His Dark Embrace (14 page)
Chapter 14
Sky woke abruptly. Jackknifing into a sitting position, she glanced around the living room, relieved to see that it was morning. She had survived the night. She was safe until sundown.
Safe from Kaiden Thorne.
Scrambling to her feet, she grabbed her cell phone, called the airport, and booked a flight to Chicago. When that was done, she hurried up the stairs, threw a few things into a suitcase, changed her clothes, and drove to the airport.
Two hours later, she was airborne.
With a sigh, she closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. She had never cared for flying, but right now she was grateful for anything that would put a lot of miles between herself and Kaiden as quickly as possible.
She came awake to the sound of the flight attendant announcing that the weather in Chicago was a chilly forty-two degrees.
Feeling as though she was in a fog, Sky collected her luggage, stowed it in the trunk of her rental car, and left the airport.
And all the while, the words
Kaiden is a vampire
played through the corridors of her mind, over and over again.
Kaiden is a vampire
played through the corridors of her mind, over and over again.
It felt strange, climbing the stairs to her apartment. So much had changed in such a short time. Her view of the world and her place in it had shifted radically. If there were vampires, she shuddered to think of what else might be out there.
She nodded to old Mrs. Cranston as they passed each other on the stairs. Mrs. Cranston was an odd duck if ever there was one. Summer or winter, she wore men’s tennis shoes, broomstick skirts, brightly colored blouses, a long brown coat, and a floppy-brimmed straw hat adorned with a big purple flower.
Sky took a deep breath when she reached the landing. Hers was the only apartment on the third floor. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. The living room looked just as she had left it. Her blue jacket lay on the floor beside her snow boots, the heavy coat she had decided to leave behind was folded over the back of a chair. Her plants had withered; the furniture was covered with a fine layer of dust.
She dropped her suitcase beside the sofa and went into the kitchen. The words
Kaiden is a vampire
echoed through her mind while she watered the plants, dusted the furniture, vacuumed the rugs.
Kaiden is a vampire
echoed through her mind while she watered the plants, dusted the furniture, vacuumed the rugs.
Moving like a zombie, she went into the bedroom and began taking her clothes from the closet and laying them out on the bed.
Kaiden is a vampire.
The words continued to circle through her mind like a vulture over a fresh kill while she folded her clothes. She stuffed the essentials in a suitcase and put the rest of her things aside to be packed into boxes later. She cleaned out the bathroom shelves and drawers.
In the living room, she dropped onto the sofa and stared blankly at the floor. Maybe she shouldn’t go back to California. Maybe she should sell Granda’s house and stay here. She was pretty sure Mr. Laskey would let her have her old job back.
Kaiden is a vampire.
What, exactly, did that mean as far as she was concerned? And how did she really feel about it, deep down inside? The only word that came to mind was
scared
: totally, completely freaked out. It was her Halloween nightmare come true. Vampires existed. And if they existed, what about all the other monsters that Sam and Granda had assured her were just in fables and old wives’ tales? An odd question for a woman her age and yet, learning that Kaiden was a vampire had turned her world upside down. Maybe the sky wasn’t blue. Maybe the world wasn’t round. Maybe good didn’t always triumph over evil.
scared
: totally, completely freaked out. It was her Halloween nightmare come true. Vampires existed. And if they existed, what about all the other monsters that Sam and Granda had assured her were just in fables and old wives’ tales? An odd question for a woman her age and yet, learning that Kaiden was a vampire had turned her world upside down. Maybe the sky wasn’t blue. Maybe the world wasn’t round. Maybe good didn’t always triumph over evil.
Maybe she was going out of her mind.
She sat there for a long time, trying to decide what to do. She had a good job in Chicago, assuming Mr. Laskey would take her back. She had recently bought new drapes for her apartment. Her best friend was here. Harry was here, although that wasn’t necessarily a reason to stay.
She blew out a sigh of exasperation. Maybe she should just go back to California. You couldn’t beat the weather there. She loved that you could go to the beach and the mountains in the same day, that you could wear shorts all year long. If she stayed in Chicago, she would have to sell Granda’s house and that just seemed wrong. All of her best memories were there.
And Kaiden was there. She told herself that was a bad thing, but the truth was, she missed him. Even knowing what he was didn’t change that. Worse, she thought she might be seriously in love with him. Definitely a reason to stay in Chicago because, try as she might, she couldn’t see any way for her and Kaiden to have a life together.
Frustrated because she couldn’t decide what to do, she picked up her phone and ordered a pizza, a Caesar salad, and a soft drink for dinner, then went into the bathroom and took a nice, long shower, hoping it would clear her mind.
She was standing there, eyes closed, hot water flowing over her shoulders and down her back, when she heard Kaiden’s voice, softly entreating her to come home.
Expecting to see him standing behind her, she whirled around, her feet slipping on the wet tile as she tried to cover her nakedness with her hands.
Heart pounding with apprehension, she glanced around the room. It took her a moment to realize he wasn’t actually there, that the voice she had heard had come from
inside
her head. And how scary was that?
inside
her head. And how scary was that?
Skylynn, come home,
he had said.
Let’s talk about it.
he had said.
Let’s talk about it.
Talk about it? Yeah, right. What was there to say?
Hi, Kaiden, what’s your favorite blood type? Tasted anybody good lately?
Hi, Kaiden, what’s your favorite blood type? Tasted anybody good lately?
She lifted a hand to her throat as a horrible thought occurred to her. What if he had taken her blood?
Hands trembling, she turned off the taps, stepped out of the shower, and reached for her robe. In the bedroom, she sank down on the edge of the bed. Had Kaiden taken her blood? Was that why she’d had that awful dream about dying? Why she had dreamed that Kaiden was a vampire? Had she known, subconsciously, that he was feeding on her?
The very idea made her grimace with revulsion. How could he drink blood? What happened to the people he drank from? Did he kill them? Why hadn’t he killed her?
She cradled her head in her hands. If she didn’t think of something else soon, she was certain to have nightmares tonight.
It took her several minutes to realize someone was ringing the doorbell. Rising, she hurried into the living room. Kaiden had her so upset, she had forgotten all about the pizza she’d ordered earlier.
Calling, “Hold on, I’m coming!” she pulled a twenty from her wallet, opened the door, and felt all the blood drain from her face.
Kaiden stood in the hallway, balancing the pizza and salad boxes in one hand and holding a large Coke in the other.
“What are you doing here?” she exclaimed, hating the tremor in her voice.
“We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.” She shook her head. “Not now. I’m not ready. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.”
“Dammit, Skylynn, stop looking at me as if I was the big bad wolf. I’m not going to eat you.”
“But you have, haven’t you? You don’t have to answer. I can see the truth in your eyes.” Eyes that were thankfully a dark brown instead of red and glowing.
“Here.” He thrust the food at her. “Your pizza’s getting cold.”
Muttering “Thank you,” she kicked the door shut with her foot. Feeling light-headed, she carried everything into the kitchen and set it on the counter, then dropped into one of the kitchen chairs, her head spinning. Fat lot of good running away did, she thought bleakly. How had he found her? Foolish question. Where else would she have gone but back to Chicago?
He had taken her blood. According to vampire lore, he would now be able to find her no matter where she went. Did it also give him access to her thoughts? Was that how she had heard his voice in her head?
She propped her elbows on the table, her chin resting on her hands. Like a nightmare that wouldn’t end, it just got worse and worse.
Thorne stared at the closed door for several moments before he turned away. Well, what had he expected? That she would welcome him into her apartment with open arms? Intellectually, he had known that wouldn’t happen, but he had hoped she would at least let him explain. Of course, now that he thought about it, there really wasn’t much to say. He was a vampire and nothing could change that. Even McNamara’s miraculous potion hadn’t been able to accomplish it, though it had come close. So damn close.
Outside, Thorne glanced up and down the street and then, with no destination in mind, he began to walk. There had to be some way to reestablish communication with Skylynn, some way to get her to trust him again. Some way to get her back into his life.
Sky would never have discovered what he was if he could only have persuaded Paddy to give him the formula. If ... if... if.
After a time, he found himself in the business district. Most of the places were closed for the night, but piano music drifted from the open door of a small neighborhood bar. He paused in the doorway a moment and then went inside. Other than the bartender, there were only two people in the place—a gray-haired man sipping a glass of beer and a frowsy, red-headed woman who appeared to be dozing in one of the booths.
Thorne ordered a glass of wine, which he carried to a booth in the rear. He stared at the burgundy, his mind going back in time, back to the night he had saved Paddy McNamara’s life ...
It had been a cold night in January, a year or two after Thorne had returned to Vista Verde. He had been on the hunt when he heard a scuffle behind the old hospital on Mill Creek Road. Curious, he had gone to investigate and found two street toughs going through McNamara’s pockets. Never one to pass up a meal, Thorne had quickly hypnotized the two thugs and drank from both. And then, for a lark, he had ordered them to go to the police station and turn themselves in. Thorne had been about to leave when Paddy muttered a word that glued Thorne’s feet to the spot.
“Vampire.”
Thorne had whirled around, his only thought to wipe the incident from his neighbor’s mind.
Paddy held up one hand. “Before you kill me, Mr. Thorne, I think I can help you.”
“Help me? Help me what?”
“Do you like being a monster?” Paddy asked boldly.
“What do you know about it?”
The old man gained his feet and dusted himself off. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth, one eye was already swollen shut. “I’ve been doing some experimentation with an elixir to prolong life... .”
Thorne snorted. “That’s not something I need.”
Paddy shrugged. “I think, with a few modifications, I can restore your humanity.”
“You can make me human again?”
“Not exactly, but I think my formula might inhibit vampire tendencies. Wouldn’t you like to walk in the sun again? Enjoy a glass of cold beer on a hot day? Eat mortal food?”
Thorne rocked back on his heels, intrigued by the man’s offer. He hadn’t seen the sun or eaten solid food in centuries.
“So, what do you say?” Paddy asked. “Are you game to give it a try?”
Thorne shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He didn’t know what the old man was up to, but being a vampire wasn’t an illness that could be treated. Once a vampire, always a vampire. “You’d better go get those cuts stitched up.”
Paddy shrugged off Thorne’s concern. “I’ll be all right, thanks to you.”
“Suit yourself. If you want to stay healthy, you won’t tell anyone about me.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Thorne. I can keep a secret. If you change your mind, you know where I live.”
Thorne had thought about what McNamara said for several days. In the end, curiosity had sent him across the street and down to Paddy’s lab where he had endured numerous excruciating tests. The worst part had been letting Paddy secure him to a chair with thick silver chains while the old man conducted his experiments.
Thorne rubbed his wrists, remembering how the silver had burned through his clothing to his skin. It had taken years of tests, of trial and error, before Paddy came up with the right formula, but in the end, it had been worth it.
But that was all in the past. His problem now was how to restore Skylynn’s trust in him. And that, he thought, would take an even bigger miracle than the one McNamara’s potion had wrought.
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