NIGHT SONG Page 5

“They’re fine. Martin collected them.”

  She nodded slowly.

  “Thanks.” She lowered herself back to the bed and flopped an arm over her eyes. “You know this doesn’t change anything, I’m still going to kill you.” She didn’t bother removing her arm.

  “Or so you think.”

  She shook her head. “It’s more than I think. I know.”

  He couldn’t resist any longer and ran his fingers through her hair. It felt just as he remembered—like velvet.

  “Why are you so determined to end me?”

  She inhaled deeply, freely. She was totally healed. “I know you were there.”

  This was an answer he hadn’t expected. He took a moment to mull over her words.

  “Forgive me but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  There was a fire that sparked in her eyes, anger, hurt, he couldn’t quite read it but it was there. Not comfortable reading her thoughts, he let it alone.

  “That night, when my family was killed. I know you were there.”

  He nodded his head. “Yes, I was.”

  “So you don’t deny it?”

  She sat up quickly, curled her legs underneath herself and leaned into him. There was no guessing what he saw on her face now.

  Hatred. Rage.

  And it was directed at him.

  He moved back.

  “Why would I deny it?”

  She paused. The light around them flickered.

  Tears welled in her eyes. The pain, the pure and utter sorrow threatened to consume her.

  “That was my family. You killed my family and you almost killed me.” The loneliness that came with her words crumbled her tough exterior. She could feel it shatter, like a sledgehammer against a mirror.

  She started to cry. Her shoulders shook and tears streamed down her face. She let them fall. So much sorrow filled her. So much loneliness. Crying felt good.

  There was a beat of silence. Her gulps of air sounded hollow as they bounced off the rock walls of his room.

  “I would never harm you or anyone you love.” He put his hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged him off.

  She didn’t want his touch, his kind words. She needed to wrap herself in her pain, use it like a shield to deflect his feeble attempts at distraction.

  He was the enemy, dammit.

  “I saw it. Our last night together. That scar on your chest. Where Martin stabbed you. I don’t know why I never saw it before.” Her sobs stopped her flow of words.

  They had made love. Not sex, not screwing. Made love. That made it all the more painful. They were two bodies joined in the most passionate and intimate of acts. Her body had cried out for him and he answered with such tenderness and love.

  And then she saw it. No, she felt it first. Directly above his left pec. That ridged, discolored scar.

  She remembered thinking how funny it was, that vampires didn’t scar unless attacked by the blade of a slayer. A blade pounded out of silver excavated from mines in the far reaches of Russia.

  And that’s when it hit her. When it all came rushing back to her. The attack. Her mother’s screams. Her father lying dead at the foot of the staircase, his throat ripped out.

  She covered her eyes and cried harder. She’d been a coward that night. She could have staked him while he slept. Could have sliced his head from his body and ended it but she loved him.

  Her damned emotions let the monster who’d killed her family get away.

  Never again.

  Guilt and misery clawed in her chest.

  She’d failed.

  “No.” He bobbed his head around hers trying to catch her gaze. She didn’t let him. Damn him. There was no distracting her this time.

  “Kathryn, listen to me. Martin stabbed me by accident. His blade was deflected. He nearly hit my heart.”

  “You’re lying!” She covered her ears. She couldn’t listen to him. She couldn’t let the vibrato of his voice lull her into belief. She had to be strong.

  “My love, listen to me.” He gently tugged at her hands until she lowered them into her lap.

  Shaking violently, she wouldn’t look at him. If she did, she might forget. He might make her forget.

  “If I wanted to do that, I would have already.”

  She glared at him but didn’t say anything. Of course he’d read her mind.

  “Kat, please. Take my hands so I can show you the truth.”

  He reached for her.

  “Don’t touch me! Don’t ever touch me!” She wrapped her arms around her legs and rocked.

  What was happening to her? She doubted herself. Doubted what she saw, what she felt, what she knew.

  Fight it, dammit! Fight! It! She silently screamed. Her arms remained locked around her legs. She couldn’t touch him.

  If she did, what would she see? That night? The horror? She couldn’t bear it. She lived every day replaying it in her mind. It was what drove her, what kept her sane. She was a killer. If she didn’t remember who and what she was killing, how could she live with herself?

  “I can’t. Please don’t make me watch it again.”

  “No, never. I need you to understand what happened. That it wasn’t me.” Raising her head she looked into his eyes. His beautiful brown eyes. Something made her trust him. Something she saw in those eyes made her slowly extend her hands to him. It was more than vampire magic.

  He smiled.

  The second their hands touched, sparks arched between them. Ian gripped both her palms tightly and closed his eyes. Kathryn did the same.

  She was back at her old high school. A cool breeze swayed the saplings. Kathryn couldn’t feel it, couldn’t smell it, but remembered it well. Students emerged from the school in swarms.

  It was like watching a movie. Only it wasn’t a work of fiction she viewed on some giant Cineplex screen. They were her memories, her life.

  She turned and looked at Ian. He watched with great intensity. His profile was stunning. There was a hint of stubble on his cheeks. There was always a hint of stubble. She’d forgotten that.

  Turning her attention back to the scene she reprimanded herself. She needed to focus.

  No more distractions!

  She saw herself walk out of the school. Did she ever look that young? That innocent?

  Her hair was basically the same, but her wide-eyed innocence was lost. Tears welled in her eyes again. So much had changed since then.

  “Even back then, my Kathryn, I knew you were my savior.” He’d leaned into her and his breath spread over her cheek in feather light strokes.

  “I don’t understand,” she said.

  Ian motioned for her to keep watching.

  Young Kathryn walked to the parking lot, schoolbooks in hand, surrounded by a group of friends.

  Above her ferocious clouds bubbled and boiled. Winds gusted and dust blew all around her. Behind her moved a figure, a tall dark man.

  Kathryn couldn’t see his face. He wore a hat that shaded his features but she knew he was a man by the way he stood, the way he moved.

  “He’s here,” Ian whispered.

  “Who? I don’t remember ever seeing him before.” She looked carefully. He floated inches above the ground and a group of students walking behind her walked right through him.

  “Victor.”

  Kathryn’s breath stuck in her throat and her chest constricted.

  Victor. Victor Petrikov. Ian’s enemy.

  She dropped Ian’s hands and rubbed them on her thighs.

  “You’re lying. What would he want with me?”

  “Your life.”

  They were back in Ian’s room. The scene vanished the second she broke their connection.

  Running her hands through her hair, she gazed around her. The light from the rock cast a yellow glow and a hint of lavender floated in the air. She remembered this place well.

  “You’re telling me Victor attacked my family.” It was hard to comprehend. She’d never actually seen the faces of any of
the attackers.

  He nodded.

  “No. That can’t be. You just showed me a memory. A daytime memory. Victor’s a vampire. He would have fried in the sun.”

  “Did you see those kids walk through him?”

  “Yes.”

  “It was his essence. Victor’s a very powerful vampire. His body was buried deep beneath the ground but his essence—his spirit—watched you. He always watched you.” There was a slight pause before he added, “As did I.”

  She inhaled and bit her bottom lip. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t real.

  Her heart beat thunderously in her chest.

  “I don’t understand,” she said again.

  Ian sat next to her and sighed. “I have known since the day you were born that you were my savior, my love.”

  Kathryn looked at him in disbelief. “You keep saying that but I don’t know what that means.”

  With no hesitation, he wrapped her hands in his. This time there was no vision, only the heat of his touch. “A vampire is a unique being. When we are turned our souls are lost. We are incomplete until we find our other half to fill us.”

  He looked deep in her eyes. In his she saw over seven hundred years of emotions. The emotions of a life filled with complete loneliness. Without saying a word, his gaze pleaded with her to understand.

  “You are that special person, Kat. You are the one that completes me, gives light to my world of darkness. Your heart called to me the minute it took its first beat. I knew you before you even knew yourself.”

  The corners of his mouth twitched. Kathryn couldn’t help but relax the frown on her face.

  “But why me? Why my family?”

  “You are the other half of the second most powerful vampire in the world. Think about it. Victor has no one. Turning you into his lover would give him the closest thing to happiness he would ever have.”

  “And what’s that?” Kathryn exhaled slowly. She wasn’t completely sure she believed this entire story but something compelled her to keep listening.

  He drew slow small circles on the back of her hand. A trail of fire seemed to follow his thumb around her skin.

  “Revenge against me.”

  Kathryn shook her head. “But my parents. Why kill them?”

  “Why not?”

  She immediately yanked her hands from his. “How dare you. My parents were…”

  Ian gently took her hands again.

  “He’s a vampire, Kathryn. A very powerful master vampire. Your parents were nothing more than a complication.” His voice was calm, soothing.

  “This isn’t true.” Her words lacked their usual bite. She hung her head and focused on their joined hands. His were so soft, so gentle as they encased hers.

  Slowly, Ian raised her right hand to his chest and pressed the palm into his skin. “Listen to it. Feel its rhythm, its beat. Hear my heart and you’ll know the truth.” It was a plea.

  She didn’t know what to do. Or what to think. If she let go of all her anger towards him and really felt his heart, what would happen? The pounding beneath her touch told her what she needed to know. Dare she listen?

  She wanted to believe. More than anything she wanted to know that she hadn’t fallen in love with the man who killed her parents.

  Is that what she’d done? Fallen in love?

  Even through her anger and vengeance, a part of her had always held out hope for another explanation.

  But love?

  She knew her feelings for him were strong. Believing he’d killed her family hadn’t changed that. He dominated her thoughts. The memory of him kept her awake nights. Her sorrow lay heavy in her heart.

  It was true. The answer shook her to her core. She loved him.

  Beneath her palm beat his steady cadence, the faint flow of his blood slid deep within his tissue and she knew the truth. Ian didn’t lie.

  A weight lifted from her chest. She looked into his eyes. The raw emotion she saw terrified her.

  “But what about Cassy?”

  “Your friend.”

  “My friend you turned. My friend the vampire.” She looked away from him.

  He gently touched her chin and turned her face towards him. Warmth spread like honey over her skin.

  “I did not turn her. Her lover, Randolph, did.”

  Kathryn tried to lower her head but Ian stopped her.

  “But you were there,” she whispered. “You let it happen.”

  “That’s what she wanted.”

  She wrung her hands in her lap.

  It was true. Cassy was so in love with Randolph. Tears spilled onto Kathryn’s cheeks.

  Stop crying!

  “People in love do things others don’t always understand.” Reaching for her hand, he lifted it to his lips and lightly kissed the palm.

  Her stomach tilted.

  “Like forgiving the man I thought had killed my family?”

  Ian smiled and Kathryn’s heart melted.

  “You called to me when the vampire was attacking you.”

  Kathryn didn’t respond. His breath sweeping over her wrist made her own breathing difficult.

  “Why?” He kissed her palm again.

  Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back and enjoyed the sensation of his lips pressed against her skin. “I knew you were there. I could feel you.”

  “Ah.” He sucked on her index finger and her body quivered.

  How could she have been so wrong? How could she have harbored such anger such hate against the man she loved?

  And she did love him. Admitting it to herself was so freeing. Her heart, her very soul felt lighter.

  She hugged him tightly, burying her face against his skin.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered into the warmth of him.

  Inhaling she took in his scent, earth and sea, and let it fill her, stoking the fire that had been slowly smoldering in her gut for five long years.

  ***

  Ian slowly wrapped his arms around her. Her body cocooned by his, felt so right. He’d waited, dreamed of this moment. Five long and lonely years. And now she was his again.

  He melded his mind with hers. She was worried about Victor, her safety, and his. Her concern for him made his heart sing. Without any effort he absorbed her fears. He wanted her, needed her, and for that he would bear her emotions.

  She moaned softly as he ran his fingers through her hair. That simple sound of her opening herself to him made his entire being crackle with need.

  “Please,” he whispered. He didn’t know what else to say. He wanted her so badly words failed him.

  Pulling away from his chest, she looked at him and smiled. As her full lips curved seductively, she ran her finger along the strips of his necklace down to the talisman. Its jewel pulsed against his chest.

  “Make love to me,” she purred, her lids heavy, her voice breathy, “It’s been so long.”

  He groaned and his cock throbbed.

  Lifting her cotton shirt over her head, his fingers grazed her sides and she trembled.

  He let her shirt fall to the floor and reached around and unfastened her bra. Slipping it from her shoulders, her round firm breasts fell free.

  He licked his lips.

  Gently, slowly he kissed her neck, drinking in her scent of lavender and vanilla. He nibbled across her collarbone and down the space between her breasts. She tasted like the sweetest of fruit and he lapped at her like he was starving. Cupping both mounds in his hands he licked atop the pale flesh and gently nipped at the tender skin.

  Her breath caught in her throat.

  Electricity cursed through his veins.

  He was filled with desire, almost blinded by it. His blood burned his veins. He desperately fought the urge to take her fast and hard.

  Bending, he gently sucked a hard nipple into his mouth and lightly rolled it in his teeth. His hand flicked and twisted, tugged and pulled the other.

  When her head fell back, his need skyrocketed. But no, he had to take it slow.<
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  Dropping his hands to her waist, his fingers spread the expanse of her. Her skin was soft and smooth.

  “Can you get rid of this?” he asked, nudging the blade sheathed at her hip.

  Opening her eyes she chuckled. A rich pure sound that warmed his heart and filled the empty space of his long lost soul.

  “And I suppose you have a problem with this.” She pulled the Glock from the small of her back.

  “And this.” Bending over she lifted her pant leg and expertly unfastened the belt holder that strapped her smaller blade to her ankle.

  “I think I do. Yes.” Her eyes twinkled. Backing away from him, she deliberately undid the belt at her waist and let it fall to the floor with a soft thud.

  Slowly, ever so carefully, she opened the button on her jeans. Her eyes were glued to his. He could see the desire, the ache in her eyes.

  She was seducing him. God help him. Didn’t she know how close he already was? That he feared one quick thrust inside that tight pussy of hers would be all it would take?

  His dick pressed so tightly against his pants he knew he’d be injured if it weren’t freed soon.

  Reaching to unfasten the snap, she waved her finger at him.

  “Uh, uh. Not yet.”

  He threw his head back and moaned.

  “You’re killing me here.”

  She laughed. The sound fluttered along his skin like the gently flapping wings of a butterfly.

  “Such a modern phrase for such an old man.”

  It was his turn to laugh. “Such an appropriate one. All through the centuries there’ve been phrases…”

  “Shhh.” She pressed her index finger to his lips and took his hand and put it to her sex. She was naked. And wet.

  He looked deep in her eyes. His own desire mirrored back at him.

  Moving his fingers through her slick folds he found her core. Gently, and carefully, he slipped in a finger. Her moist heat encased him, tugged at him and begged for more.

  She lifted a leg to his waist and wrapped it around him giving him better, deeper access.

  He sensed her worries fighting to return to her conscience and he slammed them back. Held them at bay. Now was not the time, this was not the place. They would deal with it later. Now was all about carnal pleasure.

  “You like that?”

  She answered by shifting her mouth to his. Licking his bottom lip she lightly nipped. She suckled his tender flesh before pressing her mouth completely into him, devouring him.