Wilder, J. C. - Shadow Dweller 6

by Temptation(lit)

  He looked at his hands, his pale skin gleaming white in the moonlight. They didn't look like they were over nine hundred years old. Nine hundred years of murder, mayhem and blood. He stroked his chin. For Shai's sake, it would be more humane for her if he did kill her with his hands. Quick and efficient, no fuss no muss. No mortal would want to live through what he'd planned for her. But even when he'd been human, he hadn't been humane.

  A mirthless smile curved his mouth.

  Oh, how he wanted her. More now than the first time he'd laid eyes on her. Every year, the desire had grown stronger until he'd reached this breaking point. Sitting outside of her bedroom window watching her sleep, lusting after her yet unwilling to touch her.

  Yet. Soon her time would come.

  A faint, self-deprecating laugh escaped him.

  She stirred in sleep, a frown marring the perfection of her face. As if she knew he was there, she turned her face and twisted her body away from his gaze as if to avoid him. The silk half-slip tightened, sliding up to reveal the tops of her stockings and the tiny black thong panties she wore.

  The vampire's breath caught in his throat and a faint hiss of air escaped him. Her panties left nothing to the imagination. Moonlight gilded the perfection of her skin, the smooth slopes and tantalizing indentations.

  Her backside was larger than considered fashionable by today's standards. But it was perfectly round and taut. He preferred his women to be shaped like women, not sticks with boobs. This beauty had something to hang onto, a backside that would fill his ample hands admirably.

  He longed to slip in her window and grab her, pulling her against his raging erection. To bury himself in her softness until she cried. He pictured himself in bed with her, her body moving against him, her eyes sleepy with lust.

  A growl escaped his throat.

  With one last look at the sleeping woman, he turned away. Mortal women. They were the downfall of many a vampire. To meld with living flesh, breathing and crying out beneath him, on top of him, it didn't matter. It was an addiction and he was in serious need of a fix.

  Weakness was weakness and it had to be either destroyed or appeased. He glanced back at her. It was rare that a mortal had reached him the way she did, the way she always had.

  Just as her mother had many years before.

  He bared his teeth. The moonlight seemed even more brilliant than it had been before. It was time to feed and feed he must. Clicking his jaw in frustration, the vampire caressed her one last time with his gaze. Moving with the near silence of one of the very old, he leapt from the window to the alley thirty feet below.

  He landed with a gentle thud and straightened, checking to ensure his clothing was in perfect order before moving toward the mouth of the alley and the darkened streets beyond.

  Shai's time would come, as would her companions. He knew that for a certainty. Unfortunately her friends were average, not exceptional like her. If they'd been exceptional, he might have spared them. The only possible exception was Jennifer. She could be a problem. But the rest of them would serve their purpose and serve it well.

  First things first, though. There was a merry game to be played. The players in this drama were in place and act one had already commenced.

  Laughter filled the night as the vampire faded into the shadows.

  "So who's the woman?"

  Val started, the forgotten book falling from his fingertips to land on the pine floor with a hollow thump. He looked up to see his unexpected visitor standing near the fireplace, a bemused expression on her face. "Miranda, what a lovely surprise. I didn't hear you pop in."

  A silvery laugh echoed in the expanse of the library. "That's a new one." Miranda shed her black velvet cape and draped it over the back of the chair across from him. She stooped to rescue the leather-bound book from the floor. "Wuthering Heights," she read, carefully closing the cover. Her crimson fingernails gleamed in the subdued lighting as she stroked the priceless binding. "First edition, even. Dreaming of unrequited love, my friend?" A smile danced across her face as she perched on the arm of the opposite chair.

  "Just enjoying a classic, my dear." Val rose from the chair to reclaim his book from her.

  She didn't release it. "What's her name?"

  "And why do you think a woman is on my mind?" he asked, careful to keep his tone light.

  Her smile turned sad, almost disappointed. "And who knows you better than I? You can fool others, but you can never fool me."

  He brushed his finger down her cold cheek. The first time he'd laid eyes on her, he'd thought Miranda was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. Hair as black as night fell in thick luscious waves to her tiny waist. Skin the color of clotted cream, by contrast her lips were full and red. Deep blue eyes framed in sooty lashes stared, unflinching in their regard of him. Tall and built like a Rubenesque statue, she was perfection wrapped in a rich, black velvet dress. She was a woman many men would desire.

  Miranda was his dark angel, his savior. She'd saved him from himself many times through the years they'd been friends and confidants. But he also knew she wanted more, much more than he could give. It pained him to hurt her so. When he'd met the red-haired angel last night, he'd known it was inevitable that someone would be hurt. Unfortunately, it would be Miranda.

  "Never you, Miranda," he whispered.

  She released her grip on the book; her gaze unwavering as she folded her hands in her lap like a prim spinster at an afternoon tea. "She's mortal?"

  "Yes." His tone was resigned. Didn't she see that he didn't want to hurt her with this?

  "Do you love her?"

  Anger surged to life. How could he dare love any mortal woman? Their relationship would always be doomed to failure and loss. A vampire would always outlive a mortal, many lifetimes over. "How can I love her?" he bit out. "How can I love anyone?"

  "The same way any of us can love." Her tone was soft, her voice musical, sensual. It was that voice which had pulled him back from the edge many times. He felt the lure of it even now.

  "I've only met her once."

  "She must be quite the woman to have captured your attention."

  "It's only lust." He said the words, but they rang hollow to his ears.

  "If you believe it's only lust, then you're a bigger fool than I ever knew you were." She looked down to pick at imaginary lint on her skirt. "You realize that mortals can be our downfall?"

  "Yes."

  She abandoned her task, raising her gaze to meet his. "Do you want to die that badly?" she whispered.

  "No, not anymore. I have you to thank for that." He moved away from her and toward the floor-to-ceiling windows. "I don't know how to explain it." Burgundy velvet drapes were pulled back to reveal the clear, starry night. The shadows beyond the glass beckoned his soul and, for the first time in many years, he wanted to curse the night which enshrouded him.

  "You don't have to explain, Val," Miranda spoke softly. "You owe me nothing."

  "No, you're wrong," he said, his voice harsh. "I owe you everything." He turned to the beauty who stared at him with the face of love. Love that would ease the crushing loneliness of his life. Love he could never return. "Everything."

  "You owe me nothing you will not give willingly." Her tone was pained as she rose from her perch. "I'll take nothing you do not offer of yourself." She picked up her cape and moved to stand before him, her cool fingers caressing his face as if committing it to memory. She dropped her hand as tears filled her eyes. "I take my leave of you with a heart filled with love for the boy you once were, and the man you've become."

  She vanished, leaving the faint scent of jasmine and a delicate tingling on his skin. His heart heavy, Val turned, his eyes once again searching the darkness of a New York night. How had his life come to this?

  * * *

  Sins of the Flesh

  Book V in the Shadow Dweller Series

  by

  J. C. Wilder

  ISBN 1-55316-073-8

  Published by LTD
Books

  www.ltdbooks.com

  Copyright © 2001 J. C. Wilder

  Cover Art by Emily Black

  Cover Art copyright © 2001

  Published in Canada by LTDBooks, 200 North Service Road West, Unit 1, Suite 301, Oakville, ON L6M 2Y1 [www.ltdbooks.com]

  All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher is an infringement of the copyright law.

  National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

  Wilder, J. C., 1965-

  Sins of the flesh [computer file]

  ISBN 1-55316-073-8 (electronic) ISBN 1-55316-927-1 (REB 1100 1200)

  I. Title.

  PS3623.I45S55 813'.6 C2001-902068-6

  Dedication

  To my fellow "Serious Writers" - Beth, Carol, Donna and Rosemary.

  Thanks for kicking me in the backside when I needed it.

  Acknowledgments

  Writers may work alone but we don't work in a vacuum. Many thanks go out to the following people without whom this book would have never been completed:

  Miss Binta, friend extraordinaire!

  Stuart, who still thinks every hero is modeled after him and he just might be right...

  a little anyway...

  Debbie, thanks for the cover photo and the laughs.

  Emily, for managing to take my vision and turn it into a gorgeous cover every time!

  Chapter 1

  Not her, please let it be anyone but her.

  Alexandre Saint-Juste, vampire and head of the Council of Elders, looked up from the photo of a burned corpse he was studying to see a figure hesitating in the doorway. She was little more than a shadow in the dim lighting but he knew it was her. The soft, citrus scent of her perfume gave her away.

  Sunni.

  He closed his tired eyes. He was slipping. As an Elder, it was near impossible for another vampire to sneak up unawares. He'd trained himself to be aware of his surroundings at all times and the talent had saved his life on numerous occasions. But he'd been pushing himself too hard lately and, if he didn't take more care, the next time might be his last.

  He rubbed his forehead. Maybe she'd be gone when he opened his eyes? That would be his wish. Could he be that lucky? He dropped his hand and opened his eyes.

  Damn, she was still hovering in the doorway.

  Inwardly he groaned. Right now he had his hands full and the last thing he needed was this flighty, empty-headed little vampire.

  As she stepped into the room, he dropped the photo onto the others scattered across the top of his desk. Knowing Sunni, he'd not get any work done until he could get the little busybody out of his house. He made a mental note to fire his housekeeper, Nelson, who'd obviously let her in the front door. He was a sucker for a pretty face.

  "What can I do for you, Sunni?"

  "A lot actually. The question is, will you?" She grinned as she advanced, her sandal- shod feet making no sound on the thick carpet. "But today I'm going to do you a favor."

  His mouth went dry as she strolled closer. Sunni was tiny-barely over five feet-and she resembled a young Mia Farrow with her cap of short, silky blonde hair, doe-brown eyes and delicate features. Dressed in a sheer, yellow, cropped shirt over a matching bikini-style top, she was bare from the bottom of her insubstantial shirt to the waistband of her skirt.

  Slung low on her slim hips, the cotton skirt looked as if it had been left wadded in the back of a drawer for weeks. The rainbow-colored material swirled about her slim legs, briefly outlining each delectable inch as she walked. Tiny she may be, but she was exquisitely formed from her pale hair to the tips of her petal-pink toenails. Damn, she was beautiful.

  Alexandre swallowed hard against the unfamiliar rush of lust, his toes curling in his Bacco Bucci shoes. Startled, he stepped back and sat hard in his desk chair.

  He must be more tired than he thought.

  Slick with pale gloss, a bewitching smile played about Sunni's mouth as if she could read the lascivious thoughts dancing through his mind. His gaze shifted from her mouth to skim her pert breasts and dropped to her hips, which swayed provocatively with her easy gait. The air in the room seemed suddenly in short supply.

  What the devil was wrong with him?

  He'd never had a reaction to a woman like this, and certainly not with a woman like Sunni. She was luscious...No, no-annoying-that was the word. Annoying and exasperating. That summed up the little vampire. He reached up to loosen his tie. His reaction to her was simply a combination of his need to feed and lack of rest. Yes, that was it. A few hours of sleep and a quick prowl would set his world to rights once more.

  Fighting for a cool demeanor, he fixed a bored expression on his face as he forced his gaze to meet hers once more.

  "What kind of favor would this be?" he asked.

  "Jennifer sent these over to you." From behind her voluminous skirt, she withdrew a medium-sized manila envelope. "Knowing I was headed this way she asked if I'd drop it off."

  Alexandre silently cursed his old friend as he reached for the offering. Jennifer knew Sunni annoyed the hell out of him on a good day, which this definitely was not. Her eyes gleamed with secret amusement as she reached the edge of the desk and leaned forward, offering him a glimpse of her cleavage as she handed the envelope to him.

  "Thank you." He took it, forcing his gaze away from her shadowy cleft.

  He'd been waiting for this information since he'd received word of its arrival. He tried to ignore the delectable creature before him as he opened the envelope and withdrew a folded sheet of paper and several photos. A quick glance told him the photos weren't of the greatest quality. Fuzzy and indistinct, he nevertheless recognized the features of Cassiopeia, the woman who'd betrayed the Council of Elders by siding with the vampire Mikhail in an attempt to overthrow Alexandre's rule.

  The ever-present pain in the back of his neck made itself known once more as he stared at the blurry face of his one-time co-council and lover. With the distinctive features of middle- eastern descent, Cass was intelligent and charismatic, an excellent conversationalist and breathtakingly beautiful.

  Her thick dark hair was piled on her head with a few tendrils allowed to escape and curl against her slender throat. With deep brown eyes framed by sooty lashes and a curvaceous figure usually covered in the finest of silks, she was an exquisite woman to behold and an elder vampire to be feared.

  She was also cunning and devious as only a woman could be.

  Curse her black soul.

  He flicked the photo to the back of the pack and scanned the others. All were of either Cass or the immortal revenant Miles. As one of Mikhail's creations, he'd been rumored to be traveling with Cass for the past month or so, acting as her personal servant. He was intelligent and ruthless, an adversary to be wary of. He was also the keeper of Elsabeth's diary, a tome sought by everyone in the preternatural world.

  He flipped through the photos once more, noting that all of them had been taken in Vienna. Nothing new. She'd been in residence for the past few weeks while Miles had been seen in various parts of Austria and the Carpathian Mountains.

  He dropped the photos in his lap and flicked open the note to scan its contents. Val and Shai were currently in Vienna on Cass' trail. According to the hastily scrawled memo, they'd lost both Cass and Miles several days ago. He frowned. Those two could be anywhere in the world within twenty-four hours.

  "Damn," he muttered.

  "Problems?" A sweet voice sounded in his ear.

  Alexandre's head jerked upward, and he was startled to find Sunni standing beside him. Her perfume teased his nose, sending a rush of heat shafting through his body. The warmth of her skin radiated against his arm as she leaned close.

  She'd fed recently, giving her skin the blush and warmth characteristic of a live human. She licked her lips, and he felt the sensual draw of her presen
ce like never before. His breath caught in his throat as she moved in, her breath soft on his cheek.

  She was going to kiss him!

  He shifted away then froze as she reached out, the silver rings on her fingers gleaming as she aimed for his lap.

  Oh, no.

  The last thing he wanted her to see was the evidence of his arousal. If she ever found out how much her presence affected him physically, he'd never get rid of her.

  Then he realized she was merely reaching for the pictures in his lap.

  Half relieved, half-disappointed, he caught her wrist. Pushing her away, he gently maneuvered her against the desk, away from the photos and his lap.

  "No problem that I can't handle." His words came out more abruptly than he'd planned.

  She placed her hands on the edge of the desk and, to his surprise, boosted herself onto the polished top.

  "Your reaction certainly indicated there was a problem." Her soft green gaze was fixed on his face as if committing it to memory.

  "You're mistaken."

  Disturbed by her nearness, he gathered the photos and prepared to rise. She crossed her legs and he heard the soft tinkle of bells. He looked down and caught a glimpse of her slender ankles, barely visible under the skirt hem. A finely wrought gold anklet with a row of tiny bells encircled one of them.

  A rush of desire hit, rendering him so dizzy he had to look away. He didn't dare move, especially since his increasing erection would tell her exactly what effect she had on him. Trapped by his wayward impulses, he dropped the photos in his lap, hoping they sufficiently covered his body's betrayal.

  "Hmm." She began to swing her leg, the sound of the bells causing him to grit his teeth. "I assume since it's from Val that the news is about Cass?"

  Alexandre frowned, irritated with her and himself. He shifted, trying to ease the ache in his groin. "What would you know of the situation?"

  She shrugged. "Probably as much as any spectator. Mikhail invoked the Law of Seven and challenged you for the rule of the Council. To aid him in his cause, he enlisted your right-hand people, the vampires Edward and Cass, thus vacating two spots on the Council. Mikhail's bid for your position was thwarted when he ran into Mac...a very talented Druid from what I understand."