A Vampire's Promise

  “Are you upset that it’s my bed he’s chosen and not yours?” I asked.

  She threw back her head, laughing at the suggestion. “Please, Rowan, you think I have envy in my heart because of you?” Holding out her arms, Katja twirled, making the bottom of the trench coat flare out like a prom gown. “Take a good look at me, Little One.” Amazed that I would dare put myself in the same stratosphere, she shook her head sadly. For a minute, I too was startled by my own audacity. What was I thinking?

  I might not feel insecure about any past conquest of Gabriel’s, but Katja scared the hell out of me. Not because she was a past conquest—intuition told me she wasn’t—but she definitely wanted to be a current one. Self-doubt threatened to smother me, but then I remembered one life-affirming fact. The gorgeous Goth Queen still had to put her thong on one leg at a time.

  She stopped pirouetting and came toward me, her fingernails scraping lightly as she caught my chin. “I am your friend, Little One. I don’t want to see you to get hurt.”

  I jerked my head away. “Bullshit!”

  She raised a quizzical eyebrow. “You think I am being untruthful?”

  “I think you’re full of it!” I snorted. “You couldn’t care less if I get hurt.” I gave her a hard stare of my own as a warning beacon lit up inside my head. This woman was many things, but my friend wasn’t one of them. “Your only concern here is Gabriel. You want him for yourself, only I’m in the way.”

  She returned to her post on the opposite railing, her hands disappearing back inside the coat as she pushed it open. The skin she exposed looked unnaturally white against her dark clothing, and I wondered if she felt cold. I know I did.

  “If I wanted Gabriel for myself, as you say, you would not be able to stop me from taking him.” Her mouth twisted into a sly smile. “Besides, how do you know I haven’t already had him?”

  Because you wouldn’t be here if you had.

  “If you’re so confident you can take him from me, then do it already, and stop wasting my time talking about it.” You really can’t argue with that type of logic. “Or did you already try? Is that what happened? Did he turn you down?” I wasn’t above letting her know I could be just as hurtful as she, if pushed far enough. “Perhaps you overestimate what you have to offer.” I made a gesture with my hand, measuring her from head to toe.

  I doubted anyone had ever cast aspersions on her packaging before, and if looks could kill, I’d be pushing up daisies. I sighed. Our “little talk” was putting a damper on what had actually been a really good day.

  “You have no future with him.” She said again, her tone flat and expressionless.

  “And I suppose you have?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “He and I are alike. I would make for him the better choice.”

  As much as I hated to agree with her, I was forced to admit there was more than a grain of truth in her words. She and Gabriel were alike, or at least seemed to be on the surface, but perhaps that was reason enough for him not to want her. It was a possibility I could tell Katja had never considered, and probably never would.

  “That may be,” I said, “but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s my bed he keeps coming back to.”

  “If you knew what was good for you, you would walk away from him.”

  Shit! She just wasn’t going to give up. A pit bull had nothing on her. I could feel the edges of my temper start to fray. “Oh, I’m pretty sure I know exactly what’s good for me, and trust me, Katja, I’m not about to walk away from it.”

  She shook her head and blew out a long breath between her red lips.

  “It is true; you are different from the others. You give him something he has never had before,” she admitted grudgingly, “but can you keep him? Take a good look, Little One.” She waved her hand as if she could conjure up an image of Gabriel with a snap of her fingers. “See him as he is. His clothes, his cars, and the secrets he keeps.” She nodded her head at the look I flashed her. “Oh yes, I know he is keeping secrets from you Perhaps you are the one overestimating what you have to offer.” Her mouth curved slyly upward. “He has not told you the truth about himself, has he?”

  I stared at her, saying nothing. Just how much did this dazzling woman in front of me actually know? How much was guess work? And just how close was her tie to my lover?

  “Gabriel has told me all I need to know,” I heard myself say, but my voice wasn’t as strong or confident as it should have been. “And I trust him.”

  “Then why are you so fearful when he leaves you?”

  Was I really that easy to read?

  I couldn’t help it. Uncertainty was my domain, not Gabriel’s, and Katja had nailed me dead to rights. Every time I said good-bye to Gabriel, watching him drive off to the life I knew nothing about, a small, insecure part of me would surface. A part that was still standing outside Rosie’s, wondering why he wanted to be with me.

  Even if I could look as flawlessly polished as Katja, complete with the killer wardrobe, my insecurity would still linger. However, she didn’t need to know that, and I refused to let her see just how badly she’d rattled me.

  “You know, you’re absolutely right, I can’t compete with you.” Suspicion flared in her eyes. “You look like a million dollars, and I would imagine ninety percent of the male population would kill for the chance to be with you, and not just those looking for makeup tips.”

  Hoping to break the tension, I was trying for a smile, but no luck. Katja simply continued to look down her nose at me, a member of some imperious European aristocracy wearing a face that gave away nothing. I sighed and wondered if I was flogging a dead horse.

  “What did you expect to gain by coming here? I mean, this is all very juvenile, don’t you think? Haven’t you got enough respect for Gabriel to let him make up his own mind about who he wants to be with?”

  Nothing like getting to the heart of the matter.

  “What has Gabriel told you,” Katja asked, “about what he does when he’s not with you? Do you know where he goes? Who it is he sees?”

  “Why do you assume he’s keeping anything from me?”

  “Because I can see it in your face.” She laughed. “If you want to survive, you must learn to hide your feelings, Little One.”

  Well, that answered the easy-to-read question. I decided to come clean. Katja was right. I don’t hide my feelings well, but I’m not sure that’s always a bad thing, although it does explain why Laycee refuses to play poker with me. Well, that plus the fact I can never remember if a full house or a flush is the higher hand.

  And then something else wriggled itself inside my brain. What if there was an entirely different reason for Katja’s visit? A reason that had nothing to do with romantic rivalry? What if Katja only wanted me to think that as a way of throwing me off balance? What other reason could possibly bring the Goth Queen to my doorstep?

  Oh, yeah, there was another possibility. When you spent your time doing this and that, the number of possibilities was endless. And none of them were particularly good.

  “Okay,” I said firmly, “if it makes you feel better, he hasn’t told me anything. I have no idea what he does or where he goes when he leaves me, so whatever secrets you’re worried about me spilling—don’t be. I can’t tell what I don’t know.”

  “He has told you nothing? Nothing at all?” She sounded incredulous, and I could see her trying to decide whether I was being truthful.

  As I’d already questioned her honesty, it was ridiculous to think she’d not do the same with me. We were two women discussing a man we both had a vested interest in, so it was natural to be suspicious of each other.

  “But you have thought about it, yes?” Katja continued. “You lie in your bed when he is gone and you wonder why he does not stay. You think perhaps he does not care for you as much as he says, yes?”

  How could she possibly know Gabriel didn’t stay all night, unless she was the reason he left? The expression on my face must have told her she was getting w
arm because I saw her mouth change into a sneer. “Why do you suppose that is?”

  “It’s to keep me safe,” I mumbled.

  “Keep you safe?” Disbelief dripped from her lips. “Do you really believe that?”

  Yes . . . no . . . maybe

  Katja shook her head and made clucking noises with her tongue. “I thought you were different from the others, smarter, but I think I make mistake.” The slyness returned, only this time it wasn’t in her smile but in her eyes. “Why do you need to be kept safe, Little One? You work in bookstore”—how did she know that?—“are you important person perhaps?” Her voice dropped to a whisper next to my ear. I hadn’t even realized she had closed the distance between us. “Why would Gabriel tell you such a thing?”

  I turned my head slowly and found myself staring into her eyes. The night sky was reflected inside two rings of deep amethyst, each shimmering with a multitude of stars. She was part of Gabriel’s Alaskan wasteland, staking a claim deep inside its borders, just like the soldier Aleksei and the guy with the midwestern twang.

  Clearing my throat, I returned her gaze, and decided I was tired of playing a game whose rules I didn’t know. And no one, apparently, was going to tell me.

  “Gabriel didn’t say anything, but it doesn’t take a very big stretch of the imagination to work out what you all are.” I was astonished that my voice didn’t falter once.

  Katja looked startled. “And what is that?”

  “Well, the accents are a dead giveaway, along with your clothes and the cars, and as I don’t actually see any of you holding down a nine-to-five job, I can only assume whatever it is you’re involved in is probably illegal. If I had to guess, I’d say you were part of the Russian mob or something.”

  Fuck! Had I actually said that? Out loud?

  Katja nearly blinded me with the flash of her white teeth in her photo-shoot-perfect smile. She laughed a beer-tavern, rip-roaring belly laugh that I figured old Mrs. Wilcox, my closest neighbor, could probably hear. It was disconcerting to say the least. “You think . . . you think . . .” she gasped, “we are . . . gangsters?”

  Okay . . . maybe not. Sorry. My mistake. And then, just like that, as if someone had flipped a switch, she became deadly serious.

  “Stupid girl—you have no idea what you’re involved in.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her why she didn’t just go ahead and enlighten me because it seemed obvious she wanted to. I have no idea what stopped me from actually saying it, but I didn’t. Instead, I asked another question, “Katja, are you sure this is just about me and Gabriel? Is that why you dislike me?”

  I got the frosty duchess look again, full force. “I care nothing for you.”

  That wasn’t what she’d said a few minutes ago. Talk about fickle. “Then why are you here?”

  “Because this infatuation he has with you, it has gone on for too long!” She spat the words out scornfully. “Every time he is with you—he risks us all.”

  “But . . . how?” From her reaction just moments ago, it was obvious she thought my notion they were all part of some imported Slavic gang was ludicrous. So what else could there be? “Are you drug dealers? Is that it?”

  I watched as she rolled her eyes and muttered to herself in what I presumed was her native tongue. In an odd way I could totally understand her wanting to protect herself and her accomplices.

  “I can’t tell anybody anything about you because I don’t know anything,” I protested. “I haven’t got a clue who you are or what you do. Gabriel has kept your secrets.” I didn’t think it was prudent to mention that he had promised to tell me everything. All I had to do was ask.

  For a few moments there was only silence as Katja mulled over my words. I began to shiver. The thin jacket I was wearing was more decorative than practical, and not meant as a shield against rapidly falling temperatures.

  “Yes, it would seem he has.” She spoke disdainfully, and I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t pleased, or relieved, by my confession. I had the weirdest feeling, however, that whatever the reason behind this unexpected visit, I had somehow given her the answer she’d been looking for.

  “Gabriel won’t be coming to see you tonight.”

  “How do you know that?” I could have kicked myself for taking the bait.

  “Because he’s otherwise occupied.” She focused her stare on me, and I could see something I didn’t like. “Do you want to know what he is doing right now, while he’s not with you?”

  It was taunting, and it was cruel. I hated her for it, but I also knew she was watching my face, waiting to see the effect her words had on me. Laycee would have been very proud. For the first time in my life, I actually achieved a workable poker face.

  “Not particularly.” My heart was hammering wildly inside my chest, and for the briefest moment, from the way her head tilted slightly, I though Katja could hear it. Nausea churned ominously in the pit of my stomach as her mouth twisted in a malicious smile.

  “Oh yes you do—you want to know so much it’s chewing up your insides!”

  “Oh, why don’t you just go fuck yourself!” I exploded, infuriated by her spitefulness. With my keys in my hand, I pushed past her, needing to get inside the safety of my own four walls. But her hand snaked out, and like bands of steel, her fingers wrapped around my forearm. I was amazed that this pencil-thin girl, who looked as if she would have a hard time staying upright in a stiff breeze, had a grip of iron.

  “You may not be so eager to have him back in your bed once you know the truth.”

  “Don’t think for a minute you have any idea what I will or will not do,” I spat back with some venom of my own.

  Her face twisted into something ugly, and a light flashed behind her eyes, revealing an incomprehensible rage that was gone in an instant. Her features settled back into glossy magazine perfection. “If Gabriel won’t tell you, then perhaps you should learn for yourself why you can never have him,” she hissed poisonously.

  With her fingers still around my forearm, she jerked me off the porch, dragging me toward the Hummer. Flinging open the passenger-side door, Katja dared me to get inside. “It’s time you understood why a future with him is impossible,” she barked.

  I thought about resisting but had the craziest notion that if I did, this slender wisp of a girl would simply pick me up and throw me inside. I climbed in and watched as she came around and vaulted herself into the driver’s seat with ease. Looking across the spacious cab, she started the engine, her face perfectly smooth and calm despite the malice in her voice.

  “This game he is playing with you has gone on too long already, and now it needs to be ended,” she said grimly.

  I shivered, only this time it wasn’t because I was cold.

  CHAPTER 27

  Katja had absolutely no respect for speed. Hurtling along the road, she kept her eyes glued to the windshield, staring straight ahead and giving me a taste of what a NASCAR ride-along most likely felt like. I was confident, however, that I’d be a lot less anxious if Tony Stewart were in the driver’s seat. I kept a death grip on the seat belt across my chest, and I was pretty sure my other hand would leave an imprint on the door handle.

  And her constant muttering wasn’t helping the situation either. I was tempted to tell her if she insisted on keeping up a running commentary, then at least have the courtesy to speak English. While I might not be able to grasp the more subtle nuances of her one-sided conversation, I could tell she was furious. And it was strange how “fuck” seems to be a universal curse word.

  Staring out the window, I tried to get my bearings so I’d have some idea what direction we were going, but the tint on the glass was too dark. All I could see was my own reflection staring back at me, my face as pale as my abductor’s. I was numb. I had no idea what was happening or what to expect, but the feeling that it was going to be bad was strong. In an effort to beat down the rising sense of doom, I clung to the slim hope that Gabriel wouldn’t blame me for creating th
is particular set of circumstances. He cared about me a great deal. He wasn’t yet at the point where he could say the L word, but I thought he was getting pretty close. As if offering its support, my internal torch flared up, and I tingled cautiously.

  We turned off the main highway onto a private road, driving over a cattle guard as we did so. I recognized the noise and feel of it. Our way wasn’t as smooth as before, forcing Katja to come down from the more or less one hundred miles per hour she’d been averaging to a speed better suited for the uneven terrain. I guess the Hummer wasn’t as invincible as I had thought.

  Unfortunately the slower speed did little to help me guess our location. Judging from all the trees illuminated by the headlights, we were driving through a forest. I bounced around in my seat, worried that either fear or the jostling was going to make me throw up. I wasn’t sure which prospect terrified me more—actually vomiting in my seat or asking Katja to stop so I could upchuck out the window. Thankfully I didn’t have to do either because just then the tires gripped asphalt, making the ride smooth out once more.

  Ten minutes later Katja brought the vehicle to a stop with an unnecessarily loud squeal of rubber as she applied the brakes. She jumped out and had my door open before my shaking fingers had unsnapped the seat belt. Grabbing my arm, she hauled me unceremoniously out of the Hummer, marching me across a circular driveway like some POW in a bad war movie. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a half dozen or so cars parked in a long line. They all looked expensive and luxurious, and one in particular caught my attention. The odds of there being two powder-blue Fairlanes in this part of the state struck me as pretty astronomical. A rough jerk on my arm propelled me forward, so I gave my attention to what was in front of me.

  “House” wasn’t really the appropriate word to describe the architectural nightmare we were headed for. It was an over-the-top monstrosity that was three turrets shy of a real castle. Something the Wicked-Queen-slash-Stepmother from any fairy tale would be at home in.