They took extra precautions ensuring no one got into the garage as she had done before they exited the vehicle. Then they carried her things into the house.
“There’s plenty of room in my closet. Make yourself at home.”
“But you’re leaving now. I mean, Yorovitch is dead. There’s no reason for you to stay.”
“You can’t fight them all alone, Crystal. Hunter families fight together, just like vampire families do. You’ll never survive for long.” He had every intention of convincing her to move to Oklahoma with him. Only it might take a few days to do the deed.
He helped move her clothes into the bedroom. When he dumped the contents onto the mattress, a shimmering pink silk negligee caught his eye. His mouth watered with interest.
She slipped it behind her back, out of his view. “Do you have a spare drawer for me?”
“You can leave that one out to wear tonight, or sooner.”
She smiled. “No involvement, remember?”
“There’s involvement, and then there’s involvement.” He raised his brows, reached behind her and pulled the negligee from her fingertips. Sliding the silky material against his cheek, he smiled. “Has your delectable, subtle floral scent.”
She pulled it free from his grasp. “Yes, well you’re leaving, remember? I killed Yorovitch so you could get out of here. Nicolai won’t care anything about you if you’re gone.”
“You shouldn’t have done it without me, Crystal. You know how bad that’ll look when I return home and have to tell my family a lone huntress took down the vampire I’ve been trailing for a month?”
She smiled. “You could lie.”
“I don’t lie about my conquests.” He pulled the nightgown from her hands and tossed it to the bed. Grabbing her wrists, he turned her palms up and kissed them. “You won’t consider coming home with me?”
“Your family won’t want me any more than mine does. And I’d be worried Nicolai would come after me there.”
“Since you’ve killed the vampire who murdered my sister, my family would defend you.”
“I’d put them at risk.”
She pulled her hands free from Robert.
He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist. “You’re not getting away from me that easily. I can’t believe you tied me up.”
Her lips rose in a smile. “Tit for tat.”
“Hmmm, you like to get even.”
“Something like that.”
“Sooo, if I ravish you then you have to...”
She laughed. “Put some of this stuff away or I’ll never be able to climb into bed tonight.”
Her laughter was infectious. “What can I do to help?”
“You made a pretty good dinner yesterday. Have anything else?”
“Lasagna. Ready made in the freezer. Take a jiff to heat up.”
“Sounds good.”
He leaned over to kiss her lips but she turned her head.
“No involvement, Robert. We just can’t. You’ve got to leave and let me deal with Nicolai on my own. We can’t let our feelings for one other endanger us.”
His lips turned up slightly. Then he kissed her cheek instead. “I’ll get something for your swollen cheek. Were you injured anywhere else?”
“One of the vampires rammed a chair into my shins.”
“I’ll have to check them out.”
“Anything to get me to drop my pants.”
Smiling, his gaze dropped to her Army trousers. “Yeah.” He looked at her face and touched her lip. “And they gave you a bit of a cut on your lip.”
“I did that when the chair hit me...bit my lip. Worried I’d bled, and the vampire would have been worse to deal with. You know...the bloodlust. But I think your cane sword deterred him some.”
“Good. It’s my gift to you.” He nuzzled her cheek as his hands caressed her back. “Well, I’ve got some home remedies to put on all your hurts.”
She frowned when he didn’t make a move to leave the room. “Lunch? My stomach is grumbling.”
“Haven’t you ever heard of enjoying dessert first?”
“Hot fudge sundaes. That’s what I want for dessert.”
He groaned, admitting defeat. “All right. You win.”
Not really. But she couldn’t hope for much more than that with him.
He kissed her cheek then left the room. She picked up a stack of her clothes already on hangers and carried them into his closet. As soon as she lifted the hooks onto the rod, the doorbell rang, shattering her concentration.
Thinking human hosts approached the door, she shoved the hangers onto the rod. After dashing out of the closet, she paused. Where had she left the cane? Damn. In the car. She strode through the hall. The wrist knives would suffice if need be.
When she entered the living room, Robert pulled the front door open to her disbelief. He stepped back. Three men stalked into the room. Three pairs of dark brown eyes immediately caught sight of her.
Robert closed the door, and clicked the lock shut.
“This is Crystal Anderson. Crystal, these are my brothers. Tom.” He pointed to the tallest and obviously the oldest man with a touch of gray to his brown hair. “This is my middle brother, Samuel.” Robert motioned to the one in the middle with the slightly reddish hair, and to the youngest one on the end with streaks of blond in his brown hair. “And my brother, Mark.”
The men eyed her with wariness. She assumed the visit wasn’t for social purposes.
Tom turned to Robert. “We need to speak with you alone.”
Robert looked at Crystal, his eyes almost imploring her to do as his brother asked. Family discussions were important ways of taking care of business. Outsiders weren’t welcome and certainly not one as dangerous as they assumed she was.
She motioned to the hallway. “I’ll just take care of some things.”
She returned to the bedroom and paced across the floor. It was only noon. She still had about six and half hours left to search for Nicolai before it turned dark and he came for her again.
Glancing at the side table, she smiled. Robert had set his keys on the table. But first, she had to change out of her Army fatigues.
Dressed in black denims, boots and a high-collared black western shirt, she seized the keys. He and his brothers could discuss away. She had more hunting to do.
Crystal grabbed up a handful of clothes, then strolled down the hallway. The men’s conversation ceased when they saw her coming. She smiled. “Have to do some laundry.”
She opened the door to the garage, then shut it. After throwing her clothes into the washing machine, she set the dial and pushed it in to start it. Hopefully the sound of the wash and the distance the men were from the garage would ensure they didn’t hear the garage door open.
She hit the door button, then climbed into the convertible. As soon as she backed out, she figured if she didn’t return to the bedroom, someone would get suspicious.
She parked the car outside of the garage, then walked back inside. After pushing the button on the wall, the door grumbled shut. With a deep breath, she opened the door to the kitchen, then closed it behind her.
Nodding to them, she continued to the bedroom. She locked the door, then she turned on the television. After she adjusted the volume, she climbed out the window and shut it tight. The latch clicked shut automatically. Now it was time to do what she’d been born to do. Hunt vampires, albeit a little early in the day.
Seeing no one watching her, she headed for the convertible. When she reached it, she unlocked the door, and climbed in. A white SUV sat curbside. The brothers’ vehicle? She sighed deeply. Hopefully it would take Robert and his brothers some time to discover she was gone. By then, she hoped to have ended Nicolai’s infatuation for her.
Finding Nicolai’s house took awhile as Crystal had to backtrack the way she’d come through the small town. The auto dealership’s window had since been replaced. Nothing seemed out of place. Cars were parked along the main street while customers shopp
ed.
She continued toward Nicolai’s place in the same direction she’d walked. Not sure she’d find the house again as it had been dark, she looked for other signs, the blue pickup truck or other vehicles she’d seen parked out front of Dimitri’s house. Even a glimpse of a human host wandering around outside might lead her there.
And then she caught sight of two men dressed in black at a service station. She pulled across the street and waited while one pumped gas into a small black, foreign job. The other washed the windows. Of course, men dressed in black didn’t always mean they were human hosts. She only hoped she’d gotten lucky.
When they climbed into the car, she waited for them to pull onto the main road. They headed in the opposite direction from Nicolai’s home to her disappointment. Still, they might lead her to another house...one she didn’t know about.
She turned the car around, and followed them from a safe distance. When they turned right at a light, she drove on past. They continued on down the road. She turned right at the next light, then turned right again. Hightailing it back to the road they’d taken, she soon reached it, then turned left on it.
They were half a mile ahead of her. She steadied her breathing and continued the same distance from them. For twenty minutes she tailed them, then they pulled beside a curb and parked. She turned down the street closest to her and idled the car, just in sight of them.
The two seemed oblivious to her and strode up the stone path toward the two-story pale blue colonial house. This time, she wouldn’t attempt the front door. She grabbed the cane.
For a second, she hesitated. Hopefully, it was a vampire’s house.
She took great strides to cross the alley between the homes, then finally reached the backyard of the blue colonial.
Curtains were drawn across all of the windows. Typical vampire lair. If the men lived there, and weren’t hosts, they’d open the curtains once they arrived home, wouldn’t they?
She sneaked around to the side of the house.
With a thin blade, Crystal worked on the window, finally jimmying the lock open. Barely taking a breath, she slid the window up.
She pushed the curtains aside, allowing the sunlight to stream into the room. A desk sat in one corner of the office and an oak bookshelf filled with antique books sat against one wall. Taking a deep breath, she climbed in through the window.
Crossing the floor like a sure-footed feline, she worked her way over to the door and listened. Men laughed from some distant room. Her stomach grumbled. Sure it would alert them to her presence, she frowned.
Then she pulled the door open slightly. Her heart beat out of control. Her brothers would have stormed up the stairs and killed the vampires. Not her. She preferred using caution in everything she did. Undoubtedly the gene she carried had something to do with it.
She stepped into the hallway and glanced at the stairs. She gulped as Lila, dressed in a black chemise, her dyed black hair loosened about her shoulders, stood on the third step, staring down at her as if she’d seen a ghost. The woman would alert the whole house now. But Crystal couldn’t injure her. Damn the gene that made her different.
Lila opened her mouth to speak or cry out, but she hadn’t time to utter a word.
A pudgy man stepped out of a room and shouted, “Grab her!”
Chapter 10
Robert shook his head at his older brother. “Tom, I’m not leaving Texas without Crystal.”
“Uncle Walter wants you returned home. We’re grateful she killed Yorovitch, but now that the job’s done, it’s time for you to return to Oklahoma.”
“When I can convince her to come with me.”
“He doesn’t want you getting involved with her. I already told you this.”
Robert glanced at Mark and Samuel. They both watched him with intrigue. Would he go against the head of their family to have the girl? That’s what they all wanted to know.
“Robert, listen,” Tom coaxed, “you said yourself you never wanted to make a permanent commitment with any woman. And certainly this woman is way out of your league.”
Robert glared at him. “Meaning?”
“She’s different. She’s not like any huntress you’ve ever dealt with. And I’m talking about this gene of hers. But beyond that, she’s been raised differently from our huntresses. Ours don’t hunt. She does.”
“Dammit, she’s had to for her own self-preservation.”
“Okay, well, now don’t get mad. Maybe we can talk to her family and see if we can convince them to take her back in. That’s where she belongs. Here...with her family backing her.”
“It won’t work, Tom. You know it won’t. They won’t just all of a sudden change their opinion of her and take her back.”
“She won’t be accepted if you bring her home with you.”
Mark grinned. “He’s already got it in mind to take her home, Tom. Can’t you see the determination in his face? She’s already caught him. There’s no going back.”
Samuel shook his head. “Trouble lies ahead with that one. Big trouble.”
* * *
Crystal readied her cane as three young men piled out of a room with the other human host and ran toward her.
“Don’t hurt her,” Lila whimpered.
Crystal swung the cane at the black-haired man closest to her. He didn’t move out of the path of the weapon fast enough. Her powerful swing connected with his temple, knocking him out. She swung it again at the next, shorter man who grabbed for her. After striking him in the head, he collapsed. She bashed the other in the same manner. The last man hesitated.
His blue eyes watched her with wariness, then he glanced down at his companions. Did he want to end up like them? In the next instant, he ran for the front door, yanked it open and disappeared outside.
With the three men sprawled out on the floor before her, Crystal turned to see what Lila was doing. Lila’s eyes widened. Then she did an about-face, and ran up the stairs and screamed, “Kostya! She’s here. Kostya!”
Crystal’s heart sank. A trail of goose bumps streaked along her arms at the notion of fighting Kostya.
She ran across the living area and jerked the curtains down from one of the windows. The sun sat high in the sky now. None of its rays entered the house. If she could remove the roof, she’d have it made. Still, letting the light in, gave her some comfort.
While keeping an eye on the stairs, she pulled the door farther open in the event she wished to make a hasty escape into the sunlight. Then she yanked the remaining curtains down from the windows.
Neither Lila nor Kostya appeared. Was he hard to wake at this time of day? She paced. If she were a normal huntress, she’d dash up the stairs and confront him. But her heart wasn’t in it. No wonder huntresses with her special gene didn’t live long.
Then she took a deep breath. She had to do it, no matter what the consequences. With her heart thundering in her chest, she bolted for the stairs. The final thought she had as she charged up the steps was last one in is a rotten egg.
The hallway was surprisingly well lit, though no actual ray of sunlight touched it. But all four doors to the rooms were closed tight. She headed for the one in front of her and shoved the door open. A bathroom. She pulled the curtains off the small window, then returned to the hall.
Still, no one stirred. Or was it that they waited for her in their darkened rooms? Sure. The odds were against her as she tried to locate them in the dark.
She approached the next door. The floorboards creaked beneath the carpet, giving her away. Her blood iced.
As soon as she gripped the doorknob, the door behind her flew open.
She whipped around, and pulled the sword from the cane. Not Kostya. A man stood before her she didn’t recognize. Relief flooded through her system like sunshine warmed her on a cold day.
His uncombed black hair dangled down to his hips, while black curly hair trailed down his milky white chest to ebony silk boxers. Dark eyes penetrated hers, attempting to will her, or distrac
t her, she wasn’t certain. What was he waiting for?
And then she realized, unless they attacked her, forcing herself to take the offensive was another of her failings. She stiffened her back. Still he didn’t approach her. Then his lips moved up.
Did he realize her inadequacy?
The door behind her creaked open. No, he’d called a vampire to join him.
She twisted around to face the other. Not Kostya either. He must be lying in wait for her in his room still.
The one she now faced appeared older. A sprinkle of gray colored his temples. A black t-shirt and black satin pajama bottoms clad his thin body. Her gaze shifted to his face. His smoky black eyes stared into hers. But like the other, he didn’t attack. Did they know then what she was incapable of doing?
He glanced over at the other vampire and nodded his head just once.
Dread trickled down her back. The remaining door opened. Kostya entered the hall. Lila stood slightly behind him, clinging to the sleeve of his raven-colored robe.
Kostya gave Crystal a halfhearted smile. “You know we don’t like to be awakened at this hour. It makes us difficult to live with.”
“Nicolai disturbed my sleep throughout the evening, so I thought I’d repay the visit.” Crystal kept her sword ready. Her hands trembled slightly though her voice remained cool like his.
Kostya shook loose of Lila, pulled his black robe closed and tied the sash. “You must be tired then. I’d offer you my bed, but Lila shares it now. Perhaps one of the others would permit you to share his mattress with you.”
The other vampires chuckled.
Crystal frowned at him. “I don’t think Nicolai would care for that.”
“Why do you think I suggested you sleep with them instead of me?” His brows and lips rose.
“Then it doesn’t matter to you that they would be in trouble for it?” If nothing else, perhaps she could wedge a bit of dissention between the vampires.
“Nicolai would forgive them, if he knew it meant they kept you here for him tonight. As long as they didn’t get too familiar with you.”
Lila stroked Kostya’s arm.
Terry Spear - Vampire Page 14