“Navarre? Navarre! Open the door. I know you’re in there.”
Angry that she had dared to seek him out, he stalked to the door and flung it open.
Adrianna took a step back, alarmed by the rage that glittered in his eyes.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“I…” She took another step backward, then straightened her shoulders and stood firm. “I had to see you.”
“Go home, Adrianna. You’re not safe here. You’re not safe with me.”
“Why?” She gazed up at him, her blue eyes shining with unshed tears. “Tell me what’s wrong? What have I done?”
“Done?” He groaned deep in his throat. “You’ve done nothing. Please, Annie, please go home where you belong.”
Her concern for her own safety dissolved when she heard the anguish in his voice, saw the pain in his eyes.
“Please tell me what’s wrong?” she urged. “Let me help you.”
“You can’t help me. No one can.” He stared past her, judging the time, knowing he would have to seek his rest soon.
“I’m not leaving, Navarre. Whether you want to admit it or not, there’s something special between us, something I don’t want to lose.” She laid her hand on his forearm, felt his muscle flex and tighten at her touch. “I’m falling in love with you.”
“No!”
It wasn’t the reaction she had hoped for. She had expected him to be surprised, perhaps disbelieving, since they had known each other such a short time. A part of her had hoped he would be happy, that he would sweep her into his arms and confess that he loved her, too.
But there was no joy in his expression, only a soul-deep misery. She felt suddenly foolish and a little embarrassed. She had never thrown herself at a man before, never realized how devastating unrequited love could be.
She stared up at him, wanting to run away, to crawl into a hole and hide, but she seemed rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to think of anything but the way she had felt in his arms the night before, the way he had held her and kissed her.
“What happened last night?” she asked. “Just tell me that, and I’ll go away and never bother you again.”
“Come in,” he said, and turned away without waiting to see if she followed him or not.
A shiver crept up her spine as she entered the house. As usual, all the drapes were drawn and the interior of the house was dark and cool.
She followed Navarre into the front parlor, sat down on the edge of the Early American sofa, her hands folded tightly in her lap.
Navarre stood at the hearth with his back to her. “I’m going to tell you something you probably won’t believe,” he said, still not facing her. “And then I want you to leave. No questions asked.”
Hardly daring to breathe, she waited for him to go on.
He could feel her watching him, and he stared into the fireplace, wondering how to tell her the truth. Should he just blurt it out? Or should he let her see him as he really was?
“Navarre?”
“Do you believe in the supernatural, Adrianna?”
“The supernatural? You mean like ESP and psychic phenomena, stuff like that?”
Slowly, he shook his head, and then he turned around to face her. “I’m not like you,” he said flatly. “I’m not mortal.”
She started to laugh at the absurdity of what he was saying, but then she looked into his eyes, and in their fathomless depths, she saw that he was telling the truth, or at least what he believed to be the truth.
“I was born almost two thousand years ago, on a small island off the coast of Greece.” He lifted his hand in a broad gesture that encompassed the house and its contents. “All this furniture, the bed you bought, is mine, collected over a hundred lifetimes.”
“No.” She shook her head. “That’s impossible.”
“Sometimes I wish it was.”
“So you’re trying to tell me you’re immortal?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true nonetheless.”
“You want me to believe you’ve lived for almost two thousand years?”
“I’m not alive, Adrianna. I’ve been dead for close to two thousand years.”
One of them was insane, she thought, not certain which of them it was. Him for speaking such nonsense, or her for listening, and almost believing.
“Why are you doing this?” She fisted the tears from her eyes. “If you don’t want to see me again, just say so! You don’t have to make up some outrageous lie!”
“I’m not lying. Look at me, Adrianna.”
Reluctantly, she met his gaze, felt the blood in her veins turn to ice as his eyes took on an eerie red glow and his lips drew back, exposing two long teeth that could only be called fangs.
“Now do you believe?”
“It can’t be. There’s no such thing as…as a…”
“I believe vampire is the word you’re searching for, and I can assure you, they do exist.”
She blinked, and he was beside her, his hand closing on her arm. She felt the steel-like strength of his grip, the coolness of his skin, as he guided her into the next room.
A muscle throbbed in his jaw as he placed her in front of a large oval mirror, then stood beside her and removed the cloth that had covered the surface.
Adrianna stared at her reflection, hardly recognizing the face that stared back at her, her eyes wide and afraid, her lips parted as she drew in a shaky breath.
Navarre cast no reflection at all.
“But…but it’s daylight, and you’re awake.” She shook her head, her mind refusing to believe what she knew to be true. “I saw you eat… We walked on the beach…”
She turned to look at him, then glanced at the mirror again, and all the color drained from her face.
He watched her expression turn to one of horror and disbelief, and then, with a wordless cry, she fainted.
He caught her in his arms, held her effortlessly to his chest. He would hold her for just a minute, he thought, then take her outside and put her in her car. He glanced around the room, knowing he dared not stay at Cliff House any longer. If he left now, he would have time to find a place to go to ground before the heat of the sun became unbearable.
But one minute stretched into two, and then three, and still he held her close, his heart aching at the thought of never seeing her again. Would she betray him, now that she knew what he was? And if she did, who would believe her?
Thunder rumbled across the sky. A jagged bolt of lightning ripped through the clouds. He couldn’t leave her in her car, not now.
Instead, he carried her upstairs and put her to bed in his bed. Unable to help himself, he laid down beside her and gathered her into his arms. He would hold her close a few minutes more, and then he would leave.
But the sun stayed hidden in the clouds, giving him a reprieve, and he continued to hold her, his gaze never leaving her face.
“Forgive me,” he murmured. “I never meant to cause you pain.”
She stirred at the sound of his voice. He watched her eyelids flutter open, saw the confusion in her eyes turn to fear when she looked at him.
“Tell me it isn’t true.”
“I wish I could.”
“Are you… Did you…?” She licked her lips, then raised a trembling hand to the side of her neck.
“You’re fine, Adrianna. You fainted, that’s all.”
She looked up at him through eyes filled with terror. It was an expression he had seen on countless faces when the one he had chosen to drink from realized what he was.
“What are you going to do to me?”
Fear. He could smell it on her. It sickened him that he was the cause of it. “Nothing.”
He brushed a wisp of hair from her brow, a muscle flexing in his jaw when she recoiled from his touch.
Slowly and deliberately, he put her from him and stood up. “You can stay here until the rain stops,” he said, una
ble to keep the bitterness from his voice.
“Where are you going?”
“Out.”
“Where?”
“I need to find a place to spend the day.”
She glanced around the room. It was large, but sparsely furnished, containing only a large dresser, a chest of black lacquer, and the bed. “I thought vampires slept in coffins.”
“Some do,” he said, his voice gruff. “I don’t care for it.”
He saw the questions in her eyes, the doubts that lingered even in the face of reality. “Goodbye, Adrianna.”
The words were soft, and final. He was leaving, and she knew if she let him go, she would never see him again.
She watched him turn away. Now, she understood the loneliness she had so often seen in his eyes, heard in his voice. She had a sudden, inexplicable need to hold him, to comfort him.
He opened the door, and she saw him hesitate, take a deep breath, and then take the first step that would carry him away from her forever.
“Navarre! Wait!” Jumping out of bed, she ran after him. “Wait! Please wait!”
He stiffened as he felt her arms wrap around his waist, felt the warmth of her body pressing against his back.
“Don’t leave me,” she whispered. “Please don’t leave me.”
“Annie, you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I don’t care what you are. I don’t want you to go.”
“I don’t want to go.” The words came from deep within, as if they had been dredged from the very bottom of his soul.
“Then don’t go.” She dragged him around to face her. “I love you. I’ve never loved anyone before.”
He shook his head, amused and amazed by the woman standing before him. “Annie, my sweet Annie, don’t you know you’re not safe here, not safe with me.”
“I don’t care.”
“I care.”
“You’ve never hurt me before.”
“I wouldn’t hurt you now, not intentionally.” He sighed, resisting the urge to pull her into his arms. “Do you know the story of the rattlesnake who offered to carry a rabbit across a river?”
She shook her head.
“The rabbit said no, because he was afraid the snake would eat him, but the snake promised he wouldn’t, and the rabbit believed him. When they reached the other side of the river, the snake bit the rabbit. ‘Why?’ the rabbit asked. ‘You promised!’ ‘I couldn’t help it,’ the rattler explained with a smile. ‘I’m a snake.’”
Navarre’s eyes begged for her understanding. “I’m a vampire, Annie. And sometimes the hunger is stronger than I am.”
“Tell me to go, then.” She looked up at him through wide blue eyes filled with love and trust. “Tell me go, and I will.”
He opened his mouth, but his tongue refused to obey his mind’s command. “I can’t. Heaven help me, I can’t send you away.”
He glanced at the window, felt the sun’s heat beating against the board that covered the glass, felt the heaviness begin to steal over him.
“Go home, Annie. I’ll come to you tonight.”
He stood in the doorway long after she’d gone. Never before had he taken his rest in a place known to another. Never, in the near two thousand years of his existence, had he trusted anyone, male or female, mortal or vampire, to know where he passed the daylight hours.
It grieved him to think she would betray him, but he knew it was possible. Once she was away from him, once she’d had a chance to think about what he had told her, there was always a chance she would decide he was a danger to her, to the town, that she might come to the conclusion that he was evil and should be destroyed. And though he wasn’t totally helpless during the hours of daylight, he was weak and vulnerable.
With a sigh, he closed and bolted the door, then settled back on his bed, knowing that if Annie betrayed him, he would just as soon be dead.
Chapter Nine
Adrianna didn’t go to work that day. She didn’t really do anything except sit and stare into the distance. It was as if her whole life had been put on hold.
Vampire.
It was impossible.
Still, her grandmother had claimed to see an angel before she died. And there was a lady in town who claimed to be a witch. Maybe there really were stranger things in heaven and earth than she had been dreamed of.
But vampires?
She thought of all the grade B horror movies she had seen growing up. The monsters had always been pictured as horrible ghouls clad in flowing black capes, preying on the blood of innocent young women, turning helpless mortals into mindless zombies. In the movies, vampires were evil incarnate, the very essence of darkness and depravity, a sin against nature. They were cruel, heartless, unfeeling, incapable of tender emotions.
But Navarre was nothing like that. Was he? Would she think differently if he looked more like Lon Chaney and less like Daniel Day-Lewis?
If he was a vampire, how could he endure the sunlight? They had spent a morning walking on the beach. She had seen him eat pepperoni pizza and drink a glass of wine.
But he cast no reflection in a mirror. And she had seen his fangs, and the hideous red glow in his eyes… She remembered inviting him into her house, remembered reading somewhere that a vampire couldn’t enter a house unless he had been invited. And she had invited Navarre. There would be no keeping him out now, she thought, even if she wanted to.
She willed the sun to set, and then she laughed a nervous, shaky laugh. Maybe she was insane, she thought. Who else but a lunatic would be sitting on the floor, wishing the sun would go down because she was eagerly awaiting the appearance of a vampire?
* * * * *
He came with the setting sun, his expression wary. He avoided meeting her eyes, almost as if he was afraid of her. Or ashamed.
Adrianna closed the door behind him, then stood there, uncertain as to what to do next. “Vampire.”
He stiffened at her use of the word, all his senses suddenly alert. “What?”
“The V. In your name. It stands for vampire, doesn’t it?”
He nodded, a wry smile curving his lips.
“So,” she said, nervously toying with the folds of her skirt, “what do we do now?”
“I don’t know.” He paced the floor in front of the fireplace, back and forth, back and forth, like a caged tiger. “I’ve only loved one other mortal,” he remarked quietly, “and it was a long, long time ago.”
Adrianna stared at him. “You love me?”
He frowned at her as if she weren’t very bright. “Of course.”
“You never said so before.”
“I know.” He crossed the room and took her into his arms, holding her carefully, as though he was afraid of hurting her. Very gently, he kissed the top of her head. “I do love you, Annie,” he murmured. “More than you’ll ever know.”
“And I love you!”
“I only hope you won’t regret it.”
“I won’t,” she whispered, lifting her face to his. “I won’t…”
He would have let her go then, but she clung to him, molding her body to his in silent invitation.
“Annie…” He shook his head. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“Why not?”
How could he explain it to her? How could he tell her that it wasn’t only passion she aroused in him, but a terrible hunger?
“I think I’ll die if you don’t kiss me,” she said petulantly.
“You might die if I do.”
She thought he was kidding her, but when she looked into his eyes, she saw that he was serious. Dead serious. A fit of hysterical laughter bubbled up inside her. Dead serious, she mused. No pun intended!
“I think I’d better go,” Navarre said, easing out of her arms.
“Go where?”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.
“It’s true, then? You…you drink blood?”
He nodded curtly, his expression grim.
“Did you…?”
/> “Did I what?”
“That woman in the alley…did you do that?”
“No.” He ran a hand through his hair, his dark eyes pleading with her. “You’ve got to believe me, Annie.”
“Have you ever done anything like that?”
He turned away, wondering how he could explain, how he could make her understand.
“Have you?”
“Yes.” He whirled around to face her. “Yes! I’ve told you what I am.” The condemnation in her eyes was like a knife in his heart. “Annie, let me explain.”
“Can you?” She loved him, but she couldn’t condone murder.
“When first I was made, I couldn’t control the hunger within me. You can’t understand the pain, the need. It’s worse than any drug addiction, any craving you can imagine. In the beginning, drunk with power and driven by a force that was stronger than I was, I took what I needed without regard for what I was doing, for the lives I was taking. It was only later that I learned that I didn’t have to kill to survive, that I could take what I needed without doing any harm. Still later, I learned I could drink from animals, that their blood would sustain me for long periods of time…”
His voice trailed off when he saw the look of horror and revulsion in her eyes. It cut deep, yet a part of him welcomed it. Perhaps now she would realize what sort of monster he was. Perhaps she would send him away. He wouldn’t blame her if she did. In the long run, she would be better off without him.
“And now?”
He sighed, as if shrugging off a heavy burden. “There are plenty of sheep and cattle in the area.”
She looked so relieved he almost didn’t tell her the rest. But she deserved to know it all.
“I can’t survive off the blood of animals indefinitely,” he said flatly. “From time to time I have to have human blood.”
“Like the lady in the alley.”
“Dammit, Adrianna, I never touched that woman!”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know. Another vampire, I suspect.”
“Another one?” She shuddered, and then she laughed ruefully. “Welcome to Moreno Bay, village of the damned.”
“It’s not funny.”
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