Cast in Blood (Morgan Blackstone Vampires Book 1) (31 page)

Nicholas woke in the dark bedroom that smelled of earth and wood. Keeping his eyes closed, he reached to the left side of the bed, searching for Morgan. His eyes popped open when his fingers found smooth sheets and blankets. She hadn’t slept. He got out of bed and walked out to the living room, fear creeping up, until he saw her. She was sitting on the couch, reading the Conclave book. Her brows were pulled down low as though she had to think about the words on the page as she read them.
 

“I thought you were supposed to read that a lesson at a time, love?” he asked, when he realized that she was already more than half way through the book.

“Never been very good with rules,” she muttered, not looking up from the pages.
 

“No, you’re not,” Nicholas chuckled.
 
“What time is it?”

“A little after four in the morning,” she replied, before taking a bookmark and sliding it into the tome. “I spoke with Lilly. She called your cell, but you were dead to the world. Her flight arrived, and she’s settled at the hotel.” Morgan took note of the page, closed the book and set it on the Mission style coffee table.

“I should go see her,” Nicholas muttered, as he picked up his keys from the kitchen table.
 

“I told her you’d be there a little after nightfall. Nicholas, you need to sleep more. I don’t want you risking the daylight,” Morgan answered.
Oh, who am I kidding? I don’t want to risk that he’s going to choose to spend the day with Lilly not me. Damn Christophe and his insights, jealous my
arse
, this is worse. I’m a jealous, insecure vampire.
 

“You’re probably right,” Nicholas whispered. He waited for her to reply, missing the usual smart–ass comment that came with him admitting defeat, but, as the silence stretched, he realized it wasn’t coming. “Feeling up to trying something new before dawn?” he asked, desperate to change the subject.
If I can just get her talking, I’m sure whatever’s putting that scowl on her face will come out. Gods, why can’t this be as simple as when I argue with Marcus? We beat the shit out of each other and get it over with.
 

“What do you have in mind?” As she spoke, Nicholas realized that it was like she was there but not. Something alien had stepped in and taken over Morgan, and was wearing her face but the heart of her wasn’t there.

“This is what Elizabeth was looking into before she disappeared,” he answered, putting a stainless steel case on the coffee table between them. Morgan watched, curious as Nicholas worked the combination locks and opened it, to reveal a pair of matched firearms nestled in dark foam, that seemed to be made of peaks and valleys.
 

“Guns?”

“Not the guns, not really,” Nicholas answered, handing Morgan one of the weapons. “It’s more like, the bullets. They’re manufactured to fragment on impact. Marcus tested the theory, and it seems that they are effective against vampires. You need to have careful aim and fire more than one round to make a kill, but they will work.”

“If my aim is off?”

“You’re going to have an angry vampire with a big hole in their body coming after you. In truth, it might incapacitate them. Alexander was able to pretty much shrug off a shoulder wound and escape.”

“Lovely,’ she sighed with a dramatic roll of her eyes.
 

“What harm can it do? It gives you another line of defense. Something that’s not so up close and personal.”

“You’re right.”
 

Her words are right, but everything in her demeanor says my wife is just humoring me
. Nicholas frowned. “Is everything all right Morgan? You seem upset about something.”

‘It’s nothing I can’t handle,” she answered, looking away from him.

“Are you certain, love?”

“I’m still trying to process everything. I’m having a hard time getting my head around some of what’s happened,” she admitted, hoping that the half–truth would stop the questioning.
 

“Maybe I should stay with Lilly tomorrow? You know give you some time alone to figure things out?” Nicholas offered.
 

“You’d trust me to be alone?” Morgan whispered, as if she didn’t believe him.

“No one else knows about this cabin. You’ll be safe for a day, love.”

“If that’s what you think is best.” Her answer was what he expected, but her rigid stance and how she looked anywhere in the room but at him, gave up the deception.

“I want to do what’s best for you sweetheart, but I don’t know what that is,” Nicholas replied.
I want nothing more than to take her in my arms and chase whatever demons are plaguing her away. But that would be the worst thing I could do. Morgan has always been more independent than most women, and if I’m not careful I’ll piss her off more.

“Fine, stay with Lilly,” she sighed, and closed her eyes shutting him out.

“Morgan, please, don’t shut me out, talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed, looking at him with sad eyes. For a moment, Nicholas thought she was going to open up, and they’d work through this together, but she closed her eyes. When she opened them again a moment later, every wall was back. She was shutting him out.

“Morgan don’t…” he started, while fighting the urge to shake her, in the hopes that it would snap her out of it.

“Don’t what?” she snarled, rounding on him.
 
“I don’t even know what’s going on in my own head right now, I can’t talk about this. Maybe you’re right. Maybe you should go to Lilly.” Morgan rubbed her temples, trying to get her thoughts back under control. Her head was spinning, thoughts flying in so many directions that she just wanted to scream. She wanted Nicholas to comfort and assure her that everything would be all right, but he was pulling away.
 
“You still have time to get there before sunrise.”

“No. I won’t, not when you are like this,” Nicholas insisted, and in an instant wished he could take the words back.

“You won’t leave me when I’m like this?” Morgan sneered.
 

“Bad choice of words. I didn’t mean it like that. I mea…” he began, but she cut him off.

“Please Nicholas, just go,” she whispered turning her back on him, and found herself facing the stone fireplace. To distract herself, Morgan began following the lines of grout as though they were a maze.
 
I won’t break down now. Maybe once he’s gone, but not now.

“Morgan I…” Nicholas started, but didn’t know where to go.
She won’t even look at me. She’s just staring at the fireplace as though she could douse it with a glare
. “Don’t shut me out.”
 

For a moment, she seemed to relax, and Nicholas thought he’d managed to get through to her, but then it was gone. The tension came back, and she held herself with the otherworldly stillness their kind could adopt. “As you wish. I’ll have my cellular with me. If you need me, call. I don’t care about the time. I’ll be here.” He knew he was babbling, grasping at straws but couldn’t help it. He kept waiting for Morgan to turn around and ask him to stay, but she only nodded. “I love you,” he whispered, trying not to choke on his own voice. When she didn’t speak, Nicholas left.

M
ORGAN
LISTENED
TO
the crunch of dirt and gravel under Nicholas’s tires, at war with herself. She didn’t want him to leave, but couldn’t stand to have him in the same room. She stood for a long time, staring at the fire, feeling emotions rip through her. When even her heightened sense of hearing lost the sound, Morgan collapsed. She wrapped her arms around her torso, and sank to the coffee table, sitting on it while wracking sobs rolled through her.
 

A short time later, she was aware of her phone ringing nearby, but she let it go to voice mail. Morgan choked back another sob, and in the process, pulled in a lung full of air. Air saturated with his scent.
The walls are closing in
. She thought, frantic, breathing in short quick bursts. Feeling the crushing weight all around her, Morgan sprang to her feet and ran outside.
 

The sky to the east was still black, when she stopped in the center of the clearing.
Outside is better,
she told herself, as some of the weight lifted. With her mind spinning, Morgan dropped to the ground and curled on her side. She didn’t move, staring at the black star sprinkled sky. Her thoughts flowed through her mind and got lost in the vast expanse. The sky lightened, darkness giving way to the first faint blushes of color and light, and Morgan closed her eyes, listening to the rhythm of life around her.
 

“You might consider returning to the cabin before the sun has well and truly risen,” a male voice she didn’t recognize suggested, above her and to the right.
 

“I don’t care.”
How did he get so close without me noticing?
The question floated through Morgan’s mind and was gone almost as fast as it had come.
 

“What of your Nicholas? Do you think he wouldn’t care?” the voice asked, though it was closer to her than it had been before. Morgan cracked an eye and found a human kneeling a few feet from her. His red hair was a shock against his pale, freckled flesh.
 

“He’d find another. May have already, for all I know.” Morgan sighed and closed her eyes.
Whoever this man is I want him to be gone.
Maybe he’ll just get it over with, and kill me. I wonder if that would be preferable to this, whatever the hell this is.

“You are wrong.”

“What do you know of it? And who in the name of Dante’s nine Hells are you?” she growled, springing to her feet. With her temper speeding toward the edge, Morgan’s fangs elongated in response to the man’s pulse, thundering under the flesh of his throat in a tantalizing rhythm.
 

“Seven, Dante only had seven Hells, and I am Richard Minagh.” He didn’t move or do anything to provoke her further. Richard watched her eyes and saw a tiny point of red orange at the center of each pupil.
Her temper brings out the power. Quite interesting. She’ll need to control her emotions, or there could be dire consequences.
 

Morgan looked the man up and down, considering him through half closed eyes.
So this is Joshua’s friend. Is another anvil about to fall from the sky and land on top of my skull? He’s not moving, smart, considering the fact that he’s facing a predator, though something tells me this man could hardly be called easy prey
. “What happened to one to three years? It’s been days.” Morgan’s eyes narrowed as she regarded him with a mix of suspicion and curiosity. She backed away from the sorcerer, and frowned, not trusting herself, blood singing within his veins like a siren’s song.
 
Why is his blood calling to me like this? I’ve never had this happen before? Goddess, I want more answers not questions!

“I’ll admit, my curiosity has gotten the better of me. I wanted to meet the vampire who carries Cassandra’s blood in her veins. It is not what I expected.” Richard pushed to his feet, watching her through wary bright blue eyes.

“Cassandra? That was her name?” Morgan’s voice was soft and sounded far off.
 

Another unexpected question, I suppose I will have to get used to this;
Richard thought, with a frown before he replied. “Yes.”

“What did you think you were going to find?” she asked, her voice once again strong, one eyebrow raised.
 

“I’m not sure. I’ve done my homework since I spoke with Joshua. Though I must admit, finding you waiting for the dawn is a shocker.”

“I don’t know if I can do this.” She closed her eyes and began rubbing her temples, as though she had a splitting headache that was made worse by the light.

“It is true, we have no idea how Cassandra’s blood will interact with your vampiric nature.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she snapped, and began pacing.
 

“You don’t know if you can be vampire and sorcerer?” Richard watched her, only his eyes moved, tracking her progress.

“I look in a mirror and see my face, but someone, something, else is looking out at me. I’m not alone in my own skin or mind anymore,” she answered with a sigh, not sure why she was opening up to a man she’d just met, but he was easy to talk to. “Everyone looks at me differently, as if I’m an intriguing puzzle to be figured out, perhaps a precious object to be wrapped up and stored for fear of breaking. The only other alternative is that I am something else, some
thing
to be feared and given a wide berth.”

“For now you are all those things. In time you will regain much of what you believe you’ve lost,” Richard said.
 

“In time?” She paused and rubbed her temples. Taking a deep breath, Morgan looked at Richard again. “What if I don’t have that kind of time? What if I don’t care about learning?” She met his eyes with her haunted gaze, and her expression twisted with pain. “What if I just want my life back? I have this thing inside me that I may, or may not learn to control, and it could kill me if I’m not careful.”
Hell, it is killing me as we speak. I can feel it. It’s just a matter of time, and no matter what we do, nothing can stop it. I guess that’s what it means to feel mortal.