Vampires Seduction #1 (The Paranormal Town Romance Series) (8 page)

"With whom?"

Gunnar inhaled deeply. "Well,
let's see, with witches, with wolves, wizards and most importantly, with
humans." He laughed heartily.

Emil did not laugh. He shook his
head slowly as he spoke, "Neither of us is much of a match for a wizard,
but everyone else, a piece of cake!"

Gunnar turned and walked a few steps
away from Emil. "Even now
Haasinholf
Grendlekin
is beginning to thaw. I'll go for
Anca
and you go get our army together."

Emil was skeptical. "It's so
expansive out there, I doubt if you can find her.

"Darkness is our friend, Emil,
not our enemy."

"True, but there is so much
ground to cover." Emil added.

Gunnar was firm. "You get the
vampires and I will get
Anca
."

Emil nodded, began to walk away and
stopped. "Why don't YOU rally up the troops, you're very good at that, and
I will go back and get
Anca
. After all, I know
exactly where I left her."

Gunnar scowled. His words were
measured, "Because I know where to take her where she will be safe and I
know better than to abandon her in a tuft of weeds like bait in a trap!"

"Right."
Emil did not take his eyes off of
Gunnar's face. "And where would that cozy little safe place be,
Gunnar?"

A rumbling of laughter was heard above
their heads, as if the voice was emitted from one of the dark clouds beginning
to cover the moon. Some stars had already disappeared as the sun inched its way
into the new day's sky. The laughter continued, "Not much time boys. Oh
look, here comes the sun!"

Both men turned to see the sun
peeking over the edge of the earth. There was no time to identify the voice.
Like two golden tornadoes, the vampires disappeared. The cackling voice
followed them, "Oh my, the brilliant advantages of being a witch!"

***

Anca
had scanned the area around her
hiding place.
Nothing but parched land.
Her thoughts
continued to race. "Was this some horrible nightmare and nothing more? She
pinched her arm and felt pain, but was that REALLY a test of being awake? She
decided she couldn't just sit there awaiting detection. She inched her way out
of the thick brush. She began to pull foxtails from her hair and out of the
thin silky gown.

"There you are!" A
surprised voice startled her. "Everyone is looking for you, warlocks,
witches, shape shifters. Oh, and vampires.
Two to be
exact."

Anca's
brown eyes widened, "Have you
seen them?"

The witch did not answer. "Yes,
you are quite the popular woman in Lompoc."

"But why?"
She felt tears beginning to well up
in her eyes. She hated tears! She hadn't even cried when her parents died only
two hours apart. The thought of her parents' death seemed an eternity away now.
The idea squeezed her throat and she began to sob, "Why, why, why!"
She gulped air and huge tears rumbled down her cheeks in silent desperation.

Anca
felt the witch's tight arm around
her shoulders. "There, there." A claw-like hand patted her back.
"Of course you are distraught. Why wouldn't you be?" The voice was
soothing, musical. "It's alright now. None of those horrible creatures can
get near you now. I'm here."
Anca
relaxed
against the warm body which smelled like freshly baked gingerbread cookies.

The wind howled and a voice
bellowed, "Release her!" But no one appeared to claim the voice.

Anca
allowed Calypso to lead her through
the valley. She wasn't aware of the cows grazing or the wild turkeys crossing
in front of them on the dirt path. She placed one foot blindly in front of her
as if she was
sleep
walking.

A large rotunda-shaped building
appeared before them in the middle of a circle of oak trees. They stood in
front of heavy oak double doors. Calypso announced, "We're here."

"Where are we? Why here?"
Anca
looked at the huge brass door knockers on each
door which
had been made to resemble gargoyles.

The witch was a master of deceit.
She could answer any question with perfect feigned truthfulness. "You are
here to rest, gather your thoughts and just relax while your car is being
repaired so that you can continue the rest of your journey." Calypso
smiled with her lips closed, not wanting to frighten her prey with her jagged
pointed teeth. She had spoken a half-truth, after all. The woman
did
need to rest. Tonight was going to
be a long one. "Now come, rest. Sleep. You have a long journey
tonight."

Anca
was too tired to argue. She let the
witch remove her shoes. She entered the circular room, not even noticing the
stain glass windows depicting various scenes of women being burned at the
stake.

Calypso provided a large black terry
cloth robe.
Anca
raised her arm and allowed it to be
slipped on her; the way a small child allows her mother to dress her.
"Now, here's a lovely bed for you to rest."

Down quilts had been layered on a
low wooden platform.
Anca
slid onto it, her head
sinking into the pillow, closing her eyes even before Calypso placed a black
heavy quilt over her. "Sleep well."

***

It seemed like an eternity before
the sun decided the day was coming to a close. Gunnar finally was able to take
to the sky to begin his search for
Anca
. He scanned
the horizon. He could not find her. He couldn't smell her. He couldn't hear
her. He came to the painful conclusion that he should have let Emil retrieve
her with him, but they needed the other vampires tonight. One of them had to
rouse the army. If only he had taken a sip of her blood, a tiny sip would have
helped him find her, but he knew she was not ready for that step. Now, he had
no choice but to turn around and try to summon Emil. He landed in a clearing.
His senses were on high alert.

He heard a rustle in an oak tree
over his head.
"
Psst
!
Psst
!"
He looked up.
"Embla?"

She came crashing down to his feet.

"Yes, it's me." She let
him help her to her feet. "I've come to help you. They are taking her to
Zucar
Kendlesmith
tonight."
Embla spoke very quickly. "We have to hurry. I know where she is."

Gunnar smiled, "I knew I could
count on you Embla."

"Can you protect me, Gunnar?
Calypso will kill me if she finds me. And the truth is
,
she undoubtedly knows where I am right this moment."

"Don't you have a spell you
could wrap around us that will keep her from seeing us?"

"I only know a few spells. I'm only a cook and
a go-
for
. She made sure of that." Her bird
tattoos went up and down, "I suppose I could try one. It will feel like we
are walking in a cloud of molasses, but she probably won't be able to see
us."

"I'm ready! Go for it."

Embla enjoyed the confidence Gunnar had in her. She
puffed out her chest, took a deep breath and chanted a few words. Immediately a
brown glaze of molasses formed around them, engulfing their entire bodies in
the goo. Gunnar began to walk and he had to push against the molasses. It even
smelled like molasses. He tried to see Embla, but was only able to hear her
voice. "I'm right here beside you," she announced. "Take my
hand. It's not far from here."

"How will we know if she can
see us or not, Embla?"

"We will know." The witch giggled.
"We might even end up inside a molasses cookie!"

Gunnar spoke sternly, "I don't see any humor in
this Embla."

"Well, I do!" she answered boldly.
"If I make it through this it means you and I are allies, right?" She
squeezed his cold hand.

"Of course."

She giggled again. "And you will have to
protect me forever."

"Only until she is dead," he growled.

There was a long silence before she said, "But
witches don't die."

"Oh, yes they do. One only has to know how to
kill them."

He heard Embla swallow. She knew there were ways…She
just wanted to be sure that HE knew there were ways.

"Okay, here we are, but you have to move around
in the molasses. I'm pretty sure that she can't see you."

"Good. But the problem is, I can't see through
this stuff."

"Oh, sorry."
He heard a squeaking noise, as if someone was rubbing something off of a window
pane, and then he had a small window. A huge round building appeared before
him. It was surrounded by oak trees and had two gigantic oak doors in the front
with two brass gargoyle door knockers. "Do I knock?"

She gasped, "Of course not! I don't think she
can hear us either, but let's not talk, just in case."

"Good idea," he whispered. He slowly
pulled at the door handle and the door opened into a foyer. Generally, had the
witches been inside, there would be a pile of brooms against the foyer's walls,
but there wasn't even one broom. He opened the second door into a rotunda. He
saw an altar against the far wall and in front was a low platform. He saw her.
She was sprawled out with a black coverlet over her, with one bare foot
exposed. Her golden bronze hair flowed all over the black satin pillow, her
lips the softest supple pink like a baby's cheek. He stood next to the platform
that was her makeshift bed. He glanced at the stained glass windows around the
walls of the rotunda, each one depicting a different witch on a stake being
burned. He spoke softly, "Friends of yours, Embla?"

Her
voiced quivered when she spoke, "Martyrs."

He reached down to lift
Anca
off of the platform. He slid his arms under her and heard her murmur in her
sleep. He covered her mouth and her eyes popped open in horror. "
Shh
, it's me," he tried to keep her calm, but she
thrashed wildly in his arms.

Embla spoke, "She can't see you. She just feels
you lifting her and covering her mouth. We have to go, just bring her into the
molasses!
Quickly!"

Gunnar did as he was told. He pulled
Anca
into the goo with him and carried her out of the rotunda.
Embla followed closely behind. "Come on, we have to move quickly. I don't
know how long my spell will
last,
it's just a modified
cookie recipe! Calypso will be onto us!"

"Can I fly with this spell on me?" he
asked.

"No harm in trying, but please, can you take me
with you?"

Gunnar cradled one woman under each arm and heaved
off the ground into the night sky. The moon was as full as it could be. The
stars twinkled as dancing participants in the escape.
Anca
wriggled and squirmed as he continued to clasp her tightly. He would go to the
only hiding place that he supposed the vampire army would have headed to—the
caves along the ocean cliffs. They would be safe there. No witch would dare the
salt water catching her off guard in the caves. Momentarily, he forgot about
Embla's safety.
Only
Anca
mattered
right now and he would vow to always keep her safe and under his protection.

The molasses spell began to fade. First their shoes
became visible, except
Anca
—her bare feet were the
first to poke out of the brown goo. By the time they reached the ocean cliffs,
all of the molasses was gone. They could see each other again. Gunnar felt
Anca
relax when she realized who was holding her, but
Embla's entire body tensed when she saw the ocean below her.

She shrieked. "Hold on to me, Gunnar! Don't let
me go! Please don't kill me!" He turned to look at her black eyes wild
with fear. The waves crashed into the walls at this point. He squeezed her
waist more tightly. "I won't let you fall, Embla. Don't worry."
Within seconds he placed both women down on the bare cold floor of a cave high
above the sea. "We are safe here."

Embla and
Anca
began to
shake with the dampness of the cave and the wind whipping off of the ocean. He
zipped off and was back in a moment with two blankets. He wrapped first
Anca
and then Embla. "Now,
Anca
,
you can come with me. We will go into the cave to meet my friends, but
Embla,
you'd better stay out here until I explain why a
witch was brought to one of our hiding places." She nodded numbly and slid
down the cave wall to sit. "Don't leave here Embla. You are safe. Calypso
will never brave the flight over the ocean, or the fear that it might come
crashing in here."

Embla croaked, "I know. We die from water splashing
on us."

Anca
knelt down beside the witch, realizing the sacrifices that she made to save
her. "Thank you." She squeezed Embla's hand. "As soon as Gunnar
can explain to the other vampires, we will come back to get you."