His Dark Embrace

by Ashley, Amanda

  “You promised!” she cried, hating the note of desperation in her voice. “Look at me! You promised you wouldn’t leave me.”

  He turned. Gazing down at her, he said, “Not exactly. I promised I wouldn’t leave without telling you good-bye.”

  “Is that what you’re doing?” She blinked back her tears. “Is it?”

  “Dammit, Sky ...” He scrubbed his hands over his face. How could he leave her when he wanted her so damn bad? When he loved her more than his own life?

  How could he stay when he knew leaving was the best thing he could do for her?

  How could he leave when she was looking at him like that, as if her heart was breaking?

  “Ah, Sky. What the hell am I going to do with you?”

  “Anything you want.”

  He was across the floor in an instant, bending down, drawing her into his arms. This would have all been so much easier, so much safer for her, if he hadn’t run out of McNamara’s potion.

  Skylynn pressed herself against him. It felt so good to be in his arms. He made her feel safe, secure. No matter what he said, she knew in her heart that he would never hurt her. It wouldn’t be easy, having a relationship with a vampire, but then, no relationship was easy. There were always differences that had to be ironed out, compromises that had to be made.

  “Differences?” Thorne muttered. “Compromises? Sky, I’m a vampire, and you’re prey. We can’t negotiate the differences between us. I can’t conform my existence to yours. Any compromises that have to be made will have to be made by you. You realize that, don’t you?”

  She nodded.

  “Can you live with that? We’ll never be a normal couple. I can support you, but if we stay together, I think you should find a job. If you don’t want to work nine to five, then you should volunteer at a school or a hospital, someplace where you’ll be with other people. You need to get out and make friends. I don’t want you to spend your days sitting at home, waiting for me to rise.”

  He put his forefinger under her chin, tilting her head up so he could see her face more clearly. “What are you thinking?”

  “Don’t you know?”

  “Actually, I do. That’s another thing you’ll have to live with. You won’t be able to have any secrets from me. I’ll always know what you’re thinking.”

  “Even if I ask you not to read my mind?”

  “It’s hard not to.” He caressed her cheek. “Sometimes it isn’t even necessary. What you’re thinking, feeling ...” He shrugged. “I can usually read it in your eyes. Like now.” His gaze moved over her face. “I hope you won’t regret your decision,” he said, and swept her into his arms.

  “I can walk, you know,” Skylynn murmured.

  “I know, but I like holding you. Have you got a problem with that?”

  “No.” With a sigh, she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

  He carried her swiftly up the stairs, then paused on the landing. There were four doors. Three were closed.

  Sky pointed at the open doorway.

  Thorne carried her inside, then sat on the edge of the bed, cradling her to his chest. “If staying with me ever gets to be more than you can handle, if you ever regret your decision, I want you to promise to tell me.”

  “I won’t ...”

  His hand stilled her words. “Promise me, Skylynn.”

  “Won’t you just read it in my mind?”

  “I’m going to try not to do that anymore. Promise me, Sky.”

  “All right, I promise. But it will never happen.”

  “I love you, Sky Blue,” he said quietly. “I just hope you won’t hate me if things don’t work out.”

  “I won’t. I do have one question, though?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Are you through trying to talk me out of this? Because I’m dying to make love to you.”

  “Dying?” he repeated with a wry grin. “That’s a poor choice of words, don’t you think?”

  “Kaiden, stop talking and kiss me.”

  “Sky ...”

  “Do you love me?”

  “You know I do.”

  “How much?”

  “How much do you need?”

  She laughed softly as she slid her hands under his shirt. “How much do you have?”

  “I’d be happy to show you,” he said, and cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her as he slowly fell back on the bed, carrying her with him.

  She liked being on top. Straddling his hips, she ran her hands over him, exploring the hard planes of his chest, the width of his shoulders, the corded muscles in his arms.

  She ran her fingertips over his lips, then covered his mouth with her own.

  Holding her gaze with his, he murmured, “It’s my turn now,” as he rolled over, carrying her with him, so that she lay beneath him.

  He made love to her all through the night, every kiss, every caress, an unspoken declaration of his love for her.

  And even as he made love to her, a little voice in the back of his mind warned him that he was putting her life in jeopardy.

  Chapter 23

  Girard Desmarais whistled softly as he sent his third victim on her way. He had spent most of his adult life relentlessly hunting and destroying vampires. He had hated them unconditionally, decrying their lifestyle, their wickedness in preying on innocent humans, condemning the Undead as soulless, heartless, monsters.

  How could he have spent so much of his time around vampires and never understood a thing about them? Knowing what he knew now, he was amazed that people weren’t lining up by the thousands to become vampires. If he had known how fantastic their powers were, how amazing it was to have the strength of twenty men, to never be sick or tired, he would have sought the Dark Gift decades ago.

  He thought of Marie, dead before her time because of Kaiden Thorne. His dreams of having a son to carry on the family name had died with her. He had loved once. He would never love again. So be it. He was the last of his line, and that, too, was the fault of Kaiden Thorne. Just one more reason to destroy the man who had taken Marie’s life. And yet, for all that Girard felt strong and invulnerable, he wasn’t ready to face off against Cassandra. He didn’t doubt for a minute that she would come after him if he killed Thorne. She would always be older, stronger.

  His steps slowed. Maybe there was another way to avenge himself on his enemy. True, it would be folly on his part to defy Cassandra and destroy Thorne, but what about Thorne’s woman? She was fair game as far as he was concerned.

  The Good Book said an eye for an eye, Girard mused.

  But he was thinking about a life for a life.

  Chapter 24

  Skylynn woke with a smile on her face. For a moment, she simply lay there, her eyes closed as she relived the wonder of the night past. Kaiden loved her. The thought made her giggle like a schoolgirl with her first crush. And that thought made her laugh out loud. He had been her first crush. She had daydreamed about him for years and now, at last, he was hers. And she was his. Totally and completely his.

  And he was a dyed-in-the-wool, blood-drinking vampire.

  She turned her face toward the window, basking in the sun’s light. And then she bolted upright. Sunlight! Her gaze darted to the other side of the bed, terrified that she might find a pile of ashes. To her relief, that side of the bed was empty.

  Where was Kaiden?

  Swinging her legs over the edge of the mattress, she stepped into her slippers, pulled on her robe, and hurried downstairs, frowning as the scent of coffee tickled her nostrils.

  “Kaiden?” She called his name as she went into the kitchen. He wasn’t there, of course, but she smiled when she saw he had turned on the coffeemaker. A note rested beside it.

  Morning, Sky Blue. Enjoy your day. I’ll see you tonight. Don’t forget, I love you forever. Kaiden.

  Smiling, she hugged the note to her breast, then slipped it into the pocket of her robe. Kaiden loved her. God was in His heaven, and all wa
s right with the world.

  After pouring herself a cup of coffee, she sat at the table, her whole being glowing with the blush of first love. She wanted to sing, to shout it to the world. For the first time in her life, she was hopelessly, deeply in love.

  Gradually, her sense of euphoria faded and reality stepped in. So, he loved her and she loved him. If they were a normal couple, they would get married, have a couple of kids, and live happily ever after. But they weren’t a normal couple. And they never would be. Kaiden had been right about that.

  She bit down on the inside corner of her lip. So, they weren’t a normal couple. What was so great about being normal?

  She sipped her coffee, her thoughts wandering. Would he expect them to move in together? Should she suggest it? If they decided to move in together, it would probably have to be in his house. He would undoubtedly feel more secure taking his rest there.

  Well, she could live with that. And she could always go home during the day. Kaiden had suggested she find something to do with her time, and that was probably a smart idea. He had told her she didn’t have to work, but she wasn’t sure she felt comfortable with the idea of having him support her when they weren’t married. So, she needed to find a job. Vista Verde was a small town and there weren’t a lot of high-paying jobs available. But she didn’t need a lot of money. Just enough to pay the utility bills and the taxes on the house. She didn’t eat much. Granda’s car wasn’t new, but it was paid for. And if it broke down, Sam’s VW was in the garage. She drove it once a week or so to keep the battery charged.

  She poured herself a second cup of coffee. She had always wanted to work at a pet store. The last time she had gone looking for work, she had taken what was profitable, not what she really wanted.

  But times had changed.

  “Oh, yes,” she murmured, smiling. “Times have changed.”

  A quick breakfast, a change of clothes, and she was off to seek gainful employment.

  Skylynn returned home three hours later, weary and discouraged. She had tried every store in town and met with rejection at all of them.

  “We’re cutting back.”

  “We can’t afford to take on any new help.”

  “Maybe next month.”

  “You’re overqualified.”

  Thoroughly discouraged, she kicked off her shoes and tossed her handbag on the sofa. Padding to the front window, she pulled back the curtain and stared at Kaiden’s house. It was still three hours until sunset.

  Pulling a chair up to the window, she sat down, her arms folded on the sill, her chin resting on her arm. What was it like, to sleep without dreaming? To be drawn into nothingness with the rising of the sun whether you wanted to be or not? To live forever and never be sick or tired? To have the strength of twenty men? To be able to move faster than the human eye could follow?

  To drink blood? Kaiden didn’t seem to mind. Apparently when you were turned, drinking blood stopped being repulsive. Or maybe you just got used to it. She could think of a lot of things she hadn’t liked the first time. Coffee had been an acquired taste. So had beer and wine and champagne. She hadn’t liked any of them the first time she tried them.

  She glanced at her watch, willing the hands to move faster. Why did time pass so quickly when she was with Kaiden and so slowly when she was home alone?

  Rising, she went into the den. It had been Granda’s room. His medical diplomas and awards lined one wall. A small mahogany table held his pipes and a box of cigars. An old footlocker sat in one corner. It held the trophies Granda had won in high school, along with an old letterman’s sweater, his high school yearbooks, and a football from the last game he had played in college.

  She moved toward the bookcase. It was crammed with paperbacks, most of them written by Louis L’Amour, Max Brand, and Zane Grey. Scattered among the dog-eared westerns were the books Sky had loved as a child. Among them were Lad: A Dog, Little Women, Black Beauty, and the Black Stallion books.

  Sky pulled one of the Black Stallion books from the shelf and thumbed through it, remembering how she had imagined herself lost on a desert island with a beautiful black horse. Like many preteen girls, she had longed to own a horse of her own, but Granda had told her it just wasn’t practical in a subdivision.

  With a sigh, she returned the book to the shelf. For a moment, she stood there, wondering what to do. She felt a rush of guilt when she realized it had been a while since she had written to Sam.

  Booting up the computer, she sat down, and began to write.

  Dear Sam~

  You’re not going to believe this, but I’m in love with a vampire.

  Stop laughing. It’s true, and he’s a real vampire and you know him. Are you ready for this? It’s Kaiden Thorne! Okay, you can laugh now. I have to wonder, though. All those years ago when we went trick-or-treating at his house, did you really know what he was? And if you knew, how did you have the nerve to go there in the first place?

  I don’t know where our relationship is headed, or how long it will last. I tell myself it doesn’t matter, that I love him, fangs and all (ha-ha). Of course, we’re going to have problems. All couples do. I guess the biggest one is that I’ll get old and he won’t. I don’t know what to do about that one.

  Or children. I don’t know if he even wants them ...

  Her fingers stilled on the keys. They hadn’t used any precautions. She could be pregnant even now. Lordy, if she had a baby, would it be half vampire? Would she have to feed it blood and keep it out of the sun? Would it be born with fangs? Ouch!

  Her letter forgotten, she went to look out the window again.

  Kaiden rose with the setting of the sun. In spite of his eagerness to see Skylynn, he took time to shower and wash his hair. The luxury of hot running water was something that he never took for granted, not even after 471 years. He knew a lot of vampires lived in the past, lamenting the loss of the eras they had known, but Thorne wasn’t one of them. There was little of his old life that he missed. Given the choice, he much preferred the conveniences of the twenty-first century—fast cars, hot water whenever he wanted it, flush toilets. He remembered all too well the stink of bedpans and water closets, of people who rarely bathed. But the humans of today, ah, most of them smelled sweet indeed.

  And Skylynn was the sweetest of them all.

  Drying off, he pulled on a pair of jeans and a black sweatshirt. The clothes of today suited him far better than the garments of four hundred years ago. They were more comfortable and certainly easier to care for.

  And easier to get women out of.

  Grinning, he pulled on his boots and left the house, wondering how long it would take to get Sky Blue undressed and into bed.

  Chapter 25

  He fought down his terror as one of his captors dropped a thick black hood over his head. With his hands lashed behind his back, there was no way to defend himself. In any case, he had no hope of defeating four men armed with enough weapons to start a small war.

  Someone poked him in the back and he stumbled forward. Where were they taking him? Fear coiled in the pit of his stomach like a snake ready to strike. He had seen news coverage of Americans being beheaded. Was that to be his fate?

  He swallowed hard as unseen hands lifted him into the back of what he thought was a truck. He heard the sounds of shuffling feet, had the sense that he wasn’t the only prisoner there. When he started to speak, someone—one of the guards?—punched him in the stomach. The low rumble of an engine and the vehicle lurched forward, bouncing over the rough terrain.

  Bowing his head, he tried to pray, but he didn’t remember any prayers. He didn’t know if he had ever been a praying man, didn’t know what, if anything, he believed. Didn’t know if there was anyone, other than himself, he should pray for.

  It was stifling under the hood. The truck wasn’t enclosed and the desert sun beat down on his head, shoulders, and back. Sweat beaded across his brow and dripped down his neck. How long had they been traveling? How long before they stopped?
What would happen when his captors reached their destination?

  Questions pounded in his head as the miles slipped by and his fear and frustration grew. Where the hell was he? How had he gotten there? Where were they going?

  And why couldn’t he remember who he was?

  Chapter 26

  Skylynn was putting the last of her dinner dishes in the dishwasher when the doorbell rang. She closed the appliance’s door with a bang, then hurried into the front room. At last, the sun was down and Kaiden was here!

  Butterflies were going crazy in her stomach as she unlocked the door. “Kaiden, why are you ringing the ... You!” She stared at Desmarais in horror. Momentarily stunned, she seemed to have lost the power to think or act and then, too late, she tried to shut the door in his face.

  When his foot kept it from closing all the way, she took a deep breath. He was a vampire. He couldn’t come inside without an invitation, something he had apparently forgotten. She almost laughed at his look of surprise when he tried to cross the threshold and couldn’t. It was one of the most amazing things Sky had ever seen. Try as he might, he couldn’t get in. Each time he tried, she felt a tremor in the air, like an invisible electric current.

  He stared at her, his eyes filled with malevolence. She was sure it was her imagination, but it was almost as if he was trying to hypnotize her.

  Let me in.

  She heard his voice in her mind, growing stronger, more insistent. Some instinct she didn’t even know she possessed warned her not to look into his eyes.

  Crying, “No!” she tore her gaze from his.

  Swearing vociferously, Desmarais turned on his heel and vanished from sight.

  Skylynn sagged against the doorjamb. Waiting for her heartbeat to return to normal, she thought about the strange tremor she’d felt when Desmarais tried to enter the house. It was the same vibration she had experienced last night when Kaiden tried to enter the house. He had looked at her askance.