Night of the Wolves (12 page)

“Alex!”

Cody Fox called as he burst through the door that separated their rooms.

She was still too shaken by the dream to be hostile or play flirtatious games.

“Oh, Cody,” she said, and tears welled in her eyes.

He rushed to her side, taking her into his arms, and though she was still trembling, his embrace felt so good. He held her close, and she felt as if she were on fire, her breasts and every inch of her skin tingling with an awareness of him. Despite her fear, she was aware that he aroused her in a way that was raw and undeniable.

“What happened, Alex?” he asked, pulling back to smooth her hair.

“I had a dream.”

“A dream? Or a vision?” he asked carefully.

She shook her head. “No vision tonight. Just a wall of sadness, and I should have expected it. You were there.” She smiled ruefully, seeking his eyes. “Trying to save me, as usual. But I didn’t need to be saved.”

“What was the dream about? Tell me,” he insisted softly.

Her smile deepened. “It was a dream of the heart, I suppose. I miss my father…so much. I dreamed that I rode out to the plain, to the place where he died. But he wasn’t dead. He was there waiting for me. But he knew the outlaws were coming, and that they were looking for me, and he made me ride to the cliffs with him. Milo and his men came, and they were searching the caves, looking for us. For me. But my father hid me, and they went away to Hollow Tree, and then you were there and…and you talked to my father. And he made me go back with you.”

He didn’t laugh at her dream, only studied her gravely and smoothed her hair back again. For a moment she thought that he was going to speak, but then he pulled her against him, soothing her again.

After a long moment he eased away from her, lifting her chin with one hand as his other palm slid over her cheek. She didn’t know if she moved or he did, but suddenly their lips met. It was only a touch at first, and then it was a tangle of hunger and passion, their arms crushingly tight around each other, their mouths fusing, and their tongues hot and wet and seeking.

When he broke the kiss, Alex knew that her lips were
wet and swollen, that she was panting, and that…her eyes were staring into his, lost.

“I’m not what you want?” she whispered.

“No,” he told her, then took her face between his hands and spoke vehemently. “You’re everything any man could want, and it’s killing me to let you go. But I am not the man you want, and you can’t even begin to understand why. But I’ll be here to keep you safe. I promise before God, I’ll be here. But I’m not what you want. I can’t be.”

His hands fell, and she saw the way his fingers curled, his nails digging into his palms.

Then he turned and left her.

And once again the door closed between them.

C
ODY KNEW HE SHOULD
expect the unexpected from Alex, and she proved him right the next morning, at the breakfast table.

She was cordial to everyone, including him. But as soon as she had finished eating, she dabbed at her lips, turned to him and said, “I’m going to take a ride out to Calico Jack’s. I want to see John Snow and his family.”

He sat back and looked at her speculatively. True, someone needed to ride out to Calico Jack’s, but he and Brendan should go, or the sheriff or Dave, paired with one of the men from town.

“We’ll check on him, Alex.”

“No, I want to see him. It’s important.”

“Alex—”

“It’s broad daylight, and you’re welcome to come with me. If you’re busy, I’ll ask someone else. But I
am
riding out to Calico Jack’s,” she said determinedly.

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s get saddled up and go.” He glanced over at Brendan, who nodded.

The two of them had decided that it would be a good idea if one of them stayed in town at all times over the next few days, because trouble was bound to come soon. With Brigsby and Hollow Tree turned into ghost towns, he had no idea where Milo and his gang were feeding, nor even how big the gang had gotten. Milo was experienced enough to know that the food supply had to be monitored, so creating too many of his own kind to be fellow predators in one area was definitely a mistake. But the younger vampires wouldn’t have the same knowledge or the self-control to be careful in choosing who they transformed and who they brought over. His experience at the graveyard yesterday had been proof of that.

They needed to round up a group of the locals and find Milo’s hideout. It had to be in the caves, or in one of the deserted towns.

There was another problem, though.

Alex’s dream was troubling, especially since her father’s grave was empty. He had to find Eugene Gordon. He’d never heard of a new vampire, like Eugene, fighting the hunger. All vampires fed off animals when they couldn’t find their prey of choice: humans. But the temptation to take human life was forever there, fused into their makeup. It took years to learn to control that hunger. Few had ever managed the feat, because few even cared enough to try.

Eugene was out there, and what was truly terrifying was that Milo had a mental connection with those he created, allowing him to bend them to his will. It was frightening to think of Alex standing out on that balcony the other night. Milo had been the one calling to her, but he had tapped into her love for her father to
disguise his call, forcing her father to lure her outside, where Milo could get to her.

But how could he tell her what was really going on?

He was talking about her father, after all. She would fight tooth and nail against the reality that her father had become a vampire. And she would never believe that he could have become evil, even if he revealed his fangs and sank them straight into her throat.

“Cody?” she said, and he realized that she was standing impatiently by the door.

“Sorry. Just wool gathering,” he said, and rose to join her.

“I’ll keep watch around here, help folks get ready, set up an archery range…and take stock of what weapons we have,” Brendan said. “Cole’s going to send Dave and some men and stop by some of the ranches where folks might not know yet that…they’re in danger.”

Or might already be dead, or turned into soulless creatures of the night, Cody thought, but he only nodded and said, “Good.” Then he turned to Alex and said, “I’ll see you out back in ten minutes.”

Without waiting for her response, he headed up to his room. He had a feeling that today he would need both his medical supplies and his weapons.

Levy saddled the horses while Alex waited, ready to go the minute Cody appeared. Which he did, and well within the ten minutes, his saddlebags thrown over his shoulder.

She was surprised by her own ability to behave civilly and calmly toward him as they mounted and headed out. She had never imagined putting her honor on the table, only to have it refused. But something in the way he had spoken last night had touched her.

I am not the man you want.

The words had seemed to come from his soul, filled with something that sounded very much like pain.

“So how are you with a bow and arrow?” he asked a few minutes later as they rode through town.

“Well, I’m a crack shot with a gun, but to tell you the truth, I’ve never even held a bow and arrow.”

“I see. Then you, young lady, have target practice tomorrow,” he said, his pitch-black stallion prancing under him, until he easily brought the animal back under control with the slightest command.

“I’m impressed,” she said, looking admiringly at the horse.

“Taylor was a gift from Brendan’s cousin, back in New Orleans. The man was crazy about President Zachary Taylor, and thus this fellow’s name.”

They fell silent after that, as he led the way through town. As they neared the edge of civilization, Alex found herself lagging for a moment.

Looking.

She half expected to see her father standing there, looking toward the horizon, his hat lowered against the sun, his duster billowing in the breeze.

But there was no one there.

“Alex?” Cody said a little sharply, turning back to look at her.

“Coming!” she called.

They continued to ride in silence until they reached Calico Jack’s.

Calico Jack’s appeared to be deserted.

There were no wagons standing out front, whose owners might be inside buying supplies. Nor were there any Indian ponies about, or a single saddled horse.

“Don’t get down,” Cody told Alex, dismounting.

She waited and watched while he stepped carefully up on the porch and walked to the door. One hand on the gun in the holster at his hip, he used the other to throw open the door.

He strode inside, and Alex waited with her heart pounding and her breath held.

It was only seconds before Cody reappeared.

“Come in,” he told her.

She slipped down from Cheyenne and tossed the reins over the hitching rail, then hurried up the steps. John was there, along with Mina, his mixed-blood wife, and they both greeted her with hugs and grim expressions.

“Let me get you some coffee,” Mina said.

She was a striking woman, a perfect match for John. There must have been Scandinavian blood in her background, or perhaps Germanic; she was tall, at least five foot ten inches, and her hair was still a shimmering blond color, even though she was at least forty. Her bronzed features were Apache, but her eyes were green.

John Snow was a mix himself, though he had grown up among the Apache. He always said that though his mother had been a white captive, she had loved his father. He hadn’t wanted to be part of any band, and he liked his trading post—and his relatively solitary existence—quite fine. Mina was his third wife, and he’d had children with each of his wives, creating his own band, in a way.

“Coffee would be wonderful, Mina, thank you,” Alex said. Both Mina and John Snow seemed on edge. She glanced at Cody. “I’ll go help Mina.”

John and Cody sat down at the big rough wooden table standing in the middle of the room, a place for customers
to sit down and chat, drink coffee and compare wares. She and Mina brought the coffee and joined them.

“There is evil afoot,” John said. “Not the Apache, and not the white man. Evil from the bowels of the earth.”

“I know,” Cody said. “Sheriff Granger came to see you the other day, but when he came, he didn’t understand. He thought his only problem was outlaws.”

“Outlaws don’t kill this way. I found carcasses…deer, cattle. Ripped open. Drained of blood. And then I knew. Evil has arisen from the earth, and it is not a ghost. This is different. This is the thing the Great Spirit Father and Earth Mother deplore. An abomination.”

“We call them vampires,” Cody said.

“Vampires,” John repeated. “I have not heard this word before.”

“John, I need to know—what about your family?”

John inhaled deeply and looked at his wife in misery. “April,” he said.

“April?” Cody repeated.

“My son’s daughter. Beautiful, and just sixteen. She is dying.”

“Where is she, John? I need to see her,” Cody said. “I’m a medical doctor. Please. There’s a chance I can save your granddaughter.”

“My son’s land is just behind the trading post,” John Snow said.

“Let’s go,” Cody said.

Coffee was forgotten. The four of them hurried out the back door and down the slope that led to his son’s ranch.

When they entered the house, they found that most of the family was already gathered there. Alex recognized most of the older children, and surmised that some of the
younger ones were Mina’s and the rest were John’s grandchildren.

“She is worse, Father,” Jeremy, John’s eldest son, said sadly, coming forward to meet them. He greeted Alex with an emotion-filled hug, then looked at Cody warily.

“Cody is a doctor,” Alex said. “He believes he can help your daughter.”

“Come, then.”

He led them into a typical young girl’s room, with frilled curtains and dolls on shelves. The girl herself had sable hair and pale skin. She was lying still when they entered, but when Cody leaned down over her, she began to toss.

“You’re making her worse,” Jeremy said with dismay.

Cody ignored him and sat down on the bed, holding her wrists easily in one hand, opening her eyes one at a time, then parting her lips with his fingers.

Alex let out a gasp.

The girl’s canine teeth had grown. They were…fangs.

The girl’s mother cried out, and suddenly the girl’s eyes flew open. She tried to bolt up and began gnashing her teeth, trying to bite Cody.

“We may not be in time,” he said.

Alex flew across the room to him. “You have to save her. You have to!”

He looked back at her and sighed. “I’ll do my best. Open my bag. You’ll find needles there, and some tubing.”

“Needles?” John Snow said worriedly.

“She needs blood,” Cody said. “Believe me, it’s very important.”

Alex brought him the supplies he’d requested, and he looked down at the girl and murmured beneath his
breath. It looked as if she heard him, though it was hard to be sure.