Her lashes lowered slowly and then lifted to meet his burning stare. His blood red stare. “You’re a vampire.”
His incisors extended, long and deadly. His eyes, those burning eyes, held her captive. His hand continued to stroke the column of her neck. “And you are a fool.”
His head lowered, and she realized with numb shock that he was going to bite her. He was going to take her blood. Eagerly, she tilted her head back, offering herself to him.
His breath was hot against the tender skin of her throat. She waited, desperate to feel the plunge of his teeth as he drank from her. She just hoped that it didn’t hurt too much . . .
She expected to feel the slashing cut of his teeth against her. Instead, she felt the rough velvet of his tongue as he licked her throbbing pulse. Slowly. Once. Twice. Her breathing hitched, and she heard herself moan.
His teeth scraped lightly against her skin. His tongue licked.
His scent surrounded her. Strong. Dark. The scent of the night.
You want this, don’t you, little one? His voice purred seductively, although his lips did not move. You came here for this, didn’t you? He began to gently suckle on her neck.
“Yes,” she whispered, as her arms lifted to clutch his shoulders and pull him closer to her body. Her eyes were tightly closed.
William drew back slowly, wondering about the woman’s motives, about her willingness to surrender to a monster.
Then he remembered what she’d said. “You wanted me to kill someone for you.” It was a statement. What he had taken as a jest before suddenly seemed very serious. Who was this woman? And why did she seek the Angel of Death?
“Yes,” she whispered again, refusing to open her eyes.
Look at me. The command came unbidden. The full force of his will was behind the order. He would know what the woman in his arms wanted, what dangers she presented to him. Then he would deal with her.
“Who do you want me to kill?”
Her lashes lifted slowly, languorously. Her breathing was ragged. Her chest rose and fell jerkily. “Me. I want you to kill me.” Then her hands lifted and she buried them in his hair. She tightened her hold, silently urging his mouth back to her neck. Back to the place where her pulse pounded so frantically.
His eyes widened in shock. He, who had seen countless wars and deaths, was shocked by her statement. By her invitation.
Yet what shocked him more was how much he was tempted. For he desperately wanted to take the little fairy up on her offer. He wanted to take her blood . . . and her life.
With an effort, he forced himself to step back, to release her from his embrace. He stared at her, wondering why one so young and full of life would possibly want to surrender to the darkness. What demon had driven her to seek him out? “Why?” He asked as he moved back into the shadows of the room. “Why do you seek death?”
Her hands clenched and frustration flashed across her delicate features. “My motives shouldn’t matter to you.”
He cocked a dark brow. “They do.” He’d never had someone just come to him, without compulsion, and offer blood. Offer life. He’d found that humans valued life too much to want to just give it away to a beast.
Her jaw clenched. “I want you to bite me.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “But I am not going to do it.” He’d learned long ago to control his dark urges. And, even though she had come to him looking for death, he would not give it to her. The tattered remains of his conscience would not let him.
“You should leave now.” He motioned toward the door.
She shook her head, sending her dark red curls flying. “I’m not leaving. I didn’t come all this way just to have you refuse me.” Her face seemed unnaturally pale in the flickering firelight. “I can’t let you refuse me. I told you, I need your help.”
“And I told you no. Now, it is time for you to leave.”
Her chest rose and fell jerkily. “You have to help to me. If you don’t, I’ll tell everyone about you. I’ll go to all the papers, all the news channels—”
He laughed softly, mockingly. “Come now. Do you really think they will believe you?” He shook his dark head. “If you go to them and say that I’m a vampire, they’ll laugh at you.” And quite possibly lock her up.
Her chin lifted. “They will believe me if I have proof.”
“And what proof do you have?” he scoffed.
She smiled, showing even white teeth. “I have your brother’s diary. Henry’s diary. I translated it.”
He tensed. The beast within him snarled in rage. “And where . . .” He clenched his back teeth and felt his incisors burn and lengthen. “. . . did you get that little prize?”
“It doesn’t matter, does it?” She walked toward him. “I have his diary, and I’ll show it to everyone that I can. Everyone. Eventually, someone will believe me. Your secret will be out.” She stopped a foot away from him. “And, then, Mr. Dark, after hunting prey for a millennium, you’ll be the one who is hunted.”
“You really want death, don’t you?” he asked, wonder in his voice.
“Death is just a means to an end,” she replied, the expression in her eyes secretive.
He grabbed her shoulders roughly. “I don’t like blackmail,” he growled. He was so close to her that he could hear her heartbeat, that he could feel its desperate rhythm shaking through her body. And he could almost taste her.
“Neither do I.” Genuine regret seemed to lace her words. “But I don’t have a choice.”
“Yes, you do. Leave now.”
“No.”
He looked deeply into her emerald gaze and saw both determination and fear. He tried to play on the fear. “If I do as you ask, you will feel pain like you can’t imagine. Fear like you’ve never known. I will drain all of the blood from your beautiful body. I will drink from you until there is nothing left.” He touched her cheek gently. “And then I will throw away your rotting corpse.” His smile was chilling.
“I’ve felt fear before.” Her words were calm, but her lips trembled. “I’ve felt pain. More pain that even you can imagine.”
He was surprised by the anger that swept through him. The idea that someone, somewhere, had hurt this strange woman filled him with rage. A rage that had no reason. His fingers clenched around her shoulders. “Who hurt—”
She jerked back, away from him. “It doesn’t matter right now.”
It mattered. For some unknown reason, it mattered very much to him.
“Are you going to help me?” She asked again.
“You mean, am I going to kill you?” In truth, he found that he hungered for the taste of her blood. For her.
She took a deep breath. “Look, we’re wasting time. I know how it works. I told you, I’ve done my research.”
“Ah, yes . . . your research.” His words mocked her.
“I know what has to be done,” she said stubbornly, her bright gaze locked on his. “I know that I have to die in order to become . . .”
“Become what?” He asked as a dark suspicion wrapped its way around him. Surely she couldn’t mean—
“Like you.”
Chapter Two
Evil lives in this world. I have seen it.
—Entry from the diary of Henry de Montfort,
October 5, 1068
SILENCE FILLED the room.
Savannah held her breath, praying with all of her strength that she hadn’t made a mistake by coming here, by coming to William.
He had been her last resort. Her only choice.
If she were to have her vengeance, then she would need him.
Finally, just when she thought the silence would never end, he spoke. His words were slow, considering. “So it isn’t true death that you seek, is it, little one? You want the kiss, the kiss of immortali
ty. The kiss of the vampire.” He sounded almost disappointed.
“Yes, that’s what I want.” No, it wasn’t really what she wanted, but it was what she had to have. She had to become like him, to become one the walking dead, if she were to complete her plans. Otherwise, all would be lost.
“You aren’t so different, after all.” He turned away dismissively and walked out of the room.
Her temples began to pound. She ignored the pain and hurried after him. “Wait! Stop!”
He was in the foyer. He pulled open the strong wooden door. The darkness from the night spilled into the room. It almost seemed as if the darkness were waiting for her, waiting to claim her.
“Good night, Ms. Daniels.”
“No!” She slammed the door, shutting out the night. “You have to help me.”
“I haven’t helped any of those other poor fools who came to me over the years and asked for the kiss.” A cynical smile curled his lips as he read the surprise on her face. “What? Did you think you were the first to discover my nature?”
Savannah felt a flush stain her cheeks. Yes, she had thought that she’d been the first. From the instant that she learned of William Dark’s existence, she had felt a strange kinship with him. A special link had seemed to exist between them. But, perhaps that had just been in her mind, too.
“There have been at least a dozen others who have come to me over the centuries.” William shrugged his broad shoulders. “They all stumbled upon the truth of my existence in one manner or another. And they all wanted the kiss. Men, women. Young and old. They didn’t care what they would have to do once they were transformed. They didn’t care about what they would become. They just wanted the kiss.”
Savannah swallowed to ease her suddenly parched throat. Fear rolled through her. William was going to refuse her, as he’d done with others a dozen times before.
“I didn’t change them. And I’m not going to change you.”
“But if you don’t, I’ll—”
A gust of wind knocked the door open and flew through the foyer, sending Savannah’s hair whipping around her face. “No threats!” William growled. “All of the others threatened me. First they begged, pleaded, and when that didn’t work, they threatened. And do you know what I did to them?”
Staring into his swirling eyes, Savannah was afraid to ask about their fate.
“I could have killed them. I could have drained them dry or broken their necks. Then I wouldn’t have had to worry about their sad attempts at blackmail.”
Savannah winced.
“But I didn’t do that,” he said, his voice suddenly changing, lowering, flowing around her, through her, like rich wine. “I didn’t have to kill them. And do you know why?”
“Why?” She whispered.
His head lowered toward hers. “Vampires have many powers. Both physical and mental.”
Savannah knew all about the powers that vampires possessed. The superhuman strength, the psychic talents. It was said that some could fly. Some could shapeshift. And some could control the actions of humans with but a stray thought.
Mind control. A shudder racked her body.
He smiled. “That’s right. I didn’t have to kill them because I simply made them forget. As I will make you forget . . .”
His lips touched hers, a light, fleeting touch. A tingle shot through her body at the contact.
“That’s the only kiss you’ll be getting from me, sweet Savannah. Count yourself lucky for it.”
He stepped back, and with one hand, he lifted her chin, forcing her eyes to lock on his. “Now, it’s time for you to go. Go back to your nice little world and forget me. Forget all about me and the kiss that you wanted.”
As Savannah stared into his eyes, she felt as if her grip on the world was slipping away. The light in the foyer suddenly seemed incredibly dim.
Shadows surrounded William, and all she could see were his eyes, burning red.
“Forget, Savannah. Forget me. Forget the kiss.”
A scream of denial trembled against her lips. A scream that was never voiced, for in the next instant, the darkness overwhelmed her and Savannah could remember no more.
HE HAD NO TROUBLE taking her back to town, back to the small hotel room that she’d rented at the edge of the city.
When they’d gone down the mountain, he’d seen her car. It had sat, small and abandoned, on the old gravel drive. He would have to make arrangements for the car to be returned to her. In the meantime, he would plant an explanation for its absence in her mind.
He was very good at planting compulsions.
As they’d traveled, he’d cloaked their presence. No one would remember them. Even the few residents of town who had seen them would not actually be able to recall their presence.
It wasn’t as if there had even been that many people out to see them. Tyler, North Carolina wasn’t exactly the big city. There were a few shops and businesses along the main street, but most of the residents actually lived in nearby cabins. Nestled in the mountains, the city was occasionally visited by tourists hoping to get away from the rigors of big-city life. But even at the height of the tourist season, the town still only boasted a few thousand residents. It was a small town, quiet and secluded. Perfect for him.
With a wave of his hand, the door to Savannah’s room flew open and he carried her inside. She was still unconscious, a result of the strong compulsion he’d given her. In repose, her features looked incredibly fragile. And incredibly lovely.
Her body felt good in his arms. Warm. Alive.
It had been years, too many years, since he’d felt the warmth of a woman against him. His body stirred with needs that he’d long thought dead.
Quickly, before he could change his mind, he placed her on the small bed. The springs squeaked softly as they took her weight.
For a moment, he hesitated, staring down at her. She looked so good. So pure. Why would one such as she come looking for him?
He shook his head. It didn’t matter. When she woke, she would have no memory of him.
But he would remember her.
He turned from the bed, from her, and forced himself to survey the room. Henry’s diary was here. It had to be in the room.
He spotted her luggage sticking out of a small closet. He took a step toward it.
On the bed, Savannah stirred. She moaned and her thick lashes lifted.
William spun around in shock. Impossible! She couldn’t be waking. She couldn’t—
“William?” Her voice was thick, husky. It sent a shaft of desire burning though him.
He stared at her in wonder. She remembered him. She’d woken on her own, despite the compulsion, and she remembered him.
Impossible. How could she—
She licked her lips. Her head lifted and she met this gaze. “I remember you.” She shook her head in confusion. “I thought you said I would forget.”
She should have forgotten. Never before had someone resisted his compulsion.
She looked around the room. Her gaze fell on a small framed picture on the bedside table. A smiling man with dark hair and emerald eyes looked back at her.
A faint sheen of tears filled her eyes. “I still remember everything. Everything.”
William sat down beside her on the bed. He cocked his head and studied her. “I was wrong. You’re not like the others.” He placed his hands on either side of her head.
Savannah felt a strange pressure. It was like she could feel him, from inside her mind. “Wh-what are you doing?”
He frowned and dropped his hands. “Your mind . . . it’s different.”
She bit her lip. Sadness filled her. “I’m more different than you can possibly know.” Her hand reached for his.
William froze.
“I need
you to help me. Please.”
His gaze remained locked on her hand. “I’ve already told you, I can’t.”
“You must help me.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re the only one who can.”
The faint light from the rising sun flickered through the window. William stood abruptly. “I have to go.
“William, I—”
“Meet me at midnight,” he surprised her by saying. “At Jake’s.”
“Jake’s?” Savannah had arrived in town just before sunset. She’d only had time to rent a room before heading off in search of William Dark.
“It’s a bar on Miller Street. Just follow the sound of the music.”
She nodded. “I’ll be there.” She looked nervously toward the window. “Is it safe for you to—”
He was gone. Just that fast, he’d vanished.
Savannah searched her room, but she could find no trace of him. He’d disappeared. Into thin air.
She walked slowly toward the bed. She couldn’t believe that she’d done it. After all of those months of planning, she’d finally done it.
She sat down and reached for the picture. As always, the sight of her brother caused her chest to tighten with grief. “Soon, Mark. I promise. You’ll have your vengeance. Soon.”
She gently put the frame back in its place, and with hands that trembled, she opened the nightstand drawer. She took out a small, unmarked plastic bottle.
She shook the bottle and two pills spilled into her palm.
She stared at the innocuous looking white pills. The doctors had prescribed them for her months ago. They were supposed to help her. Not make her better, for nothing could do that. But they were supposed to keep the pain away. And they did. Sometimes. Sometimes they completely stopped the pain. And sometimes they didn’t do a damn thing.
Of course, they never stopped the nightmares. She didn’t think anything could stop them.
HE SAT IN THE darkest corner of the bar, his back against the hard black wall, and he waited for her.