clearly, she was as crazy as they come and he had to admit that glowing bit was hard to explain. How did she manage that? Must be a chemical of some kind she used on her body and that gauzy white thing she floated around in, he mused. Well, there was
that
, too …the
floaty
thing. Not that any of it really mattered. He had a job to do and no ghost would stop him. Someone laughed softly close to his ear and he took off running faster than he would have thought possible.

Zigzagging his way through the gravestones, he finally reached the double doors of the old church. One gaped open and he slipped inside, letting his eyes to adjust to what had seemed like total blackness. Moonlight streamed through the broken stained glass windows whose colors were muted with the night. Now what, he thought? He had no idea how to reach the tower. From its position, the stairs should be along the back wall somewhere, he guessed. Moving cautiously, he felt his way forward like a blind man without a cane until, something caught at his foot and he pitched forward, landing hard on his hands and knees.

Meaghan’s light, whatever its dubious source, would be more than welcome right about now, he thought wryly, as he flexed his wrists and pulled himself back up, using what felt like a marble font of some kind. “At the risk of being repetitive, now what?” he asked himself out loud. As if in answer to his question, a small point of light appeared out of nowhere and began to dart around him. He watched in amazement as the orb grew in size, then shape shifted and began to take another form. It was Meaghan. If he had ever doubted she was a ghost before, he had no doubts now, but she was so like Orianna he couldn’t help his shudder of revulsion, when she touched his face with a long white finger and sighed plaintively.

“Allyn, did ye call Meaghan to ye?” she asked, walking her fingers along his cheek and down the side of his neck.

He pushed her hand roughly away and her dark eyes grew huge with hurt and bewilderment. Her lower lip began to quiver and Allyn tried to stop the flow of impending tears. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It’s just that I’m not used to being touched by a ghost, if that’s what you are.”

She blinked rapidly several times and smiled. “Me? A ghostie? I have not thought about it over long. I am just what I am…what they made me be when they hacked me to pieces…the Baobhan Sith… because they were afeert of me,” she said with a shrug, “and maybe they had the right of it. The last laddie I took was little more than a bairn. My faither gathered my bits and wrapped them in white silk all the way from the orient. I lie over there in the mausoleum, where ye were hiding from
her.
She cannae have ye, Allyn. I saw ye first standing in the moonlight so fair…so bonnie. .She is naught but evil, that one, and has taken already taken much that is mine by right. “

She was clearly working herself into a state and Allyn knew she needed redirection, quickly, so he said, “I’m quite sure everything you say is true. You are the real Lady in White…and quite a beautiful one, but right now the important thing is for me to send a distress signal to a boat offshore. To do that, I need to find my way to the tower without breaking my damned neck or any other part of my anatomy. Can you light the way for me?”

She laughed gaily. “This way, bonnie Allyn,” she whispered, as she began to dance forward.

With Meaghan lighting the way, he could see well enough to pick his way through the debris without further mishap. He found the small door hidden amongst the paneling and tugged on its metal ring. It opened with a loud creak and he stepped inside, then looked up the dark shaft lit by moonlight at the top.

Shuddering, he took a deep breath and sent Meaghan on ahead, then followed her up the narrow steep stairs that hugged the wall. A sheer drop was on the other side with no railing to prevent a fall. He shuddered again. Heights had always scared the sh-t out of him and if he stopped to consider what he was doing, he would probably bolt like a rabbit. He couldn’t allow himself that way out. His sisters needed him and, fleetingly, he thought, he had never
really
been needed before. It felt both good and scary at the same time.

He was panting with exhaustion by the time he reached the top and cursed himself for his weakness. The old bell still hung there and he wondered when it had last rung over this god-forsaken village. Picking his way carefully, he followed the narrow wooden walkway that edged the perimeter to the lantern, whose light must be visible for miles.

He looked out over the dark water, but the light from only one boat was visible. Okay…here goes, he thought, as he stripped off his sweater and held it in front of the lantern. Three dots…three dashes…three dots, he counted, then paused and waited for a response. There was none, so he began again…and again…and again. If necessary, I’ll do this all night, he thought grimly, or until someone came to stop him, which was a very distinct possibility. Not just the good guys were watching!

Meanwhile, Meaghan began to grow bored with his lack of attention and started to dance around the walkway, but soon tired of that as well. Then she tried tickling Allyn’s ear as he counted his dashes and dots, but he brushed her hand away impatiently. Hurt and confused, she sighed deeply and said with more than a touch of petulance, “I want to dance with ye, Allyn, while the moon still rides the sky…fat and bold and made for all I would do to ye, if ye but let me. Ye are so verra bonnie, Allyn. I would drink of your sweetness…just a wee sip no more. Come away….”

“For heaven’s sake stop it, Meaghan! Can’t you see I’m busy? I haven’t got time for your foolishness now!”

Meaghan’s soft glow began to darken, as she spat out, angrily, “No time! Just for that, I will be leaving ye to her and her great beast. I hope he eats ye up!” and with that, she poofed into nothingness.

Allyn looked at the spot where she had been, feeling a combination of remorse and irritation. Whatever else she was, and he didn’t want to speculate on that too long, she was a woman and just like every one he knew she didn’t like not getting her way. Normally, he was happy to indulge them if it got him what he wanted, but in this case? He shrugged and returned to his signaling, though by now he could barely stand upright.