The Perfect Kiss (27 page)

You are mine, Anya. No matter what you do, you will always be mine. You’ll never be free. You know that, don’t you? You’ll never be free. But he can be saved. He can be spared…if you come to me. Come to me now, little one. Or your lover will face my wrath.

Suddenly, the balcony doors flew open. A cold blast of
wind raged through the room, chilling Anya to the very depths of her soul. There was a scent in the air. The scent of rage. The smell of decay. And then stronger than both of those came the heady, sweet aroma of blood. Zach’s blood. Gershom had tapped her memory to prove his point.

He would kill Zach. She had no doubt of that whatsoever. He would viciously kill the one person in the world who had ever loved her if she didn’t go to him now.

Anya rose and dressed. She stood at the foot of the bed for a moment, gazing down at Zach for the last time.

Her soul. Her soul for his life. It seemed a small price to pay for all he had given her. For the first time in her life, Anya knew what it was like to be loved. Her eyes stung with unshed tears as she turned and left him sleeping peacefully in her bed.

As silent as a shadow, Anya slipped out of the house. Then she was running, racing unerringly through the night to find Gershom. Out of the misty blackness, the ruins of the Allison mansion rose before her. The bleak lines beckoned to her, called to the darkness inside her. She stepped onto the porch, and heard the heavy bolt on the door being released from inside. Then the door swung inward, and for the first time in ten years, Anya stood before Gershom.

“Anya.” His voice flowed over her like a deep, icy river. “I’ve been waiting for you. Come to me, little one. Come to me now. I’m so thirsty….”

White teeth flashed in the darkness. Eyes gleamed from the shadows. Anya lifted her hand to her heart in terror as she stepped past him into the house.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

J
ust before dawn, Zach awakened with a start.

Damn, it was like a morgue inside that room, he thought, getting up to close the balcony doors. And then he realized that the room was not only cold, but empty.

“Anya?” He said her name aloud, but somehow Zach already knew she was gone. The black satin dressing gown lay on the floor where it had been discarded in their passion last night. Zach picked it up, letting the cold fabric glide against his skin. He lifted it to his face, and the unmistakable scent of Seduction, of Anya, wafted from those slick, dark folds.

Something was wrong, Zach thought. He had a bad feeling. What if she was out there somewhere? What if she was out there with a killer dog roaming the woods? With a madman stalking her every move? Someone had already been killed. Zach couldn’t bear to think about Anya out there in the darkness, alone, trapped….

He tossed down the robe and picked up his own clothes, hurriedly dressing in the frigid air. He strode out of the room, hurrying down the hallway. “Freida! Karl! Where are you!” He ran down the stairs. “Karl! Get out here!”

Karl and Freida appeared in the foyer out of nowhere. They were still dressed for bed, and their expressions were grim. Grim…and desperately worried.

“Where is she?” Zach demanded.

“What are you talking about?” Freida asked.

“Anya. She’s missing. Where would she have gone?”

“Missing?” Freida’s eyes rounded in terror. “He’s made her come to him,” she whispered, crossing herself.

“Who?” Zach asked. “Gershom?”

Stunned, they both stood staring at him. Finally, Karl gasped, “You know about him?”

“I know what he’s done to Anya,” Zach said. “You’ve got to tell me where to find her.”

“It’s too late,” Freida whispered. “My poor Anya.”

Zach grabbed the woman by her shoulders. “It’s not too late,” he stormed. “It’s never too late. I don’t know what part you two have played in all this, but, by God, if anything’s happened to her—”

“The Allison house,” Karl said quietly. “That’s where he would have her come.”

“How do you know that?” Zach demanded suspiciously. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I know him,” Karl said. “It’s the only place around here where he would know he would be safe. You’ll have to hurry.”

“That place is like a fortress,” Zach said, sweeping Freida’s frantic protests aside. “I’ll need something to knock down the boards.”

“No,” Karl said. “He would hear you coming. He’ll know anyway, but maybe there’s a way to buy some time, especially if he’s preoccupied with…something else. There’s a cave that runs from the cliffs to the cellars of the house—”

“Yes, yes, I know it.”

“Follow it. Follow it up into that house. That’s where you’ll find him. And Anya.”

There was something in Karl’s tone that sent deep chills scurrying up and down Zach’s spine, but he didn’t hesitate to analyze why. Without a question, he accepted the heavy flashlight Karl pulled from a drawer in a table by the stairwell.
Zach gripped the cool metal in his hand, testing its weight.

Then he pulled open the front door, but Freida’s hand on his sleeve stopped him. “You must have faith,” she whispered, and handed him her silver cross. “Faith in yourself.”

Zach stared at it for a moment, then said, “If I don’t have it by now, I don’t think that’ll do me much good, do you?”

Then he turned and was off, running into the night that soon would be day.

* * *

A little patch of light already shone on the horizon as Zach scrambled down the side of the cliff and found the opening to the cave. But once he stepped away from the mouth of the cavern, all light disappeared. There was nothing but darkness. The flashlight made a thin yellow beam in the black, yawning tunnel.

The farther Zach walked, the deeper his descent, and the more complete the darkness. Somewhere within the cavern, water fell with a steady drip, drip, drip, that sent shivers crawling along his skin. The air hung cold and damp and rife with decay.

The perfect lair of a vampire, he thought, and felt the first premonition of fear.

Anya. He had to find Anya. Before it was too late.

As he walked deeper into the darkness, an image of her flashed through his mind. Her glorious hair. Her silver eyes. Her cool skin.

Haven’t you ever wondered why you never see me drink, Zach? Why you never see me eat? Have you ever heard the German word, nosferatu?

It was the darkness, Zach thought. It was the darkness and the cold and his fear for Anya’s life that were making
him have these thoughts. “There’s no such thing as a vampire,” he whispered, and his voice echoed through the blackness.

There’s no such thing as a vampire. No such thing as a vampire.
A vampire, vampire, vampire.

The smell of decay grew stronger, and the path was moving upward now, ascending into a larger cavern that had, at one time, been used as a cellar. Zach stood just inside the opening, playing his light over the rough-hewn walls and the dripping ceiling. A stone stairway led up to a door, and Zach started toward it. Then, as the beam touched the farthest recesses of the cavern, he saw something else.

Something that stopped him cold.

Something that froze his blood.

Something that made him believe…

Metal flashed in the light. The oblong shape was unmistakable. He was staring at a casket.

Zach almost dropped the flashlight. His heart hit with a solid bang against his chest, then started racing.
Dear God in heaven…

Slowly, the horror building inside him, he crossed the stone floor to stand beside the coffin. What the hell was he supposed to do now? It was almost daylight. Did that mean…?

Zach tried to recall every horror movie he’d ever seen, but the images were fleeting. Besides, even if he managed to open the lid of the coffin, even if there was a body inside, that didn’t mean…it couldn’t mean…

There was only one way to find out.

Zach bent and placed the flashlight on the floor. The beam hit the ceiling and bounced off, casting a soft, shadowy light in the cavern. With both hands, he gripped the metal handles. Then he lifted.

The lid sprang up so quickly that Zach jumped back,
knocking over the flashlight. The light went out, but not before he saw that the casket was empty.

And at that exact moment, with his world thrown into complete darkness, Zach heard the vampire laugh.

It was a spine-chilling sound that echoed from a memory somewhere inside Zach. He shuddered with dread. That voice! That laugh! Somehow, he knew it.

Feeling his way in the blackness, Zach abandoned thoughts of wasting any time looking for the flashlight. He made his way across the cavern and slowly climbed the stone steps. Memories came to him of glowing red eyes, of white porcelain skin, of a cold, calculated taunt that had made Zach rage.

Do you think you are worthy of someone such as she? You who killed your own brother?

In that instant, in that flash of memory, that glimpse of a dream, Zach believed everything that Anya had told him. He’d denied it as he’d tried to deny his guilt in Matthew’s death. The truth had been too brutally painful, too overwhelming.

But as he climbed those stairs in the darkness, Zach saw it all now, saw it clearly. He
had
been guilty, guilty of being careless and thoughtless and too damned reckless. His brother had died because of him, but nothing Zach could ever do, no amount of success, no amount of acceptance he gained, would ever bring Matthew back. His brother was dead. But Zach was alive, and it was time to stop denying what he didn’t want to believe.

It was time to try and save Anya as he’d not been able to with Matthew.

At the top of the stairs he felt for the door. The knob turned in his hand, and the rusty hinges creaked as he pushed on the wood. The door opened and Zach stepped inside.

The rooms above the cellar were dim and shadowy, but not completely black. Zach took a minute to get his bearings and to let his eyes adjust to the thin light that managed to filter in through a skylight that was draped with layers of dust and cobwebs.

To his right, a sagging staircase curved upward to a landing directly overhead that lay in deeper shadows. Somewhere in those gloomy depths, something stirred. A mere hint of a sound, but Zach’s breath caught in his throat. Someone—or
something
—watched him from those shadows. Slowly, Zach’s gaze traveled down the stairs.

And then he saw her in the murky light at the bottom of the staircase. Zach’s heart dropped all the way to the cold, dusty floor.

It was Anya…and it wasn’t.

She seemed so cold and lifeless, though she was standing and her eyes were open. But there was no movement. No breath of life.

She wore a flowing dark skirt and a blouse of some shimmering, lighter material stained with dark drops of blood. She held her hand to her throat as Zach had seen her do so often, but now he understood why. He saw the blood seep through her fingers, and now he knew why. The horror sent his mind reeling.

“Oh my God,” he whispered. “Anya?”

Her eyes lifted, and for the first time she looked at him. He could feel the lure of those silvery depths, so deceptively beautiful and innocent as they drew him closer, pulled him in deeper and deeper until Zach felt his last breath being wrung from him.

Do you still want me?

“Yes. As much as ever.”

Then come to me, Zach. Come to me now, forever.

Without faltering, Zach moved toward her.

CHAPTER TWENTY

D
o you still want him?

“Yes,” Anya whispered.

Then take him. Take him and end your torment.

Anya gazed up at Zach. An aura of white light glimmered around him, drawing her to his warmth. And the sound. Oh, that lovely, tantalizing sound of his heart pumping crimson life through his veins.

Yes, yes, it was time. It was time to take from Zach what had been taken from her yet again. It was time to assuage her hunger.

She raised her bloodstained hand and touched his throat. Oh, God, the heat of his skin! The beat of his pulse! Oh, what images they stirred. What passions they aroused. The sound of his heartbeat filled her ears with a desperate rhythm. Anya’s mind spun out of control. She could close her eyes and smell the essence of his blood, could almost taste it.

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue as she gazed up at him.
Just a little closer, love. Just another step. Just one more step to everlasting love. Yes, oh, yes, come to me! Come to me now, my darling Zach.

“Anya, no,” he begged, caressing her face with his gaze. But he didn’t move away. Even when Anya saw the knowledge shining in his eyes, he didn’t move away. Even when she placed her lips against his neck, he didn’t move away. Even when she felt the first drop of his blood fall onto her tongue, he didn’t move away.

Pain ripped through Zach as he felt Anya’s teeth sink into
his skin. Grief, like nothing he’d ever known, descended over him. He was losing her. Dear God, he was losing her to the darkness. Instinctively he knew he should shove her away, but he also knew Gershom was waiting in the shadows. Waiting to take her. With Zach’s blood, Anya would be strong. She would be safe. She would still be alive.

His arms wrapped around her, holding her close. And then suddenly, the pain faded, replaced by a pleasure so intense, Zach wanted it to never end. He closed his eyes and let the darkness take him.

Zach’s submission thrilled Anya. Liquid light shot through her. The taste of his blood lifted her up, up into the sky, sent her soaring into an unknown, wondrous universe. Into a world without restrictions, without pain, without hunger. A world where anything was possible.

Drink, my little Anya. Drink and see what you can be.

Yes! This is what she wanted. This is what she needed. This is what she had craved for so very long.

But…the light! Where was the light that surrounded Zach? The light that drew her to him like a beacon in the night?

Where was the warmth? The warmth that shielded her from the cold, lonely darkness.

Anya could feel it fading beneath her lips. Suddenly, she felt sick and empty inside. Her bleak world became darker, lonelier, more barren than ever. She tore herself away from Zach and stared up at him.