Desire After Dark

by Amanda Ashley

  But the mirror thing would be the biggest obstacle. One wall in Karen’s living room was mirrored from floor to ceiling, as was one of the walls in the dining room. The closet doors in the bedrooms were mirrored, as well. Her sister’s house was small, and she believed that the mirrors made the rooms look larger.

  “So, we won’t go visit my folks,” she said with a dismissive shrug. “It’s no big deal.”

  But it was one more aspect of her life that he couldn’t share.

  Sitting down on the sofa, he put his arm around her waist and drew her close. With a little sigh, she rested her head on his shoulder. “This is nice,” she murmured. “Just the two of us, alone in front of the fire.”

  He nodded, thinking how much he would miss her when she was gone.

  Chapter 36

  Vicki woke late again the next morning. Rising, she was filled with a mingled sense of anticipation and dread. If all went as planned, they would be rid of Falco by nightfall. It sounded so simple, but there were a hundred things that could go wrong, any one of which could get one or all of them killed.

  While showering, she told herself there was nothing to worry about. Antonio would protect her. Ramsey and Duncan were both vampire hunters, and Ramsey was a vampire. They knew what they were doing.

  “Everything will be all right.” She repeated the words over and over again as she dried her hair.

  A look out the window showed that it was drizzling, and she dressed accordingly in a pair of jeans and a bulky green sweater.

  Tom Duncan was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee when she went downstairs. “Morning.”

  “Hi.” She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down across from him. “Are you hungry?”

  “I could eat.”

  “What would you like?”

  He shrugged. “Anything you feel like fixing is fine with me.”

  “Scrambled eggs and bacon sound okay?”

  “Perfect.”

  She finished her coffee, then set about making breakfast. “Have you and Bobbie Sue set the date yet?”

  “She wants to get married in February, on Valentine’s Day.”

  Vicki smiled, thinking how romantic that sounded. If she were getting married in February, she would want her attendants to wear red and carry red and white flowers.

  “She wants you to be her maid of honor, but that’s probably no surprise.”

  “Not really.” She opened a package of bacon and dropped several slices in a frying pan and put it on the stove. “She said you’re going to give up hunting.”

  “Yeah, it’s time.”

  Vicki scrambled some eggs and poured them into another pan. “Do you think you’ll miss it, hunting, I mean?”

  “Probably for a while. It’s quite a high when you’re closing in on your quarry. Adrenaline pumping, heart pounding in excitement when you find the vampire’s lair and you know he’s yours for the taking.”

  Vicki turned away from the stove, sickened by his description. She couldn’t help imagining Duncan finding Antonio’s resting place and…

  “You look a little green,” Tom remarked. “I guess what I do for a living doesn’t make for very good breakfast conversation.”

  “Not really,” she agreed with a weak smile.

  She served breakfast a few minutes later. Sitting there doing something as mundane as eating bacon and eggs made her think of Antonio again. He’d said he no longer missed solid food. How long would it take to adjust to a warm liquid diet? Would years have to pass before she got used to never seeing the sun again, or enjoying a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter night, or pigging out on her favorite candy, or eating popcorn at the movies? What was it like to never see your reflection in a mirror again? How did female vampires put on their make-up?

  “Vicki?”

  She looked up at the sound of Tom’s voice. “Did you say something?”

  “Where were you just now?”

  “Oh, just lost in thought.”

  “Want to tell me what you were thinking about?”

  “Vampires, of course. Isn’t that what we’re all thinking about these days?”

  “Vampires?” Tom asked. “Or one particular vampire?”

  “Actually, I was wondering what it would be like to be one.”

  Duncan swore a vile oath, then immediately apologized.

  “I guess you’ve never considered it,” Vicki said.

  “I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind even thinking about it. They’re all killers. Doesn’t matter if they’re handsome and charming or repulsive and meaner than hell, underneath, they’re all killers. Sure, some have learned to survive without killing, but most don’t want to. After they’ve been vampires for a while, they no longer consider themselves as human and they no longer give any thought to taking human life. We’re food, prey, fodder, nothing more.”

  She stared at him, repulsed by the ugly picture he had painted. “What about your friend, Ramsey? Is he like that?”

  “Like I said, they’re all like that.”

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “You don’t want to believe it because you’re in love with Battista.”

  And that, she thought, said it all.

  Vicki grew more anxious with each passing hour. She tried to read. She tried to watch television. She stared out the window at the rain. She played chess with Tom, but she couldn’t concentrate on the game and finally gave up. She wondered if he was as cool and calm as he appeared. How could he be?

  She fixed lunch, then tried to take a nap, but to no avail. She couldn’t relax.

  Where was Antonio? How soon would he be able to rise? She needed to see him, to touch him, hear the sound of his voice. Were they doing the right thing? Maybe they should just pack up and go to his villa in Italy. Maybe Falco wouldn’t find them there. It was tempting, so tempting, but then she thought of Sharlene and Leslie Ann Lewis and all the other women Falco had killed in the last few weeks. The hundreds and thousands of women he would murder in the future because she was too chicken to do what had to be done. And running wouldn’t accomplish anything. He had taken her blood. He would find her no matter where she tried to hide.

  Staring into the flames blazing cheerfully in the fireplace, she took a deep breath. Antonio called her his warrior woman. The good Lord willing, that’s what she would be.

  She practically jumped out of her skin when Duncan announced it was time to go.

  They decided to take the Lexus since it had the most room in the backseat.

  “Have you got everything you need?” she asked.

  “Yeah, don’t worry.”

  Vicki’s hand was shaking so badly she could hardly get the key in the ignition. She patted her jacket pockets, reassured when she felt the two bottles filled with holy water. She made sure her crucifix was on the outside of her jacket.

  She drove to town and stopped at a jewelry store, where she bought a thick silver collar and two silver bracelets. She put them on while inside the store and immediately felt better.

  They made one more stop at a toy store, where Duncan bought two squirt guns.

  “What are they for?” Vicki asked as they walked back to the car.

  “We’ll fill them with holy water. That way you won’t have to waste time opening the bottles, and your aim will be better.”

  She grinned. “Where on earth did you get an idea like that?”

  “Saw it in a movie once,” he said as he climbed into the back seat. “Try to relax. If you’re too tense, Falco will suspect something.”

  “Relax? You’re kidding, right?” She covered Tom with a heavy wool blanket, then climbed behind the steering wheel. She touched the squirt guns for reassurance, turned on the ignition, and drove toward the secondary road.

  A glance outside showed that they had timed it perfectly.

  Surprisingly, she grew calmer as the miles went by. She knew exactly when she reached the place where Antonio and Ramsey were waiting, though she wasn’t
sure how she knew.

  She stopped the car in the middle of the road and left the engine running.

  “Do you see anything?” Duncan whispered from the backseat.

  “No.” It was hard to see more than a few feet in any direction because of the rain.

  “I’m going to get out of the car.”

  “Leave the door open so I can hear what’s going on.”

  “All right.”

  Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and got out of the car. She stood there a moment, glancing up and down the road, and then lifted the hood and looked at the engine. With a shrug, as if she didn’t know what the problem could be, she began walking back and forth alongside the car, as if she were hoping someone would stop and offer assistance.

  Where was Antonio? Where was Ramsey?

  Where was Falco?

  She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets, her fingers caressing the squirt guns for reassurance once more.

  She knew he was there before she saw him. A ripple in the air, a sudden sense of menace, she didn’t know what warned her, but she turned abruptly and there he was, striding through the rain toward her, a malevolent grin on his face.

  “So, we meet again.”

  She swallowed hard, her courage deserting her now that he was there.

  “Nothing to say?” he asked. “No word of greeting?”

  He was only a few steps away now, close enough that she could see his fangs, the red glow in his eyes.

  “Go away!” she cried, loud enough so that Duncan would be sure to hear. “Go away or I’ll scream!”

  “And who will hear you?” Falco said, sneering.

  He reached toward her.

  Panicked at the mere thought of his touch on her skin, she jerked her hands out of her pockets.

  He looked at the squirt guns, one a bright pink, the other neon green. Surprise and amusement were reflected in his eyes.

  Until she squeezed the triggers.

  A harsh cry of pain erupted from his throat as twin streams of holy water struck him full in the face. With a scream of rage, he lunged toward her, his hands like claws, his face contorted.

  She reeled backward, desperate to avoid his touch. She squeezed the triggers again and again. And still he came toward her, a harsh wail on his lips.

  She screamed as his hand closed over her arm.

  And suddenly Antonio was there. He tackled Falco from the side, his momentum carrying them both to the ground.

  Duncan scrambled out of the back of the car, a four-foot stake and a mallet in one hand, what looked like a machete in the other.

  Ramsey streaked toward them. “More holy water!” he said. “Keep him too weak to change.”

  Vicki pulled one of the bottles from her pocket and dumped the contents over Falco’s face and body. Bucking wildly, he screamed in rage and pain as he endeavored to free himself, but to no avail.

  Vicki turned away as Duncan placed the sharp point of the stake over Falco’s heart.

  There was one last hideous scream, and it was over.

  The scent of blood defiled the air and she knew that Ramsey had taken Falco’s head. Moving away from the grisly scene, she dropped to her knees in a patch of wet grass and was violently ill.

  “It is over,” Antonio said, coming up behind her.

  “Here.” Duncan passed her his handkerchief.

  Vicki wiped her mouth. She could hear Duncan and Ramsey congratulating each other. Antonio stood beside her, one hand lightly squeezing her shoulder.

  “Come,” he said. “Let us go home.”

  “What about the body?” she asked.

  “Do not think of that now.”

  Taking her by the hand, he helped her to her feet.

  Careful not to look at what was left of Dimitri Falco, Vicki climbed into the Lexus. Duncan got into the backseat. Antonio got behind the wheel.

  They drove in silence until curiosity got the best of her. “Why did Ramsey stay behind?”

  “He is going to dispose of the body,” Antonio said.

  “How?”

  “He will take it deeper into the woods and stay with it until dawn. The sun will take care of the remains.”

  With a nod, Vicki stared out the window though there was nothing to see.

  Antonio glanced at her from time to time. He had been worried that she would be hurt when it was time for him to leave her. Now, he thought she would most likely be glad to see the last of him. Considering all that she had been through since he entered her life, he couldn’t blame her. He should have been relieved. Instead, he found himself wishing that things could be different between them. If he lived another six hundred years, he knew he would never forget her, never find another to take her place in his heart.

  He pulled into the garage and killed the engine.

  Moving like a robot, Vicki let herself out of the car.

  Antonio followed her up the stairs and into the house. “Victoria?”

  She didn’t turn around. “I’m going to bed. Tell Duncan good night for me.”

  He said nothing, merely watched her climb the stairs.

  Duncan entered the room a few minutes later.

  Antonio slowly turned around, and they regarded each other warily for several moments, the vampire and the vampire hunter.

  “Well,” Duncan said briskly. “I guess I’ll be going.” He glanced around the room. “Where’s Vicki?”

  “She has gone to bed.”

  Duncan grunted softly. “She’s a hell of a woman.”

  “Yes.”

  “Thanks for putting up with me. I’ll just go up and get my things. Tell Vicki I’ll see her at the wedding.”

  Antonio nodded. He waited until Duncan was out of the room, and then he vanished into the night.

  Chapter 37

  Vicki stood at her bedroom window, listening to the thunder that rolled across the sky. Now and then, lightning ripped through the clouds, illuminating the yard and the trees beyond. The sound of the rain was steady and soothing.

  The nightmare was over. Dimitri Falco had been destroyed. Never again would he terrorize her or kill innocent women. A part of her was glad that she’d had a hand in defeating him. Another part was horrified by what had happened. She told herself he had been evil, beyond redemption, and yet she couldn’t help feeling guilty that she had helped take a human life. Although, technically, he hadn’t been a human man but a vampire. And he hadn’t been alive, but Undead.

  She pressed her hands to her throbbing temples. It was over and done. Dwelling on the ugliness of it wouldn’t help.

  She glanced at the door. She had expected Antonio to follow her to her room. Was he downstairs, waiting for her?

  Going into the bathroom, she splashed cold water on her face, then took a couple of aspirin. She returned to her room, changed into her nightgown, and went to bed.

  She left the light on, wondering if she would ever again feel comfortable sleeping in the dark now that she knew there were monsters prowling the night. But Falco was dead. Surely a little backwater town like Pear Blossom Creek wouldn’t attract another one for a long time, if ever.

  She was almost asleep when she realized she was no longer in bed alone. She would have run screaming out of the room if a strong arm hadn’t circled her waist.

  “Shh, my sweet one, it is only me.”

  “Antonio.”

  “Go to sleep, beloved. There is nothing for you to fear.”

  She snuggled against him, all her anxiety forgotten now that he was there, holding her in his arms.

  “I love you,” she murmured, and slid over the abyss into sleep.

  There were no bad dreams that night.

  Vicki woke with a smile on her face. Eyes still closed, she reached for Antonio, frowned when she realized she was alone in bed. Coming fully awake, she realized it was morning and he was gone.

  Would he ever tell her where he rested during the day? After all they had been through together, did he honestly think she would betray
his hiding place? Or was it that he didn’t want her to see him when he was…what? Whatever it was, she preferred to think of it as sleeping.

  Sitting up, she saw a note propped on the table beside the bed. She smiled when she recognized Antonio’s handwriting.

  Victoria—Duncan has gone back to Pear Blossom Creek. He said he would see you at the wedding. Gather your things and I will take you home tonight. Love, A.

  Her smile faded as she reread his note. For all his talk about loving her, now that the danger was over, it seemed he couldn’t wait to get rid of her.

  Fighting tears, she made the bed, then packed her clothes. If he wanted her gone, then she would go.

  Going downstairs, she went into the kitchen and fixed a cup of tea. She had no appetite for breakfast.

  Lady Kathryn joined her at the breakfast table a few minutes later. “I do so miss a good cup of tea,” she said wistfully, then frowned. “Are you crying?”

  “No,” Vicki said, sniffling, “of course not.”

  “What’s wrong, dear?”

  “I’m going home tonight.”

  Lady Kathryn smiled. “Ah, yes, I heard that that monstrous beast, Falco, had been destroyed. It was very brave, what you did.”

  “It didn’t feel brave.”

  “Well, it was. I must say, I’m sorry to see you go. Perhaps you’ll come back and visit again soon.”

  “I’d like to, but I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

  “What has that man done now?” Lady Kathryn asked indignantly.

  “Nothing. He…He just doesn’t want me.”

  “Why, of course he does! Any fool can see that. He’s just afraid, don’t you know, afraid of loving you, afraid of losing you.”

  “Losing me? Why should he lose me? I love him, too.”

  “Time has no meaning to a vampire,” the ghost said. “But for a mortal…Well, think how hard it would be for him to watch you grow old while he stayed the same. And eventually…Well, he’d be alone again. Sometimes it’s easier to do without something you love than to have it for a short time and then lose it, don’t you see?”