The Dracove (The Prophecy series) (18 page)

Cianán bowed his head. “Because I told ‘em to leave ye be.”

“Why would you that? You hated me.”

“No.” Cianán reached out to him. “I loved ye, Grantlund. You were my best—”

“Please give me the dignity of not lying to my face.”

“‘Tis no lie, my child. I spared ye.”

Grant tried to make sense of it all. His head spun in a whirlwind. “Stay away from Kylie,” he demanded. “I won’t let you do to her what you had planned for Siobhán.”

“She’s not yours for ye to demand such things,” Cianán said, raising his voice. “I found her first, but you seem to enjoy intrudin’ where ye don’t belong.”

“I enjoy
nothing
that involves
you
.”

Cianán raised a brow. “Walk away from her now an’ I’ll leave ye be. Continue this ridiculous game, Grantlund, an’ ye won’t care for its outcome.” He drew in a deep breath. “Don’t talk to her. Don’t visit her, an’ most of all, do NOT touch her.”

Grant paused for a moment, and smiled at the idea that popped into his mind. “Touch her,” he said with a smirk on his face. “I’m afraid it’s too late for that one.”

Cianán’s eyes widened. “You lie.” His outrage echoed through the canyon.

“You think so? Why don’t you ask her yourself? I’m sure that would go over well. How do you expect your ritual to work when she’s not a virgin?” Grant smiled. “Did you honestly think you’d find one in this century that happened to be your Chosen One?”

Cianán glared. “I’m certain you relish the thought of my failure, dear boy . . . though you could be a part of my success.”

“I don’t think so,” Grant replied.

“I should rectify the mistake I made with ye.”

“But you can’t.”

“I made you,” he growled. “I can.”

They faced off, fury raging between them. Grant twitched and Cianán lunged for him, arms outstretched, hands reaching for Grant’s throat. He locked them around his neck. They flew through the air, twisting and turning. Their bodies fell to the ground. When they stopped, Cianán sat on top of him.

Grant clawed at Cianán’s wrists, scratched at his face until he was able to unlock Cianán’s grasp around his throat. He threw him off, sending Cianán screaming through the air. The nearby boulder stopped him, knocked the wind out of him, and formed a crack down the center of the larger rock. Cianán slid down the front of it to the ground and crouched beneath the boulder. Grant stood and dusted himself off. He leapt over to Cianán, grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled his head up.

“You’re weak, old man. What’s the matter, didn’t you feed yet?”

“Aye, I fed,” he mumbled, barely audible for even the vampyre’s ears.

“What was that? Speak up.” He pulled his head up higher, tightening his grip on his hair. He heard some of it rip from Cianán’s scalp.

“I said, aye.” His fangs gleamed in the moonlight. Cianán knocked Grant’s legs out from under him. Grant hit the ground with a hard thud. Cianán stood, towering over Grant, and kicked him in the ribs.

“That’s for defyin’ me.” He kicked him again.

Grant flew through the air and rolled onto his stomach. He struggled to get up, but Cianán was soon at his side.

“That’s for searchin’ for ‘er. An’ this” — Cianán pulled his leg back— “
this
is for touchin’ ‘er.”

Grant reached up, stopping Cianán’s swinging leg mid-air. He twisted the leg and pushed upward. Cianán flew back and landed on his side. Grant jumped to his feet and flipped backward, landing so softly, his bare feet hardly kicked up any dust. Cianán sat up, and slowly stood.

He looked at Grant. “This isn’t the time or the place.” Cianán’s giant bat-like wings took form, spreading out behind him and rising over his head.

“I’m willing to make an exception for you.”

“Then you’ll only be fightin’ yourself, as ye’ve done for so many years.” He lifted himself up and disappeared into the desert sky.

“Asshole.” Grant shook his head and dusted himself off. He felt his side to see if there was any damage; there was none. Even if he did heal quicker than a mortal did, it still took some time.

He had to get back before Kylie woke up. If she woke up at all during the night. Or before Cianán arrived there, if that was where he’d taken off to.

Grant treaded softly through the yard. The dew-covered lawn felt wonderful beneath his feet after his fight in the middle of nowhere.

He heard movement and was surprised she was awake. She’d passed out from the wine. She probably wondered where he was. She appeared in the doorway, looking outside for him. He stopped in the shadows and took in the vision of her. The way the moonlight fell upon her, caressing her soft skin. She’d changed the clothes she’d had on earlier and put on a soft white gown.
And an angel shall appear before me.
A glimpse . . . .

“I’m over here,” he said softly.

She turned her head toward him.

He stepped out of the shadows.

“What are you doing out here?” She rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“Enjoying the night sky . . . the moon and the stars. Did I wake you?”

“Uh, uh.”

He walked up to her and placed his arms around her. “Then why are you up?”

“I wasn’t feeling very well, and I had this really strange dream. Someone was fighting . . . .” She yawned. “I suppose it’s nothing.”

He touched her cheek, leaned forward and kissed her. “All is well. Let’s get you back to bed.”

He took her hand, leading her inside, and looked around to make sure Cianán wasn’t nearby. He wouldn’t sleep the rest of the night, just in case. He closed the French doors and locked them.

Not that I’d sleep well anyhow.
He heard her climb back into bed, closed the blinds in his room, and let the heavy curtains fall.

* * * * *

A few hours after Grant left the next morning, Cianán called. Kylie almost dismissed him; she’d been so focused on Grant from the moment they’d met.
If only I could talk to Ana right now—

“Kylie?” Cianán’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“I said did ye enjoy dinner t’other night?”

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry, my mind must have wandered.”

“S’all right, I know ye’ve much on your mind. Did they e’er find out what happened to your friend?”

“Who? Oh, Rob. I don’t know. I really don’t want to talk about that right now.”

Her mind wandered back to Grant and the night before. A smile spread across her lips. He’d kept her up most of the night talking. After their second bottle of wine, her thoughts were a little vague. She wondered why she woke up at four in the morning; it wasn’t normal for her to do so.

Cianán asked another question. Something about dinner.

Dinner? But Grant . . .
“I don’t think I can.”

“Why not?”

“I’m going out of town in a few days, and I need to pack and get things ready. Something came up last minute.” Just like that, she’d decided to go. She swallowed hard. Holy. Shit.

“Out of town? Why? Where are you going?”

His tone brought her out of her distraction.
He’s getting pretty damn nosy for only having one date with me.
She was probably overreacting. Her imagination tended to run off, with her dragging reality behind as quickly as possible to catch up and set things straight. “Why do you want to know?”

“I was only askin’ ye. Do ye not wish to see me again?”

“It’s not that, it’s just . . . well . . . I’m not sure. So much has happened to me lately. I don’t know if I’m ready—”

“It’s. Only. Dinner.”

So much for her imagination.
Okay, he’s clearly agitated, but what the hell?
“Don’t talk to me like that.”

The other end of the phone went silent. He cleared his throat. “I apologize for how that sounded. I’d only like to see ye again.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”

“Kylie, please, don’ misunderstand—”

“No, Cianán. I’m sorry, I have to go—”

“It’s
him
, isn’ it?”

“I’m sorry?” Maybe she hadn’t heard him right.

“Have a safe trip, Kylie,” he said and hung up.

She sat in shock with the dead phone to her ear. When it started beeping at her, she hung it up. A chill raced up her spine.

What the hell? He
did
say ‘It’s
him
,’ right?
I know that’s what he said, but who’s he talking about? He couldn’t have been talking about Grant? I’ve never even mentioned him. How would he know?

She stared out the window and watched Tobak chase a butterfly. It put a faint smile on her face.

“I think Cianán is a little too controlling for me.”

She headed into the kitchen to search for something to take away her headache. She knew why she had it, and it wasn’t from the wine. They always followed the nightmares, staying with her until a few days after someone died, then they’d fade away. Much like she’d care for this headache to do. A bolt of pain shot behind her right eye.

“Where’s the damn aspirin?”

She wondered if this headache would last longer, since there was no one left in her family to die. God forbid should it
never
go away.

Kylie fumbled through the cabinets, and remembered she’d left it in her bathroom. The phone rang again as she started down the hall. She hoped it wasn’t Cianán calling back, and she checked the caller ID.

She held the cordless phone in her right hand and stared at the ID window on it. “Anonymous? Damn, I hate that.” She really didn’t want to pick it up. Cianán had called from an anonymous number. She reminded herself to enter the code for ‘Anonymous Call Rejection’ later on, when the fourth ring sounded. Voice messaging would pick up after the fifth.

But Grant had called from an anonymous line the day before, and she hit the ‘talk’ button in the midst of the fifth ring.

“Hello?” Her voice shook, fearful of who was on the other end of the call.

“And just what exactly would you like to do this afternoon, my lady?”

She cheered up immediately at the sound of his voice and let out a small sigh of relief. “Oh, I don’t know, Grant. What would you like to do?”

He laughed and she giggled like a damn teenage girl when her crush said something to her.

His voice went deep and husky. “You know what I want to do.”

“Oh yeah, I know.”

“I wasn’t thinking that, but if you insist.”

She giggled again. Where in the hell was that coming from?

“I just love that giggle. It’s so sexy. But really, what would you like to do?”

“When are you coming over?”

“In a bit. Is that okay?”

“You know it is.”