He didn't have to ask her twice. She was more than willing to put this place behind her.
Climbing the stairs, she wondered if he had agreed to show it to her in hopes of making her see why they could not have a life together.
"You must be hungry," he remarked when they returned to the parlor.
She was, now that he mentioned it.
"Go and fix yourself something to eat."
"Come with me?"
He shook his head.
"Why not? What are you going to do?"
"Nothing sinister, my sweet. I will wait for you in the back parlor."
"You won't go out, you promise?"
"Am I to be a prisoner in my own house?" he asked, a fine edge to his voice.
"No, of course not." She turned away, stung by his tone. She couldn't help it if she was worried about him. Couldn't he understand that?
" Victoria, I did not mean to offend you."
"Go on, go outside, do whatever you want. I don't care."
He laughed softly. One minute she was a warrior woman, fighting demons to save him, and the next she was like a child, her feelings easily hurt.
"I will not leave the house," he said. "I promise."
Keeping her back to him, she nodded.
His hands on her shoulders kept her from leaving the room. "Ah, Victoria," he murmured with a shake of his head. "What a treasure you are."
She blinked back sudden unexpected tears at the warmth and the wonder in his voice.
He chuckled softly as her stomach growled in a very unladylike way. "Go and eat. We will talk later."
With a nod, she left the room.
Antonio stared after her, admiring the sway of her hips, until she was out of sight.
Feeling as though he were six thousand years old, he made his way to the back parlor, sat down, and closed his eyes. Pain. He was only free of it when the daylight sleep was upon him. It burned through him now like a living flame.
He had thought to leave Victoria when Falco had been destroyed. Now, he wondered how he was ever going to let her go. In six hundred years, he had never needed anyone the way he needed her. It wasn't just her blood he craved, sweet as it was; no, he craved her company, the sound of her laughter, the touch of her hand, the way she melted against him when she should have run away, screaming in fear. He still couldn't believe she had come to rescue him, didn't want to think what would have happened to her if she had failed. How could he let her go?
How could he not? He had seen the look of utter revulsion on her face when she saw where he slept. Though she might think she loved him, he knew that would soon change. No mortal woman could long endure sharing a vampire's life. No mortal woman should have to. It was a life against nature, beyond mortal endurance. Even vampires had been known to seek their own destruction when their existence became more than they could bear.
He thought of Edward Ramsey. The knowledge that the world's most formidable vampire hunter had been turned had spread quickly through the vampire community.
And there had been much rejoicing, he recalled with a faint grin. It was said that Ramsey had taken a vampire wife.
His Victoria, a vampire.
He frowned, unable to imagine her as such. Some souls were made for darkness and some for light, and she was a creature of light and laughter, a woman made to love one man, to bear his children, to grow old at his side.
He shook the thought from his mind. To think of her with another man would surely drive him mad. Until Falco was destroyed, she was his. For now, he would not think beyond that.
Her scent reached his nostrils. Moments later, she entered the room.
He knew she was standing in front of him before he opened his eyes, knew from the wary expression on her face that his hunger showed in his eyes.
"Do you need to…?" She licked her lips nervously. "You know?"
He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Frequent feeding would help his wounds to heal more quickly. But it wasn't only that. Her very nearness aroused his hunger.
Already, his fangs were lengthening in response.
He clenched his hands to keep from reaching for her. "I can go out."
With a shake of her head, she sat down beside him, as trusting as a kitten.
His arm went around her shoulders. He brushed a lock of hair aside to expose her neck.
So warm, so willing. He closed his eyes, fighting for control, thinking how easy it would be to take it all. If it was anyone but Victoria … He pushed the thought from his mind. In spite of his words to the contrary, he wasn't like Falco, had never been like Falco.
Lowering his head, he took what he needed, what he craved.
What he feared he would never be able to live without now that he'd had a taste of it.
Chapter 34
Tom Duncan arrived at the castle at two o'clock the following afternoon. He followed Vicki into the front parlor, sat down at her invitation.
"This is quite a place," he remarked, settling back on the sofa.
"Yes. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Soda?"
"Not right now. So, tell me everything that's happened since you got here." Taking a seat at the other end of the sofa, she started at the beginning and quickly brought him up to date.
He grinned when she told him about the four young men who had come to her aid.
"You're damn lucky they turned out to be decent guys, or I might have been reading your obit in the paper."
"I know, but at the time it never crossed my mind to be afraid. I was too worried about Antonio to think about anything else."
"You've really got it bad for that bloodsucker, don't you?"
"Don't call him that."
"He's fed off you, hasn't he?"
"What if he has?"
"Hey, it's your life. I just hope you know what you're getting into. So, you ready to go hunting?"
"Me?"
"Why not?"
Why not indeed? It was as much to her benefit as anyone else's to find Falco. Maybe more.
Vicki grabbed her coat and they left the house. "Looks like rain," she remarked as she got into the Camaro.
"Yeah, I think it's following me."
She settled back in her seat and fastened her seat belt. "Do you have any idea where to look?"
"No. I just want to drive around, get the lay of the land. A friend of mine is coming in sometime tonight to give us a hand."
"Another vampire hunter?"
"He used to be."
"What is he now?"
"A vampire." Duncan slid the key into the ignition.
Vicki stared at him in disbelief. "You're kidding, right? Don't we have enough vampires already?"
"Ramsey was the best hunter in the business before he was turned. I don't know where else to go for help." Duncan shook his head. "I've never had this much trouble finding one of the Undead before. I don't know, maybe I've lost my touch. Maybe Falco's more than a vampire. Maybe he's a ghost, too."
"I know a ghost," Vicki remarked, smiling. "Maybe you'll get to meet her."
"Yeah, right" Putting the car in gear, he drove toward the front gate.
"Seriously. Her name is Lady Kathryn. She haunts the castle, although I'm not sure haunt is the right word. She's not very scary."
"Just what we need."
"Well, she helped me find Antonio."
Duncan pulled over and put the car in Park. "Maybe we should go take a look at that shed where you found Battista before we do anything else."
"We'll have to go on foot from here," she said. "There's no road from the castle grounds."
"Okay by me." After killing the engine, Duncan grabbed a jacket from the backseat and got out of the car.
With a shrug, she unfastened her seat belt and headed toward the woods. "It's this way," she said, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he was behind her.
The clouds grew thicker and darker as they made their way through the trees.
"I can't see the sun," she said, glancing at the sky.
"So?"
"The sun is supposed to kill vampires, right? But the sun isn't shining today. So, could he be up and moving around?"
"Old ones can probably rise early on days like this," Duncan replied, frowning. "I really don't know if they can go outside. I sure as hell hope not."
Vicki shivered. Falco was an old vampire. What if he was at the shed, waiting for them?
"Did you bring your vampire-killing kit?" she asked.
Duncan patted his jacket pocket. "Holy water in here." He paused to pick up a narrow branch, then pulled a knife from one of his other pockets and began whittling the end of the branch to a sharp point.
That was it? A bottle of holy water and a makeshift stake? It didn't do much to ease her nerves or increase her confidence.
It was drizzling when they reached the shed.
"I'm not sure I can go in there again," Vicki said.
"That's all right. You stay here, I'll check it out."
"Do you think you should go alone?"
"I doubt if Falco would hang around now that he's been discovered here once."
Vicki nodded. She crossed her arms over her chest, shivering a little, while she watched Tom go into the lambing shed. She wondered if the bodies of the zombies were still inside. What if Tom was wrong? What if Falco was inside, waiting?
She took a step forward, ears straining for some sound that would tell her what was happening inside. Her mouth went dry as she imagined Duncan stepping into the shed and coming face-to-face with a vampire who was wide awake and ready to strike. A bottle of holy water and a wooden stake seemed like puny weapons against a vampire who was hundreds of years old.
She had worked herself into a fine state by the time Duncan returned.
"There's no sign of him," he said. She glanced past Tom. "What about the zombies?"
"No sign of them, either. Some blood on the floor, but that's all." He shrugged. "Looks like he got away again."
