Derik and I pulled up in the parking lot of the hotel we'd gotten a room at. We'd just finished following Charlie back to his house, to make sure he got inside safely. Bart may have promised safety for our family, but Tanya's behavior made us think he might have a few problems controlling his people. So, we weren't taking chances. "Why didn't you ever tell me about the stuff with this Gunthor guy?" Derik demanded, now that we were alone. "Because all it would've done is give you more worry and stress," I answered. "There was nothing you could've done about it where you were. And *that* would've eaten on you, wondering if I was having to face stuff like that on a regular basis or not. Baby, you had enough stress in that place without adding to it."
"I still wish you would've told me, Tammy. I don't want you to keep stuff from me," he insisted. "I don't think I could survive it if something had happened to you." "I know, baby," I said as I hugged him. "I'm the same way about you, Derik. You are my life." "Remind me to thank Asher for rescuing you, even if he did it out of his own selfish reasons," Derik said then kissed me most soundly. God, it felt good to have him back!
We pulled apart, and Derik unlocked the door to our room. He went in first, as I kept a watch on the parking lot to keep any vamps from sneaking up on us. It never occurred to us that they might already be in the room. Arms like iron bands wrapped around me from behind, jerking me into the room. An ebony-colored hand clamped over my mouth before I could scream. Derik was struggling against a couple of female vampires and losing. Had to remind myself that he only had normal human strength. It was momentarily embarrassing to realize that I was physically stronger than my husband now.
He was blind with rage, so they were unable to capture him with their eyes, at least. I struggled against the vampire holding me, but he was HUGE, at least seven feet tall. As a result, my feet were dangling a good foot or more above the floor. My arms were pinned to my sides, and I had no leverage. The only result I was getting from kicking him in the legs was for him to tighten his grip on my face and around my torso. I stopped struggling. His grip threatened to crush my jaw and ribs. He relaxed the painful squeezing slightly, once I was still.
One of the women, a redhead with skin the color of cinnamon bark, kicked Derik's legs out from under him. The other vamp, an alabaster- skinned brunette, rode him to the floor, pinning him there effortlessly as he bucked under her. He couldn't throw her off; same problem as I had; no leverage. She moved as if to bite him. NO! I bit the hand over my mouth, causing the vamp holding me to yelp and pull his hand away from my mouth in surprise. Both the vamps attacking Derik turned to face me.
"Get away from him, bitch!" I yelled. I wished I was loose and scratching out the eyes of the one that had Derik pinned to the floor like a bug. As if in answer to the thought, the brunette screamed, hands flying to her face. Bloody slashes appeared on her cheeks beneath her suddenly ruptured eyeballs. I was stunned by this, and that was all the distraction the other vamp needed to shove a syringe into Derik's arm. The second she depressed the plunger, his body relaxed and his eyes fluttered closed.
"My eyes my eyes my eyes my eyes my...," the brunette kept moaning over and over again. "Shut up, Cherise," the cinnamon-coloed mulatto vampire snapped. "You'll heal. Indigo, I told you to *hold* her!" "She *bit* me," the vamp holding me said in a bass rumble. "Like it's the first time you've ever been bitten," she sneered. "Well, it *is* the first time a *human* bit me, Spice," Indigo whined. "Human?!" Spice exclaimed, striding over to us. "You saw what she did to Cherise, and you think she's *human*?" Without warning, she slugged me in the jaw, snapping my head to the side. Bright bursts of color blinded me. I felt a needle jab into my shoulder, then everything went black. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* I stood in Asher's sitting room. I was dressed in a strapless black silk gown. Detached sheer bell-sleeves were held to my upper arms by silver ribbons. And, I was barefoot. I shivered in the cool temperature of the room. Pale arms wrapped around me. Asher gently turned me to face him. The brush of the silk against my body this caused made me very aware that there was nothing but *me* under the gown. Asher was dressed only in white linen slacks. His golden hair hung loose, cascading over his shoulders. His cologne was very subtle and intoxicating. I felt my body quicken in response to his presence.
He saw it in my eyes and smiled sadly in response. Then he gathered me to him in an embrace and softly stroked my hair. I nestled my cheek against the bare scarred side of his chest, rubbing against the texture like a cat. I felt the rumble of Asher's moan vibrate through his chest. "How did I get here?" I asked. "You are dreaming, cherie." He pushed me back from him just a little and lifted my chin. He kissed me, softly at first, then more urgently, tongue probing. One hand twined in my hair at the base of my skull. The other hand played up and down my side, caressing me and twitching the silk of the gown against my skin in a very sensuous manner. I gave a growling moan low in my throat as I kissed him back, arms wrapped around his neck.
Suddenly he broke the kiss and moved a few feet away from me with vampiric speed. "As much as I would love to finish this *now*, I cannot allow it," he sighed. I took a step towards him, confused. He held up a hand to stop me. "No, ma rose d'acier," he told me. "If I touch you again tonight, I fear I won't be able to let you go in time. You need to wake up soon, if you wish to save your husband tonight."
"Derik! Shit!" Memory of the attack rushed back to me. "How could I have forgotten him so easily?" I started to cry, horrified at how callously I'd put him out of my mind. "Asher, they took him! And I don't know where or *why*!" "Tamara, you only forgot because you've been drugged," Asher soothed me. "Bartholomew's people were not the ones responsible for this attack, however. I was on the phone with him when the watcher he had assigned to you reported the attack to him. I already knew about it through our marks, but I wanted to know what his reaction would be.
He was outraged, and I could tell it was genuine. The attackers reportedly took your husband in the direction of Savannah. You will need to meet with the Master of the City there. Bartholomew knows her and is speeding the arrangements along." "Sounds like you and Bart have gotten awfully chummy all of a sudden," I observed. "He has tasted your power, cherie. Now he wishes an alliance. Very prudent, considering that you have relatives in his territory. Better to be allies than potential enemies," Asher answered smugly.
"Tasted my power? I remember him asking where I was 'hiding all that power.' I have no idea *what* he was talking about, but apparently *you* do," I said suspiciously. "Oui," Asher smiled. "You have a well of tremendous untapped power, ma rose d'acier. It is *part* of what attracted me to you." "I've been wondering about *that*," I muttered. "You have only begun to open the doors to your power, cherie. First, in learning to fly...you are the ONLY human servant to ever do *that*..., and then when you flung power at one of your attackers tonight," he sounded possessively proud.
A thought occurred to me. "Asher, Vladimir said he had business in Savannah. Could the Council be behind this?" I asked. "It is quite possible. Belle is curious about you. This could be a way to get you to reveal your abilities," he replied. "If I'm the only flying human, it's probably best that no one else knows that." "True, cherie. I fear what she would do, if Belle ever learned your true potential. What she cannot control, she tends to destroy," Asher warned.
"Asher, you *know* that I've suspected her of playing a part in what happened to you and Julianna," I said. "*Someone* had to have let those zealots know where your daytime resting place was. And it seems odd that Jean-Claude was delayed just long enough to prevent him from saving her as well as you. He *did* love her, Asher. I don't believe he would willingly have let her die like that...and *you* don't either, if you'd just admit it to yourself."
"You need to wake up now, Tamara." He wouldn't meet my eyes. Then he shattered the dream into so many glistening shards. I opened my eyes to see Bart leaning over me with a worried expression. "I was worried you wouldn't wake up in time, darlin'," he said. "We found one of the syringes. That was some pretty potent stuff they used. Almost pure laudanum." I whistled. I wasn't aware that *anyone* still used that opiate. It was most popular back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and then only in diluted form. Asher must've been using the marks to help me expunge it from my system while I was dreaming.
I felt pretty clear-headed, actually. Although, my jaw was a bit tender where Spice had punched me. I touched it tentatively. "You're healing fast, girl," Bart observed. "The bruise'll be gone by sunup at the current rate." Woo-hoo, let's hear it for vampire marks. Of course, if I didn't have the marks, I wouldn't be in this predicament to begin with. "Any idea how long I was out of it?" I asked. "A little over half an hour. I was surprised that I was able to arrange a meeting with the Master of Savannah so quickly, though. Seems she was *expecting* my call," he answered.
That didn't sound good. "You know where Bonaventure Cemetery is?" he asked me. "Out on Skidaway Island, yeah, why?" "We've got to go see Gracie." "The Master of Savannah wants to meet by the statue of the little girl sitting on her tombstone?" I asked...master vamps could be downright quirky at times. Bart laughed," No, darlin', the Master of Savannah IS Gracie...that's her grave, but she ain't in it."