Chapter One
Morgan Creek, Wyoming
Rylan Saintcrow stood at the front window of his lair, staring out into the darkness. With his preternatural vision, he could see the tops of the houses below and beyond that, the town of Morgan Creek.
He sighed as the darkness of the night closed around him like loving arms. Life changed, seasons changed, empires rose and fell, but he remained forever the same, a creature of the night.
He had been a vampire for roughly a thousand years. The need for blood, while always a pleasure and still a necessity from time to time, no longer drove him to murder. Silver and sunlight no longer had any ill effect on him. His preternatural powers, which continued to grow stronger with each passing year, were truly formidable. He was one of a kind, a law unto himself, his only weakness a woman. Kadie, with a wealth of dark-brown hair, beautiful golden-brown eyes, and a smile to melt his heart. Kadie. His woman, his wife. The only woman he had ever truly loved.
He had made his home in Morgan Creek for the last few hundred years. He had been resting deep in the earth the first time he caught Kadie’s scent. It had drawn him to the surface like a magnet. From the moment he saw her, he knew he would never let her go. In those days, Morgan Creek had been home to a coven of vampires. Kadie, a freelance photographer, had stumbled into town in the midst of a rainstorm. When she tried to leave, she had discovered she couldn’t step beyond the bridge that separated his town from the highway. She had hated and feared him in the beginning. Not that he could blame her. Over time, he had won her love and her trust.
These days, she used her photography skills to take photos of the town, which were used in ads printed in countless magazines and newspapers publicizing Morgan Creek, which had become a thriving vacation destination for people from all over the country and all over the world. It often amused him that those who stayed in the cabins or at the campground had no idea that the town was owned and operated by a master vampire.
They had made many changes and improvement over the years. They’d had to expand the campground and build a few more rental cabins to keep up with their growing clientele. Visitors had their choice of staying in the hotel or in the campground. They spent their days fishing, hiking in the mountains, swimming in the pool, picnicking in the park. He had added a six-lane bowling alley, built a new multiplex theater, and a firehouse. There were a couple of new gift shops in addition to the old ones, and three new restaurants on Main Street.
Others of his kind shared the town with him. His best and oldest friend, Jake Kincaid, and his wife, the former Rosa Ravenwood, divided their time between Morgan Creek and thevillathey’d recently bought in Italy.
Ethan Parish and his wife, Sofia, who was also a Ravenwood, her brother, Micah, and his wife, Holly, spent their summers in Morgan Creek. All the Ravenwoods went to Arizona in the winter to visit with the rest of the Ravenwood clan. At the moment, Ethan and Sofia were touring England. Micah and Holly had decided to visit all the Magic Kingdoms and were currently in Japan.
Life was good, he mused. The town turned a sizeable profit every year. And yet, lately, he was filled with a strange restlessness unlike anything he had experienced before. Kadie tried to hide it, but he knew she was worried about him. Hadhe been mortal, she would have insisted he see a doctor, but in Saintcrow’s case, that wasn’t an option.
“Rylan?”
He grunted his reply.
“Maybe you should go see Izabela.”
“The witch?” He glanced over his shoulder. “Whatever for?”
Kadie shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe she could help.”
“Prescribe a tonic?” he asked with a rueful grin. “Vitamins?”
“Be serious! You can’t go on like this. This restlessness of yours is driving me crazy.” Not to mention scaring her half to death. It was a constant struggle to shield her thoughts from him for fear of upsetting him even more. He had always been so protective of her.
“I know.” Sometimes he was plagued with the same edginess he had suffered when he’d first been turned, a sense of unrest, of not knowing who or what he was, of being out of control. Lately, he had been inundated with a relentless need not just to hunt, but to kill. As a young vampire, it had seemed as though he would never satisfy his hellacious thirst, something that had taken him decades to overcome.
He felt that way now. He was torn by a desperate need to hunt, to conquer, to destroy. He had shunned mingling with any of the tourists, remained in his underground lair by day, left the town to hunt by night. He refused to let Kadie go with him. He feared it was only a matter of time before he killed someone and he didn’t want her to see him if he lost control, if the beast it had taken him centuries to confine broke free.
He tensed as she came up behind him, slid her arms around his waist, and rested her cheek against his back.
“Talk to me, Rylan. What can I do?”
He folded his arms over her clasped hands. “Nothing, love.”
“Maybe a little of my blood would help.”
Kadie’s blood. Warmer than sunlight, sweeter than life itself.
“Rylan?”
“It might be worth a try.”
Taking him by the hand, she led him to the sofa, sat, and tugged him down beside her. She had been afraid of him in times past. He was such a big man, tall, broad-shouldered, and muscular. But it wasn’t his physical strength that concerned her now, but his preternatural powers. He was capable of unleashing massive destruction with little more than a word. It was a sobering thought, especially now, when he seemed to be slowly spiraling out of control.
Saintcrow took a deep breath as he brushed her hair aside. His tongue laved the tender skin below her ear. Her unique scent filled his senses – the flowery fragrance that clung to her hair, the musky scent of her skin, the tantalizing temptation of her blood.
Lowering his head, he bit her gently. It was like the first time he had tasted her, he thought, beyond satisfying, beyond anything he had ever known before. Mortals thought all blood tasted the same, but they were wrong. And Kadie’s was the finest of all, sweeter still because it had the extra kick of vampire blood. Thick and rich as it slid over his tongue and down his throat, spreading through him like liquid sunshine. He was sorely tempted to take it all, to glut himself on the sweet nectar. With an effort, he reminded himself that this was Kadie, his love, his life, his reason for existing. And still it took every ounce of his self-control to lift his head and seal the tiny wounds in her throat.