Howard growled.
“I have to leave soon.” Zoltan glanced at his watch. “Emma, be ready to come when I call you. Maybe tomorrow night, or the next.”
She nodded. “I’ll be ready.”
“The neighboring valley has a cabin where Frederic Chesteron lived. I’ll try to get the women’s permission for us to use it as our headquarters.” Zoltan rose to his feet. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
While the others talked, he teleported up to his bedroom, cut the bandages off, and took a quick shower. Then he dressed, threw some clothes into a duffel bag, and teleported back to the kitchen. Everyone was still talking.
He stepped behind the counter and loaded a small ice chest with bottles of blood and ice.
Howard joined him. “What are you doing? You act like you’re moving to Beyul-La.”
“I have to gain their trust.”
Howard scowled at him. “Talk to them all you want, but when the sun rises, come back here. Do not do your death-sleep there.”
Zoltan closed the ice chest. “Neona tried hard to keep me alive. I think I can trust her.”
“You think you can? You’re going to risk your life on a hunch?” Howard removed a set of silver handcuffs from his jacket. “Don’t make me use these.”
Zoltan stepped back. If Howard managed to get a cuff on him, he’d be unable to teleport.
“Do I have to remind you how completely helpless you’ll be?” Howard continued. “If you must go, take me with you.”
“I can’t take you on my wedding night!”
The room hushed. Everyone stared at him.
Zoltan winced.
Emma stood. “Did you get married?”
“Not . . . really. It’s a . . . long story.” Zoltan remembered the wedding rings he’d admired at the jewelry store. He glanced at his watch. “Howard, tell Domokos to go to the jewelry store tomorrow and pay Janos whatever I owe him.”
With a groan, Howard raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t know whether to congratulate you or use these damned handcuffs.”
“I have to go.” Zoltan grabbed his duffel bag and the ice chest.
“If you get the slightest inkling of danger, teleport back here,” Howard warned him.
“I will. But if I hope to gain Neona’s trust, then I’ll have to trust her.” As Zoltan teleported, Tashi’s words echoed in his head. It was either a wedding or his funeral.
Chapter Fifteen
Human or monster? Neona asked herself for the hundredth time. He looked human. He kissed like a human. Bled like a human. Felt pain like a human. And he was the boy she’d healed all those centuries ago. A boy who had almost died trying to protect his mother.
He was the same noble person. He’d grown into the man who had tried to protect her when he’d thought her leopard was going to attack. The man who had taken an arrow in his back to keep her from being harmed. He was the man her heart still yearned for. Human.
But as soon as she convinced herself of that, the memory flashed across her mind. Fangs, sharp and lethal, erupting from his mouth. Monster.
She shuddered in spite of the hot water she was sitting in. Freddie and Freya had dragged her to their house to prepare her for what they called her wedding night. While filling the tub with hot water and flower petals, they’d teased her with bawdy jests. Freya had insisted on washing Neona’s hair with some soap she’d made from the local wildflowers that bloomed each spring.
“You’re so lucky,” Freya said as she rinsed Neona’s hair. “You’ve caught such a gorgeous man!”
Man or monster? Neona wondered again with a growing sense of panic. How could she spend the night with him?
“He’s very strong and handsome.” Freddie dug through the chest at the foot of her bed.
“And so devoted to you.” Freya sighed. “When I think about how he risked his life to come here to see you—”
“I know!” Freddie removed a pair of red silk slippers. “And then he refused to let her feel his pain.”
Freya sighed again. “What a gorgeous man!”
Or a gorgeous monster. Neona hugged her knees in the small wooden tub.
A knock sounded on the door, and Tashi slipped inside. “He says he needs thirty minutes to rest.”
Freya snorted. “I wonder what for.”
“He said he gave Neona a watch.” Tashi looked around the room.
Neona motioned to her clothes piled on Freya’s bed. “In the pouch.”
Tashi and Freddie jumped at her clothes and searched through them.
“I found it!” Freddie pulled the watch out. “Good heavens! It’s beautiful!”
Tashi touched it reverently. “The cat sparkles.”
“There’s a cat?” Freya ran to look. “I love cats!” She took the watch from her sister. “I wish a man would give me presents like this.”
“There are presents for us, remember?” Freddie sat on the edge of her bed. “At our father’s cabin.”
“This is so exciting!” Freya admired the watch, then grinned at Neona. “You’re so lucky!”
Neona sighed. How could it be lucky to fall in love with a vampire? She hated to admit it, but that was what he had to be. It explained his fangs and his ability to move quickly. The red glowing eyes must have been real. Was that a sign of hunger? When she spent the night with him, would he see her as his bride? Or would she be the wedding feast?
Tashi sat on the bed next to Freddie. “Maybe we should accept Neona’s man. After all, he’s Dohna’s son. And he wants to help us defeat Lord Liao.”
Freya set the watch down on the bedside table. “I wonder if he has any friends. It’s so hard to find suitable men around here.”
Tashi shrugged. “I found one.”
Freddie grinned. “We thought you had.”
Tashi nodded. “I only get to see him once a month.” Her shoulders slumped. “I’m tired of keeping it secret. And I’m so tired of going all the way to the village to see him. I wish I could live there. Or he could live here.”
Freddie winced. “The queen would never allow it.”
Tashi sighed. “I know.”
As Neona dragged a comb through her long, wet hair, she wondered if it was time for some changes in their world. Why did Tashi have to endure such a sad situation? Minerva had been miserable, too. So miserable she’d lost the will to live.
Neona bit her lip, knowing her thoughts were verging on mutiny. “If you love him, you should go live with him. What can the queen do to you? Kick you out? That would be exactly what you want.”
The other women gasped.
“But our sacred duty,” Freya whispered.
“It would continue. As long as the rest of us are here.” Neona gave Tashi a sympathetic look. “I don’t want you to be miserable.”
Tashi’s eyes glimmered with tears. “I thought about running away with him. After all, I had two sisters who could look after my mother and grandmother. But I never expected to lose them in battle. Grandmother, too. My mother is in so much pain. How can I leave her now?”
Neona nodded. It was almost three weeks now since the battle, but the emotional wounds were still raw for those who had survived.
Freya sniffed. “I wish that battle had never happened. How could we lose five of us?”
“I know!” Freddie jumped to her feet. “We’ve never lost anyone before. We’ve always been victorious!”
Tashi grimaced. “I’ve fought more battles than I can remember. We never had any trouble defeating the enemy.”
“We never fought a vampire before,” Freya muttered.
“True. We always fought mortal men.” Tashi shuddered. “That damned vampire.”
Freddie clenched her fists. “I hate vampires!”
Neona winced. How could she ever tell the other women that Zoltan was undead? Her mother was already looking for a reason to kill him. “Maybe some vampires are good. Like that Russell guy. He saved the queen’s life.”
Tashi tilted her head, consi
dering. “I didn’t know what to make of him. It seems strange for a vampire to be good.”
Freya nodded. “It’s like calling the sky green or the grass blue.”
“But he did save my mother’s life,” Neona insisted. “And he promised to kill Lord Liao for us.”
Freddie shrugged. “If you can believe a promise from a vampire.”
With a sigh, Neona resumed her task of combing her hair. “It’s not just Lord Liao who’s the problem. His soldiers were different. Stronger and faster than any mortal men I’ve ever seen.”
Freddie nodded. “That’s true. There was something bizarre about them.”
Freya waved a hand in dismissal. “Let’s not talk about the battle anymore. We should be celebrating! Neona’s found a gorgeous man, and soon we’ll have a new baby girl!”
How could she spend the night with a vampire? With trembling hands, Neona struggled to get the comb through a tangle in her hair.
Tashi gave her a worried look. “I hope you don’t fall in love with him. You know what will happen once you’re pregnant . . .”
The comb slipped from Neona’s hand, dropping with a splash into the bathwater. She couldn’t bear to see Zoltan die. Even if he did have fangs. But there was an easy way to avoid his execution. If she never bedded him, she couldn’t get pregnant. The thought of bedding him was too frightening anyway. She’d seen how he reacted in a moment of intense pain. What if the same thing happened in a moment of intense pleasure? Would his fangs shoot out and rip into her neck?
“Let’s not think about the future,” Freya insisted. “It’s Neona’s first night with her mate. We need to make it perfect!”
Freddie returned to the trunk at the foot of her bed. “I think she should wear this.” She pulled out a white gown embroidered with pink flowers.
Tashi gasped. “I remember that! It was Calliope’s. She wore it to the ceremony she had with Frederic.”
Freddie lay the white gown on her bed. “Mother told us about it. Father refused to bed her until they exchanged vows.” She turned to Neona, her golden brown eyes bright with excitement. “We would be honored if you wore it.”
“Oh, yes!” Freya clasped her hands together. “Say you will, Neona. Our mother was so fond of you.”
Neona’s eyes filled with tears. She’d loved Calliope, too. As the two healers, they’d learned a great deal from each other. “I will.”
“Yes!” Freya jumped. “You’ll look like a real bride!”
Freddie grinned. “You must be so excited!”
Neona’s nerves tensed. Soon she would have to see Zoltan, and she didn’t know what to do or say to him.
Tashi picked up the watch. “We have fifteen minutes left.”
Panic ignited in Neona’s chest. Human or monster? How could she spend the night with him? At some point, he would get hungry, and she’d be the only one there. “Do you have any wine?”
With a laugh, Freddie grabbed a pitcher of rice wine. “Let’s have a drink!”
Freya found four earthenware cups and filled them all. “To Neona and her wedding night!”
Zoltan teleported to Neona’s house with three minutes to spare. One of the chests was mostly empty, Minerva’s he assumed. He stashed his duffel bag and small ice chest in there. Then he paced about the room, growing increasingly nervous. Would Neona accept him? He recalled the look of horror on her face when his fangs had popped out.
He needed to convince her he was safe. He glanced down at the new clothes he was wearing. In anticipation of proposing marriage, he’d dressed well, but now he realized the new clothes might frighten her. It would be better to look the same way he had when she’d last seen him. Shirtless with jeans.
With vampire speed, he pulled off his suit, tie, and dress shoes. He grabbed a pair of jeans from the duffel bag and put them on. Then he tossed the new clothes into the chest, making sure to retrieve the small black box from his coat pocket.
He opened the box to study the rings. Was he out of his mind to want to marry someone he’d met only five nights ago? No, he corrected that. They’d first met in 1241 when Neona had saved his life. He had no memory of it, but she remembered him. She’d dreamed of him. And it was her arrow in Russell’s quiver that had led him here. It was his quest for the truth that had brought him here.
The truth was he loved her. He’d waited almost eight hundred years for her. Why should he wait another blasted night? He’d suspected from the beginning that their fates were connected. He knew it now for sure.
A clanging noise and laughter sounded outside. It sounded like metal pot lids being knocked together. He set the jewelry box on the bed, then walked in his stocking feet to the door. With his superhearing, he could detect voices outside.
“You’re all drunk,” Lydia fussed. “How will you guard this house through the night? We can’t let the prisoner escape.”
Someone scoffed. “I don’t think he’ll be wanting to escape tonight!”
The others laughed.
Lydia scoffed. “Don’t let the queen see you like this. She’s busy in the cave tonight.”
The cave? Where the Living Water was? At some point, Zoltan needed to sneak in there for a taste test. He’d brought an empty bottle for the task.
The bar on the door scraped. “Go inside, Neona,” Lydia ordered. “The rest of you, go sleep it off. You can guard during the day.”
Zoltan stepped back between the beds so it wouldn’t look like he’d been eavesdropping.
When Neona stumbled inside, his mouth dropped open. She was more beautiful than ever. She smelled of wildflowers and looked heavenly in white silk. The front part of her hair had been braided and wrapped across the top of her head like a crown. Wildflowers had been inserted in the braid, making her look like a fairy princess. The back section of her hair hung loose down her back like a shiny black curtain. More flowers blossomed in thread on her white silk gown and red silk slippers.
She looked at him and her eyes widened. When the door slammed shut behind her, she jumped and hiccoughed. Wincing, she lifted a hand to her mouth. The bell-shaped sleeve of her gown fell back toward her elbow, revealing the Hello Kitty watch fastened to her wrist.
He smiled. “You look beautiful.”
She frowned. “So do you.” Her gaze swept over his bare chest, and her frown deepened. “You took off the bandages.”
“They were a little bloody, and I wanted to wash up.” He took a step toward her.
She stepped back. “The wounds didn’t bleed?”
He shook his head. “That ointment you put on them worked well.” He took another step toward her. “Thank you for saving me. Twice.”
She moved over to the table. The bowl and pitcher were still there, untouched. She peered into the pitcher and grazed her fingertips across the dry bowl.
No doubt she was wondering how he was standing here squeaky clean with wet hair. She shot him a wary look, then eased behind the table.
“Careful.” He stepped toward her, worried that her long gown was too close to the fire.
She grabbed the knife off the uneaten plate of food and pointed it at him. “Don’t come any closer.”
He sighed. So much for his wedding night. And that knife was clearly meant for spreading jam. “You should find a sharper knife if you want to kill me.”
Her face crumbled. “I don’t really want to kill you.”
“That’s a relief.”
“I don’t know what to do with you.” She gazed sadly at the knife in her hand. “Maybe I should go cut the donkey.” She hiccoughed. “Poor donkey.”
Zoltan’s mouth twitched. “I think you’re drunk.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I think you’re smirking at me.”
“Never.” He wiped the smile off his face.
“I had a little wine. Four cups. No, five.” She lifted her chin. “It’s in my blood now, so I’m warning you. I won’t taste good.”
His mouth twitched again. She would still taste wonderful to him. “Is that w
hy you drank?”
“Partly. But I also wanted the courage to—” She swayed to the side and caught herself on the back of a chair.
“To have sex with me?”
“No!” She pointed the knife at him. “I know your secret. You’re a monster!”
“I know your secret. You’re a two-thousand-year-old crone.”
She gasped. “I’m not a crone!”
“I’m not a monster.”
She huffed. “You have fangs!”
“You have a gray hair.”
“I do?” With a stunned look, she lifted her hand to her hair, forgetting she still had the knife in it.
“Careful!” With vampire speed, he raced forward, yanked the knife from her hand, and pulled her away from the fireplace.
“Get back!” She shoved at his chest.
He released her but remained in front of her.
“Move!” She shoved again, but he didn’t budge. She pushed again. “You’re like a rock.”
She paused, her hands splayed across his chest. Her eyes widened. “So . . . hard.” Her fingertips pressed gently into him. “But soft.”
He drew in a steadying breath as her fingers slid down his torso, caressing his bare skin. He needed to stay in control and keep his eyes from glowing and frightening her.
“You feel like a human,” she whispered.
“I am human.”
“No!” She fisted a hand and pounded it against his chest to accentuate each sentence. “You’re a vampire. With fangs. You’ll get hungry. And bite me.”
“I won’t.”
“I don’t trust you—”
“I won’t bite you. Here, I’ll prove it to you.” He walked over to the wooden chest and pulled out the small ice chest. “I brought plenty of blood with me.” He showed her a bottle, then opened it to drink a few gulps.
Her eyes widened with horror.
Damn. Instead of reassuring her, he was scaring her. He stuffed the bottle back into the ice chest.
She hiccoughed. “Where did you get all that blood?”
“It’s synthetic blood. Manufactured.”
“You didn’t . . . drain it from someone?”
“No, it’s made in a factory. All of us good Vamps drink synthetic blood. We don’t attack people for food.” He opened the wooden chest again to set the ice chest inside.