by Dani April
“Get back, Peter!” Ian screamed at him above the wind.
“What will you do, my friend?”
“I’ll kill you if I have to. But I won’t let you harm this girl.”
“You fool! I don’t want to harm her. I am in love with this woman. I want to give her the same gift I was given by Athena all those many years ago.”
Tex and Ramos tried to grab ahold of Peter to keep him back from Rebecca. Peter just moved his shoulders and sent them both flying onto their backs in the desert as if they were no more than insects that bothered him.
“This is none of your concern, Ian, my friend.” Peter was staring down the big Aussie. “Go back to the castle and wait for me there.”
Rebecca knew at once that Peter was trying to hypnotize Ian. For a moment, she was certain it was going to work. Ian began to hesitate and started to back away. Then a mammoth clap of thunder shook the earth around them and loosened Peter’s grip over the Aussie’s mind.
Ian covered his eyes with the back of his hand so he would not have to look into the glowing pair in front of him. Then he swung out wildly at Peter in a last desperate attempt to save them. A blow connected with Peter. Ian was a very big man, and any other he had pounded with that much force would have been on their back on the ground and would very likely be unconscious.
Peter didn’t even seem to register that he had just been struck by his part-time friend. Instead, he reached out with a long hand and grabbed a hold of Ian by his neck. He lifted him up into the air. Ian’s feet left the ground and dangled in the air. Rebecca imagined she could hear the snap of bones.
“You knew she was the one thing in the world I ever truly loved.” Peter tightened his grip around the struggling man’s neck. “How dare you presume to take her away from me? I have defeated entire armies for causes that I cared little for. That woman is the only thing I have ever cared for in a thousand years of living. You stupid fool! Did you really think I would allow you or anyone else to take her away from me?”
Ian struggled to speak, but his air was cut off. Peter squeezed tighter, staring him down with a hate filled stare.
“Don’t, Peter!” Rebecca screamed at the only man who had ever told her he loved her. “Stop it! You’ll kill him!”
Her voice caught Peter’s attention. He looked down on the ground to her position. She saw a flicker of the kind, compassionate Peter who had made love to her come back over his features.
“Rebecca?” he questioned her.
“Look at yourself, Peter,” she pleaded with him. “You’ve let your love for me bring you hatred. I don’t believe you ever had that before, and I don’t believe you want it now.”
He loosened his grip over Ian’s neck and hesitated as he stared down at her.
“I’m sorry that I don’t want to be a vampire with you,” she told him. “Answer me this—did you really want to be a vampire when Athena set her sights on you all those years ago? She gave you no choice in the matter because she was evil. If you turn me into a vampire, you’ll become the same creature that she was.”
“But it’s the only way you and I will ever be together, Rebecca.” There was still anger pent up behind each word he spoke.
Rebecca found tears running down her face. She was surprised to learn the tears were not from fear, but from a deep sadness that had suddenly welled up inside her. Her voice choked with emotion when she answered him.
“We’ll never have the chance to be together, Peter.” Now she let loose fully with her tears because something in the truth of her words was breaking her heart. “You and I can never be…If you had been a man, I would have fallen so madly in love with you I would have been the one chasing you. But you aren’t a man, Peter, and I don’t want to become what you are…”
He dropped Ian to the ground. The big man landed with a thump at his feet. A single drop of water had formed in Peter’s eye and was running down his left cheek. Even in the beating rain, Rebecca knew what she saw was a tear from the vampire. Peter lowered his head, staring at the ground, and brought a hand up to cover his face.
“Forgive me,” he cried. “I’m so sorry.”
It was then she knew it was over. She had won her freedom. She would not be forced to become a vampire. She was going to live. She had life, glorious life ahead of her.
There was another whirring sound in the night, and Peter was gone back into the night from where he had come. She knew he was gone for good. She knew she would never see him again.
* * * *
McCarran Airport was crowded on that Sunday morning. It was always crowded on Sunday mornings because all the weekend gamblers and partiers were returning home back to their normal lives, leaving behind the fantasy world of Las Vegas. Rebecca watched the other people gather outside the gate for her flight and thought that she was not all that much unlike them. She was also leaving behind a fantasy world and returning to the ordinary everyday world of work and responsibility. The only difference was that for the past week her fantasy had been real.
She was showered and dressed in a fresh pair of slacks, having spent the night at a room inside the Luxor. When she had looked at herself in the mirror that morning, she was gratified to see that most of the color had already returned to her face. It was a bright sunny day outside the hotel when she got into her cab. The sun felt nice and warm, she welcomed it and had no burning sensation remaining. The vampire blood was evidently fleeing from her system, not to ever return.
The night before, she and the guys had finally made it into the roadside motel in Yucca Flat. They were all muddied and disheveled by the time they got there. They were also surprised to see a limousine waiting for them out front. The driver had asked for her. Peter had hired the car and had it sent out from Vegas to pick them up. The driver had been instructed to take them wherever they wanted to go.
When they got to the Luxor, Peter had booked rooms for all of them at the hotel. Rebecca was too tired to think much about the limo service and hotel room provided courtesy of the vampire. She knew when they got in the limo she should have been afraid, but somehow she wasn’t. It was all over now, and she didn’t have any more to fear from Peter. He might have still been in love with her, but he had reached the same conclusion she had that the two of them could never be together. She didn’t believe he would ever try and contact her again. A part of her was sad with this knowledge, but that was the only way it could end for them.
She and the guys had made use of the twenty-four hour restaurant in the hotel and got themselves a huge meal before going to their respective rooms and falling to sleep. Ian told her it was a sure sign of her full recovery that she had regained her appetite so quickly.
Now at McCarran airport, the guys were standing with her by her gate, waiting to see her off on her trip back home. The flight left in forty-five minutes and would board in just a few. This was their time to say good-bye to one another.
When Rebecca hugged each of the men to her, she had to hold back a few tears. After all, she had been through so much with these guys. They had made love, and they had struggled together to stay alive. In just one week, each of these guys had taken up a place in her heart. In her own way, she had come to love each of them.
“Have a safe journey, Rebecca,” Ramos told her and gave her a fleeting kiss across the lips.
“We’ll keep in touch,” she said and knew she really meant it. “Friend me on Facebook, okay?”
Ramos smiled and nodded that he would. “I’m going back to the castle tonight. I want to talk with Peter and make things right with him. I still believe he has more good in him than bad.”
“Then you’re going to stay on with him?”
“For a little while… Then I’ll return to my family. I’ve saved a lot of money since I came out here to work. I’ll be able to take care of my family and put myself through school. I want to become a registered nurse someday.”
“You’ll be a good nurse.” Rebecca smiled. “You’ll always know how to take care o
f your patients.”
“Take care of yourself, baby.” Tex came up to her next and threw her into a big bear hug. “If you’re ever down my way, look me up.”
“I will, Tex.” She returned his embrace with equal strength. “So you’re leaving Peter?”
“I’m with Ramos,” he told her. “I’ll go back there tonight and make my peace with him. He’s been a good friend, and I don’t want to end it on a bad note. I’ve also been saving up a little since I started to work out here. I’m going to use that money to go back home and buy myself a car to race. I’m going to make it in NASCAR yet.”
“Good luck, Tex.”
Next it was Ian’s turn to say good-bye, and the big man towered above her with a serious look on his face.
“Are you sure you’re going to be all right now, pretty lady?” he asked her.
“I’m going to be fine,” she assured him. “Thanks to the three of you, I’ll be feeling like myself again in no time. What will you do now?”
“I’m going back to the castle with the other guys this afternoon. I think we each want to have a long talk with that bloody, stupid vampire out there in the desert.”
She started to ask if this was safe. Then she realized there was no need for her question. Peter hadn’t hurt them last night when he had the chance, and he never would. She knew Ian was Peter’s only real friend in the world, and she wanted to ask him if he thought Peter would be all right after all that had just happened. But she held herself back from asking about him. It would be better for her if she could just put Peter out of her mind now. She, of course, would never be able to completely forget a man like Peter and the week she had just lived through, but it would be better if she could just put Peter and everything else in the past where it belonged. Life always presented new challenges, and she had to get on with facing them. Given enough time, Peter and his castle and all the events of the past week would just fade away.
“The boys here will stay on with Peter for a little while,” Ian continued. “As for me, I have to go back home down under in a couple days. My university starts the new semester next month.” He held her face in his hands. “I’ll always be your friend, Beck. Call me anytime you need an old Aussie’s opinion for one of your news stories. And remember I’ve got that house on the beach in Melbourne if you ever want to come down for a visit.”
She laughed and let him give her a big hug and a kiss on the forehead. “Sounds like a date. I will always be your friend, too, Ian,” she told him as she held him tight. Although, she knew she would probably never act on the offer to meet him on the beach. She had her own life in front of her to live, and it lay down a different path from Ian and the other two. Fortunately with the Internet and cell phones, she would be able to keep in touch with them.
Peter, of course, was a different matter. She could never see him again. The first meeting with the vampire had almost caused her to lose everything, and there could never be a second one. Even if she could see him again, the vampire blood held too much power over her, caused her to have an allergic reaction that prevented her from barely touching him. And she knew herself well enough to know if she was ever around Peter again, she would want to do a whole lot more than just touch him. It was truly impossible for her to ever see Peter again.
The first boarding call of her flight was going out over the PA system. She let each of the guys give her a final embrace. Then she picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and headed for the jet way to present her ticket. When she turned back just before stepping down the ramp, the guys had gone.
Rebecca’s week with a vampire had ended.
Chapter Nineteen
One year later…
The network news conference room was full. It was after hours in the evening. Rebecca had been asked to come to the front of the room and address the room full of producers and executives about her latest story.
“Even though this may seem hard to believe, I assure you it is all real. It all happened just as I have described it.” Rebecca set a folder of documents and pictures down on the conference table in front of the executives.
“This is a huge story,” a vice president said.
“No one is going to believe this,” a senior producer put in.
“So you have any proof, Rebecca?” Bruce, her direct boss, asked her.
“You understand, of course, we can’t just take your word that this story happened the way you describe it,” the vice president explained in a patient tone.
“Our viewers will have a hard time accepting any of this without solid proof,” the director of marketing told her.
“I understand your concern.” Rebecca cleared her throat and went on. “I am not planning on relying solely on the documentation and photos in this folder. Tonight I am planning on getting eyewitness testimony from someone who was actually there. One no one will be able to refute.”
“You’re speaking of course of the accountant?” the senior producer asked her.
“Yes, I am,” Rebecca replied. “All of this documentation comes from her. She’s the only one in this whole story who decided to do the right thing.”
“But do we know who she really is?” Bruce asked her.
“I do,” Rebecca assured him. “I have done a thorough background check on her. She would have no reason to lie or to make any of this up. If anything, she has a lot to lose by going public with this story. She’s had a six-figure income at her firm, and of course she’ll lose that now.”
“Are we doing the right thing by putting this story on the air?” the vice president asked. “I am wondering if we should take it to the federal attorney’s office first before we do anything else.”
“I absolutely agree with you,” Rebecca said. “We’ll have an exclusive on this story whenever we want it. My main concern is to nail these bastards for what they’ve done.”
“If you can get the accountant to talk to you tonight,” the senior producer told her, “then I think we can move forward.”
“If that woman gives you half of what you think she might tonight, then you’ll have my green light to move on this thing,” the vice president said. “And I want you to move fast.”
“I have one more concern,” Bruce interjected. “What we’re talking about exposing here will ruin a very rich and a very powerful entity. They’re not going to like it or take it lying down. We know these people play hardball. They’re not above resorting to some pretty low measures if they get desperate. If they know we’re about to break this story on them, or that Beck is meeting with the accountant tonight, there is going to be danger.”
Rebecca tried shaking her head. She had dealt with dangerous situations before and come out none the worse for wear. In fact, she thought maybe that was why she had wanted to become a reporter in the first place. She thought that a part of her thrived on a situation exactly like the one she was about to walk into tonight.
“I’m serious, Beck,” Bruce told her in his authoritative boss’s voice. “You could be putting yourself in great danger tonight when you meet with that accountant. These are some mean thugs we’re dealing with here. If you break this on them, they will be looking at some serious time in a federal penitentiary. It is likely that at some point, either sooner or later, they are going to respond with violence.”
“Rebecca?” the vice president asked her. “Have you thought of the possible consequences to yourself if you go through with this meeting tonight?”
“Sir, it’s not my job to think like that,” Rebecca told him. “It’s my job to get the story for this network. The people who should be worried here are the bastards who have broken the law. It’s my job to see to it that they have a lot to worry about after tonight.”
“That being said”—Bruce still sounded worried—“I don’t think you should go to the meeting alone. Let me arrange for one of the guys to go with you. If nothing else, they can just hang around in the background and make sure you stay safe.”
“No,” Rebecca cut hi
m off. “She told me to arrive alone. I gave her my word I would. I’ve been working on setting up this meeting for the last three months. I’m not going to let it get blown by not following the rules.”
“But, Beck…”
“Don’t worry about me.” Rebecca tried to give him a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine. It isn’t like I’ll be far away. I’m just going three blocks down the street from the newsroom. I’m also going to be in the middle of a very public place.”
“But, Beck, if anything happened to you—”
She cut him off again. “It won’t! As far as we know, the corporation doesn’t even know about this meeting or that the accountant has been in contact with me. Let’s not borrow trouble. I’m not worried. I intend to walk to that meeting down the street, and after it’s over, I’m going to walk back home to my apartment. I’m not the one who’s broken the law here. It’s the corporation.”
“You will give us a call, won’t you?” the vice president asked her, pushing his glasses back along the brim of his nose.
“Don’t worry. After the meeting’s over, I’ll call in when I get home. Tomorrow we can meet back here and decide what to do with the information I gather tonight.”
* * * *
The corporation was the Black Creek Oil Exploration Company. They had launched their initial public offering about a year before and hadn’t been in business more than a couple of years before that. Their board of directors was composed of some very wealthy and influential market speculators and political power brokers from across the country.
Rebecca had done a piece on the accounting firm Pierce, Peabody, and Putnam. This was the accounting firm that prepared Black Creek Oil’s books in preparation for the IPO the previous year. Several employees of the accounting firm had complained of irregularities on the Black Creek Oil account. Rebecca had deepened her investigation and started corresponding with the account manager at Pierce, Peabody, and Putnam that handled the Black Creek Oil account.