Twilight Dreams (10 page)

Holly had the strangest feeling the two vampires were communicating, and then Saintcrow was gone. “How do you do that?” she asked. “How can you just vanish into thin air?”

“We don't really vanish,” Micah explained, taking her hand. “We just move faster than the human eye can follow.”

“Is that how you got us to your parents' house so quickly?”

“Not exactly.”

“How, exactly?”

“It's more a matter of thinking where I want to be and . . .” He shrugged. “I guess it's kind of like teleportation, vampire-style.”

She pondered that on the walk back to Shirley's house.

Inside, Micah drew her into his arms. She didn't have to be psychic to know he was thinking about something even more intimate than taking her blood. She could feel his arousal, see the desire that burned like a flame in his dark eyes.

For a moment, it seemed as if someone had stolen all the air in the room. Holly couldn't breathe, couldn't think, as her mind filled with images of the two of them locked together in a sensual embrace.

And then the images were gone.

And so was he.

* * *

Holly blew out a sigh. Would she ever get used to the way Micah just disappeared? There one minute, gone the next. She should have been appalled at the erotic images that had flashed through her mind. But she wasn't. Instead, she had almost wished for him to make them come true. And how ridiculous was that? They had no future together. What girl in her right mind would fall in love with a vampire?

And yet, he didn't act like a vampire, at least not like the ones she'd seen in movies. Well, except for drinking her blood, she amended, lifting one hand to her neck. Micah was kind and sweet, he loved his family . . .

She wrapped her arms around her waist, wishing they were his arms. He wanted her. There was no denying it, just as there was no denying that she wanted him just as badly.

What would life be like, married to a vampire? Married! Why was she even thinking such a thing? She wasn't in love with Micah.

Was she?

It was ludicrous even to be thinking about love or marriage when all they had shared were a few kisses—all right, utterly fantastic kisses that had made her toes curl and her insides melt like butter on a hot day.

She thought of Saintcrow's wife. Kadie had fallen in love with a vampire—a vampire who had kept her prisoner and fed off of her! Holly shuddered. And now Kadie was a vampire. Did she have any regrets? Had it been Kadie's decision? Or had Saintcrow turned her against her will? Maybe he had tricked her into it, made her believe she loved him the way Micah had made his family believe he'd eaten dinner. After all, if vampires could read minds and manipulate them, how was a girl to know if what she felt was real, or merely an idea implanted by a supernatural creature?

Feeling a headache coming on, Holly massaged her temples. How was she going to endure three weeks of this?

She needed to talk to someone. And her only option was Kadie Saintcrow.

Holly glanced at her watch. It was late, she thought, but probably not too late to pay a call on a vampire.

Chapter Twelve

“Holly!” Kadie exclaimed as she opened the door. “Is something wrong?”

“No. I . . .” Now that she was face-to-face with Kadie Saintcrow, Holly decided she had made a terrible mistake. What insanity had made her think asking a vampire for advice was a good idea?

“Please, come in,” Kadie invited. “I've been hoping you'd come to see me.”

Gathering her courage, Holly stepped inside. She shivered when the door closed behind her.

“What is it?” Kadie asked. “You look troubled.”

“Can we talk? Just the two of us?”

“Of course. Rylan's gone out to check the perimeter.”

“Is Braga nearby?”

“I don't think so.” Kadie gestured for Holly to have a seat, then perched on the sofa beside her. “What did you want to talk about?” she asked, smiling. “As if I didn't know.”

“Can
you
read my mind, too?”

“No. To be able to do that, I'd have to . . . never mind.”

“Have to what?”

“Drink from you.” Without giving Holly a chance to respond, Kadie said, “Now tell me, what's bothering you?”

“I thought you said you knew.”

“I don't have to read your mind to see that you're bothered by your feelings for Micah.”

“Am I that transparent?”

Kadie leaned back on the sofa. “Vampires are notoriously attractive to mortals.”

“What do you mean?”

“For starters, they have a kind of innate allure that's very hard to resist.”

“So what I'm feeling for Micah isn't real—is that what you're saying?”

“Not at all. The attraction wanes if it isn't genuine.”

Holly clasped her hands in her lap. “Maybe this is none of my business, but . . . did you
want
to be a vampire?”

“No. And yes. It's a long story.”

“I'd like to hear it.”

“I'll just give you the highlights. I was badly wounded, with no hope of surviving. Rylan gave me the choice of dying or becoming a vampire and staying with him.” She smiled faintly at the memory. “Becoming a vampire was really the only choice.”

“Have you ever regretted it?”

“No. How could I, when it means living forever with the man I love?”

Holly chewed on the corner of her lower lip for a moment before asking, “If it hadn't been a matter of life or death, would you still have made the same decision?”

“I honestly don't know. Probably not at that moment. And yet, sooner or later, I know I'd have asked him to turn me because it was really the only way for the two of us to stay together.”

“Is he as fierce as he seems?”

Kadie laughed softly. “He can be. He's a master vampire, after all. He's incredibly strong and powerful. And, yes, arrogant. And at times condescending. But he's never been anything but kind to me.”

“But he kept you here against your will. He
fed
on you. How could you fall in love with him?”

“Because I'm incredibly handsome and irresistible.”

Holly's cheeks flamed at the sound of Saintcrow's voice.

“Am I interrupting a gossip session?” he asked, rounding the sofa.

“No.” Kadie smiled up at her husband. “I was just answering some of Holly's questions.”

“Not giving away any of our secrets, I hope.”

“Rylan!” Kadie shook her head. “We don't have any secrets, Holly.”

Taking a place beside Kadie, Saintcrow draped his arm around her shoulders. “Speak for yourself, wife.”

Holly stared at the two of them. Saintcrow frightened her in ways she didn't understand. She could feel his power moving over her. It was much stronger than Micah's. She assumed it was because Saintcrow was so much older. A master vampire. Would Micah one day have that kind of power?

Feeling suddenly like a goldfish in the company of sharks, she stood. “I should be going.”

Rising, Kadie walked Holly to the door. “I hope you'll come again,” she said. “And please don't be afraid of Rylan. He's really a pussycat.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Holly said dryly. “Good night.”

* * *

When Holly reached the end of the road, Micah stepped out of the shadows. “I came to walk you home.”

“Thank you.” The closeness that had been between them earlier that evening seemed to have vanished like morning dew. He walked at her side, careful not to touch her.

It was a long walk. And a little scary. Holly glanced at the dark clouds drifting across the sky. It was easy to imagine monsters lurking behind every shadow. Even the mountains seemed sinister, somehow, like jagged teeth waiting to tear her to shreds. Or vampire fangs . . .

“How did you know where I was?” she asked, unable to endure the silence between them a moment longer.

“Where else would you be? Did Kadie answer all your questions?”

She looked up at him. “Are you reading my mind again?”

“No.”

“Then how . . . ?”

He tapped his ear with his forefinger. “Vampire hearing. Very acute.”

Holly bit down on her lower lip, trying to remember everything she had said. Everything Kadie had said. She supposed Micah hadn't heard anything he didn't already know, including the fact that she was attracted to him. “Earlier tonight, why did you leave so abruptly?”

“Because I want you.”

His words, spoken softly and intimately, sent a sudden warmth pulsing through her.

“And I know you want me.”

She thought of denying it, but what was the point when he could read her mind?

Micah kicked a rock out of their path. “The thing is, my desire to make love to you is hard to separate from my thirst, and vice versa. I'm afraid of what might happen if I succumb to either one.”

Holly didn't know what to say to that, but it gave a whole new meaning to the expression “dying for love.” He could easily kill her without meaning to. Accident or not, she would be just as dead.

“You remember that you had to invite me into the house before I could cross the threshold?”

“Yes.”

“If I'm ever there and you want me gone, all you have to do is rescind the invitation.”

“And you'll leave?” she asked incredulously. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.” He fell silent again.

During the rest of the walk home, Holly was lost in thought, her mind replaying everything Kadie and Micah had told her.

“We're here.”

Holly looked up, surprised to find they were at the foot of the porch stairs. “Thank you for this evening,” she said as he followed her up the steps. “I enjoyed meeting your family.”

“Can I kiss you good-night?”

“Is that a good idea?”

“Probably not,” he admitted.

But when he reached for her, she didn't pull away. Holly went up on her tiptoes as his arms circled her waist, drawing her body against his. She closed her eyes as his mouth covered hers and a warm, sweet heat spread through her. When his tongue slid across her lower lip and delved inside, she felt it in the deepest part of her being. Suddenly weak and wanting, she clung to him, breathing in his scent, reveling in the strength of his arms around her.

Drowning in a sea of sensual pleasure, she let out a cry of protest when he released her.

“Get in the house, Holly.” His voice, razor sharp, left no room for argument.

She blinked at him, alarmed by the faint red glow in his eyes.

“In the house. Now!” Reaching past her, he opened the door and shoved her inside. “Revoke my invitation.”

“Micah Ravenwood, you're no longer welcome here!” Heart pounding, she slammed the door, then leaned back against it. “I rescind your invitation.” She peeked out the window, but there was no sign of him.

Had she only imagined that hellish red glow?

* * *

Holly wandered through Morgan Creek, bored out of her mind. Last night, every time she'd closed her eyes, she had seen Micah's eyes. Red and glowing. She had expected to have nightmares after that; instead, her dreams had been filled with erotic images of the two of them making love in a variety of bizarre locations—in a bathtub filled with blood, on the floor of a castle dungeon, in the middle of a graveyard. She had never had such outlandish dreams in her whole life. Until she met Micah.

Shaking the nightmares away, Holly turned her thoughts to more mundane concerns. She was accustomed to working every day, used to making decisions and solving problems, meeting people, keeping busy. Her options in Morgan Creek were severely limited—stay in the house and read or watch TV, go to the movie theater, or take long walks.

She was tired of reading, tired of movies, tired of walking when there was no place to go. If only she had a phone or a computer, she could at least get in touch with her folks or one of her friends at the office, or lose herself in some mindless online game.

Damn Rylan Saintcrow for taking her phone. Did he really think she would call for help and put her family or friends or the police at his mercy? The man was a vampire and a killer.

She glanced at the lowering sky. The weather suited her mood perfectly. Cold and gray.

“Feeling sorry for yourself?”

She jumped a foot at the sound of Saintcrow's voice coming from behind her.

“A vampire and a killer?” he asked, amusement evident in his tone. “Is that how you see me?”

Summoning her courage, she turned to face him. “Isn't that what you are?”

“Indeed. But very few mortals—or vampires, for that matter—have the nerve to call me a killer to my face.”

“I didn't say it to your face,” she muttered. “I didn't even know you were here.” Head cocked to one side, she frowned at him. “How can you read my mind?” She lifted a hand to her neck. “Did you . . . ?”

“I'm a master vampire.”

“I thought you had to drink my blood to read my thoughts.”

“How do you know I haven't?”

She went cold all over as she imagined him bending over her while she slept, or hypnotizing her and then wiping the memory from her mind. “Have you?”

He shrugged. And then he grinned. That one simple smile made him seem almost human.

“Put your mind at ease, Holly. I've never bitten you.”

“Then how can you read my mind?”

He tapped a finger to the side of his head. “Master vampire.”

“Oh. I'm surprised to see you out and about.”

He shrugged. “Kadie is at rest, and I sensed you needed some company. Do you play cards?”

“What?”

“Do you play cards? We can while away an hour or two playing poker, gin rummy, or canasta. Blackjack? Whatever you like.”

Holly stared at him. Was he serious?

“Well?”

“I'd like that. I think.”

“There are cards in the tavern.”

In a move quicker than her eye could follow, he wrapped his arm around her waist, and the next thing she knew, they were in a large room dominated by a bar that ran the length of the back wall. A number of booths lined one side of the room; a dozen small, round tables occupied the other side.

“Make yourself at home,” he invited.

Holly chose a table near the front window, watching as Saintcrow went behind the bar.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked. “We've got wine and soft drinks.”

“A soda, please. Coke, if you've got it.”

He quickly filled a tumbler with ice and soda, then poured himself a glass of wine. Reaching under the counter, he pulled out several decks of cards, which he spread on the counter. “What'll it be?”

“Gin rummy?”

Nodding, he picked up a deck and shoved it into the pocket of his jeans.

Holly watched him walk toward her, thinking he moved like a sleek black panther stalking its prey. Once again, she felt his preternatural power roll over her, making the hair on her arms tingle. “What does being a master vampire mean, exactly?”

He set the glasses on the table, then took the chair across from hers. “Basically, it means I'm very old and very powerful.”

“And yet you're afraid of the Braga woman.”

“No. She doesn't bother me. It's her companion. Mahlon.” He sipped his wine. “No one is quite sure what he is. At night, he's no threat to our kind. But during the day . . .” Saintcrow shook his head. “He worries me.”

“Because you're vulnerable?”

“Because Kadie is vulnerable. Micah must have told you that thresholds have power. They can repel my kind. Whatever else Mahlon is, he's still human and, as such, thresholds have no power over him. Braga has used that to her advantage against her enemies many times.”

“If he comes here, will he be able to cross the bridge?”

“I don't think so, but I'm not certain. And that worries me most of all.” He pulled the cards from his pocket. “Shall I deal?”

At her nod, he opened the deck, shuffled, and dealt the cards.

Holly looked at her hand, and then at Saintcrow. “I'm never going to win, am I? I mean, you probably already know what cards I'm holding.”

He held up his hand, as if he were taking an oath. “I promise not to read your mind while we play. You have my word.”

“I'm surprised you have soda in here,” she remarked, lifting her glass. “I thought you could only drink blood. And wine.”

“I bought it just for you.”