The Vampire Laird (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery/Romance)

by Merabeth James

  The hand grasping hers tightened and Lucy said, “Tis all right, miss....hurry.” She pulled Meg forward at a dead run and they arrived just in time to see Cloud jump over some obstacle that Cerberus couldn’t see in time to avoid.. After that, the scene unfolded in slow motion for Meg. First there was the sound of rotted wood splintering and then a howl of pure terror as Cerberus disappeared from sight. “Tis the auld well. The great beast fell doun it and be deid,” Lucy said solemnly.

  Meg dropped to her knees...her trembling legs unable to bear her weight any longer. She was shivering in after shock, tears streaming down her face, when Cloud poured himself into her arms and ‘cat’ kissed her nose...hard. “Thank you,” she murmured into his soft fur.

  "This is all your doing and I will kill you for it,” Orianna hissed venomously as she ran past Meg. Leaning over the edge of the well, she called, "Cerberus! Cerberus!" But there was no sound from its inky depths.

  Meg looked around for a weapon....anything...only too aware that Orianna would be after her as soon as the shock wore off. Suddenly, from out of the trees, a familiar spire of light appeared and quickly morphed into Meaghan. ‘Shushing’ Meg with a gesture, she glided forward quickly and slipped up behind Orianna. With a squeal of girlish glee, she pushed Orianna into the well and laughed as she screamed all the way to the bottom. The sudden silence was intense. Leaning forward, Meaghan looked down and called, “Is she deid, Wee Willie?”

  “Aye, my lady. Her neck be snapped loik a twig,” came a muffled voice from below.

  Meaghan laughed joyously again. “Serves her right, it does. Now tis time for ye to come up and join the bairns in the schoolroom. Lucy has been wanting ye to come for the longest time. That one down there isnae fit company for ye or anyone. She can take your place and weep and wail. No one will hear nor greet for her.”

  Meg watched in awe as a young redheaded boy rose from the well and smiled crookedly at the little girl who materialized next to Meaghan. She was dressed in a billowy white nightgown with a dark stain across the front. Meg didn’t want to think what that might mean. She was happy now. “Thank you, Lucy” she called after her, as the two laughing children disappeared into the darkness.

  Meaghan drifted her way and tugged at her arm. “They have come to storm the manor. Your brother, Allyn, is close by and your sister is being cared for. My faither has need of me soon and I will take my leave of ye.” And with that she was gone before Meg could thank her for all she’d done. Though her methods might not have been her own, she thought with a wry smile, they were certainly very effective.

  ***

  “I’m sorry,” Charlie murmured drowsily, “I must have dozed off. Orianna’s potion and not much sleep. You were saying?”

  Seth groaned and ran his hand through his dark red hair. “I said I was going to initiate you tonight. Not that it’s gone well so far.”

  “Could we make it another night. I am really so-o-o sleepy.....”

  “No...not another night....now. If you please me, I could make you my consort. It has been quite lonely for me here.”

  “‘Consort’....isn’t that rather an archaic word for what you have in mind? And then there’s your wonderful daughter, Orianna, who must be loads of fun when she’s not busy with her other diversions.”

  “She is not my daughter, though it became easier to let people believe that in view of our age difference and other interests. She is my wife, though I found the marriage too incestuous to be consummated.”

  “Whatever that means. Besides, I make it a practice never to get involved with a married man consummated or not.”

  He sighed and toyed with a strand of her hair. “You really would like me when you got to know me.”

  She pulled her hair away and tucked it back into place. “But I don’t think you’d like me if you got to know me. For one thing, I’m opinionated.”

  “As am I”

  “I am stubborn to a fault.”

  He smiled darkly. “That can be rectified.”

  “I don’t like to be told what to do....by anyone,” she replied, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

  He sighed heavily. “We can work around that.”

  “I’m very impatient.”

  “A fault shared.”

  “I snore when I sleep and sometimes my mouth hangs open if my nose is stuffed up, though that’s usually Meg’s thing.”

  “So I’ve noticed,” he said dryly.

  “I’m a restless sleeper...toss and turn like a dervish all night... and a bed hog to boot.”

  You won’t be sleeping all that much. We’ll be too busy doing other things. I suppose you liked Quinn better?”

  She found herself laughing. “Well...he is very beguiling, though I don’t suppose you noticed.”

  “I could be beguiling,” he coaxed with a smile that bared his very white teeth.

  “You are handsome....in a predatory kind of way...and I suppose some women might find you beguiling......”

  Whatever she was about to say next was interrupted as the door flew open with a crash and Zack stood there looking at them both with one black brow quirked quizzically. “I hope I’m not interrupting your pillow talk?” he asked training the gun he’d taken from the guard on the man in front of him.

  Charlie was grinning hugely, when she replied. “Sort of...he was about to initiate me into the vampire realm or something. But I’m very glad to see you. I wasn’t going to be able to keep him talking much longer and my body is not exactly fully operational.”

  Seth swung free of the bed in one lithe movement and pulled Charlie up with him. One sinewy arm circled her waist and held her securely in front of him, while the other held the point of his dirk against her throat “Just what are you doing here anyway? I thought we had you safely tucked away. Drop that gun or I will kill her and she won’t be worth anything to either of us.”

  Zack laughed softly, though his dark eyes were far from amused. “What makes you think I’m all that interested in her any more. She’d make a nice piece to add to my line, but that’s about it. Once I f--ked her, I sort of lost interest. But I’m really pissed off about the way I’ve been treated. Drugged and locked up with a guard posted outside my door, makes me mad as hell. Mad enough to shoot your sorry ass no matter who you have as a shield.”

  Charlie blinked rapidly several times, stung by Zack’s words, even though she knew he was just trying to buy time for both of them. “Don’t drop your gun. He’s a delusional crazy person who will kill us both no matter what you do if he gets the chance. He actually believes he’s a three hundred year old vampire.”

  Seth laughed mockingly. “I’d be more than happy to settle for ‘delusional crazy’ instead of who I am. Shoot me, Quinn, and then we’ll see who’s crazy.”

  Zack studied the situation in front of him, looking for his best shot. With Charlie shielding the bulk of his opponent, his best chance was a head shot, but there was always the possibility something could go wrong.

  Seth interrupted his thoughts. “Okay. I’ll make it easy for you” and with that, he pushed Charlie from him, offering a clean shot, though he kept the point of his dirk pressed into her ribs. “Now...shoot me and we’ll settle the matter once and for all.”

  So he did. The impact of the bullet rocked the man before him, but he stayed on his feet and then he smiled. “It passed right through my heart, but as you can see, I’m still alive.”

  Trying not to show how shocked she was by what had just happened, Charlie asked flippantly, “If your kind can’t be killed, why isn’t this place crawling with tainted MacMorleys?”

  Seth was quiet for a long moment and when he replied there was a wealth of sadness in his voice. “There are ways to kill us...hideous ways. A bullet would be a blessing by comparison. My daughter suffered such a death in this very manor. She was dancing in the ballroom, when the villagers stormed the manor and hacked her to pieces. She lies in the mausoleum below covered in the white roses I bring her every Sunday.
Now listen to me, Quinn........”

  “Since we’ve become such a tight little group here, the name is Mallory. Zack Mallory,” he told him, as he tried to figure out what to do next.

  “So more than one of us wears two faces. I shouldn’t be surprised, but somehow I am. Just who are you, Zack Mallory, and what are you doing here?”

  “I’m just a guy with more than a passing interest in what you are doing here.”

  “Listen to me very carefully, Zack Mallory, for I find myself growing weary and I do not want to repeat myself. I will kill this woman and not waste a single breath regretting it unless you toss that gun on the floor, walk over to that wall, and snap those shackles on your wrists. Understood?”

  Zack groaned inwardly. He would have to do what he demanded or Charlie would die...something he must prevent at all costs even if it meant his own death. “I’ll do what you say if you let her go. Let her walk out this room unharmed. If there is any honor left in you...and I stress the ‘if’ part...you will let this be just between the two of us...man to man.”

  Seth was no longer smiling. His eyes had narrowed to mere slits...his mouth was grim. “I’m beginning to lose any patience that I’ve ever been blessed with, which is less than zero. Nobody…least of all you...dictates to me how this will all go down. I hold the trump card. Her life. Now drop the gun and snap on the cuffs before I shove this blade straight between her ribs.”

  Seth's grip tightened, painfully, and she could feel the sharp point of the dirk pierce her skin, but she had to try and save Zack. "Don’t listen to him. Please don’t throw your life away for me.”

  Seth shook her roughly. “One more word from you and you are a dead woman,” he told her between clenched teeth, as he pressed the dirk deeper still until she gave an involuntary yelp of pain. “Now do as you’re told, Zack, or the next time I’ll push it all the way to her heart.”

  Zack slid the gun across the floor and crossed the room, pausing in front of Charlie. His dark eyes were deeply shadowed, as he said, “Do what you have to do to survive. We’ve both been through rougher patches than this and come out the other end okay,” though he honestly couldn’t remember when.

  With a savage oath, Seth shoved him towards the wall and waited till he heard the cuffs snap shut, then leaned close to her ear. “He doesn’t look so ‘beguiling’ hanging there, does he?”

  Meeting his eyes unflinchingly, she smiled up at him. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I still find him very appealing.”

  He grabbed her breast painfully and she lashed out with her heel, kicking him hard in the shin. He swore, savagely, and jerked her off her feet, then pushed her on the bed. “It seems you are recovering your ‘feistiness’, isn’t that what you called it? I will need to purge you of that. Shall I get started, while your friend watches?”

  Her gray eyes narrowed and her smile was cold. “Try it and see what happens.”

  He laughed as he toyed with the tie on her robe with the point of his dirk. “All fire and sharp claws. Shall we see what I find under this? See to your wound perhaps? I can lick it and make it all better...sort of an hor d'oeuvre shall we say?”

  “Touch her and I will see that you die one on those hideous deaths you mentioned, ” Zack ground out, struggling fiercely at his bonds.

  No one noticed when the tall Highlander stepped into the room. “Dinna fash yerself Zack. I will see him in hell before he harms the lass. There are men storming the place and herding his people together. I would say your evil days are over here, Marley.”

  The two men studied each other across the length of the small room. “As impossible as it sounds, you have to be Grey MacMorley...my great uncle of centuries past,” Seth said in disbelieve. “But you were killed in such a way you could not be an undead.”

  Grey circled the other man. “So it would seem. I had hoped my line had ended, when the last laird of my direct descent fled these parts and was never seen again....till now.”

  “Then you know who I am,” Seth said mockingly. “Since my only child, Meaghan, is dead...the line does end with me, which will be never, since I am eternal.”

  Grey grinned hugely. “Meaghan may be dead, but she remains a verra lively ghostie. She just now told me who you are...told me what she had been keeping a secret from everyone until she satisfied her sense of justice.”

  Seth eyes were filled with a mix of hope and disbelieve, as he cried hoarsely, “You know my daughter? She is here? Why hasn’t she come to me? Surely she must have heard me cry her name over and over, as I walked these halls night after night?”

  “She has been angry with you, mon...verra angry. You called the other one...daughter...gave her Meaghan’s rightful place. She would not come to you as long as the other lived.”

  “If that was all that was stopping her, I could have remedied that at any time and with pleasure.”

  Grey laughed. “That will no longer be necessary. Justice has been served in Meaghan’s mind. Your evil life must end now and I am the one to do it.”

  “I would almost welcome it. How do you plan on accomplishing this impossible feat?” Seth asked wryly.

  Grey drew the claymore from the sling on his back and held it over his head. “This weapon was forged in the Holy Land and its hilt contains the relics of three saints. My father had it made for me so that I could end my days if the pain of living became more than I could bear. I never needed to use it, though I carry it with me always as a talisman. My life was taken from me when my head was severed from my body, a nail driven through my temple and I was buried with my face to the ground so that I would never find my way back. But I did, though much of who I was changed with my death....especially the blood lust. I would end your life now...free you. It will be an act of mercy.”

  “On second thought, I don’t think I’m quite ready for your act of mercy,” Seth said dryly, pulling a struggling Charlie in front of him. “You would not harm her. Leave me, Grey MacMorley. Go back to Blood Castle and leave me to my own private hell.”

  Grey smiled darkly, as he closed the space between them in three long strides and thrust the wide, double edged blade through both Charlie and Seth in one powerful stroke.

  ***

  Shock and rage swept over Zack as he shouted Charlie’s name, while Grey looked up from the two figures sprawled at his feet and smiled crookedly at him. “Your lass will be fine. The claymore can only take the life of a tainted MacMorley,” he said, crossing the room and severing, with one stroke, the silk covered cables that bound Zack to the wall. “You are a lucky mon to have her.” But Zack wasn’t listening. Shaken to the core...his chest tight with fear..he pushed past Grey and lifted her into his arms. Cradling her against his wildly racing heart, he carried her to the bed, murmuring, savagely, close to her ear, “Dammit, woman! You had better be all right! We have unfinished business, remember?”

  “And I’m holding you to it” came the whispered response.

  He looked at her with his heart in his eyes and her own gray eyes widened in response. Lifting her arms, she circled his neck and sighed. “I think I just did the unthinkable for Charlie Ravynne.”

  “Which was?” he asked, as he snugged her a little closer.

  “I fainted.”

  And then he kissed her...searchingly, deeply and with infinite tenderness.

  Grey watched them, wistfully, for a long moment before he disappeared as suddenly as he’d come. Neither noticed. For them, their world was each other...at least until reality reared its head...which it did shortly thereafter, when a spire of blue light spun out of the shadows and Meaghan began to materialize.

  Gliding to her father’s body, she stood looking down at him for a long moment, then said in a voice choked with tears, “Come, Faither. Tis time for our rejoining. I have missed ye much for so verra long.”

  It was a strange thing to witness, as Seth, like a snake shedding its skin, rose from his lifeless body and scooped his daughter into his arms. His hand stroked the curve of her cheek, as he w
hispered, “Can it really be you? I have wanted to hold you again like this for centuries...lonely...lonely years filled with lonely hours. After your death, I could not bear to be here, so I wandered the world till I had to come home. I restored the manor in hopes it would bring you back to me...if only in memory. Grey MacMorley told me why you've stayed away since I came back. She means nothing to me except for her likeness to you in body only. That was why I married her. She could never be my Meaghan...my heart...you must believe that.”

  She smiled up into his eyes. “Ach! She was your wife then? I should have known, but ye were never together in that way. She will not come between us again. I have seen to that.”

  Love warmed his eyes, as he looked at his daughter. “‘Justice served’ was how Grey MacMorley put it. Where is she now?”

  “At the bottom of the auld well with her great beast for company.”

  He laughed. “A fitting end if she stays there for all of eternity. But I am indestructible. I cannot be killed.”

  She shook her head and pointed to the body on the floor. “Yet there ye be.” Then she looked at Charlie and Zack, who had been watching their reunion in utter fascination. “There are men stormin’ the manor...men I have never seen here before. I am afeert. It brings the other time to me mind. Meg is safe and with Allyn by now. He dinna love me as I had wished, but I have my faither back now and I will not be lonely again.”

  Zack turned to Charlie. “Sounds like Jeff and his men have landed and are rounding everyone up.”

  Seth smiled sardonically at them both. “It seems the jig is up, as you Americans might say. This place is honeycombed with secret passages, where some might hide. There’s a map in the desk in my bedroom. And make sure you check the hidden room off the minstrel’s gallery. There’s a lot of information there I will no longer need and you might find quite useful. It could have been fun, Charlie. Perhaps another time.” With that, he threw a salute in Zack’s direction and, holding Meaghan's hand, disappeared through the wall.