Seduced by the Night (31 page)

He nodded to the adult
chupacabra
. "I came for her."

Fear for the creature lanced through her. "Please, you can't." Harris held up his hand, stanching her protests.

"I'm not going to hurt her. My interests in her are not the same as Patterson's or Burton's."

In the distance,
Lanie
heard Mac call her name. Her mind raced for some way to warn him of Harris's presence. The shouting grew louder and
Lanie
knew it was just a matter of seconds before he rounded the corner of the house and saw them.

"I'm not here to harm anyone," Harris said, as if reading her mind.

"Again, I don't believe you."

"I'm not the abomination you think I am." His gaze met hers and the look of sincerity there almost had her believing him. Then she heard Mac's approach and turned to shout a warning.

"Mac, be careful."

A rustle of leaves had her spinning back to face Harris, but he wasn't there. And neither was the adult
chupacabra
.

Are you sure you're not hurt?" the admiral asked, hovering over Julia like a mother hen. Despite everything they'd been through, watching the older man's clear affection for Julia made Bethany want to smile.

Julia shoved his hand aside when he brought a wet cloth up and tried to place it over the wounds in her neck, getting more water on her clothes than anything else. "Please, Charles. I assure you. I'm quite all right."

"But there's blood all over you."

"Yes, but as I've already told you, it's just a scratch really. The vampire bit me and then suddenly keeled over, dead. I mean, really dead."

"It's true," Bethany added. "I saw it."

She looked at Dirk who sat next to her at that table.

'There
was
a body out there that hadn't been staked, decapitated, or"—he cocked an eye at Bethany—"partially turned to stone. I can't explain it." Then he pinned the admiral with a look. "But I bet you can, can't you?"

Everyone turned to look at Admiral Winslow and, surprisingly, he looked embarrassed. Finally, giving up trying to help Julia, he raised his hands in defeat, placed the wet cloth on the kitchen counter, and took an empty seat at the table. "Back in the day of the Original Four, my family experimented with herbs until they created a hybrid that proved to be fatal should a vampire ingest it while drinking the blood of a human who had recently consumed this herb. It's one of the few
defenses
humans have against vampires, although it's not perfect. It's only effective for about twenty-four hours and, depending on the strength of the vampire, doesn't always work."

"But I've never taken anything," Julia pointed out, confused.

"I've been giving it to you." He had the decency to look embarrassed.

"How? I would have known." Then Julia narrowed her eyes at him. "The tea we've been drinking every morning?"

He nodded. "I couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to you and I couldn't think of any other way to protect you without telling you the truth, which, at the time, I couldn't do."

Julia smiled at him with such tenderness, Bethany knew the woman had already forgiven the admiral. "If that tea can kill vampires, perhaps everyone should be drinking it," she ventured.

Bethany saw the admiral sneak a sideways look at
Lanie
.

"Actually,"
Lanie
said, "everyone has already been taking the herb. I've been grinding it up and mixing it in with the coffee. It's not as strong that way, but we thought it might help."

"What?" Mac sounded alarmed. "Do you think that's a good idea?" He pinned
Lanie
with a look. "I remember the first time the admiral tested Dirk and me, to see if we were changelings. We drank some of his blood after he'd taken the herb, but that was only a drop of blood."

Lanie
blushed, but it was the admiral who responded to Mac's concern. "As long as you and Dirk are changelings and take only blood that is freely given, then the herb won't hurt you."

That answer seemed to satisfy the others, but left Bethany with a question. "If I've been protected against vampire bites this whole time—"

Dirk didn't let her finish. "The vampires after you aren't interested in biting you, Beth. They want to take you hostage and make you work for them."

"We may have another problem, now,"
Lanie
announced, glancing at Mac, who quietly nodded, encouraging her to proceed. "When I caught up to Gem, she was with the adult
chupacabra
. And she wasn't alone. Harris was with her."

"Great. Now he and Patterson can rebuild their mercenary army of vampires," Dirk said with disgust.

"We'll just have to find a way to stop them," Mac replied.

"But not tonight,"
Lanie
said, stifling a yawn. "I'm so tired, I can barely think straight." She and Mac stood and, picking up Gem, walked out of the room. Bethany watched them go, envious of the closeness the two shared.

"I think you should stay here," the admiral said to Julia.

"T
hank
you. I don't want to be an imposition but I would feel safer."

"No imposition at all," the admiral assured her. "I'll show you to a room."

They also walked out, leaving Bethany alone with Dirk. An uncomfortable silence fell.

"How did they find us?" Bethany asked after a while.

Dirk frowned. "It wouldn't have been that hard. Admiral Winslow used to be their CO., just as he was Mac's and mine. I'm sure they knew Mac and I were living here and they know I'm protecting you, so…" He paused. "Don't worry, Beth. They won't come back tonight. We killed most of the team that showed up and now they've lost the element of surprise." He gave her a comforting smile. "You should get some sleep."

"What about you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'll probably try to get some rest."

Together, they rose and went upstairs. At her door, she turned to Dirk, wondering—hoping—he'd kiss her, disappointed when he didn't.

"Good night, Beth."

"Good night." It came out little more than a whisper. She hurried into her room, closed the door behind her, and fell back against it, feeling more alone than she ever had before.

Images of vampires filled her head and she hurriedly flipped on the light switch, afraid of the dark for the first time in her life. It was going to be a long night.

Heaving a sigh, she pushed away from the door, pulled off her clothes, and took the fastest shower of her life. While the rational part of her mind accepted that she was safe, her imagination ran rampant. Leaving the lights on, she climbed into bed, but didn't stretch out. Instead, she leaned against the headboard, clutching her legs to her chest, waiting for sleep to claim her.

Every little noise haunted her and it wasn't long before her nerves were strung tight. After an hour, Bethany was so tired, she wanted to cry. There was only one way she was going to get any sleep at all.

Throwing back the covers, she crept to the door of her room, pressed her ear to it, and listened. No sounds came from the other side so she opened it and looked into the hallway. It was empty of vampires, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night.

She moved quickly to Dirk's door and softly tapped on it, not wanting to wake the entire household. When there was no answer, she considered going back to her room. Instead, she tried his doorknob and found it unlocked. Slowly, she opened it and slipped inside.

His room was dark but she could hear the sound of his steady breathing. He was asleep and the thought of waking him almost made her go back.

"What are you doing here?" His voice rumbled across the darkness.

"I… I couldn't sleep." He didn't say anything and her courage fled. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you." She backed toward the door, fumbling for the knob.

"Beth, come here." His voice was gentle, but firm as he held up the bedcovers and waited for her.

Ignoring the small voice of common sense that told her to return to her room, she hurried to the bed and climbed in beside him. Maybe this had been a mistake, she thought, lying so close to him that she felt his body heat reach out to envelop her.

"Relax," he whispered. "Close your eyes and go to sleep."

She wasn't sure she could, but even as she thought it, she grew drowsy.

Dirk listened to her breathing and knew the moment she fell asleep. He longed to touch her, though he hadn't, yet. He waited until he was sure she wouldn't wake up and then slipped from the bed.

He crossed the room and closed the window, still open from his late-night prowl. He locked it, now that there was no longer a need to sneak out and lurk on her balcony. Never before had the vampires come so close to the mansion. They were either daring or stupid. Either way, despite what he'd told Beth, Dirk didn't trust them not to try again.

Keeping watch on her balcony, it had been hard not to let his attention stray to the woman inside. He'd seen the fear in her eyes and regretted that he hadn't done a better job of protecting her. It had caught him off guard when she slipped out into the hallway. He'd had to move extra fast to make it back to his window, intending to slip into the hallway to follow her, never imagining that her destination was
his
room. He'd barely had time to slip under the covers and pretend to be asleep before she'd knocked and walked in.

He studied her now as she slept, feeling confused. Perhaps he'd been too hasty in judging her when he found the engagement ring. It was more likely something Miles had done—like the announcement. He knew, for a fact, that Miles had made no attempt to cancel it because he had called the paper himself. What he didn't know was why Miles refused to acknowledge it was over between him and Beth. That bothered Dirk the most. Maybe Miles wasn't ready to give up on Bethany, hoping that she'd change her mind after spending more time with Dirk. After all, Dirk couldn't possibly offer her what Miles could.

Such thoughts were destructive and they were taking their toll. Dirk was a man of action and he didn't like not knowing where he stood with Beth. One thing he knew for sure, though, was that he was tired of doing nothing. He'd never given up without a fight and he sure as hell wasn't going to do it now. Bethany wasn't indifferent to him and she'd turned to him when she was frightened. If he and Miles were fighting to win her heart, it had been a real setback for him not to believe her. He needed to have more faith in her. Starting tomorrow, things would be different. He may have lost a battle, but he was still in the war—and he was determined to win.