Vampire Coven Book 3: A Vampire's Embrace (10 page)

“But I’ll have chores to do, and I want to be with Ann.”

“You will be with Ann. It’s Saturday.”

“What’s Saturday?”

“Ice dwellers,” Rhett said and raised his eyes to the ceiling. “It’s the weekend. The breeder females have only one job all week. To play with their breeder males. If they have children they can also spend time with them. If they don’t want their males to touch them for the next two days then the males won’t. On the weekend, today and tomorrow, the breeder males and females take over chores. Often their little ones help.”

“I have two days of doing nothing?” Hope asked. “No eggs, no learning, nothing?”

“Nothing. Except to play and eat—and shower.”

“I don’t know how to shower.”

“I’m going to teach you.”

“Does it involve being naked?”

Rhett laughed at her. “Oh yeah.” Hope turned red. “How many men have you seen naked?”

“You.”

“Did Ben even show you his cock before he plundered you?”

“For a second. No, not really.”

She reddened and Rhett realized she remembered the law of no lying. Rhett brought her hand to his bare chest. Hope tried to pull away but he clasped her wrist firmly. “I won’t bite you.”

“Biting, isn’t that what vampires do?”

Touché.

“I won’t bite you this very minute.”

“You don’t even like me.”

Rhett thought about that. “I don’t like women. Well, actually, I like women very much for some things. I don’t like women who betray people.”

“Men betray just as easily.”

“I’ve never been betrayed by a man,” Rhett said. The emperor didn’t exactly betray him; he remained true to his devious nature. Even then, he paid for it with his life. Rhett always had a good chuckle remembering the expression on the man’s face as he killed him.

“Well, I have. You don’t know me, or don’t want to know me. You’ve already condemned me for who you think I am.” Hope snatched her hand away and glared at him. “Besides you needn’t worry about me. A vampire named Tate wants you to talk to him.”

Rhett stiffened. “About?”

“Me, I guess. He was watching me collect eggs. Once my precious baby is gone, you can be rid of me. Unless it’s your heart’s desire to kill me. I really don’t care.”

Rhett began laughing. “Not two days and you’re already seeking greener pastures.”

“What do you want from me?” she yelled “You hate me.”

“I own you.”

“You don’t own me, or Ann. Ann is a gift you may be kind to for however long she lives. As for me, once she’s gone, I don’t want to live. I want nothing and need nothing from you after she is gone.”

Tousle-haired and disgruntled, Hope stormed out of the room.

* * * *

“Your little female looks well-bedded.”

“Huh?”

Rhett looked at Tavish. He then cast his glance back to Hope. Rhett had been watching her while she helped Ann and the child to her right with their breakfast. The little one to her right was recently separated from his mother at meal time. His mother had been returned to the breeder table where she would get to know two different breeder males. The boy was four and normally females were bred again when a child turned two but his mother had given birth to fraternal twins. One was stillborn, only the boy survived. A coven loss, especially since the baby had been female. Tavish’s law dictated any female having twins was given four years to rest, even if neither baby survived.

“Hope. You could have given her time to at least brush her hair,” Tavish said.

“I haven’t had sex with her. That’s her imitation of a dash—and before you ask me, no I didn’t dine either.”

Tavish gazed at him. “Must have been some feeding frenzy on ice dwellers, because you haven’t terrorized any of the women here lately.”

“I’ve been preoccupied.”

“So I noticed.” Tavish placed a hand onto Rhett’s shoulder. “You’re already attached to the little one. What you do with her mother after the child is gone is up to you. But if you don’t want her, ask around before you dump her back in her glacier, or drain her. She’s young, beautiful, and when her child is gone she deserves strong arms to hold her.”

“I’ve heard Tate is looking for me.”

“Tate is young. He spent years as a breeder male. He’s not interested in children right now. He wants a female he never has to share. A barren female would be perfect for him. No strings, no new ties once she has children he must protect. Think about it. I know one angst with Tanya, besides the obvious, is you were ready for her to have children, which she didn’t—a good thing. Now the child you have won’t be here much longer. It would be cruel to turn a child, so don’t even ask.”

“Caine keeps a close eye on Ann.”

“Caine is more concerned with her mother.”

Rhett grew angry. “I haven’t hurt her mother.”

“Her mother isn’t Tanya. Were you so smitten with Tanya that you won’t trust again?”

“Tanya was a little whore.”

“Is Hope?”

Rhett scowled, knowing she wasn’t. “You know this runs deeper than Tanya and one single woman.”

“You keep acting the bad boy type when there is a heart that beats in your chest every so often and you will continue to be disappointed. You look for deception and so you find it. Look for happiness. You don’t need to fall in love. Why not try falling in like? This female might surprise you.”

“She hates me.”

“Maybe she has reason to.”

Tavish went to Mercy who followed Hope, Galf and Ann outside. Rhett saw Tate approaching and took off before he could be confronted. He was pissed. The child wasn’t even dead and already the vampires were lining up for her mother. Hope was Rhett’s until he said otherwise. Rhett knew a barren woman normally tried hard to please her vampire. She was useless except for her blood, and what sexual ways she could come up with to keep her vampire happy. Hope wasn’t like that; she hadn’t been born to the coven and didn’t give a rat’s ass about life.

Rhett watched Ann and Hope sit at a table to color in the children’s play area. Ann turned the crayon in her hand gazing at it wide-eyed. She drew a line and squealed when the crayon left a mark. Hope hugged her daughter and encouraged her to draw more. Rhett knew the child had never colored before. It must seem like magic. Every new thing they could expose her to would be good for her. Caine was suddenly standing beside him.

“Ann looks healthier today,” Rhett said. “You should see her eat.”

“She’s distracted, but I know you can hear the wheeze in her lungs.”

Hope handed Ann a glass of water. Rhett knew it was her third. Acca had been so thirsty near the end. But Ann looked so much better.

“Maybe because I found her and brought her here she will be fine longer. Maybe she’ll be okay.” Rhett’s tone sounded desperate even to him.

Caine gave him a sad look before he strolled over to Hope and knelt down beside Ann.

“How are you today, Ann?” Caine asked.

“Good.”

“She’s a little warm,” Hope said, her tone quiet.

Caine placed his hand to the child’s forehead. “Low-grade fever. Maybe Rhett will take you both to the lake for a little while. It’s always cooler there. Or I have some free time.”

“I’ll take them,” Rhett said.

Ann refused to part with her crayons and picture. “Can Dooder go swimmin’?” Ann asked.

“Dooder can watch,” Rhett replied.

Rhett gathered Ann and Hope close to his chest and took to the sky. He felt Hope tremble, but she didn’t say a word. Her warm face pressed to his shirt as did Ann’s. The child was warm and Rhett felt concern. Hope’s heart pounding was the only indication she was scared.

Once at the lake, Ann took Dooder, her crayons and picture on a small stroll along the bank. Rhett allowed her to walk up to her knees in the water but no further.

Hope sat at the base of a tree watching her daughter with sad eyes. “She was rubbing her back a while ago. She never tells me when something hurts, but I can tell.”

“It could be her kidneys,” Rhett said. “She’s been nonstop since she came here. The air has done her good.”

“She didn’t eat much at breakfast. She started to, but lost her appetite after a few mouthfuls then started drinking water.”

Rhett crouched beside her. When Acca was dying he couldn’t comfort Cecily, and no one comforted him. His coven brothers were around but Rhett was new to them. Cecily had been alone beside Acca when she breathed her last breath. All Rhett could do was watch from a distance, even while she was laid to rest. Somehow, living through this again and hating it as much, he realized this time he would have closure.

“Why do you love Ann so much?”

The question was a surprise and caught Rhett off guard. “She reminds me of someone.”

“Must have been someone special.”

“Very special.”

“Can we call a truce, for now?” Hope asked. “I don’t have the energy to battle a vampire when filled with so many emotions.”

Rhett thought he could do that, for Ann’s sake. “Can you stop making me look bad?”

Hope looked surprised. “How have I done that?”

“You asked Tavish to find you blankets for Ann to sleep on. He brought in the bed. You asked Caine for a cup for Ann in case she needed water in the night, and a change of clothes because of her night sweats.” The doctor had blasted him over that, and Rhett should have realized it anyway, it had been a long time since he had taken care of a child. “Why didn’t you just ask me?”

“You make it hard to ask for anything and you offer nothing.”

“Well, ask me from now on. If you keep asking the other vampires for things they will think you’re interested in them taking care of you.”

“I can take care of myself. Asking for things for Ann is hardly propositioning anyone.”

Rhett realized she was right. She needed nothing from him, not even life after her child was gone. She didn’t need him, or want him. There was no way for this woman to use him. Hope came from an era that didn’t know about bad boys. She didn’t know about wild and dangerous sex. Rhett was a predator, a hunter. Long ago, women found that exciting. Before the ice age hit, women wanted excitement. Now women just feared him.

It was a revelation. Women weren’t the same as before. Not really. An element of fear wasn’t fascinating to Hope. Tanya had loved his bad boy ways, she was drawn to mischief. In the end, she proved to be a bad girl. Vampires had gotten soft with humans because they raised them, sheltered them and took care of them. Humans no longer ran from them, they ran to them, for protection. Except the ice dwellers. Their women were taught flesh was a sin, sex was evil. Yet here sat Hope, half naked. Wanting nothing, not even comfort.

“Just ask me next time,” Rhett said.

Hope looked at the ground for a moment. When she gazed at Rhett, her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. Rhett knew she wouldn’t let one fall. He waited, wondering what the first thing would be for her to ask for.

“May I have material to make Ann another doll? Ann never had friends before. She always thought being alone was normal. She wants Dooder to have more friends.”

Rhett smiled, he should have known it would be something for the child. He gazed over at Ann who was introducing Dooder to a butterfly. “I think Ann needs to go shopping.”

“What’s shopping?”

“What’s shopping? Honey, three hundred years ago you would have made your husband exceedingly happy.” Rhett laughed.

Chapter 7

Hope stared around the massive open space of room in awe. Rhett called it a warehouse. When she looked at Ann, she could see her daughter’s wide-eyed openmouthed expression mirrored back. Everywhere were toys of all kinds as well as other items, strange items. For a second, she was afraid to move. Ann went to the first rack of dolls and fingered a beautiful brown-haired baby wearing odd clothing. Hope went to stand beside her. The youngest child she had seen so far was a toddler. There were pregnant women in various stages but no babies.

“What’s that?” Ann asked.

“This is a baby,” Rhett said. “I’m guessing you were this tiny at one point.”

“Me?” Ann was definitely skeptical.

“Yes, you were,” Hope confirmed.

“Soon there will be more babies born,” Rhett said and stood by Hope. “We had a dry spell for a bit where all the breeder women seemed to get pregnant at the same time. Then two years later there are more carrying but not all. You can’t imagine how busy we all were in the first year of those babies’ lives. Talk about your baby boom.”

He was chuckling, but Hope didn’t understand his joke. “Where did all these things come from?” Hope asked. “What are all these things?”

“Vampires bring things back from various places around the world. There isn’t much left to be found, even humans, but one day we may find a use for some of this junk. The toys are for the kids, but mostly the kids are kept busy. A child has one or two items to call their own for bedtime or the rare occasion they develop a cold. But otherwise, children are encouraged to play outdoors all day.” Rhett took the baby and crouched down before Ann.