And during their nights…well, Sebastian was a skilled lover and a far better instructor in the art of lovemaking than Melora could have ever dreamed.
During the peaceful darkness of her fourth night spent at Caldwell House, as Melora rested in bed waiting for Sebastian to join her for the evening, a heavy knocking sounded ominously from the front door. She sat up, listening intently for the sound of Harrison answering it. A chill went down her spine, and her gut tightened to the point of nausea. After three days of waiting, anticipating, she knew this moment had come.
She dressed in a simple blue-flowered frock. When she reached the bedroom door, she opened it gently, making no sound as she pulled it back to peer into the corridor. Perhaps she was behaving foolishly, but she felt as though her uncle was standing just outside her door.
He may as well have been. She knew he was downstairs, being admitted by Harrison, walking stiffly to the salon to await an interview with the master of the house. Waiting impatiently to demand the return of his niece.
She knew it.
She felt it.
Melora knew he would find her. He was a powerful witch, despite his lack of practice. The days and nights he spent working on his concoctions kept him busy enough that he rarely bothered much with the niceties of social intercourse. His cronies would gather once a week to discuss his progress. Melora and Lillian would be sure to make themselves scarce during those unpleasant visits.
She shuddered. She would not go back there. Now that she had found Sebastian, she couldn’t see herself anywhere but with him.
Morbid curiosity compelled her to step into the corridor, to walk softly to the stairs and peer cautiously over the banister. The salon was just below. The light shone from under the door and, as she watched, she saw a shadow move, blocking the light. Voices rumbled low, too low for her to overhear.
Two things kept her frozen there rather than turning to run for the safety of her room. One, her fear for Lillian. It had been well over three days since she’d had any contact from her. After the glorious time with Sebastian, she’d tried the mirror, waiting for hours to see if Lillian would answer her call, but there was nothing. She feared Uncle Arden’s involvement. Second, despite Sebastian’s confidence all would be well, that he could handle someone as greedy as her uncle, she still had reservations about Sebastian dealing with him. One wrong move, one tiny contact, and Uncle Arden would know what Sebastian was.
For as much faith as she had in Sebastian’s ability in dealing with the likes of her uncle, she still feared for him.
Large hands touched her arms from behind, caressing up and down as a solid wall of muscle leaned against her back, warming her chilled flesh. He kissed her at the back of her head and again at her ear as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her.
“Go back to the bedroom,” Sebastian suggested. “I’ll meet you there when I finish with this.”
“Take care,” Melora whispered. “Do not let him touch you. If he discovers what you are… I do not have the skill to stop him.”
“Have no fear,” he said, turning her around and smiling encouragingly.
She nodded but couldn’t feel the same confidence he possessed. He kissed her, gently and lovingly caressing her lips with his own. The tingles prickled along her skin and heat flared. She moaned with desire for him, leaning into him as she searched to deepen their kiss. He pulled back, stopping her with a deep chuckle.
“Wait for me in the bedroom. We’ll finish what we’ve started here.”
She nodded.
He walked away, tall with confidence. She leaned over the banister to watch him. He paused before opening the door, glancing up to send her a smile. She nodded, and he opened the door and disappeared.
She waited for a moment, sighing heavily before turning to do as he bid. She stopped with a gasp at the obstacle standing in front of her.
He kept close to the shadows of the corridor so she could barely see his outline before he stepped slowly toward her. Then he stood even with her so she could look directly into his dull brown eyes. As he stepped into the combined light of the candle and the moon shining through the large window above the door entrance, his grayish hair glowed white. His wrinkled skin looked withered against the bones of his face, giving him a haggard appearance she did not remember.
“Uncle Arden!”
“Did you think to hide from me forever?” he asked in his gravelly voice, stepping ever closer to her. She took a step away from him, but the banister pushed against her back, stopping her. “You and your sister have been more trouble than you’re worth, but that won’t stop me. Lillian may have bought her freedom, but you have nothing, and this Collins fellow you’ve whored yourself to doesn’t have the sort of funds Fitzwalter possesses. You will marry him instead.”
“I thought Lord Fitzwalter wanted Lillian?” Melora asked, surprised to hear her uncle had given up his chase for her sister. As relief flooded her for her sibling, fear for her own safety quickly chased it away.
“Lillian has found a protector. Someone too well known for me to intimidate. Do not suppose you may do the same. No one knows this Sebastian Collins as they do Lord North. Collins has no connections to speak of, so if he goes missing, no one will look for him.”
“I cannot marry Lord Fitzwalter,” she said. Speaking of her love for Sebastian would do no good. Love mattered very little to Uncle Arden. “How can you allow your niece, someone of your own blood, to marry a man who might have killed his wife? I know of the rumors. I’ve heard what they say about him.”
“Rumors, my dear,” Uncle Arden said, with a sneer. “Only rumors.”
“No,” she said. “I won’t marry him. I refuse.”
His sneer deepened, and his eyes glowed in the darkness like some sort of demon. A snarl erupted from him, and she shivered with fear. With another menacing step, he reached out his hands for her.
“You will!” he shouted.
She flinched, closed her eyes, grabbed her amulet, and whispered a few quick words. She held her hand out against him. At the contact of her hand against his chest as he reached to grab her, a light flashed from her palm, and he bounced back, crashing against the wall.
She turned around, flinching from the roar of his anger. The door to the salon flung open with a crash, and Sebastian stood at the threshold, looking up in horror. Before she could utter his name, he was moving in a blur of speed, nearly flying up the stairs. He assessed the situation and grabbed the lapels of her uncle’s coat, pulling him off his feet and into the air.
Sebastian growled.
Uncle Arden’s eyes widened as he pushed against Sebastian, struggling for his freedom.
“How dare you,” Sebastian said, the threat of death emanating from his low voice. Before he could say anything further, Uncle Arden shoved his hands onto Sebastian’s face, and his lips moved. The next moment, there was a flash of light similar to the one Melora had used, and Sebastian was flung back. Melora cried out as she watched helplessly while Sebastian fell back against the banister with such force it broke apart, and then he was in the air.
Time slowed as she reached for him, trying to stop his descent, but she was too far away. He fell to the ground floor, landing with a horrible thud that sickened her.
“Sebastian!”
His eyes closed. He didn’t move. To her horror, as she looked closer she noticed blood oozing from a hidden wound on the back of his head.
She was moving before she even comprehended her motion. She needed to get to him. She could help him…heal him before he stopped breathing.
An arm looped around her waist, pulling her back from the stairs.
“A vampire?” Uncle Arden whispered against her ear. “I cannot believe you led me to a vampire!”
He laughed, a chilling sound that sent gooseflesh rippling up her arms.
She pushed against him, struggling to get to Sebastian. The strength he possessed to hold her back surprised her. She wouldn’t have expected it from a gentleman o
f his age, but she reasoned, even during her panic, being a witch must give him special abilities, as well. Perhaps he knew a spell, keeping his strength and vitality even in his old age.
“Let me help him,” she said. “If he dies…”
“My dear,” he said, still chuckling. “He’s a vampire! Death means little to him—or to me, for that matter.”
“Release her!”
Melora looked down. Tatya was poised at the bottom step, a pistol aimed at them. William stood behind her with a similar weapon. To their left Frederick Dawes held a pistol at Lord Fitzwalter’s head.
“I said, release her. Now!” Tatya repeated. Her tone brooked no argument, but Uncle Arden refused to let her go.
“Hunters!” Uncle Arden roared, and Melora recognized fear in his voice. She trembled as his hold on her tightened. “What situation have you found yourself in, niece? You’re ensconced in a house full of vampires and hunters?”
“How nice that you’ve come to visit,” William said his voice even and controlled. “We were planning to come to you. We know what you are.”
Uncle Arden trembled again. Melora’s eyes widened as comprehension dawned. He thought they were witch hunters. Since she and Lillian had been small children, their elders had preached to them about the necessity of keeping their heritage secret. For generations those who feared their kind had hunted their family and others like them.
“Release Miss Merriweather, and perhaps we will reconsider a visit to your home,” William said.
“How can I know you’d keep your word?”
Melora couldn’t listen any more. Her thoughts were only for Sebastian. She peered over the edge, looking for his body, nauseous to think of how much blood he’d lost in the time her uncle and Tatya were negotiating her release. To her surprise, the floor was empty. A crack was visible in the floorboards, and a dark stain where Sebastian’s head had been.
Had they moved him?
Before she could think on it further, Uncle Arden released her. She stumbled back, losing her breath as she sat down hard, leaned against the remainder of the banister. Sebastian was holding Uncle Arden off his feet again. The rage burning in her lover’s face startled Melora. She had never seen such feral animosity. Even when he paced with rage when the Morrisons held her, keeping her from going to him, he had somehow managed to contain the creature within. Now, however, he let some of that creature free. As he snarled threats to her uncle, who was now whimpering his acquiescence and apologies, Melora pushed against the banister to stand. Despite her fear and dislike of her uncle, she couldn’t allow Sebastian to do anything he might regret, especially after searching for a way to stop from harming humans. It didn’t matter that her uncle was a witch. She leaned on the banister for leverage as she regained her footing, forgetting for a moment that it was broken, so focused was she on intercepting Sebastian. The remainder of the banister shook in her hand and crumbled apart. She teetered on the edge.
“Oh!”
“Sebastian! Get Melora!” William shouted his warning from below.
Sebastian turned, his dark blue eyes widening with fear as he witnessed Melora tipping over the edge.
“No!”
The terror in his voice chilled her. If she were not already aware of the danger of her precarious situation, his voice would have alerted her. She reached her hand out for him as she fell back. Her breath left her as she swung her feet but found no purchase.
Sebastian dropped Uncle Arden and dove to the edge, sliding on the wooden floor in an effort to reach her in time. She saw him looking down at her from the edge, screaming her name.
Her fingers reached for him. She opened her mouth to comfort him, to tell him she loved him, but her breath was still gone. It crushed her to see such fear on his face as he called out her name.
The next moment…blackness.
Chapter Eight
Her eyelids flickered open, and she realized she lay in bed. When she moved her head to scan the room, she flinched as pain radiated from the back of it.
“Do not move, my love,” Sebastian murmured from next to her. She felt his finger caressing her cheek and tracing her ear. Then he moved onto his elbow so he was within her eyesight without the need to turn her head. “Do you remember what happened?”
“I fell,” she said. “How am I not dead?”
“Dawes broke your fall. He tried to catch you, but your head bounced on the floor.” At this Sebastian hesitated, trembling. He looked away from her, but she lifted a hand to turn his face back. “It was the single most terrifying moment in all of my one hundred years of existence. It even surpassed the day I discovered what I had become. With all of my speed…abilities…I wasn’t able to get to you in time.”
“Shh,” she whispered. “I’m fine.”
He smiled, grimly. “Yes, thanks to your uncle.”
“My uncle?”
“With a little coercion, he mended your wound. All we needed was to wait for you to wake.”
“But what of your wound? I saw the blood.” She lifted her hand to his head, running her fingers through the hair by his ear.
Sebastian grinned. “I’m a vampire, my dear. It takes a bit more than a simple fall to finish me off.”
“What about my uncle? What happened after?”
“We’ve come to an agreement. He returns to his home and never bothers either you or your sister ever again, and I will donate my blood for his experimentations.”
“Sebastian!”
He shook his head. “It was the only way I knew to save you.” He flinched and turned his head, closing his eyes. “I didn’t think you would survive. There was so much blood, Melora…”
The pain in his face told her what his words didn’t. She had nearly died. Uncle Arden had saved her…but at a cost.
He took a deep, controlled breath, then opened his eyes to look into her face again. “I would give all I have to see you safe.”
Melora shook her head, then flinched from the sudden pain. He couldn’t do this. She couldn’t let him. She opened her mouth to try to form the words, but he stopped her, placing his finger over her lips.
“Shh…my love,” he whispered, smiling. “Be still. All will be well. We can conquer the world, remember? He may have all the blood he desires from me for saving you. As it is, I promised only a single vial.” Melora hesitated, slanting a doubtful look his way.
Sebastian chuckled. “Never fear. He’ll not be back for more. Our new friends have proven to be more intimidating than an enraged and blood-hungry vampire. It seems witches fear hunters more than vampires do.”
A relieved smile curved her lips. She recalled the fear in her uncle’s voice when he recognized what the Morrisons and Mr. Dawes were there to do. He had mistaken them to be witch hunters, but if it proved useful for their purposes, so be it.
“I have other news,” Sebastian murmured, leaning closer to her, spreading gentle featherlight kisses over her cheek and brow. “Your sister and her intended arrived moments ago. I imagine it will be only minutes before she is pounding on the door to speak with you.”
“Lillian! She’s safe?”
“Indeed. Your uncle cast a spell to block your communication with each other.”
Relief swept through her. Her sister was safe. Sebastian was safe. She closed her eyes at the realization that it was over. No need to fear her uncle. No need to worry over her sister.
Her eyes flickered open, and she looked into Sebastian’s eyes. Warmth filled her, and her heart swelled with the love she felt for him. He smiled as he dipped his head to kiss her.
A loud knock rattled the door, and Sebastian pulled away from their kiss. Her sister’s frantic voice on the other side filled the silence of the bedroom.
“What dreadful timing,” Sebastian muttered.
Melora smiled and sighed in contentment before she kissed him one last time before calling out for her sister to enter.
Sebastian was right. All would be well.
A word about the
author...
Tricia Schneider worked for 12 years at a bookstore as Assistant Manager and resident romance expert. Now she writes full-time while raising her three young children. She lives with her WWII re-enactor husband in the coal country of Pennsylvania.
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The Witch and the Vampire Page 9