Run the Gantlet (10 page)

Did Caitriona stil pine for her lover? If only she knew what had real y happened.
But I cannot allow her to live to find out.
Darragh drew a deep breath.

Much was at stake here.

“Shut up, the two of you.” Both women looked at her in anger yet Darragh knew neither would strike out at her as they were both scared of her. Fools. Their combined power could destroy her.
Why did I ever align myself with such harpies?
Darragh knew the answer. She had needed both of them at the time to rid Caitriona of her lover. “There are two more tests that this Gaunt woman and her lover must go through.” It was al to do with love and fidelity. So like Caitriona to mutter those words to the heavens before she died. They had then been handed faithful y handed down through the generations.

“So?” Finel a waited for more.

Stupid woman. It was obvious to Darragh. “So we issue the tests instead of Caitriona. We make them believe it’s al over and done with.”

Sineag rol ed her eyes in contempt. “To what point?”

You will be the first one I will gladly destroy and take power from
. Darragh had always been suspicious of Sineag’s part in the death of Caitriona. “To split up the vampire and woman.”

“How?”

In some ways Finel a was too stupid to kil . But the stupid and the helpless needed to die as they were of no use to anyone. “Vampires are about sex and—”

“Another woman.” Sineag smiled, a row of rotting teeth on display.

I must watch Sineag.
“Yes, one Arrow cannot resist.”

“I can do it. I have done it before.” Sineag’s eyes were wild with excitement. “I was the one, after al , who took the vampire from Caitriona.” She looked quite pleased at the thought.

Sineag was an expert in morphing into any image she chose. Darragh had to admit she had been very good a making Caitriona believe her lover was with another. “Yes, you were good.”

“She’s a slut,” Finel a pronounced in disgust. There was no love lost between any of them.

“Jealous cow.” Sineag looked like she could not care less about her opinion. “Just because no man has ever wanted you.

“Enough!” If only Darragh could al ow them to tear each other apart. But now was not the time. She needed them a little bit longer. “We have to concentrate or we are doomed.” Although the other two women did stop bickering, Darragh knew if she turned her back on them they would destroy her. “We wil give these tests. They have to revolve around what is important to lovers—faith, loyalty and commitment.”

Finel a grimaced in distaste. “Why couldn’t Caitriona just have died like any normal person?”

“Because she wasn’t.” Caitriona had also been special even for a mortal. Now that she was back, her powers were unknown. A lot could happen after lying dormant for one thousand years. Death was not always an ending.

“And you didn’t help things, taking her man,” Finel a snapped at both of them. “I never agreed to that plan. He was a vampire. He would have left her as they al do. None of them is faithful to anything but sex.”

Sineag snorted, “You do not known them as I do. Besides, her lover was weak and I was too beautiful for him to resist.” She stroked her long gray hair as if it were silk.

“If Caitriona finds out it was you who took him, you’l die first.”

Although Finel a may be the weaker of the two of them, Darragh knew she was smart enough to realize that after one thousand years, Caitriona had powers that they could only guess about. Darragh walked away from the squabbling women. This had to end quickly. The longer Caitriona was alive, the harder it would be to get rid of her. Her kinsman woman Eloise appeared to be headstrong and unthinking. Besides that, she wanted the “tests” of faith over and done with. Her impatience would work in their favor.

The speeding car was almost upon them when Eloise reacted by grabbing Arrow’s arm and pul ing him back against her as he went to step off the curb.

He had been so absorbed in looking at her that he had not see it. The car hurtled by, missing them both by mere inches.

“Bloody hel .” Arrow turned to see the car roar off in the distance.

Even though he was an immortal being, the thought that anything could happen to him had made her hold on extra tight to Arrow. “You have to be more careful, fang face.”

He lifted one hand and stroked her face. “You saved my life, shorty.”

Eloise knew she had to get to get a grip. That had to have been a test and that meant whatever this whole thing was between them was coming to an end.

Whatever happened, she had to prepare herself for possible disappointment. “Not real y. You’re immortal, you can’t die.” But she could and even if they were meant to be together, what sort of togetherness would that be with her aging and him not? Eloise knew she would not want Arrow to be with her out of pity and she did not want to be one of those mutton-dressed-as-lamb women trying to relive her youth to fit in.

“I may be, but being hit by a car would have hurt like hel .” Arrow’s eyes pondered the look in hers. “What?”

Eloise pushed away from him. It was hard to think with so much hot, male flesh at her beck and cal .

“Even if we believed this whole crazy thing about being soul mates—”

“If?” Arrow sounded as if it were not possible to think otherwise.

“Yes ‘if’.” One of them had to be practical and it had to be her. Eloise was the one who lived a real life where people lived and died and got kil ed by out-of-control cars. “How can any of this between us be real and forever when your concept of eternity and mine are completely different? I’m not immortal. I am going to age. You’re not going to want to stick around me then.”

“So what? Better to push me away now?”

“Yes.” There was no point sugarcoating it. Reality was rarely ever frosted with cinnamon.

“Listen up, Eloise Gaunt, I am unpushable.” Arrow pul ed her close once more. “Have you ever read the words that Caitriona spoke?”

“Listen up Eloise Gaunt, I am unpushable.” Arrow pul ed her close once more. ”Have you ever heard the words that Caitriona spoke?”

Until that moment, it had never occurred to Eloise to ask the exact wording mainly because hearing it would make it too real. “No, my Uncle McManus told me the story and to watch out for you because you would be trouble.”

Arrow grinned. “Me? Trouble? Come on, we’ve had fun, haven’t we?”

Arrow grinned. “Me? Trouble? Come on, we’ve had fun, haven’t we?”

Yes, they had, but fun was not a constant in real life. “You’re immortal.”

“Until we pass the last test.”

Eloise jerked forward in his arms. “What?”

“Your uncle obviously never told you that when soul mates meet and become one each must give up something,” Arrow explained. “Caitriona’s dying words were recorded by a priest. They were in Gaelic of course but the translation goes something like this.
Although I may pass from this world at the
betrayal of a treasonous lover, I decree that in one thousand years a kinswoman will meet the one who is straight and true. I will be avenged when all
seven tests between a Gaunt and vampire are done. Only through the love of true souls giving up what makes them solitary can I be made whole.”

Eloise felt a shiver run down her spine. “Did you make that up?” She wanted to believe he had but she knew he was speaking the truth.

Arrow shook his head in amusement. “Would I do that?” He curled an arm around her shoulder as they started to walk. “Come on, stop being so suspicious. You’ve heard Caitriona yourself.”

That was true. It sounded like something a dying, pissed-off woman would say.

“So I wil ingly give up my immortality for you, shorty.”

“You would?” The idea was mind-boggling. Most people would kil for immortality yet here Arrow was ready to toss it aside like an old shoe. “But you would be human and die.”

“I want be with you.”

“But what if we’re not real y soul mates?” Arrow’s laughter echoed with the sound of incredulity. “We may not be.” More laughter fol owed. “Okay, so what do I, a mere mortal, have to give up?” Eloise had nothing of any worth that she could see.

“You give up fighting the inevitable and admit that I am the only man who can possibly understand and love you. You need me, shorty.”

That al sounded so simple and neat but life was never that way. Besides, she wasn’t about to give away any more of herself than she already had. “So we have one test left.” If she focused on that, then at least that would give her time to think about the whole soul-mate thing and whether she wanted to be stuck with a reformed vampire.

“Yes we do.” Arrow leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you, Eloise.”

She gulped.
If only I could believe that
. It might make the jumble of thoughts inside her mind even out and be easier to handle. This was al happening too fast and making hasty declarations in the heat of a moment was not wise. “You don’t have to say that.” It was probably something soul mates felt obliged to say. Up until this moment, Eloise did not believe in the hype of the one perfect person for everyone. The marry-for-five-seconds-and-then-divorce rate proved that was a crock.

“I say it because I mean it.”

Eloise placed her hands on his chest. Arrow’s heartbeat was true and strong, just like the man. She shook her head in wonder.
Just like the man
?
How
do I know him so well after so little time together?
“Let’s just get through test seven and see how we feel after that.”

“You can’t hide from this anymore, shorty.”

“I’m not hiding I’m, er, assessing my options.” Same thing but Eloise wasn’t about to admit that.

Arrow laughed at her distinction. “You are beautiful.” He hugged her to his side. “What do you want to do today?”

“I should be at work.” None of this was real and yet reality never felt more so.

“I don’t think Mesopia wil care. It‘s not like there’s been a rush on yak snot.”

“It’s yak spit from Tibet.” Not that it mattered. Mucous was mucous no matter what fancy label was put on it.

“Come on.” Arrow nudged his hip against hers. “If you could pick anywhere in the world you could be right now, where would it be?”

I just want to be with you
. “I need to go grocery shopping.” It was better to be rational and practical. Wandering off to exotic climes with the hot vampire was not good if he was not in it for the long haul, and al the pretty words and orgasms in the world could not convince her he was. Wanting and being were completely different.

“Hmm, not what I had in mind.”

“Have you never been to a supermarket? How do you get food?” Eloise knew he needed blood to sustain him, but how did Arrow eat and where? In some ways she felt as if she had known him forever yet little things escaped her.

“I eat when I’m hungry and I just spin off somewhere exotic and get something I fancy.”

Eloise snorted. “Wel , that’s al going to stop if you become mortal.”

“It’s ‘when’, shorty, and I wil gladly give up whatever I have to in order to be with you. I have heard about grocery shopping but never indulged.”

Indulged? There was nothing indulgent about it. “I have to warn you that people who shouldn’t drive cars let alone wheel trol eys of food, are let loose in a maze to hunt food.” It was not something Eloise ever looked forward to doing.

“But that could be fun.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t blame me when someone runs over your foot with a wonky wheel.”

“A what?” Arrow’s eyes were ful of amusement.

Eloise stopped and looked at him. “Oh come on. You’ve been alive seven hundred years and you don’t know that al supermarket trol eys are deliberately made with crooked wheels to keep you longer in the store to buy crap you didn’t need?”

“Show me, shorty.”

That look he gave her made her knickers smolder. “You have much to learn, fang face.”
And I have decisions to make.

* * * * *

“When there is a red-light special on in the bakery section, people wil maim you to get one dol ar off bread.”

“Do you need bread? I’m prepared to do battle with those women.” Of course Arrow had seen these large, ugly, generic shopping mal s in his travels, but he had always chosen to bypass them as they appeared to be tedious and provincial. He had not been aware that under the harsh lighting, seemingly normal mortals became crazed hunters ready to maim for what they wanted. Arrow gripped the handle of the trol ey and was ready to do anything Eloise requested, wonky wheel and al .

“That’s sweet of you but I‘l pass.” Eloise dropped a jar of Vegemite in the trol ey and looked to her left. “Who is that woman?”

“I have no idea.” Arrow knew exactly who Eloise was referring to. He had seen the blonde ten minutes ago. It had been impossible not to. The woman was wearing a tight mini-skirted red dress that left very little to the imagination. That she wore no bra under her tight tank top indicated she wanted attention.

Maybe once Arrow would have given it to her but not now. Eloise was the only woman he desired. “What?” He saw the look Eloise gave him. It was one of confusion.

“The way she’s looking at you makes me think she knows you.”

And that was the thing. Arrow felt he did know her, that she was connected to the supernatural world and not of the mortal trol ey-set. “I do not know her nor do I want to.” The flaunted charms of the blonde could not compete with the quirky peasant Gothic beauty of Eloise. But he had to wonder why she was staring at him so intently. It was clearly a come-and-take-me look. Arrow had been on the receiving end of many of those. But why so obvious especial y as he was with another woman?

“She is gorgeous.”

The dul tone of Eloise’s voice caught at Arrow. Surely she did not think he could ever be interested in this woman? What he had with Eloise was for life.