Her brown eyes held his across the flames. “Tempest,” she finally replied. “And you are?”
“William.”
Her head tilted to the side as she studied him. She pulled her hands away from the fire and looked braced to run once more as she placed her hands on the ground beside her. “What are you doing out here, William?”
“Searching for someone, and you?”
“They must be someone of importance if they brought you this far into the mountains.”
He didn’t miss the fact she’d ignored his question in pursuit of her own. “And what has brought you this far into the mountains?”
Her mouth pursed; her gaze shot to the front of the cave as she lifted her hands and moved them closer to the fire once more. “Are we safe here?” she inquired, apparently determined not to answer anything he asked.
“Yes.”
For the first time since finding her, he didn’t sense her distrust; instead, he sensed her fear as her hands shook over the flames. “Are you sure?”
An uneasy feeling filled him, he looked toward the front of the cave but all he could smell and hear up there was Achilles. After Chester, he knew there could be other things hunting them in the snow. Things he could have drawn here by bringing her inside.
“What were you doing out there in this blizzard?” he demanded.
***
Tempest watched him as he rose to his feet. The light of the fire brought out the fiery red in his deep auburn hair and beard. His broad shoulders blocked out the wall of the cave behind him; his head nearly brushed against the top of the rock ceiling. She guessed him to be six-foot-two, about six inches taller than her, but his broad chest and shoulders made him appear far larger.
She couldn’t deny the handsomeness of his features with his square jaw and broad cheekbones. The striking color of his crystalline blue eyes kept her gaze riveted on him. He wore a heavy, fur-lined cloak, but the shirt beneath it hugged his firm body and emphasized his muscular frame.
She didn’t know what to make of this man, or what he was doing out here, alone. If he was a part of the group that had invaded her home, wouldn’t he be with them, instead of in the middle of nowhere? The cloak he wore wasn’t white, but that was no definite indicator of where his allegiance lie.
She hadn’t realized it, but the entire time she was studying him, trying to figure him out, she’d been biting her nails. Hastily she lowered her hand and wiped it on her cloak as she inwardly berated herself for slipping into old habits. Across from her, he folded his thick arms over his chest and leaned back on his heels.
“You saved my life,” she murmured.
“You’re a vampire; the storm wouldn’t have killed you.”
She almost brought her hand back to her mouth but forced herself to leave it by her side. “You’re a vampire too,” she replied.
“Hmm,” was his only response.
“It may not have killed me, but I wouldn’t have found my way through it and I would have starved.”
Something flickered through his eyes at her words; a muscle in his cheek began to twitch. “Where did you come from?”
He wasn’t going to let that one go, and she couldn’t successfully keep dodging his question. “My town. I’m not sure how far it is from here or how to get back right now. It felt like I was walking forever,” she murmured. “And I could have been going in circles for all I know.” Her gaze slid over the cave they sat in again, but none of it looked familiar. “Where did you bring me?”
“To a cave,” he replied in a tone that suggested she’d asked him if dogs barked.
Grinding her teeth together in order to keep a hold on her patience, she managed to ask in a clipped tone, “Is it in the side of the large stretch of mountains?”
“No, it’s a couple of miles away. It’s more of a rock cropping that has sprung up over time to form a cave.”
“Good,” she replied. She’d at least succeeded in putting some distance between her and those she’d fled.
“I’ve answered your questions, now it’s your turn. Why did you leave?”
Her hand fluttered up to her mouth. “Damn it,” she whispered and forced her hand down again before she bit at her nails.
Rising to her feet, she turned away and paced toward the entrance. A cool wind blew through the entranceway, causing her hair to flutter around her face, but the warmth of the fire enveloped the ten-foot circle of the main part of the cave they were in. It could almost be cozy if she didn’t feel so jumpy and unsettled.
“I was looking for help,” she finally answered.
“Help with what?” he inquired.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I only plan to talk to the king about it.”
“And how did you plan to get an audience with the king?”
“I hadn’t thought about that yet. I was mostly concerned with trying to survive and getting out of the mountains.”
“I see. Is what you planned to talk to the king about important?”
Unwittingly, tears sprang to her eyes. She wiped them hurriedly away. Crying wouldn’t get her any closer to her goal. “It’s a matter of life and death.” William clasped his hands behind his back as he continued to watch her. “It may already be too late.”
“Too late for what?”
“To save them, but I couldn’t have brought them with me. I barely made it out myself.” Goose bumps broke out on her arms; she ran her hands over her arms at the memory of what had happened on the trail.
“I think you should tell me what is going on.”
“I only plan to tell that to the king.”
He stared at her for a moment before slipping past her and walking toward the front of the cave. She heard some shuffling and the hard pat of a palm on horseflesh before he reemerged from the shadows of the cave. His booted feet rang against the stone as he stopped before her. He held out another brown cloak with a patch turned toward her. She stared at the familiar wolf emblem for a minute before glancing up at him.
“It’s the insignia of the king’s men,” he said.
“I know. You’re a king’s man?”
“I’m more than that.”
“What does that mean?” she demanded.
“I’ll explain more when you do.”
She glanced down at the golden wolf again. “How do I know you didn’t steal it from someone?”
He tugged the cloak from her grasp and walked away to drape it over a rock. “I know the king personally and quite well, if I feel you need his help, I will get it for you.”
“I’m sure there are plenty of men in the world who claim to know the king personally, even if it isn’t true.”
His impatience radiated from him when he faced her again. “What is it you plan to talk to him about?” he asked in a clipped tone.
“His wife,” she hedged. He’d saved her life and claimed to know the king, but she was unwilling to reveal too much to a man she didn’t know.
She didn’t think he could have looked more astounded if she’d told him she could fly and oftentimes spit fire out of her mouth. His mouth closed; his eyes turned a vibrant shade of red. Tempest took a step back. Her hand fell to her waist but the torch no longer hung there. Glancing around the cave, she spotted the wooden stick resting against the wall by her two cloaks. He was a lot bigger than the last vampire she’d fought, but she would do whatever it took to protect herself if he came at her.
“What about his wife?” he growled.
She took a step to the side, hedging toward the torch. “I uh…” she had no idea what to say as his gaze continued to bore into her. “I know where she is.”
His eyebrows drew together over the top of his nose. “She is with the king.”
Tempest took another step toward the torch. She’d stopped believing the woman in town claiming to be the queen was telling the truth, but what did she know of the royal line? She never left the town; she’d certainly never seen the king and queen before. It was treasonous for the
woman to claim to be the queen when she wasn’t, but Tempest had a feeling the woman who had invaded her town cared little about treason or the consequences of it. She certainly had no value for life.
Tempest was unsure of how to continue. If this man really did know the king and queen, he would be able to tell her if the queen was the woman in her town, but she didn’t know how to proceed or how much to reveal. She took another step toward the torch. His gaze flickered toward it before returning to her.
“You can pick it up if it will make you feel better,” he said.
Tempest hesitated before taking a big step to the side and snatching the torch up. Holding it before her, she pressed it against her chest as she stared at him. It may be a false sense of comfort, but it was something. “When I last saw her, the king was not with her,” she told him.
“Then he was nearby, it’s not often they’re apart for long.”
“She was alone when she came into my town. Well, except for her numerous guards.”
She’d never seen anyone look more confused in her life; his puzzled expression would have been comical if this whole situation hadn’t been so awful. “Are you from Chippman?” he demanded.
Now it was her turn to be confused. “No, I’m from Badwin. It’s a small mountain town, nestled in a valley.”
“The queen rarely travels with numerous guards and she does not travel without her husband.”
“I’m telling you this woman is in my town, and she says she’s the queen. The king has not been with her in weeks…”
“She’s not the queen,” he cut in abruptly.
She almost stomped her foot in frustration over being cut off. “And how do you know that?”
“Because my sister would never be without her husband for so much time, and she was standing by her husband’s side the last time I saw her.”
Now it was her turn to look as if he’d just told her he could fly. She would have been less astonished if he’d actually sprouted wings and soared toward the top of the cave. The torch hit the stone with a dull thump as her arms went limp.
“You’re kidding!” she snorted.
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” he inquired. “The queen’s name is Arianna; though most call her Aria. We have an older brother named Daniel. Her hair is the same color as mine and she is my twin. She’s a giant pain in my ass, but I love her. She’s also one of the few humans who survived the change from human to vampire, as am I. I don’t know how much you know about my sister, but I can assure you if she was anywhere near here, it would be because she had tracked me down and was looking to kick my ass.”
Tempest leaned against the wall. Her hand went to her forehead as she tried to comprehend everything he was telling her. “You were a human?”
“I was. Aria changed me.”
“You both willingly agreed to the change knowing most don’t survive it?”
“Aria willingly accepted the change to be with Braith.” Hearing him refer to the king so casually with his given name caused her mouth to fall open again. “The choice was taken from me. I was dying when Aria offered to change me, I accepted.”
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
He stared at her for a minute before coming around the fire toward her. Tempest lifted the torch again, but he stopped a few feet away from her. He grabbed hold of the edge of his shirt and tugged it up to reveal the chiseled muscles of his abs and the scar marring him. “What are you doing?” she demanded.
She lifted the torch higher against her chest. He’d never looked at her in the same way as the man she’d pushed off the ledge, or Kane, since she’d woken, but he could have been keeping his baser intentions hidden. He may be a lot better looking than the man on the ledge, and Kane, but she’d still brain him if he tried to force himself on her or did anything funny. She wished those chiseled abs didn’t cause strange flutters in her stomach, but she would ignore them if she had to bash him over the head.
“This,” he said and pointed at the jagged, puckered scar slicing across his smooth flesh. It was up high, closer to his sternum and in the center of his stomach. “is where I was run through by the bastard who killed me. As you can see, it is a mortal blow for a human. I accepted my sister’s blood and died. Believe me, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. My sister, the queen, is the only reason I’m alive.”
His jaw clenched; she could see the torment and wrath blazing in his reddened eyes. She’d heard rumors about how brutal the change could be on a human, most humans weren’t strong enough to endure it. Her eyes were more assessing as they ran over him again. She’d never dreamed she’d ever meet someone who’d been able to withstand the change. Somehow, in a blizzard, out in the middle of nowhere, she’d managed to stumble across someone who could help her right away. It was too good to be true; something had to go wrong. It simply couldn’t have been this easy, nothing in her life ever was.
Tugging his shirt down, he walked over to stand on the opposite side of the cave again. Tempest leaned against the wall, if it hadn’t been there to hold her up, she would have collapsed on the floor.
“I’m sorry for what you went through,” she murmured.
He folded his arms over his chest. “Don’t be.”
It was the most distant he’d been since she’d woken; yet he was her biggest hope. She didn’t care if he became an icicle, she would do everything she could to get him to help her. “You can help me,” she said. “You can help them.”
His eyes faded back to their clear blue color as he looked her over again. “You have to tell me exactly what is going on first for that to happen,” he said.
Tempest kept the torch pressed against her chest as she watched the fire playing across his handsome features. “A large group of vampires came into our town a couple of weeks ago. They invaded our homes and arrested anyone who had any leadership in the town or put up any kind of resistance. They took all of the humans and locked them in the blood bank. No one has seen them since.”
His frown deepened; his eyes were focused on the fire. Tempest didn’t know if she was getting through the inflexible shell encasing him now, but she kept going. “The other night, the night I escaped, they took the vampires they had placed into the stocks and set them all on fire.”
His head lifted, his eyes finally met hers again when she said this. “That’s when my friends and I decided it was time for me to try and leave. I knew the mountains best; I knew the way out. I don’t know what the vampires there, and that woman who is claiming to be queen, plan to do, but they’ve recruited members of our town to join them, and I don’t think they’re going to leave the rest of us alive. Especially not the children.”
His mouth parted a little, he rubbed at the beard on his chin as he stared at the wall over her head. “Probably not,” he murmured.
“Three of the invading vampires forced their way into the orphanage and took up residence with us. I don’t know why they didn’t throw us all into the streets. Maybe they felt that letting most of us stay in our homes would ingratiate them more with the residents, and help sway them to their side. Whatever their reasons, we were allowed to stay in our homes with them. The three staying with us were all out the night of the fires.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I can still hear the screams of the dying.”
“How many vampires came into the town?”
“I don’t know. At first I believed it to be a couple hundred, but the more I saw the more I realize it may have been in the thousands, and growing. They never spoke of numbers, not around us. Kane made…”
“Who?” The word lashed out of him like a whip cracking air. She couldn’t stop herself from jumping. The air crackled with the tension and wrath radiating off him as his eyes turned the color of molten lava. Tempest lifted the torch again. She had no idea what had caused him to react this way, but the last thing she wanted was to be around an unstable vampire, even if he was the queen’s brother. “Who?” he barked as he stepped away from the wall.
&
nbsp; “Ka… Kane,” she stammered as she took a step away from him and closer to the exit. “He was one of the invaders of the orphanage.”
He stopped a few feet away from her. His eyes burned brighter than the fires she’d fled; his hands fisted at his sides as a muscle began to jump in his cheek. “What did he look like?”
Tempest swallowed heavily; she hated that she couldn’t keep her hands from shaking. “Ugly, shorter guy… ah he has a, ah… large scar on his face.”
He didn’t blink as he continued to stare at her. The seconds ticked into minutes but he didn’t make any movement. Finally, just when she’d started to think he’d turned to stone, he spoke, “You’re going to take me to that town.”
She did a double take before finally sputtering out a response, “We’re… ah… uh… we’ll need help before we go back. More numbers and guards.”
“We’ll get help,” he assured her. “But first you will take me there.”
- CHAPTER 11 -
Tempest blinked at him and then looked toward the front of the cave again. Over the crackling of the firewood, she could hear the shriek of the wind whipping across the open plain. Huddling deeper into her cloak, she pulled it more firmly around her neck as the sound caused a shiver to rattle her bones.
Turning away from the mouth of the cave, she focused on him again. His face was severe, his lips pinched as his eyes blazed. He looked about ready to rip someone’s head off, but he would have already torn her head from her shoulders if he’d wanted her dead, she was certain of it. She was fast and agile, older than he was in vamp years, but strength radiated from the corded muscles of his neck and forearms as he watched her. Fury radiated from every inch of him, yet none of it had been directed at her. He didn’t intend to hurt her, of that she was sure.
“We can’t go now, there’s a storm going on,” she reminded him, her voice far stronger than she’d expected.
“Not now. When the storm breaks.”
She pursed her mouth and tilted her head to study him. “Do you know Kane?”
“Yes.” Over the pop of the fire, she could hear the grinding of his teeth. Sparks flew into the air from behind him as the flames leapt higher into the air before settling down once more. If she hadn’t known better, she would have believed the fire had reacted to his seething emotions.