Chapter Ten #2
“Have I told you lately how much I love you,” he asked, taking her hand in his.
“Probably. But I never tire of hearing it.”
“I love you, Kadie Saintcrow,” he said, licking her palm. “More than you’ll ever know.”
She shivered at the touch of his tongue, warm and slick, against her skin. And just like that, she wanted him.
Saintcrow smiled a knowing smile as the scent of her desire filled the air. Rising, he dropped a few bills on the table top, drew Kadie into his arms, and transported them to a hotel that had once been a castle where he paid for the finest room they had available.
A moment later, she was writhing beneath him, reaching for that one moment when their thoughts and minds converged, two becoming one, so that each knew what the other was thinking, feeling.
It was the most amazing sensation, sensual beyond explanation, sometimes warm and tender, sometimes rough, but always wonderful.
She clutched his shoulders as she reached for the stars, let out a cry of exultation as, with one last thrust, he carried her to paradise.
Drifting slowly back to earth, she fell asleep in his arms.
Saintcrow lay there beside her for a long time, content to hold her close, to inhale the fragrance of her hair and skin, to lightly stroke her cheek. The musky scent of their love-making lingered in the air.
The nightmares began as soon as he succumbed to the dark sleep.
Vivid, full-color scenes from out of his past. He smelled the blood, the stink of death that permeated the battlefield, heard the screams of the wounded, the tortured gasps of the dying.
He felt the weight of his armor, the thrust of his lance into flesh.
Knew again the pain and the fear of dying alone in the dark on the battlefield, relived the hope and the fear he’d experienced when Eleni knelt beside him and stole his life.
He relived the days after being turned. The confusion, the fear, the never-ending craving for blood.
He had hunted humanity the way a wolf hunted sheep, reveling in their fear, gorging himself on their blood.
So much blood. So much death. He knew what he did was wrong, knew a vengeful God would hold him accountable for every life he’d stolen and yet he couldn’t stop. Didn’t want to stop.
He cried out in his sleep. It had taken time but he had learned to control his hunger, to take only what he needed, to leave his prey alive even though every instinct told him to take it all.
And then Kadie had crossed the Morgan Creek bridge and forever changed his life.
She had filled his empty days with love and laughter.
Kadie, Kadie. Even lost in his hellish nightmares, he could sense her worry.
She had been a vampire for a long time now, but she had never lost her humanity or her compassion.
Kadie....
“Rylan! Rylan, wake up!”
Her voice, filled with love and concern, dragged him out of the dark abyss. He reached for her and she was there, her arms folding around him, her voice whispering that she loved him, that everything would be all right.
Wrapped in her love, he surrendered to the darkness again. But while she held him, there were no more bad dreams.
~ * ~
When he woke late the next day, still in her arms, he was embarrassed to face her.
Kadie stroked the hair from his brow. “That must have been some nightmare.”
Refusing to look at her, he grunted softly.
“From the things you said in your sleep, I guessed you were dreaming about the past.”
“My days as a knight,” he said, still not looking at her. “The years after I was first turned.”
She nodded. During their life together, he had told her bits and pieces of his past. She knew there were dark times when he was ridden with guilt for the lives he had thoughtlessly taken.
His gaze searched hers. “Knowing what I’m capable of, why do you stay with me?”
“Because I love you more than anything else in all the world. And because you need me.”
He grunted softly, but didn’t reply.
In her mind’s eye, she saw the beautiful tapestry that hung in one of the turret rooms back home.
It depicted Rylan as a knight clad in chain mail mounted on a rearing black charger.
Over the chain mail, he wore a white surcoat emblazoned with a red cross.
He held a wicked-looking sword in one hand and a shield in the other.
Hard to believe he had lived so long ago.
Or that she loved him so desperately. He was so handsome and strong, so blatantly male that everything female within her responded to his scent, his touch, the seductive sound of his voice.
She had fought him in the beginning, perhaps knowing deep inside that once she surrendered, she would be lost forever.
She wished suddenly that she had known him back when he was a knight. Had he participated in the jousts? Had beautiful woman given him their tokens to carry? She was certain he had been gorgeous and sexy as a human male, though perhaps not quite as irresistible as he was now.
Vampires had an innate allure that drew humans, making it easier to attract their prey.
She sighed as she imagined him carrying her off to his castle.
And then she frowned. Was it possible the curse or whatever was tormenting him had been spawned in the distant past?
She gave her mind a mental shake, thinking it was a ridiculous notion.
Plague or curse, it didn’t matter. For better or worse, she had tied her life to his.
Whatever the future held, she would have no regrets.