"Go away. I do not want to go stay with a coven. I do not want to live with people I do not know, people who have no reason to care for me, or protect me. I have decided to stay here, with Ramon." Her voice softened. "He said he will look after me."

Cursing softly, Rourke studied the vampire's house. It was a single-story dwelling made of solid red brick. From where he stood, he could see that there were iron bars on all the windows. The front entrance was protected by a wrought-iron security door. Not that the barred windows and door would keep him out, but the threshold, that was another matter. He had never tried to enter the home of a vampire uninvited, had no idea if the threshold of one vampire would repel another.

Angry and curious, he gained the porch and yanked the security door from its hinges, but when he tried to open the front door, he was repelled, not only by the preternatural wards set by the other vampire, but by the sharp sting of witchcraft.

Rourke took a step backward, surprised by Ana Luisa's power. He had misjudged the girl, he mused. She was stronger than he had expected.

"I am sorry," Ana Luisa called, "but I feel safe here. With the wards around the house, my father will not be able to find me."

"I found you," Rourke reminded her. Of course, it was possible that the blood link he shared with Ana was stronger than the bond she shared with her father; then again, maybe not. Still, Vilnius might be able to track her using his magic. At the moment, it was a moot point.

There was a moment of silence, leaving Rourke to wonder if she was reconsidering.

"Thank you for helping me," Ana Luisa called. "I can never repay you for coming after me, but I am staying here."

Rourke muttered an oath. Right or wrong, he felt responsible for the girl. He had freed her and brought her to this country. It galled him to leave her in the care of another, but he couldn't force her to leave with him. She had most assuredly proved that.

"Very well," Rourke said. "Have it your own way." Raising his voice, he said, "Vega, if any harm comes to her, if you turn her against her will, I will know it, and you will answer to me."

Rourke waited a moment, and when there was no reply from the other vampire, he turned away from the red-brick house. As the saying went, Ana Luisa had made her bed; now she could lie in it.

Karinna was waiting for Rourke in the living room when he returned.

"Did you find her?" she asked. "Is she all right?"

He grunted softly. "I found her," he said, "and she is all right, though I cannot say for how long."

"What do you mean?"

"Vega has already worked the Dark Trick on three humans. Two of them are female."

"Oh. Oh! You don't think.... He won't make her a vampire, will he?"

Rourke paced the floor in front of the fireplace, his hands clenched at his sides. "He will regret it if he does so against her will."

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it now," Karinna remarked. "Come, sit here with me and relax."

Muttering an oath, he dropped down beside her, his expression bleak.

"Do you like being a vampire?" she asked. "I asked you before what it was like, and you said you couldn't explain it, but do you like it?"

He stared into the distance a moment, then nodded. "All things considered, yes, though the Dark Sleep took some getting used to."

"What's that like, or can't you explain that, either?"

"It is like dying every night."

The words conjured a morbid image that made her shudder. "I don't think I'd like that part."

He laughed softly. "One has to be careful where one takes his rest. I was traveling one night centuries ago and neglected to find a proper resting place. I stopped at a tavern and requested a room. Sometime during the day, the tavern owner's wife entered the room, perhaps to clean it, perhaps to rob a sleeping guest. She mistook me for dead."

"Oh, no! What happened?"

"They buried me."

Horrified, Kari stared at him. She couldn't envision anything worse, couldn't imagine how awful it would be to wake up and find yourself in a coffin and realize you had been buried alive. She had heard stories of such things happening in the past, had seen it dramatized in movies, but Rourke had lived it. "What did you do?"

"At first, I panicked. And then I realized there was nothing to be afraid of. I dissolved into mist and materialized above ground. I never made that mistake again."

Kari shook her head. It was unbelievable. He was unbelievable. Yet there he sat, solid and whole beside her, his muscular thigh pressed intimately against hers, his deep blue eyes watching her intently. Not for the first time, she wondered why she wasn't repulsed by him, by what he was. Vampire. Undead. Nosferatu. A creature of the night. She tried to tell herself that she was being foolish, that her life was in danger every minute she spent in his presence, and yet, looking at him now, being close to him, none of that seemed to matter. He was here, and she wanted him.

As if reading her mind, he slipped his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer.

Whispering his name, she closed her eyes and waited for his kiss.

She didn't have to wait long. His mouth descended on hers, as light as fairy dust, as warm as a summer day. It was a gentle kiss, long and slow, as if they had nothing else to do the rest of their lives but perfect this one sweet kiss. His tongue teased her lower lip and she opened for him willingly, her whole body tingling as his tongue dueled with hers.

He withdrew a moment, then captured her mouth with his once more. This kiss was neither slow nor gentle but quick and hot, his tongue like a streak of fire. He stretched out on the sofa, drawing her down beside him, holding her body tight against his own. The evidence of his desire pressed intimately against her belly, awakening an answering desire deep within her.

He wanted her.

She wanted him.

But, unwanted, the word vampire whispered in her mind, cooling her ardor. As much as she loved him, wanted him, she wasn't ready to become the bride of Dracula, no matter how appealing and desirable he might be.

He felt her emotional withdrawal instantly.

Wordlessly, he put her away from him and gained his feet.

Kari stared up at him, her body aching with unsatisfied need. His face was impassive as he gazed down at her. She wondered why she felt like she should apologize when she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Rourke..."

He held up his hand, staying her words. "I will bid you good night."

"But..."

He was out the front door before she could ask him to stay, to let her explain. It was just as well, she thought glumly, since she had no idea what she would have said.

Rising, she went to the window and drew back the curtains. Where was he? She told herself he had gone for a walk or to take his rest, but deep inside, she was terribly afraid that he had gone looking for a woman who would accept him for what he was.

Chapter 19

With a sigh, Ana Luisa rested her head on Ramon's shoulder. Earlier, he had ordered her a pepperoni pizza for dinner. She had liked it very much. Now, they were sitting on the sofa watching something he called football on the television. It made no sense to her, but he seemed to like it, and she was happy just to be with him. Perhaps she was being foolish, trusting her safety and her life to a vampire she hardly knew, but Ramon made her feel safe in a way that no one else ever had. Running off to find him had been the most impulsive thing she had ever done, yet nothing had ever felt so right.

She curled up against him, wondering if Jason would ever forgive her, wondering if what she had told him was true--that her father wouldn't be able to find her here. Just thinking about her father sent a cold chill down her spine. For as far back as she could remember, she had been afraid of him. She vividly remembered the looks of pity that people had turned in her direction when they learned that Vilnius was her father. The townspeople had often come to him, seeking magical cures for their aches and pains, a charm to guarantee a good crop, an incantation to ensure the health of their sheep or cattle, yet he had been feared by everyone. She had known it, and so had he.

She pressed closer to Ramon. Vilnius was a cruel man, one who enjoyed knowing that the people who came to him for help were afraid of him. He had done nothing to make them less afraid. He had, in fact, seemed to draw power from their fear. She had seen him do awful things, unspeakable things. To this day, she was certain he had killed her mother, though she had never dared voice her suspicion aloud to a living soul, or consider it in his presence.

She recalled the look on his face when he had magicked her into that painting, his black eyes blazing, his thin lips pulled back in a feral snarl as he spoke the evil incantation. He had bound her to that painting without a hint of sorrow, had left her there without a word or a thought for three hundred years.

A single tear slipped down her cheek. But for Jason, she would still be imprisoned. Jason. She had thought she loved him, had thought he loved her in return, until she saw him with another woman.

The first time she had seen the way Jason looked at Karinna, she had been tempted to turn the other woman into a hop toad, or banish her to some faraway, ice-bound realm for all eternity. She might have done it, too, if she herself hadn't been the victim of an angry witch's curse.

And now she was here, with Ramon. When she had left Karinna's house earlier that day, she'd had no idea how to find Ramon again. She tried to remember the path she had taken the night she met him, and had ended up horribly lost in a strange part of town.

She had been frightened when a tall, gray-haired man wearing an official-looking uniform approached her. She must have looked as lost as she was, because he had asked her kindly if she needed help. She had told him that she was looking for the home of Ramon Vega and that he lived on Shadow Brook Lane. The gray-haired man had smiled and told her she was a long way from Shadow Brook Lane, and then he had offered to drive her there. She had been reluctant at first, until he explained that he was a police officer. When he had asked for the house number, she had confessed she didn't know what it was, so he had driven her to the street and dropped her off when she pointed out Ramon's house. She had thanked him profusely for his kindness. He had patted her shoulder and warned her to be more careful in the future. Sitting on Ramon's doorstep, Ana had waited for the sun to go down, and then knocked on the door, realizing only then that Ramon might not be as anxious to see her as she was to see him. He had been surprised to see her. Fortunately, he had also been pleased. He had welcomed her into his home and his arms, and she never wanted to leave.