“He has big plans.” Shirl glanced around the room. “Do whatever you want with the rest of my stuff. Keep it, sell it, donate it to charity. Whatever.”
“You’re happy, then?” Megan asked. “Happy with the way things turned out? Happy being a vampire?”
“More than you can imagine.”
“And it doesn’t bother you…the blood part?”
“Not at all.” She moved toward Megan. “Come give me a hug. I’ve got to go.”
Fighting the urge to turn and run, Megan put her arms around Shirl.
“My, but you do smell good,” Shirl murmured.
Megan forced herself to stay calm. She had seen enough nature films to know that running from a predator only excited them more.
“I’d better go,” Shirl said.
“Let me help you with your suitcases.”
“Don’t be silly,” Shirl said with a laugh. “I could carry all of them, and you, down the stairs with no trouble at all.” She picked up her suitcases and a couple of hat boxes and glided toward the door.
Megan followed her to the head of the stairs, then stood watching as Shirl collected her handbag and coat and walked out of the house.
Only after the door had closed behind her former best friend did Megan run downstairs to turn the lock.
“He said he’s going to make her a queen?” Rhys shook his head. “How the hell’s he going to do that?”
Megan shrugged. “How should I know?”
Rhys had picked her up after work, and now they were sitting at the bar in his club. There were only two other people in the place—a man and a woman slow dancing in the middle of the room. She wondered if they were both vampires.
“What else did she say?”
“What? Oh, she said that I smelled good.”
“She got that right,” he said with a wry grin. “What else?”
“Something about living on a yacht and staying in California…”
“Hold on a minute. Villagrande’s planning to stay here, in LA?”
“I guess so. She said he wants a change of scene,” Megan replied, and then frowned. “That’s not good, is it?”
“No. Dammit!” He slammed his fist on the bar top hard enough to draw the attention of the other couple, who took one look at his face and quickly went back to minding their own business.
“Shirl’s changed,” Megan said. “She seems more, I don’t know, avaricious. She always liked nice things, but now…it’s different.”
“Sometimes becoming a vampire brings out the best in people, and sometimes the worst.”
“What did it do for you?” Megan asked curiously.
“It brought out the worst in me.” His knuckles glided over her cheek. “But you bring out the best.”
“Flatterer.”
“It’s true.” Leaning forward, he kissed her lightly. “Let’s go someplace where we can be alone. I want to make love to you until the sun comes up….” He went suddenly still, his body tense, his eyes narrowing.
“What is it?” Megan asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Come on.” Taking her by the hand, he pulled her to her feet. “I need to take you home.”
“Rhys, what’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”
He shook his head. “Not now. Something’s come up. I need to take care of it right away.” He hurried her out to the parking lot, then thrust his keys into her hand. “Do you mind driving yourself home?”
“No, I guess not, but—”
“Good.” He opened the door for her, then brushed a kiss across her lips. “I’ll see you later.”
“Well, that was odd,” Megan muttered as she watched him walk away, noting again that he seemed to just vanish into the darkness.
It took only moments for Rhys to reach Adrianna’s lair. The smell of death was strong, even from a distance. As he drew closer, he caught the scent of another vampire. Villagrande.
Rhys materialized inside Adrianna’s lair, a string of curses rising in his throat when he saw what was left of her. There were only a few ways to destroy a vampire—a wooden stake through the heart, prolonged exposure to sunlight, beheading. And perhaps the worst and most excruciating of all—fire. It was the latter method Villagrande had chosen.
Rhys shuddered as he stared at the ashes scattered across the gold-veined marble floor. By sunrise, they would be gone. He had never cared for Adrianna, and she had never liked him, but even if he had wanted to destroy her, he would never have done it like this. It was a cruel thing for one vampire to do to another, he thought, and then frowned. Had Villagrande destroyed Adrianna as an act of vengeance, or was it a warning?
Rhys stood in the center of the meeting room, his gaze moving slowly from the face of one Council member to the other.
Rupert cleared his throat. “So, she’s dead? You’re sure?”
Rhys nodded. “I’m sure.”
“Did you see the body?” Nicholas asked.
“What was left of it.”
Seth Adams swore under his breath. “What do we do now?”
Rhys began to pace the floor. “I wish I knew.”
Stuart Hastings glanced around the room, his expression hopeful. “Now that he’s settled his score with Adrianna, maybe he’ll go back where he belongs.”
“It’s a possibility,” Rhys said. “Or maybe it’s just the beginning.” As succinctly as possible, he relayed what Megan had told him earlier.
“If he plans to make your fledgling a queen, he must plan on becoming a king,” Julius remarked, looking pensive.
Winchester looked up from his cell phone, his brow furrowed. “King? King of what?”
Rhys came to an abrupt halt. “That’s the question, isn’t it? King of what? The city? The States? The whole damn planet!”
“He couldn’t do that, could he?” Adams asked. “I mean, he’d have to defeat every Master Vampire in the world.”
“That’s not possible, is it?” Nicholas asked. “And if he did, where would that leave the rest of us?”
“I’m not paying allegiance to any king!” Julius brought his fist down on the arm of his chair so hard that the wood cracked. “Hell,” he muttered with a rueful grin, “it’s bad enough that I have to listen to Costain.”
Nicholas laughed, then fell silent.
“I don’t have any answers,” Rhys said. “I called you here tonight to let you know what was going on and to warn you to be careful.”
“How are we supposed to protect ourselves?” Winchester asked. “None of us are strong enough to defeat him.”
Rhys shook his head. As long as humans didn’t invite the Undead into their homes, they were safe behind their thresholds. Rhys didn’t really understand why thresholds repelled vampires; he only knew that it worked. In a world of supernatural power, thresholds possessed a strength all their own created by the owner’s sense of belonging, of love and family and shared experiences. Unfortunately, vampire thresholds had no such power. If Villagrande came calling, there was no way to keep him out.
“Safety in numbers, maybe,” Adams suggested. “It worked during the war.”
“It might be worth a try,” Rhys said, though he didn’t think the Council would go for it. Vampires were notoriously distrustful of their own kind, jealous of their hunting grounds. “You can all stay here if it’ll make you feel better.”
“What about you?” Winchester asked. “Are you gonna stay here with us?”
“No. If Villagrande’s out to take over my territory, you guys should probably stay as far away from me as you can. Maybe you should all take a vacation to the East Coast for as long as he’s here.”
“You want us to leave you here alone?” Rupert asked.
Adams frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“He needs to stay here,” Julius said. “He’s the only one who has a chance against Villagrande.”
“Let’s hope.” Rhys slapped his hands against his thighs. “Unless anyone has anything else to say, this meeting is over.”
Rhys didn’t hang around to see what the members of the Council decided. He had a sudden need to see Megan, to hold her close while he still could because, unless he was badly mistaken, the preternatural crap was about to hit the fan.
Megan woke to someone quietly calling her name. She smiled as she recognized the soft, seductive voice.
“Rhys.” She murmured his name as she sat up and turned on the light. “What are you doing here at this time of the morning?” she asked, glancing at the clock on the nightstand. “It’ll be dawn soon.”
He sat on the edge of the bed and slipped his arm around her waist. “I needed to see you.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Yeah.”
She smothered a yawn behind her hand. “Is there anything I can do?”
“No.”
“Is this about Shirl?”
“In a way.” Leaning forward, he inhaled her scent, then kissed her cheek.
“Rhys, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
“That vampire your friend is tangled up with—Tomás? I think he’s after my territory.”
“You’re not going to fight him for it, are you? I mean…are you?”
“I sure as hell hope not.”
She looked up at him, her gaze searching his. “You can beat him, can’t you?”
“I don’t know.”
“But…don’t you have the same powers he does? I mean, aren’t all vampires created equal?”
“No. There are a number of variables involved in becoming a vampire. The most important thing is who sired you. If you’re made by one of the old ones, you automatically inherit some of his power. The longer you exist, the stronger you get, mentally and physically.”
