HORROR THRILLERS-A Box Set of Horror Novels (62 page)

He would not
intrude into the house and the lives of the couple just for the
moment. He was tired of dealing with people. It had been a long night
and there were hours yet until dawn.

When he thought of
the woman, Bette, he felt a quickening in his chest. She was nothing
like the human woman he'd loved and lost in the past, but something
about her made his passion rise. When he'd entered her mind earlier
and searched for the memories to erase, he had felt comforted. The
soul which had created the garden he now sat in was unusually humane.
He had discovered none of the bitter ugliness that often swamped the
minds of most adult humans. Her mind was as clean and straightforward
as any he'd ever been inside. It was good. A rare mind, unlettered by
the folly of self-aggrandizing or bits of evil stimuli that led to
evil deeds.

He shook his head
slowly and put his hands on his knees. His shoulders fell further
until he was hunched. He had deadened his emotions for so many years
it was a miracle anyone could have stirred him. He didn't know if he
should be grateful or angry. To love was too human. It was too
fraught with the possibility of rejection, danger, and loss. He had
never honestly wanted to love a woman again.

He sighed heavily
once more and closed his eyes. Ross would certainly destroy her, and
the man, too, given the chance. There had been others who ferreted
out the existence of vampires, and it was Ross and his minions who
had dispatched them without a qualm. He might even have done it
tonight if Mentor hadn't halted in his walk to the stables with Dell
and felt the alarm Ross projected once he'd entered the woman's
house.

Mentor must do
something with the couple. And he must do something about his
burgeoning feelings for the woman. She was human. She already loved
someone. He had no right to interfere with that part of her life.

He turned his head,
straightened his shoulders, and looked toward the house. The lights
were out. They had retired for the night. He wouldn't go to them now.
He feared he'd find them in a bliss that could blind him with the
truth of his deprivation.

Better to return to
his own home where thoughts of the woman might dissipate. He could
come back just before the sun rose over the city. If only he could
sleep. Sleep and forget.

He stood, pushing
aside the willow branches, and stepped into the moonlight. It was
times like these when he wished he could fly away and never come back
in touch with either man or vampire.

He had not slept in
a century, his attention always alert and active, on the job to
rescue others from their dementia and bad choices. He had never run
away.

He glanced up into
the clear sky to the stars. God had forsaken them. Perhaps vampires
were not his creatures and he had nothing to do with their creation
or their future. None of them might be worthy of redemption. They
might have to roam the Earth until all humans had died, and all
animals, and then, finally, their kind would die, too. It would be a
mercy.

He thought at
times, when he tried to communicate with the source of all power and
all life, that one day the Creator would respond to him. He didn't
just hope for communication, but believed with all his heart that one
day he'd be answered. As yet, the Creator remained silent.

19

The morning after
her wild ride, Dell apologized to her parents for disappearing. She
admitted she didn't know what had gotten into her. Tears came to her
eyes and she began to stutter until her mother put her arms around
her and said, "Dell, you're going to be all right now. We don't
want to hold you down. We just don't want you to get into trouble, so
that's why we called Mentor to help."

"I know, Mom.
It's a good thing he came. I'm glad you sent for him."

Her mother gathered
the papers she needed to take back to the office and took up her
purse. "I'll try to get off early," she said.

Dell knew she
didn't want her left alone. "Don't worry, Mom. I'll stay home."

Her father entered
from the hallway, tucking his shirt into his slacks. He smiled at
her. "Another day, another dollar," he said cheerfully. She
realized, not for the first time, how the years passed, but her
father never aged. He seemed not that many years older than she was
now.

"Maybe I
should get a part-time job," Dell said, feeling her parents'
weariness of going to work every day, always struggling to make ends
meet.

"You stick to
the books, young lady. We'll bring home the sausage."

Dell laughed.
"Bacon, you mean."

He wrinkled his
nose. "Ugh. I don't remember what bacon tastes like. Kind of
thick and greasy, I think. But sausage, now . . ."

The thought of
cooked animal meat made Dell want to gag. She hurried out the door to
catch the bus, waving at her parents as they made for the cars.

At school all Dell
could think about was the Loden party and Ryan sitting next to Lori
on the sofa, watching the kids begin their blood rituals. When she'd
decided to show up and blast off at Lori, she thought her aims were
pure. She would save Ryan from getting involved in something stupid
and dangerous. But the truth was more complicated. She had been
jealous, the jealousy fueling her flight with Lightning across the
night landscape later in the evening.

She knew she really
had to get herself under control. It was as if she were in a maze,
zigzagging down pathways that led her to dead ends where she had to
turn around and find her way back again to another route.

Cheyenne stopped
her in the hall at school and said, "What have you been doing,
Dell? I know you go horseback riding and like that, but you could
call me. My mom said maybe you're depressed and need some St. John's
Wort tea."

Panic rose in Dell.
She had forgotten her friends. She needed excuses all the time now.
It was harder to straighten out her affairs and keep the humans
happy.

"Tell your mom
I'll think about that." She smiled, trying to make light of her
absence from Cheyenne's life.

"So what's up?
I heard you made a little racket at one of Loden's parties last
night."

"You heard
about it?"

Cheyenne nodded,
clutching her books to her chest as they walked down the hall to
classes. "Lori's telling everyone."

"Lori needs to
keep her mouth shut." Anger bloomed in Dell, threatening to get
out of hand. She tried to soften her voice. "I mean, Lori's kind
of silly, isn't she?"

"Crazy, if you
ask me," said Cheyenne. "So, what was the deal?"

"You know the
new guy, Ryan? I think he might be in your trig class."

"I know him.
Real cute, tall, from North Dallas?”

“
That's him.
He asked me out."

"No way!"

"I turned him
down, I don't know why, don't ask me why. So he went out with Lori
last night, and I found out where she'd taken him. I got hot about
it, I guess. You know what goes on at Loden's parties."

Cheyenne made a
face. "Boy, do I. You know Shirley Lott? They pulled her into
their group. She went from straight As to failing in one semester.
She looks like a hag now, all black long skirts and raggedy old tops.
Talk about someone who needs St. John's Wort."

The bell rang and
Dell hurried into her classroom, waving at Cheyenne as the other girl
sprinted down the hall.

I know what I'll
do, Dell thought. Before we go out for real, I'll ask Ryan to go
riding. She had to make sure he wasn't going to get mixed up with the
Loden bunch. And maybe on Sunday I'll go swimming at the pool with
Cheyenne.

In the hallway
after their class together, she saw him watching her. She smiled and
walked close to him. He had seen her passionate side at the party.
Now he'd get a chance to see the real Dell, the one who was beginning
to fall for him. "You ever ride a horse?"

"A horse?
Sure, since I was a kid."

"Would you
like to meet me after school and ride? I've got a horse at the Dove
Stables, south of Dallas. It's between here and Ennis. Five o'clock?"

"I don't have
a horse," he said.

"They'll rent
you one. We'll go riding so we can talk. Okay?"

She hurried to her
next class feeling triumphant. She knew, she could get him away from
Lori. She could save him from the "vampyre" scene.

There were so many
things she could tell the kids in Loden's group, secrets that would
stand their hair on end and give them nightmares. She ought to bring
a Predator to one of their rave music, bloodletting parties and let
them see for themselves what being a vampire was really all about.
They'd wet their pants. She sort of understood the lure, sure she
did. She knew they wanted more, something supernatural, something
different. But what they were headed into wasn't the way. She'd be
damned if she'd stand by and watch Ryan fall into their hands.

She knew what
Mentor would say. He'd warn she was interfering in the lives of
humans out of selfish motives. Maybe she was. She liked Ryan a lot.
But she felt she had to do this. She wouldn't tell him the
truth—heavens no. Not about vampires. Not about herself. But
she needed to make him understand. She didn't know exactly what she'd
tell him, but she had to do something.

~*~

It was ten after
five when Dell saw Ryan pull up in the parking lot at Dove Stables.
For a few minutes she feared he would stand her up. He almost had a
girlfriend now. What did he need with someone who had rejected him
outright the first time he tried asking her out, someone who tried to
bust up his date?

She was relieved
and let out a happy sigh when she saw him park. He got out of the car
slowly, a tall, lanky boy with hair that was long on top and unruly
where it fell across his brow. He squinted toward the stables where
she stood waiting for him. He smiled and came through the gate and
down the well-worn path to where she waited. She even liked the way
he walked. She'd seen old ranchers walk that way, bronco riders,
horse trainers. It wasn't so much a bowlegged gait as it was a
leisurely rolling motion from hip to hip, with long legs moving at a
graceful, slow pace. It was definitely a cowboy walk, but regal for
all that.

All he lacked to
fit the part of cowboy was a Stetson hat. He already had on the
washed-out blue jeans and softly worn tan leather boots.

"Hi," he
said, reaching her side. "Sorry I'm late. Traffic. People
getting out of work."

She smiled up at
him. "That's okay. I haven't been here long." She was
lying. She'd come to the stables straight from school. If she'd still
been human she'd have had enough time to have drunk two Pepsis and go
to the bathroom three times.

"Well, which
one is your horse?"

Dell turned to the
stables and led him to Lightning. She told him the horse's name, then
laughed. "I should rename him. He's too old to be a racehorse or
have a name like that. But when he wants to, he really can take off
for me." She almost winced, recalling how she'd run him nearly
to death.

"Lightning's a
fine name," Ryan said, rubbing the horse's neck just back of the
ears. "How you doing, boy?"

"Here's one I
picked out for you," she said, pointing at a bay two stalls
down. They walked to the bay, and Ryan began to rub it down along the
neck, too.

"It seems
friendly," he said. "I've been riding since I was little.
My grandfather owns a ranch. Cattle, a few horses, you know," he
said by way of explanation. "But still, I like a quiet, friendly
horse. Riding's no fun when the horse wants to act like a fiend out
of hell's gate."

"Have you ever
gone on the trail ride across Texas they have in March?" She
also reached out to pet the bay, on the opposite side of the neck. It
shied a bit until she reached out with her mind to soothe it.

"No, but I bet
it would be fun." He gave her an interested glance. "What
about you? Ever gone on the ride?"

Dell shook her
head. "I never had a horse until now. I got Lightning as a
birthday present.”

“
Happy
birthday!"

She smiled. "Oh,
it was days ago, but thanks.”

“
So you're
fifty-two now, huh?"

"Eighteen!"