Page 61 of Twilight Longings

Taking her hand in his, he pulled her to her feet. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

She followed him up a set of stairs that led to the four turret rooms. He showed her each one, saying nothing. The first two, located in the front of the house, were empty. The third room held a narrow cot and a wooden chair. A large, black, wrought-iron cross hung over the bed. It seemed an odd ornament for a vampire’s home.

The last chamber contained a bed, a chair, and a small table. A tapestry that looked quite old covered the wall opposite the door from the floor to the ceiling. The colors were faded and the edges frayed but it was still exquisite. It depicted a handsome knight in chain mail mounted on a rearing black charger. The knight wore a white surcoat emblazoned with a red cross. He held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.

Stepping closer, her head tilted to the side, Kadie stared at the knight, then turned to look at Saintcrow. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

Kadie ran her hands over the tapestry and a shiver ran down her spine, along with the certainty that she had seen it before, touched it before. There was a door behind it. A door that led to a long, dark tunnel.

She glanced over her shoulder to find Saintcrow watching her intently. Their gazes locked and myriad images suddenly flashed through her mind—crossing the bridge to Morgan Creek the first time, learning that the town was a haven for the Undead, meeting the vampires who lived here and the peoplethey had imprisoned to feed on, her fear of Saintcrow the first time they’d met. Falling in love with him.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “I remember!” she exclaimed. “Rylan, I remember everything!”

“Kadie!” Catching her in his arms, he swung her around in a circle.

“I remember!” She laughed and cried as memories unraveled in her mind.

Wriggling out of his embrace, she pressed her hand against the cross on the tapestry until it hit the wall and heard a familiar grinding sound as the door behind the tapestry swung open. Walking behind the hanging, she stared into the darkness. A spiral staircase led down to the long tunnel that led to his lair. There was no light but she knew the way. She had been there a million times.

Taking her by the hand, Saintcrow led her down the staircase, then lifted her into his arms and carried her swiftly down the length of the narrow tunnel, which ended at a large wooden door crisscrossed with thick iron straps. It had no lock and no handle. At a word from Saintcrow, it swung open. Another word lit a dozen fat candles.

He set her on her feet, letting her body slowly slide down his. “Do you remember this place, too?”

A smile and a nod confirmed it. She had redecorated the room, replacing the old four-poster bed with a king-sized one. She had replaced the blue carpet with a soft gray, but hadn’t changed the French blue paint on the walls. She hadn’t replaced the antique mahogany wardrobe, either, but had persuaded Rylan to add a walk-in closet. He’d had to wipe the memory of the place from the minds of the workers to keep his lair secure and … She froze as another memory jumped to the front of her mind.

Saintcrow muttered an oath as he read her thoughts. She had remembered something else.

“I was a vampire,” she said, her voice filled with accusation and disbelief. “You turned me into a vampire.”

“You were dying.”

Dying … Because her father had shot her. Not on purpose, of course. It was shocking to remember that her father, a respected physician, had also been a vampire hunter. He had come to Morgan Creek hunting vampires. When he took aim at Rylan, she had thrown herself between the two men she loved and taken the bullet meant for Saintcrow.

She sat on the edge of the bed as the memory of that night unfolded in her mind. She had been on the edge of death. She remembered the pleading note in Rylan’s voice, the fear …

“Kadie. What do you want me to do?”

“Do?”

“I can save you.”

“Be … like you?”

“Yes, but you need to decide right now.”

“I … don’t want … to be … vampire. Don’t … want … to leave you.”

He’d taken her hand in his. “I love you, Kadie. I should have told you that sooner, and often.”

“Love … you. Want to … stay … with you.”

“Are you sure? You know what that means?”

She hadn’t wanted to leave him and so she’d told him to turn her. It was the last thing she remembered from that night. When she woke again, her life as she had known it was over and she had been one of the Undead.

Saintcrow watched the play of emotions on her face as she recalled that fateful night, and the next. She hadn’t wanted to be a vampire, but, all things considered, she had handledthe transition pretty well once she got used to the idea. “So, darlin’, where do we go from here?”

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