Nocturne E-Book

Lorelei Bell

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Lindee has been kidnapped, leaving Sabrina racing against time - and vampires - to find her.

After running out on her wedding, Sabrina flees to the Black Veil: a world where humans are objects of bloodlust and vampires reign supreme. When she receives the news of Lindee's disappeance, Sabrina is forced to make a risky deal with the legendary king of the realm: Drakulya the Impaler.

But as a sinister conspiracy unfolds, has she sacrificed too much?

Leseprobe

Nocturne

Sabrina Strong Book 3

Lorelei Bell

Copyright (C) 2013 Lorelei Bell

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2019 by Next Chapter

Published 2019 by Next Chapter

Cover Design by Melody Simmons from eBookindiecovers

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

Contributor: frenta

~ To Dennis ~

Acknowledgments

Wilfried Voss, publisher of Copperhill Media for publishing the original work, and for allowing me to use the original cover. Yolanda Campbell and the editorial staff at Copperhill Media. Lydia Kang who helped me with questions on Rigor Mortis, Lividity and other grizzly subjects (Yes, Lydia, I will have to buy the “Forensics for Dummies” book! LOL). My very good friend, John Roach who has helped design my headers on Lorelei's Muse at BlogSpot, and continues to be a supportive friend and fan. Shelly Arkon, beta reader, fan and reviewer: A big thank you for reading the first chapter of this. I can't thank you enough!

And to all my fans who have been showing me continued support, and new ones who are finding me online – Thank you!

Chapter 1

A sudden hot flash blazed through me. Maybe standing next to Vasyl in a small hall getting married might have something to do with it.

Although the ordained minister, Paul Kostova, wore no priestly robes, he had donned a very nice dark suit with a dark tie and white shirt. No crucifix hung from his neck—which would have been a big faux pas in this crowd. He had thinning brown hair, a long face that might have seen thirty-something years. Black-rimmed glasses perched on his long nose as he read from The Vampire's Creed, and daubed his brow repeatedly. I have to admit the guy had guts to stand up in front of a room full of vampires and werewolves. You wouldn't know the man had done twenty similar marriages by the way his brow beaded sweat, but that's what he had told me when I found him on the Internet. Luckily, his home base, Rockford, was a mere forty-five minutes from my hometown, Moonlight.

In the state of Illinois, once this ceremony came to a close, our marriage would be considered legal and binding. It would also count in the vampire world, and that was all that mattered at this level of my weird life, which seemed to be taking a carnival ride to Hell as of late.

Vasyl and I had both taken a blood test to confirm that no relationship existed between us. Not that I was worried about it.

Marriage? Me? No one ever asked me before Vasyl did a few weeks ago. Vasyl had never been married, although he's lived over one thousand years as a vampire. But then, he had been a priest in his human life. However, I had a feeling in his vampire life he was no saint, because no one can kiss like him and be a virgin.

What would my brother, Randy, say if he knew?

“Sabrina Strong, do you take this man in holy matrimony, to have and to hold till death do you part?” his question cauterizing my vivid thoughts of what my family would do if they found out I was marrying a vampire. Actually, it would be two thunder strikes at once. The whole idea that vampires existed was something I hadn't breached with my brother and his wife as yet. But I knew the day was coming.

“Uh,” I said as another flash caught me unguarded, like someone slapped me with a cold towel. Overwhelmed, I thought I was about to spontaneous combust. I wasn't having a vision—I was certain of it—but suddenly something clutched me in the solar plexus. It hurt initially, but then it simply felt like someone grabbing my stomach and pulling me.

My sudden gasp caught Vasyl's attention. His head jerked as large erudite eyes scrutinized me. Vasyl asked low, “Cherie, you are alright?”

“No,” I murmured under my breath, “catch me.” Everything went black at once, but I didn't fall, at least not in the real sense of the term.

The world around me shifted. A slight chill in the air cooled me significantly. The air pressure had become markedly different, and my ears became full. The pulling became a yank. I became suddenly small, like a speck of dust. I vaguely remember that feeling when I'd traveled through time and space via ley line to land in a completely different place. I simply knew I no longer stood where I had been. In fact, I wasn't sure I remained on terra firma. The certainty of my transportation to somewhere else came in loud and clear to my brain.

Eyes open, I made an effort to see my hand in front of my face, but only darkness met my eyes. My fear ramped up because I thought I'd traveled into Dark World, where vampires and demons ruled. If so I was in a big load of trouble, because I'd been told there was a bounty on my head because of what I had done while there with Tremayne. The Council must have been really pissed at me if they'd put a bounty on my head. I couldn't blame them. After all, I did hack off the twin tails of a major vampire-demon, and killed a designer pet demon while I was their “guest.” They'd left me no choice because it had attacked the three of us, Tremayne, Rick, and me. Besides, it was damn ugly.

My eyes adjusted to the diminished light and varying degrees of shadow against lighter areas began to emerge. I knew I stood inside a domicile, and not outside. I tried to use my clairvoyant abilities to tell me where exactly I was, but I had trouble working through the power that surrounded me. The source of light took me a handful of seconds to ascertain. I decided the lighting was both moonlight and candlelight, since one source undulated like that of a flame, and another poured in from a window beyond the area where I stood.

Someone's presence overwhelmed my senses—a male presence. Since I felt no pheromones, I had to presume he was human. I reached out. His emotions became tangible. Oops. He was very human if he was that excited.

“Who's there?” I asked into the darkness, my voice echoed slightly. Nearly devoid of furnishings, the room felt and sounded hollow. My clairvoyant abilities produced a bedroom in my mind's eye. Yep, definitely a bed in here. My abilities also affirmed I was no longer on Earth, but in another realm. It had another feel to it—a texture only my senses could ascertain. Where, precisely, was still unclear, except I knew I wasn't on Earth. It simply felt different.

“Show yourself!” even I could hear the edginess and distress in the command. I hated my insecurities. I simply couldn't get the bitchy, ass-kicking thing down. My voice gave me away every time. I caught myself twisting the ends of my gloves—another give away I was nervous or fearful.

A slight rustling of material, possibly twenty feet away, made my eyes dart in that direction. The moon's beam angled in through the only window in the next room revealing a figure. I stood in a tiny separate room—a closet or a small alcove—my back against the wall. I rocked away from the wall. The stranger sat in the darkest shadows, at the other end of the next room. I felt no threat from him. At least, not yet.

The seated figure shifted forward, and the moonlight revealed him in gradual increments. Pale hands draped over the back of the dark stained wooden chair, then the shiny white fabric of his shirt draping his arm. His face emerged from the darkness as he leaned further into the pale moonlight. I would rate him handsome to good-looking. The most remarkable thing I saw was his raven black hair, with a swath of blond—no, white—cutting a stripe down one side of his head. I couldn't tell how old he was precisely. Undoubtedly well into his twenties.

“Don't be frightened,” he said in a moderate, to somewhat tenor voice. “I'm not a sanguine.”

“Oh, well that's good to know,” sarcasm thick in my voice. “That puts me right at ease.” Not. I stepped out of the closet. No point in making it easier for him to capture me if that was his intent.

“I like the dress, however, if that helps?” he went on. “It's very suggestive.”

I looked down at my wedding dress. There was nothing suggestive about it. The dress had an empire waist—I have no cleavage to speak of—and the hem came to the tops of my heels covering me in yards of white satin and lace. “This is suggestive?” I grabbed a bit of taffeta and lifted it. The thing weighed a ton.

“Yes. It suggests that you are a virgin.”

“As if!” I scoffed.

“You aren't?” he chuckled. “That's alright, I'll enjoy the pleasure at any rate.”

“Excuse me?”

“I'm always amazed at the lengths Arabella's mares go to in making it all so much more exciting for me.” He stood and swung his leg over the back of the chair and cleared it rather quickly—much easier than a normal human would have been able to without being a member of an Olympic gymnast team.

“Again, excuse me?” My face became hot. Moving slightly toward a window, I looked out. Shit. I was on a second floor and there was no balcony or anything to interrupt a jump, should I make an escape through the window.

“Am I spoiling the effect you wanted to make? My apologies, my dear. Let me introduce myself, at any rate. My name is Jett. Jett of Wallachia.” He had a slight accent I couldn't quite place. He paused, seeming to expect me to react to what he'd just said.

I rolled my eyes and let go an expletive under my breath. When he advanced on me, I moved along the wall, tripped on the train of my stupid dress—cricking my ankle because of my stupid three inch heels—but quickly regained my balance. When I looked up, he was an arm's reach of me. I uncovered and held my right hand up to him (where I wore the mystic ring which allowed me to not become influenced by a vampire's thrall). I wanted to stop him from getting any closer. The closer he got the better I could see him. Oh. Wow. He was more handsome than I'd at first thought, and human, not a vampire—so the mystic ring wouldn't work on him—and at least six feet tall with broad shoulders. Husky build.

He stopped within a few feet of me. A look of surprise making his dark-as-pitch eyes wide for a brief second, and then he blinked. Eyes, like twin black mirrors, reflected moonlight, or a candle flame, mesmerized me.

“How did you do that?” he asked.

“What?”

“Make me stop.”

“Uh—”

“Are you a sorceress?”

“Uh—”

“You wouldn't be able to stop me like that… unless—”

My panic rose. This was a good time to make an exit, if ever there was one. I wasn't sure how I had arrived, I surely didn't know how to go about leaving, I just knew I had to get back to my own world. Somehow, the intense thought made it happen.

No dramatic poof, none of those stupid, or weird sounds you hear in a movie or TV show accompanied it. It simply happened. It felt exactly like when Rick had taken me to Dark World and back. The ear popping, the feeling of being small and then large again not pleasant, nor unpleasant—although I could do without the ear popping thing.

Suddenly back, standing beside Vasyl in front of Paul the minister, I knew by the gasps flooding my ears I had done something amazing. Vasyl and the priest looked startled by my sudden re-appearance. Obviously, I had been physically gone.

“Ooh la' la'! You are back!” Vasyl said, amid sudden cheers and clapping, as though I'd performed some sort of crazy magic act. Maybe I had. “Where did you go?”

“I don't know,” I said low against the dying noise of the small crowd of on-lookers. I pasted a smile on my face and turned to Paul the preacher. “Continue.”

The frozen, disbelieving look on the minister's face transformed into a nervous smile. “You're sure you won't be disappearing again?” he asked in a stage whisper.

“I'm pretty sure I'll stay here.” I hope.

“Very well.” The minister cleared his voice and nodded to me and then to Vasyl. “We shall continue with the wedding vows then.” He turned back to the Vampire's Creed. “Vasyl, repeat after me. I, Vasyl, give you this ring…”

“I, Vasyl, give you this ring…”

I trembled with the realization I was going to be married—not to a man, but a vampire. Doubts loomed. Did I love him? I questioned myself on this. Why hadn't I thought about this before now? Oh, God, how do I get into these things?

The part where the pastor said something about forsaking all others—that I'd never heard before in any ceremony—sent my mind to “all others.” Well, to only one other: Dante.

God… Dante. My heart twisted suddenly with the thought of how he had died loving me, and me loving him.

My knees quivered when they got to the part “…to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live…” because obviously Vasyl would outlive me.

When it was my turn to repeat these lines my mouth, dry as the Arizona desert, repeated each portion, sounding wooden to my ears, as if I didn't mean a word of it.

I shouldn't even be here…

“With the powers vested in me by the state of Illinois, and the Vampire Association of North America, Vasyl, you may bite your bride.”

Stunned, I twirled on Vasyl. “I'm not going to let you bite me!”

“Cherie,” Vasyl soothed.

“You didn't tell me you were going to bite!” I swatted him with my bouquet. Pink and white rose petals showered all over the floor. Some stuck on his black suit. I noticed one pink petal perched on the opening of his shirt—he'd left the first three buttons undone, and wore nothing around his neck (and no socks or shoes). I became envious of that one little pink petal being so close to his bare chest, the black hairs begging me to pluck the offending petal off him—with my teeth. “I've changed my mind. I don't want to belong to anyone!”

“Mon amour. Do not be foolish!” he argued gently.

“Perhaps the young lady would like to—”

I swung around on Preacher Paul. “No! I would not!” He took two steps back as though I'd swung at him.

“Sabrina—”

“The wedding is off!” I threw the bouquet down at Vasyl's feet and twirled away.

Vasyl made an Uber-vampire move and got in front of me. He tried to hit me with his thrall. Son of a bitch! One long white satin glove no longer covered my right hand, and so I thrust it in his face. “I don't think so!” The words were barely past my lips when Vasyl went flying away from me, across the room, sailing over the two dozen werewolves seated on my side—who quickly ducked. Vasyl hit the wall and fell half crumpled to the floor. Unhurt, he rebounded quickly. The shock on his face said it all.

Oops. I looked at my hand. I had merely held up my un-gloved hand to Jett, the dark-haired man in the other world, but he didn't go flying. My action only stopped him from advancing on me. I must have been angry enough to make Vasyl go flying.

Cheers and applause went up as I stormed down the aisle. About time I'd gotten my head straight about marrying a vampire. Four people filed in behind me and marched with me toward the door.

“You tell him Sabrina!” Heath Sufferden, one of Tremayne's vampires, cheered and followed on my heels.

“Girl, you just kicked ass!” Jeanie, my best friend, and newly turned vampire cooed, sidling up beside me. She was my bridesmaid, and Heath had stood in as the only groomsman. There hadn't been enough time to find people to stand up for us at the wedding. Leif, Heath's twin brother, shouldn't have shown up at all, but he had, and had brought his constant companion, Darla.

“I did, didn't I?” The adrenaline shooting through me felt oddly uplifting. Going into this wedding, I hadn't been sure it felt right. I knew now it wasn't. What I had just done felt freeing, telling me my decision to stop it was right. The heat on my face cooled significantly when I punched through the door of the hall, and clattered down the cement steps into the November night.

I halted three steps onto the sidewalk eyeing the white limo parked at the curb. A banner proclaiming “Just Married” across the back with blue and silver crepe ribbons fluttered in the breeze, under the pole lights in the parking lot.

I realized I hadn't driven here. I'd gotten a ride from Heath and Jeanie.

Turning to Jeanie, I threw her a questioning look.

“I say we go for a ride,” she said in her luscious, newly acquired purr, arching her brows under blond bangs dipped in red for the night's activities.

“It has been paid for,” I muttered, striding off. I had paid for the limo because Vasyl wouldn't have thought of it. Even though he was well over one thousand years old in vampire years, he still didn't know a thing about modern weddings. He'd told me he didn't care what I'd wanted, or how much it cost, and assured me he had money (I had imagined in a trunk hidden away somewhere filled with money, gold and jewels). I'd found my dress in a boutique. Vasyl had bought it—I don't know how or when, I only know that when I went to pick it up, it was already paid for. Here I'd thought he was a pauper, like everyone had been telling me. Not true. He came up with the eight hundred dollars (cash), as if he'd been sitting on it (again, the trunk full of money came to mind). The diamond ring he'd given me was the first surprise—I didn't know if he had bought it, or acquired it from ill-gotten goods. Vasyl seemed pious and unconcerned about clothes, and styles, and where he lived—he lived in a horse barn—so the whole money thing surprised me. He could have gotten it by inventive means. As a rogue master, he might have fealty paid to him by lesser vampires wanting his protection. That's the norm, especially for a rogue.

But I'd paid for the limo, so I was going to damned well use it! We all piled into the stretch limo. Darla remained hooked to Leif's hip like a leach. Believe me, it was good she remained his leach, since she always had a hungry eye for me. The entire vampire world seems to know my blood is sweet and irresistible. Exactly why—or one of the reasons why—I had agreed to marry Vasyl, for his protection. Okay, it didn't hurt that I had a thing for him. I'd spent from my early teens up to now (I'm twenty-one) dreaming of him and wondering who the hell he was. I learned he'd bitten me when I was ten, marking me as the sibyl. I would become his when I became old enough (which is what had happened). It all seemed to be set in granite, more or less. Problem is I'm the kind who doesn't go with the norm, or do what's expected of me. Maybe I was a rogue too. Or maybe, maverick would be a better term.

We all got situated in the limo. Jeanie sat across from me next to Heath. I sat alone. Had I'd gone through with the wedding, Vasyl would be sitting with me now. We'd be going to my place to get to know one another a lot better. He hadn't done more than some heavy petting—oh, and licking his bite on my arm, which gave me one gargantuan orgasm.

“Cold feet, luv?” Leif smirked as the limo took off. Prior to the wedding, I'd given the driver directions to take me to my house. I hoped he still had the map. I'd heard stories of drivers being drunk on the job, but I checked him out—through my clairvoyant means—and knew he was sober.

I made a scathing sound in the back of my throat and glanced away from Leif. I was never a big fan of Leif's and even less now than I had been when I first met him. Especially since the night he'd attacked me. I guess it was my fault for not seeing the signs of his stalking me. Fortunately, I'd Wered-out on him and sliced into him with three-inch claws. That had pretty much stopped him.

My marriage to Vasyl did not set well with Tremayne, my boss, and former magnate of the eastern half of the North American Vampire Association. No surprise there.

I didn't know how I felt, really. Confused? A lot. Messed up? For sure. The only man I really had loved was dead. Dante had died from complications caused by his shifting too quickly from a rodent up to a human. There wasn't a day that went by I didn't find myself thinking about him, causing my heart to hurt and tears to drip from my eyes, and my nose to run. I didn't want to get involved with someone so soon. That had become apparent tonight. Vasyl had swooped in before I knew what Dante's condition was (after he'd left for the reservation in order to be healed), and asked me the “big question.” Something a girl dreams of though her childhood and into young adulthood. I had said yes because the guy I wanted couldn't be mine and remain alive (Tremayne would have killed him, because Dante was his scion).

I needed a break—a real break from everything and everyone who had been in my life for the past month or so. If I could stop the world and get off, now would be a good time.

A soft pop made me look over to find Leif held an opened champagne bottle. I didn't know if Vasyl could or would drink champagne, but I sure wasn't going to worry about it now.

Heath held out glasses, one at a time, to Leif as he poured. Once we each had a glass we sat there looking at one another for a few human heart beats.

“A toast!” Heath said finally, hoisting his glass up a little higher. “To Sabrina for not making a bad choice.”

“Here-here!” Leif cheered, and we all took a belt. I chugged mine and held out my glass, catching the dribble leaking out of my lips with one gloved finger.

“I second that!” Jeanie giggled, which made me spittle some before I swallowed.

“Oy, Sabrina, you'd better slow down, luv,” Heath said, not obliging me with more champagne.

“Aw, let her have some fun, mate,” Leif said. “I've always wanted to see her a little tipsy.” Darla turned and play-growled into his ear.

I couldn't read minds—I wasn't a mind reader, but a clairvoyant. Specifically a Touch Clairvoyant. However, I had a tough time getting a read from vampires because they could block me from their emotions big time. I'd had a feeling all along that Darla and Leif had wanted to double-team me. My stomach tightened with this bit of reminder. Hunting humans was legal now, and that caused me some worry. If these four vampires were not my friends, I'd be drained before I made it home to Sonata Road, where my 1906 farmhouse stood. Jeanie had been my life-long friend before she'd been attacked by rogue vampires who had drained her blood nearly to the last drop. I had to make the decision to either let her die or have her turned. I still wondered if I'd made the right decision, but she looked happy, so who was I to judge?

I drew back, empty glass in hand, and sat against the plush upholstery of the seats. “Yeah, Heath, you're probably right, I should just slow down.”

“So, how did you do that?” Jeanie asked. “How did you disappear for about ten seconds?”

“Is that how long I was gone?”

“Seemed like it,” Heath said. “Maybe at the very most fifteen seconds. But you were definitely gone. Where'd you go, luv?”

“I don't really know, but, it was weird.” It now seemed so unreal I barely believed I had actually gone anywhere, but their questions proved I had. “It was very dark,” I said, studying their clueless looks.

“Dark World?” Leif suggested between sips of champagne.

“I just don't know.”

“You best be careful, luv. Popping in on different worlds could be really unhealthy, if you know what I mean.”

“I know that, and I'm not planning on going back. Of course, I didn't plan to go in the first place.” I looked down at the mystic ring on my right hand wondering why I had made my brief trip. The mystic ring protected me from falling under any vampire thrall, but it had to be uncovered to work. Obviously, I had no idea what else the ring could do. I had never traveled ley lines all by myself before this, but I believe that was what happened today. Whatever else the ring did, I didn't have a clue.

Darla shifted in her seat and rubbed her leg suggestive against Leif's thigh.

“What's wrong pet? You needy?” he asked. She nodded, and then turned her head to gaze at me.

Crap. I averted my eyes—the best thing to do when a vampire tries to put the whammy on you with eye contact. Vampire's hunger for blood was far more complicated than I thought before I began working with them. I'd learned quickly, but there was a lot I still didn't understand. A chemical imbalance in their brains and their body's need for sustenance caused the vampire's craving, and only blood gave relief. I had worked to educate myself about it, but I admit, I still didn't quite understand. The hunger, or thirst, originated in the brain, not their stomach, and needed satiating every few hours depending upon how much energy the vampire used during their nightly activities. Sexual desires played a strong roll, but it depended upon each vampire's own make-up what they needed to appease their “hunger.”

“I've got Organic Red in the cooler, next to your feet,” I said, extremely happy I had thought of this one thing to bring. I hoped the driver had not checked out what I had put in the cooler I had placed in here before the ceremony.

Leif reached down and opened up the Styrofoam cooler. He handed both Darla and Jeanie a bottle, and then handed one to his brother, taking the last for himself. Darla popped off the top of hers and began to chug it down.

“Sorry if it's cold,” I apologized. Sometimes vampires didn't wait to warm the bottle. It didn't seem to matter if they were hungry enough.

“Actually, it's almost at a perfect temperature,” Leif said between sips.

My companions enjoyed their liquid refreshment and had them drained in less than thirty seconds—that's how needy they were. Tremayne Inc. produced these bottles of real blood. Some of the brands were completely animal blood, Organic Red was fifty-fifty human-animal mix, and the Real Red was 100% human. I now wished I'd gotten the good stuff when I noticed Darla had drained hers and still held a hungry eye trained on my neck.

“Why did you go there? To that other world,” Heath asked, taking polite sips, instead of gulping his blood.

“Heck if I know. I thought I was going to have a vision. But this was totally different.” I paused to regard them. “Did I really disappear?”

“Yes!” they all chorused.

Jeanie described what everyone had said and did during the ten seconds I had disappeared. “Everyone made one huge gasp. Vasyl called out your name and the preacher turned completely around looking for you. He even looked behind the curtains, like you fell through a trap door somewhere and would reappear behind the drapes.” We all chuckled.

The limo slowed to make a turn onto the gravel road. I noticed we were nearing my house. The ride hadn't seemed long enough, and yet it did, considering I had four hungry vampires with me.

In a matter of a few minutes, the limo drove smoothly up to the front of my house and stopped. “Well, I guess I'll let you guys get back. I'm going to bed,” I announced.

“What? No party?” Jeanie whined.

“No. I'm beat, and really not in the mood. I'm beginning to feel regret. What did I do?” I'd broken off my marriage with a master vampire who was as hot for me as I was for him. I remembered the look on Vasyl's face when he hit the floor after I… What had I done exactly? It wasn't as if he'd forced me into this. I had jumped into it without thinking it through.

Jeannie cooed sympathetically.

“Yeah, sorry, but I think I need my space tonight.” To mope.

The limo pulled up in front of my front porch. I gathered the material of the wedding dress. Jeanie and Heath helped scoop up the train and flopped it out the door of the limo.

“Thanks guys.” I waved at them in the limo. Four hands went up to wave back at me through the open door. The door shut and I slithered inside like a big white slug. Before the limo drove smoothly out of my drive, I was suddenly concerned for the driver. Too exhausted to do more, I hoped they had all taken the vow—as had Tremayne—not to hunt humans. Closing the front door, I turned with a sigh and pulled the train over one arm. I couldn't wait to get out of this ridiculous thing.

“Cherie.” The voice startled me, and I stifled my shriek when Vasyl appeared in the room with me. I hit a light switch, flooding the room with bright light. His arms went up to shade his eyes. Because I didn't turn them off fast enough, he swooshed into the darker living room, uttering French swearwords like a sailor. You'd never suspect he'd once been a priest by such language. Jeanie had taught me every one she knew, since she had taken French, and I hadn't, but I'd forgotten most. I guess I was getting new lessons.

I flipped off the ceiling lights in the dining room, but left the small table lamp on, and took him in. He had rid himself of the cummerbund and overcoat, and had the white shirt un-tucked and unbuttoned revealing a paper white chest and stomach that I'd so wanted to lick and touch—among other things. His bare white feet were stark against the dark green of the carpet. He was the only vampire I knew who couldn't stand shoes. I never knew why. That would have been one of my questions at some point. Probably not tonight because I would have been too… busy.

“Sorry,” I said, “About everything.”

“You did not have to throw me like you did,” he said steadily. Anger simmering just below the surface, I could see it in his hooded eyes. That was a first—Vasyl angry with me. Seems I had accumulated quite a lot of firsts tonight.

“I never meant to. I don't know why that happened. I still don't even know how it happened. I only put my hand out to you, like this—” I went to put my right hand up.

“No!” He threw his own hands up and backed away.

I dropped my hand. “I'm sorry. I don't know what happened.”

Relaxing, he shook his long, wavy black hair out of his eyes and straightened up.

“What is wrong? Why did you stop the ceremony and leave?”

I glanced away. “I-I'm not ready for this. I can't do this.” I shook my head, looking down. I couldn't look at him.

“Then you go against the prophecy.”

“Screw the prophecy!” I said, my face burning. “Who says I have to do what the stupid prophecy says? It was around before your lifetime in the first century—you told me that yourself. That's a long time ago. Things change. People have their own will. They make choices. My mother was dying of cancer, but she found you and you turned her before she died. She was supposed to die, come back as a ghost and give me the mystic ring and reveal the prophecy.”

“This is all true,” he agreed solemnly, looking chastised.

“I might not have gotten the ring if it weren't for Mrs. Bench,” I added. “The prophecy be damned! I have my own life to live yet. I'm not going to have anyone's baby if I'm not ready.” The prophecy had to do with me being the sibyl, and I was to have the child of a vampire. Our child would be called a dhampir— half-human and half-vampire. This being would be able to walk about in the daylight, not needing blood to live, and destined to become king of all vampires, living an extraordinarily long life. Suddenly, this whole thing seemed like too much of a burden for me to handle—what kind of a burden would it place on a child?

We stared a long while at one another. Then he said, “You still love the shifter.”

I looked away. He knew. I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't have to tell him how I felt. My eyes misted. “Dante…” I couldn't continue, and covered my mouth. My lips trembled at the thought of never seeing him again. I couldn't stop the devastating feeling I got every time I thought of how he died trying to save us from Ilona Tremayne's plots.

“I feel him, his presence. He is always near you. Hovering.”

“Who?”

“This one who was a shift changer. Dante. Your former lover. The one who died.” My heart contracted painfully at his words. I turned away from him, half expecting him to grab me by the shoulders, but he didn't.

“I would be careful, if I were you, Sabrina,” his voice gently warned.

“Why? He's a ghost. That's all.” I turned my head slightly, and sensed him move closer up behind me. His hands slid up my arms, and then his lips tantalized the sensitive skin of my bare neck. This was the vampire's feeding pose, but I wasn't afraid of Vasyl. He had sworn to never bite me.

“There are more dangerous things than ghosts that exist alongside us, Sabrina, mon amour,” he whispered in my ear.

“Like what? Vampires?” My smirk surprised me. A mirthless chuckle rose dryly from my throat.

“There are some of us who are more than vampire, more than ghosts. Be careful, cherie.”

“Dante is a wayward spirit,” my voice guarded, my eyes down.

“He still loved you when he died—this I know is true—and that is exactly what holds his spirit to this earth plane, and he stays—clings to you like an invisible mist.” He turned me around, found me in tears, and held me close, comforting me. “Surely you must feel him?”

“I do. I'm sorry, but I just need to—” my lips shuttered on a whimpering cry. “I'm still getting over him,” I quietly said into his shirt, which I now soiled with my tears, mascara and makeup. I swallowed more tears remembering how Dante had shifted too quickly in too short of time, and became sick. Soon after, he had returned to his reservation in South Dakota, but they couldn't heal him, and he died. His spirit appeared to me while I lay in the hospital healing from wounds I received when I was a prisoner of Mrs. Woodbine and her son one horrific night. (Fortunately, they were now in jail for murder, attempted murder, arson and many other things). Dante's spirit had explained to me he was a “Wayward Spirit,” and unable to leave the earth plane. His essence now dwelled in the stone I wore around my neck. So, he remained with me, in spirit. We could never be together as we had once been. Although I didn't believe it was possible, he had promised me he would continue searching for a way. I didn't think it was possible, but a small hope inside held on desperately.

“I understand, mon amour,” Vasyl whispered and dragged his thumbs over my cheeks to wipe away the remaining tears, and then pulled me into a tender hug. I clung to him and cried for a few moments while he made hushing sounds, ran a hand over my head, and spoke in French to me in his wonderful way. It soothed me. He could sooth me this way because we had shared blood.

He had certainly had experience soothing me this week. Vasyl had remained nearby after the Woodbines had tried to kill me last week in an especially diabolical, horrifying way. I was still suffering with nightmares, and, although I wanted to be with him, I really did, he refused to be with me in an intimate way until we wed. He was just an old-fashioned guy, I guess.

“I'm sorry. About that thing I did,” I pulled back to look up into his gorgeous face. “I don't know what happened. It was the ring.” Uncertain of how I made it work, I held up my hand careful not to make a quick motion.

His finger came up to touch my lips lightly. “I do not care about that. I care about you. What happens to you, and, just so you know, I was not going to bite you, cherie.” He dropped his head slightly, and used his eyes in a hypnotic way. Even if he were not a vampire, I'd have trouble resisting him. His eyes were a deep violet blue. His lips met mine feather light. I melted into his intoxicating scent, touch, and maleness. He stirred me, sexually, mentally, every which-way, but my heart stood in the way. Dante's death had been a huge blow to me. I had only known him a few weeks, but I had fallen in love with him. Now I knew that Dante had loved me—he'd never told me before he died. He waited until after, and came to me in his Astral Shell (something left after the body dies—it lasts for a few days up to a few weeks after death). It is why some people see ghosts, have hauntings from loved ones, or have vivid dreams of them. They are visiting us in the only way possible after death.

“I'm sorry, Vasyl. I—” what could I say? I'd wanted this to work, but my feelings for Dante lurking in the background held me back. I needed time to address them.

“I too am sorry. I was so looking forward to tonight when we could be together.”

I gave Vasyl an apologetic look. “I was too,” I admitted.

“You need time,” he said. His head jerked up, eyes alert. His body grew rigid. I looked up at him expectantly.

“What—?”

“Someone is approaching your door,” Vasyl said.

I turned with a start to look at the door as though I could see through it. A shadow appeared in the small window against the headlights in the driveway. My Knowing kicked in at once. What was my brother doing here?

Vasyl stepped away from me. “Take care, Sabrina.” And he vanished.

The knock turned me back to the door, and I shuffled toward it. Flicking on the porch light, Randy, my brother, stood there blinking at me.

“Open up, Sis. It's me,” he said. He sounded odd. Odd because he wasn't yelling at me for not answering my phone messages in the last few days—or whatever.

I opened the door. Dressed in his usual jeans, a bright orange hunting jacket, and a camouflaged hat on his head, he paused and didn't say anything right away. With the bright orange jacket, I thought the camouflaged hat was a bit silly. The deer would see him coming a mile.

“Going hunting?” I said.

“Going to a wedding?” he shot back disgruntled, as he pushed past me giving me the up-and-down look.

I looked down at myself and realization hit me. Oh, shit. The wedding dress.

“What's that?” he pointed to the dress.

“What's what?” I worked at a coy look.

Hands on slim hips, he let his head drop with frustration. When he lifted it he said, “I don't have time for games. Never mind,” he said. “Lindee is missing.”

“What?” I gasped unable to grasp this news. Lindee was our eighteen-year-old cousin. She was three years younger than I was. “How? I mean, when? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm pretty damn sure since the police have been out looking for her since last night.”

“What happened?”

“She went out on Thursday afternoon to go to a park with her friends. They stayed after dark. Had a fire, and well, she had to go—you know—in some nearby bushes.” He stopped and we stared at one another.

“You mean pee?” Amazing. I'd heard him swear like there was no tomorrow, but he couldn't say the word pee. “So, then what?”

“She hasn't been seen since.”

“You mean she went to pee and she disappeared?” I demanded, a lump of fear and sorrow forming in my throat.

“Yes. It happened just last night. Uncle Roger called me in the middle of the night.”

“No one saw or heard anything?”

“No. She didn't scream or even call out. The kids she was with looked everywhere when she was gone too long. When they couldn't find her, they called 911. The police have been searching the area ever since.”

“Where? What park?”

“Beau Park, over in DuKane,” he said. “They even brought in canines to help the search. They seemed confused.” he scoffed, shaking his head with his hands on his hips. “I don't get it. I mean how do you go take a leak in the woods and just up and disappear?” He scratched his head of wavy dark brown hair.

“You know as well as I do bad people take people all the time—it makes me want to explode!”

“Hell, Sabrina. We both know you could find her in a second if you went there.”

I bit my lower lip. “Yeah. Yeah,” I agreed, a determined scowl etched on my face. “Let me go and change.”

“What's with the wedding gown anyway?” he asked as I slithered passed him.

“Uh, just trying it on for size. You never know…”

Chapter 2

Rain pelted the windshield as my brother drove us to the larger university town of DuKane, about eight miles away. The sky seemed darker to me than I'd ever seen it. The headlights of his Dodge pickup truck didn't cut through the dense night like it should have.

As we drove through the rain and dark, my main concern about Lindee's disappearance blossomed horribly: a vampire may have abducted her. The lack of noise, the confusion of the search dogs, and Jeanie's abduction still fresh in my mind, all left me with only one explanation. God, this can't be happening again! Adding my knowledge about the current state of affairs when it came to vampires, no one could blame me for jumping to this conclusion. Since the North American Vampire Association had granted a green light on hunting humans, I had been nervous. I couldn't even report it to anyone (especially to the police). Mainly because the new head of N.A.V.A. had been the one who had instated it. Ilona Tremayne. My enemy. Someday I'd have to do something about her, but for now, I had to hold back my anger. I sure as hell couldn't share these thoughts with my brother while he drove into town. He didn't know anything about my “new” life, or even that vampires existed.

I had hoped the smaller towns, miles outside of a metropolis like Chicago, would be the very last of the areas where vampires would hunt. Terrible guilt overwhelmed me while knowing all this and my brother was totally in the dark about the supernatural—pretty much like all the other people in the world. I wanted in the worse way to share all this with him, but I couldn't. It was as though my surreal world and the real one had suddenly melded. It didn't help that I carried the bite of two vampires—Vasyl and Nicolas Paduraru—plus a werewolf's bite—on my arm, and no one in my family knew about it. I could see me trying to explain just one of the bites, let alone all three.

I sat in silence, pulling on the ends of my gloves, twisting them like wringing out a dishrag. Of course, I couldn't tell my brother my suspicions. He'd laugh me into next Tuesday. He was the last person I'd tell about vampire-anything. When we were young, after my mother disappeared, I'd told him that I'd seen her outside one night, and she was an “undead.” I was eleven, then, and he was fourteen-and-a-half. Boy, did he laugh his head off, and then told me I had dreamt it. He definitely never let me live it down—not to this day. Of course, now I could introduce him to Mom, the vampire, and he'd have to believe me. However, I thought I'd simply let things be for now.

I wanted to believe that perhaps someone else had taken Lindee. Your everyday—no less horrifying—abduction and they would find her body somewhere much later. This wasn't what I wanted to happen, but unfortunately, I needed to have a firm grasp on reality, in case it turned out that way. I couldn't dare be blinded by the thought that maybe she was on one of her benders and simply got lost. Her friends had been with her.

While my brother drove in silence, I examined the scenario of a vampire attack in more detail. Usually the vampire would strike and leave the victim with a little less blood in them. Unless she was destined for a master, and then… I simply didn't want to think about it. I'd gone up against a vampire nest, and I really didn't want to go through that again. I'd have to call in my homies. Right. Like I had homies.

My Knowing was pulling me in a completely different direction. “Do you think Aunt Anne might have something of hers for me to get a read?” I spoke into the silence. My brother seemed distant, not his usual jovial self, but this was understandable. Only gloomy moments like this, where a parent had disappeared—like our mother, or our father, who had had a heart attack and crashed his plane several months ago—had he ever become this silent. It was as if someone had stolen his voice, or like sitting next to a man made of wax. He tried not to show his emotions, but I could read him better than anyone could.

“Huh? Oh, I don't know. Maybe.” It sounded as though I'd interrupted deep thoughts—maybe I had.

“Would the police have something of hers? Like her cell phone? Something like that?”

“I don't know. If they do, I don't think they're gonna give it to us to use. They're not likely to hand over evidence just because we claim you're a clairvoyant.”

“No, of course not. They wouldn't believe me, even if I showed them what I could do.”

“Yeah,” Randy said slowly. “Funny how the police don't want to believe in anything that can't be explained.”

I shot him a glare. I didn't know if that was a cut at the police or me. Lighten up, he can't help it.

Randy leaned over the steering wheel, and looked through his windshield. The lights of town were closing in on us. “Rain's letting up.” He sat back, drove one-handed, with his wrist in that manly way, as if he could care less about holding on to the steering wheel. I never felt comfortable with his driving. I had to keep focused, use my abilities, watching for any accidents waiting to ambush us at a moment's notice.

He became quiet again going back into his hole of deep thought. Well, me too. Good thing I was able to block his emotions, because if I chose to read them, I'd really regret it. Being an empath was part of the package in my makeup. The main reason I couldn't hold down regular jobs was my going into visions without warning. Really, people would not want to see me go into one of my second sight moments, and I didn't need, or want their emotional baggage.

Beau Park was located at the other end of town. It was fairly large for a town park. The Kishwaukee River meandered through the densely wooded land. Train tracks rose about thirty-five feet above it on a high embankment, cutting the park off from businesses along the main thoroughfare. Residential streets and homes hemmed the other three sides of the park.

Lindee had driven her own car, my brother informed me. Her car had been left here indicating she'd never left, at least not in her car. The police interviewed her friends and concluded that she had not called anyone, nor had she gone to meet anyone else to anyone's knowledge. They had contacted all known friends and family. No one had seen her since she went into the woods.

Randy pulled off of Annie Woods Road into the parking lot of the Eagle's Club. Beau Park abruptly began right behind the building, and the mowed area around it. One path lead into the woods from this point, and one extended out onto the wide sidewalk skirting the road. It was a popular route attracting dog-walkers, joggers, bicyclists, and nearby college students. There were a number of vehicles parked in the Eagle's Club lot. I noticed many were red pickup trucks with the fire department logo on their doors. Other vehicles included the local and state police as well as the county sheriff's units. Yellow sheriff's tape was draped across a pathway leading away from the parking lot. It fluttered and glowed in our headlights.

Someone stepped up to my brother's truck and Randy put the window down.

“Evening, sir, you have business here? There is a police investigation going on,” the man all in black with the sheriff's badge said.

“I'm Randy Strong, Lindee's cousin?” he said. Randy had his license out and gave it to the officer who shone his light on it. Then he handed it back.

“We don't have anything new. You'd best go home. Get some rest. We'll call if anything happens here.”

Uncle Roger was my father's younger brother. Randy would have been the only one who Uncle Roger would have called with the news of Lindee's disappearance right away. Randy had also gotten the call about our dad having crashed his airplane.

I released a quiet breath of annoyance with myself. No wonder he had been so quiet during the ride over. I'm an idiot. I couldn't imagine how hard it was for him to take on this new, sad news about someone in the family being lost and possibly dead. That would make two in a very short time. Three in our lifetime, if I were to include my mom.

“This is my sister, Sabrina. She just wanted to come by and—”

I nudged my brother on the arm. Hard. His head jerked to me.

“I wanted to be here, I needed to be here for my cousin.” I sobbed slightly. Although I had solved the murder case of Dee Dee Cole, and what had happened to her and her unborn child only a few weeks ago, I knew no one would believe that I had gotten the information through my gift. I didn't brag about my gift—in fact, when I revealed where to find the unborn baby cut from Dee Dee's womb, I had privately given my information to an FBI investigator, and, even to her, I didn't own up to being clairvoyant. I made it sound as though the murderer had bragged about it.

I guess the thought of dealing with a crying woman got to the officer, “Well, just don't get in the way of things.” I watched him stride toward a group of men in neon yellow vests who were standing next to a small boat. I knew they had been dragging the river and a pond inside the woods already. The vision of men in the boat popped into my mind, and my eyes had gone unfocused.

“Brie?”

“Huh?”

“C'mon. You wanted to look around,” he reminded. He stepped out of the truck. The door slammed and jarred me fully back.

“Oh, yeah.”

I extracted myself from Randy's black truck, using the running board to step down. The night felt unusually sultry for November. The rain had let up for the moment. It smelled of ozone, fallen leaves, the loam of the earth, and the fishy scent of the river, about one hundred yards away, seemed overwhelming. A werewolf had bitten me more than a month ago, and it had given me heightened senses—right along with the added need to become a were-creature at the full of the moon. Something else my brother didn't know about in my strange life. It remained a big mystery to my whole family, and pretty much anyone else who was not a supernatural, or in my very tight, supernatural loop.

“This can't be the only way into the park,” I said to Randy, joining him in front of his truck. “Is that the path? How far in does it go?”

Hunter's jacket open, his hands stuffed into his jeans pockets, he made a gesture with his head in the general direction. “It cuts through the brush and trees about fifty yards or so, and then meanders along the river, behind those apartment buildings. A footbridge crosses the river. The police found her cell phone in the long grass and brush near the other side of the river.”

“There's another entrance,” my Knowing told me this. “Take me to the other end of the park. Over there.” I pointed. “That's where they were. Not here.”

“How did you know? You been here before?”

I gave him an exasperated sigh and blinked hard in his direction.

“Oh, yeah. Never mind. You would know this.”

We hopped back into his truck. He drove out of the parking area, down the road and turned the corner. He followed the street to the bridge and slowed. “Where to?”

“Turn left at the next block and drive until I say to stop,” I directed.

“Okay.”

The streetlights seemed dim to me as we drove. It was like looking through sunglasses. There were dark mounds of wet leaves raked into piles along the road. Their aromatic scent drifted in through the vents of the truck. Remnant Halloween lights still glowed, or hung from people's porches and windows up and down the quiet street. Decaying, crumpled up Jack-o-lanterns sneered at us from porches or steps.

We entered an odd, three-way intersection where the streets converged to make a Y. Randy braked and stopped at the junction. “Which way now?” He looked around.

“Left. Then turn left again.”

Randy drove around the curve in the road, and when we cleared some trees a small parking lot cut into the lawn. Carved in smooth, wet granite the words BEAU PARK appeared in the beams of our headlights. He pulled into a parking slot. We both hopped out, and looked around. I listened with both my werewolf's hearing and my other talent.

“This is where Lindee parked her car.” Pointing, I stepped around the parking lot. I could see Lindee's car—a blue Mirage—in my mind's eye. Wisps of her, and the three other people she had been with, flitted through my mind, but I couldn't hold it long enough to really get much detail. The people and the fire they'd built in a fire pit area not far from the parking lot, flickered in and out, superimposed upon the darker reality.

“That's right,” he said, without looking at me. My brother knew from experience how my second sight works. From the time I was a toddler and could talk, I would blurt things about anyone who came into the house. At a very young age, this merely made the adults chuckle. But when I grew older, the things I said became downright embarrassing, and my folks didn't allow me to be with the rest of the family when people came over.

My father had been less understanding of this than my mother was. My mother had second sight, but she wasn't quite the seer I was. My Grandma Tess—my mother's mother—had said that I was more accurate than the famous Jean Dixon was. My dad wasn't so against my second sight when he found he could win a few bets on football games. I would give my father scores of games before the game. One time he won a large sum. When my mother heard about this, it really pissed her off, and she forbade me giving him a score again. We might have wound up rich because of my abilities, but I realized later on that it was wrong to use a gift in that way. Bummer about my conscience.

For my brother, when it came to my knowing something, he only heard me if it was interesting, or important to him (typical big brother).

“They had canine units in here,” I said.

He looked at me. “Yeah, earlier today, in fact.”

“They found the cell phone.”

“Yep. Nothing else, unless they kept it a secret.”

I closed my eyes and tried to pull in the vision. “I don't see anything else, except maybe a button. I can't tell if it was hers or not.”

My brother gave me a sidelong glance.

“So, she entered here,” I gestured toward the park's entryway. It looked like a popular hangout place. “They had a fire. Partied.” I closed my eyes, again. So many different moments floating through my read, one on top of another, people coming and going, joggers, a lot of people with dogs, and the normal daily crowd. I couldn't pick out much, until I saw the uniforms with their canines. This was the most recent thing that had happened here.

“Brie, I need to tell you something,” Randy said.

“Shhh!” I held out my hand to him, my eyes still closed. The vague vision of people standing around a fire came in stronger. There were three—no—four of them. Two male, two female. I didn't recognize any of them. I frowned.

“That's weird,” I said and turned to my brother. “Maybe I'm getting a read from some other people who've been here. I don't see Lindee.”

“That's what I was trying to tell you,” Randy said. “Lindee… she's changed.”

“Changed? Changed how?” She couldn't have changed any worse than when I'd last seen her, but I had to presume Randy hadn't seen her in years.

“Everything, from her clothes to her hair. She doesn't look like the Lindee you once knew.”