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  At that moment, she stumbled on a rock and they both nearly fell. Kacie took it as a sign to keep her thoughts focused on the task of getting him to the castle.

  “How badly are you hurt?” she asked as they emerged from the woods.

  “A few bruises.”

  She knew it was worse than that, but didn’t press because they’d reached his door. “What’s the pass code?”

  “I’ve got it.” He leaned forward and tapped something into the keypad. Seconds later, she heard the mechanical sound of a heavy bolt sliding back. As soon as the door opened, she helped him inside. It seemed that the minute the door was shut and they were sealed away from the approaching dawn, he felt a little better. Though she ached from having supported his weight, she felt oddly bereft when he took his arm from around her shoulders and stepped away.

  “I can manage from here, thanks.” He glanced at her face. “Are you okay?”

  Horrified to think he might guess how she was feeling, she went on the offensive. “Michael said that the pact is off. What pact?”

  He sighed, lifting a hand to rub his temples as if his head hurt. “Kacie, can we do this some other time? The sun’s coming up, we’re both tired. Let’s get some rest and talk tonight.”

  “I don’t want to wait until tonight—I want to know what’s going on with you and those vampires.”

  Erik’s eyes grew bright with irritation, but she didn’t care. She stood her ground and stared defiantly. “I want some answers.”

  “Why can’t you leave well enough alone? You want answers? Fine. Here they are. Those vampires, as you put it, are my friends. Years ago, we made a no-feed, no-hunt pact. The vampires don’t feed off the residents of Hocksley, especially members of the Winslow family, and in return, I don’t allow the Winslow slayers to hunt them.”

  She looked at him, shocked and confused. “But we did hunt them. Growing up—we killed scores of vampires.”

  “Yes, we did. Mostly progeny, which are exempt from the pact because they’re a threat to us all. The others were primes from other lairs.”

  “Other lairs? How many lairs are there?” She felt stunned. It had never occurred to her that there would be more than one in the area.

  Erik shrugged. “I don’t know, exactly.”

  She looked around as if she could see out the solid walls of his dungeon apartment. “They could be all over the place. They could be in our own back yard and we don’t even know it.”

  “Relax. Michael’s lair is the only one in the immediate area and his isn’t that close to the castle.”

  “How do you know?” she asked sharply.

  He didn’t answer, but she saw it in his face. “You know where his lair is, don’t you? How long have you known? Years? Decades?” His expression didn’t change. “Centuries?” He blinked and she felt like she’d been hit with a board. “You bastard,” she spit out. “You’ve known all this time and did nothing to destroy them?”

  “It’s more complicated than that.”

  “Not from where I’m standing,” she bit out.

  Erik sank to a stool by the kitchen counter, his exhaustion evident. “Not all vampires kill humans,” he muttered. “I don’t. Michael and the vampires in his lair don’t. That’s why we have the pact; it’s a live and let live arrangement.”

  “Live and let live?” She repeated dumbly, her hands fisting in her hair to keep her head from exploding. “Then why is my entire family dead? Tell me that, will you?”

  He sighed. “Michael’s vampires didn’t kill your family. Those vampires came from a different lair.”

  “How do you know?”

  This time, his look was stark and cold. “Because that’s what they told me—right before I killed them.”

  Another chill ran down her spine, but she couldn’t help feeling the small surge of satisfaction in learning that her family’s deaths had been avenged. Despite everything else, she was grateful to Erik for that.

  “That night your family was killed,” he continued, “I charged Michael with finding their killers—and he did. When we found Sedrick’s body, he asked me to help him find his brother’s killer. And I had every intention of finding him and turning him over to Michael—until I realized it was you.”

  She didn’t have to ask him what Michael intended to do if he got his hands on her. “Thank you,” she mumbled.

  He shook his head. “Don’t thank me yet, Kacie, because I’m not sure I made the right decision. You see, Sedrick wasn’t just Erik’s brother, he was my friend. My friend, Kacie. Can you understand that? These two men have been closer to me than my own brothers were when we were alive. Then you came home and in less than forty-eight hours, you’ve killed one and put me in the precarious position of possibly having to kill the other.” He shook his head. “No, definitely don’t thank me.”

  His eyes heated to a bright crimson and then he shook his head again. “I don’t expect you to understand. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed.”

  After Kacie left him, Erik locked both doors to his apartment. He was tired and wanted to rest, but when he finally had a chance to lie down, sleep eluded him.

  So—in the end, it was a woman who came between us after all. Michael’s words echoed in his head, dredging up a long-forgotten memory.

  In the spring of his nineteenth year, when he’d had everything in life to look forward to, he was in love. Her name was Alise and her smile was the sun that brightened his days; her voice was the song in his heart. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. For weeks, they’d been sneaking around, hiding their love from family and friends.

  On one fateful day, Erik had come to a momentous decision and, anxious to share the good news with Alise, had hurried out to the old oak tree where he hoped to find her sketching. Art was just one of the many interests they shared.

  His heart racing in anticipation, he spied the tree up ahead and saw her sitting on the other side, her back to him. Alise. His mind whispered the word as he broke into a run. He was almost to her when he realized she wasn’t alone.

  “Your eyes are as blue as the clearest day,” a familiar, deep voice said gently. “And your skin, as soft as a newborn lamb’s wool. Let me make love to you, Alise.”

  She gave a soft giggle, but Erik was too focused on the man beside her to hear it. When he rounded the tree to face the couple, his pulse was pounding in his ears.

  “Michael.” He spit out the name as he drew his sword. “I’m going to skewer your traitorous heart.”

  “Erik? What the hell . . . ?” Michael scrambled to his feet and out of reach of the sword’s blade. “Do you mind?” he shouted in indignation. “I’m sharing a private moment with my future wife.”

  “What? How dare you.” It was all Erik could do not to run him through right then and there. “She is mine. I was coming to propose just now.”

  “Well, you’re too late.”

  Erik glanced at Alise, wanting to see her deny it. She seemed unfazed, saying nothing and watching with eyes wide with curiosity.

  Erik used the blade of his sword to force Michael back. “I told you I was seeing someone.”

  Michael glared at him. “But you never told me her name.”

  “I was trying to protect her reputation.”

  “As was I,” Michael growled.

  Though he stood there defending Alise’s honor, Erik knew things could never be the same. How could he ever be with her and not remember that she’d once been with Michael? “Draw your sword, Michael, and let us settle this. I will not fight an unarmed man.”

  He placed the tip of his blade beneath Michael’s sword handle and flicked it up into the air where Michael snatched it.

  “En garde,” Erik growled as soon as Michael faced him. “Win or lose, Michael, we are done. I will not be friends with a liar and a cheat.”

  “Nor I,” Michael replied, raising his sword.

  Erik swung his blade and the fight was on. The clashing blades echoed loudly on the hillside. Eri
k spared a quick glance at Alise and saw that she stood near the trunk of the tree, watching intently. The sight maddened Erik further and he renewed his efforts to beat Michael.

  As they continued to fight, Erik became aware of a new presence. He shot a quick glance at Alise and saw that Sedrick had joined her.

  “What do we have here?” Sedrick asked jovially, obviously unconcerned that his brother and friend were dueling. “Are we showing off for the sweet Alise?” He chuckled. “Alise, my pet, are you impressed with the prowess these men demonstrate before you?”

  “I’m afraid they might hurt each other,” Alise said, her voice as dulcet as the sweetest songbird’s.

  “I doubt it,” Sedrick replied. “They are both exceedingly stubborn and would not dare concede victory to the other and I’m afraid their skills are equal. They could be fighting well into the morrow.”

  “Indeed?” Alise asked.

  “Go away, Sedrick,” Michael growled as he blocked another of Erik’s thrusts.

  “Indeed, they could,” Erik heard Sedrick reply. “Will you wait? Or perhaps you’d care to come with me? There is a nice spot by the beach that begs to be sketched. I’d love to show it to you.”

  Alise’s reply was too soft to hear but when Erik glanced up, he saw her walking away with Sedrick, arm in arm. Sedrick bent his head close to hers and whispered in her ear. Alise’s laughter floated back to them on a breeze. She never even looked back.

  “Damn that brother of yours,” Erik growled as he and Michael continued to clash swords.

  “Sedrick has always been popular with the ladies,” Michael replied, breathing hard. “You know that. They think he’s charming.”

  “Charming, my ass.” But Erik knew that Michael was right. And though his heart wanted to deny it, in his head he knew that if Alise had truly loved him, she would not have been out with Michael in the first place nor would she have walked off so readily with Sedrick.

  So that left him where? Fighting with his best friend? Over a woman? He stepped away from Michael and lowered his sword. Michael had too much honor to keep fighting when it was obvious that Erik had stopped.

  “What’s this?” He gave Erik a curious look.

  “What are we doing?” Erik asked him. “I don’t want to kill you.”

  “Nor I, you,” Michael replied.

  Erik gestured after Sedrick and Alise. “We’re fighting over a woman who has already forgotten us.”

  Michael gave him that devilish smile of his. “She’s unworthy of our affections.”

  Erik sheathed his sword and though disappointed at the outcome, was glad not to have to kill his friend. He held out his hand to Michael. “I apologize, Michael. Forgive me?”

  Michael sheathed his sword and grasped Erik’s hand. “Never again will I let anything—or anyone—stand in the way of our friendship.”

  “Agreed.”

  Michael clapped him on the back. “Shall we go into town? I know a couple of wenches there whose charms are ample enough to satisfy any man and the ale never stops flowing. What do you say?”

  That night, they’d drowned their sorrows in ale and found a measure of forgetfulness in the arms of loose women. In the course of the evening, something passed between them, forging a bond that would not be broken.

  Six years later, Erik had been killed in a bizarre hunting accident by a creature later discovered to be a chupacabra. When he came back to life as a vampire, Michael showed the world that he’d taken his vow seriously by going in search of the chupacabra that had killed his friend. Sedrick, of course, couldn’t allow his brother to go alone and went with him. Erik wasn’t sure how Ty had come to be with them on that fateful night when they actually found the creature, but two nights later, all three were vampires.

  For Erik and Michael, not even death, it seemed, had come between them. Their friendship had withstood the test of death, the test of time—and numerous other tests along the way. Sadly, it didn’t look like it would survive Kacie.

  Chapter 4

  Who the hell is she?” Michael demanded, pacing across the floor of his underground lair. The cavern would have been pitch black except for the battery-operated lanterns throwing out their dim light. Other than the fact that the room was underground, it looked much like the kind of great room found in almost any home. A huge tapestry hung behind the couch, which was old but functional. The two large side chairs looked like they’d been heavily used. There was an area rug laid across the floor and at the moment, Michael was well on his way to wearing it thin with his pacing. He was so mad that he wanted to put a fist through the wall, only these walls were made of solid rock and not even he could put a dent in them.

  “I think that might have been young Kacie.” In contrast to Michael’s agitated pacing, Ty appeared relaxed, sitting sideways in one of the oversized chairs with his legs draped over one arm. “That was the name I heard him use.”

  Michael stopped and stared at him in shock. “No. It couldn’t be. I thought she went off to college.”

  “She did, but that was several years ago. I’m sure she’s finished by now.”

  “Has it been that long already?” Michael thought back, trying to figure out just how many years had passed. “You’d think Erik would have said something to us.”

  “Maybe he didn’t know she was coming home.”

  It was possible, Michael silently conceded.

  “She’s certainly aged nicely,” Ty went on with obvious male appreciation.

  Michael glared at him. “I didn’t happen to notice. I was a little preoccupied with the fact that my best friend was stopping me from avenging my brother’s death,” he snapped.

  “He was my brother, too,” Ty pointed out sullenly.

  Half-brother. Michael had to bite his tongue to keep from saying the word out loud. The distinction wasn’t important. He was just feeling testy because Ty seemed to be defending Erik.

  He took a deep breath to calm himself and focused his thoughts. “If that was Kacie, then there’s no hoping Erik will come to his senses.”

  “Because she’s Gerard’s daughter?”

  Michael nodded. “That, but primarily because of the vow he made to Vince.” He thought back to the moment of Erik’s appearance and the look he’d given the woman. Had there been something more behind the fierce protectiveness? Something that would prevent Erik from avenging his friend’s death—and destroy the friendship he and Michael shared? Michael clenched his hand into a fist, anger surging through him.

  “What are you going to do?” Ty asked softly from across the room.

  Michael hated having Erik as an enemy and not just because he’d lost his best friend. Erik’s cunning mind and fighting skills were not things he wanted to go up against. “I don’t know.” In that moment of loneliness, he saw Sedrick’s face as it had appeared in life. There was really only one course of action. “I can’t let her live and if Erik gets in the way again, then . . .” He hesitated, feeling more alone than he ever had before. “Then, I’ll have to kill him, too.”

  Ty sighed. “I hate this. Maybe—”

  He was interrupted by the sound of shouting and arguing from the antechamber of the cavern. Instantly, Ty jumped to his feet and the two raced out of the room.

  When they reached the antechamber, they found the lair primes crowded around something that lay on the floor between them. Michael couldn’t see what it was, but the stench of fresh blood hung heavy in the air.

  “What’s going on,” he demanded of no one in particular.

  Carrington, a relatively large but youthful vampire converted fifty years earlier, looked up from the center with a defiant expression plastered across his face. “You never told us how fantastic human blood could be.”

  “What?” Michael surged forward, tossing the primes closest to him out of the way so he could see the extent of the damage done. The rest of the primes moved back, leaving Carrington standing over the fresh corpse of a middle-aged farmer. Fury rose up in Michael as he gla
red around the room. “Who gave you permission to hunt humans?”

  “Erik did, when he broke the pact,” Carrington replied, squaring off with Michael, his very stance challenging Michael’s authority.

  Michael wanted to know how Carrington knew about Erik, but now was not the time to ask. Moving quickly, he caught Carrington by the throat and heaved him across the room before the other vampire knew what was happening. The rest of the vampires cleared out of Michael’s way as he stormed forward, hoisted Carrington up by the front of his shirt and backhanded him across the face with enough force that the man’s head slammed into the wall.

  Michael waited for the man to recover and then stepped back, inviting him with a gesture to attack him in return. To his delight, Carrington charged.

  Michael’s fists shot out in rapid succession, finding their mark. Carrington stumbled and Michael slammed him against the wall. Michael, being more experienced in combat, could have put a quick end to the fight, but he allowed it to continue for two reasons. First, he needed someone on whom to vent his anger and frustration and second, it was important that he make an example of Carrington to the others and the message he was sending shouldn’t be rushed.

  When Carrington recovered from the last blow to his head, he bent low and rushed Michael, catching him in the stomach. The impact forced the air from Michael’s lungs; as he tried to catch his breath, Carrington drove him backward, into the wall. Pinned there, Michael clapped his hands over Carrington’s ears. As the large vampire howled in pain, Michael brought his elbows down on either side of Carrington’s neck, forcing him to his knees.

  Michael grabbed Carrington’s hair, pulled his head back and drove his fist into Carrington’s face. The blow was hard enough to knock Carrington out and Michael watched the body slump to the floor. Then he turned to the others, glaring at each one in turn before addressing them as a group.

  “I will tell you when the pact is broken, do you understand? I am the leader of this lair and if you live here, you live by my rules—or you die by my hand. Is that understood?” There was silence. “Is there anyone here who does not understand and wants me to explain it again?”