Night’s Mistress (Children of The Night #5)(24)
Author: Amanda Ashley

Lost in an abyss of self-pity, she wasn’t aware that Logan had returned until he sat down beside her. That, too, was scary for someone who had once been able to sense another’s presence before they appeared.

“Are you all right?” he asked. “You look like you’re about to cry.”

The word again hung, unspoken, in the air between them.

“I am.”

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

“No, I’m just . . .” She shrugged. “Just hopelessly helpless.”

“You’re not hopeless. As for helpless . . . Honey, you just need to learn how to be human again.” He lifted both hands in a gesture of surrender when she glowered at him. “I know, I know, you don’t want to be human, but you’d better get used to the idea, at least for the time being. Are you taking your vitamins like a good girl and drinking lots of milk?”

“Yes,” she replied sullenly.

Logan laughed. She sounded more like a petulant child than a woman who had lived for thousands of years, and then he sobered. Even though she had lived for centuries, she had been turned while she was still a young woman. Now that her powers were gone, she was that young woman again. Wiser than most, to be sure, but with the loss of her powers, she had also lost her arrogance. She was human now, with all the female ailments and foibles that Mara the vampire had shed years ago.

With a thoughtful sigh, he gathered her into his arms. Stroking her hair, he couldn’t help missing the spoiled, strong-willed woman he had fallen in love with so many centuries ago.

Chapter Thirteen

Lou was waiting outside Ramsden’s office building when Cindy got off work. Lou gave her sister a quick hug, and then they walked across the street to Cindy’s favorite steakhouse.

“How was the drive?” Cindy asked after they had been seated.

“A breeze. How’s Dwayne?”

“Working late, as always. I think I saw him more before we got married.” Cindy’s husband was a detective for the local police department. He had no idea that his fair-haired, diminutive wife was a vampire hunter, or that her employer was a vampire.

“Sorry, sis. So, what’s the low-down on Mara? Is she really knocked-up, or were you just pulling my chain?”

“No, she’s definitely pregnant,” Cindy said. “About five months along by now. Amazing, isn’t it? Ramsden’s so excited, he’s almost bouncing off the walls.”

“I’ll bet.”

“He’s fixing up a room in the basement. At first I thought it was a nursery, but now I think it’s a delivery room. He hasn’t confided in me, but I caught a few bits and pieces of a conversation he had with Susan before I left tonight. I think he’s planning to keep the child for himself, if it lives.”

“That doesn’t bode well for the mother, does it?”

“No. I can’t be sure . . .” Cindy fell silent as a waitress came to take their order. When she left, Cindy leaned forward. “As I was saying, I can’t be sure, since I’m not privy to Ramsden’s private files, but something’s not right with Mara. I’m not sure what it is.”

“What do you mean, not right? Is she sick?”

“I don’t know. But something’s out of whack, or she wouldn’t be pregnant, would she?”

Lou nodded. That was true enough.

The waitress arrived with a basket of warm bread and their drink orders. “Your steaks will be right up.”

Lou nodded her thanks as she buttered a slice of bread. “I could make a meal out of this.”

“You and me both. So,” Cindy said, reaching into the basket, “who do you think the father is? It can’t be another vampire, can it?”

“I doubt it. It’s got to be a mortal, and I think I know who he is.”

“Who?”

“His name is Kyle Bowden. He hired me to find Mara. Just find her. Not stake her.”

“You didn’t agree to that, did you?”

“As a matter of fact, I did . . .”

“Lou, what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that once I reunite him with Mara, the job is over and it’s open season on Mara. It would be quite a coup, to take her head. And if it turns out that Bowden really is the father, then I’m thinking he’ll have to be taken out of the picture, too.”

“Of course,” Cindy said. “But, well, what about the baby? You don’t mean to kill it, too?”

Lou squared her shoulders. “A vampire is a vampire.”

“But, Lou, a baby . . . I don’t think . . .”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s the old ‘would you have killed Hitler when he was a baby’ argument. I don’t have an answer to that one, either.” Lou blew out a breath. “I’ve got to find Mara first . . .”

“Lou, I know how you hate vampires. I do, too. But you can’t kill an innocent child. It might not even be a vampire . . .”

“All right, all right!” Lou threw up her hands in surrender. “I won’t do anything until the brat’s born. But I’m not promising anything after that.”

Chapter Fourteen

Mara sat on the sofa, watching a cooking show on the satellite screen. The chef was a plump, middle-aged woman with poufy brown hair and a strong New York accent. Judging from the woman’s behavior, one would think that her every thought was about food and food preparation. In the last month, Mara had watched a number of cooking programs and home decorating shows in an effort to learn how to behave like a mortal woman. The truth was, as much as she enjoyed mortal food, she hated cooking, probably because she wasn’t very good at it. So far, practically everything she had tried to prepare either came out woefully undercooked or burnt to a crisp. She didn’t think she would ever get the hang of baking or frying or broiling. Of course, some of the directions and ingredients remained a mystery to her, reminding her that she needed to download a cookbook.

Logan watched her culinary attempts with amused forbearance. He praised her few successes and politely ignored the stink of her failures.

No, she definitely didn’t like cooking. Far easier to order in, or go to one of the fast-food places for take-out. Strangely, even though she no longer had a taste for blood, she missed the thrill of the hunt, the rapid beat of her prey’s heart, the sense of power that came with holding another’s life in her thrall.

With a sigh of exasperation, she switched off the screen. Was this how mortal women spent their days: cooking and cleaning and watching silly soap operas? She didn’t like being human, didn’t like being awake and active during the day. The sun was too bright, its light too warm. She had tried sleeping during the day so she could stay up late into the night and early morning with Logan, but her body refused to adjust. By midnight, she could scarcely keep her eyes open.