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Rourke had no trouble finding Ana Luisa. He wasn't surprised to find her in Vega's house--he had expected that. He was surprised when she refused to heed his call.
"Ana Luisa!" he shouted, his frustration and rage evident in his tone. "Come to me."
"Go away. I do not want to go stay with a coven. I do not want to live with people I do not know, people who have no reason to care for me, or protect me. I have decided to stay here, with Ramon." Her voice softened. "He said he will look after me."
Cursing softly, Rourke studied the vampire's house. It was a single-story dwelling made of solid red brick. From where he stood, he could see that there were iron bars on all the windows. The front entrance was protected by a wrought-iron security door. Not that the barred windows and door would keep him out, but the threshold, that was another matter. He had never tried to enter the home of a vampire uninvited, had no idea if the threshold of one vampire would repel another.
Angry and curious, he gained the porch and yanked the security door from its hinges, but when he tried to open the front door, he was repelled, not only by the preternatural wards set by the other vampire, but by the sharp sting of witchcraft.
Rourke took a step backward, surprised by Ana Luisa's power. He had misjudged the girl, he mused. She was stronger than he had expected.
"I am sorry," Ana Luisa called, "but I feel safe here. With the wards around the house, my father will not be able to find me."
"I found you," Rourke reminded her. Of course, it was possible that the blood link he shared with Ana was stronger than the bond she shared with her father; then again, maybe not. Still, Vilnius might be able to track her using his magic. At the moment, it was a moot point.
There was a moment of silence, leaving Rourke to wonder if she was reconsidering.
"Thank you for helping me," Ana Luisa called. "I can never repay you for coming after me, but I am staying here."
Rourke muttered an oath. Right or wrong, he felt responsible for the girl. He had freed her and brought her to this country. It galled him to leave her in the care of another, but he couldn't force her to leave with him. She had most assuredly proved that.
"Very well," Rourke said. "Have it your own way." Raising his voice, he said, "Vega, if any harm comes to her, if you turn her against her will, I will know it, and you will answer to me."
Rourke waited a moment, and when there was no reply from the other vampire, he turned away from the red-brick house. As the saying went, Ana Luisa had made her bed; now she could lie in it.
Karinna was waiting for Rourke in the living room when he returned.
"Did you find her?" she asked. "Is she all right?"
He grunted softly. "I found her," he said, "and she is all right, though I cannot say for how long."
"What do you mean?"
"Vega has already worked the Dark Trick on three humans. Two of them are female."
"Oh. Oh! You don't think.... He won't make her a vampire, will he?"
Rourke paced the floor in front of the fireplace, his hands clenched at his sides. "He will regret it if he does so against her will."
"Well, there's nothing you can do about it now," Karinna remarked. "Come, sit here with me and relax."
Muttering an oath, he dropped down beside her, his expression bleak.
"Do you like being a vampire?" she asked. "I asked you before what it was like, and you said you couldn't explain it, but do you like it?"
He stared into the distance a moment, then nodded. "All things considered, yes, though the Dark Sleep took some getting used to."
"What's that like, or can't you explain that, either?"
"It is like dying every night."
The words conjured a morbid image that made her shudder. "I don't think I'd like that part."
He laughed softly. "One has to be careful where one takes his rest. I was traveling one night centuries ago and neglected to find a proper resting place. I stopped at a tavern and requested a room. Sometime during the day, the tavern owner's wife entered the room, perhaps to clean it, perhaps to rob a sleeping guest. She mistook me for dead."
"Oh, no! What happened?"
"They buried me."
Horrified, Kari stared at him. She couldn't envision anything worse, couldn't imagine how awful it would be to wake up and find yourself in a coffin and realize you had been buried alive. She had heard stories of such things happening in the past, had seen it dramatized in movies, but Rourke had lived it. "What did you do?"
"At first, I panicked. And then I realized there was nothing to be afraid of. I dissolved into mist and materialized above ground. I never made that mistake again."
Kari shook her head. It was unbelievable. He was unbelievable. Yet there he sat, solid and whole beside her, his muscular thigh pressed intimately against hers, his deep blue eyes watching her intently. Not for the first time, she wondered why she wasn't repulsed by him, by what he was. Vampire. Undead. Nosferatu. A creature of the night. She tried to tell herself that she was being foolish, that her life was in danger every minute she spent in his presence, and yet, looking at him now, being close to him, none of that seemed to matter. He was here, and she wanted him.
As if reading her mind, he slipped his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer.
Whispering his name, she closed her eyes and waited for his kiss.
She didn't have to wait long. His mouth descended on hers, as light as fairy dust, as warm as a summer day. It was a gentle kiss, long and slow, as if they had nothing else to do the rest of their lives but perfect this one sweet kiss. His tongue teased her lower lip and she opened for him willingly, her whole body tingling as his tongue dueled with hers.
He withdrew a moment, then captured her mouth with his once more. This kiss was neither slow nor gentle but quick and hot, his tongue like a streak of fire. He stretched out on the sofa, drawing her down beside him, holding her body tight against his own. The evidence of his desire pressed intimately against her belly, awakening an answering desire deep within her.
He wanted her.
She wanted him.
But, unwanted, the word vampire whispered in her mind, cooling her ardor. As much as she loved him, wanted him, she wasn't ready to become the bride of Dracula, no matter how appealing and desirable he might be.
He felt her emotional withdrawal instantly.
Wordlessly, he put her away from him and gained his feet.
Kari stared up at him, her body aching with unsatisfied need. His face was impassive as he gazed down at her. She wondered why she felt like she should apologize when she hadn't done anything wrong.
