“You mean your craving for steak? Your mother told me.”
“I know it worries her.”
“Of course it does.” Logan pulled onto a deserted side street and shut off the engine. “She loves you.”
“Yeah. Why did she leave you all those years ago?”
“Because she loved me and it scared her. None of the men in her life ever treated her worth a damn. She didn’t trust any of us.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Not even me.”
“That must have hurt.”
“You have no idea. I’ve loved her my whole life. It wasn’t easy letting her go, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to beg her to stay.”
Taking a deep breath, Derek asked the question that troubled him most. “Do you think I could be reverting?”
“No. I’ll tell you what I told your mother. I think your human half is coming through. Who knows, you might be able to walk in the sun and eat human food one of these days. The best of both worlds, if you ask me.”
“Would my mother have stayed human if it wasn’t for me?”
“No. She talked about being turned when she was pregnant. The doctor told her that he didn’t think it was possible and that trying to be turned a second time might kill her. Even if you’d never been in danger, sooner or later, she would have found someone to bring her over. If not me, then someone else. She was that determined.”
“Was my father a good man?”
“I’d say so. I didn’t know him very well, but he loved your mother. And you. So, what now?”
“You can go home,” Derek said, opening the car door. “I need some time to think.”
He stood on the curb, watching the lights of Logan’s car fade into the distance. He had a great deal of respect for his stepfather. The man had always been there for him, always told him the truth, no matter how unpalatable it might have been. He was the only man Derek trusted.
Jogging down the sidewalk, he pondered what Mara and Logan had told him while he searched for prey. He fed quickly, then hurried to Sheree’s house.
He stood in the shadows for several minutes, staring at the lights shining through the living room window. Her home looked warm and friendly, inviting. He had fed only a short time ago, but Sheree’s scent stirred his hunger anew. He had tasted her once and had craved a second taste ever since. And knew even that wouldn’t be enough.
He should leave now, before he did something stupid—something that, once done, could never be undone, like breaking down the door, sweeping Sheree into his arms, and making love to her until the sun chased the moon from the sky.
The thought of holding her, tasting her, making love to her drove all rational thought from his mind. After crossing the street, he waved his hand in front of the door. It opened at his command, but when he tried to enter, the threshold’s power repelled him.
Frowning, he took a step back. What the hell had just happened, he wondered.
And then he knew. Sheree had taken his warning about inviting vampires into her house to heart and revoked his invitation.
Sheree frowned as a cool breeze wafted into the living room. How was that possible? All the doors and windows were closed. Weren’t they? A sudden chill ran down her spine. Had someone broken into the house again?
Rising, she grabbed the fireplace poker, tiptoed toward the entry, and peered around the corner. “Derek!”
He arched one brow when he saw the poker in her hand. “A wooden stake works better,” he said, a touch of bitterness in his voice.
“What? Oh.” She lowered her makeshift weapon. “I thought someone was trying to break in.”
“Someone was. Sorry I bothered you.”
“Wait! Where are you going?”
“It’s pretty obvious I’m not wanted here.”
“Don’t go.”
“Just don’t come in?”
Sheree blew out a sigh, her longing to see him, to touch him, warring with her innate fear of what he was. The word
vampire
whispered down the corridor of her mind, and with it the memory of what had happened outside the Den, and what had happened here, in her own home. “Can I ask you something?”
“Why not?”
“You won’t get mad?”
“No.”
“It’s common knowledge that vampires need blood to live. . . .”
“Yeah?”
“Where do you get yours?” She lifted a hand to her neck, then jerked it away when she realized what she was doing.
He didn’t miss the gesture, or the morbid curiosity in her eyes. “Just where you think I do.”
“So, you kill people?”
“Only when they’re trying to kill me.” Hands clenched, he took a deep breath. “I knew coming here was a bad idea. I won’t bother you again.”
Sheree took a step forward when he started to turn away. Everything that had passed between them—every word, every touch, every kiss—flashed before her eyes.
“Wait!” She ran toward the door, across the threshold, and down the porch steps. “Derek, wait!”
He stopped at the edge of the walkway but didn’t turn around. “Let me go, Sheree. No good can come from this.”
“I don’t believe that.” Coming up behind him, she placed her hand on his back, heard him suck in a breath at her touch. “We met for a reason, I’m sure of it. It’s almost like I was drawn here, to this place. It can’t be just coincidence that I was looking for a vampire and I found you.”
“You’re afraid of me. You can’t build any kind of a relationship on fear.”
“You’re afraid, too.”
He nodded. “I’m afraid I’ll hurt you. Or worse.”
“Can’t we go inside and talk it over?”
Slowly, he turned to face her. He let his hunger rise up within him, felt the sharp tips of his fangs brush his tongue, knew his eyes had gone red with the need to feed.
“This is what I am,” he said flatly. “Do you still want me to come in?”
Sheree stared at him for a moment. His countenance was frightening, there was no denying it. Had it been anyone but Derek, she would have run screaming into the house and slammed the door. But this was Derek, and even though she was still afraid of what he was, and even though she might be making the biggest mistake of her life, she simply couldn’t let him go.
Folding her arms, she said, “Your sister thinks we’d be good for each other, and I . . . I think so, too.”
“She’s not my sister,” Derek said. “She’s my mother.”
“Your mother!” Sheree stared at him. “Mara is your mother? The same Mara those men in the Den were talking about? The Mara who knew Cleopatra? That Mara?”
Derek nodded. “The very same.” With an effort, he forced his hunger into submission, felt his fangs retract, the red fade from his eyes.
“I don’t believe it.”
He shrugged. “Well, it’s true just the same.”
Sheree backed up and sat down, hard, on one of the porch steps, her mind reeling. Derek’s mother had lived in the time of the pharaohs. She might look twenty but she was ancient. Sheree shook her head. She had invited the most dangerous vampire in the world into her house.
“You’re not gonna faint on me, are you?” Derek asked. “You look a little pale.”
Sheree looked up at him, surprised to find him so close. But then, vampires were supposed to be able to move faster than the human eye could follow. What other supernatural powers did he possess? Did he sleep in a coffin? Could he change into a bat? Did he cast a reflection in a mirror?
“I don’t sleep in a coffin. I can’t change into a bat. I don’t cast a reflection in a mirror.” He grinned faintly when she realized he was reading her mind. “You’ve seen me dissolve into mist. I can climb tall buildings in a single bound.”
“Can all vampires read minds?”
“As far as I know. Are you all right with that?”
“I don’t know. Do you read all my thoughts?”
“No. Just the good ones.”
She glared at him, not certain if he was kidding or not.
Unable to resist the urge to touch her, Derek took a step forward. When she didn’t recoil, he brushed his knuckles down her cheek. “There’s no future for us,” he said with regret, “no matter what the Queen of the Vampires thinks.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“No? Why not?”
“Because I think I’m falling in love with you. And I think you care for me, whether you want to admit it or not.”
Heaving a sigh, he sat on the step beside her. As always, her nearness soothed him. “Maybe you’re right.” Most of the men in his family had married mortal women. Rafe, Rane, Vince. Hell, Roshan had married a witch. They’d all had problems of one kind or another, sure, but they were all happy now. Maybe it was worth a try.
“You said you’ve been a vampire since you were thirteen,” Sheree said, frowning. “I thought vampires didn’t age.”
“Normally they don’t.”
“And I thought they couldn’t reproduce.”
“They can’t.”
Head tilted, she stared up at him, waiting for an explanation.
“It’s a long story.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Do you really think we can make this work?”
“We won’t know until we try. So, tell me how you became a vampire.”
“Before she married Logan, Mara had an affair with a mortal. During that same time, for reasons no one knows, she started reverting to being human again. I was conceived somewhere along the way. My father died a short time later and Mara married Logan. For the first thirteen years of my life, I was like anybody else, and then, overnight, my vampire nature kicked in.”
“I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
“It’s happened before. Vince—one of Mara’s fledglings—was a new vampire when he fell in love with his wife, Cara. She got pregnant and had twins, Rane and Rafe. They grew up like everybody else until they reached puberty. They stopped aging when they turned twenty-five.”
“Is that when you stopped?”
“Yeah.”
“Did they marry and have children?”
“They’re both married. Savannah was artificially inseminated and she and Rane have a daughter. Rafe and Kathy are childless.”
“Must be nice not getting older, but . . . what about their wives?”
“Savannah and Kathy are both vampires now.”
“Oh?”
“It was their idea,” Derek assured her. “No one forced them. Savannah waited until her daughter was grown.”
Sheree contemplated that for a few moments. She couldn’t imagine asking to be turned into a vampire, but if you wanted to spend the rest of your life with one, it was probably the only logical solution, unless you wanted to grow old while your husband stayed forever young.
“You still think we’ve got a chance?” He didn’t have to read her mind to know what she was thinking.
“How old are you, really? I’m afraid to ask.”
“Twenty-five.”
“And you’ll never look any older?”
“No.”
“Does it hurt? Becoming a vampire?”
“I don’t know. For me, it was a natural transition.”
Sheree rubbed her hands up and down her arms as the night grew colder.
“You should go inside,” Derek suggested, rising. “It’s getting late.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Do you still think dating a vampire’s a good idea?”
When she nodded, he lifted her to her feet and drew her into his arms. “If you change your mind, if what I am gets to be too much for you to handle, just tell me. I can’t promise I’ll never hurt you and it scares the hell out of me.”
“We’ll just have to learn to trust each other.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Sheree frowned. “I saw your mother during the day. How is that possible?”
“She’s Mara, Queen of the Vampires,” he said, starting down the steps. “Most of the rules don’t apply to her.”
“Hey! Aren’t you going to kiss me good night?”
She was wrapped in his arms before she had time to blink. His mouth covered hers in a searing kiss that burned every thought from her mind and left her weak and wanting more.
“Tomorrow night,” he said, and it sounded like both threat and promise.
Chapter Eighteen
Pearl stared up at the house on the hill. “What are we doing here?” she whispered. “Have you lost your mind?”
“I just wanted to see where he lives,” Edna whispered back, her voice edged with excitement.
“You idiot! Mara’s in there.”
“Mara!” Edna’s eyes widened. “I was so busy following Derek, I didn’t pay any attention.”
“We need to get out of here, now!”
“Do you realize how many hunters would pay a fortune to know where she lives?” Edna asked.
“All the money in the world won’t do you any good if you’re dead, dear. And I mean really dead!”
“Just one more minute. I’ve been thinking. What if it wasn’t Mara turning human that allowed her to get pregnant, but the werewolf gene itself?”
“If that’s true, why didn’t any of our experiments work?”
“Maybe artificial insemination won’t work. Maybe the sperm loses potency when exposed to the air.”
“Are you suggesting that Derek might be able to father a child?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“So is the danger of Mara finding us. Let’s get out of here! Oh, Lord,” Pearl hissed. “It’s too late.” Heart in her throat, she glanced over her shoulder to find Mara standing behind her.
“Years too late,” Mara said. “I should have destroyed you decades ago.”
Pearl grabbed Edna’s hand, intending to dissolve into mist and disappear, only to discover that she was powerless to do so.
“Any last words?” Mara asked, her gaze drilling into Pearl’s.
“You can’t kill us!” Edna exclaimed.
“Oh? And why is that?”
“Because we know something about Derek.”
Interest flickered in Mara’s eyes. “Go on.”
Edna shook her head. “Not until you promise to let us leave here alive.”
“No chance.”
“He’s been craving meat!” Edna said. “Don’t you want to know why?”
Eyes narrowing, Mara glanced from one woman to the other. Dressed in black from head to foot, they looked like a pair of over-the-hill ninjas. “Does this have anything to do with Ramsden?”
Edna nodded vigorously.
“I’m listening.”
“Your promise first,” Edna said.
Mara cocked her head to the side. “I can make you tell me, just as I can make your death agonizingly long or blessedly short.” Capturing Edna’s gaze with her own, she willed her power into the other woman, planting thoughts of excruciating pain into Edna’s mind until the woman screamed in agony. “I’m still listening.”
Moaning, Edna dropped to the ground.
“Leave her alone!” Pearl shouted. “I’ll tell you.”
“I’m listening.”
“Your son carries the werewolf gene.”
Mara snorted. “You’ll have to do better than that.”
“It’s true. Kyle Bowden was a werewolf, but the gene was latent in him. We think it’s becoming active in Derek. It’s why he’s craving meat.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Mara scoffed. “And even if it’s true, wouldn’t it have manifested itself long before now?”
“Obviously the vampire half has been suppressing his inner werewolf.”
“So why is it emerging now?”
“Sometimes these things are sparked by internal changes.”
Mara stared at Pearl, reluctant to believe her hypothesis, but what if it was true? The first time the craving had come upon Derek was at puberty. It had happened again just after he turned twenty-five, another significant milestone, in that he had stopped aging. “You think he’s turning into a werewolf ? Seriously?”
Pearl knelt beside Edna. “We won’t know until the next full moon.”
“Will the change be permanent?” Mara asked, thinking of Susie McGee.
Pearl shrugged. “Only time will tell.”
“Yes,” Mara mused. “Time.”
Clutching Edna’s hand, Pearl looked up at the ancient vampire. “I told you what you wanted to know,” she said, hating the tremor in her voice. “If you’re going to destroy us, make it quick.”