Twilight Dreams

by Amanda Ashley

  His past, Holly mused. What was it like, to watch the world change before your very eyes? To watch the growth of civilization, to live through wars and plagues, to see the advancement of technology, to go from riding in a horse and carriage to traveling across the world in a jet? So many amazing inventions in his long lifetime. It was mind-boggling.

  Holly’s gaze settled on Micah. He had removed his shirt and his skin seemed to glisten in the moon’s light. He was still a young vampire but, barring some bizarre accident or a fatal meeting with a hunter, he could live to be hundreds, maybe thousands of years old. No matter how long she lived, it would be like the blink of an eye compared to him. He loved her. She knew that. But when she was gone, he would still have centuries ahead of him. He might fall in love a hundred times with a hundred other women, and she would become nothing but a distant memory.

  “Holly?”

  She looked up when Kadie touched her arm. “Did you say something?”

  “Are you all right? You look like you’re about to cry.”

  “I . . .” Holly’s gaze settled on Micah again. Her heart squeezed painfully when she thought of him with other women. She wanted to believe that he loved her so much he would never fall in love again, but besides being unrealistic, she knew it was grossly unfair to expect him to spend the rest of his life alone after she was gone.

  Micah looked up abruptly, his gaze finding hers, his brow furrowing.

  The next thing she knew, he was kneeling in front of her, his hands reaching for hers.

  She was vaguely aware that Saintcrow and Kadie were no longer at the bridge.

  “Don’t go there, sunshine,” Micah said quietly. “You don’t know what the future holds. Nobody does. None of us can count on tomorrow. Not you. Not me. Not even Saintcrow. There’s only today.”

  “I don’t want to live without you,” she whispered, her voice thick with unshed tears. “I don’t want you to live without me.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I want you to turn me.”

  “Holly, this isn’t a decision to be made on the spur of the moment or when you’re overcome with strong emotions.”

  “Don’t you think I’ve given it a lot of thought?”

  “I’m sure you have, but . . .” Rising, he drew her to her feet and into his arms. “I heard your thoughts a few minutes ago. I don’t think you’re in any frame of mind to decide right now.”

  Sighing, Holly rested her forehead against his chest. “You’re probably right.”

  “I know I am.”

  She nodded, and then she had a terrible thought. Maybe Micah no longer wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Maybe he didn’t want her to become a vampire. After all, eternity was a very long time.

  “Holly.” Placing his finger under her chin, he lifted her head. “Look at me. You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  “No, but I thought you’d be happier about my decision.”

  “I am. But there’s no hurry, love. I just want you to be sure.”

  She smiled. And then she frowned. “Why is it you’re all right with me becoming a vampire, but not Sofia?”

  “For one thing, she’s only eighteen, way too young to make an irrevocable decision like that, which is why I made her promise to wait until she was twenty-five. But it’s a moot point now, since she doesn’t want to be a vampire anymore.”

  Holly ran her fingernails down his chest and over his washboard stomach. “Twenty-five, huh?” she said with an impish grin. “Well, then, I guess it’s lucky that I’m almost twenty-six!”

  * * *

  They were all back at the ravine at sundown the next evening. As she had the night before, Holly watched Micah and Saintcrow. She envied the easy camaraderie between them, the way they laughed and joked as the new bridge took shape. They didn’t seem to be in as much of a hurry to put up the new one as they had been to get rid of the remains of the old one.

  One more night, and it would be done.

  She couldn’t stop watching Micah. The way he moved, muscles flexing and bunching, the power in his arms as he lifted heavy pieces of wood as if they weighed nothing at all. What was it like, to be that strong? Not to worry about getting seriously hurt if something went wrong?

  “It’s the best show in town, isn’t it?” Kadie remarked, grinning. “All that male muscle and beauty. Too bad we can’t charge admission.”

  Holly laughed, thinking how lucky she was to have Kadie for a friend. At times like this, it was easy to forget that her three closest companions were vampires. In movies, vampires were either monsters ravishing the countryside, or brooding heroes who yearned to be human again. Saintcrow and Kadie seemed happy enough with the way things were, but how was she to know how they really felt, what they really thought?

  She had asked Micah if he was happy as a vampire, whether he would be human again, if he could. He had never answered her.

  Did she really want to become a vampire, to live by night and drink blood to survive? Did she want to have to worry about hunters? And what about her parents? Would they be as accepting as Lena and Luciano? Or would they be horrified? Did she want to spend the rest of her life just drifting from night to night, contributing nothing to society, not really being involved in the world around her?

  So many questions, she thought. Questions to which she had no answers. But the real question was, did she love Micah enough to give up her old way of life and embrace his? It didn’t matter if Kadie and Saintcrow were happy being vampires or not. Didn’t matter if Micah wanted to be human again or if he was happy as he was.

  It was her life. What mattered most was what she wanted.

  She just wished she knew what it was.

  * * *

  “The bridge will be done tonight,” Micah said as they left the house the next evening. “When you get ready to go job hunting, Saintcrow has a car you can use.”

  “He’s really a nice guy, isn’t he?”

  “Why do you sound so surprised?”

  “I don’t know. I guess because he always seems so stern and unapproachable.”

  Micah shrugged. “He is what he is.”

  Saintcrow and Kadie waved as they neared the ravine.

  “I’ll work on this side,” Saintcrow said. “You take the other. Once we get the supports in place, the rest should be a breeze.”

  At her request, Micah carried her across the ravine so she could keep him company while he dug a hole for one of the posts and filled it with concrete. It would have taken her days to dig a hole that deep; he was finished in minutes.

  Saintcrow was doing the same on the other side, while Kadie looked on.

  Holly smiled inwardly, thinking how much better it would be if she, too, was a vampire. She would be able to leap across the ravine on her own, hear what Saintcrow and Kadie were laughing at, help Micah with the heavy lifting and set the post in place, though he didn’t seem to need any help.

  It would likely take some getting used to, being a vampire, but there was really no other alternative if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Micah, because there was no way she was going to burden him with having to care for her when she grew too old and feeble to care for herself. And if she was going to be a vampire, then she wanted to make the transition while they still looked the same age.

  Holly was about to climb down the rocky hillside to tell Micah she had definitely made up her mind when she caught a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye. Before she had time to register what was happening, a strong arm snaked around her throat. She dug her nails into the arm that was cutting off her breath, twisted and fought as best she could but to no avail.

  She cried Micah’s name as the world faded to gray and then went black.

  * * *

  “Holly!” Micah leaped effortlessly to the top of the ravine in time to see a tall man in a long black coat drag Holly across the road and vanish from sight.

  “What the hell?” Saintcrow appeared beside Micah, his nostril
s flaring. “Damn, if I didn’t know it was impossible, I’d think Braga had been here.”

  “I’m going after her.” Honing in on the blood link that bound him to Holly, Micah took off after the vampire who had taken his woman.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Holly stared at the vampire who had abducted her. He could only be Leticia Braga’s brother. There was no mistaking the strong family resemblance between the two. The same sharp features, the same pale blond hair. The same intense hatred in his eyes.

  She tried to still her trembling, tried to keep her voice even as she asked, “What are you going to do with me?”

  Fangs bared, he glared at her, a faint red glow visible in his close-set eyes. No one, seeing him for the first time, would ever mistake him for anything but what he was.

  Holly lifted her head in hopes of staring him down. “Micah will kill you for this.”

  “Micah?” His eyes narrowed. “Who the hell is Micah?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough!” she snapped, with far more bravado than she felt.

  He snorted disdainfully. “Doesn’t matter who he is. I’m just waiting for Saintcrow to come looking for you. We have a score to settle.”

  His hand tightened around her waist, holding her in place as he lowered his head and buried his fangs in her throat.

  “No!” She hissed the word through clenched teeth as pain splintered through her. No, not now! Not like this!

  He was drinking from her. Not sipping a few drops the way Micah did, but drinking with great slurping noises. She could feel the warmth of her blood dripping like rain down her neck. There was a peculiar buzzing in her ears followed by a sudden light-headed feeling.

  She was dying.

  She sagged in his arms as the strength went out of her legs.

  Time lost all meaning. She felt lighter than air, as if she were floating away, no longer subject to gravity.

  And then, somehow, Micah was there.

  But he was too late, she thought dully. Eternally too late. It was her last conscious thought before she pitched headlong into a narrow black tunnel that spiraled down, down, into an endless black void.

  * * *

  Rage exploded through Micah as he watched the vampire toss Holly aside. Limp as a rag doll, she skidded across the ground and lay still. He stared at her, certain she was dead. He detected no heartbeat, no sign of life.

  With a snarl, Micah launched himself at the man who had dared lay hands on the woman he loved.

  The other vampire, older and stronger, fought silently, confident of his ability to emerge victorious. They traded blows, teeth and claws ripping and tearing. There were only a few ways to destroy a vampire, but a loss of blood could weaken them.

  Micah was confident he had the upper hand until Braga got in a lucky blow that sent him reeling backward.

  With a howl of triumph, Braga grabbed a long thin metal stake and drove it into Micah’s chest, missing Micah’s heart by inches, pinning him to the ground.

  Weak with pain and blood loss, Micah waited for the killing blow, but it never came.

  And then Saintcrow was there. “This is going to hurt like hell,” he said, and ripped the metal bar from his chest.

  “Braga,” Micah gasped.

  “He’s gone.”

  Struggling to his feet, Micah crawled toward Holly. She lay sprawled in the dirt, her hair and neck and clothing stained crimson with her own blood.

  With a cry of denial, he cradled her in his arms. Her skin was fish-belly white, her lips turning blue, her skin already cold to the touch. Was he too late? He placed his fingertips to her throat, murmured a prayer of thanks when he felt the faint beat of a pulse. Concentrating, he heard the equally faint, thready beat of her heart.

  Bending his head to her neck, he drank what little remained of her life’s blood, felt it flow into him, healing the ragged wound in his chest. He took a deep breath, then bit into his wrist and held the bleeding wound to her lips. “Drink, Holly,” he coaxed, his voice tinged with desperation. “Drink, love, and stay with me forever.”

  When she didn’t respond, he stroked her throat. “Drink, dammit! Don’t you dare leave me here in the dark, sunshine.”

  Just when he feared he had arrived too late, that she lacked the strength or the will to save herself, she lapped at his blood. Then, gripping his wrist with both hands, she covered the wound with her mouth.

  A moment later, she sagged in his arms.

  “What’s wrong?” Alarmed, Micah looked up at Saintcrow. “What happened?”

  “It’s perfectly natural. Nothing to worry about. She’ll sleep the rest of the night, and when she wakes at sunset tomorrow, she’ll be one of us.”

  Cradling Holly to his chest, Micah rose to his feet and willed the two of them back to Shirley’s house.

  Inside, he laid Holly on the bed, removed her stained clothing, washed her from head to foot. After changing the sheets, he tucked her under the covers.

  “I’m sorry it happened this way, sunshine,” he murmured, lightly stroking her cheek. “So damn sorry.”

  She had wanted to be a vampire, he thought, watching her sleep.

  Would she feel the same when she woke tomorrow night?

  * * *

  “Who was it?” Kadie asked. They were in the living room, sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. Micah was looking after Holly in their bedroom. He hadn’t left her side since they brought her home.

  “I’m not a hundred percent sure, but from the glimpse I got, I’d say it had to be Leticia’s brother.”

  “Did you know she had a brother?”

  “No.”

  “Why did he run?”

  “Who the hell knows? Maybe he knew he couldn’t win and he lost his nerve. I’m pretty scary, you know.”

  “Oh, yes, I know.” She shivered all over. “Why, I’m terrified just being in the same room with you.”

  Saintcrow snorted. “Yeah, right.”

  Kadie sighed. “So what do we do now? Do you think he’ll come back? He knows where we are.”

  “That’s a worry for another day.”

  “Do you think Holly will be okay?”

  “She’s Micah’s worry, not mine.”

  “Rylan! What a thing to say!”

  “I don’t want to talk about Braga or Holly or Micah, or anything else,” he said, drawing her into his arms.

  “No?” she asked, batting her eyelashes at him. “What do you want to talk about?”

  Flashing a wicked grin, he stretched out on the rug and drew her down beside him. “I don’t want to talk at all, darlin,” he drawled, nibbling her earlobe. “I had other things in mind.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Leandro Braga paced the outskirts of Morgan Creek. His physical wounds had healed. But the blow to his ego remained open, like a raw wound in his chest. He had run from Saintcrow. The fact that the other vampire was ancient, stronger, did nothing to alleviate his anger or his shame.

  He glared at the town. They were all there—Saintcrow and Micah and the women. Braga gnashed his teeth as his rage built inside him. He was strong, but even he couldn’t go up against four vampires and hope to survive.

  He would bide his time. Feed his hunger. He had consumed the woman’s blood. When the time was ripe, he would follow the link between them. She would lead him to Micah. Micah would lead him to Saintcrow. They would all die, one by one. Saintcrow last of all.

  “I will yet avenge you, my sister,” he vowed. “I swear it on your life and my own.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Holly woke feeling wonderful. Sitting up, she stretched her arms over her head, then frowned when she saw Micah standing at the foot of the bed, his expression guarded.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked. “Why am I naked? Why do you look so serious? Is something . . . ?” Her voice trailed off as she glanced around the room. It looked the same as always, yet the colors seemed brighter. She blinked as she realized she could see everything in the room
clearly—the pictures on the wall, the furniture, each item on top of the dresser—even though the lights were off. That was odd, she thought. Odder still, she could detect every thread, every stitch, in the sheet pooled around her bare legs. Not only that, she could hear the low hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen.

  She pressed a hand to her stomach. She was hungry. Ravenous. “Micah, say something. You’re scaring me.”

  And still he just stood there, watching her.

  She frowned. And then felt her eyes widen. “That vampire. He fed on me. He drained me. . . .” She licked her lips and tasted blood. Micah’s blood. “I drank from you.”

  He nodded, his hooded gaze searching hers.

  “Am I . . . ? I am, aren’t I? I’m a vampire now.”

  He nodded again.

  Vampire. It was what she had wanted. Wasn’t it? She searched her feelings as reality set in. She was no longer human, but a supernatural creature. She should have been more upset, she thought, but it was hard to be angry or resentful when she felt so good. When she was still alive . . . sort of. When it meant she could be with Micah for centuries instead of decades.

  And then she frowned.

  “Holly?”

  “Darn, darn, darn!”

  Micah lifted one brow. “Is that all you’ve got to say?”

  Sighing, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. “You don’t understand. I had it all planned out. I was going to get a manicure and a pedicure and then indulge in one last gigantic meal before you changed me, you know? Gorge on salty French fries and greasy bacon. Have chocolate fudge cake and buttermilk doughnuts for dessert and wash them down with a glass of ice-cold milk. Have one last cheeseburger and a hot fudge sundae smothered in whipped cream . . . and now I’m starving and I can’t have any of it.”

  “So, you’re not mad at me?”

  “Why would I be mad? I told you this was what I wanted. What happened to that horrible man who bit me?”

  “He saw Saintcrow coming and he ran.”

  “He was related to Leticia Braga, wasn’t he?”