As Twilight Falls(14)
Author: Amanda Ashley

Startled, Kadie whirled around. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t you know?”

Grimacing, she put away the last of her groceries. She would have no secrets from him, she thought irritably. No privacy at all.

Sweeping past Saintcrow, she ran up the stairs, entered the first bedroom at the top of the landing, and slammed the door.

The sound of Saintcrow’s amused laughter followed her all the way.

Chapter 7

Needing some semblance of reality, Kadie went to visit Marti first thing in the morning. Marti hugged her as soon as she entered the house.

“Oh, you poor thing!” Marti exclaimed. “Is there anything I can do?”

“You heard?” Kadie asked.

“It was all over town this morning, how Vaughan let Saintcrow take you without a fight.”

“But how did it get around so fast?”

“Vaughan told Pauline. Of course he didn’t say it right out like that. And Pauline passed the word. Let’s talk in the kitchen. Rosemary is here. I just made a pot of coffee. Judging from the circles under your eyes, you look like you could use a cup.”

“You’re right about that,” Kadie said, trailing Marti into the kitchen.

“Kadie, we heard all about it,” Rosemary said with a sympathetic smile.

Kadie nodded as she took the seat across from Rosemary. Morgan Creek might not have a morning paper but that didn’t keep people from knowing the latest news.

Marti set another mug on the table, filled all three cups, then sat down. “So, what’s he like?” she asked, cutting right to the chase.

Stalling for time, Kadie added sugar and cream to her coffee. What was he like? “I really have no idea,” she said at last. “He seems nice enough on the surface, I guess.”

“Nice!” Rosemary rolled her eyes. “He’s a killer. They’re all killers.”

“Maybe you’ve misjudged him,” Kadie suggested. “I mean, I asked him outright if he was going to kill me. . . .”

“You what?” Marti shook her head in disbelief. “What did he say?”

“He said I wasn’t in any danger.”

“And you believed him?” Rosemary asked.

Kadie stared into her coffee cup. “I have to,” she said quietly. She had to believe him. It was the only way she could get through the days ahead without going crazy with fear. “He let me drive his car to the store last night. Told me to buy whatever I needed, and then he showed up and followed me to the checkout line.” She shook her head. “It was all so . . . so . . . I don’t know. Bizarre.”

Rosemary and Marti both sat back, their expressions thoughtful.

“He’s probably just lulling you into a false sense of security,” Rosemary remarked. “They’re all monsters.”

Kadie nodded, remembering that Saintcrow hadn’t denied it when she accused vampires of killing humans. What had he said? It is, indeed.

“You’re not wearing your scarf,” Marti observed.

“I know. He said I didn’t need it, that none of the other vampires would dare touch me now, on pain of death.”

“I wonder why he keeps the other ones here.” Marti glanced at Rosemary. “Do you know? You’ve been here the longest.”

Rosemary shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe he just wants the company of his own kind.”

Marti snorted. “I never thought of vampires as being social creatures.”

“Me, either,” Kadie said. “But then, until I came here, I never thought of them at all.”

Marti and Rosemary both looked at her, and then, to Kadie’s surprise, they burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Kadie asked.

“Nothing,” Marti said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It’s just that we’ve all said that very thing at one time or another.”

Rosemary nodded. “Welcome to Morgan Creek, Kadie. You’re truly one of us now.”

One of them. It was a sobering thought and yet, to Kadie’s amazement, it gave her a surprisingly unexpected sense of camaraderie.

“How long have you been here, Rosemary?” she asked.

“About twenty years, as near as I can figure.”

“Twenty years,” Kadie exclaimed softly. A lifetime of memories lost, she thought, thinking of all the birthdays, holidays, and graduations Rosemary had missed. Never knowing if her sons had married, if she had grandchildren, great-grandchildren. It was so unfair.

Kadie frowned thoughtfully. Rosemary was certain the vampires were killers, but if the vampires intended to kill the inhabitants of Morgan Creek, they certainly didn’t seem to be in any hurry.

“It seems much longer,” Rosemary said. “There’s nothing to look forward to here, no reason to live.”

Kadie murmured, “I’m sorry,” because she couldn’t think of anything else to say. The utter hopelessness in Rosemary’s voice, the stark defeat in her eyes, tugged at Kadie’s heart. “How did you get here?”

“Just stumbled into the place, the same as everyone else,” Rosemary said. “We were on vacation. My husband and my four teenage sons had gone fishing. If only I’d gone with them! Instead, I decided to do a little sightseeing. I ended up here.” She blinked rapidly, but not before Kadie saw her tears. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Of course you don’t,” Kadie said sympathetically. She sipped her coffee. It was hot and strong. She tried to think of a topic of conversation that was safe, but in the end, she asked the question that was uppermost in her mind. “Do either of you know anything about Saintcrow that you can tell me?”

Marti shook her head. “He’s a mystery to all of us.”

“In all the time I’ve been here, I’ve never seen him,” Rosemary said. “The other vampires don’t talk about him.”

“The only thing I know is that he rode with King Richard in the Crusades,” Kadie said.

“Did he tell you that?” Rosemary asked.

“No, Vaughan told me.”

“That’s so hard to believe.” Marti looked bewildered. “Are you sure he didn’t make that up?”

“I guess he could have,” Kadie replied with a shrug. “But why would he?”

“Who knows why they do anything they do?” Rosemary’s voice was tinged with bitterness. “They’re vampires.”