Bearing Armen - Book Three Read online

  She nodded frantically. The pleasure of what he was doing overwhelmed the slight discomfort and made her throb for more.

  As if in agreement, Mack filled her in one tender slide of his hips. The rest passed in a blur of moans and whispers, kisses and the glorious feeling of his body moving over and in hers.

  He lasted only as long as she did, his heat exploding outward as she shattered, his shout mixing with hers. Then they lay entwined, stroking hands and lips reaffirming their bond.

  Mack smiled, caressing the backs of his fingers over her cheek as he slid free of her body.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  “That you really need to marry me...that I really need you to marry me.”

  Her heart stuttered at that pronouncement. “Are you asking?”

  “Yes, I guess I am. I’ve wanted this practically since the night I met you, and...”

  “And?” For his lack of inspiration at other intimate moments, he was certainly well-spoken when asking a woman to marry him.

  He chuckled. “If we keep getting so caught up that we forget contraception, your father will be leading me to the altar with a shotgun. I’d rather get there before he has a chance and avoid the rumors.”

  He didn’t question that she wanted a baby as much as he did. Gods, but they were going about this whole thing arse backwards. Until they made it to bed together, it had seemed to be a perfectly respectable dating situation, almost antiquated. Now, they were nearly planning to conceive a child out of wedlock.

  But if they were going to do this, there were things he had to know. “The shotgun is unlikely.” Since Melissa had autonomy, her father would leave this portion of her life to her to handle, even if she got pregnant and things fell apart with Mack. Unless he hurts me, but Mack would never hurt me. “And if he did make any threats, it would be with his bare hands or a sacred weapon. Most likely, it would be his bare hands.” Warriors don’t need weapons to fight humans.

  Mack’s smile disappeared; he stared at her, seemingly fishing for words again. “Sacred weapon? Your father thinks he’s...uh...a...um...”

  Melissa sighed. “If you’re serious about marrying me, you need to know this, Mack. My family doesn’t just think they’re vampire hunters...Krieger der Nacht...Night Warriors. They are.”

  He didn’t seem to know what to say to that. When he spoke, his voice cracked slightly. “A lot of money in that?”

  Though she was sure he didn’t really want an answer, Melissa resolved to answer every question, no matter how outrageous. Honesty was her only chance of salvaging a bad situation, and honesty was the only way she’d know if he could accept the truth of her life.

  “A comfortable living. Fortunes have been amassed in the last fifteen hundred years. Some saved were wealthy, and they became powerful patrons. Houses are passed down through the families, owned by the families without individuals selling them off for a spending spree. Some of the old money is carefully invested to bring in new. Many necessities, like boots and medical care, are donated to—”

  “Donated?”

  Melissa nodded.

  “Why?”

  “The boot makers have been patrons for centuries, and they make a good living adapting new Warrior designs for Goth and cyclists. Doctors are protected, so they offer service for service.”

  “Protected from...”

  “Beasts...what you would call vampires.”

  Mack took a calming breath. “You realize this sounds insane, don’t you?”

  “It sounds insane, but it isn’t. I swear to you it’s all true.” She waited for his reaction, scared to death that he’d call it off.

  He shifted his weight off of her, turning further to the side so that he was looking down on her, his head propped on one bent arm. “You actually believe this?”

  “I’m not crazy, Mack. It’s true. I’ve seen it.”

  “You... You’ve seen a vampire?”

  Melissa nodded solemnly, then shuddered at the memory. He laid beside her, wrapping his arms around her, offering comfort as if they weren’t discussing whether she was insane. For a moment, they didn’t speak.

  Mack fingered her amulet, studying it for the first time since they’d started seeing each other. “Interesting piece,” he noted cautiously. “Old?”

  “My father forged, etched, and sanctified my amulet himself when I was sixteen. It replaced the one I’d had since I was an infant.”

  “And how long ago was that?”

  The urge to cry warred with the urge to hit him. She blinked back tears. “Seven years ago. I’m not a beast, Mack. Technically speaking, I’m not even a Warrior-born daughter. My father adopted us when he married my mother.”

  “Tyler?”

  “Oh, he’s a Warrior, all right. Born, bred, raised, and trained to be a cocky, overprotective...” She paused. “Everything I’ve told you about myself is true, Mack. I’ve never lied to you.”

  He stared at the amulet. “Swear... Shwear...”

  “Schwertträger. It was the family name at the start of the second beast war. All but one of the house names have been changed over time to fit English sensibilities, but the amulets still bear the historical names, and they are used in formal ceremonies.”

  Mack didn’t answer her.

  She started to ease away from him. Obviously, this was all too much for him. “Maybe I should—”

  His hands closed on her hips, and he shook his head. “I can’t say I believe it, but I won’t discount it until I’m sure one way or the other.”

  “Sure?” What would it take for him to be sure?

  He floundered for a moment. “I do love you, Melissa. I won’t throw that away lightly.”

  * * * *

  She nodded, her expression pained.

  “Tell me about the vampire you saw,” Mack requested. He had to ask questions. So far, everything had been seamless. As long as it remained that way, he could hold onto hope that Melissa was sane and her family precisely what she claimed they were.

  Melissa paled. The terror in her expression was so elemental that he started to ask her not to tell him.

  “No,” she managed. “I’ll tell you. I was ten. My grandfather Ben had taken me for a ride on Cinnamon, a mare that belonged to my grandmother.”

  “Go on.”

  “The beast had a score to settle with my father and grandfather. It decided terrorizing the little girls of the household would bring it the Warriors it sought. Since Michelle was my father’s princess, and I was my grandfather’s baby doll, we were the obvious choices to take down the ones it wanted.”

  He nodded. It made sense in a twisted sort of way.

  “It was dark. We’d watched the sunset over the water and were headed back in. We rode double, because I wasn’t a good enough rider to ride at night, and Warriors have better eyesight.” She stopped, seemingly deciding what to say next.

  “Go on,” he urged her.

  “The beast unghosted in our path.”

  Mack wondered what ‘unghosted’ meant but decided to let her talk through and ask questions later.

  “Animals are scattered by beasts. They sense the creature as foul, dangerous, evil...worse than a predator, probably worse than a carrion eater. Unghosting meant that my grandfather knew the beast was there, but so did Cinnamon.

  “If it weren’t for me, he’d have dismounted smoothly and fought. I was his handicap. When Cinnamon reared, Grandfather wrapped me in his arms to cushion my fall.” She paused, tears misting her eyes.

  “You don’t have to,” he whispered. Whether it had been a vampire or a vagrant that night, the event had scarred her.

  “No. I want to.”

  “Only if you want to. Not for me.”

  Melissa nodded. “Warriors heal quicker than humans, but they can still be hurt. The fall broke his left shoulder. Ben... He was a leftie, like you. Any Warrior can fight with the off-hand when he needs to, but it affects his skill, much as you wouldn’t be able to write legibly wit
h your right hand.”

  “Yes. I understand that.”

  “The beast made it clear that I was its target. I think it did it to enrage my grandfather, to put him even further off his usual prowess. Part of it was to terrify me. It did the full show: glowing red eyes, fangs extended, claws at the ends of its fingers...”

  He shivered at the mental image.

  “It kept trying to talk to me, but I was crying too hard to hear what it was saying. Not that it would have mattered; beasts always lie unless the truth will cause more pain. Grandfather...kept shouting at it to stop lying to me. I’m not certain that what it was saying was a lie, but...”

  He wondered at that. What would she think the beast would want to tell her that would be painful to her?

  “Their battle didn’t last long. It couldn’t, that close to the manor. The minute a beast unghosted on the property, every Warrior within the walls and a certain distance outside them would have felt it. Half of them were coming, and the beast knew it.

  “It didn’t have a lot of time, but it had enough. When it took off, I thought we were safe.” She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, her face paling slightly.

  “You weren’t?”

  “I was. The beast had taken a death blow on Grandfather. I didn’t know it. He stood there, ordering me to stay at his back in case it was a trick, all the while bleeding out. When my father and uncles showed up, he finally gave up the pretense and collapsed. He...died later that night.”

  “I’m... I’m sorry sounds so lame.”

  She managed a weak smile. “You’re trying, and I appreciate it.”

  “Yes. I am.”

  Melissa stared at him, waiting for his acceptance...or his condemnation.

  “I’ll try. I can’t promise to believe it, but I will try.”

  * * * *

  Melissa stopped in the library doorway, staring at the file in Tyler’s hand in anger and exasperation mixed. “Well?” she challenged him.

  Tyler darkened, looking somewhat sheepish. “Good job. Well-educated. Not in trouble with the law...now or in the past. No radical entanglements. No fluctuations of his bank account indicating...bad habits.”

  “Wonderful,” she offered dryly.

  “I didn’t...um...screw this up for you, did I?”

  “It’s too early to tell.”

  He winced. “I’m—”

  “I had to tell him everything. I didn’t want to, but I had no choice, thanks to you.”

  “And?”

  “He thinks you’re insane; no change there. The jury is still out on me.”

  “What can I do, Baby Doll? I’ll do anything you ask to make this up to you.”

  “Stop calling me Baby Doll! If you want to help, take my lead for once. Stay out of my way until I ask for your help.”

  “On my honor,” he vowed.

  “When you show some, I’ll believe you.” Melissa headed for the stairs, ignoring his groan.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  March 7, 2002

  Melissa wound her fingers through Mack’s, her back pressed to his chest, his face buried in her hair. She waited for the questions to start as they usually did, whispered in the afterglow of their loving.

  She supposed she should be grateful that he was still asking questions, that he was still trying, though he’d been more attentive about birth control since she’d dropped the bomb on him. In fact, his cock, still buried inside her, was bare for the first time since then. She hoped that meant he was more at ease with the truth, more willing to tie himself to this crazy life.

  “I want to meet them,” Mack requested.

  Her heart speeded. “My family?”

  “Your father to start. But, yes. I think I should meet them all.”

  She glanced at the clock on his end table. “Okay. Get dressed, and we’ll head to the manor.”

  “Now?”

  Melissa slid off his length, smiling at his groan. She turned to him, biting back laughter. “He works nights, Mack. After dinner is the perfect time to meet him.”

  “What time does he...go to work? Shouldn’t we call first?”

  “My father made a kill last night. He’ll be riding a desk tonight.”

  “Riding a desk? Vampire hunters have desks?”

  She laughed heartily. “There’s a lot of paperwork involved in hunting beasts.”

  “I’ll take your word for it. Just...don’t tell me who they file it with. I’m not ready for that.”

  Melissa planted a kiss on his cheek, then hopped from the bed and leaned to scoop up her blouse.

  Mack hooked his hands around her hips and pulled her back into bed, rolling her beneath him. His mouth was urgent against hers, and he thrust into her again.

  She tipped her hips to his, lost in the wild need that always drew them together. “What brought this on?” she managed.

  “That pose was too tempting, Melissa. Don’t you know how much I want you?”

  Her eyes slid shut, and she held to him, giving herself fully to their loving. He wanted her. If he wanted her this badly and wanted to meet her family, maybe there was a chance for them.

  * * * *

  The man appeared out of thin air. One minute, there was open space in front of them, and the next, a six-foot man. Michelle gasped, dragging back on Mack’s hand.

  He didn’t follow. He stared at the glowing red eyes in shock.

  It’s true. My God! Everything she said is true. Without hesitation, he dragged Michelle toward his back. If he died for her as her grandfather had, so be it. The vampire wasn’t taking her.

  She stumbled a step toward him, then planted her feet, releasing his hand and launching into the claws slashing toward them.

  “No,” they screamed together.

  The vampire flew away, and Michelle hit Mack’s chest, forcing him back as if he’d been tackled by a pro football player instead of a hundred plus change woman. The hit nearly knocked him off his feet, but he managed to right them both. Mack ran his hands over her shoulder and chest from his place behind her, searching frantically for blood that didn’t seem to be there. Those claws should have skewered her, but they hadn’t.

  She turned toward him, making the same inventory for injuries on him.

  Mack glanced at the vampire rising slowly from the ground, his mouth going dry. “Are you crazy?” he grumbled. “Get behind me.”

  “Back to the wall.” She shoved at his chest, forcing him back.

  “What? He’s coming. Oh, Christ. He’s coming. We should run while we have the chance.” The wall was suddenly at his back.

  “You can’t outrun it,” she stated calmly.

  “Him,” the vampire corrected her, behind her in the blink of an eye.

  “Oh, God,” Mack breathed. How the hell could you fight something that fast?

  The vampire smiled, revealing lengthening canines.

  Michelle turned, flattening her body to Mack’s, face out toward their foe.

  “No,” Mack protested, reaching his arms around to lift her away. “You can’t do this.”

  She grasped his hands and pinned them to the wall. “Use my amulet. If you stay behind me, the worst it can do is beat us up a little.”

  The vampire sneered at that, its head bobbing back and forth like a snake’s.

  “Melissa—”

  “The amulet repels it. Please, stay at my back. Look at it this way... Without you there, I get the full force of the beast and a brick wall. This makes us even.”

  “That sucks,” Mack grumbled. He was supposed to protect her, and the best he could do was ‘even?’

  “Now, he knows the game,” the vampire taunted. “That will make it more enjoyable when I force him out.”

  Melissa nestled her head to Mack’s face, covering as much of him as she could, but he was still uncovered from just below his eyes to the top of his head.

  “Don’t listen to it,” she instructed. “Don’t leave the wall. Don’t give it your back. No matter what you do, don’t
put your body in front of mine and give it a target I can’t protect.”

  The vampire took a step toward them, leaning until he was nearly face to face with her. “Him,” it shouted.

  Mack bit back a gag; the vampire’s breath was nearly as foul as the garbage cans a few feet away.

  “In a former life,” she compromised.

  “Thus the game begins. You cannot protect him any more than your grandfather could protect you, Baby Doll.”

  “Don’t call me Baby Doll,” she warned. “Go on then. Touch me. The Warriors are already on their way from the first time you tested the amulet. You’ll only speed them up if you touch me again. And while we’re at it, name yourself.”

  For his answer, the vampire struck her across the face. Her head rocked back, crashing into Mack’s mouth hard enough to make him see stars and taste blood. His head spun. If this was the amount of force being exerted, what damage was this doing to Melissa? He calculated it out in a panic, then factored in his body acting as a buffer. She was right. As much as he loathed this arrangement, she’d be in worse shape without him.

  She shook her head, taking a deep breath as the vampire pushed to its feet again. “Come on,” Melissa whispered. “Where are you? There are always a half dozen Warriors or so in the city somewhere.”

  “Are you okay?” Mack asked, his heart pounding at the sight of the beast closing on them again.

  “Fine. Here it comes again. Be ready.”

  Mack groaned, praying her family would arrive before the vampire managed to do her more harm.

  “My name is Brandle. Release the boy to me, and you may leave without further injury,” it offered. “Fight me, and I will see you dead before I’m through. You know it’s not impossible.”

  “Never. My family will be here before you can do it, and you—”

  “Unlikely. I know where they are. I checked.”

  She gasped. “You’re lying.”

  Brandle smiled an unholy smile that made Mack’s blood run cold. “You hope I am. Release him. This isn’t your duty, Baby Doll. You aren’t a Warrior. You aren’t even trained like your twin is.”

  “And, you aren’t much of a beast. At least the last one was less talk and more action, Brandle.”