Night's Touch (18 page)

His father had taken copious notes on his research. He had listed the people he had tested, among them a young man named Roger West. Anton studied the various compounds and ingredients his father had used, and the reaction of each subject to each new injection. His father had noted that Roger West had rejected the vampire's blood and that he had died a violent death, his body slowly shriveling up until, at the end, he had looked like a human dried apple.

Anton read the entries with cool detachment. His father's anger and frustration as each new attempt failed came through loud and clear. Anton didn't make any judgments about whether what his father had been doing was right or wrong; instead, he studied his father's notes and tried to figure out where his father's formula had gone wrong.

An elixir with the power to grant eternal life. Anton smiled, thinking of the possibilities, the fame and fortune that would come to a man who could provide mankind with such a wondrous gift.

The vampire stood on the sidewalk in front of the house with the white picket fence. She didn't have to be inside to know what was happening. Her preternatural senses were so keen, she could almost picture the couple inside. The woman was mortal, young, and in love. The man was the vampire's own fledgling. She had brought him across exactly a year ago. In all her long existence, she had only bestowed the Dark Gift on five other men. She had made them, used them, and forgotten them.

But this last one, Vince, there was something about him, something that kept him alive in her memory, and so she had decided to come and see how he was getting along in his new life.

Her mind connected with his.
Come to me
. It was not a request, but a command, one he could not ignore.

Smiling, she faded into the shadows and waited.

Come to me.

Vince frowned as a familiar voice whispered through the corridors of his mind. It was a voice he would never forget, one he was compelled to obey.

Cara frowned when he eased out of her embrace and rose from the sofa. "Where are you going?"

"I've got to go."

"Why? It's early."

"It's after midnight." He tried to fight the compulsion to leave, but it was useless. Leaning down, he kissed her. "I've got a customer bringing a car in early in the morning. I'll see you tomorrow night, okay?"

She looked up at him, her expression worried. "Is something wrong?"

"No, darlin'."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure." He kissed her again. "Good night."

It was all he could do to keep from running out of the house toward the vampire who waited for him—the vampire who had changed his life forever.

Once outside, he stood on the sidewalk and then, as if guided by an invisible hand, he walked down the street until he came to a small park.

The vampire was waiting for him on a park bench. She . smiled as he approached.

"Vincent. How well you look."

"What do you want?" She was even more beautiful than he remembered. Her skin was like smooth porcelain; her hair was thick and black and fell to her hips in rippling waves. Her eyes were an amazing shade of green. Clad in a pair of skin-tight black pants and a wine-red sweater that outlined every curve, she looked sexy as hell.

"Is that any way to speak to me?" She spoke like a queen questioning a commoner and as she did so, he felt her power roll over him, sizzling through his veins like an electric shock. The hair prickled along his arms.

"I'm sorry." His tone was curt.

"Come, sit beside me."

He hesitated only a moment, certain that any refusal would only cause him more pain.

"So tell me," she said, "how are you getting on?"

"What do you care? You made me and dumped me."

"Mind your tongue!"

He bit back the sharp retort that rose in his mind.

She dragged her fingernails down his arm, leaving tiny furrows of blood behind. Her touch made him shiver. "I've thought of you often this past year."

"I've thought of you, too," he muttered darkly.

"I'm sure you have."

Her gaze bored into him. He had the distinct impression that she could see into his very soul, that she knew everything he had said and done in the past year, every thought that had crossed his mind, then and now.

Her fingers kneaded his biceps. "Is there anything you would like to ask me?"

"Your name, for a start."

She laughed softly. "You may call me Mara."

"I thought vampires had to sleep during the day. Why doesn't the sun render me powerless?"

"My blood is very old and very powerful," she explained. "The sun no longer has any effect on me, and since my blood now runs in your veins, you are able to be active during the day. In a year or two, the sun will have no power over you at all."

Vince felt a rush of excitement. If what she said was true, someday in the near future he would be able to return to his family and resume his old lifestyle. "What is it about thresholds? What power do they hold?"

She shrugged. "They have a built-in power all their own. Every home that has not been defiled is protected by that innate magic."

"Defiled how?"

"Homes where there has been foul play, murder, incest, or any kind of depravity. Such acts destroy the threshold, rendering it powerless."

Vince nodded. It made sense in an otherworldly sort of way. "How long have you been a vampire?"

"I was made when Cleopatra ruled Egypt." Seeing his frown, she added, "Sometime in 51 BC."

Vince swore in astonishment. These days, most people lived to be seventy-five or eighty. A few lived to be over a hundred. But to live for thousands of years… he shook his head. It was incredible. "Is the vampire who made you still living?"

"No."

"Am I the only vampire you've made?"

"No. There were five before you."

"Are they still alive?"

She made a vague gesture with her hand. "I don't know. I don't care."

"Then what are you doing here? I mean, if you didn't give a damn about them…"

She laughed softly. "Why do I care about you?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know. That's why I came." She frowned thoughtfully. "The woman inside. Cara. What is she to you?"

"How do you know her name?"

"I read it in her mind. She's in love with you. Are you in love with her?"

"Why ask? Can't you just read my thoughts?"

"If I wish, but conversation is more stimulating."

"Yes," he said. "I love her. Have you ever been in love?"

"Many times," she replied, her expression wistful. "But it never lasts. Mortals are such fragile creatures, and they live such a short time."

"The ones you made, were you in love with them?"

"No."

"Why did you bring them across?"

She shrugged. "It's been so long, I don't recall. Curiosity, I suppose. Or maybe boredom."

"Is that why you brought me across?" he asked bitterly. "Because you were bored?"

She laughed again, the sound soft and musical, like the chiming of silver bells on a summer day. "I'm afraid so."

Vince muttered an oath.

"You're not happy with your new state of being?"

Vince frowned into the distance. Was he happy as a vampire? There were things about his new lifestyle that he liked, but until she had told him he would soon be able to go out in the sun, he would have said that, all things considered, he would rather be mortal.

Out of curiosity, he asked, "Can you undo what you've done?"

"No. Only death can free you." She studied him dispassionately for a moment. "Would you like me to release you?"

"You'd destroy me?" he exclaimed with a snap of his fingers. "Just like that?"

"If you wish."

"Damn, woman, you're one heartless…" He let the thought die, unfinished, at the warning look in her eyes.

"I don't want you to be unhappy," she said. "I'm not sure why. Come, spend the night with me."

"Is that a command?"

"Are you refusing me?" She looked suddenly like a child whose stocking was empty on Christmas morning.

"I'm sorry, but…"

"Your little mortal wouldn't like it." She finished his thought for him as she caressed his cheek. "Perhaps it was that streak of honor that first attracted me to you. Ah, well, I'll see you again," she said, and vanished from his sight.

Vince shook his head. If there was one thing he didn't need, it was another woman in his life.

Mara watched her fledgling get into his sleek black car and drive away. Sometimes she longed for the old days. Life had been simpler then, slower. There had been a charm and beauty to life in the long ago time that was missing today. She had seen so many changes in the eons since she had been made. Occasionally, when the rush and noise of the world grew too great, she sought shelter in the arms of the earth. There, lost in the quiet darkness, she sometimes slept for hundreds of years. Each time, she emerged regenerated, only to find a new world awaiting her.

So many changes. Kingdoms rose and fell. New discoveries were made in the earth and in the heavens. There were always wars in distant lands. Cures were found for old diseases while new ailments were constantly being discovered. Earthquakes, tidal waves, tornadoes, and floods reminded humanity of how frail and precarious their existence was. Airplanes flew higher, cars went faster. Mankind was constantly inventing new and better ways to destroy itself. Sometimes she wondered how mortals slept at night when their lives were in constant peril.

She shook her head. The only constant was change.

Her fledgling had changed, as well. Until Vince, she had not made a new vampire in over a thousand years. She was surprised at how powerful he had become in such a short time. Did he have any idea of just how invincible he was?

She thought of the young female inside the house and experienced a rush of unexpected jealousy. For a moment, she toyed with the idea of destroying the female. It would be all too easy. She could do it from here with no more than a thought, but to what end? Mortals lived such a short time, there was little satisfaction in depriving them of the few years they had.

Perhaps hunting for prey would dispel her melancholia. It had been years since she had needed to feed, but she was suddenly overcome with the urge to hunt, to hold a mortal in thrall, to feel the rapid beating of a fearful heart, to savor the warm sweet taste of life's elixir.

Leaving that part of the city, she sought a place to hunt. Though she had no fear of recriminations, old habits died hard. It had ever been her wont to find her prey among the poor and downtrodden. Should she decide to drain her victims dry, there would be no one to mourn their passing, no one to comment on their absence.

She had just turned down a seedy looking street when she realized there was another vampire nearby.

Curious, she sought him out. He was young in the life, compared to her; but then, compared to her, they were all little more than fledglings.

He came to an abrupt halt when he saw her, his eyes narrowing as he recognized her for what she was.

Mara plucked his name from his mind. "Roshan DeLongpre," she murmured. "I bid you good evening."