Courted by the Vampire (6 page)

She shrugged an elegant shoulder, which caused the gown to ripple and
cling suggestively to her womanly figure. “His last activity was from the Chicago area. I won’t know for certain until the next full moon.”

Lust stirred his groin. Marilyn’s skill in the bedroom arts was legendary
throughout the region, and he had firsthand knowledge. He couldn’t wait until she dispatched the human… With an effort, Edwin swallowed and tried to pluck a memory from the murky red cloud of passion in his mind.

“That’s disgusting.” Hannah gave him a shove that was hard enough to
break his mesmerized state. As he blinked in bewilderment, she took control of the conversation. “We can’t wait until the next full moon. How do we find the information?”

With a pout, Marilyn moved to recline on a chaise lounge that
had materialized before her, being sure to display wonderfully long legs for Edwin’s enjoyment. “Diana of the Dunes can direct your path. I can only secure the secrets of the wood, but she holds the secrets of the water.”

“Are you serious?”

Edwin moved forward to stroke Marilyn’s silky soft hair. He could not remember what the human babbled about.

“Perhaps you should turn around for the duration of this conversation,
bounty hunter.”

An elbow in his ribs from Hannah briefly jolted him out of the heavy
effect of the spell. “Very well.” He turned his back on the witch to contemplate the darkened window.

Stupid man.

This time, Edwin’s laughter escaped his throat. Hannah was a handful. Instead of the perpetual dread that accompanied his mission, he sensed a change within. He stared hard at the window, his ears strained as he listened to the conversation that continued without him.

Bounty hunter, your weak human woman is becoming a trial to me.
Marilyn’s anger reverberated through the room.

Hannah snorted. “Look, Marilyn or whatever your real name is, Diana of
the Dunes is a ghost story, nothing more. She’s supposed to haunt the Lakeshore but there is really no creditable evidence she exists.”

In spite of the admonition to stay put, Edwin turned back around to
witness the interaction between the women. Dark and light. Good and evil.

“Sometimes what you think is impossible is in actuality the truth. You
must learn to look beyond the acceptable and see what truly is.” Golden bracelets tinkled on her wrist as she lifted a hand to twist a lock of hair in her fingers. “Do not leave the forest until you find the fairy Narcissa. She will give you the Mirror of Truth to help you see the world as it should be seen. I would advise you to use it, Hannah Weybourne, if you wish to survive.”

He slid a glance to Hannah
. Disappointment shadowed her features. He wished to comfort her but knew he could not until she accepted her status as an Enhancer. His body stiffened when Marilyn crooked an index finger at him and the invisible strands of the spell drew him forward.

How much more can I take before succumbing to the madness around me?
Hannah’s confusion flowed through him. “Fine, how do we find this fairy?”

Lust for the forest witch overcame him and swept everything from his
mind. “We cannot.”

“Edwin!” Hannah hissed. She waved her hands in front of his face.
“Edwin, look at me.”

He kept his
gaze glued to Marilyn, unconcerned that a look of sly victory slid over her face. “I will stay here for a while.”

Marilyn cackled. “Use this to Summon the fairy.” She held a simple silver
whistle between her thumb and forefinger. “She inhabits the forest and flits about at will. She is very difficult to locate and it might take a few days for you to find her. I sincerely hope you can find her in time.”

Hannah snatched the whistle from the witch then tucked it away in a
pocket of her jeans. “And after that?”

The witch
glided over to where Edwin stood and trailed a finger down his jaw. “You will visit Diana of the Dunes for your next destination.” She smiled and drew Edwin to her side. “I’ll keep the bounty hunter with me as collateral. When you return the whistle to me, I’ll return Edwin to you.”

Bemused,
he smiled at the witch. “Yes, I will stay with you.” The air around him shimmered as Marilyn slid a possessive hand through his arm. Fire consumed him when she blew into his ear. Why was he supposed to be wary of her?

“If you don’t return because of some terrible calamity, Edwin can live out
his days in endless pleasure with me, as so many men before him have gladly done.”

Hannah narrowed her eyes. You’re nothing but a Madame of the Forest. “I
don’t think so, lady. This may be your world, but I’m just visiting.” She stormed across the floor and yanked Edwin out of her grasp. Marilyn’s hands morphed into shriveled claws with yellowed nails. “Edwin is coming with me. He still owes me about five explanations on various topics and I intend to hear them.”

“As you wish.” In another moment, her hands changed back to their
former white glory. She threw a wistful glance at Edwin. “Another time perhaps.”

I’d love to use the Mirror of Truth on you, you old bag. You’re probably a
thousand-year-old shriveled harpy with strands of brittle yellow hair and boobs that sag to your ankles.
“In your dreams, babe.”

Away from the cloying influence of the seduction spell, Edwin stifled his
laughter. Hannah really needed to be aware of her rampant thoughts. Marilyn had probably heard that last comment. He did not protest when she dragged him out of the parlor, down the long corridor and through the door of the cottage. “Enough. I am myself again.”

“Snap out of it, Edwin! That woman is a first class bitch all the way!” She
shook him so hard he was afraid his neck would snap.

“May I ask what you are trying t
o accomplish by man-handling me?” His lips curled with confused amusement. He gently pried her hands from his shoulders. “And the proper word to describe Marilyn would be Witch.”

“You’ve got that right. From the way you were acting, I’d say she put one
heck of a seduction spell on you. I wanted to puke, I was so disgusted.” She grinned. “I thought you knew better than that.”

“Jealous,
spatzi
?” Something akin to happiness stabbed through his stomach as he led the way from the witch’s property.

“Hardly. What have I to be jealous about? If you want to become that old
bag’s sex kitten it’s entirely your own business.” She bit her bottom lip. “Did you really do the nasty with her?”

“That is a story for another day.” Edwin laughed, and for the first time in
his life, he was glad to have a companion on a quest. “I am a sex kitten? That is not a compliment, is it?”

“Depends on how you look at it.”

“What, if I may ask, is a can of whoop ass?”

Hannah shook her head and grinned. “You wouldn’t believe me if I
explained it to you.”

Chapter Five

“For Pete’s sake, Edwin, I’ve got to rest! We’ve wandered around the forest for hours now.” Hannah swatted at a fly that landed on her arm then wiped her damp forehead with the sleeve of her blazer. “I’ve blown this stupid whistle and we still haven’t found the fairy.” She dropped down on a large boulder and fingered her agate pendant. Hot and sweaty, she sucked in lungfuls of air. “I think it’s just a stupid dog whistle since it doesn’t make any sound.” She scanned the dark tree line with a measure of uneasiness.

“No one asked you to run
a race.” Edwin’s chuckle melted into the night.

She slipped the silver whistle onto the chain with the pendant. “I thought
you wanted to find this wayward vamp of yours? Or what about tracking this Andre person?” An hour before dawn and already the air in the forest was oppressive. She stripped off the blazer, folded it up, and stuffed it into her bag.

“I will accomplish both of those goals, in good time, but there is no cause
to run helter-skelter about the planet without a plan.” He ran a hand through his hair, mussing the classically clean lines. “You are tired and in need of refreshment. Now, we need to find a place to stay. Morning is upon us.”

She frowned. “I don’t have the strength to traipse back to the car. It must
be at least fifteen miles from here.”

“I do not intend to go back to your car. We will stay here for a few hours
to rest before we continue.” He pulled Hannah to her feet. “Do not give up now. We have only begun our journey. There is much more to do.”

She groaned and plodded behind him like a docile bovine. “That
’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”

*****

Fog rolled in thick and heavy, a stifling blanket. Fear clogged her throat as she ran, away from fear, or toward fear, she couldn’t tell. It pressed around her, everywhere, all consuming, down into her mind. She couldn’t find him. She lost him somewhere in the fog. Panic set in. He was everything that was good and decent, and he carried a piece of her soul. Vines brushed her face. She bit back a scream, determined to push on through the night. She had to make it to her destination before the evil that pursued her could find her…

“Wake up,
spatzi
. You are having a nightmare.”

Hannah blinked against the assault of the sunlight
on her eyelids. “I can’t get away.” She gasped and turned her face from the hot rays of the sun. “It’s chasing me. It’s all around me.”

“It is only a dream
. Wake up.”

Edwin’s voice soothed her troubled spirit like balm onto a wound. “The
dreams are coming more frequently now.” She opened her eyes to meet his gaze, his irises a deep indigo blue. Something her grandmother said came back to her.

When you meet a vampire, you will know him or her because their eye color changes
drastically according to their mood.

It was true. Edwin’s eyes fascinated her. “I’m
afraid.” For a moment, she let herself relax on the hard-packed ground on top of pine branches. Before she’d dropped into an exhausted sleep earlier in the morning, Edwin had found a small shelter of a rock overhang, shaded by saplings and one huge oak tree. “Why am I tormented by these dreams? What will happen to me?”

“Andre searches for you. He cannot track you yet, but he tries to ferret
you out with the dreams. As long as we stay together, you will be safe. It is the advent of our separation that concerns me.”

Her stomach quaked at his frown. “Is there a chance we’ll be split up? I
don’t think I can do this thing alone.” Anxiety slithered through her stomach like a hungry snake.

“You are my responsibility. I will not let harm befall you.”

She moved her head into a more comfortable position on her bag and gazed at her companion. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

The dimple in his left cheek reappeared
with a slight smile. His temporary good humor turned Hannah’s insides into jelly. “You may ask me anything. It is natural you would be curious.”

She focused her gaze on a black beetle climbing the rock over her head.
“Tell me about your family. Where are you originally from?”
What if the beetle falls on me?
She shuddered at the thought. Edwin reached over and removed the offending insect, to set it free in the brush nearby. “How did they get caught up in this paranormal mess?”

“My great grandfather was from a small village on the Romanian
Hungarian border. I suppose being from that region, it came as no surprise when his family found out about his rather unique secret.” Edwin’s eyes took on a faraway look. “All of the first-born men in my family have been battling some form of the curse for two centuries. From the stories I have heard, he managed to keep it hidden until he was seventeen. His parents had contracted him into an arranged marriage and rather remarkably, the girl he married did not mind being the object of his occasional feedings and other nocturnal habits.”

She
made a move to interrupt, but Edwin quelled her with a cold look.

“Eventually they had a boy child, my grandfather, and the village was on
pins and needles until the child hit puberty. No signs of the malady presented itself and the village breathed easy. My granddad married a young beauty from Austria and they moved to a small hamlet in Germany where no one knew my family. The two were very happy together and had four children. Three girls and one boy – my dad. While in college, and after confirming he was curse free, Dad moved to Munich to finish out his degree. He met a shy girl from Paris, working in a cafe. After college, they got married and moved to the United States where she became a doctor and Dad became, well…”

“A vampire hunter,” she finished for him, unable to hold her silence any
longer.

His sexy grin sent thrills down her spine. “He was a banker, complete
with the somber black suits and stoic expressions. It was only on the weekends that he took a bounty.” He lifted a dark eyebrow. “And that was only during the holidays for extra money. He was directionally challenged so tracking was not easy for him.”

“Now I know where you get your dark and mysterious good looks, not to
mention your lack of humor. You’ve got quite an impressive mix of genes.” She smiled as the tips of his ears turned pink at the compliment.

“Thank you. All the men in my family are handsome. It is one of the
things that make us dangerous.” His grin was genuine and reached his eyes.

Spirals of heat warmed her stomach at its brilliance.
You’re dangerous, all right, to my peace of mind.
What she said was, “So, you hunt vamps. Do you hunt other creatures, too?” Outside the small shelter, birds chattered to each other while the steady drone of locusts blocked out the silence.

F
orests were definitely not quiet.

Edwin shrugged and leaned his back against the rock slope. “I can if I
choose, and I have for extra money, but I think tracking vampires is more rewarding. Hunting one of the larger magical beings brings a nice price tag, and they are always a welcome challenge.” He turned his gaze to her, his eyes back to their original icy blue. “The numbers of vampire beings shrink each year. Maybe it’s the extra attention of the media and popular fiction, I don’t know, but if the rumors are true and Andre is holding Duncan captive, I can only wonder if others are out hunting for sport or profit.” He frowned and stretched out his legs. “It is a puzzle.”

“Some of the starch is coming out of you, you know.” She sat up, mindful
of the low-hanging ceiling, and then rummaged in her bag for a scrap of anything edible.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re loosening up. You actually included a contraction or two just now.” With a triumphant cry, she produced a granola bar and ripped it open. “I’m having a negative effect on you.” She broke the bar in two, offered half to him, and then smiled when he accepted the food.

“A negative effect is not quite what I would say you have on me.”

Hannah coughed when she swallowed wrong. “What about your mind reading thing?”

He chewed thoughtfully. “It is hard to explain, but I have never been able
to tap into another person’s thoughts unless they have the vampire gene or specific paranormal genetics that I am sensitive to. Why I am able to do so with you has me truly mystified.”

“Maybe I frustrate you.” She grinned. “Or what about that prophecy
thing?”

“I will not discuss that with you now.” His eyes blazed into hers. “It is
more likely we are becoming close.”

“I thought you said you would never allow a woman to mean anything to
you because of your pre-destined job. If you’re looking for a cheap date, I could fill that position. Heck, rent a sappy movie, grab a big bag of buttered popcorn, and I’m yours.”

“I did not say I was interested in you romantically, Hannah. I only meant
we share a common bond of some sort.”

She bit the inside of her cheek. “Excuse me for putting such a distasteful
thought before you.”

“It was not distasteful. I imagine you taste as marvelous as you look.”
When he reached for her hand, she pulled away. “Hannah.”

Scrambling to her feet, she yanked her bag from the ground
and wriggled out of the shelter. “I’m going in search of water. You can stay here since my appearance and questionable personality is obviously too distracting for your job.” She slung the straps of her bag crossway over her chest and stalked through the forest as tears stung her eyes.

“Hannah, wait!”

He crashed into the underbrush after her, but she didn’t stop. “Leave me alone, Edwin. Our association is over. I’m sorry your mission is ruined, but I won’t inflict my unwelcome self on you any longer.” She zigzagged over roots and debris scattered over the soggy ground. Another wave of tears besieged her when she realized he wasn’t behind her.

Off the well-worn path, prickles of fear chilled her spine when she
realized she hadn’t passed a trail marker in some time.
Damn it!
She turned slowly and frowned to see only trees surrounded her. Every angle of the landscape appeared the same. She remembered Edwin’s explanation that they also traveled at night in order to avoid tourists and day hikers in the park. They couldn’t afford awkward questions.

Hannah wiped the sweat from her forehead and glanced at into the
canopy. Birds chattered and sang overhead in their leafy neighborhoods as if to remind her of just how alone she was. She cursed the fiery Irish temper that coursed through her veins. Anxiety choked her as she recalled another of his admonitions.
If we stick together, we’ll be safe.
She took a few steps forward, let out a strangled scream, and went airborne.

With a sigh, she sank into a bottomless blackness.

*****

Edwin, where are you? I’m alone, and I’m scared.

I am close. Do not worry,
spatzi
, I am coming.

I’m sorry I acted childish. I didn’t mean to.

It is forgotten. You were under stress, and your outburst was perfectly understandable.

Hannah groaned as pain exploded through her body when she attempted
to move. Her heartbeat quickened. She had just communicated with Edwin inside her mind. Warmth lingered in her brain from the intimate connection. “How cool.” Disappointed that she couldn’t explore her newfound knowledge right away, she sighed. There was a more pressing need—survival.

She opened her eyes a crack. The sun was almost down. Vivid hues of
orange, red, and purple painted the sky. Fireflies twinkled in the air, tiny dots of sharp illumination against the gathering darkness.

As she rose into a sitting position, she cried out when her left wrist
throbbed with pain. Her back twitched with a few spasms.
Crap!
Hannah glanced up, and frowned when she realized she’d fallen about twelve feet.

The thick forest opened into a creek bed, now dry and cracked while hard-packed sand and dirt made up the side of the ridge. The park held a handful of
different eco-systems and environmental challenges. She sighed in frustration.

As
she picked random bits of debris from her hair and clothing, she stared hard at a piece of shimmering air. The weird patch began to solidify and took shape eventually as a two-foot high fairy that perched on a nearby fallen log.

“Are you the one who has been Summoning me with a silver whistle?”
the fairy demanded, a petulant frown marring her delicate features. “You interrupted my beauty rest.”

Hannah lifted a
n eyebrow. “Narcissa?”

“Who else? Do you know how long it takes me to perfect this look?”

She glanced at the fairy, not knowing if the winged creature referred to the weird bluish tint to her hair or her skin that had a faint pattern of scales. “I won’t detain you longer than necessary, so just hand over the Mirror of Truth and you can be on your way.”