A Christmas Kiss

by Merline Lovelace

  Madison! The name jerked Delilah’s head up. That was the escaped murderer Brett had warned her about. The one who’d killed his fiancée.

  “When Madison asked for directions to the lake, Larry remembered you were the one who took him down five years ago. He figured the bastard is out for revenge.”

  “I hope so.”

  The low growl raised the hairs on the back of Delilah’s neck. And they said vampires were scary!

  “What’s he driving?” Brett bit out.

  “A late-model white Ford pickup, Texas plates, first two digits L-1. It was reported missing a few days ago. I’ve got two units headed your way and more responding. They’re thirty minutes to ETA, but your friend Larry bought us some time by giving Madison directions to the north end of the lake instead of south, to your cabin.”

  Brett went still. “He sent Madison north?”

  “He says there’s a vacant cabin at the north end. He figured Madison would think it was yours and…”

  “The cabin’s not vacant, Chief! A woman and her two kids rented the place for the holidays.”

  “Hell!”

  “Her name’s Sharon Hawkins. She’s got my cell phone. Call her! Now! Tell her to bundle the kids in the car and…”

  He stopped, gave a vicious curse and shook his head.

  “No good. The cabin is accessed by a one-lane dirt road, just like mine. She might meet Madison coming in. Tell her to stay put.”

  His gaze sliced toward Delilah.

  “I’ll have someone there before you get off the line with her.”

  “Who?”

  “No time for explanations. Just call Ms. Hawkins. Tell her we’re heading over there.”

  He cut the transmission and dug into the other pocket of his jacket. His eyes were flat and cold when he pulled out a blue steel pistol and turned to Delilah.

  “You ever fire a semi automatic?”

  “No, but I don’t need a gun.”

  “This guy’s vicious.”

  “He can’t hurt me.” She made for the door in swift, long strides. “Not unless he burns the cabin down around my ears or happens to have a sharpened stake handy. But I can hurt him. Bad.”

  And she would, she vowed as Brett popped the truck of his patrol car and pulled out his assault rifle.

  “I’ll go across the lake,” she told him. “I’d carry you with me, but I haven’t fed tonight and I don’t have the strength.”

  “Go.” He jerked his chin toward the woods. “There’s a shortcut. It’ll take me to the county road Madison has to go down to get to the north shore. I’ll try to cut him off before he gets to the cabin.”

  If he hadn’t already.

  Driven by a mounting sense of urgency, Delilah nodded.

  “I’ll take care of Sharon and the kids. You—” She grabbed the front of his jacket and hauled him close for a swift kiss “—take care of yourself.”

  As she leaped toward the frozen ice, instincts older than time surged through her veins. She could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she’d yielded to their primal pull. Each time, every time, it was kill or be killed.

  Tonight, her instincts screamed, was one of those times. If Madison showed his face anywhere in the vicinity, if he tried to harm anyone, he would die.

  * * *

  IT WASN’T THE Christmas Killer who attacked her just as she reached the far shore, however, but her seething, vengeful clan leader.

  CHAPTER SIX

  HE CAME OUT of the night with an animal roar and a blast of frigid air that sent Delilah flying backward.

  She crashed down on the ice, hitting so hard that it shattered like thin glass. Black, icy water knifed into her eyes, her mouth, her lungs. Gasping, she scissor kicked toward the jagged hole in the surface. Another powerful kick propelled her out of the frigid water and onto the shore.

  “Damn you to all the fires of hell, Sebastian!”

  He stalked toward her, his boots trampling the snow. He was short but heavily muscled. His upper lip and chin bristled with the short, pointed beard of a conquistador, and his eyes blazed with fury.

  “Hell is exactly where you’ll spend the next century, you ungrateful bitch. A very painful, very private hell of my making.”

  Shaking with a fury that matched his, Delilah shoved wet hair out of her eyes. “I’ll take whatever punishment you pre scribe…”

  “Yes,” he snarled, “you will.”

  “But not now!”

  “You dare to dictate to me? Me!”

  His eyes burned a fiery red. Whipping out an arm, he lashed her across the face. The blow would have separated a lesser mortal’s head from his shoulders.

  In Delilah’s weakened state, it did damage enough. Her head snapped back. She staggered and almost fell into the lake again. Star bursts of pain burst behind her eyeballs. She blinked away the blinding agony to find Sebastian stalking toward her again.

  “Do you forget who pulled you from that reeking pit?” he raged. “Do you forget who turned you?”

  “No! How could I?”

  “You owe me your allegiance. Your obedience.”

  She cast a des per ate look over his shoulder at the cabin nestled amid a stand of bare, leafless trees.

  “You’ll get both, Sebastian. I promise. Just let me…”

  The sharp crack of rifle fire cut her off. She froze, dread flooding her veins, as a second shot followed the first. Then another, and another, in such rapid succession she knew that was Brett’s assault.

  The shots still reverberated in the icy air when a thunderous boom split the night. A second later, a fireball leaped above the distant tree line.

  * * *

  As Delilah flew back across the ice, she knew her strength was failing. Fast!

  Any other time, she would have leaped along side Sebastian and arrived at the scene of the explosion the same time he did. Instead she bounded up several seconds later.

  She found him surveying the flaming wreckage of a white pickup with an avid gleam in his eye. Nostrils flaring, he sorted through the suffocating stink of burning gasoline and rubber to pick up the scent of blood.

  “Two fresh kills. Both still warm,” he added with visceral satisfaction. “We’ll feed well tonight.”

  “No!”

  The scream ripped from Delilah’s throat as she searched around the leaping flames with frantic eyes.

  She spotted Madison first. He lay sprawled in the scrub brush a dozen yards away. His lips were pulled back in the rictus of death. Blood pumped sluggishly from bullet holes in his head and chest.

  Fear hammered at her with steel fists. She whirled in a full circle, searching the woods, the road, the heavy under brush. When she saw the figure slumped against a tree just off the road, his assault rifle resting across his thighs, relief burst inside her with the same blinding intensity as the pain she’d endured just moments ago.

  “Brett!”

  She dropped to her knees beside him. The explosion had singed his brows and blackened his face. It had probably thrown him through the air, too, and slammed him into the trees. She didn’t see any visible wounds, but he could be concussed or have internal injuries.

  “Brett, can you hear me?”

  Teeth clenched, he lifted his eyes to hers and ground out a hoarse question. “Did I…get…him?”

  She glanced over her shoulder, saw Sebastian feeding on Madison’s bullet-riddled body.

  “You got him.”

  “Didn’t…shoot to kill. Tell them…I took the front tire…out first. He skidded off…the road. Jumped out. Started shooting. Tell them…I had to…return fire.”

  “You tell them!” she said fiercely, her eyes frantic as they searched him from neck to knees. “Where are you hurt? Brett, where are you hurt?”

  Grunting, he shoved the assault rifle aside. Only then did she see the pool of blood at the jointure of his hip and thigh. The ground beneath him was dark and wet with it.

  If she hadn’t been so weak, if the
burning oil and rubber hadn’t over whelmed her senses, she would have scented his blood right away.

  “Bullet…hit the…femoral…artery,” he got out through gritted teeth.

  Too high on his hip for a tourniquet, she saw with a fresh swell of panic, and too deep to stop the pulsing jets of red. All she could do was whip off her vest and wad the fur against his wound.

  He grunted again when she applied pressure. His shoulders slumped lower.

  “Hold on, Brett! Please, hold on! Your boss said help was on the way. They’ll be here any second.”

  His eyelids fluttered down. Hot blood seeped through the fur and drenched her hands.

  “Brett! Look at me!”

  The effort it took for him to open his eyes again ripped her into small pieces. One glance at his dilated pupils told her she couldn’t save him. He was in shock and not even her powers could counter the loss of blood.

  “Stay with…me,” he whispered. “Tonight. Tomorrow. For…ever.”

  The last word was so faint Delilah wasn’t sure she’d heard it right. Did it mean what she thought it did? Did he really want to live in darkness? With her?

  “Do you want me to turn you? Make you one of us?”

  She got her answer when he groped for her hand and drew back his lips. The agonized ghost of a grin stabbed her through the heart. “You’re…in my blood, Delilah. For…ever.”

  “Brett, are you sure? Brett?”

  He didn’t respond. Couldn’t. She heard his heart flapping like a wounded bird inside his chest. The beat was erratic. Wild. Slow. Wild again.

  Then it stopped completely.

  She curled back her lip. Fangs bared, she swooped down.

  Just as quickly, she jerked back. She didn’t have enough strength to awaken him. If she drank from him now, the beast within her would take. Just take. Not give.

  “Sebastian!”

  He raised his head. Fresh blood dripped from his fangs. His eyes glowed with savage gratification.

  “Sebastian, I need you!”

  He arched a dark brow. A sardonic smile curved his lips. “Do you?”

  “I haven’t fed in several days. I can’t turn him. You’ll have to do it.”

  “Have to?”

  He was playing with her. Batting her between his paws like a cat with a frantic mouse. All the while Brett’s blood seeped into the frozen earth.

  “Just do it! Please! I’ll go back to the conclave with you. I’ll support you. I’ll tear out your rival’s throat, if you want me to. Just turn him.”

  He sauntered over and stroked a hand over his pointed beard. “Why should I do as you request? What is this man to you? A friend? A lover?”

  “More than a lover.”

  Delilah knew she was handing him absolute power over her. Knew, too, he’d exploit it in every way he could. She’d deal with that later.

  “He’s one I could share the darkness with, Sebastian. The only one I want to share the dark ness with.”

  The smile he gave her held equal parts of evil and triumph. “You’ll owe me for this, you know?”

  “I know.”

  “Very well. Move away from him.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  HEAT SEARED BRETT’S entire body.

  He felt it engulfing him, pouring through him. Like molten lava, it burned everything in its path. His spine arched. His tendons corded into tight knots. Still the fire devoured him, searing his soul.

  At its worst, he thought he heard someone calling to him.

  Delilah!

  He couldn’t see her but he could hear her. Blinded by the swirls of blazing red, he reached for her.

  * * *

  SLOWLY, SO SLOWLY, the heat cooled. Degree by infinitesimal degree, the flames retreated.

  Hours passed, maybe days. Brett was wrapped in a dim coolness when his mind reengaged. Fighting through the haze, he searched for an explanation of the conflagration that had almost consumed him.

  The truck. The explosion. He remembered bullets thudding into the white pickup. Hitting the gas tank. Not his bullets. He had better aim than that.

  He’d shot out the rear tire. He was sure of it. The blowout had sent the vehicle skidding off the road. Brought Madison leaping out of the cab. Madison.

  A snarl ripped from Brett’s throat. His lids flew open. He jerked upright, his eyes wide and searching for the vicious murderer.

  Instead he saw Delilah hovering over him, her face illuminated by the faint glow of a lamp and a smile trembling on her lips.

  “It’s about time you woke up.”

  “You…? You okay?” he rasped, still gripped by the memory of Madison’s murderous gunfire.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Sharon and the kids?”

  “They are okay, too.”

  He slumped in relief and glanced around to get his bearings. He was in a bedroom. An unfamiliar bedroom. Stretched out in a four-poster bed with a sheet as smooth and cool as silk draped across his hips.

  “Where am I?”

  “Houston.”

  “How the hell…?”

  He broke off, slammed with another burst of memories. He’d taken a hit. A bullet to the groin. He could remember the shock, the pain. Remember, too, Delilah pleading with him to hang on.

  Shit! He’d bled out. Right there in the road. Brett knew it, but still had to ask.

  “I died, didn’t I?”

  “Yes,” she said softly.

  Thinking it was one thing. Hearing it confirmed was another. His mind reeling, he wrestled with the idea of his death and apparent rebirth.

  Delilah watched him, saying nothing. She’d been there herself, a hundred years ago. She knew exactly what emotions were tearing through him right now.

  Finally Brett lifted a hand and rubbed his neck. If she’d bitten in and sucked out whatever life had been left, he couldn’t feel it.

  “Did you…? What do you call it?”

  “Awakening. We call it an awakening. Or turning. I wanted to, but I didn’t have the strength. Sebastian did it for me.”

  “Sebastian, huh? I’ll have to meet this guy.”

  “You will. Probably not tonight, though. He’s just consolidated his leadership of the western clans and is still at the enclave, laying out his new ground rules. This is his house, by the way. We brought you here to give your body time to turn.”

  Her eyes searched his, des per ate for reassurance.

  “It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I was sure that’s what you were trying to tell me.” Relief added a giddy note to her voice. “I couldn’t turn you…correction, I wouldn’t turn you against your will. But I wanted to. You have no idea how much.”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  Brett closed his fingers over her hand. To his surprise, energy flowed down his arm, infusing him with badly needed strength.

  “In those last seconds, when I sat there with my back to that tree, I knew I was dying. And all I could think of was you. Your mouth. Your eyes. Your loopy smile when you were still punchy from your visit to the dentist. I wanted all of that, Delilah. All of you. Forever.”

  She sniffed, then gave a hiccuping laugh. “It’s a good thing I can’t cry. You’d have me bawling right now.”

  “I’d rather have you naked.”

  The energy flowing through him was in credible. He’d never felt so powerful. Or so hungry for a woman.

  This woman.

  “I don’t know what you call this craving I have for you,” he said, “but I’m here to tell you it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

  Laughter poured out of her, as bright and delighted as her luminous eyes. “It’s love, you idiot. At least I hope it is.”

  “Vampire love?”

  “Love, period.”

  “Yeah, well, let’s try it out.”

  He intended to tumble her down beside him. He couldn’t believe it when his tug spun her across the sheets and almost dumped her onto the floor on
the opposite side of the mattress. She caught herself just in time and came up grinning.

  “Easy there, cowboy.”

  “Jesus H. Chri…”

  The sudden punch to his stomach muscles left him wide-eyed and gasping.

  “That’s one of the things we don’t do,” Delilah informed him ruefully. “It’s an old taboo. One that goes back to the times Christians were fed to the beasts. Our kind got a bad rap over that.”

  “Wh…” He slicked his tongue over his lips and waited for his gut to unkink. “What else don’t we do?”

  “You’ll learn, in time.”

  Brett drank in the sight of her, her hair falling over one shoulder, her smile bright enough to light the room.

  “Please tell me having vampire sex isn’t on the list,” he begged.

  “Definitely, certainly, assuredly not! As I’ll demonstrate when you think you’re strong enough for vampire sex.”

  Brett had to grin. “If every male felt the way I do now, Viagra would go off the market tomorrow.”

  With a joyous leap, Delilah bounded off the bed and tore at her clothing. She’d lived, breathed and oozed terror through her pores during Brett’s protracted awakening. He’d lost so much blood and Sebastian had toyed with her for so friggin’ long that she’d begun to believe the trans formation wouldn’t work! But he was awake now, his skin as cold as hers and the desire in his eyes every bit as hot.

  Still she tried to curb her hunger when she joined him in the bed Sebastian normally reserved for kings, queens and other heads of state. After giving him the power he craved, Delilah supposed she now qualified as royalty.

  Brett didn’t buy her attempt at restraint, though. With a low growl, he rolled her over and positioned himself between her thighs. His hungry gaze roamed from her face to her breasts and back again.

  “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

  “I’d say we’re well-matched.”

  She planed her hands over his powerful shoulders, his chest, his lean hips. Her palms slid to his buttocks. She felt the taut muscle flex, felt his sex probe her sensitive flesh. She opened for him, joyfully, and shuddered in ecstasy when he thrust into her.