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He lifted back into the air, startled by what he felt coming from her, the strength of her realm frequency which he was pretty sure she had no idea she possessed. But more came to him, beating at his senses: her distress, her sadness, like a single candle burning in the dark.
And he knew exactly where to find her.
He flew even higher into the air to avoid street lamps and power-lines. He passed by quiet suburbs and industrial buildings, even a train track and then he could see her house, a white bungalow with a white-picket fence. Her presence grew stronger within his knowing and once more his desire for her blood returned, his body full of hunger all over again, as though he hadn’t just fed.
But he knew one thing for sure, that if he didn’t stand guard, Ry would come for her and he wouldn’t show restraint. He could feel, even now, the level of power that would come to him if he bound Samantha, which meant she’d been even more of a temptation to Ry.
He had no doubt that Ry would kidnap her and attempt to bind her without one thought for what she wanted. Most realm-bindings required an act of will to complete. Samantha would have to agree and from what he’d seen, she’d put up a fight.
But Ry was powerful and if he held her captive, he could wear her down by sheer physical torture, something he really wished he didn’t believe Ry would do, but he’d had his doubts about the vampire for a long time.
And he had no intention of letting Samantha find out personally exactly what Ry was made of.
When he arrived at her house, he dropped down to earth, landing quietly outside her front door where a porch light burned. He stepped away from the house and from a reinforced pocket of his battle leathers, he withdrew a dagger.
He walked the entire circumference of her home, setting up a cloak to keep himself quiet and invisible from her neighbors. Despite this intrinsically vampire state, that he could hide himself from humans, he was pretty sure Samantha would sense he was here.
When he reached the front door again, she stood on the threshold, just behind the screen door, her lips compressed. “What the hell are you doing here and why are you tramping around like an elephant in a field of very dry grass?”
Yep, the woman was more realm than she knew.
*** *** ***
“I’m not.”
“You’re not what?” Samantha stared at the vampire she’d truly hoped never to see again, but here he was, in all his enormous glory, a sheen of perspiration on his forehead because he’d been flying and marching around her house for who the hell knew why. The tears had finally stopped and she’d just been working up her courage to start reading the journals, when she heard him moving near her back workroom.
“I’m not ‘tramping around’ as you put it; your hearing is improving. But let me assure you that right now, none of your neighbors can see me.”
She glanced around. “Great. Then I probably look like I’m insane standing here speaking to you. But what are you doing at my house? I don’t understand because I don’t remember inviting you to come here and I must say I resent you being here.”
“I wouldn’t have come, Samantha, but you’re in danger.”
Samantha tilted her head. She knew the meaning of the words he’d just spoken, but because of all that she’d been through, the sense of what he was saying didn’t register. “What do you mean I’m in danger? From you?”
He shook his head. “No, of course not. I’d never infringe on your freedoms or anything else. But there’s one who might, who probably will.”
“And who might that be?” The words came out drawled and disbelieving, more Louisiana than nighttime national news, but she was a little bit pissed off right now.
“His name is Ry. Mastyr Ry. He was the mastyr of Bergisson Realm before me.”
She connected the dots, especially since his lips had formed a grim line. “You replaced him.”
He met her gaze dead on, but remained silent.
“Oh, I see. You supplanted him. He was the ruler, then you took over.”
He shook his head. “It’s not done that way. The Sidhe Council tests every vampire who achieves mastyr status, and the most powerful born into each realm is obligated to rule. It’s that simple.”
“I’m sure this Ry vampire sees it that way.”
“Let’s just say that your arrival in our world will be spreading around the gossip trails like a spring flood. And Ry will want you.”
Samantha took a deep breath. “And you really think I’m in danger from him?”
“Yes, because you’re a blood rose.”
She looked away from him. “I saw it in the vision. You were there. You called me a blood rose.” Looking back at him, she asked, “But why does that endanger me?
“This gift you have, it’s incredibly tempting, and Ry will want to possess your blood rose abilities more than anything else in the world.”
Samantha blinked a couple of times. “Why didn’t you tell me this back at the prave?”
“I was too caught up in your sudden arrival in my world. I didn’t think about it until I was halfway back to Bergisson.”
“And you honestly think he’ll come here?”
“I know he will, the moment he hears about you. And that won’t be long, gossip being as fruitful in my realm as it is here in yours.”
Samantha shook her head. More stuff to digest. “But, even if he does come here, he has no rights. He can’t do anything to me.”
“I wish I could say that was true, but it’s not. He’d take you illegally and only a complaint from your world could bring you back. Do you have kin who can support you? Make such a demand?”
And here was the hardest truth of all. “I have no one.”
“Shit.”
“Yes. Exactly. Oh, God, and I didn’t think this night could get worse.”
“I’m sorry, Samantha. I really am. And I’ll see what I can do to ensure that he stays away from you.”
“There’s something else, though, isn’t there?”
More grimness. “It’s not just Ry. Your blood rose gift will attract any and all mastyrs, from all the realms. Once the word gets out…” He let the words hang.
Samantha understood, she just couldn’t believe this was happening to her. “So, I’m a blood rose. What the hell is that, anyway?”
“It’s something that’s just emerged in our world. It happened to Mastyr Gerrod of Merhaine not long ago and his blood rose was a human.”
