Vampire Forgotten (9 page)

“I’ve been trying to wake you.”  She scooted closer to him and touched the small of his back with her fingertips.  He jumped.  “Are you all right?”  She softened her voice, feeling the tension in the muscles rippling along his back.

He climbed to his feet and stood with his back to her.  For a long moment, he didn’t speak.  Mischa used the time to stand up and walk to his side.  When he finally looked at her, she saw a momentary flash of panic, but she quickly corrected herself.  Vampires had no need to panic.  Did they?

She reached for him, but he shied away, stumbling across the rocks beneath his feet.  “What’s the matter with you?”

He raised one hand to ward her off.  “Nothing.  Nothing.” His gaze flicked to the entrance of the cave. “It’s night out. We should get going.”

She clamped her hands on her hips.  “I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what’s wrong.  You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

He stared at her then snatched hold of her wrist, yanking her behind him.  “We’re leaving.”

Mischa dug in her heels, and Rhad stopped short.  He turned around to glare at her.  “We need to leave.”

The iciness of his tone surprised her.  She tipped her head back to see his face in the gathering darkness.  “Are you still upset about what I said earlier?  Because if you are, this is going to be a long journey.”

Rhad’s brows lowered, and she wanted to smooth the taut skin with the tips of her fingers.  She clenched her hands into fists to resist the urge. 

“Mischa,” he said her name through gritted teeth.  “We need to leave.”

“So you’ve said, but you need to tell me what’s gotten you so upset.”

 “It’s not important.” He turned once more to tuck his shirt into his jeans and for a moment, though a brief one, Mischa knew she’d seen genuine pain in his eyes.

How was that possible?  Vampires didn’t have a conscience.  Oh, she knew her grandfather had pierced his soul, making human blood abhorrent to him, but even the shaman’s magic could not have restored the man the vampire had consumed.  She kept her eyes glued to his spine as he moved around the cave, suddenly, in no hurry to leave.

“Rhad, why won’t you talk to me now?”

He spun back around and stalked past her.  This time, he didn’t reach for her before he exited the cave.  “I am a vampire, and you are a human.  We should have not forgotten our differences.”

His words spiked her temper.  “You’re saying you regret what happened between us?”

“It shouldn’t have happened.”

She jogged to catch up with him and smacked his shoulder to capture his full attention.  “Pardon me for saying so, Rhad Valentine, but you’re full of shit.”  Though his eyebrow lifted, he didn’t comment.  She forged on.  “You wanted me just as much as I wanted you, and if I were to touch you right now, you wouldn’t push me away.”  Deliberately, she moved closer, invading his space.  “Would you?”

His eyes glittered in the darkness.  “Mischa, don’t.”

She placed her hand on his chest.  “Don’t what?  Don’t touch you?  Don’t make your body aware of my presence?”  She glided her fingertips over his skin, tiptoeing them up to his neck.  “I won’t deny how I feel simply because you choose to.”

Her hip brushed his deliberately.  She’d slipped into siren mode though she’d never taken on the role before.  Something about Rhad extinguished her inhibitions, and she gave into the wanton cravings within her.    

Rhad’s head fell back the second her lips touched the sensitive area beneath his chin.  “Mischa, we need to go.  Your sister could…” he broke off abruptly.

The mention of her sibling splashed cold water on the fire, and Mischa quickly stepped away from him.  “You’re right.  I’m sorry.  I don’t know what I was thinking.”

He touched her cheek gently.  “Don’t blame yourself.  It’s the night.  The air can do this to you.”

She smiled slightly.  “I’ll blame the night.  That’s good.”  At least he wasn’t speaking to her in short, clipped tones now.  She covered his hand with hers.  “But our conversation isn’t over.”

He closed his eyes briefly.  “I should have known.”

The scent of his skin called to her, and she forced herself to put some distance between them.  She didn’t know why Rhad affected her the way he did.  It didn’t make sense.  She’d never abandoned her own common sense to throw herself in the arms of any man, least of all, a vampire. 

Rhad extended his hand.  “Come.”

She linked her fingers with his.  “We’re close to her.”

He didn’t respond.

“You can’t feel her, but I can.  We’re close.”

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.  “Mischa, perhaps you should prepare yourself.”

She began walking.  “Prepare myself for what?”

“Did it ever occur to you that there is a possibility that…” he hesitated then continued once more, “that something might have happened to your sister?”

Her fingers tightened around his.  “Occurred to me?  I think about it all the time.  What if we’re too late?  What if I should have come a day sooner?”  She shook her head and her hair fell over her shoulders.  “But I can’t allow myself to think about that.  Rianna is alive.”  She breathed in slowly.  “She has to be.”

Rianna watched her sister clinging tightly to the vampire, and under ordinary circumstances, she might have rebelled at Mischa’s choice in men. Not that there was anything wrong with Rhad the man, but he wasn’t just a man. That alone put her sister in dangerous territory. .

She floated up into the trees and followed the couple, drifting lower to pick up their conversation.  She didn’t want to eavesdrop as much as she wanted to hear Mischa’s voice again.

“The danger is drawing closer,” the shaman whispered.

Rianna nodded. “I know. I can sense his presence.”

“Rhad will protect her.”

“I wish I could be sure.”

“There’s nothing more you can do, Rianna. You cannot interfere with Mischa’s destiny.”

She looked down to observe the transparency of her body. “Of that, I am painfully aware, Grandfather.” 

“So what do you do during the day?”  Mischa wanted to distract herself.

Rhad shot her a curious look.  “I sleep.”

“Oops.  I meant what do you do when you’re awake?  Do you work?”

He laughed a little.  “No, I don’t work.”

“Why is it that all vampires are rich?”

“I can’t speak for all vampires, but my family was in the oil business.  I inherited the money when my parents died.”

“Was it difficult?”

“Was what difficult?”

Mischa released his hand to tuck both of hers into the pockets of her jeans.  “Watching everyone you know die.”

Rhad remained quiet for a long moment, so long that she was convinced he wasn’t going to respond.  Then finally, when he broke the silence, she almost wished he hadn’t. 

“I didn’t watch my family die.”  His voice cracked a little.

Her heart began a rapid beat.  “What do you mean?  You weren’t there?”

“I could not be around my family or friends, the ones I had known before I was turned.  The town knew what had happened to me.  They were waiting for my return…to execute me.”

She sucked in a sharp breath.  “Had you killed someone?”

He stopped walking and turned to face her.  “No.  Not then and not now.  I don’t kill, Mischa, unless it’s to protect someone I care about.  Then it would be a possibility.”

She touched his jaw.  “Or to protect yourself.”

He didn’t respond.

She prodded him.  “You would defend yourself, wouldn’t you?”

“Would you choose to live this existence?”

She looked down at the ground and considered his words.  “What if you didn’t have to live it alone?”

He grasped her chin and brought her head level once more.  “What are you asking?”

“Wouldn’t your life be better if you didn’t have to live it alone?”

He dropped his hand.  “I don’t live in what if land.”  He stared out into the distance.

“You said you haven’t killed. How have you survived this long? It’s only been ten years since the shaman helped you.”

“For a long time after I was sired, I refused to give in to the hunger.”

“You starved yourself?” The very idea horrified her as the image of the muscular, well-built Rhad who now walked beside her gave way to a gaunt, skeleton with sallow skin.

“Only for two years.” He held up one hand. “Vampires can survive a long time without eating. It’s just a miserable existence. “For the next sixty years, I followed the scent of spilled blood.”

Mischa wasn’t sure she wanted to know more, but she’d come this far with her need for knowledge. “People who were already dead?”

His shoulders tensed then he shook his head “We should pick up the pace.  We haven’t covered much ground.”

Mischa recognized the cue.  Reluctantly, she allowed the conversation to drop.  She walked along in silence beside him for several minutes and then, on the breeze, she picked up a scent, familiar, personal.  Knowledge slammed into her stomach.  “Rianna?  Oh my God, Rhad, I can smell her perfume!”

Rianna hastily pulled herself higher, evaporating into the air.  She’d made a mistake, gotten too close, but she wanted, no, needed to see her sister’s face, to hear the melodic sounds of her voice.  She thought when Hamrick had taken her life she would never see Mischa again, but she’d been granted a reprieve, if only for a few more days. 

 “You cannot get so close to her, Rianna.  Your presence will only create grief within her.”

The truth behind her grandfather’s words still stung. “Won’t the knowledge of my death do the same?”

He sighed.  “Yes, it will, but that grief will pass in time, and the memories she has of you will be restored.  To see you like this, in your incorporeal body, would be more devastating to her than the news of your passing.”  He squeezed her fingers.  “You have to trust me, my sweet.  Your sister will be better for remembering you as you were.”

Rianna nodded head slowly though her eyes filled with tears.  “I will miss her.”  She hiccupped.  “You know, we didn’t see each other that often, but I always knew she was there for me.  I never, for one second, thought I’d be the one to go first.”  She slipped her hand free and sailed higher into the sky.  “I need to be alone now.”

Rhad tried to ignore the hunger pangs clawing at his insides, but the urge to satiate his need intensified with each step he took across the rocky terrain.  At just after midnight, it had been almost twelve hours since he’d tasted the blood of the last wolf he’d cornered. 

“Aren’t you getting hungry?” Mischa asked as if reading his mind. 
Perhaps she had. 

They’d grown closer over the last couple of days.  Too close, maybe.  Rhad needed to protect her, shelter her, and the knowledge he carried within him consumed him.  Guilt ate at him, and he cursed the sight which had force-fed him the information. 

“Rhad?”  Her soft voice drew his mind back to her question.

He touched her arm.  “I will go soon.”

“You should go now.  I don’t want you passing out on me.”

His hand slid down to take hers.  “Weren’t you listening when I told you vampires can go quite some time without eating?”

She shuddered. “But you don’t have to do that now. I’ll be fine here by myself. I have my trusty black-belt, and I’m sure I can find a wooden stake to use.”

He smiled, her sense of humor like a light to his soul. “What do you think of the night?” He shouldn’t ask, but he had to know. Was it possible she could live a life without those things she took for granted? No! He couldn’t even consider the possibility.

Her fingers tightened around his.  “I like the smells, and the feel of the wind on my face even though it is frigidly cold.  Why do you ask?”

Rhad stopped walking long enough to tuck a stray strand of her silky hair behind one of her shell-shaped ears.  “Do you miss the sun yet?”  He watched her eyes shift toward the moon before she focused her gaze on his face once more. 

“What are you asking me, Rhad?”

He pulled away from her instantly.  “Nothing.  I was merely making conversation.”

“Go eat.  I’ll wait right here for you.”  She perched herself on a moss-covered boulder and crossed her legs at the ankles. 

His eyes seemed to bore into her, dark and piercing. “Mischa.”

She blinked up at him. “You aren’t gone yet? I thought you were so hungry. And don’t worry about me. I’ll sit right here and keep quiet.” She held one finger against her lips and gave him a saucy wink before turning away from him.

“Mischa,” his voice reached to her out of the darkness once more.

She heard the exasperation behind the word, and she looked up.  When had he walked closer to her?  Goosebumps littered her arms.  Those eyes, so beautiful and yet so distinctly male, were still trained on her face while sensual lips curved upwards slightly.  “I want you.”  He made the words a demand.