Shadows of Eternity

Chapter Twenty-Four

L eia drove like a maniac, fleeing from the nameless fear aroused by the urgency in Rohan’s voice. She made it home in record time. She parked the car, locked it up, and ran into her apartment. She set the dead bolt and the safety chain, checked all the doors and windows, drew all the curtains, then stood in the middle of the living room, her whole body quaking like a leaf in a high wind. If she hadn’t heard Rohan’s voice in her mind before, she would have thought she had imagined it.

What was going on? Why had he wanted her out of there? Did he expect something terrible to happen?

Too nervous to sit still, she paced the floor. The show should be over by now. She pulled her cell phone from her handbag and willed it to ring. What was keeping him? With his vampire powers, he should be here by now. Unless … She shook her head. He was a vampire, he had nothing to fear.

Nothing but a hunter.

She went into the kitchen for a cup of hot chocolate, but left it on the counter, untouched.

Where could he be?

Rohan and the rest of the troupe took a final bow to thunderous applause. In his dressing room, he changed into his street clothes, opened his senses one more time to make sure Leia had made it safely home and headed for the stage door, eager to get to her place and see for himself that she was all right.

“Hey, Rohan!”

He turned at the sound of Jay Deer Killer’s voice.

“We had such a great show tonight, we’re all going out for a drink to celebrate. Why don’t you come, along?”

“Not tonight,” he said.

“Come on,” Angela Gray Horse coaxed. “Just one drink.”

“I think all the applause he got tonight has gone to his head,” Charlie Lone Eagle mused. “Too good for us now, I guess.”

“Next time,” Rohan said. “I’ve got a beautiful woman waiting for me at home.”

Outside, he took a deep breath, drawing in the scent of cool, fresh air. He was about to give Leia a call to let her know he was on his way home when, too late, he sensed his sire’s presence. He swore under his breath as he felt his sire’s ancient, preternatural power wrap around him, binding him more tightly than any rope. Dammit to hell!

He swore again as his sire materialized in front of him. Wearing an expensive suit, his shirt collar open, he was taller than Rohan remembered, broad-shouldered, slim-hipped. He looked to have been in his early twenties when he was turned.

“All right, you’ve had your fun,” Rohan hissed. “Now let me go.”

“Just thought I’d check in with one of my fledglings, see how you were doing.”

Rohan snorted. “Right.”

“I must admit, you put on quite a show. Women in the audience were practically drooling. I overheard several of them wondering what kind of lover you were.”

“Jealous?”

His sire threw back his head and laughed. “Hardly. Although I wouldn’t say no to that pretty little filly sitting in front of me. She’s quite taken with you. And you with her.” A sly grin spread over his face. “Your scent is all over her.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Nothing. I was just bored. You know how it is. Every hundred years or so you feel the urge to do something crazy.”

Rohan grunted. “So you came to California to kill a few people and leave their bodies lying around? Good way to stir up the populace. Spread a little fear.”

His sire frowned. “You think that was me?”

“It’s not me, and as far as I know, you’re the only other bloodsucker in town.”

“Apparently not,” his sire said, with a negligent shrug.

“You sound pretty sure.”

“I should be. The culprit is one of mine. And quite fearless she is.”

“She?” Rohan swore. Female vampires were rare and tended to be more vicious and more deadly than the males. That was true of a lot of species, he mused.

“I turned her in Wyoming maybe fifty years ago. She’s Lakota, like you. Her name was Zikana, but she changed it to Magdalena. She followed me to California. I’m not sure why, though I have a pretty good idea.”

“Why should I give a damn who she is or what she’s doing?”

“No reason.”

“Did you leave her to fend for herself the way you left me?” Rohan asked, his voice laced with venom. “Did she wake up not knowing what the hell had happened to her? Or how to ease those first excruciating hunger pangs? Did you tell her she didn’t have to kill to satisfy her thirst?”

“Stop whining. You turned out all right.”

“No thanks to you. One of these nights I’ll catch you in a weak moment and … ”

“And what? Destroy me? I give you leave to try anytime. That pretty little mortal will make a nice distraction after I rip your heart out.”

“Dammit! Are you gonna release me?”

“I don’t know. I have a feeling it would be better for my health if I just killed you now.”

Rohan glared at him. There was no way to hide anything from his sire, and no way to break his sire’s hold on him, either. “Why did you turn me instead of killing me?”

His sire rocked back on his heels. “I was hiding out in the Black Hills when I crossed paths with a warrior. When he attacked me, I broke his neck. I had intended to feed on him, of course, and then you came along. Well, you know how it is. Fresh blood is so much more palatable than the blood of the dead. I was close to draining you dry when I found myself admiring your courage. To my surprise, I decided you shouldn’t have to forfeit your life for trying to avenge your comrade. Or perhaps I was feeling maudlin in my old age. Who knows? It was a long time ago.”

“So you turned me,” Rohan said, his voice edged with bitterness.

“Would you rather be dead?”

In all the years he’d been a vampire, Rohan had never asked himself that question.

“Well?” his sire asked again. “Would you? Rather be dead?”

Rohan shook his head.

“Three hundred years is a long time to carry a grudge.”

“Dammit!” Rohan snarled. “Turn me loose!”

“Say please.”

“Go to hell.”

“I’d like to meet your woman. Too bad you sent her home.” A faint twitch of the vampire’s hand freed Rohan from his thrall.

Rohan flexed his arms and shoulders. “What the hell’s your name, anyway?”

“Guess I never got around to telling you, did I? It’s Josiah, smart ass. I made peace with what I am centuries ago. I suggest you do the same.”

Before Rohan could respond, his sire vanished from his sight.

Unable to sit still, Leia wandered from room to room, her mind racing. What had happened at the theater? Why had Rohan ordered her to go home? Was he in danger? Was she? If so, from whom? She had tried calling his cell phone several times, but it went to voice mail.

One hour turned into two. She was about to go out of her mind when Rohan materialized in the room.

Weak with relief, she sank down on the sofa. “What’s going on? Why did you send me home? Where have you been? Why didn’t you call me?”

He blew out a sigh that seemed to come from the very depths of his soul. “My sire was at the show tonight.”

She stared at him, eyes wide. The vampire who turned him had been there? The very thought sent an icy shiver down her spine. “What … what did he want?”

Rohan sat in the chair across from the sofa, his long legs stretched out in front of him. “He said he’d come to see how I was doing. He’s also looking for the vampire who killed those people in the city. Apparently, she’s one of his.”

“She?”

“Yeah.”

Strange, Leis mused, she had never considered that there might be female vampires. She couldn’t imagine living such a life.

“One good thing came of it,” Rohan muttered. “After three hundred years, I finally know his name.”

“Oh?”

‘Yeah. It’s Josiah.”

“Is he the reason you sent me home?”

Rohan nodded. “I don’t want you anywhere near him, although I guess there’s no way to prevent it. He’s got your scent.”

She shuddered at the thought.

“As long as you’re in your own home, he can’t hurt you.”

“Why not? What’s to stop him?”

“The threshold. Vampires can’t enter a residence without the owner’s permission.”

“Now you tell me,” she muttered.

“It works in reverse, too,” he said. “Anytime you want me to leave, all you have to do is revoke your invitation.”

“As simple as that? I don’t believe it.”

He nodded. “I don’t know why it works, but it does, every time.”

“Am I in danger from your sire?” She didn’t really want to hear the answer but she had to know.

“I don’t know.” He wondered if he should tell her that Josiah thought she was pretty and decided against it, figuring it would just worry her more.

“Does this mean I can’t go back to San Diego with you?”

Rohan dragged a hand across his jaw. He could protect her from people and most other vampires, but after tonight, he wasn’t sure he could beat Josiah in a fight. Vampires grew stronger with age, and while he had no idea how old Josiah was, he knew his sire had been around for a hell of a long time.

“Well?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I guess it’s up to you.” He grunted softly when Leia smothered a yawn behind her hand. “It’s late,” he said. “You should get some sleep. I need to go out for a few minutes.”

He needed to hunt, she thought, as she made her way into her bedroom. And wondered if she would ever get used to that part of his life.

Rohan drifted through the night like a shadow, all his senses alert. It was unsettling, knowing that his sire could be anywhere. He had sworn to kill Josiah. Now, having seen him again, having felt Josiah’s power first hand, he wasn’t sure he was strong enough to accomplish it, but should the opportunity arise, Rohan intended to take it.

He slowed as he approached a nightclub. He hadn’t fed much in the last few days. Slipping into the bar, he took the empty stool next to a middle-aged woman who sat alone. There were only three other people in the place—a man slumped over the bar, and a couple sitting at a back table, with their backs toward him. When the woman beside him turned and smiled at him, he captured her gaze with his, leaned closer, and quickly drank from her. A moment later, he released her from his spell and left the club. He would need all his strength while Josiah was in the area. To that end, he intended to feed and feed well as long as his sire was a threat.

With his presence cloaked, Josiah followed his fledgling to a relatively modern apartment building on a quiet street lined with trees. He frowned as Rohan went inside. This was hardly the kind of place a vampire would choose for his lair, therefore, it must be where the woman resided.

The woman. Leia. He smiled as he thought of her. She was young and lovely. There was no doubt that his fledgling had the hots for her. Who could blame him? But was Rohan interested in more than her blood and the carnal delights of her curvy little body? Did he care for her as a woman, a mate? And if so, how deeply? Love was rare among his kind. Loving a human woman ultimately led to heartache, whether it came from watching them grow old and wither away, or leaving them before that happened. In the past, he had loved many and married several times, until he couldn’t face another loss. Since then, he had taken lovers, always careful to leave them when he felt himself beginning to care.

With a sigh, he continued on down the street, wondering how long it would take his fledgling to learn that it was better never to love at all.