I stare at him. He has to be stopped. Should I call out for the Elders? Tell them of Samual’s plan? Would they care? Judging from the cavalier way they had been willing to throw Earth to the wolves with Belinda Burke, I doubt it.
Stephen is beside me. “What should we do?”
I don’t know. If I attack Samual, what would happen? Would the Elders take that as an attack on them all? And even if I beat Samual and it went unnoticed, how would we get out of here? I can’t risk Stephen’s life.
My brain is buzzing, my palm itching again. I glance down at it. The skin is flushed. I turn to Stephen. “When you communicated with Susan, did she say anything more than I would be coming for you?”
He shakes his head. “Just to stay close to you. That you would bring me back.”
It couldn’t be that easy. Could it? “Take my hand.”
He raises his eyebrows. “You want to hold hands now?”
I grab his left hand in my right. “Don’t let go.”
At the touch of his palm, the charm embedded in my hand begins to grow hot. He feels it and his first instinct is to pull away. I don’t let him. The charm is working its way back through my flesh and materializes between our hands. “Hold on,” I whisper.
Stephen’s grip tightens. He’s beginning to understand. “Susan?”
But understanding blooms in Samual’s mind, too. “What are you doing?” He takes a lunge toward us.
The charm is hot and wet between us. Its purpose is clear now. Susan implanted a way to bring us back. Together.
There is a dizzying cyclone of air and we’re swept up. I glance down to see Samual, his hands clutching at air.
The last thing we hear is Samual’s howl of rage.
SIXTEEN
STEPHEN’S HAND GRIPS MINE LIKE A VISE. Then his free arm finds its away around my waist, pulling me closer. Wind whips at us, forcing us to keep our heads bowed, our backs bent. We’re clinging to each other with the desperation I imagine passengers on a plummeting aircraft must feel—helpless on a headlong plunge to Earth.
I only hope Susan is ready on the other end with a safety net.
It’s over in a matter of moments—moments that last an eternity. Stephen and I are tossed around but land on our feet, winded and confused.
I look around, Stephen’s hand still clutching mine.
At first I don’t recognize the barren landscape. Sand and scrub cactus. There’s a bright full moon that flings shadows like clawed hands out to touch us. We’re in the desert?
But there’s a sound in the distance—like the rumble of the ocean. I cock my head to listen—my powers are back. To the ears of the predator, the vampire, the rumble of the ocean becomes the hum of freeway traffic.
“Balboa Park,” I announce to a startled and skeptical Stephen. “We’re in the cactus garden.”
“Are you sure? I didn’t even know this existed.”
“Behind the rose garden.”
Stephen glances at his watch, which makes me glance at mine. The hands are spinning like the spokes of a wheel. When they stop, it’s 11:55 P.M. The date has not changed.
I’ve been gone less than twelve hours.
“Can you communicate with Susan now?” I ask Stephen.
“Tell her we landed.”
He nods and closes his eyes. After a moment, a slow, sweet smile touches his lips. When he opens his eyes again, the smile becomes a grin. “She’ll be waiting for us. By the fountain.”
Our fingers are still entwined. I don’t feel the charm anymore and when I start to draw my hand away to look, Stephen’s grip tightens. “Don’t,” he says.
A simple request. Why not go along with it? The cynical side of my nature knows full well I should let go. The adventure is over. We’re back on Earth, and for all I know Stephen has a wife and kids somewhere. Then there’s Samual.
“Stephen. We have to get out of here. Samual may be right behind us.”
“He’s not here now, though, is he?”
There’s something in his eyes. He startles me by bending close to brush his lips against mine. I can’t help myself. I lean into him. The feather touch becomes a kiss.
A good kiss. The kind of kiss that could lead to—
“Well, isn’t this something.”
Samual’s voice rumbles in the still night air like thunder heralding the threat of a storm.
Stephen and I jump apart. I whirl around. Samual is dressed the way he was when he first appeared—jeans and a T-shirt. Two things are different. He no longer hides his true nature. The dark anger spots his complexion, hardens the lines around his eyes and mouth. His hatred is palpable. His desire obvious.
And the second—a dagger he carries in a leather sling at his waist. He fondles it when he catches my gaze.
He’s here for revenge.
“Did you think you could get away from me so easily? Was that another parlor trick courtesy of those meddlesome witches? You can be sure I plan to pay them a visit, too. When I’m through with you.”
He’s actually rubbing his hands together. “Finding you two in an embrace was an unexpected pleasure. Obviously, in the time you spent together, a bond was forged. It will make killing you all the more delicious.” Then he peers at me. And at Stephen. “What? You think I’m working some kind of glamour on you? Stupid humans. You need no glamour to give in to lustful urges. I should have waited a moment longer. Probably could have caught you rutting like the animals you are. Killed you both in the act.”
He stops, tilts his head. I can see in his eyes what he’s considering.
“You’d better go after me first,” I say. “Because unless you kill me, you’ll never get a chance to hurt anyone else.”
I move in front of Stephen, shielding him.
Stephen nudges me out of the way, to stand beside me.
His eyes are hard. “We’re in this together. He’s threatening my sister, too.”
Nice sentiment. But when the attack comes, the vampire inside of me will do the fighting. She’ll have to. I don’t know what powers Samual has on Earth, but I know what powers she possesses. And she’s here. At the surface, raging to be set loose. I feel her spring forth.
Samual shifts, draws the dagger from its sheath. He stands feet wide apart, eyes bright as he studies me.
A glance at Stephen. “Stay behind me.”
He opens his mouth to protest, but when he looks at me, he’s not looking at Anna.
He’s looking at the vampire.
My heart turns leaden in my chest as his eyes widen. Even expecting it, the reaction hurts.
No matter. I snap my attention back to Samual. He doesn’t look startled or surprised. Why should he? He knew what I was.
The vampire springs with a snarl. Samual leaps to meet me. We fall in a tangle of teeth and fists.
Samual is strong. His instinct is that of most predators: Go for the throat. He clasps his hands around mine and squeezes.
But I have instincts, too. Samual is a man, after all. And I suspect an incubus. I bring a knee up and deliver a kick to the groin that forces Samual back with a groan and a sharp intake of air. He stumbles, howling.
Stephen rushes in before I can stop him. He pushes Samual, sending him sprawling on the ground.
But Samual is on his feet faster than Stephen’s human reflexes can register the movement.
I see the flash of the blade before Stephen. I fling him away just before the blade finds it mark. It slices into me instead. A white-hot eruption of blinding pain scorches flesh and scrapes bone just below my shoulder. I twist away as my arm goes numb, the blade still lodged deep.
The numbness lasts no more than an instant.
I shake off the pain. Flex my fingers to bring back feeling.
Samual’s eyes narrow. Does he finally realize I may not be so easy to kill?