Caught in Darkness (30 page)

She was overwhelmed by the
difference in sensations between this kiss and their last. She’d always thought
he was an amazing kisser, and the taste of him had haunted her since the first
kiss she’d stolen. But this was so much better. She could feel the power and
control in his body just from their few points of contact. And the taste of his
tongue as it swept over hers was downright scandalous. She had definitely been
missing out.

He pulled back then, gently
releasing her as he mumbled, “There are better ways to clear your head.”

She grinned. “I see that now.”

His hand lifted from her wrist,
skimming up the length of her arm before his knuckles brushed her jaw and the
pad of his thumb traced the line of her lower lip. “Try to get some more
sleep,” he suggested, his voice soft and tender.

She swallowed and nodded, noticing
that she did already feel a bit more tired again. “I won’t always be this
tired, will I?”

“No,” he assured her with a small,
uncharacteristic grin, “that’ll pass. Your body’s just gone through a lot in a
short while and needs time to recover. Eventually you won’t even need to sleep
every day—just a handful of hours a week.”

“That explains a few things,
actually,” Veronica teased weakly.

His hand fell away from her skin
and Seth pushed back to his feet, bending again to pick up the mug before he
said, “I’ll be down the hall if you need me.”

She watched him walk out of the
room—leaving the door open—with a small smile lifting her lips. A little more
sleep sounded good, and maybe then she’d find the strength to get up and figure
out what their next move was. She only hoped she didn’t sleep through Tobias’
capture.

**** “And when you’re done with
that,” Trista added, her voice distorted and distant on the other end of the
line, “or if you lose him again, I want you to come home immediately.” Sometimes
her unusual accent made it incredibly hard to understand what she was saying,
especially when she was on speaker phone, but this time he didn’t need to ask
her to repeat herself.

Seth managed to bite back the sigh
that wanted to slip past his lips. He’d called her like he knew he was supposed
to, to let her know that he had an identity for the vampire they’d been hunting
for nearly a century. And he was calling fresh off of the uncomfortable
conversation he’d had with Corbin, who always hated having to talk about what
had happened. But he hated having to talk directly to Trista; she was
unpredictable and demanding. Still, he knew that he was expected to respond to
her order, so he asked the obvious question. “Is something going on?”

Technically he was part of her
Family, and, therefore, technically wherever she felt like living was also his
‘hometown.’ But he traveled constantly thanks to his job and, as a result,
usually lived wherever he chose. Trista almost never ordered him to return, and
as annoyed as he might be over the timing, he couldn’t ignore the possibility
that it meant something worse was going down. Of course, given Trista’s eccentricities,
he also couldn’t ignore the possibility that she was just in a mood.

“That depends on who you ask,”
Trista allowed with a dramatic sigh, “but I say so. I’ve been smelling werewolf
in the air the last several days.”

Werewolf?
That
seemed incredibly unusual, and it certainly wasn’t what he expected to hear. “Have
you already talked to
Jasen
?”

“No,” Trista replied, “I was going
to let you do that. Tell him to stay and help you until you’re done, and then
he’s to return as well.”

“Very well,” Seth said smoothly,
managing to keep the cringe from his voice.
Jasen
was
already upset with him over letting Richards get away the previous night; he
didn’t want to have to tell him that Trista was ordering him home, too.

“Good. Keep me informed.” And then
the line went dead.

Seth released a sigh and set the
phone down on the coffee table before him. He was distracted enough from his
job just tending to Veronica—which was unavoidable, because unattended new
vamps usually turned rabid—and now he was going to have the added distraction
of knowing that he would be headed to California soon. But there was no sense
in dwelling on that just yet, either, so he did his best to push it to the back
of his mind. He was alone for the moment and this was possibly the best chance
he was going to get to give any real thought to the idea that had occurred to
him while he’d been talking to Veronica. It was an idea that had passed through
his mind before, but at the time it had been an impossibility; vampires could
only Bond with other vampires.

But Veronica was a vampire now. Now
Bonding was an option. And not only had he
come
to
understand the appeal of tying one’s soul to another’s, but he found he
actively wanted to. He could only hope that Veronica would be receptive to the
idea once he figured out how to broach the subject. Of course, that would have
to wait until she stabilized; attempting to form a Bond before she’d reached
full strength would only kill them both. But I can be patient.

Chapter Seventeen

“You’re new, aren’t you?” Tobias
asked with feigned curiosity. He’d pulled the young vamp aside specifically
because he didn’t recognize him—which meant the other man wasn’t likely to
recognize him in return.

The other vampire blinked at him
for a second before breaking into a toothy grin and replying, “Yeah, yeah. Just
Turned a couple of weeks ago, just got to town the other day. I’m Chad, by the
way.” He ended the statement by holding out his hand expectantly.

An easy, fake smile lifting his
lips Tobias reached out and grasped Chad’s hand, saying, “Greg; it’s nice to
meet you, Chad.” He paused for a beat, letting their arms fall to their sides,
and shifted his weight before carefully asking, “Hey, this might seem strange,
but…can I get you to do me a huge favor?”

Chad’s grin faltered and he blinked
at Tobias in confusion before asking, “What do you need?”

“Well, this is going to sound ridiculous,
but I’m sure you’ve heard by now that there are a few traitors who’ve only
recently been brought to the proverbial light,” Tobias replied calmly, voice
hushed ever-so-slightly. When Chad nodded he continued, “It turns out that one
of the traitors—their ringleader or something, I guess—is this guy I had a bit
of an argument with shortly before everything blew up. So he’s going around dragging
my name through the mud now, and since I can’t prove that I wasn’t involved no
one’s willing to believe my story. I can’t even go to the Head at this point;
at least, not without proof.”

“Man, that sucks,” Chad said with a
sympathetic frown. “But, uh, how can I help?”

“I’d really like to confront the
bastard,” Tobias began, false anger coloring his voice now, “but…
well,
you know that the younger vampires are significantly
stronger than the older ones. And, unfortunately, I’m nearly a hundred years older
than he is; if I confront him myself he’d probably rip my head off.” This was
the real test. If Chad fell for that lie then he was almost guaranteed to have
found his guinea pig.

Chad blinked at him, astonishment
plain as day on his face.
“Really?
I’d always heard
the exact opposite! I thought the older vamps were the stronger ones!”

Uh-huh. Tobias offered a bitter
chuckle and shook his head. “No, that’s really just a lie some of the older
ones say to keep the younger ones from getting any ideas about usurping their
authority. The truth is exactly the opposite.”

Chad whistled low and planted his
hands over his hips. “Huh. I never even considered that.” He was quiet for a
second before his gaze refocused and he asked, “Wait, are you asking me to
fight this guy for you?”

Tobias offered an exaggerated
cringe and replied, “Sort of?” He paused for a second, pretending to realize
how horrible that sounded, and quickly added, “But think of it this way: this
guy—who’s using my name, by the way—is bad news. He’s caused all sorts of
trouble for the Family; the police are even looking for him. If you stop him
then you’ll not only be clearing my name, but the Head will probably praise you
as a hero.” He dipped his hand into his back pocket as he spoke and held up a
checkbook and a pen, adding, “Plus, I intend to pay you for your help. You’re
young, I’m sure your finances could use a little bolstering.”

Chad was clearly hesitant, his dark
gaze flicking between Tobias and the checkbook, before he slowly asked, “How
much are we talking?”

Uncapping the pen, Tobias held the
items in the ready position and asked, “How’s five grand
sound
?”

The other vampire’s eyes widened
for a beat before he nodded, grinning again, and said, “Sounds like you’ve got
yourself a deal.”

Tobias smirked, scribbled the
amount on the check, signed it, and said, “Just write in your own name and
we’re good to go. Only, I’m going to post-date it for Monday. You know, to give
me a little reassurance that you’ll go through with your end; I’m sure you
understand.”

“Right, of course,” Chad assured
him as he accepted the paper. He glanced down, grin broadening, and added,
“Thanks Mr. Richards. I’ll make you proud.”

**** “What are we telling people?”
Veronica asked quietly from where she sat curled into the corner of Seth’s
couch. It was Wednesday night and
Jasen
was once
again out searching for Richards and the Wilsons. Seth had opted to stay and
keep her company, but she suspected there was more to it than that. She just
wasn’t sure she wanted to know what the ‘more’ was.

Seth handed Veronica her glass—a
regular drinking glass this time, filled nearly to the top with room
temperature blood—and sat down beside her. “You mean about you?”

She nodded as she pulled the glass
in and took a long breath. Despite having had several glasses of blood over the
past twenty-four hours the visual idea of drinking it still upset her mind. It
got easier every time, and she was forcing herself to keep her eyes open now,
but she was still struggling with it.

“We’re not telling anyone
anything,” Seth began firmly. “I’ve already leaked a story to our contact in
the police department. Since it’s obvious your house has been broken into we’re
going with ‘burglary gone wrong’.”

“What about the lack of a body?”
Veronica asked skeptically after she swallowed her first sip of the drink. As
always she was disturbed with how satisfying it was.

“Got that covered, too,” Seth
assured her. He hesitated, studying her carefully, before adding, “Your mother
should be contacted tomorrow. I’m sorry.”

Veronica was silent for a second as
an image of her mother’s face lingered in her mind. Guilt was churning in her
stomach and she lowered her glass to her lap. I’m so sorry, Mom. It was true
that she’d already decided to ask Seth to
Turn
her,
and she’d already realized that that would mean leaving her mother behind
without an explanation. But she had hoped to be able to see her—to talk to her—at
least one more time. She knew now that that wasn’t possible. And she also knew
that her mother would be forced to live the rest of her life believing that the
two people she loved most had been brutally murdered. It was a cruel thing to
have to do.

“I wish there was a way I could
talk to her,” Veronica mumbled, tears burning the backs of her eyes.

Seth’s hand landed over her nearest
one, squeezing gently, and he said, “I know. And I’m sorry, but you can’t talk
to any of them again.”

“I—wait, any?” Veronica repeated
,
her eyes widening as she lifted her gaze to him. “What
about Ali?” She had assumed she would at least be able to tell the truth to her
best friend, though she hadn’t yet figured out how she would say it.

Seth shook his head. “Do you really
want to make Allison look your mother in the eye at your funeral and tell her
she honestly believes that you’re not still walking and talking?”

Veronica stared at him. It was hard
to actually wrap her mind around her own funeral, but beyond that his words
made sense. She hadn’t thought of it that way. She had thought she could at
least bring one person peace—let one person know that she wasn’t really gone,
and that she would be happy. It hadn’t occurred to her that that one person
would then have to pretend to believe she was dead (in the traditional sense),
and thereby lie to everyone else. It’s too much to ask. “No,” she replied
aloud, her eyes falling back to her glass. “I can’t make her do that.”

He gave her hand another squeeze,
assuring her that he understood, but said nothing.

For a long minute they sat like
that, Veronica focusing on breathing and coming to terms with the fact that
she’d seen the last of her old life. It would be a long, hard adjustment in
some ways—but at least she’d already anticipated that much. Everything’s
different, starting yesterday. She took a deep breath and lifted her glass to
her lips again, letting the drink solidify her silent words.

When she’d drained the glass she
set it back in her lap and gave Seth’s hand a squeeze of her own, asking, “Do
you really have to babysit me? Am I dangerous?”

Seth turned a confused face toward
her, arching one brow silently.

Veronica managed a small, teasing
smile and said, “I know you’re supposed to be out there helping
Jasen
. You’re not just staying here because you feel
guilty.”

He released a soft sigh—one she
suspected she wouldn’t have heard at all if she’d still been human—and replied,
“Your first few days are critical. It’s important that you get good, consistent
rest, and it’s important that we have a good supply of blood on hand. I don’t
expect problems, but I also don’t want to take that risk.”