Staked

by Sandra Edwards

  Who was she kidding? She knew exactly why she’d done it. She wanted to touch him, and this was an easy out. A justification to save face.

  She couldn’t help herself. She had to savor the embrace, if only for a few more seconds before the time came to pull away to avoid awkwardness. His hold was enchanting; his arms strong and capable and comforting. She could’ve stayed there forever.

  Forever! The thought shuddered through her. Ava had been taught what forever really meant. People could romanticize it any way they wanted, but forever had no end. Just an on and on and on existence where you basically hid from the bustle of society, only venturing out at night when you could easily slip into the shadows. An existence where you used another human being for life-support. Their blood. You had to take their blood from them. It rattled Ava to think of invading a person in such a manner.

  And yet, Ava had always known that one day she’d end up this way. That she’d be turned. This was her greatest fear.

  Ava slipped out of Stone’s embrace and backed away, avoiding looking into his eyes. “It’s okay now.” She stepped out of the circle. “You can open your eyes.”

  She knelt down and began collecting her stones. He was bound to freak and she’d better collect her wits before the shit hit the fan.

  “What the hell...?” Stone’s disbelief barreled out in his voice, reaching all the way down to the floor where Ava was still kneeling, and cracked her wall of composure.

  She shuddered. Slowly, she raised her gaze to look at him. “Look, I know there’s not much I can say that’ll give you comfort right now, but just know...we’re safe here.” Ava stood without much effort and faced him with as much poise as she could manage.

  “And where exactly is here?” At first he sounded annoyed, but she sensed the relief he was trying so hard to hide in his voice.

  Ava funneled the Sun Stones into their pouch and closed the drawstring. “Maybe you should have a drink and a seat.” She nodded toward the corner of the patio and the small table with cushioned chairs.

  “I don’t want a drink,” he said, backing into the closest chair. “I’d prefer answers.” Stone’s tone was serious, but he seemed to be relaxing.

  Good. That meant he trusted her word. A little trust was always good. But even that wouldn’t diminish the fact that he wanted answers. Her proof—he was looking at her with a hard glare. Waiting.

  “Well, you may not need a drink, but I sure do.” She moved toward the slider. “It’s not every day that I nearly get ambushed by a bunch of vamps.”

  She stepped inside the house, knowing he was following her.

  “I thought you knew, but I wasn’t sure.”

  “You really should rethink that drink.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Reality as you know it is about to change.”

  “If that’s the key to getting some answers,” he said, “then I’ll have a drink.”

  Ava opened the refrigerator door, and looked back at him. “Beer? Whiskey?”

  “Beer’s fine.”

  Ava one-handed two bottlenecks from the fridge and shut the door. She passed one to Stone and headed back toward the terrace. He sat with her on the patio with the wind blowing a soft breeze in from the ocean and, after several beers she’d told him at least enough to give him a good understanding of where she’d come from and why she’d taken him here, as opposed to a time period other than his own.

  But, telling someone about the world in the 29th century wasn’t any easier than explaining how she managed to travel through time. Stone buying that was a hard pill to swallow, much less how she managed to do it. She’d answered all his questions even though most of them, she suspected, were simply meant to be facetious.

  Ava didn’t engage him and his ribbing. Instead, she gave him time for the facts she was relaying to sink into his head—at least until he started considering that they both hadn’t lost their minds.

  “Okay. So let me see if I’ve got this straight...” His words fell off into meddlesome laughter. “You’re not an ordinary bounty hunter. You come here from the future—wherever here is,” he said, looking around. “You’re a time traveler—sorry, broker. You can carry people through time with you.” His laughter rang scarily prophetic. She imagined this very place they were in was exhibit A inside his head. “Not everybody can broker time. Only Karellians, of which you are half.” He pointed at her offhandedly. His tone was calm, but still, there was something in his voice that suggested he was trying hard not to believe a word of what he was saying. Even so, he continued, “But not all Karellians will broker time because it hurts...except for you. You’ve developed a tolerance to the pain.” He flashed her with a skeptic’s smile. “I leave anything out?”

  No, but she had. Plenty.

  “Oh, yeah...” He interrupted her thoughts. “And all this—” He waved his hand around. “—is just a figment of our imaginations.”

  Nodding her head, she almost said, “yes,” but stopped short. A more appropriate answer was sort of, but not really. If she put it in terms that he could easily identify and understand, it’d have to be a comparison to Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Holodeck.

  “Okay.” Stone folded his arms over his chest and glared at her. “What kind of drugs did you give me?”

  “When exactly did I have the opportunity to drug you?” She pointed the neck of her beer bottle at Stone and then took a healthy swig, still eyeing him.

  Stone’s face relaxed for a split-second, as if he couldn’t find an argument, but just as quickly he started shaking his head.

  “Why is it so hard for you to believe me?” she asked. “How many people believe in you?”

  His eyes darkened and she knew he understood her underlying meaning. How many people out there believed in vampires?

  Stone sucked in a breath and blew it out dramatically, giving her one of those looks that said he was going to play along but he didn’t believe a word of the fish tale she was trying to sell.

  “What?” she asked.

  “When am I gonna get my jewels?” He gave her a warped smile and waited for her answer.

  “Soon,” she said, feeling like he was toying with her.

  “Yeah, I know. The recovery period.” He rolled his eyes and laughed. “You gotta replenish your...what was it called again?”

  “Chakra energy,” she said in an almost whisper. Ava had no idea why his opinion of her mattered, but it did. The idea that he thought she was trying to pull a fast one on him—or worse yet, that she was nuts—hurt. Ava straightened in her chair and sucked up the urge to feel wounded. The sooner she finished her business with Dexter Stone, the better.

  “One thing I don’t get though.” He looked at her. “If those little stones that you claim brought us here are the means by which you travel through time...” Stone said, shaking his head and his words gave way to a little laugh. “Something that valuable...why didn’t your friend take them?”

  “Because he can’t.” Ava paused, considering just how much she should tell him. Probably best to let him know he couldn’t steal her Sun Stones, and trying to was futile. “Sun Stones are sanctioned to the broker. It’s physically impossible to take them from their rightful owner.”

  He scrutinized her with a hint of curiosity and a load of skepticism showing on his face.

  Ava snapped the drawstring off her belt loop and pulled the pouch from her pocket. She laid it on the table and pushed it toward him. “Go ahead. Try to touch it.” She nodded. “But be careful.” She seized the opportunity to present him with her own little devious laugh, and didn’t feel bad about it either.

  Stone inched his hand across the table and held his fingers over the pouch, leaving barely enough space to stick a sheet of paper between his fingers and the pouch, and held it there. By the look on his face, he felt the heat radiating hotter than the hottest fire. Stone pulled away from the pouch and scrutinized Ava through narrowed eyes.

  “You don’t have to believe me. I don’t care about that. But you
can’t leave here without me. You can try, but you’ll get nowhere.” She felt some perverse smugness from that. “So until I can leave here, you’re stuck. Is there anything you’ll need or require for the next several hours?”

  Stone’s laughter snorted through his nose. Ava could easily guess that his mind had dropped into the gutter. Like with everything else, Stone quickly recovered, saying, “You’d better hope not. If I’m in need, looks like you’re my benefactor.” He tangled her in his glare—probably a diversion—but she still saw the smirk curling the corners of his mouth.

  His benefactor? That could be taken a lot of ways, but she was only concerned with two of those options. Neither would lead to anything good.

  She didn’t have the wherewithal to resist either. She’d better get this show on the road, pronto. “Listen...” She stood. “If you require anything, just go for a walk along the beach. I’m sure you’ll find what you need.”

  “Are you going somewhere?”

  “I’m going to take a nap. My energy will replenish faster that way.” And that’s all that mattered because the sooner she got away from him, the better.

  Ava moved away from the table and cut through the side gate leading to a outdoor bedroom on the far side of the terrace. The bed looked inviting, but she stepped inside to take care of a few things in the bathroom first.

  Twenty minutes later she emerged in an oversized nightshirt, brushing her hair as she made her way to the bed. Sliding between the sheets, she laid the brush on the nightstand and tried not to think about Stone and where he might be or what he might be doing.

  Ava stared up at the stars in the sky and tried to imagine her ancestors voyaging across the universe to settle on an entirely different planet. Karellians had been star-trekking outside their galaxy for nearly a century when they made the first trip to Earth. They were by definition a nomadic people, so it really didn’t surprise Ava that she felt no recordable measure of homesickness when she traveled outside her base year. The things she missed most were the technological conveniences. There was no family for her to feel a sense of loss over. Her mother was dead. Had been since Ava was thirteen. And Ava’s father was still in that hospital. She used to go see him, but he had no clue who she was, and that hurt more than not seeing him at all.

  Ava was alone in the world—except for Mickey. He was the brother she’d never had, but would’ve liked to. And that was enough, for the most part, except on nights like this. Lonely nights. The kind of night that made her think about guys like Dexter Stone.

  She shouldn’t let her thoughts go there, but with Stone she couldn’t help herself. He was like a magnet to her steel; she had no choice but to be drawn to him. Fighting the lure to become one with him was strong, stronger than any attraction she’d ever experienced. Even Lucien. And that one had been a power force within itself. But Stone, he was different.

  Every time Stone looked at her, his gaze caressed her as surely as if it were his own hands. All he had to do was look at her to show her his touch. How his hand could skim over her cheek and down her neck, where he’d stop momentarily and let the thrill of him stun the vulnerable spot on her throat.

  Stone’s embrace was like heaven and euphoria all rolled into one. Inside it, she could feel herself melting into him, becoming one with him. His touch was a talented one, leaving her brimming in ecstasy wherever his hands caressed her body. When he kissed her, it took her breath away.

  “I feel like I’ve come home after a long journey away,” his lips whispered against hers.

  “I know,” she said, wanting him to kiss her, take her, make love to her.

  But his embrace, his kiss, even his presence and the way it all made her feel was nothing but a spell. A spell she had to break. Sex with Stone was out of the question—no matter how much she thought about it. Wanted it. If she allowed him to enter her, then he’d end up turning her.

  Ava’s greatest fear.

  Mental warning signals shook her out of a deep sleep.

  To her dismay the bed was empty, save her. She felt a mixture of sadness and glee that Stone was not there with her.

  Ava threw the covers back, dropped her bare legs over the side of the bed and touched her feet to the cool tile floor. She went through the gate separating the rooms on the terrace, looking for Stone. He wasn’t at the table—the place where she’d last seen him before she left to go take her nap.

  She peered inside the house but there was no sign of him. Scanning the vicinity outside the patio area, she caught sight of a silhouetted figure down on the beach near the water’s edge. His back was to her but she knew it was him. He was standing there, just looking out toward the ocean. Ava wondered what he was looking for. She’d already told him there was nothing out there. It was the truth, even if he didn’t believe it. She thought about walking down to where he was, but before she reached the first step on the stairs leading to the sand, he turned and headed back toward the house.

  There was an extra spring in his step, his color was better, and there was something new in his eyes. Satiation. Stone had fed.

  Her thoughts ran away with her. What was it like...to sink elongated fangs into vigorously pumping veins? To drink until you’d had your fill? Having the power to spare or take a life—

  The thoughts coming to Ava mortified her. Why did she care what it was like to feel and do these things? It wasn’t something she wanted.

  Was it?

  Maybe there was something to the legend. She’d never bought into it before, but now she wasn’t so sure. Was there a vamp out there who was destined to turn her? Ava’s mother had thought so. But as it turned out, her mother had been mistaken about the particular vampire’s identity.

  Ava shook her head, trying to dismiss thoughts of her traitorous mother. If Ava was in danger of being turned, it was all because of Selinda Valentine.

  Stone stepped onto the patio and stopped beside Ava. His eyes met hers with a smile. “How was your nap?” A touch of smug entitlement lit his face and a smirk fueled his tone, suggesting he knew she’d tossed and turned because he wasn’t there with her.

  “Served its purpose.” She gave an insignificant shrug and looked away. “I’m ready when you are,” she said. “We’ll leave just as soon as I explain to you what’s going to happen.”

  “What’s going to happen is that you’re going to get me my jewels.”

  “Well, yeah. Pretty much.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’m going to reimburse you with a set of jewels of equal or greater value.” Ava rolled her eyes, trying to sway the disappointment to the back of her mind. She didn’t get why it bothered her that it was all about the jewels for him, but it did.

  “You sound like an infomercial.” He grinned at her and it made her heart do somersaults.

  Oh, no. She let out a sigh that didn’t make her feel any better after the fact. How could it? She was doomed if she didn’t get away from Stone. And fast.

  * * *

  Diamond Beach, New Jersey

  It figured that the one place Ava hadn’t been since the eve of her thirteenth birthday—and had purposely avoided since—was the one place Lucien had thought it a good idea to hide Cole from her.

  Ava tightened the drawstring on her pouch, stuffed it into her pocket and tried, but failed, to look past Stone—a man far more dangerous to her than Lucien had ever been. Something in his eyes softened, as if he was finally accepting what was happening around him. At least she wouldn’t have to deal with his doubt right now, and that was nice.

  She scrutinized their surroundings and checked her MPD. They’d landed in the alley behind the pub across the street from the very spot where Ava had been brought for the ceremony on the eve of her thirteenth birthday. That day had ended in disaster. This one could not.

  They made their way through the alley and up the side street to the corner of Pittsburgh and Atlantic Avenues. The street was deserted. Only one of the four streetlights at the intersection was w
orking and it was across the street, kitty-cornered from them. It left their side of the street dark and menacing-looking.

  “Let’s go check the pub,” she said, turning the corner. “I doubt Mickey and Skeet are here yet, but let’s have a look.”

  They went to the middle of the block and peered in through the window. No sign of them. Ava shot off a message to Mickey on her MPD. Seconds later a chime signaled his reply. They were forty-five minutes away.

  Forty-five minutes? Ava looked at Stone. “How fast does your guy drive?”

  Stone shrugged. “Depends....”

  “On...?” She waved her hand impatiently.

  “His mood.”

  Ava shook her head. Being dependent upon someone else’s mood had just landed at the top of Ava’s things-that-annoyed-her-most list. Sitting around waiting for Skeet and Mickey to show up posed a potentially critical error—Lucien could show up at any time and move her bounty.

  “I’m going to get Cole,” she said, and moved back into the street.

  Stone followed her. “Where is he?”

  Ava pointed in the direction she was headed. “In that motel.”

  Stone followed her into the motel’s courtyard and around to the sidewalk lining the doors to the rooms. Ava passed each room, reading each one looking for Cole’s imprint. She found it at room number eight. Looking at Stone, she pointed toward the door. “He’s in here,” she said, just above a whisper.

  “Should I kick the door down?”

  She glared at him. This was no time for jokes. “Give the door a hearty rap,” she said. “When he asks who it is...tell him pizza delivery.”

  “What do you think the chances are that he’s ordered a pizza?”

  “Doesn’t matter. He’ll open the door.”

  “You sound so certain of that.”