Shadows of Eternity

Chapter Forty-One

R ohan immediately put Leia behind him. The minister dropped his Bible and darted out the side door.

The remaining men and women—vampire hunters all—stayed where they were.

Josiah chuckled as his gaze moved over the “guests” and then settled on Rohan. “You think this pathetic bunch can take me?” he asked, his voice heavily laced with disdain.

Rohan shook his head. “No. This is just between you and me.”

Josiah made a sweeping motion with his hand. “Then why are they here?”

“Wedding guests.”

Josiah snorted. “Maybe I’ll leave a couple of them alive to witness my wedding. What do you say, Leia, my dear?”

“In your dreams, you creep,” she retorted, her fear momentarily swallowed up in her hatred.

Eyes narrowed, Josiah glared at her.

Leia felt his power move over her, dark and heavy. It raised the hair on her arms and made her stomach churn with revulsion.

“Come to me!” he commanded.

She felt a faint pull in his direction, but that was all.

Rohan grinned at his sire. “Your power seems a little weak tonight.”

Leia flinched as she heard Josiah’s voice in her mind again. You will come to me now!

With an impudent grin, she sent him her answer. What are you going to do if I don’t?

Outraged by her ability to defy him, Josiah launched himself toward her, his outstretched hands like claws, his fangs extended.

Before she could move out of the way, Rohan sprang forward, blocking Josiah’s attack. The two vampires slammed into each other with a sound like thunder. Preternatural power blasted through the room, driving Trent and the other hunters to their knees.

Leia sensed the hatred between Rohan and Josiah like a palpable presence in the chapel as they came together time and again, fangs ripping into flesh that healed almost immediately. Dark-red blood sprayed across the walls, the ceiling, the stained-glass windows. Leia gasped as several drops slid down her cheek.

Both men were liberally soaked with blood now. Their taunts and growls echoed off the walls, sending icy shivers down Leia’s spine. With a savage cry, Rohan tore a chunk of meat from Josiah’s shoulder and gouged a deep gash in his right arm, while Josiah raked his nails down Rohan’s back, ripping through cloth and flesh, splattering blood over the pews and the floor. It was like watching two jungle cats fight to the death, and yet Leia couldn’t look away.

She glanced fleetingly at Trent and the other hunters. One and all, they were transfixed, seemingly incapable of movement. Trent could have been of help, if necessary. Why had Rohan incapacitated him?

Leia was on edge, poised to strike if the opportunity presented itself, but when it came, she discovered she couldn’t move. Rohan had rendered her powerless, so that, like the hunters, she could only watch, unable to interfere. She felt a sudden rush of anger. She wasn’t a puny mortal anymore. Why wouldn’t Rohan let her help? After all, Josiah was her enemy, too.

The fight seemed to go on forever. There was blood everywhere, leaving Leia to wonder how much longer the confrontation could last. She had never seen anything so violent, or so brutal. Their clothing was in rags, their bodies streaked head-to-foot with crimson. Both were breathing hard now, but they didn’t seem to be tiring.

Rohan, let me help. He’s my enemy, too.

No way in hell, love , was his quick reply.

The end, when it came, came quickly. Rohan feinted left and lowered his guard. Confident of victory, Josiah darted forward, let out an unearthly howl of pain and disbelief when Rohan plunged his hand into Josiah’s chest, ripped out his heart, and threw it across the room, where it landed on the floor with a sizzle like that of frying bacon.

Josiah stood there a moment, his eyes blazing with hatred before he slowly spiraled to the floor. He made a last, feeble attempt to rise, and then lay still.

With the end of the battle, the preternatural power in the room faded and disappeared. The hunters glanced around, muttering among themselves.

Heaving a sigh, Rohan stared at the body of his sire.

Leia, freed of his hold on her, hurried toward Rohan, only to let out a shriek when one of the hunters drew a pistol and shot him.

She screamed, “No!” when he collapsed.

The gunshot echoed in the air as Trent drew his own weapon and fired at the hunter who had shot Rohan. His gaze moved to the others. “I’ll kill the next man who makes a move,” he warned. “We had a deal. No killing except for Josiah.”

Leia glanced at Rohan. He wasn’t moving. Was he dead? As much as she longed to go to him, something warned her not to move.

“When did you become a vampire lover, Frumusanu?” asked one of the hunters.

“We had a deal,” Trent repeated. “A deal that included Rohan.”

“We don’t make deals with vampires,” another said scornfully.

“So now we’ll collect double,” a third man remarked with a shrug. “Let’s pick up the bodies and get the hell out of here.”

“We might as well take the girl while we’re at it,” the lone female hunter said.

Leia froze as two of the hunters started toward her.

Hardly aware of what she was doing, Leia gathered her power around her and sent it outward, leaving all the hunters except Trent immobile. She blinked, startled by what she had done with just a thought.

Rohan lay as before, unmoving.

Dear Lord, he couldn’t be dead! With a strangled cry, Leia ran to his side and dropped to her knees beside him.

He wasn’t breathing!

Glancing over her shoulder, she called, “Trent, help!”

He came quickly to her side. Kneeling, he peeled what was left of Rohan’s shirt away from the bloody wound in his chest.

“He’s dead,” Leia wailed, and burst into tears.

“I don’t think so,” Trent replied. “Look. The bullet missed his heart. I reckon the silver burns like hell. That’s probably why he isn’t moving.”

“But he’s not breathing!”

Cut the damn thing out .

She heard Rohan’s voice, thick with pain, in her mind. “We have to get it out!” she exclaimed. “Now!”

Trent muttered an oath. “Of course. I should have thought of that.” Reaching into the pocket of his trousers, he pulled out a switchblade. “I’ll do it.”

Leia bit down on her lower lip as Trent began to probe the ugly wound for the slug. She tried to look away but some unwanted sense of morbid curiosity made her watch.

Rohan groaned once, a gut-wrenching sound that brought fresh tears to her eyes.

After what seemed like an eternity but was likely no more than a minute or two, Trent let out a cry of victory as he dislodged the slug. Sounding resigned, he muttered, “Now for the hard part.”

Leia stared at him. What could be worse than what he’d just done? Comprehension dawned when Trent rolled up his shirt sleeve. “He needs fresh blood. Don’t let him take too much.”

“How will I know when enough is enough?”

“If my complexion turns as white as my shirt, it’s too much,” he said with forced good humor.

“Maybe I should do it,” Leia suggested.

“No. He needs human blood right now. You can give him a little of yours later. One thing you can do,” Trent said, holding out his arm. “Bite me.”

Leia gazed at his arm. What if she bit him and she couldn’t stop? Taking a deep breath, she bit into his left wrist. His blood was warm and sweet and oh, so, tempting. She had thought all blood would taste the same, but she’d been wrong. Some was better than others. Exerting all her self-control, she lifted her head and held Trent’s bleeding wrist to Rohan’s lips.

In an instant, he buried his fangs in the hunter’s arm and drank. And drank.

“Enough!” Trent cried.

Rohan growled at Leia when she tried to pry him away from Trent. “Rohan, it’s me. Let him go.”

He stopped at the sound of her voice. A long shudder ran through his body and then he opened his eyes. And grinned at her as he ran his fingers over his neck and felt the nasty bite Josiah had inflicted on him shrivel up and disappear.

“What are you grinning at?” Leia asked.

“It’s gone,” he said.

“What’s gone? Oh.” Her brow furrowed. “Did it heal because you killed Josiah?”

Rohan nodded.

“One more reason to be glad he’s gone,” Leia muttered.

In a single, fluid movement, Rohan stood. Taking hold of Leia’s left hand and Trent’s right, he pulled the two of them to their feet.

“What now?” Leia asked, raking her glance across the hunters who stood as still as statues.

Rohan jerked his chin toward the hunters. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure,” Leia said with a shrug. “One of them said they should take me along with you and Josiah and when two of them started toward me, I … I don’t know what I did. But they’ve been like that ever since.”

Rohan threw back his head and laughed. “Damn, girl, you beat all, you know that?”

“What are you gonna do with them?” Trent asked, sorely afraid of the answer.

“Well,” Rohan drawled. “We’ve got two choices, either kill ‘em all, or erase their memories.”

“I vote for the second one,” Leia said.

Rohan shook his head. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

She stared at him, wide-eyed. “You wouldn’t really kill them all?”

“That’s why they came here,” he reminded her. “To destroy me. And they came damn close. You’ve got to know they wouldn’t have spared you, either.”

“I know, but to kill them in cold blood … that … that’s murder.”

“Isn’t that what they tried to do?” he asked dryly. “Kill me in cold blood?”

He was right, Leia thought. “It just seems wrong, when they can’t defend themselves,” she argued, knowing it was a weak argument at best. “But you do what you have to do.”

Shit ! He couldn’t do it with her standing there looking at him like he was about to drown a sack of helpless puppies. Had he been alone, he would have disposed of them without a second thought, but he couldn’t do it now, couldn’t bear to have her think he was a cold-blooded killer. She would understand how things were after she’d been a vampire for a couple of years. But this time, for her, he would let the hunters go.

“Rohan?”

“You win, love. I’ll erase their memories of you and Trent and this night and send them on their way.”

It didn’t take long. Leia watched, astonished, as he led the hunters outside where he spoke to each of them in turn, wiping the memory of what had happened and replacing it with a new, different memory for each man and woman, and then sent them away.

Leia glanced over her shoulder. “What are we going to do about the awful mess in the church?”

“I know a guy who makes his living cleaning up this kind of thing,” Trent said. “I’ll give him a call. By morning, this place will look as good as new.”

Rohan nodded. “It’s been a busy night,” he said, slipping his arm around Leia’s shoulders. “Let’s go home.”

Rohan transported the three of them to the front yard of the Winchesters’ house.

“Listen,” Trent said, not quite meeting Rohan’s eyes. “I’m sorry about tonight. I thought I could trust those guys. They promised all they wanted was Josiah. I should have known better than to believe them.”

Rohan shrugged. “Things go wrong. The main thing is, Josiah is no longer a threat to you or Leia or anyone else.”

Trent held out his hand. “As of tonight, I’m out of the vampire hunting business.”

Rohan grinned as they shook hands. “Good to know.”

“We’ll call you and Janae when we set a real date,” Leia promised.

“Do that,” Trent said as he unlocked his car. “It’s been … interesting.”

“Interesting,” Rohan muttered. “Right.”

“You look like one of the walking dead,” Leia remarked. He was covered with blood, his shirt and jacket were shredded, there was a long rip down one pantleg. “You can’t go inside looking like that. You’ll give my mom a heart attack.”

“Yeah. Come on,” he said, slipping his arm around her waist. “Let’s go to my place. I can get cleaned up there.”

Leia wandered around Rohan’s apartment while he showered. She hadn’t paid much attention to her surroundings the first time she’d been here. Now, she noted that the furnishings all looked expensive. The gray walls were bare save for one large painting over the sofa, and what looked like an Indian war shield and lance over the fireplace. The real deal? she wondered. Or replicas?

Standing in the bedroom doorway, she listened to the water run in the shower while an image of Rohan naked and covered in soapsuds played across the screen in her mind. Feeling suddenly bold, she undressed and opened the shower door.

A slow grin spread over Rohan’s face as she stepped inside and closed the door.

“I have some blood on my face,” Leia said, with a shrug.

“Uh-huh.”

“I wondered if you’d wash it off for me.”

“It looks like war paint,” he said, with a grin. “Seems a shame to remove it.”

When she scowled at him, he grabbed a washcloth and scrubbed the dried blood from her cheek. “As long as you’re in here,” he drawled, and proceeded to wash her from head to foot. And then he handed her the cloth.

Washing Rohan was an amazingly erotic sensation. She started at his shoulders and was nearing his waist when he turned the water off, lifted her into his arms, and carried her into the bedroom.

They didn’t make it as far as the bed.

It was late when they finally made it back to her parents’ home. Leia ducked into the garage to retrieve the clothes she’d left the house in. The interior of the house was dark, save for one lamp burning in the living room. Feeling well-loved and drowsy, Leia sank down on the sofa and closed her eyes.

Sitting beside her, Rohan draped his arm around her shoulders. “You okay, love?”

“Better than okay,” she said, snuggling against him. “You’re alive, Josiah is gone.” She grinned at him. “All my hungers have been fed.”

Rohan chuckled. “It’s been one hell of a night. Worst wedding I’ve ever been to.”

“The next one will be better,” she murmured, sleepily.

“I sure hope so.”

“Let’s find a different church.” She was going to need a different dress, too. The one she had worn tonight was ruined and had too many bad memories attached to it. She wasn’t sure how she’d explain it to her mother. “Why am I so tired? It’s hours until sunrise.”

“You’re a fledgling. You’ve had a busy night, lots of stress, not to mention some rather, ah, acrobatic sex.”

She laughed softly. They had made love three times. Rohan was an energetic and imaginative lover, to say the least. She sighed with the memory. He had taken her to places she’d never dreamed existed, but hoped to visit again, soon.

Rohan brushed a kiss across the top of her head as the dark sleep claimed her. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her up to her room, undressed her, and tucked her into bed. “I love you, darlin’,” he murmured.

He stood there a moment, debating where to spend the night. They had better get married soon, he thought, as he left the house, because he was getting almighty tired of sleeping alone.