Shadows of Eternity

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“ W inchester, go down and answer the door,” Rohan said, never taking his gaze from Leia. He’d taken a quick shower earlier and noticed that the nasty bite in his neck still wasn’t healing, but he’d worry about that later. Right now, his only concern was Leia.

“No one’s knocking.”

“Frumusanu will be here in a minute. Let him in and send him up here.”

“Who the heck is that guy, anyway?”

“He’s a vampire hunter. Now, go let him in.”

With a shake of his head, Winchester went to do what he’d been told.

Rohan stroked Leia’s cheek. Her mother had come in minutes ago and gone into hysterics again when she saw her daughter. Rohan had spoken to the woman’s mind, calming her, promising her that everything would be all right, because any other outcome was unthinkable. When Mrs. Winchester had regained a semblance of calm, he’d sent her downstairs.

He heard Frumusanu’s footsteps on the stairs a few moments later.

“What’s going on?” the hunter asked when he entered the room.

As quickly as possible, Rohan brought him up-to-date. “If Josiah comes here, I might need some back-up, although he shouldn’t be able to enter the house uninvited, but, with him, you never know.”

Frumusanu nodded. He was armed with a pair of pistols loaded with silver, a dagger with a wicked silver blade, and a wooden stake sharpened to a fine point.

The hunter had come prepared, Rohan mused. Between the two of them, they should be able to destroy Josiah. He hoped.

“Go back downstairs and keep watch,” Rohan directed. “Don’t let the Winchesters go outside for any reason. Tie ‘em up if you have to. Just keep them inside. And don’t let them answer the door. All Josiah needs is an invitation. I’ll be up here, with Leia. Holler if you need me. Questions?”

Frumusanu shook his head. “I just hope to hell you know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah,” Rohan said, lightly stroking Leia’s cheek. “So do I.” He didn’t know what the hell Josiah had done to her, but he’d never seen anyone react to a vampire’s bite like this. Her heartbeat was irregular and faint, her face pale. Sitting on the bed beside her, he spoke to her mind . Leia?

Rohan? Where am I? Why is it so dark?

You’re unconscious, love. Josiah bit you. Do you remember that?

Yes. It was awful. He told me to choose between life and death, but he refused to kill me when I chose death. He said he was going to turn me … that he could make me love him. Did he change his mind? Am I dead? Is that why it’s so dark, why I don’t feel anything?

Rohan swore under his breath. Taking her hand in his, he said, I don’t know what he did to you, love, but I’m afraid it’s fatal. If you don’t wake up soon, I’m going to offer you the same life or death choice he gave you.

She was quiet for a long moment, and then, in a panicky voice, she said , It’s getting darker. Rohan! I’m so afraid …

Pain speared through him as her voice trailed off and he felt her slipping away. Dammit, he had to act fast or he was going to lose her.

Life or death, love? I can give you a life like mine, if you want it. It’s not so bad once you accept it. Leia? Leia! She was too far gone to answer, leaving him only moments to decide.

A thought closed and locked the bedroom door. Whispering, “Forgive me, love,” he cradled her in his arms and made the decision that would leave her forever in the shadows of eternity.

Rohan looked up when someone pounded on the door. It was Winchester, demanding to see his daughter. Reluctantly, Rohan tucked Leia under the covers . A thought unlocked the door.

Winchester burst into the room, his face an angry mask. “That man downstairs refuses to let me out of the house.”

“You should thank him.”

“I’m not going to listen to any more of this vampire crap. I want you to … ” Winchester broke off in mid-sentence as he approached the bed. “She looks better,” he said, looking confused.

Rohan nodded. “Yes.”

“How? Why?”

“Maybe you should sit down.”

Frowning, Winchester stared at him, his eyes dark with suspicion. “Why?”

“Leia was dying.”

Winchester shook his head. “I don’t believe you. She looks fine.”

“I don’t give a damn what you believe. She was dying and I did the only thing I could do to save her.”

“And what was that?” Winchester asked warily.

Rohan thought briefly of fabricating a lie, but her family had to know sooner or later and now was as good a time as any. “I made her what I am.”

Winchester stared at him, fists tightly clenched, his face mottled with rage. “What on God’s green earth gave you the right to decide my daughter’s fate? We should have taken her to the hospital if she was that bad off.”

“She would have been dead before you got there.”

Winchester sat down hard on the desk chair in the corner. “I don’t believe in vampires,” he murmured. “And now you’re telling me my daughter is one.” He shook his head in denial. “It can’t be true.”

“Should I have let her die?”

“Yes! It would have been better than turning her into a monster.”

“Do I look like a monster to you?”

Winchester’s narrow-eyed gaze moved over him. “No,” he admitted reluctantly.

“She won’t be one, either. She’ll still be your daughter.”

Winchester blew out a ragged breath. Rising, he moved to Leia’s side and gazed down at her for a long moment. A single tear slid down his cheek. “When will she wake up?”

“Tomorrow, when the sun goes down.”

Bending over, Winchester brushed a kiss across his daughter’s forehead. Moving to the door, he paused and then turned. Staring at Rohan, he hissed, “I hope you burn in the hottest circle of hell for all eternity.”

Cynthia was waiting for him in the living room. “How is she? Brian?”

He dropped onto the sofa beside her, hands dangling between his legs, his head bowed.

“Brian? Answer me.”

“He said she’ll be okay. That she’ll wake up tomorrow night.”

“How does he know that? He’s a dancer, not a doctor.”

Winchester blew out a sigh, then lifted his head to meet his wife’s eyes. “He’s a vampire.”

Cynthia stared at him, open-mouthed, and then shook her head. “This is no time for bad jokes, Brian Thomas Winchester.”

“Believe me, honey, I’m not joking.”

“Vampire!” she murmured, and fainted dead away.

Trent walked through the house, peering out the windows before drawing the curtains, checking to make sure all the doors and windows were locked. As it grew darker, he turned on all the downstairs lights, the front porch light, the lights in the patio. From time to time, he checked his weapons.

Standing at the foot of the stairs, he tapped his fingers on the banister, wondering what Rohan was doing up there. An hour ago, Leia’s parents had gone up to their bedroom and shut the door. He hadn’t heard a peep out of either one of them since.

Feeling hungry, Trent went into the kitchen and rummaged around in the refrigerator. Mrs. Winchester must have been shopping recently because there was a lot to choose from. In the end, he made a ham and cheese sandwich. He pulled a beer from the back of the fridge, poked around in the cupboards until he found a bag of chips, then settled at the kitchen table, one of his pistols close at hand.

It was going to be a long night.

Josiah prowled the perimeter of the girl’s house. He was a powerful creature, able to do amazing things. It galled him that something as ordinary as a threshold could repel him. Yet no matter how many times he tried to enter the house, he couldn’t breach that flimsy barrier, nor could he go through any of the windows or down the chimney. The damn threshold protected those entrances, as well. He could burn the place down, he mused. That might be fun. It would drive the whole damn family and the vampire out into the night. And the hunter, as well. He hadn’t forgotten his vow to kill the hunter who had destroyed Magdalena. But there was no hurry. Right now, he was focused on getting his hands on the woman again. New blood. A new conquest.

He paused abruptly, muttered every curse word he knew in a dozen languages. As clearly as if he were in the room, he could see Rohan bending over the girl, drinking her close to point of death, then giving her some of his blood. He could feel the transfer of preternatural power, sense Rohan’s blood flowing through the girl’s veins, strengthening her, reviving her. Changing her .

Hell and damnation, his troublesome fledgling now had a fledgling of his own. A fledgling that should have been his, Josiah thought irritably. Dammit to hell, perhaps, after all these centuries, it was time to put an end to Shadow Dancer.

And then he smiled. All was not lost. He was Josiah, a master vampire. As such, he could still make her his.

Leia woke abruptly. A glance at the edge of the curtains showed it was dark outside. Had she slept the day away? Odd, she could see everything clearly even though the room was almost pitch black. Just as odd was the fact that she knew her parents and Trent Frumusanu were down in the kitchen having dinner—her mother’s pot roast, carrots, potatoes, and chocolate cake for dessert. The scent of the food made her feel faintly queasy.

She smiled as she heard footsteps on the stairs and knew they belonged to Rohan. She sat up as he opened the door and stepped into the room.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, somewhat warily.

“Wonderful.” She held out her arms, frowned when he stayed by the door. “Is something wrong?”

“How do you really feel?”

“Fine,” she repeated. “Why?”

Rohan took a deep breath, unsure of how his princess would take the news of her changed state. They had never seriously discussed the possibility of Leia becoming a vampire.

When he didn’t speak, Leia frowned. “You’re scaring me. Has something happened?”

“You could say that. What do you remember of yesterday?”

As if his words had unlocked her memories, she had a clear recollection of Josiah threatening to turn her, of his fangs savaging her throat, of Rohan bursting into the room and spiriting her away.

She bit down on her lower lip, her eyes wide and afraid. “Did he … did he turn me?”

“No.”

She frowned. Someone had given her blood. She could still taste it on her tongue. Rohan’s blood. In a voice thick with accusations, she asked, “Did you?”

“You were dying,” he said quietly. “I couldn’t let you go.”

“You said you would never turn anyone against their will.”

“I tried to ask what you wanted me to do, but you were too far gone to answer.”

Leia sat very still, afraid to move for fear she would go mad and start throwing things. Rohan had made her a vampire. She stared at him, trying to absorb the meaning of his words.

A few days ago, she had been an ordinary woman who loved her parents and her job, who had fallen head-over-heels for a Native dancer. And now she was a vampire and nothing would ever be normal again. And yet, her life hadn’t been anywhere near normal since the night they met. She didn’t want to be a vampire, she thought dully. She just wanted to be Leia.

Vampire . She should have felt something, she thought. Anything. Fear. Terror. Anger.

Vampire. Hadn’t she known all along that this decision lay somewhere in her future when she decided to stay with Rohan? As he’d once said, any changes made would have to be made on her part. Hadn’t she known, deep inside, that sooner or later she would have to become what he was? Still, she had hoped to put it off for ten or twenty years. And yet, maybe it was better this way. She wasn’t sure she would ever have found the courage to ask him to do it, or agreed if he’d asked her.

Troubled by her silence, he said, “Leia, I know this is difficult for you.”

“You wanted to kill the vampire who made you,” she remarked, feeling numb inside.

Rohan nodded. Until last night, he had decided to give up his quest for vengeance against Josiah. What was the point? What was done, was done. And, as he’d told Leia, being a vampire wasn’t so bad once you got used to it.

But last night had changed everything. Josiah had laid his hands on Leia and for that there could be no forgiveness. He wouldn’t rest until Josiah was dead. Or he was. “What are you trying to say?”

“I don’t know.” She toyed absently with a corner of the bedspread. “I don’t want to be a vampire, but I guess life of any kind is better than death.” She glanced up at the ceiling and sighed. “Do my parents know?”

“Yes.”

“They’ll never look at me the same way again, will they?”

“They took it pretty well, all things considered.” It was mostly true.

“Why is Trent here?” She lifted a hand to her throat. “He’ll be hunting me now!”

Rohan laughed in spite of himself. “We have a truce.”

“You and Trent?”

“He agreed to help me protect you, for Janae’s sake, not mine.”

Leia met his gaze. She saw him differently now. Oh, he was still outrageously handsome and sexy. He always would be. But she was aware of more than just his looks or his physique. She saw the preternatural power that hovered around him like an invisible cloud. Was that the dark aura Janae had sensed? She could feel that power brushing against her skin. A portion of his power was now hers. It was a startling thought, but she knew it was true. She could feel it inside her, knew she could pick up her bed and tear it to shreds with no effort at all. It was frightening. And exhilarating.

“Do you hate me now?” he asked. “Want to take my head?”

“Of course not.” She hesitated before asking, “Do you still love me?”

“Until the day I die.” He studied her a moment, confused that the first thing on her mind hadn’t been blood. Some new vampires went into a feeding frenzy, others couldn’t function until they fed the first time. But that didn’t seem to be the case with Leia. He thought about it a moment, wondering if it was because he had been turned by a powerful vampire and now he was a powerful vampire in his own right. Although why that should matter, he couldn’t begin to guess.

Leia took a deep breath. “Do you still want me now that I’m a … ” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word out loud. To do so would make it all too real.

“I don’t care what you are,” he muttered. A thought locked the door and then he was beside her. Pulling her down on top of him, he kissed her.

It was a long, almost brutal kiss, but Leia gloried in it. He had been holding back before, she thought, afraid of hurting her. What would their lovemaking be like now? she wondered. Sliding her hand under his shirt, she raked her nails down his back and shoulders. They were writhing on the bed when someone knocked on the door.

Rohan muttered an oath as he stood and tossed the covers over Leia. A thought unlocked the door.

Leia quickly sat up and tucked the covers under her arms. “Come in.”

Her father glowered at Rohan. “I want to talk to my daughter. Alone.”

With a nod, Rohan left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

Feeling afraid and vulnerable, Leia glanced at her father. What would he think of her now? Would he see a monster every time he looked at her?

Winchester cleared his throat. “The vampire told us what he did,” he said bluntly. “It’s a terrible thing and he had no right to do it, but … ” He took a deep breath. “Your mother and I would rather have a daughter who’s a vampire than no daughter at all. We love you, honey. We’ll help you in any way we can.”

“Oh, Daddy,” she murmured, and burst into tears.

“There, there, it’ll be all right,” her father said as he sat on the edge of the bed and gathered her into his arms. “You can stay here as long as you like. The vampire says we’re all in danger as long as that other vampire lives. But once this is over, I never want to see him again.”

“He saved my life.”

“He took your life, Leia. I can’t forgive him for that. I’m grateful you’re still here, but none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for him.”

“Dad … ”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He kissed the top of her head. “The vampire said you might need some time to … to adjust, so come downstairs when you feel up to it.”

She might never be up to it, Leia thought dolefully as she watched her father stride out of the room. How was she going to face her mother, Janae and Trent? Her brother? She felt the sting of tears in her eyes when she realized she wouldn’t be able to teach kindergarten next year, or spend the summer days at the beach. She would never go out to lunch with Janae again, or watch the sun rise, or share dinner with her family, or open presents on Christmas morning. Until she had survived a hundred years, she would be trapped in a death-like sleep until the sun went down. It wasn’t fair.

She couldn’t live like this, didn’t want to live like this. She didn’t want to be a vampire and exist on nothing but the blood of others. She just wanted to be plain old Leia again.

Railing against fate, she buried her face in her pillow and let the tears flow, wishing all the while that Rohan had just let her die.