Her Secret (9 page)

God, let him not have gotten back together
with Sundown. She’d broken his heart once already. Suddenly I got
shivers: I might have this woman to thank for my life. “Wait, I
remember now. He said that night Manir attacked that he had to be
somewhere later to be. That’s why he couldn’t go with Danial and
Theo had to go instead. Was it this—?”

“I can’t answer that,” Brian said politely
yet firmly. “I’ll go get the mail. You stay here.”

I followed him upstairs grumpily.
It was
okay to discuss my love life, but not Terian’s?

Brian was back in a few moments. “I’m going
to watch from the window here,” he said, handing me the mail.

“Thanks,” I said civilly. “I’m heading to
bed.”

I braced myself for some comment about dreams
of Devlin as I walked away, but there wasn’t one.

* * * *

When I got up at six the next morning, Theo
hadn’t returned. I put on a robe, and went out to see Brian. He was
still in position near the window.

“Good morning,” he said politely.

“You can get some sleep if you want. I’m
going to stay up.”

“Thanks,” he said, rising stiffly from his
chair. “I’m exhausted.”

“I’ll let you know if anyone shows up, or if
someone calls for you.”

“No need for the latter,” he called back,
heading downstairs. “I have my cell on.”

Relieved there would be no awkward
discussions this morning, I went about my day. After taking care of
the dogs and cats, I showered and set about baking apple pies: one
for Brian to take home in thanks, and the other for Theo. I was
just removing them from the oven when Theo called.

“I got him, Sar,” he murmured, tired but
contented.

Twin waves of relief hit me that Theo was
okay, and Manir was dead. “Where are you?”

“Right outside,” he said. “I’m messy, though.
I need you to put some towels down.”

I knew what he wanted. “Okay. Bye.”

Hastening to the front door, I laid down two
layers worth of towels that were usually for wiping the dogs’ feet.
Then I opened the door. Theo stood there looking as if he had come
from a slaughterhouse. There was blood in spatters, splashes and
huge patches in his hair, on his face, and even in his
eyelashes.

I let him inside, closed the door, then held
out my hands. “Give me your clothes.”

He took them off and handed them to me,
including his sneakers. “You can try washing them, but they might
have to be thrown out. Where is Brian?”

“Downstairs sleeping. He just went down about
a half hour ago.”

He nodded once. “Good. I’m going to
shower.”

“Is your truck a mess?”

“No, I put down a plastic sheet on the seat
before I got in, and wiped my hands off with some wet naps. If the
bastard hadn’t been in an abandoned house, I’d have washed up
before leaving. I don’t like you seeing me like this.”

“This isn’t the first time,” I replied,
taking his clothes, the towels, and his sneakers into the laundry
room. I sprayed the bloodstains liberally with stain remover, then
set everything to washing.

A strange mood abruptly came over me; I
decided to join Theo in the shower. With all the blood on him, he’d
likely welcome a little help getting it off...

Quickly, I shed my clothes and then hurried
into the bathroom. “Want some company?”

“You have to ask?”

I slid back the curtain, and got in. Theo
turned to me, shampoo still in his hair, and gave me a hungry look.
Then he wrapped me in his arms, and kissed me. I ran my hands over
the wet skin of his hard shoulders and biceps, then back up his
chest, pulling some of the hair. He growled softly, moving his
kissed to my neck. I threw my head back, pulling his head down to
me tightly. Abruptly, he jerked backward. I was thrown off balance,
but steadied myself.

“Sorry, shampoo in the eyes.” He washed his
face, then got the rest of the shampoo out.

“That’s okay,” I said teasingly. “I only came
in to help you clean off.”

“Then help, wife,” he replied, smiling
enticingly.

“You help first.”

“Sure. Come here.”

As I shampooed my hair, Theo soaped up my
body, caressing me as he rubbed my skin gently. After I rinsed off,
I put conditioner on, then rubbed some into his hair, too. Theo
began to soap me up again.

“Hey, you got me clean already—” I began.

“I missed a few spots.” He gave a wide smile.
“That means I have to start all over.”

I laughed, then leaned into his hands, loving
the feel of them sliding over my body. We stood together in the
spray of the shower for some time, rinsing off and kissing.

The water changed rapidly to cool, then
cold.

“Out of time,” Theo said, pulling back the
curtain. “But that’s fine with me.” He put me over his shoulder
with a growl and carried me into the bedroom.

Kissing me hungrily, he lay me down on the
bed, then moved one of my legs up to the side. He shifted, then
penetrated me all at once. I let out a gasp. Theo covered my mouth
with his, licking me, deepening the kiss as he slipped his tongue
in to taste me.

He began to move gently. I responded eagerly.
He groaned, and begin to move faster, stroking and touching me. The
heaviness between us built up swiftly, and I let out a cry, pulling
him closer, eager for climax. He began to shake, then came roaring,
holding my body tightly against his, possessing me utterly.

Languidly he rolled over on his back, and
began to move, holding my hips. I let my head fall back, my hair
falling down my back to pool on his thighs. He shivered from the
cold sensation and I let out another cry, as he shifted his hips
under me, stroking faster. I lasted a minute, and then succumbed,
my muscles clenching and releasing as I screamed out his name:

“Theo!”

He growled contentedly, and bit me gently on
my throat. He began thrusting as hard and as fast as he could. With
a loud roar, he pushed my hips down on his, arching his back,
thrusting up into me as he came. When he stopped moving, I eased
off him, panting heavily. He hugged me gently as our breathing
slowly quieted.

“I love you, Sar,” he said contentedly.

“I love you, too,” I said, kissing him
lingeringly. “And I’m glad you’re home safe. I made you some
pie.”

“My little pie maker,” he said
affectionately. “I’m looking forward to tasting them. But just stay
here with me for a while.”

I fell asleep quickly, lulled by the heat of
his body and the easy exhaustion of great sex. A few hours later,
we awoke.

“Go let Brian know he can leave,” Theo
murmured. “Now that Al and Manir are toast, you won’t need to be
under guard all the time. But I still want you to be careful. No
taking chances, okay?”

I nodded, and pulled on a robe. “I’ll be
back.”

Brian was groggy, but glad to be on his way.
He got up immediately, and began to pack.

“Thanks for waking me,” he said as he left.
“And thanks for the pie, too. I didn’t expect you to make one for
me.”

“Don’t read more into it than politeness,” I
said edgily. “I often make them for Danial’s foxes. Now that you’re
part of his organization, I wanted to make you feel
appreciated.”

I said my words deliberately, mostly out of
annoyance over his words in our conversation the day before. But
Brian didn’t take the bait.

“Of course,” he said politely. “I’m very
happy you’re pleased with my effort. Take care and have a good
night.”

I closed the door with a smile, my annoyance
evaporating. Quickly locking it, I went back to bed.

* * * *

Theo shook me awake. “Sar, it’s after noon.
Are you okay?”

“Sure,” I yawned. “I’m just taking advantage
of you being home.”

“Kidding aside, you seem to be sleeping a
lot,” he said worriedly.

“It’s a side effect of the pills,” I said,
yawning again. “It says so on the bottle.”

“We’ll get you off them as soon as we can,”
he said, touching my face gently. “I promise.” He got up and went
into the bathroom.

I looked at the closed door oddly. Why had he
said that? Did he feel like it was his fault I had to take them?
Was I just reading more into it that he’d meant?

Theo came out. “Come on, throw a robe on. I
want to taste that pie.”

I followed him to the kitchen where he
proceeded to eat half the pie out of the plate.

“Wait to eat the rest until after dinner,” I
said sternly, taking it from him.

He made a face. “What are you making?”

“Grill us some hamburgers?”

“Sure, as soon as I run down and fill the
grill’s propane tank.”

Close to an hour later, as we were relishing
the charred meat, Theo said, “What to know how it went?”

Part of me did, and part of me didn’t. “Do
you want to tell me?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

It was either to reassure me, or because he
was proud. “Okay, but understand I don’t want an actual blow by
blow, especially sitting here eating, okay?”

“Understood.” He paused. “Manir was in hiding
east of us, near Boston. I left on a private plane. I found his
location, scoped out the defenses, and then went to work. He had
about twenty bears with him, but they were on their own, as he was
still sleeping for the day. I had on my body armor, and I mowed
them down quickly, before they could mount a real defense.”

“I found Manir in the innermost room, still
sleeping in a sparkling clean coffin. I knocked on the cover, and
he told me to lift the lid. He screamed when he saw it was me.”

Theo’s pleasure in his remembrance was
scaring me, but I didn’t speak.

“I spent the next few hours teaching him what
it means to fuck with someone I love,” Theo said harshly. “When I
was done, he was just barely alive. I took his head then, and
doused the body with gasoline. I burned it and the warehouse,
making sure to sprinkle all the dead flash with a spell of Terian’s
to make the bodies decompose as fast as possible. There’s nothing
left of Manir now except a little muck, like moist dirt, and his
severed head.”

I put my half-eaten hamburger down.
He’d
kept the head? Ew...

Theo saw my disgust. “It wasn’t a personal
trophy. Danial wanted a photo of the head, with me holding it,
bloody. I’ll burn it tomorrow, probably.”

“Why’d he want the photo?”

“For you. He’s already sent it to all of the
vampires in America, and the other vampire big shots in the rest of
the world. He needed to make an example of Manir, so no one tried
again to take you or Theoron.” Theo took my hand, and squeezed it
hard. “Reality is that if someone wants you bad enough, and has
enough men to waste getting you, they’ll get you eventually. We
needed to make them believe that the cost would be too high.”

“I’m grateful he’s dead.”
More like vastly
relieved.

“I wanted you to know that I paid him back
with interest for what he did. He can’t ever hurt you again.” Theo
paused. “What I did to him let me release some of the rage that
I’ve been carrying around inside.”

“It wasn’t your fault—”

“I know that, but I still needed to make
someone pay. Now I can let it go, you can feel safer, and we can
get on with our lives.”

If only it were that easy.
Still, my
heart was eased knowing another person who would like to hurt me
was dead. “Thank you. I feel like I can breathe again. It’ll be
nice to go for a walk outside and not be afraid.”

He kissed my forehead lightly. “I’ll always
protect you, Sar. Always.”

* * * *

The next morning, I staggered groggily out to
take care of the pets. While the Ghost and Darkness were doing
their business outside, I checked the laundry. Most of the
bloodstains had come out, but faint marks remained. I doused the
marks again with stain remover and then put them in for another
cycle. As I let the dogs in, the pile of mail from last night lying
on my day planner caught my eye.

No use putting it off. I began to go through
the stack. I recycled some junk mail and put some bills aside for
Theo, and then came across a card. There was no return address. The
postage was airmail.

I only knew one person who was living in
another country. My blood went cold. Checking quickly to make sure
I was alone, I tore open the envelope. The card inside showed a
single rose on the cover with a background of black. With shaking
hands, I opened it to reveal one cryptic sentence:

Do you remember me the way I remember
you?

There was no signature, but I didn’t need
one. This had been sent by Devlin. The rose pictured was a fire and
ice rose, both red and white on each beautiful petal. One of his
roses, the ones he’d always given me. The kind I’d looked for in
florist shops, but been unable to find. I’d learned by asking that
they had to be specially ordered. Those times he’d brought them to
me, he’d not just stopped at a drugstore or even a florist’s to get
them. He’d ordered them ahead of time, and had to go pick them up.
Desire for him hit me then like a fist to the gut.

Though I felt weak with longing, I fought off
the feeling. The pills helped, keeping me rational. Before I could
change my mind, I took the card and envelope, and threw them into
the wood stove, where they were shortly reduced to ashes. When
there was no trace of it left, I poured myself a glass of wine. I
drank about half of it fast, wishing it would hurry and take
effect. Then I downed the rest and washed out the glass. It was
barely nine, and Theo would know something had happened if he
caught me drinking this early.

* * * *

That afternoon after working on email, I
spent some time with Elle. She was adamantly trying to get me to
take her side against Danial regarding an imminent sleepover.

“Dad’s worried something will happen, but it
won’t.”