Grinning, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, her head resting against his sweaty chest. “You have to learn who’s in charge.”
“Hmmm,” she said, deeply sighing, “say that to me again, when I’m…not so…sleepy.”
Then she lifted her head and pressed her chin against his chest, her eyes sparkling.
Now what the hell? She studied him so intensely he swore she was trying to control his thoughts, and him an ancient vampire!
“Vixen, rest,” he growled.
She laughed, but foreboding filled him. If she was attempting to control him like the women he’d turned before her, what else would she try to do? The memories of changing the others returned to him with a vengeance. Tezra might not think she could be like them, but her penchant for revenge could push her over the edge if he didn’t keep her under his tight control.
Already, he sensed disaster in the form of one hot, sexy SCU investigator/hunter now turned vampire.
***
After they rested, Daemon drove Tezra back to Patrico’s house, though he tried to keep from driving too fast and had to wipe only one traffic cop’s mind of the speeding ticket he wanted to give him. Even so, Tezra kept her eyes shut the whole way back. Well, except when she gave Daemon her I-told-you-so glower as the cop tried to write him up.
He couldn’t tell how she was feeling about being a fledgling vampire. Maybe worried she wouldn’t be able to reach Katie, maybe concerned that Krustalus wanted Tezra for his own. Daemon wished she would talk to him, but then again, perhaps it was just his driving that was getting to her the most.
After shutting off the car’s engine, he glanced at Tezra and found her staring at Patrico’s house. He reached over and patted her leg. “Are you all right, Tezra?” He tried to settle the worry that the change had turned her into something he’d grow to despise. The silence between them was killing him.
“Yes,” she said, but she didn’t sound sure of herself at all.
And for once, he felt he had no control over the situation. No way to soothe her fears. No way to reassure her everything would work out the best for all concerned.
Because for the first time in years, he wasn’t sure himself.
***
What if Katie didn’t respond to Tezra’s trying to help her rejoin the world? What if her attempts did more damage than good? No matter how hard Tezra tried to dismiss her insecurities, they flooded her. Not only that, but she couldn’t help worrying that her canines would suddenly extend. Just pop out for no reason. Hell, if that happened when she was trying to talk to Katie, it would probably put her into a coma!
She glanced at Daemon, his look concerned, and she offered a small smile, but his expression didn’t change. He already knew her better than that. Her anxiety must be imprinted all over her face.
He rubbed her shoulder and kissed her cheek. “Come, Tezra. Let’s see your sister.”
She should be thrilled with the prospect of aiding Katie, but she couldn’t help agonizing over the change. So far she didn’t feel any different. She didn’t crave blood, her teeth were back to their normal-size, she moved like she typically did—maybe a little slower than normal, reluctant to face Katie, fearing failure. But then she smelled the sea, not like she usually did but the more subtle fragrances—the salt and fish, even the wet sand and rain saturating the clouds overhead.
Over the crash of the waves out back, the sounds of birds chirping and singing, but when she listened even closer, the whoosh of the sea breeze stirred the needles of the pines and the sound of voices inside the house carried to her ear.
Tezra glanced at Daemon, and from the expression on his face, he knew. He recognized her insecurities, recognized how the changes in her were throwing her off-kilter. Taking her hand, he squeezed with reassurance, then transported her to the dining room, giving her another minute to brace herself for the next phase in her life.
Surprisingly, she didn’t feel dizzy at all, which was definitely something positive.
She tightened her hold on his hand and nodded, ready to take the plunge, or at least she hoped so. Then they joined everyone in the living room. Patrico sat on one sofa, while Voltan stood slightly behind him. Katie sat opposite Patrico, and Atreides reclined next to her. He wasn’t interested in her sister, was he? He had better not be.
Everyone eyed Tezra and Daemon and she wondered if they realized Daemon had changed her. Well, everyone but her sister. But she couldn’t tell from their facial expressions how they viewed Daemon’s decision.
Tezra gave Atreides a look like he should move it or lose it. He glanced at Daemon who nodded.
Atreides smiled darkly. “Anyone want some coffee?” He disappeared into the kitchen and banged around.
It was now or never. Tezra sat next to her sister. Reaching out, she took Katie’s hands. Her stomach rolled like the waves curled and crashed on the beach. She gathered her strength to delve into her sister’s fractured mind.
Tezra hoped the smell of the salty air and the screeching of seagulls in flight in the seaside setting would bring the cheerful memories back to her sister. “Katie, do you remember a time when we played at the beach? We collected seashells and—”
Pulling her hands away from Tezra, Katie looked away from her.
Tezra tried a different tack and recaptured Katie’s hands, rubbing her thumbs gently over them. “You will listen to me, Katie. Hear my words and don’t think about anything else unless I give you permission.”
She wasn’t sure she was having any effect on Katie, but it surprised her how easy it was to attempt vampiric mind control, as if she’d been born with it. She could see how seductive having the power could be.
Daemon drew close to Tezra and touched her shoulder. “I want you to quit, Tezra, if your head begins to hurt.”
Her gaze shifted to him and she nodded, but she had no intention of stopping, not until she rescued her sister from the darkness.
“I mean it, Tezra.”
Not about to allow him or anyone else to control her, not when this was so important, she turned away from him. “Remember when we spent Christmas with Aunt Ritania? She gave you an amethyst ring, your birthstone, but gave me a Mickey Mouse watch because I could tell time. But I wanted an emerald, my own birthstone, something pretty and feminine. Not a Mickey Mouse watch. It was a boy’s watch, for heaven’s sake.”
Katie looked away, but Tezra touched her cheek and forced her to face the memories.
“They’re dead,” Katie said softly.
Tezra stared at her sister in disbelief. To hear her sister’s first words spoken in a decade, Tezra’s heart ached with joy. Yet bringing up the subject of their parents’ murder didn’t seem like a good idea now. But another notion concerned her. Had her sister not been as traumatized as everyone thought? Tezra didn’t think she’d done anything to reduce her sister’s fears enough to bring her out of her silent world.
Katie looked at her, her expression solemn, her eyes barely blinking.
“Uhm, yeah, Katie Bird, Mom and Dad are dead. I’m…” Unable to keep her emotions in check, she pulled Katie into her arms and crushed her against her chest, traitorous tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry for everything that happened.”
Pulling away, Katie wrung her hands and shifted her eyes to the floor.
The rejection hurt, but Tezra wasn’t finished explaining. “I wanted so badly to catch the killer vampire who was murdering police officers, I didn’t think of our family’s safety.”
Katie looked back at Tezra, her eyes filled with tears.
“Can you ever forgive me?”
Katie’s jaw tightened. “I-I…” She clamped her mouth shut.
Daemon took Tezra’s hand and rubbed it.
With a sinking feeling, Tezra realized she had a long way to go in helping her sister to mend. “What, Katie? Tell me how you feel. I’m so, so sorry.”
Katie swallowed hard and fisted her hands in her lap. “I-I…” She shook her head a
nd avoided looking at Tezra.
Shaken, Tezra feared her sister hated her for what happened. “Katie…”
“No!” Katie’s green eyes were icy daggers. “I…h-had a fight.”
Tezra opened her mouth to speak, but then curbed the urge and tried to hold onto her sanity while she waited impatiently to hear her sister out. She wondered if in some insane way Katie had felt their parents’ deaths were her fault. When Katie didn’t speak, Tezra tried again. “Katie, none of what happened was your doing, honey.”
“I-I…had a fight.” Katie struggled to get the words out, as if after not speaking for so long it was difficult now, or was it the grueling emotions that caused the problem?
Trying to calm the blood rushing pell-mell through her veins, Tezra took a deep breath. “Tell me what you remember.” No way was her sister responsible for what had happened, and she wanted Katie to understand that right away.
“You…” Katie wiped away tears rolling down her cheeks and stared at her lap. She looked up at Tezra, her eyes reflecting pain and anger. “You got to go to the SCU school early. But I-I was twelve, the same age as you when you…started. They w-wouldn’t let me go. Said I wasn’t as…” She sobbed, and the woeful sound wrenched at Tezra’s soul.
Tezra rubbed her arm. “It’s okay, Katie.”
“I wasn’t as strong or agile or quick as you. W-when he came, I let…” Katie looked at the floor and shook her head.
Sitting back against the sofa cushions, Tezra stared at her in disbelief. “You invited him in.” She’d never considered how the murderer had gotten into the house, and she’d never thought her own sister would feel responsible for their parents’ murders.
“I was sooo…mad at Mom and Dad, I-I wasn’t thinking…straight.” Katie’s face puckered up in anger, and she wouldn’t look at Tezra. “F-first rule t-taught…” She swallowed hard. “To every hunter child, never in…invite a vampire into your home.”
Daemon took a deep breath, and Atreides shifted a bit.
“Who was he?”
Katie stared at her, resentment still burning in her eyes. “How…how would I know?”
Oh, God, Tezra had never considered Katie wouldn’t know who the murderer was. Of course, she wouldn’t know him. How could Tezra have been so deluded to think Katie would?
“Do you recall what he looked like?”
Katie shook her head.
“I have to know for certain. He can’t hurt you. You’re safe with us. Did you even look at him when you answered the door?”
“I-I was so angry,” she admitted. “He a-asked to see Dad. Mom was in the kitchen making…” She brushed away fresh tears. Atreides handed her a box of tissue and she blotted the tears with one. “Chocolate chip cookies, your favorite dessert, b-because you had made honors a-at the school. Dad had been taking a nap. I froze when the man…pulled out a sword and…killed Mom. Dad tried to save us, but the man killed him too. I-I think he looked at me. I was too scared to see, then he vanished.”
“He didn’t walk away? He vanished like a vampire?”
“He…he walked away, vanished. I don’t know. I couldn’t look. Then you came home, and I-I don’t remember anything after that.”
Tezra studied her sister’s actions, the way she avoided her look, and she suspected Katie wasn’t telling the whole truth
“Was he tall like us?” Atreides asked, motioning to Daemon and him.
Katie shifted her gaze from them to Tezra. “About as tall as Dad,” she said to Tezra as if the others weren’t in the room.
Tezra nodded, confirming the answer to Atreides’s question.
“What color was his hair, his eyes?” Atreides asked.
Fisting her hands in her lap again, Katie scowled at him. “I don’t remember.” She faced Tezra. “We h-have to kill him for what he d-did. We have to.”
Tezra patted Katie’s hand, having every intention of putting Krustalus out of his misery. “I promise you, he’ll pay for his crimes.”
“Why…why did you think you were the one that caused our parents’ deaths? Because you weren’t at…at home at the time and didn’t help protect Mom and Dad?”
“No.” Tezra sighed heavily, wishing for the millionth time she’d not threatened him with exposure. “I was on his murdering trail, trying to discover who he was.”
But a new worry consumed her. Tezra didn’t believe for one second that she’d used any vampiric ability to reach Katie.
With her heart in her throat, Tezra asked, “Katie, tell me the truth, have you been able to speak for some time?”
Chapter Fourteen
No one said a word at Patrico’s house as they waited for Katie to tell Tezra the truth. Had she been pretending to be wrapped in a bubble of silence for a decade, or not?
Katie didn’t respond.
“Katie…” Tezra’s head began to pound. “Katie, tell me, have you pretended not to be able to communicate with us all this time?”
Fighting Tezra’s attempt at persuading her to reveal the truth, Katie clenched her teeth and closed her eyes.
“You will tell me honestly, Katie. Did you understand everything that’s gone on the last ten years? Were you able to speak with me all this time, but refused?”
Katie swallowed convulsively as Tezra’s head began to ache, and she feared the answer. Why else would Katie resist giving up the truth?
“Katie…”
Her sister shook her head.
Tezra took a settling breath, but the relief was too short-lived.
“Only since yesterday,” Katie whispered.
Tezra’s heart felt like it was being crushed between collapsing stone walls.
“When…when Patrico took me away from the hospital. I…I was afraid I’d never see you again. S-something inside me snapped. But then I was too afraid to speak. Afraid he’d be mad at me, and then you’d be angry with me…for…for what I’d done.”
Tezra closed her eyes to hold the tears in, the knowledge she’d had Daemon change her when there had been no need washing over her like an icy Arctic wave. She had no idea how much being vampiric would truly affect her, had no idea how to cope with all the changes psychologically and physically, and hell, what if Daemon killed Krustalus before the killer ever got to her again? She wouldn’t even need the extra defensive measures.
She’d always hoped once she proved Krustalus was the killer, the SCU would exonerate her—even accept her. That wouldn’t happen now that she’d been turned. The cherry on top of the sundae would have been revealing Patrico was alive and well. Now, what did any of it matter?
She was a vampiress, and that couldn’t be changed. Worse, Katie was bound to feel responsible for this now too. And what if her sister hated her for being vampiric after what Krustalus had done to their parents?
“Why didn’t you tell me, Katie? Why?” Despair filled Tezra’s words. Daemon squeezed her hand. She couldn’t look at him, but stared at Katie instead, her whole world turned upside down all over again.
Katie shook her head. “I killed our parents. You would have hated me for what I did. I…I couldn’t live with it. You…you loved me and treated me kindly and…and even when I wanted to tell you yesterday, I couldn’t.”
Katie was an emotional wreck. It wasn’t an act.
The fact remained Tezra hadn’t needed to be changed to reach her. Her whole body trembled. She wanted to scream, to shake the earth, to kill Krustalus with her fangs, ripping him to shreds slowly, painfully, until he begged for mercy, and then she wanted to torture him some more. She could easily be a rogue, as Daemon had feared.
“It was my fault,” Tezra said quietly. “My fault they died, not yours, and for this…” She swallowed hard. Her greatest fear was not ever being accepted by her hunter kind. “For this, I will forever be punished.”
Shakily, she stood, wanting to get away from everyone—Daemon’s concerned touch, her sister’s worried look, the rest of their shocked expressions. She wanted to bury herself in a hole and never
come out.
***
Tezra retired to Patrico’s bedroom, unable to be with anyone for the moment. She wished she had some family left who could take Katie in and help her to adjust to the world now that she’d rejoined it. Tezra wished her hearing wasn’t so damned acute, wished that when Voltan whispered to Atreides down the hall, she couldn’t hear them.
“He has changed the huntress…our prince, has he not?” Voltan asked.
“Didn’t you see it coming? As soon as he issued a death threat to any who might consider turning her, he made it clear he was claiming her,” Atreides responded.
“What about the last one?”
“Don’t even bring Lynetta up. For decades, I had to put up with Daemon’s foul mood over the mess with the rogue huntress, and I don’t ever want to have deal with that again.”
Daemon had tangled with another problem huntress? Tezra collapsed on the bed and groaned. Atreides and Voltan didn’t say another word.
Wanting to get away, Tezra closed her eyes and imagined walking along the beach forever until she left this realm and entered a world where no one knew her, where she could live in isolation for the rest of her life. But no matter how much she tried to shove the concerns from her mind, she couldn’t even walk along the beach without the threat of Krustalus hanging over her head.
“Tezra’s mad at me, isn’t she?” Katie asked someone in the living room.
Tezra covered her ears, wishing you she couldn’t hear them talking about her, but it didn’t help.
“She’s very happy for you, Katie honey,” Patrico said. “She’s just very concerned about this matter with Krustalus.”
“I heard one of the vampires guarding the house talking to another, and he said Krustalus wants Tezra for his mate. Why?” Katie asked.
“He’s attracted to her, and he lost his own mate some years ago.”
“Oh.”
“Tezra,” Daemon said softly next to her, and she opened her eyes, her heart pounding. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you or intrude on your privacy, but I wanted to see if you were all right.”