The Vampire’s Mail Order Bride (14 page)

“Yes. But I haven’t responded to any of the texts.”

“Good,” Sheriff Merrow said. “I’d like the contact information and full names for those people as well. I’ll need a copy of the video, too. Wouldn’t mind looking at the texts, either. If this Rastinelli is involved in some kind of crime syndicate, you have no idea who’s on his payroll.”

The idea sent a new shockwave of fear through Delaney. “Wow. I never even thought about that.” She stood. “I’ll run upstairs and get my phone, then I can give you all that info.”

Hugh and Sheriff Merrow both got to their feet as she left. She flew up the stairs and grabbed her phone, then hustled back down. It was nice to have powerful men like Hugh and the sheriff get all proactive about helping her out. It was a new feeling, and one she liked very much.

As she rejoined them in the library, another voice sounded from the front of the house. “What’s going on? Why is the sheriff’s car out front?”

Stanhill came in with Elenora in tow, his face a mask of consternation. “Your grandmother is here. In case you hadn’t heard.”

Sheriff Merrow stood.

Hugh got to his feet as well, sighing softly. “Good evening, Grandmamma. What brings you by?”

Without Hugh’s asking, Stanhill slipped a tumbler of amber liquid into his hand. Whiskey of some kind.

Elenora lifted her chin in a very grandmother-knows-best sort of way. “I saw the patrol car. I was concerned.”

Hugh’s eyes narrowed. “How did you see the patrol car? You live miles away from here.”

She pursed her lips in frustration. “Alice has a police scanner.”

Sheriff Merrow rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Civilians.”

Elenora put her hands on her hips. “She’s the head of the coven. She needs to keep abreast of what’s happening in the community.”

The coven? As in witches? Did no one else think that was odd? Delaney glanced around. Nope.

Sheriff Merrow snorted. “You mean
you
need to keep abreast of what’s happening in the community.”

“Sheriff.” Elenora’s smile belied the warning in her voice. “Let’s not start the second vampire—”

“Grandmother,” Hugh barked. “Enough.”

“—werewolf war right here in my grandson’s home.” She frowned at Hugh. “What is the matter with you? Yelling at your grandmother that way. You’re going to make Annabelle think horrible things about you.” She returned her attention to Sheriff Merrow. “Now why are you here again?”

Delaney only vaguely heard what was being said as ice sluiced down her spine. Vampire-werewolf war…what? “Repeat what you just said.”

“Which part, dear?” Elenora’s smile once again brightened her face.

Delaney stood. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. “Vampire-werewolf war?”

“It’s nothing,” Hugh said. His eyes were wide with apprehension. “Old inside family joke.”

“Absolutely.” Elenora waved a hand through the air. “I was just teasing.”

Delaney didn’t get the joke.

Stanhill tried to offer Elenora a drink, but she ignored him, oblivious to Delaney’s rising panic. “The vampires and the werefolk put away their differences years ago.”

“Didi.” Hugh glared at her. “Enough.”

Delaney stared at Hugh. “What the
hell
is she talking about?”

He started to speak, but Elenora cut him off. “I realize you’re not actually a vampire yet, but when that day comes”—she smiled conspiratorially—“you’ll have to learn our history. Of course, it’ll be your history then too.”

Hugh put his hand on Delaney’s arm. “Delaney, listen to me.”

She backed out of his grasp. “You have five seconds to explain.”

Sheriff Merrow furrowed his brow. “I take it you don’t know about Nocturne Falls.”

She looked at him. “Know what?”

He went silent, his gaze shifting to Hugh.

Elenora clucked her tongue. “What’s the meaning of all this? I was told the agency had informed you of exactly who we were.”

On the verge of a very serious meltdown, Delaney looked at the older woman. “I’m not from the agency.”

Hugh took her hand and whispered, “I can explain everything.”

The plaintive note in his voice kept Delaney from bolting. She owed him at least a few minutes to make this madness right. Or to convince her she was dreaming. That’s all this was. A weird, weird dream.

Elenora stopped smiling. “What?”

Hugh pointed at Stanhill. “Explain to her what’s going on, please. As you escort her to her car.”

Stanhill nodded and began herding Elenora out of the library. She went, protesting all the way.

Hugh turned to the sheriff. “Is there anything else you need from us?”

Us
. The pronoun gave Delaney pause. Were they an
us
? It sure didn’t feel that way.

“No. I’ll contact you when I know more. I’ll see myself out.” The sheriff left, and she was alone with Hugh.

She pulled her hand out of his, and an involuntary shiver ran through her body. “This is just a thing you do, right? You and your family pretend to be vampires. Like Julian was the night we saw him in town? Tell me that’s what it is. Because nothing else makes sense.”

He took a breath. “It’s not a ruse. What my grandmother said is true. I am, that is,
we
are vampires.”

The room tilted slightly, and her ears rang with a tinny sound. She was on the verge of passing out. Or something. This was all really, really weird.

“I gotta go,” she managed, and then she bolted for her room.

“Delaney!”

She ignored him, got inside then shut the door and locked it. Vampires. She didn’t actually believe that, but then she didn’t exactly not believe it. Hell, she didn’t know what she thought except that Hugh and his grandmother were certifiable, and if she stayed here, bad things were going to happen.

No wonder Hugh needed a matchmaking service.

This had to be a joke, right? They’d started this town and then drunk too much of their own crazy kool-aid. That’s all it was. Hugh and his family were mildly insane. That didn’t explain the very real-looking fangs and strange silver glint Julian had sported.

A soft knock broke through her thoughts. “Delaney, we need to talk about this.”

“I’m good, thanks.” She had to get out of here. She opened a window and peered out. It was only a single-story drop, but what was she going to do with Captain? She couldn’t exactly throw him out the window. Maybe if she shimmied over to the ledge, she could climb down the gutter—

“Delaney, please. I know how…surreal this must seem.”

“Not surreal so much as crazy,” she muttered to herself.

“I’m not crazy.”

She froze. How had he heard that? Being crazy didn’t give you superhuman hearing.

“You’re also not in any danger. I swear to you.”

“Okay, good to know.” If he thought swearing to a thing like that was going to solve everything, he really was nuts. She grabbed Cappy’s carrier bag and shoved him into it, which was like stuffing twenty-seven pounds of furry sausage into a two-pound casing, but so be it.

“Please open the door so we can talk.”

“Let’s talk in the morning. I need to sleep on this.” She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder, then hefted the strap of the carrier over her head and one arm and settled it cross-body style against her back. “Oof, Cappy, you’re a beast.”

Carefully, she climbed out the window and onto the ledge. Hugh had stopped trying to talk to her through the door. She took that as a good sign. Slowly, she inched her way along the ledge until she came to the gutter. It wasn’t one of those flimsy metal types, but a sturdy column of concrete or stone or whatever it was that wealthy people used to get the rain off their house.

She latched on to the brackets with her fingers, then wiggled the toes of one foot into the set of brackets below those. Captain shifted, almost unbalancing her.

“Settle,” she hissed. “This isn’t fun for either one of us.”

She got her other foot off the ledge and onto the downspout bracket. This was easily the most ridiculous thing she’d ever done. She was kind of out of choices, though. She could either do this and risk the chance that she’d fall and break her neck or she could go back inside and possibly be bitten to death by the very handsome lunatic who owned this house.

The calories in a single chocolate chip produce enough energy to walk one hundred and fifty feet.

If only her brain could come up with something more useful, like how to get out of here without dying. Teeth clenched, she shimmied her way down the gutter, losing her grip about halfway down.

She twisted to protect Cappy and landed in the grass without making too much noise, although he still let out a little yowl. “Hush.”

She tiptoed to the front of the house. Sheriff Merrow’s patrol car was gone. No chance she could sneak off with him. Although, if he actually was a werewolf, that wasn’t exactly a superior option.

She pulled the cat carrier around so the bag was in front and more horizontal than vertical. Then she took off into the woods, hoping she’d hit a highway before anything else bad happened.

Hugh stayed in the shadows as he followed her, a little heartbroken that she was so afraid of him she’d choose to run as opposed to talk to him. He got it, though. Humans were programmed to be afraid of what they didn’t understand.

A vampire in a romance novel was something very different than one standing in front of you.

They traipsed through the woods, her crunching through the underbrush, him following soundless as a breath. She’d be angry if she knew he was there, but he wasn’t going to let her come to harm because of what had happened.

She had enough to deal with already, what with seeing that man shot.

After about half an hour, she came to a stream. It was an off shoot of Wolf Creek, which was one of the main waterways that fed the falls. She sat beside the stream, took the cat carrier off and set it beside her, then put her head onto her knees.

He thought she was going to cry.

She didn’t, proving once again how very different she was from the women he was used to. Instead, she talked to her cat.

“We’re kinda hosed, Cap.” She tipped her head back and sighed. “It’s totally my fault.” She was silent for a moment. “I screwed up our karma by stealing that woman’s file and pretending to be her. I shouldn’t have done that.”

She unzipped the top flap enough to stick her hand in and scratch him. “I’m really sorry.” Captain purred softly. That seemed to make her feel worse. She sniffed.

Maybe she was going to cry after all.

Then she took a deep inhale, blew it out and stared at the water. The moon bathed everything in a silvery light, but he doubted it was enough for her to see him if she turned around.

He crept closer, wishing he could comfort her in some way. Tell her it was going to be okay.

She petted Captain some more. “I’m not sorry I met Hugh. Or at least, I wasn’t until he let his freak flag fly. A vampire. Can you believe that? And the grandmother thinks she’s one too. And the sheriff is a werewolf. Add that Alice woman being a witch, and they make this town seem like a cover story for a whole lot of genuine weirdness.”

He couldn’t stand it anymore. He walked forward, crunching leaves underfoot to give her some warning. “That’s because it is.”

She grabbed the strap of the carrier like she was about to run again, her pulse ratcheting back up. “Don’t come any closer.”

“I’m not going to hurt you, Delaney. I have no desire to do that. All I want to do is help you understand.” And keep her safe. And kiss her some more.

She stared at him. Her pulse evened out a little. “Why does your grandmother think you two are vampires?”

“Because we are.” He pointed to the ground. “You mind if I sit?”

“It’s a free forest.”

Actually, it was Ellingham land, but telling her that wasn’t going to buy him any consideration. He sat and crossed his legs. “We’ve been vampires since 1665.”

Her lids lowered in that way a person’s did when they thought they were dealing with an obvious lie. “So you’re…” He could see her adding sums in her head. “You’re three hundred and fifty years old?”