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“No. There must be a way to save you. I refuse to believe otherwise!”
“Listen, please calm yourself. Powerful emotions in me arouse the monster I carry and weaken my control. Should it break, the creature will take me over and do everything possible to drink blood and seal my fate. That’s why I can’t have you around. You’ve come close to breaking my control over Vemis twice now.”
“Oh no. Everything I did, your eyes turning red. I nearly ruined everything!” Mariah cried, her hand flying to her mouth.
“Mariah, I can not afford to lose control of my emotions. It doesn’t have to be negative ones, either. Strong bouts of happiness or laughter could bring my creature to the fore. Around you, all I seem to do is feel. If not for the Black Cat, Vemis would have got free days ago,” Benedict explained. He felt guilty telling her this, but Mariah had to understand the danger she was in and the risk she presented.
“The Black Cat?” Mariah asked.
“It’s more than an inn. One of my distant ancestors built this and called it home. At first, it was a paranormal inn, and she used it for hunting evil down. Over time, the reputation exploded, and evil paranormals knew to avoid it. Her name was Catherine, and she had black hair as dark as a raven. So, the inn was named the Black Cat after her. She died as an old lady but returned as a young ghost. Catherine’s mournful cry was what you heard earlier. She was able to drag me back.”
“So, two ghosts and a vampire? No. One ghost, Catherine, a Master Vampire, Vemis, and then you, who is in between the change?” Mariah asked, sorting it through in her head.
Benedict nodded, and watched her emotions flit across her face as she came to terms with what he was saying.
“Yes.”
“Well, I promise not to arouse any more emotions in you. But we’ll beat this and give back what was stolen from you!” Mariah said determinedly and rose to her feet.
“Mariah!” Benedict exclaimed.
“You hang in there. I have friends. We’ll figure this out!” Mariah promised and swept from his room.
Benedict stared after her.
After all that information, she wasn’t leaving? What on earth would it take to force Mariah’s compliance?
Deep down, a brief glow hit him. Mariah believed there was a way to save him. But Benedict had all the knowledge of his ancestors and knew nobody had survived the twelve hours. Not without choosing.
Mariah’s belief gave him hope he thought was long gone!
Chapter Seven.
Mariah
Mariah sat in her bedroom, stunned. Her mind sorted slowly through Benedict’s story. As fantastic as it seemed, she did believe it. There’d been too much detail for his tale to be anything but the truth. Somehow, Mariah knew she was meant to help Benedict despite his denials. She first needed to figure out whether any of Benedict’s siblings had survived.
She’d left Benedict in his room as they agreed to talk in the morning, as he thought he’d overloaded her and didn’t want her becoming hysterical. Mariah felt like they’d called a truce. Well, she hoped they had. There was a very evil creature asleep somewhere in the inn. Mariah suddenly realised that she had no idea where Benedict was keeping Vemis prisoner, and her skin tingled at the back of her neck.
With wide eyes, Mariah swept her bedroom, looking for any signs of disturbance. Where was the damn vampire buried? Hopefully, not in the four walls of her inn. Knowing she would be unable to sleep, Mariah drew on her robe and walked to Benedict’s door and knocked.
He opened it and looked puzzled.
“Mariah?” he asked, searching around for danger.
“Please tell me Vemis is not in the inn,” Mariah begged.
Benedict cracked a slight smile.
“No, he is not!”
“But where is he? You said he never left the Black Cat,” Mariah pressed.
“He is nearby and locked securely away. You’re safe from him, even should a single hair stir, Black Cat and I would notice,” Benedict replied.
Mariah searched his expression before nodding.
“Okay, goodnight!” she responded and walked off.
