Vampire - Dead By Dusk Part 29

There was something about him. She couldn't resist him... there was a raw sensuality there, sometimes, it was as if she couldn't refuse, as if he awakened something in her almost like a blood l.u.s.t. She was desperate...

She was desperate all right! Where the h.e.l.l was she?

"Don't panic!" she said aloud. Then she decided one way not to panic was to avoid talking to herself.

She would be fine, she a.s.sured herself.

All she had to do was sit and wait.

Wait...

Right.

Had Maria Britto come here? Had she been waiting for a lover when the... animals, the wild dogs, whatever... had come upon her?

"Oh, G.o.d!"

She was talking to herself aloud again.

"That's because I am going to panic!" she said.

Maria Britto... Lord! First, attacked by savage animals. Chewed, Grant had said.

And then...

Her own mother had attacked her coffin to sever her head.

"Sweet Jesu, don't think about that!" she commanded herself. If you do, in just a few minutes, you'll be tearing your hair out and jumping off a cliff like a madwoman!

Then, she saw a light. It was ahead, somewhere in the rock.

A light in the rocks?

Maybe they were there, searching for her.

Searching for her in the rocks?Why not? Trails, darkness, light, voices... all were deceptive out here! It had to be help, people coming for her, looking for her.

The thought was steadying.

And then, once again, she thought she heard her name. A whisper, a call on the wind. They would be looking for her, of course.

Maybe they had gotten ahead of her-or maybe they were behind her, she was so turned around.

Head for the light. What else was there to do?

It was the logical thing to do.

And yet...

Even as she walked, using logic, she thought it strange again. It was almost as if she was compelled to come this way.

He waited. Yes! This was it, the moment...

Stretching out, he could feel her, coming to him.

The aches, the hungers, the bitterness, the loathing, the waiting, the hatred... oh, yes, the hatred, simmering, waiting...

The time had come.

They would all be made to pay.

Even that knowledge made his sense of power increase and soar; his day had brought greater strength, but now... he felt invincible.

Immortal.

Closer...

Closer still.

She was coming.

And he would have what he wanted, the fulfillment that no other subject of hunger and l.u.s.t had provided; he would have vengeance, and the taste of it was already so sweet upon his lips.

This way...

Yes. She was coming.

Great. If it hadn't already been dark and windy, there was a fog rising. Stephanie swore again at her own stupidity.

The way the wind rose, she was certain that there wasn't going to be just fog; pretty soon, she wouldn't have to worry so much about that because it was going to rain.

She stood still. It was growing very chilly. It might be beautiful and balmy down by the beach, but here, once the wind picked up, it was more than cold. It was nippy. She felt as if little trickles of ice water were suddenly slipping down the length of her spine.

She couldn't see in front of her.

And still, ahead... seeming to come from the very rocks, was that light. They were close, she was certain.

They had to be looking for her! Surely, certainly. They would know by now that she was lost. It had been a long time, though just how long, she didn't know.

The wind blew with a mighty howl.

A bolt of lightning suddenly slashed across the sky. For a moment, she could see.

Clearly.

And she stopped dead, thinking that she had lost her mind.

Grant was ahead of her, far ahead on the trail, and it seemed that he was framed by the rock.

He was naked.

Impossibly tall, shoulders gleaming and bronzed, nuance and shadow of sleek muscle sculpture so apparent, everything about him...

Animalistic.

Raw.

Carnal...

In the dark, in the mist, he was coming toward her. His eyes smouldered with a sensuality like nothing she had ever seen before.

What they did to her... her limbs were molten, as if he had somehow transmitted that sense of heat to her.

Nothing in the world seemed so important as reaching him.

A voice warned her there was something wrong with the vision.

But there was something so powerful about it as well. Light and fire seemed to radiate from him, sweeping across the s.p.a.ce between them. Limb and muscles, flesh and bone, face and stance, were all so overwhelmingly compelling that she could do nothing but walk forward, yearning to reach him...

To touch him.

To be touched.

It was as if her very blood boiled, and the beat of his hunger pounded within her own mind.

"Yes, I'm coming!" she cried.

She wasn't crazy at all. This was what she was supposed to be doing-it was the most natural thing in the world.

And heedless of the rock, the terrain, the darkness, and the fog, she began to move forward, bidden by the light.She didn't think at all.

She was called.

And so she came.

Chapter 12.

It had gotten dark.

Doug had come in from the beach an hour earlier; it had been good, being out there with Drew and Suzette. Lena had appeared for a while as well, but she had been scratching her neck, and she hadn't seemed really comfortable.

"I am feeling better," she'd a.s.sured them. But the sun had bothered her, so she had gone in.

The sun had bothered him that day, too. But he had felt safe with the others.

Odd, he hadn't realized that he hadn't felt safe alone.

Finally, though, he'd felt that he needed a shower, so he had rinsed off a long, long time, towel-dried, and flopped down on his bed, feeling a total lack of energy.

He had appreciated the BBC, but felt then as if there was really nothing to watch on television.

The news just never seemed to get any better.

They were due to meet for dinner, but not for another hour or so. He was clean, he was presentable. He was ready.

Doug flicked the channels. There was an Italian game show on with lovely, scantily clad girls. He watched it for a few minutes, then switched the channel.

He wished that he had more energy. He just didn't. Maybe a nap wouldn't be a bad thing.

His lashes fell, then rose, then fell, then rose.

He jerked, flicked the channel changer again.

He came back to the Italian game show. Now, the girls were topless. They were playing some kind of strip poker. Men in tuxedos were egging them on.

He realized that his eyes were glued to the television.

Somebody apparently made some kind of a bet. A giant card was played, and one girl lost. She let out a little cry and everyone laughed, and so she walked out on the stage in high heels and a teeny-weeny thong. Turning her backside to the camera, she made an art form of removing the thong.

He saw that another woman was walking toward her. At first, he saw only the back of the other woman. She, too, was in heels and a thong. She walked right up against the backside of the blonde and began stroking her. The blonde turned and the two began to caress one another.

Previous Top Next"One h.e.l.l of a game show!" he muttered out loud.

Then the woman with the blonde turned, and Doug jerked up, staring at the television.

It was Gema.

And suddenly, she was talking to him from the television screen.

"Hi, Doug. Come on in... you know you like it. You know you want it."

His jaw dropped. So Gema had...

Well, achieved some kind of stardom. Even if it was on an Italian p.o.r.n game show.

Should they really be showing this stuff? Kids could be watching.