Dirk’s gaze swung to his sleeping friend, her image burned into his mind. What was the right thing to do? Follow Elaine’s edict or bring the man she loved to her side for one last time?
What would he want? Would he want Ronni by his side as he lay dying?
Yes.
His gaze never wavering from Elaine’s face, he spoke. “Bring him to New York.”
Veronique dropped a kiss to his check. “I love you.”
His throat tightened. “I love you.”
She turned to leave.
“Darling?” he said.
She stopped, her expression questioning.
“Tell him to hurry.”
Chapter 10
“She has cancer of the brain and it’s inoperable.” Dirk ran his hand through his long pale hair.
Dying.
Alexei closed his eyes, sorrow lancing his soul as his mind screamed, NO! He couldn’t lose her again, not this time.
Blindly he turned and started down the hall, his only thought to reach her side as soon as possible. A hand on his arm halted him and he looked back into Dirk’s tormented gaze.
“She’s known the end was near and that’s why she attended the party. She knew her death was eminent and she told me she wanted to feel alive one last time.” He released his grip on Alexei’s arm. “You did that for her. You made her feel more alive than I’ve seen her in months.”
Alexei swallowed hard, his eyes stinging fiercely.
“I know what you are,” Dirk continued. “Ronni told me several years ago and I didn’t want to believe her. It was only when I saw the evidence with my own eyes that I realized you really are a vampire. After that, I thought you were a monster and I’m sorry for that. You’ve been a good friend to me and I forgot about that. Irregardless of your…”
“Dining preferences?”
Dirk’s smile was faint. “Well said.”
Alexei cleared his throat. “How is she?”
“She’s sedated for the most part, but she has moments of lucidity. She’s blind, but the medications are keeping the pain under control for now. At this point, all we can do is make her comfortable.”
Dirk’s anguish was written on every line in his face. Right now, he looked far older than forty-three. Making Elaine comfortable might be all Dirk could do, but Alexei could do more.
“I love her you know.”
Dirk nodded. “She needs to hear that now.”
Alexei’s knees wobbled and he straightened them, forcing them to lock. Elaine needed him to be strong and strong he would be. He gave Dirk a swift nod before walking down the hall.
She might not remember their lives together, but her house told him a different story. Soft fabrics covered overstuffed furniture in bold, vivid colors. Cozy nooks filled with books and candles invited him to sit for a respite. The scent of flowers filled the air, but he’d expect no less from his beautiful gypsy woman.
He heard Veronique’s soft voice as he approached the half-opened door. Through the wedge, he saw her sitting in a puddle of lamplight. Her gaze was fixed on a book in her lap as she read aloud.
He pushed the door open and his breath caught as his gaze locked on Elaine in the narrow bed.
She looked much the same as she had when he’d left her side three days before. Her hair was neatly brushed and tied with emerald ribbons. Her skin was pale, her lashes barely covering the shadows under her eyes. Dressed in a vivid green kimono, she looked like a sleeping angel.
She can’t be dying.
On the nightstand stood a variety of bottles, syringes and other sickbed implements that voided his thoughts. Next to the nightstand sat another woman dressed completely in white, a nurse no doubt. Her pale blonde hair was pulled into a neat bun and she sat bent over knitting. The pale pink yard fairly screamed baby blanket.
Veronique rose from her chair, her expression solemn. “I’m glad you’re here, Alexei.”
He caught her hand. “So am I.”
“Maddy, let’s leave them alone.”
The nurse nodded and quickly gathered her things, pausing only to check Elaine’s pulse before leaving the room.
Veronique laid her hand on his arm. “Let me know if you need anything, Alexei.”
He nodded, his throat tight as she left. He wanted to scream at her to stay, but he didn’t speak.
As he moved toward the bed, his gaze locked on her face. She was so impossibly beautiful and he needed to touch her, hold her. He stretched out beside her, pulling her into his arms, shocked at the sudden fragility of her body in such short a time. She curled into him with a soft sigh.
He stroked her back, a repetitive motion that soothed his scattered thoughts.
“That first time, I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. You were so young, so beautiful. You were always the gypsy, your feet bare and your hair tangled with wildflowers. Your mother was forever yelling at you to comb your hair, but an hour later it would be tangled again.” He chuckled.
“Your name was Natasha in that life and I lost you too soon. Less than a year after we married, you were dead with our child inside of you.”
He pressed a kiss to her brow. “I was devastated and it was then that I became a vampire. I know what you’re going to say, vampires don’t exist, but they do. I left the mother country, too many memories for me to stay there any longer. I traveled for several years and ended up in the Carpathian mountains. It was there that I was transformed.”
He sighed. “I was forever doomed to walk the years of darkness in pursuit of you, my love.
“I found you next in the French countryside. I could barely believe my eyes when I saw you in the middle of a field of mustard with a cluster of children around you. It was dark and you were teaching the children about the animals that came out only at night. I fell in love with you all over again.”
He tangled his fingers in her hair. “We were happy, living in the country. We’d make love all night long, talk for hours and laugh. You were everything to me and, yet again, I lost you less than three months later.”
He closed his eyes at the memory of the crushing blow of her death. She’d fallen from the barn roof and broken her neck.
“I searched and searched for you. If you were returned to me once, I knew you would be yet again. It was almost thirty years before I found you once more. This time I was in England during the time of the War. You were working for the British Red Cross nursing wounded soldiers. The first time I saw you, you’d been cutting bandages and were covered in lint and your feet were bare.” He chuckled. “My beautiful Elise, you never could keep your shoes on.
“I lost you less than three weeks later. The Germans bombed London and you were killed while ushering several small children to safety. You always did put everyone else’s safety before your own.
“You don’t know this, but I first saw your picture in Dirk’s office. Do you remember the photo with you and he when you went fishing in Canada?” He chuckled. “In that photo, your feet were bare and your face was mostly covered with a big floppy hat, but I knew it was you. I didn’t even have to see your face and I knew.
“It took me the longest time to get Dirk to even tell me your name. He’s very protective of you.
“When you walked into the ballroom, I couldn’t breathe. I’d dogged Dirk’s steps for almost four years waiting for you to appear. I knew you would, it was only a matter of time. Then I came here.” He sighed, his grip tightened on her sleeping form.
“For the first time in fifty years, I felt like I could breathe. You were by my side once more and this time I was going to make you mine.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew the ring.
“I bought this for you just hours before you were killed in London. We were to meet for dinner and I was going to ask you to marry me, but I was too late.” He slipped the ring on her finger and his heart gave a jerk at the sense of rightness. The emerald was finally where it should have been placed years ago. “Marry me,” he whispered.
*
* * * *
His words filtered through the cloud of morphine and she absorbed the enormity of what he was telling her. This explained the dreams that had plagued her for her entire life and had only grown worse with each passing year. It all made perfect sense now.
Or she was stoned, maybe too stoned and he wasn’t really here at all. She poked his chest with her finger. He certainly felt real.
“Alexei.” Her voice came out as little more than a croak.
His chest jerked beneath her cheek. “Elaine?”
“You’re crazzzeee.”
He cleared his throat. “How am I crazy?”
“Vampires don’t exist,” she whispered.
“How can you doubt your own heart? I think you know as well as I do that we’ve lived and loved before.”
She did. She knew it as well as she knew her own name. They’d been together before, but… a vampire?
“Follow your heart, my darling.”
She swallowed. “I know that I love you. I don’t need to know anything else.”
“Marry me.”
“I can’t.” Her voice came out as a sob.
She felt him pull away and she knew he was looking at her even though she couldn’t see him as he was, only how she remembered him. Now, he was reduced to a silhouette of dark on light and she’d never see him again. Her eyes misted and she blinked madly to keep the tears from falling.
“Why not?” he asked.
“News flash, I’m dying.”
He chuckled. “And this is more important than marrying me? You wound me.”
“No.” Her smile felt rusty. “Nothing is more important than loving you.”
“Do you mean it?”
She nodded and laid her head on his chest, unable to bear not being able to see him, only his shadow. “I’m so tired. I want to sleep now.”
“I know you do, darling, but you need to stay awake for another minute. I need to ask you something.”
She raised her head. “I wish I could see you.” Her tone was wistful.
“For now, it is enough that I see you, hold you in my arms as well as my heart.”
“You say the sweetest things.”
“Will you marry me?”
“If only I could.”
“If you could, would you marry me and stay with me forever?”
Her threatened tears spilled at his words. “That is my greatest wish. To marry you and remain by your side for however long we could.”
“You can do that you know.”
She ducked her head. “You’re not to tease me at a time like this, I can’t take it.”
“I’m not teasing you, my love. I am truly a vampire. I’m immortal.”
“I don’t think—”
He shushed her by pressing a finger to her mouth, then caught her hand and raised it to his mouth. Brushing a kiss across the back, his breath warm on her skin, then something pricked her finger and she jerked her hand away.
“What was that?” she asked.
“My teeth.”
“Your teeth?” She frowned. “Are they real?”
“As real as you and I.”
She laid her hand on his cheek. Stroking, she ran her thumb along his lip then inside, to inspect his teeth with the lightest of touches. His front teeth were even and strong. She ran her finger along their edge, then stopped when she hit an obstruction. Closing her eyes to concentrate, she ran her finger over the barrier. It was on the left side of his mouth where his canines should have been. Smooth, she followed the hard surface up to his gums then down to the sharp point.
It was definitely a tooth.
She moved to the other side of his mouth and found the matching one.
“I feel like a horse,” he said around her fingers.
She pulled her hand away. “Why didn’t I see these before?”
“They retract.”
“Uh huh…”
He led her hand back to his mouth and placed her index finger on a tooth. Then she felt them shift and shrink. Within seconds his teeth felt normal beneath her touch.
Shaken, she pulled away. He really was a vampire. All of her life, she’d prided herself on being open-minded and, now the man she loved was a vampire. Talk about mixed relationships!
“Do you believe me now?” he asked.
She nodded, not trusting her tongue to be able to speak.
“Does this change how you feel?”
Did it? He was still Alexei, warm, funny, intelligent, passionate. He was just a great deal older than she’d imagined. And definitely not a vegetarian.
“No.” The moment she said it she knew it was true in her heart. It didn’t matter if he was Vlad the Impaler. She would still love the man she’d come to know so well.
“Tell me that you love me and will stay with me.”
She caught the desperation in his voice and it called to her. “More than anything in the world, I want to stay with you. I love you, Alexei.”
“I don’t know that this will work,” he said.
“What are you going to do?”
“Transform you.”
She tensed. “Does it hurt?”
“No, it feels… strange but it doesn’t hurt. And the best part is…” His finger ran down her cheek eliciting a rush of warmth through her body. “If it works, we will be together forever.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“You’ll die.”
“I’m already dying.” She shivered and his grip tightened. Eternity or death. She was afraid, very afraid. She was afraid to transform, but she was more afraid of dying and never being in his arms again. “If I die, will you come for me in my next life?” she quavered.
“Death will never part us. We are destined.” He dropped a kiss to her hair.
“Alexei,” she whispered, “kiss me one last time.”
“Of course, my love.”
His lips brushed hers then settled, a mark of possession as his taste exploded in her nervous system, far more potent than the morphine and much more desirable. Their tongues tangled as she clung to him, their hearts beating as one. Head spinning with the power of his touch, he nibbled the line of her jaw and she tipped her head back, offering him free reign over her body and soul.
Her fingers twined with his as he caressed a blazing trail to the base of her throat, the movement as intimate as any embrace they’d ever shared.
Her breath left in a rush as his teeth pierced her skin, his offering of eternity or death, and she raced to embrace her destiny as the world faded away.
Epilogue
New Orleans, 2030
Alexei inhaled the fragrant smoke from his clove cigarette, its scent blending with the crush of human bodies, spilled liquor and utter decadence that was Mardi Gras.
How he loved this gracious old city with it’s myriad of wrought iron balconies, hidden gardens and colorful personalities. But now he had more essential things to do than admire the architecture. He had an important meeting to keep.
He crushed the remains of the cigarette under his heel before moving into the crowd. Music swirled through the dark sky as costumed revelers made their way down the street. A Crewe parade was in full force as he moved through the throng, resisting the lure of the music that beckoned his gypsy soul. He left the wildness of Bourbon Street and walked down Orleans to Jackson Square. Few people were in the square and he scanned the area for the person he sought above all others.
Then he saw her and his heart almost stopped.
Standing near the fountain, she was a vision in full gypsy getup. Her long sable hair hung in wild ringlets to the small of her back and a daisy crown adorned her head. Her pale shoulders were bare, the sleeves of her peasant top pulled low to expose her skin to the kiss of the moonlight. A vividly colored scarf encircled her waist and hung to lick the hem of her ruby-colored skirt. He smiled when he saw her feet were bare.
She was looking away, her profile a perfect cameo as he approached. She turned, her gaze curious and unalarmed.
>
He gave her a sketchy bow. “Madame, at last we meet.”
Her brow arched. “Do I know you, kind sir?”
“No, but I know you.”
Her eyes widened and she gave a half-step backward, one hand fluttering to rest at the base of her throat.
“Don’t be afraid.” He held his hand out. “I would never hurt you for I’ve been looking for you for years.”
She tilted her head to the side. “How many years?”
“Almost thirty.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not nearly long enough I think.” Then she turned away.
He grabbed her about the waist, startling a laugh out of her. “Not long enough?” he growled, dipping his head to kiss the base of her neck.
“The last guy told me three hundred years.” She sighed as he licked the sensitive patch just below her ear.
“Are you trying to drive me crazy?” he asked.
She gave a throaty chuckle. “Is it working?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” She twisted in his arms to face him. “Are you glad to be back in New Orleans?”
“Yes, very.” He brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. She never could keep her hair under control and it didn’t bother him a bit. “What would you like to see first? The parade? Listen to some Blues? Or maybe visit with Dirk and Veronique and their multitude of great-grandchildren?”
“Seven great-grandchildren do not make a multitude.”
“It does when they all gather in the same room.”
“I have a better idea.” Her playful expression softened. “How about we inspect the bed in our suite instead?”
He wiggled his brows at her. “I like the way you think. We have eternity to examine the charms of the city.”
She tipped her head back to expose her throat to the moonlight and his gaze as she laughed. At the base was a tiny scar, a memento of Elaine’s last moments as a human, their last kiss. How close he’d come to losing her. He brushed his finger over the mark, then pocketed the unwanted thought. This time, he’d won—they’d won.
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