Fire and Ash (Immortal Touch) (7 page)

“Kind of.”

“What was it?”

Sami leaned over to retrieve a napkin that the breeze
had whisked off the table. After straightening she confided, “The first day when I was moving in he came into my room without knocking. That is, he
said
he knocked but I didn’t hear him. So he just let himself in.”

“That’s it?” Stuart seemed disappointed. Apparently he’d hoped for something a little juicier. Sami wasn’t about to tell him the rest of the story. It was far too…personal. Intimate.

Intimate.
Now that was a word she didn’t want to use when referring to Asher Reid. That man was a shark in a pair of designer sunglasses.

And she hated sharks.

~*~*~*~

“Come on,
Rio. You gotta eat something.”

Eva was sprawled out on the kitchen floor beside the ornery cat, who had been pouting ever since they’d arrived at the chalet. He was not
at all happy to have been uprooted from his home, and was expressing his displeasure by hissing at her irritably. She looked up at Julian, who watched their exchange with amusement. “Can’t you talk to him?”

“Just give him a few days to settle in
. He’ll eat when he’s ready.”

“I think he’s jealous of you,” Eva observed.

“I think you’re right.” Testing their theory, he put an arm around Eva and they both laughed when Rio yowled crossly.

“Spoiled brat,” she chastised him. “You are a naughty, naughty kitty. Why do I put up with you?”

“He’s old,” Julian reminded her. “Animals don’t like change.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. Where are the keys to the Jeep? I’ll go to the store and get him some
strained ham. He likes that.” Her own car was still back in Nebraska. Jules had promised to buy her a new one, suggesting that she needed something more suited to the wintry climate here.

“On the hook by the front door. Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, I won’t be long. Maybe you can talk some sense into him while I’m gone.” She planted a kiss on his lips. “Want anything from town?”

“No, I can’t think of anything. Hurry back, love.”

The small market in Brightwood was busier than usual when she arrived. Maybe the nice weather had something to do with it. They were having a warm snap, and the temperature had climbed to almost fifty degrees. Catching sight of Dane, she immediately headed his way and was overcome by the sickly-sweet aroma of his blood. Jules was right - there was no question of his diabetes. She could only hope he was taking care of himself.

The teenager’s face brightened when he saw her. “Eva! Long time no see.”

“Hiya, Dane. Whatcha been up to?”

“Work
ing and studying. That’s about all I ever do. How ’bout you?”

“Um…well, Julian and I are engaged to be married...” She held out the ring for him to see.

“Oh.” Some of the light went out of his eyes and though he didn’t look terribly thrilled, he tried his best to hide it. “Well…hey, that’s great. I’m happy for you.”

“It does mean I’ll be staying here permanently,” she gently
pointed out.

“Yeah…yeah, that’s true.” He grew quiet, suddenly focusing all his attention on the display of cereal in front of him.

“You know, you could come hang out with us sometime. If you wanted to.”

“Blondie wouldn’t mind?”

She was startled by the sharp sarcasm in his voice. It was unlike him - he’d always been so sweet. “Of course he wouldn’t mind. Julian likes you.”

“Yeah, I bet.” He pushed a lock of his own dirty blond hair out of his eyes and for the first time Eva noticed something different.

“What happened to your glasses?”

“Got contacts.” He looked up at her a bit sheepishly. “Whatcha think?”

“Very nice,” she approved.

“Really? I don’t look
weird?”

“No
weirder than usual.” She poked the end of his nose with a fingertip and was finally rewarded with a genuine smile. “You look very handsome. But I liked you with the glasses, too.”

The tips of his ears turned red. “Imogen thought they were dorky.”

“Ooh…now who’s Imogen?” Eva teased, raising her eyebrows.

“Just this girl I met…
she and her dad moved here a couple of weeks ago. They’re living across the street from us.”

“Girl-next-door kinda thing, huh?”

“I dunno. Maybe.” He picked up a box of cereal and added it to the display. “My parents don’t like her.”

“They don’t? How come?”

He shrugged. “Guess she doesn’t meet their standards of perfection.” His voice was bitter.

Eva didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t her place to interfere in the decisions his parents made, even if she wasn’t sure she agreed with them. Maybe it was time to cut this conversation short. “I need baby food, Dane. You guys carry it, right?”

He looked stunned. “
Baby
food?” Seeing his eyes drop to her belly, she laughed.

“It’s for my cat, silly. He’s a picky eater.”

“Oh. Um…yeah, next aisle over. You had me wondering for a minute there.”

Locating the baby food, she dropped a dozen jars of strained ham into her basket, then returned to Dane. “Guess I’ll head home. I was serious about hanging out, though. Come by and see us anytime.”

He nodded, one of those polite but aloof nods that indicated he had no intention of doing any such thing. “See you later, Eva.”

“Bye, Dane.”

By the time she returned from the store, Rio had already devoured his cat food and was curled up in Julian’s lap, purring contentedly. Dumb cat.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Just following up with you. Everything set for next week?”

Ash
er strayed out of Sami’s range of hearing before responding to Tristan. “Yeah, Winter confirmed yesterday. They’ll be here Monday afternoon.”

“Sure you don’t want me to come down?”

“I think I can handle it,” was the dry response.

“I know that…I just thought
, in case…”

“You’re the one who insisted they wouldn’t
pose a problem,” Ash pointed out.

“They
aren’t a problem, as long as they’re in Oregon!”

“I’m sure we can behave like gentlemen. We may have animal instincts, but we aren’t animals.”

Tristan hedged a bit. “It’s not what
he
might do that concerns me, Reid. I know how you sometimes like to instigate trouble. Remember what happened last time?”

“What
- you mean the Russian?”

“You ripped his
…” Pausing, Tristan dropped his voice to a low whisper. “
You ripped his head off and beat his girlfriend to death with it!
”

“He challenged my authority.”
Ash’s lips curved slightly at the recollection. The stubborn vampire had grown belligerent when he was refused permission to convert the girl. It turned out to be quite an enjoyable evening…though not so much for the two of them. Their bodies were decaying in a sinkhole while what was left of the Russian’s mangled head had been dropped into the Gulf of Mexico for the fish to nibble on. “Do you really think I would have invited them here if I anticipated a confrontation? Come on, Kendall. I’m not that irresponsible.”

“I wasn’t implying that you were irresponsible. That’s not what I meant.”

“But you think my system of enforcement is too harsh.”

Tristan hesitated. “That’s not for me to say.”

“No, it isn’t, is it?” Asher’s tone developed an icy edge. “Someone has to maintain order. You know that as well as I do. Now I don’t give a flying fuck what any of these fangers do or how they live their lives, but once they start defying the laws I have no choice but to sanction discipline. And there will be no second chances with me. As long as I invoke fear and respect, they will all keep their grubby little asses in line. Isn’t that what we want? Order?”

“Yes. Yes, of course it is.”

“That’s right, it is. Now was there anything else?”

“No.”

“Good.” Ash watched as Sami walked off with Stuart. “Now if you don’t mind, I have something here that just may keep me occupied for the weekend.”

~*~*~*~

It was around two in the morning when the first call came.

Sami answered her cell phone without hesitation, assuming the front desk was having a computer problem. Nobody else would be calling her at this ungodly hour.

“’Lo,” she murmured sleepily.

Only silence from the other end.

“Hello, this is Sami,” she said a little louder, more awake now.

Still no response. But she could swear she could just make out the faint sound of someone breathing, slowly and steadily. The unwelcome thought occurred to her that it was starting again, the phone calls from her ex, and she closed her eyes dejectedly.

Not again. Lunatic. Why can’t he just leave me alone?

Blinking to clear her sleep-hazy eyes, she peered at the
display. Unknown caller, of course.

Well, maybe it was legitimately a wrong number. He’d never called her this late before, or
neglected to speak when she answered. No, that wasn’t his style. He had
plenty
to say. It was just too bad that most of what he had to say resembled the ravings of a madman.

~*~*~*~

The Phantom Ridge Inn was busy as usual on Friday night, and Julian and Eva were enjoying a glass of Sauvignon Blanc while waiting for their dinner to arrive. Lost in his thoughts, Julian had been unusually quiet all evening.

“Are you nervous?”

Setting his wine glass on the table, he considered Eva’s question. “Apprehensive might be a better choice of words.”

“Should I be worried?”

He smiled reassuringly. “Not at all, darling. You know I’d never let any harm come to you.”

“
I’m
nervous,” she admitted.

“
There’s no need to be. I’m sure the others just want to be left in peace, the same as us.”

“Well…Tristan seemed
harmless.” If the others were like him, surely there was nothing to be afraid of.

“There, you see? And judging from the correspondence I’ve had with Reid, he
holds no malice towards us. He’s been nothing but gracious.”

“So if there’s nothing to worry about, then why the apprehension?”

“I suppose I’m like Rio in some ways. I view strangers with suspicion.”

Some things never changed.
Jules had always been a loner. “I guess that’s understandable. This isn’t exactly a garden club we’re dealing with. Hard to believe there are others out there and nobody’s aware of it. You’d think one of them would slip up sometime, wouldn’t you?”

“More than likely, they have. It wouldn’t be that difficult to cover up as long as there weren’t too many people involved.”

“You think?”

“Mind control is a useful tool. It would be no
great task to alter the memories of a witness.”

“It does come in handy,” she agreed. The skiers they’d fed from two weeks ago probably thought they were just coming down with the flu. Blood loss would never have occurred to them as the source of their sudden onset
lethargy. The small bite wounds faded quickly - must be something in the needle-sharp retractable fangs that promoted accelerated healing. She wasn’t sure.

Of course,
mind control wasn’t really something she felt comfortable using on her own mother. Passing Julian off as his own son had been a stroke of genius on his part. Abby would never have reason to suspect that her daughter’s fiancé was the same man who’d lived next door to them fifteen years ago. It bought them some time…for now. Although eventually another plan would have to be constructed when it became apparent that they weren’t aging.

No need to cross bridges that weren’t even built yet.

“Do you think any of them know about the…”

“Julian
- how in the world are you!”

Surprised, they both looked up at the source of the interruption, a short, plump woman of about forty with glasses that seemed too large for her small face.
Eva saw something strangely familiar in those facial features.

“Hello, Paula
,” Julian replied. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I know…it has been a while…this must be Eva! Oh, sweetie, no wonder I keep hearing your name come up around my house…you are such a doll…”

Eva smiled graciously even as she wondered what in the world the woman was talking about. And where she’d seen her before.

“I hear my son on the phone
talking about you with his friends…he’d probably kill me if he knew I said that, you better forget I mentioned it…oh, I’m sorry, you don’t know me from Adam’s housecat, do you? I’m Paula Chandler. Dane’s mother. I think you already met my husband, Aaron.”