Читать книгу Dead Perfect - Amanda Ashley - Страница 9

Shannah woke feeling better than she had in months. Flinging the covers aside, she practically flew out of bed. She didn’t feel lethargic, as she usually did upon waking. She wasn’t cold. She didn’t have a headache. She was surprised when her stomach growled. She hadn’t been truly hungry in months. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was almost six o’clock. Good grief, she had been asleep almost twenty-four hours. No wonder she was hungry!

Going to the window, she drew back the curtains and stared out at the lowering clouds. Gathering the robe she still wore closer around her, she padded barefoot down the stairs, wondering where her mysterious host was.

She found him in the den, seated in front of the computer.

He looked up at her when she crossed the threshold. “Good evening, Shannah.”

She smiled faintly, still feeling foolish for thinking he was a vampire. “Hi.”

“How are you feeling?” he asked, though there was no need. The shadows were gone from her eyes, the hollows from her cheeks. Her eyes glowed as clear and blue as a summer sky. Her skin was radiant.

Her smile widened. “I feel wonderful. I don’t understand it.”

“Perhaps you just needed a good night’s sleep,” he suggested. “Make yourself at home, won’t you? I’m not quite finished here.”

“Thank you. Is it…would it be all right if I fix something to eat?”

“Of course.”

“What would you like for dinner? I’m not a bad cook, if you don’t want anything too fancy.”

“Nothing for me, thank you. I’ve eaten.”

“Already?”

He nodded.

She gestured at the monitor on the desk. “Are you working, or playing?” she asked, and then flushed. It was none of her business what he was doing.

“Working.”

“Oh?” He heard the unspoken question in her voice.

“I’m a writer.”

“Really? What do you write?”

“Books.”

She glanced at the bookcase on the far wall. “Are any of these yours?”

“Yes, the ones written by Eva Black.” He had written the ones by Ebon and Raven, as well, but they had been published before she was born.

“Wow, I’ve never met a real writer before. Could I read one?”

“If you like.”

She moved to the bookcase, her gaze roaming over the shelves. “Why don’t you use your own name?”

“I write mostly romances,” he replied easily. “I thought they would sell better if readers thought they had been written by a woman.”

Even his editor didn’t know he was a man. With his need to sleep during the day, and the differences in time between one coast and the other, it was virtually impossible for them to communicate by phone. Ronan had informed his editor and his agent that he slept days and wrote through the night, and since writers tended to be a little eccentric, they had accepted his excuse. All their correspondence had been by letter or email.

She nodded. “How long have you been writing?”

“I’ve been writing for a number of years,” he said, “but my first book was published seven years ago.” In truth, he had been writing for more than sixty years, but he had been Eva Black for a relatively short time. He often wondered what his editor would think if she knew that her publishing house had been selling his books under various pseudonyms since 1946.

Skimming the titles, Shannah ran her fingertips over the spines of the books. Pulling one from the shelf, she read the back cover blurb.

After a century of searching, he had found the woman of his dreams. Being a vampire had brought Paul Stark nothing but misery and loneliness until he met Lily Adams. It seemed a cruel trick of fate that Lily came from a long line of vampire hunters. Their attraction was mutual and immediate. Only two things stood between them—his lust for her blood, and her determination to kill every vampire she found.

She looked at him over the top of the book. “This is about a vampire.”

“Yes.”

She stared at him speculatively, her eyes narrowed. He could see all her earlier suspicions roaring back to life.

“I write about pirates and unicorns, as well,” he said, looking amused. “And doctors, lawyers, and Indian chiefs.”

She felt a rush of heat flow into her cheeks. “I get the message,” she muttered. Just because he wrote about vampires didn’t make him one. “Could you tell me where my clothes are?”

“I sent them out to be cleaned. They’ll be ready tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” She glanced down at the robe she was still wearing. “Do you have a T-shirt or something that I could wear until then?”

“I think so.” Heat pooled in his groin at the thought of her wearing one of his T-shirts and nothing more.

With a nod, she tucked the book under her arm and left the room.

Ronan leaned back in his chair, his elbows resting on the arms, his fingers steepled. Since Eva’s last six books had made all the bestseller lists, including the prestigious New York Times list, his editor had been after him to let them put his photo in the backs of his novels. A couple of the talk shows wanted to interview him on early-morning radio and his agent had been pressuring him to do so. Thus far, he had refused for obvious reasons. But what if Shannah pretended to be Eva Black? He could send Shannah’s photo to his editor. Shannah could do the interviews at the radio stations.

It was an intriguing idea. He could please his agent and his editor and get the publisher off his back all at the same time.

He turned back to the computer screen, his senses acutely aware of the woman in the kitchen. She was making spaghetti sauce. He could smell tomatoes, basil and oregano. But mostly, he could smell the woman. The scent of her blood was tantalizing, more so now that he had tasted her.

His hands curled over the edge of the desk. Why had he let her stay here? Did he really think he could keep his hunger under control when she was so close, so available? His grip on the edge of the desk tightened. The wood creaked under the strain.

Muttering an oath, he rose and began to pace the floor. Over the centuries, he had seen death in all its forms. None of them were pretty. Only a few mortals were lucky enough to expire peacefully in their sleep. She was dying, and she was far too young, and far too fair, to succumb to such a cruel fate. So he had given her a few drops of his blood to buy her a little more time, though he didn’t know how much. A couple of days, a couple of weeks, perhaps a month or so, if she was lucky.

She didn’t want to die.

He could arrange that. He knew how, though he had never bestowed the Dark Trick on anyone before. It was tempting, so tempting, but that would defeat his purpose for letting her stay. Aside from wanting photos and pestering him to do interviews and local book signings, his editor and his agent were both pressuring him to go on tour. It would be good publicity, they said. Readers liked to meet their favorite authors. It would be beneficial to meet the managers of some of the larger romance-friendly bookstores. It would be good for sales.

He had stalled as long as he could but he was running out of valid excuses.

Hence his need for Shannah. He could give her enough of his blood to form a link between them. He would be able to read her thoughts; if he wished it, she would be able to read his. They could go on tour together, with her pretending to be him when necessary. Through the link, he would be able to give her the answers to whatever questions readers or the news media might ask about his writing, at least after sundown. And if her health started to fail again, he had only to give her a little more of his blood.

It seemed an easy solution to the problem, and the more he thought about it, the more he liked it. Now, he had only to convince her. And if she refused…He smiled. She would agree, whether she wished it or not.

Going on tour would solve another problem, as well. He grimaced, annoyed with himself for choosing to quit the field rather than to simply stay and kill the vampire hunter who had come to town. He didn’t know if the hunter was hunting him or if it was merely coincidence that the man had come to this place at this time. Ronan leaned against the edge of his desk, his fingertips drumming on the surface. He didn’t want to kill the man if he didn’t have to, but, should it become necessary, he wouldn’t hesitate to do what had to be done.

Dropping back down into his chair, Ronan picked up the magazine he had bought a few days earlier. It was a national entertainment magazine, published weekly. An article touted on the front cover had caught his eye. The story “Vampires Among Us—Truth or Legend?” had been written by a freelance reporter named Carl Overstreet.

Ronan wondered if it had been the article that had brought the hunter to town. Propping his feet on the corner of his desk, he began to read:

Vampires. The very word makes your flesh crawl…with terror or titillation, depending on your point of view.

Vampires have been a subject of fascination and horror for countless centuries. Every culture and civilization throughout the known world, both past and present, have their own myths and legends about vampires, be they skeletal creatures who feast on human blood or psychic vampires who prey on the energy of their victims, leaving them exhausted in both body and spirit.

Thanks to the creative imagination of Bram Stoker, Count Dracula is probably the most famous bloodsucker of all time. Unlike the skeletal creature depicted in the silent movie, Nosferatu, the Count has been played as being suave and sensual by Frank Langella, witty and winsome by George Hamilton, sympathetic by Gary Oldman, downright scary by Christopher Lee in a series of Hammer films, as well as for laughs in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and by Leslie Nielsen in Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

So, what do we really know about these creatures of the night? Popular fiction says they sleep by day and hunt by night. They can’t be seen in mirrors, they are repelled by crosses, holy water and garlic. Some believe they must sleep in their coffins; others believe they must rest on the earth of their homeland. Some believe vampires are capable of flight, of transforming into bats or wolves and of changing their size and dimension. It is commonly believed that they are able to control animals and the weather, and hypnotize mortals to do their will.

But did vampires ever truly exist? Do they exist now? Do vampires walk among us, unseen and unknown? Every year, hundreds of people disappear without a trace, never to be heard from or seen again. Are vampires responsible? During the next few months I’ll be traveling the country, digging deeper into the legend and mystique of vampires and other so-called creatures of the night.

Until next month, dear reader, watch your neck!

Muttering, “You’d better watch your own neck, you damn fool,” Ronan tossed the magazine into the wastebasket beside his desk.

Shannah glanced over her shoulder. She hadn’t heard him enter the room but she knew he was there, standing just inside the doorway like some huge bird of prey ready to swoop down and carry her away. She grinned inwardly. Since her illness, her imagination had gone into overdrive.

“Did you change your mind about dinner?” she asked.

“No.” His gaze focused on the pulse beating in the hollow of her throat. He could hear the blood flowing through her veins, its music like a Siren’s call to his ears. Though he had fed earlier, the hunger, ever-present, clawed at his vitals. His fangs pricked his tongue.

“Are you all right?” she asked, frowning.

Nodding, he looked away. By sheer force of will, he subdued the craving that burned through him, demanding to be satisfied.

“I’m going out for a while,” he said. “I won’t be gone long.”

“Oh, well, I should probably be going home after I eat. If I don’t see you again, I want to thank you now for your hospitality and everything…”

“I’d rather you stayed. Besides,” he said, “you can’t very well go out dressed like that.”

He was right, of course. She had forgotten that she didn’t have anything to wear, and she couldn’t very well go home wearing nothing but his robe, no matter how nice it was. Maybe, when he returned, she could borrow one of his shirts and a pair of sweatpants, though his clothes were certain to be far too large. Still, it was better than what she had on now.

“All right,” she said reluctantly. “I guess I can stay until tomorrow.”

“That’s not what I meant. I want you to stay here, with me, indefinitely.”

She didn’t like the sound of that one bit and she stared at him in sudden alarm, wondering if she had made a fatal mistake in coming here.

Sensing her inner turmoil, he said, “Shannah, I mean you no harm.”

She didn’t know why, but she believed him. Still, she couldn’t stay. “I can’t, really…”

“Of course you can.”

“No. I have to go home. My apartment…” That was hardly a convincing argument. Her whole apartment would fit inside his living room. Of course, he didn’t know that. She thought of her small place, and compared it to his house. There was nothing at home that she would miss. And whether it was the man or his mansion, she felt much better here than she had in months. That made no sense, of course, but then, these days, very little made sense. Still, she couldn’t move in with this man. This stranger. She had been raised better than that.

She shook her head. “No,” she said again, “I couldn’t, but thanks again for your hospitality.”

He smiled faintly. “When I get back, I’d like a chance to convince you to stay. I won’t be gone long.”

She watched him turn and walk away, heard the front door open and close as he left the house.

What a strange man he was. Why would he want her to stay here, with him? Perhaps because he was a strange man? The thought sent fear flooding through her. Maybe he really was some kind of homicidal maniac. Maybe the reason she suddenly felt so good was because he was a drug dealer and he had slipped her something last night. Maybe he planned to sell her on the white slave market.

Maybe she had better get the hell out of here while she still could!

She turned off the stove and ran out of the kitchen. She wasn’t going to hang around to find out what kind of man he was, or just what plans he had in store for her. She was leaving this place right now, clothes or no clothes.