Twilight Vendetta (12 page)

“I need to ask you not to go back to the mainland without us, Emma,” he said. “There’s too great a risk someone will see you by day and follow you back here, and we’re too vulnerable when we rest.”

She knew all about the vulnerability of the sleeping vampire. That was how her mother....no, her mom was still out there, somewhere. “I don’t really think I could manage to get myself back to shore in a rowboat, Devlin.” She totally could. “We’ve got to be twenty miles out.” More like twelve. “I’m not a vampire, you know.”

He nodded. “I suppose that’s true.”

“Even if I could, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t do anything to put you at risk. You’ve saved my life three times–four times, I mean. And now you’re going to help me save my father. I’m not going to betray you or hurt you. Not any of you. I really want you to believe that.”

He seemed to be studying her, tipping his head slightly to one side like a dog that’s heard an unfamiliar sound. But he blinked the look away and cleared his throat. “As soon as the sun goes down, we will go after your father. I promise you that.”

She stared up into his eyes and knew this was important. She also knew that she wanted to kiss him. She wanted to kiss him more than she wanted to breathe, at that moment. Why was she so drawn to this man? “I promise, I won’t leave the island until you wake,” she said. “And I’ll be careful not to be seen. I mean, if there should be anyone passing by in a boat or a plane or anything like that.”

He nodded. “Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome.” She held his eyes, hoping he might be tempted. He’d almost kissed her once. Why had he pulled away?

“Have a good day exploring the island, Emma.”

“Have a good rest, Devlin. I’ll be waiting.”

He nodded, and she sighed in resignation. No kiss was forthcoming. He headed deeper into the cave and she watched him go, then turned, holding her lamp up high and walking back to the stairway. Bellamy and Andrew were trotting down as she reached the bottom. Bellamy sent her his sweet smile. “Don’t get too bored without us, Emma.”

“I’ll find plenty to do,” she said. “Have a good rest.”

Impulsively, Bellamy hugged her. “We’ll get your dad back first thing,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

Then the two hurried on and Emma trotted up the stairs, meeting Tavia at the very top. Tavia nodded toward an old table where a plastic grocery bag sat. “I got some food for you, when we were on de mainland. So you won’t go hungry all day.”

That was a relief. She’d been wondering what she was going to eat today, and figured she’d have to raid the woods for fruit or berries to get by. “Thank you, Tavia. That was thoughtful.”

“Dun’t make me regret it.”

She started to move past her, but Emma put a hand on her shoulder. “Tavia, I need to ask you...” she gave a nervous glance below, but the others were nowhere in sight. “Are you and Devlin...you know....”

“Pssh! Him? Devlin, he is too bossy for me. When I choose a mate, he will be docile. Like Bellamy. Only, how you say? Straight, yes?”

Emma laughed softly, and to her surprise Tavia smiled, and it was genuine and almost warm. “Do not get into trouble while we rest.”

“I won’t.”

“And about Devlin….” Tavia closed her dark eyes very slowly, then popped them open again. “De sun is rising. We talk about Devlin another time, yes?”

“Okay.”

Tavia nodded and hurried down the stairs, leaving Emma to wonder what had changed the Romanian’s mind about her. Maybe she’d just decided to give her a chance. Or maybe Devlin had spoken to her about her hostility.

Doubtful. Maybe Bellamy had, though. She liked Bellamy. And she thought he and Andrew were together, and that it was a shame, because Andrew seemed like kind of a dick.

Emma closed the basement door. It creaked loudly on its long unused hinges. Then she turned to face what had once been a kitchen, walked to Tavia’s offering on the table, and set the lamp down. The bag produced two pre-made, pre-wrapped ham sandwiches, a sixpack of Coke, and several bags of assorted chips. First things first. She didn’t want the food to go bad, so she needed to find a nice cool place to stash it, and those caves down below fit the bill. So she took out one sandwich and a can of Coke, and went back down to the basement to tuck the bag inside the third tunnel, the one she intended to explore later on.

When she returned to the kitchen carrying her lunch in both hands, it was decidedly lighter, so she blew out the lamp, tucked the food into her backpack, and headed out through a back door. Then she hiked through the dim forest until she emerged on the beach and found a nice spot to sit down.

Emma ate her sandwich facing the mainland, which was barely a blur on the horizon with a vast stretch of ocean in between her and it. She watched the sun rise slowly in the east, turning the blue water into blaze orange and fiery yellow.

Imagine, she thought, never seeing a sunrise again. Imagine never being able to go outside in daylight. Imagine existing entirely by night. What would that be like?

She wished she had asked her mother those things when she’d had the chance. When Devlin had demanded her reasons for wanting to live among the Undead, she’d thought she had pulled one out of thin air. But all she had done was pull it out of the depths of her own soul. She really
did
have a decision to make sometime within the next decade or so. And she wanted to know everything she could before she made it.

Emma slept for several hours in the shade on the beach, in a spot where she wouldn’t be seen by any passing boats or planes. She didn’t have any desire to rest in that musty house all alone.

When she woke, it was early afternoon, going by the new cell phone she’d turned on very briefly. After that, she spent some time exploring the island, discovered lots of fruit growing in the sunnier patches, apples, plums some nuts, too, and she picked a few nice pieces to carry along with her and keep her energy up while she wandered. There were so many kinds of birds she couldn’t count them all and a few mammals, small ones, she only heard, never saw, scurrying in the underbrush at her approach. She found a little stream, bubbling up from the ground, and used her by-then empty Coke bottle to help herself to some of its sweet, icy cold water.

Eventually she came to the lighthouse, which was in much better repair than the big old house. It stood high on a cliff top, above a sheer face, and the wind there whipped her hair deliciously. She went right to the edge and looked down at the waves crashing against the rocks below. It would be a great climbing cliff. She made a mental note to get some gear out here when possible, so she could do just that. Well, if Devlin would let her come back here once she left.

And then she heard the telltale buzz of a motor, just beyond her range of vision and realized she was too visible out there in broad daylight, standing on a cliff, silhouetted against the sky. Yeah, she’d better move.

Emma explored the lighthouse, where she thought she would love to live, and the entire side of the island it occupied. She found the tunnel entrance, hidden in a pile of boulders about ten yards from the lighthouse’s front door. She discovered a waterfall, a couple of small caves that didn’t go anywhere, and a hidden little cove where she took a bath, rinsed her hair, and put on the clean jeans and T-shirt from her backpack.

By the time she made her way back to the mansion, it was mid-afternoon. Several more hours before the vampires would wake. And while she wanted to explore the entire house, she settled for rescuing the books she’d seen scattered on the floor, wiping the dust off them and placing them on a nearby shelf with care. She was tempted to sit and thumb through some of the very old volumes, but there was something she wanted to explore even more. That third tunnel. It was a mystery she couldn’t resist.

She put the battery back into the new cell phone so she could use it for light. There would be no signal underground, so it was safe. She put some fruit and her bottle of water into the backpack, leaving the rest of its contents on the makeshift kitchen table, and headed into the basement to explore.

The tunnel sloped downward, but she didn’t see or hear any water, so it was probably okay. Then, holding the phone high for illumination she moved through, following it, examining the ground beneath her feet–stone–and the walls around her–also stone–and the unending darkness both ahead and behind. It was cool, but not cold. Just cool enough to make her glad she’d put on her jacket. After a while, she started hearing something...a distant roar, deep and powerful. Had to be the ocean.

Swallowing hard, she pushed on. She’d walked for more than an hour before the roar grew louder, and she thought she saw light up ahead. Hurrying forward, she came up short when her feet hit water, splashing it onto her calves.

Water. She was who knew how far beneath the surface of the Pacific, and she was standing in water. She wondered how long before her vampire rescuers would wake, and realized it would be too long. She couldn’t depend on them to save her if she got into trouble here. But then again, she was pretty good at getting herself out of trouble, and that light ahead and the changing tones of that roar, lured her onward. And so she kept on walking.

She’d traversed miles–she had no idea how many, but her pace was brisk and there had been few obstacles, so she figured at least ten. Then she came closer to the source of the light, a chimney like chasm that opened to the sky. Every couple of seconds, the roar of the ocean grew louder, and water sprayed through the crevice. At her feet, barely visible, was a pit so dark she couldn’t see its bottom. Its sides were worn smooth, and she presumed the constant spray of seawater from above had worn the stone away over countless centuries. It was too wide a gap to jump. At least for a human. But when she aimed the beam of her phone along the left hand wall, she found it wasn’t quite as smooth as it had at first appeared. There were places where rock jutted an inch or two inward from the side, both down low, and up high.

Smiling at the challenge, Emma took off her shoes, which were for running, not climbing. She stuffed her socks inside and threw them across to the other side, and then she gripped the nearest protruding bit of rock in her strong fingertips, leaned out over the pit, and found her first foothold. Her other hand found a grip, further in. She leaned over farther. Water from far below sloshed and gurgled, deep and ominous from the bottom of the pit. “Don’t bother, my friend. I don’t scare easily.” She was still smiling as she swung her leg around, breaking contact with solid ground. Her toes found the next foothold and clung. And she stood there for a moment, like Spiderman on a skyscraper, clinging and feeling the familiar and welcome rush of adrenaline in her veins. It felt good. Maybe she was addicted to that sensation. But that wasn’t a bad thing, was it?

She located the next hand and footholds, a little higher. She’d have to angle up and down to make her way across, a foot or so of progress at a time. And that was what she did.

A
s the arrival of the night summoned him from depths of sleep unimaginable to humankind, Devlin felt Emma’s energy. It was high, excited, aroused. She was near him, and he heard, unguarded, her thoughts.

I could kiss him. I could do it right now, and he wouldn’t even know. God, I want to. I really want to.

He struggled toward consciousness, determined to open his eyes before Emma did anything that dangerous.

And since when do I not do anything that I really want to do?
She thought.

And then her mouth was brushing across his, once, then twice, and then a third time, lingering and pressing, her lips moving over his in a way that brought him to screaming, burning lucidity.

And hunger.

He clasped her upper arms in his hands, pulled her down on top of him, and kissed her in return, pressing her lips apart and taking her mouth the way he wanted to take her body. He plunged inside, no hesitation, no permission sought nor granted. No holds barred.

One of his hands slid up into her hair, tangled there, tugged at it, mashing her face closer to his. He clasped her backside with his other hand, pressing her hips to his and arching into her.