Tempted in the Night (40 page)

She took it from him and downed the entire contents in two swallows, leaving Erik somewhat surprised.

He waited for the alcohol to take effect, busying himself by getting a damp cloth and dabbing at her arm with a gentle touch until most of the dried blood was gone. She was lucky. It was a neat, clean—albeit deep—cut, but it could have been so much worse.

Shaking himself, he took out a sterilized surgical needle and threaded it. He hesitated. He’d sewn up a lot of wounds in his time—on warriors, knights, and slayers.
All men.
Despite her caustic tongue and slayer garb, the woman before him was both feminine and delicate. The last thing he wanted to do was inflict more pain on her—or worse, do a poor job of suturing and leave her with a ragged, ugly scar as a constant reminder of this evening.

“Try to keep your arm relaxed, at least as much as you can,” he advised. Taking a breath, he applied pressure to the needle and pierced the edge of the wound. Her flinch was accompanied by a quick curse, but after that she impressed the hell out of him by sitting quietly while he worked. She might not have been so trusting if she’d known the war that raged inside him.

Standing so close to her, her powdery fragrance washed over him, intoxicating his senses. Her skin felt as soft as satin and he couldn’t help but notice the way her full breasts rose and fell with each breath she took.

Erik tried to look away and when he failed, told himself that his interest was merely the result of not having been with a woman in . . . he tried to think back to the last time and realized the fact that he had to think about it meant it had been too long.

He focused on the stitching.

“All done,” he said several minutes later, after tying off the last knot.

She studied his work with a critical eye. “Nice job. Thanks.”

That surprised him. “You’re welcome.” The silence between them grew awkward, so he occupied himself with putting away the supplies. When he heard her move, he looked over to see her walking across the room, her attention on the pictures hanging on the wall. They were the pride of his collection; works by
Da
Vinci, Renoir, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt, to name a few. He’d purchased them from the artists personally and they remained undiscovered to the rest of the world.

He went to join her. “They’re fantastic, aren’t they?”

She jumped a little at his question, as if he’d caught her deep in thought. “They’re nice.”

“Nice?” He couldn’t believe he’d heard her correctly. He pointed to one
colorful
work on the wall. “That’s a Monet.”

She looked at it.
“Very nice.”

“
Kacie
, the weather is nice. A cool breeze on a hot day is nice.
These
are artistic marvels,” he exclaimed in frustration. “These have been painted by some of the most talented artists the world has ever known.”

Her scowl said that she was as exasperated with him as he was with her.
“Fine.”
She turned her attention back to the paintings, stopping in front of each one in turn to study it more closely.
“
Ooohhhh
.
Aaaahhhh
.
Stupendous,” she mocked. “I’ve never seen anything like . . .” Her words trailed off as she stopped before a landscape painting. “Is that a McLaughlin?” Her tone took on a breathless quality that immediately piqued his curiosity.

“Yes. Are you familiar with his work?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “Dad—Gerard—gave me one of his pictures years ago.
A sunset.
It was . . . really terrific. I’ve acquired several more in the last couple of years—whenever I could afford to.
Prints, of course, not originals.”

He was floored by her admission and she seemed suddenly self-conscious in the silence that fell between them. “If we’re done here, I should go.” She went back into the kitchen to retrieve her sword from the table.

He nodded and headed toward the door that led into the castle so he could unlock it. “You can go out this way,” he told her. Now that the more immediate concern of her injury had been seen to, it was as if his mind had been freed to start thinking again—and he didn’t like the direction of his thoughts. “Why didn’t you tell Gerard you were coming home?”

“Who says I didn’t?” She
asked,
her voice cool and impersonal.

“He would have told me.”

She seemed to consider that and then shrugged. “It was a last-minute decision. I’m moving to the States with Ben—my boyfriend—my fiancé. I left some things here—clothes, shoes, you know, personal things—that I wanted to take with me.”

The announcement floored him and he wasn’t sure how to respond to it. Gerard would be crushed when he learned, but it wasn’t Erik’s job or business to try to talk her out of it. Hell, he hadn’t even known she had a fiancé. “Gerard’s out of town—at an
armory
convention, showcasing his work. He’ll be upset to have missed you. He should be home next week—if you can wait.”

“I don’t know.” She looked conflicted and busied herself adjusting the drape of her jacket over her arm. As she did, a flash of silver caught his eye and he took another look. It was her belt buckle. Made of hammered silver, it was larger and more ornate than he would have expected her to wear. There was an odd shape or pattern to it across the middle. It shone with the darker, dull gray of unfinished metal and looked out of place in the larger design; almost like a piece was missing.

Erik started. His mind was putting together a picture he didn’t like. “Did you get home today?”

“No. I got in yesterday.”

The bad feeling got worse. “Did you happen to go into town last night?”

A peculiar expression came to her face. “Yes. Gerard doesn’t have any food in the house and I got hungry.”

“Did you run into any problems?”

She shrugged. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

She started to leave, but he held out his hand. “Wait here a second. I’ll be right back.” He hurried to his study and grabbed the knife from the top of his desk. When he got back to the living room, he studied the handle. It was made of the same hammered silver as her belt. With a sinking feeling, he held it out to her. “Did you lose this last night?”

She gave him a surprised look as she reached for it. “How’d you get it?”

“I found it in the street.
Next to the body of a dead vampire.”
He waited a heartbeat. “Did you kill him?”

She was too busy examining the knife to look at him. “Of course I did.”

She said it with such
nonchalance,
Erik could only stare at her as she slid the closed knife into her belt buckle, where it completed the design, perfectly camouflaged. She turned then and started to leave, but he couldn’t let her go.

Grabbing her arm, he pulled her to a stop, receiving a pained look. “What?” she demanded.

“I just want to make sure we’re clear on this. You killed a vampire last night—with that knife.”

“Of course not,” she bit out. “That would be impossible.” He felt a rush of relief—that didn’t last. “I lost the knife in the fight, so I killed him with my sword.”

She glared at him and tried to pull her arm from his grip, but he refused to let her go. All he could hear was the ringing in his ears. “You killed him.”
Sedrick
.
Erik felt sick.

“Yeah, I killed a vampire,” she bit out, raising her sword until the tip pricked his throat. “Now—let go of my arm before I have to kill another.”

Dear Night Slayer Fans,

I'd love to tell you that the Night Slayer series was a carefully planned story concept that was years in the making—but it wasn't. After working on several futuristic novels, the truth is I simply wanted to write a vampire novel. I loved reading them, so why not write one. The problem I ran into was that every story idea I came up with had already been done. I needed a new angle on an old tale.

Hours of vampire research led me to the legendary
El
Chupacabra
. I read about the "sightings" and mysterious attacks of this nocturnal creature, and where the facts ended my imagination began. The vampire hero has been done—and done well—by many authors. I wanted something new, but I didn't want to stray too far from reality, which seemed to limit my options to either a vampire or a human hero.

So I compromised, and the half-human/half-vampire changeling heroes of the Night Slayer series were born. In my version, an encounter with
El
Chupacabra
can result in the creation of either a vampire or a changeling. One is a bloodthirsty, power-seeking evil being and the other is the Night Slayer, wielding the sword of justice and judgment.

Now, the Night Slayer series continues in (on sale now). When Homicide Detective John
Boehler
is about to confront his suspect in the
Exsanguinator
cases, he comes across a raven-haired beauty with a sword clutched in her hand. His suspect disappears, John's charged with murder, the raven-haired beauty won't stop interfering with his investigation, and there's a serial killer on the loose that might just be a vampire. And, John's problems are just beginning.

I hope you enjoy the adventure.

Best,

www.robintpopp.com

Dear Reader,

A KISS IN WINTER
(on sale now) has been brewing in my mind for a good long while. It had to take a temporary backseat to the Glens Crossing series and
ON BLUE FALLS POND
and wait its turn. It was polite about it, folding its hands in its lap and crossing its ankles. Occasionally, however, it had to get up and run around the room (or my mind in this case), just to burn off excess energy. It would spin inside my head, banging against its confines, growing more mature and larger as it did (some internal bruising of the author did occur). And, as with many things that have to wait, this book changed its mind about what it wanted to be.

My springboard for this idea was my daughter's photography. I realized how personal a photograph is, how it bares the soul of the photographer much in the same way as a book exposes the innermost chambers of a writer's heart. And then, the "what if" games began.

Initially the story idea was steeped in gritty urban suspense, but that was too easy for me to construct (I've never in my life chosen the easy path). And that's not a true Susan Crandall novel: a book about people and emotions and learning to live with what life dishes out. I had to dig deeper into the hearts and souls of Mick, Caroline, Debra and Charles,
Macie
and Sam. Then I asked myself, "What would challenge each of these people and the way they view their personal worlds the most?" At that point, the book began to take its true shape.

It's really much the same with each of my novels. They always begin with a tiny seed of an idea, and as I begin to write and research, the full story emerges.

This way, I get as much pleasure discovering these characters and their stories as you, the reader, do.

I'm currently researching my next novel, and boy, am I learning! I've been interviewing law enforcement officers, picking the brains of some very talented search-and-rescue workers, and going out on training exercises with Indiana Task Force 1 K-9 Search and Rescue teams. Let me tell you, the entire process is much harder than I ever imagined. It's given me fabulous insight for this project. (Check out the photos on my Web site.)

I hope you'll join me on my next adventure, reuniting Cole and
Becca
from
MAGNOLIA SKY
as they reluctantly join forces to find a toddler gone missing from her bedroom in the middle of the night.

Until then, happy reading!