Dying to Date (11 page)

“After you,” Tarian said, holding the door open for her.

“Thanks.” She stepped out into the night and wished it held its usual comfort. Instead she wrapped her arms around herself and headed for the car.

They nearly reached it when a child’s scream cut through the night followed by the smell of burning rubber and the squeal of tires skidding against the asphalt.

“Tarian,” she said, but he was already gone, running across the parking lot.

Melissa hesitated. She was alone. For the first time in days, no one watched her. She could use her speed to run as fast and as far as she could and never look back. Tarian might not be able to track her. She’d be free.

But that child’s cry sliced through her mind. What if she could help?

A human life,
her inner voice whispered.
What is that compared to yours?

Melissa turned to look out over the flat plains around her. It’d be so easy, so simple. This was her chance to escape. She could leave behind the necromancer that challenged her beliefs and made her life far more complicated than it should have been. This was her chance to run and escape, not only her pursuers but also the looming choices she was going to have to make about Tarian. If she left now, she’d never have to fight her attraction for him again. She’d never have to contemplate the ramifications of yielding to that pulsing, ever present desire.

Instead her feet turned in the direction Tarian had run.

Fool
, she thought even as she raced to the road. What she saw when she arrived, however, stopped her cold.

The human child was unharmed. She sat at Tarian’s side with tears streaming down her face. In Tarian’s hands lay a small furry shape.

Melissa sighed as she realized it was only a dead cat. It had probably caught the wrong end of a car and ended up splattered over the dusty road.

“No,” the child moaned, reaching out to stroke her pet. “No, no, no.”

Melissa walked closer as the urgency drained from her body. She was about to call out Tarian’s name when he raised his hand.

Magic played over her skin. It brushed against her with a gentle touch that sent a shiver up her spine. Though her instinct was to fight it off, the power swirled around her without posing any threat.

Tarian dragged his finger through the cat’s fur and before her eyes, the dead animal inhaled.

Both she and the child jumped in amazement.

“Take her straight to the vet,” Tarian ordered in a low voice. “She has a lot of internal damage. Do you understand me?”

The little girl nodded solemnly.

“All right.” He picked up the mewing cat and placed her in the child’s arms. “Run,” he said. “She doesn’t have much time.”

“Thanks,” the human lisped before jetting off along the dark street.

Tarian watched the child go before turning his head in her direction.

At his dark expression Melissa took a step back despite herself. His magic still curled through the air, reaching out to her as if waiting for permission to pounce. Though she was unused to being cast in the role of prey and not predator, Melissa held completely still as she waited for him to get a handle on his magic. She hadn’t been making idle threats the first night they’d been together. If he used his powers against her, she would fight tooth and nail to escape him.

The spell snapped when Tarian dragged a hand down his face. Magic recoiled from her, flooding back to its source.

“Sorry.” His voice was rough. “Power high.”

After her intoxication the night before she could relate to the drawbacks of using one’s abilities. Still, she waited as he got to his feet and started toward her.

“I thought you would have run,” he said when he got close enough.

“And you would have to spend the night tracking me down.”

“Something like that.”

She gazed past his shoulder at the small figure running in the distance. “I wanted to help.”

“She wasn’t hurt.”

“Not physically.”

He nodded. “The animal’s spirit was clinging to life. It didn’t want to leave its mortal.” Tarian shrugged. “It cost me nothing to buy it more time.”

“You couldn’t heal it?”

He shook his head, reaching her at last. “My power is over the dead, not the living. I tied the spirit to the body for a brief window, but without human intervention the animal will die. If the vet is good, the damage will be repaired before my magic wears off. The cat will live, and hopefully, the child will think twice about running across a road.”

“You just saved a life, even if only a small one. This isn’t something to shrug away.”

A wry smile twisted his lips. “You see me as death,” he whispered. “But the act I just committed is one I’ve repeated a thousand times before. My powers can work both ways, Melissa. For good or for evil, just like any other person’s abilities.”

He walked away from her, back toward the car.

She should follow him, but she couldn’t shake the miraculous scene she’d just witnessed. A being who should be dead was alive because of Tarian’s intervention. An intervention he didn’t see as anything out of the ordinary.

We see them only as threats,
she realized. But their powers opened the possibility of so much more. Tonight a necromancer had offered joy and comfort, not death and destruction.

After seven hundred years, Tarian still didn’t see his mercy as anything worthy of a second glance.

But she did.

Trailing after him, she studied his shadowed figure. Her life would be so much easier if Tarian would stop showing her unexpected facets of himself that she’d never hoped to find.

And stop filling her mind with thoughts no vampire should harbor about her enemy.

…

This hotel was by far the nicest they’d stayed in. Flicking on the lights, Melissa took in the double beds and white sheets. Everything was clean and crisp, definitely an improvement over the last couple places they’d stayed.

“I’m taking a shower,” Tarian said.

She arched a brow. “Not worried I’ll run?”

“Not anymore,” he replied, closing the bathroom door behind him.

Melissa let herself fall backward onto the closest bed. The last few hours of their drive had been silent. Not that she’d minded. Unlike the first night, it was not an uncomfortable quiet. Besides, she’d appreciated the extra time to sort through the revelations swimming in her mind.

She’d never really thought about the kind of life necromancers were forced to live. Never even imagined that they’d have a reason to protest their treatment. It shamed her that she’d held balls and fundraisers for every human rights charity in New York, and not once had she thought about the prejudices and disparities in her own community.

The sound of running water filled the air as she contemplated her next move. Tarian was keeping her close in order to help his cause when they reached the city, but maybe she could be more than merely a witness that not all necromancers were evil.

Crawling across the bed she reached for the phone on the nightstand. This time Tarian had been too preoccupied to strip their room of anything technological. With her companion occupied, this could be her only chance to contact her family. She wasn’t going to waste it.

Luckily she’d never gotten used to the modern cell phone world with programmed numbers instead of good old-fashioned address books. The numbers of those most important to her were branded in her mind.

Her fingers paused over the keys as she debated who to call. Lucian would be impossible to calm over the phone but luckily for her, he now came attached at the hip to a far more serene mate.

The line rang as she waited for Abbey to pick up. Leaving a voicemail would be less than ideal.

“Hello?” Abbey said as the call connected. She sounded tired, and Melissa winced at the time.

“Abbey,” she said. “Hi.”

The sounds of scrambling movements and rustling covers met her ears.

“Melissa?” Abbey demanded, her voice high-pitched. “Where are you? Are you all right? We’ll come get you.”

“No, listen. I’m fine. I’m on my way home right now. We should be there in two nights or so.”

There was a pause. “We?”

“That’s the other reason I’m calling,” she said. “When I get to town I need to introduce Lucian to someone, and I need you to prep him on the idea so father doesn’t rip him limb from limb.”

“Does this have anything to do with Tarian’s mysterious disappearance?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she lied. The last thing she wanted was for Lucian to hunt down Tarian’s home and discover his sister living within the city limits. “But I need you to start promoting the idea that not all necromancers are evil.”

Abbey snorted. “I have an infinitely slim chance of accomplishing that.”

“I’ve seen the way Lucian looks at you,” she replied. “You can convince him of anything.”

“Why should I? You can’t tell me they aren’t behind the kidnapping.”

“Look, the people who took me don’t stand for the whole group. Someone else is helping me and it’s…challenging a lot of my previous beliefs.”

“That’s all well and good of you to have an open mind, but you have no idea the hell Lucian and I have gone through since you left.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I would never have put you in that situation if I had a choice.”

“Be prepared for a whole army of bodyguards when you’re home,” Abbey said.

“Fine, but one problem at a time. Will you make sure Lucian is home two nights from now? We’ll probably be in early, so I doubt he’ll need to take the whole night off.”

“If you think he’s not going to yell at you and threaten to destroy the necromancers for ten hours straight, you really don’t have much concept of what’s been going on here.”

She groaned. “Fair enough. I’ll come up to the apartment as soon as we hit the city.”

“With your friend.”

“My rescuer,” she stressed. “Father is not allowed to remove his head the second he steps through the door.”

“I make no promises,” Abbey said, her voice growing serious. “This situation is not okay, Melissa, and I’m not going to try and convince Lucian it is.”

“I get that. Tell father I love him. I’ll be home soon.”

“Stay safe.”

Melissa hung up the phone as she battled a pang of homesickness. How she wished she could just take a plane and not have to worry about showing up on Dominic’s radar again.

“Finished?”

She turned to see Tarian stepping from the bathroom. Not only was he still fully clothed, his hair wasn’t the least bit damp.

“You were testing me,” she sighed. “Seriously?”

“I wanted a sense of how this would play out when we reached the city, yes.”

“Hope you got what you wanted.”

“Somewhat.” He glanced at his watch. “Get under the covers, Melissa. We cut it too close today.”

Dawn already called to her, reminding her of her limitations. She kicked off her shoes and slid into her bed. Tarian walked over to draw the curtains and ensure she was protected from the sun.

“What happens when we reach New York?” she asked.

He sat on the edge of her bed, placing a hand on either side of her body as he leaned closer. “What do you mean?”

“Say this plays out exactly the way you are hoping. Do we shake hands and go our separate ways?”

His blue eyes flashed in the dim light. “What’s the alternative?”

“I don’t know.”

He studied her for a long moment in silence. “Would you regret never seeing me again, Melissa?”

It was her turn to think. There was no denying the complications of a necromancer lover, but the man she’d learned about tonight was one she’d lament losing.

“Yes.” The word hung in the air between them. One that opened possibilities they’d both been trying their best to ignore.

There was no joy in his eyes at her confession, and she understood why. It didn’t really matter what they wanted in the grand scheme of things. Not when the safety of their people had to come first.

Reaching out a finger, he traced the curve of her cheek. “Walking away from you will be the hardest thing I’ve done in centuries.”

The edges of the curtain glowed with the rise of the sun, and Melissa fought to keep her eyes open, wanting to see more of the tenderness she read on his face. Had anyone ever looked at her with such longing? She couldn’t remember. Couldn’t think of any man she’d been with before Tarian. He eclipsed all challengers without even trying.

“Sleep,” he said, pulling up the cover. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

Tomorrow. Her last full night with him. Whatever decisions they might make about their fate, tomorrow was the time to make them.

Her eyes slipped closed as Tarian settled the covers over her head. One more night with her maddening man.

Perhaps the last one they’d ever share together.

Chapter Eleven

Every instinct in his body screamed at once. Tarian shot awake, scanning the room for threats. Nothing so far, but it wouldn’t stay that way.

He launched himself out of the bed as he checked his watch. Sunset would come soon, but not soon enough. Melissa was still dead to the world.

For a moment he debated waiting the few minutes it would take her to wake but knew they didn’t have that kind of time. Grabbing the covers, he ripped them off the bed and looked down at his companion.

She looked peaceful in sleep. Completely unaware that their enemies were creeping closer with every passing second.

“Forgive me,” he said as he pulled her up and slung her over his shoulder, fireman style. Abandoning the bag with their changes of clothes and toiletries, Tarian opened the door and glanced down the hallway. Empty. For now.

Some might accuse him of being paranoid, but he felt the familiar itch in his mind of a necromancer moving closer. He didn’t know how the hell Dominic had managed to track them, but he wasn’t waiting around to find out.

Pulling the door closed behind him, he jogged down the hall. Elevators were out. There was no telling who’d be waiting when the doors opened.

He paused to check one of the fire evacuation plaques stapled into the wall and located the nearest stairwell.

Melissa shifted on his shoulder, life infusing slowly into her body.

“Hold on, sweetheart,” he murmured as he set off for the stairs.

He rounded the corner just as his powers flared. Whoever was after them, they’d stepped onto their floor.

Tarian crashed into the stairwell and started running down the stairs. Just their luck that they’d stayed on the very top floor.

“Tarian?” He heard a sleepy voice say.

“I’m here,” he replied, smoothing a hand over the back of her legs as he jogged to the next landing.

“What the— Tarian Drake set me down this instant!”

He heard the indignation and smiled. “Just a sec.” Gripping her tightly, he allowed her to slip down his body and back to the ground.

Melissa blinked up at him, her eyes cloudy with sleep. “Want to tell me why I was over your shoulder and not in a nice soft bed?”

“Dominic found us,” Tarian replied. He looked up the twisting stairs to make sure no one had come after them. “I don’t know how he did it, but just before sunset I felt the presence of necromancers moving closer.”

“You can GPS your own people?”

“Yes.” He caught her hand and pulled her down the stairs.

“Seriously? Can all you guys do that?”

“No,” he replied. “I have skills others of my kind do not.”

“Because you’re a ridiculously old man?”

He shot her a glare. “With age comes power.” They took the stairs two at a time.

“Okay, so tell me you’ve got a master plan,” Melissa asked, not even panting as she ran to keep up with his pace.

“‘Don’t get seen’ is pretty much the extent of it so far.”

“Elegant,” she mocked. “But it beats the alternative. You realize if they use their necromancer mojo on me I won’t be immune.”

“Trust me, your liability had occurred to me.” If only he’d managed to get the damn rield away from Dominic back at the ranch. It didn’t escape him that he was fighting to protect a woman who would come at him with fangs and claws if any of his kin commanded her to.

“Anything in your bag of tricks to stop me from being influenced?” she asked as they rounded another corner.

“I already told you I can’t make another rield on short notice.”

“Then don’t let me walk back into Dominic’s clutches, okay?”

He wasn’t immune to the thin thread of doubt in her voice. Pausing, he twirled her into his arms and forced her face up to his. “Dominic is never getting near you again,” he vowed.

A soft smile lit her face. “Good to know,” she replied before baring her fangs. “Not that I’m without my own talents.”

“Try not to kill anyone,” he said. “I probably have a distant cousin or two in the crowd.”

Melissa pouted. “How about I promise not to not try to kill the bastards who kidnapped me?”

“Melissa,” he warned.

“Fine,” she capitulated with a sigh. “No mortal wounds if I can help it.”

“Thank you.” He kissed her quickly before twining his fingers through hers and pulling her once again down the stairs.

They practically flew down the flights as they raced for the ground. Finally the door to the lobby appeared before them.

Tarian gestured for her to stay back as he inched toward the door. She pressed her body against the wall as she waited to see if the exit was guarded.

With a last glance to ensure she was out of the way, Tarian eased the door open an inch.

The lobby came into view, as did the angry glare of the necromancer guarding the door.

He jumped back as the guard kicked the door open and burst into the stairwell.

Protect Melissa,
he thought, his powers already flooding through his body. Tarian stepped forward, ready to take on the guard, when Melissa flashed out of the corner of his eye.

The slight vampire dealt a sharp blow to the back of the guard’s neck then proceeded to catch him when his eyes rolled back into his head.

Without a word she pulled the man behind the door before letting him drop, none too gently.

“Well, that was simple,” she said, dusting off her hands.

A slow smile curved Tarian’s lips. “I had it handled.”

She shrugged. “I had it handled more. Are you going to go all he-man on me and tell me I should have waited for yet another rescue?”

Satisfaction filled him. “No,” he replied. “I quite like that you don’t need me to play your knight in shining armor at all times.”

Her wide grin made him feel like he’d just said the exact right thing.

“Vampire males would have berated me for taking a risk.”

“I’m not a vampire,” he replied. How many times over the years had he protected someone who should have been able to do the job themselves? That would never be a worry with Melissa.

“So you don’t mind that I might not need you all the time?”

He shrugged. “What sort of idiot would take issue with your ability to defend yourself?”

Her lips parted in surprise before joy washed over her features. Gripping his jacket, she pulled herself up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Tarian groaned, knowing he should push her away. This wasn’t the time or place. But Melissa had never made the first move before. His arms wrapped around her as he took one selfish minute to revel in her touch.

“We don’t have time for this,” he whispered against her lips.

“I know.” She slid back down to the ground. “But tonight I think we should stop driving earlier.”

It took his brain a moment to process what she’d just said. When he did, fire roared through his blood. “Yes?”

She nodded. “Provided we survive, of course.”

“Oh sweetheart, you’ve just given me quite a powerful reason to live.” With a last, quick kiss, he pushed her behind him and reached for the door.

The lobby spread out before them, empty of everyone except the boy on reception.

Perfect,
he thought. They just needed to get out and find the car. Once they were on the road, Dominic wouldn’t catch them twice.

Melissa’s hands pressed against his back as she leaned forward to peer over his shoulder. Her scent wrapped around him, a mix of floral hotel shampoo and something uniquely her.

“Is it clear?” she whispered in his ear.

He bit back a growl. Escaping from his family with a damn hard-on had not been in the cards.

“Looks clear. We should—”

“Wait.” Melissa’s fingers curled into him. “There.”

He saw exactly what had caused her to stop him. Dominic strode into view, his salt-and-pepper hair unmistakable.

Tarian glanced around the simple lobby and knew there was no way to escape without his grandfather spotting them.

“Any ideas?” she breathed into his ear.

He was about to say no when a second shape emerged from the hallway.

“Yes,” he replied, power coursing through him. Usually he needed to be close to use his magic against his fellow necromancers, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

His eyes slid closed, tension knotting his shoulders, as he focused on the second guard. Magic flowed from him, caressing along Melissa’s skin as it asked if she was the one meant to be influenced.

Leave her alone,
he whispered to himself.
Trap the guard.

Power flowed into the lobby, pooling around the hapless soldier.

When Tarian opened his eyes, he was seeing Dominic from a different angle.

“They’ve been spotted at the west end,” he said, his voice rougher and deeper than it should have been.

Dominic turned to stare at him, or rather the guard. “Are you sure?” he demanded.

“Absolutely, sir. He still has the girl.”

“Then let’s go.” Dominic took off down the hall, and Tarian pulled back his magic as the guard turned to do the same thing.

West end,
he told the guard.
The traitor is hiding over there.

Tarian stifled a groan as his magic boomeranged back into his body. Melissa was there, her arms wrapped around him in support.

“Want to tell me what just happened?” she asked.

“Later,” he replied. By the time he got this vampire back to New York he’d have no secrets from her. The thought, however, wasn’t as alarming as it would have been days past. “We need to run.”

Catching her hand, he pulled her across the whitewashed floor toward the glass double doors.

Night had fallen by the time they burst from the hotel. A quick scan showed only two necromancers patrolling the parking lot. One more than he’d be able to control at once.

“Still want to show off your fancy vampire skills?” he asked.

Melissa glanced at him. “What were you thinking?”

“If you can incapacitate that one,” he said, pointing to the furthest guard, “I can control the other.”

“Deal.” She was gone without another word.

Tarian watched in surprise as the guard he’d indicated went down in a soundless attack. He hadn’t even seen her move. Vampires were deadly creatures, he’d seen that first hand, but Melissa’s bloodthirstiness had a certain elegance that brought a smile to his face.

A smile that disappeared when she took down the second guard instead of staying hidden.

“Melissa,” he hissed, racing across the parking lot.

He found her dragging the second guard next to the first.

“What?” she asked. “He didn’t see his friend go down, so as long as I stayed on his blind side there was no chance of him controlling me.”

The desire to shake her made his fingers twitch. “It was an unnecessary risk.”

“It was my call,” she snapped back. “And it went off without a hitch. The appropriate response is, ‘Thank you my lovely, brilliant vampire. I’d be lost without you.’”

Staring at her grinning like a loon while kneeling next to two unconscious necromancers caused a curious pang to snake through him. He just might be lost without her.

“Come on,” he said, unlocking the car. “Let’s get out of here before Dominic realizes we’re not in the west end of this place.”

Melissa made no protest, and within minutes they were jetting off onto the road.

“Think they’ll be able to follow us?” Melissa asked. She turned to look back at the hotel, as it grew smaller in his rearview mirror.

“I’m sure Dominic won’t be giving up, but we’ll just stick to the smaller rural roads.”

“How’d they find us this time?”

He shook his head, unable to answer her. Dominic had many talents but tracking wasn’t one of them. “I have no idea,” he said truthfully.

“Good thing you’ve got crazy, these-aren’t-the-droids-you’re-looking-for powers.” She flopped back into her seat and fastened her eyes on him. “Let’s talk about that, shall we?”

Tarian groaned. He’d never be able to convince her she hadn’t seen what she’d seen, but the answers Melissa was searching for were ones he’d only intended to share with his mate.

And that’s not her,
he told himself. Fate wouldn’t have been cruel enough to pair him with a woman he could never have. Not permanently.

And he wouldn’t be stupid enough to fall for a vampire who was far too young and naive to ever be what he needed.

It’s just lust. We both just need a night to get each other out of our systems.

Even as he assured himself, the words felt hollow. Tarian wasn’t sure there was anything he could do to scrub Melissa from his mind.

Nor was he sure he even wanted to.

…

“Tarian?” she asked. The seriousness in his eyes was unnerving. What was running through his mind?

“Did it ever occur to you I wouldn’t want to share all my innermost secrets with a woman I—”

He stopped, but she could fill in the blanks. With a woman he might never see again after tomorrow night.

Melissa turned to the window, her excitement over their escape fading away at the reality of their situation. She’d read the articles. Relationships between people brought together by stress or extreme circumstances rarely lasted. Added to that, they were both looking for their intended mates.

The idea of Tarian finding his, of smiling at some other woman, loving her, made her fangs ache. But there was no use hiding from the truth. Tarian wasn’t hers. Their romance came with a time limit.

It didn’t stop her from wanting to know him.

She leaned her head back against the seat rest. Never before had she felt obliged to share intimate details about herself with a partner, nor had she pried into a lover’s past. She’d lived by the unspoken immortal rule that the past was off-limits for all but the most serious of connections.

Now, however, the idea of opening herself up to someone didn’t fill her with the usual dread. Tarian wasn’t a man she felt the need to keep at arm’s length anymore. In fact, he was the first to ever inspire this desire to share.

She wanted to learn about his powers, but more so, she wanted to know about his life before he came into her world. It was selfish to expect such closely guarded secrets without offering up a few of her own.