Undeniable (2 page)

“Impatient as ever.” She pulled an antique lace hanky from
the back pocket of her jeans and delicately dabbed at the corners of her mouth.
“You don’t have to follow Diana, you know. The files the elders emailed you on
her and her father have more than enough information. And my puppets are her
dearest friends. They could tell you anything you want.”

“Not according to Damien and the other elders.”

“Damien?” She snarled. “Diana is
not
the innocent he
described at the elder’s meeting. You want a virgin, Sebastian? One lives right
across the lake. A pure, sweet virgin just waiting to be plucked.”

“Goodbye, Mother.” Sebastian turned and leapt into the air.

Below, a car pulled off the road on the other side of the
homes lining the lake. Open windows released the perfumes and feminine scents
of those in the car. Only one held his attention. Only one hit him with enough
force to nearly send him plummeting to the ground. Following an older,
lingering scent that told him she’d come this way before, he soared over a
dense wall of ten-foot high hemlocks and landed in the middle of a lakefront
yard. Filling his lungs, he knew he’d come to the end of his hunt. Diana’s
essence permeated the area.

His mother alit beside him.

Ignoring her, he peered over the lake. Not a single boat
disturbed the puddles of moonlight bathing in the gently rippling water. From a
hundred foot wide beach, a well-manicured lawn sloped up to a three-story
colonial mansion. The full moon consorted with a warm breeze which tossed aside
the leaves and slender branches barring its way as it swept through the
surrounding trees. A multitude of shadows danced across the white clapboard
house and along the balconies wrapping around each floor.

Like many of the mini-estates nestled on the banks of Lake
George, this one’s borders were lined with towering hemlocks that ensured
privacy. Tilting his head, he mentally scanned the interior of the house. As
far as he could sense, two of the three inhabitants slept while the third, an
adolescent male, masturbated in his bed.

Not far from the shore, a rusty swing creaked as it swayed
beneath the lowest branch of an old weeping cherry tree. A canopy of tear-drop
leaves rustled from a sudden gust of wind.

Unbidden, the realization that his stepbrother, Marek, would
have loved this place released the grief he’d fought so hard to control. He
took to the air and hovered for a moment above the yard that now shimmered
beneath a crimson veil from the bloody tears filling his eyes. Soon, Frank
Nostrum would share his pain. Soon, the vampire hunter would lose a piece of
his
heart.

Sebastian soared across the yard and over the other hemlock
barrier, then cursed when he found his mother already waiting for him. “Don’t
you have something better to do than follow me around?”

“You want to know about Diana? There’s no need to waste a
week of perfectly good nights. I know more about her than anyone.”

His mother’s penchant for torturing him with tidbits of
information irked him as much now as it had when he was a child. Years of
experience, though, had taught him the benefits of hiding his impatience. He
shrugged as if he could care less that once again she had piqued his curiosity.
“I hate to admit it, but you’re right,” he said, absently caressing the tiny
silken ears of the kitten. “Watching Nostrum’s daughter for a week will be
nothing but a waste of time.”

“Of course I’m right!”

She spat on the ground, then groaned and slumped back
against the trunk of a pine. A frown marred her flawless brow. She pushed away
from the tree and, gripping his chin in her cold, slender fingers, stared
intently into his eyes. “Listen, Sebastian. Don’t talk to Diana. If you insist
on following her this week, keep your distance. Then give her your blood and
leave. I’d bet my fangs Diana’s the lure.”

Her eyes shimmered. Don’t touch her, Sebastian. And, no
matter what happens, don’t drink a drop of her blood. It’s cursed. It will
infect your mind. Do you hear me? Do not drink her blood.

At first, the fear and concern filling his mother’s eyes
revived the child who once foolishly embraced any sign of affection she cast
his way, but then he felt the tingling that signaled her attempt to control his
mind. He yanked his head and heart from her grasp. Baring his fangs, he roared
into her mind with enough force to knock down most vampires.
Get the hell
out of my head!

Olympia barely flinched. “Diana’s a whore, Sebastian. I’ve
watched her spread her legs to get her way since she was a teen. She’ll seduce
you and before you know it, you’ll be facing the dawn in her father’s pen.”

The distant sound of car doors slamming caught his
attention. Gazing toward the yard they’d just left, he asked, “How will I know
which one is her?”

“You’ve never seen her?” His mother stumbled back a step as
if he had slapped her. She raked the fingers of one hand through her hair and
shook her head. “But I thought…all these years…you’ve never once felt you should
see what the daughter of Lake George’s vampire hunter looks like? My God,
Sebastian, you’re our Champion. It’s your job to protect us from the likes of
Nostrum and his daughter.”

“I protect the helpless. You, dear Mother, are far from
helpless.”

She gaped at him. “You
must
have bumped into her.”

“This new generation keeps me busy all night and leaves no
time for checking out some little chit who may or may not have a hand in her
father’s crimes.” He almost added that the elders had forbade him to go near
the Nostrums the day Diana was born, but he’d learned at a young age that it
was safer not to give his mother more information than necessary.

Back then, he hadn’t questioned the elder’s edict. Frank
Nostrum had been nothing more than an annoyance, a harmless human mocked by
vampires and humans for traipsing through the mountainside and along the banks
of the lake each night in search of the ever-elusive vampire he claimed to have
seen as a child. Sebastian had no interest in Nostrum or his baby girl.

Back then.

But for the past several years, Nostrum had managed to kill
some of their strongest vampires in his pen. No amount of surveillance had
revealed what weapon he used to lure and restrain them. In the last few months
he’d taken down four.

The only preacher in Mina’s Cove, Marek had protected
Nostrum from retribution for years with sermons on forgiveness. Sebastian’s
indifference and the hunter’s safety net vanished the moment dawn’s fiery rays
touched Marek’s skin.

“This changes everything. Everything!” His mother brushed
past him and paced along the hemlocks, stopping occasionally to peek into the
yard. “Okay, just let me think a minute.”

His mother suddenly stopped pacing and nodded. “I’ll watch
her this week. Then you could give me your blood and I—”

“
I
will follow her.
I
will prove she knows
about her father’s crimes.” Sebastian’s voice shook. “And
I
will avenge
Marek’s death.”

“Of course she knows about his crimes! Any fool can see that
she’s the weapon.”

“I swear on Marek’s soul and all those before him, if she
lured him into that pen, I’ll pour so much of my blood down her throat she’ll
drown in it.”

“No!” His mother clutched his upper arms. “One drop,
Sebastian. No more! And wait the damn week. If you don’t, they’ll think I had a
hand in it and banish us both.”

One week. An eternity for a vampire intent on revenge. He
despised Frank and Diana Nostrum, hated putting off their punishment and prayed
the week would pass swiftly. Diana’s innocence meant nothing.

A soft mewl brought his attention down to the kitten
struggling within the tight grasp of his hand. Cold fingers skipped down his
spine when he realized how close he’d come to crushing the fragile body. He
immediately relaxed his grip and compelled the kitten to sleep while he sped up
its natural ability to replenish its blood. “One week. Not a day more. Whether
I find out how Nostrum captured Marek or not, Diana pays for his death a week
from tonight.”

“Remember, not a drop of her blood.”

“Just the thought of her blood makes me sick.” Sebastian watched
his mother vanish. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d just joined forces
with the devil.

Striding a short distance into the woods, he carefully
placed the kitten near the base of a towering pine. “I’ll be back, little one,”
he whispered.

When he returned to the hemlocks, he was surprised to find
Damien waiting for him. Sebastian lowered his head in deference to his elder
and stepfather.

“What’s happened to you, son,” Damien asked, raking his
fingers through his hair and mussing the bittersweet chocolate spikes falling
over his furrowed brow. “How could you even consider punishing an innocent
woman for her father’s crimes?”

“Her innocence means nothing,” Sebastian muttered, wishing
he felt as convinced as he sounded.

“That’s Olympia speaking, not you.” Damien’s voice was calm
but, Sebastian heard the steely edge of his rising anger.

“Mother’s right, Damien. We’re fools if we think the man
hasn’t brought Diana up to follow in his footsteps.”

Damien continued to stare intently into his eyes.

Sebastian mentally swatted away the doubt and guilt Damien’s
mere presence inspired. “Marek wasn’t just my stepbrother, Damien. He was my
best friend, my confidant, my only light in this damned eternal darkness.”

His stepfather’s rage slammed into him, knocked him down and
sent him skidding back into a tree. The impact of his head hitting the trunk
was nothing compared to the searing pain from his stepfather’s anger battering
his mind. He raised his eyes and flinched. Crimson tears streamed down Damien’s
cheeks, a heartbreaking contradiction to the rage twisting his usually calm
face.

Damien towered above him, his fangs longer than Sebastian
had ever seen, his fists clenched at his side.
Your light?
He roared
into Sebastian’s mind.
He was my son! My light! But I’m not blindly striking
out at anyone who might be involved, am I? I’m not considering casting some
poor, innocent woman into the pits of hell!

Clutching his head, Sebastian stood up, fell down to one
knee, then, with a growl, forced himself back to his feet. “Jesus, Damien! You
nearly fried me.”

Damien lowered his head. His chest heaved as he drew in one
long draft of air after another. Sebastian waited, wondering why his
stepfather, a vampire who rarely showed any extreme emotion, had so easily
slipped over the edge.

When Damien finally raised his head, desperation filled his
eyes. He pressed his palm against Sebastian’s chest. “Look into your heart,
son. You don’t want to do this.”

Sebastian shoved Damien’s hand away and pounded the spot
where it had been. “I have no heart! It incinerated with Marek in Frank
Nostrum’s pen. I’m dead inside, Damien, just like Frank believes we all are.”

“I hope, for your sake, you’re wrong, son. Mina help you if
you aren’t.” Damien sighed and looked up at the moon. He frowned as if he were
searching, questioning, then nodded and spoke, his voice barely above a
whisper. “They’re here. She’s a virgin, Sebastian. Once again, your mother has
set you upon a virgin. Remember that tonight. And remember what you were. What
you are, now. A Champion.”

Before he could reply, his stepfather vanished.

He knew what he was. A Champion des Angelique. But he was
off duty for this mission. Massaging his temples, Sebastian peered through a
slight breach in the hemlocks. A virgin. The red strip of cloth in his pocket
felt as if it would burn through the denim separating it from his skin.

Three women in their mid-twenties slipped through an opening
in the hemlock wall on the other side of the yard. Sebastian focused his
senses. Their voices, breathing, heart rate and scent met with his scrutiny.

He recognized two of the women as his mother’s puppets,
identical twins with tall, model-thin bodies and stunning faces that graced
each equally. Their hair marked the only difference between them. Although both
had soft brown curls, one had cut hers to rest at her jawline while the other
had streaked her waist-length hair with blonde. Hushed giggles mingled with
whispers as they scanned the property before stepping free of the shadows.

Another beauty with piercing blue eyes and hair the color of
wheat that streamed over her shoulders without a single ripple stood with the
confidence of a woman who knew men found her irresistible and would do anything
for a chance at her body. She sent a sultry gaze up at the house.

Sebastian pegged her as Diana, the whore his mother had
described. But then she blew a kiss up at the young masturbator’s window and
spoke.

“Okay, so what’s the big deal, Diana? Your grandmother was
wrong.” She pulled aside some branches and peered into the gap she’d just come
through. “Diana?”

A fourth woman stumbled as she broke free of the hemlocks
and landed facedown on the dew-covered grass. Sebastian grinned when a string
of muffled curses silenced her friends’ laughter.

She ignored their outstretched hands and, scowling at the
ground behind her, scrambled to her feet.

Sebastian drew in a hissing breath.

Petite compared to the others, not more than five foot three
with breasts that would barely fill his hand, she brought out an instinctive
need in him to protect. He watched as she drew up her shoulders and glared at
the blonde.

“Dammit, Terry, she’s never wrong and you know it.” The
woman he now realized was Diana shot a glance at the house, then shimmied out
of her skirt. “If Nana Lina said I’d meet my soul mate tonight, then one of the
guys I met tonight was him!”

Leaning forward, Sebastian smirked. If her voice was any
indication, Diana needed no protecting. He felt the strength of her conviction
and her willingness to fight to defend it in each word. As she moved, muscles
smoothly rippling beneath her skin revealed that her strength was not confined
to her soul. He wondered if, like the female vampires, she would feel like
steel encased in satin.