I turned the page, lost in the memories of a woman whose body no one had claimed after death. Lachlan accepted the job from her father to help with the cattle. Two years passed of long looks and Lachlan bringing her wildflowers—all without her father knowing. It was important to Lachlan to keep in his good graces. One day, Lachlan vanished. He had stolen one of her father’s fastest horses and didn’t return. Penny was devastated.
Ten years later, Penny buried her father. He’d left her the ranch, and she decided to sell the homestead and start anew. She was by herself, and she didn’t want to die alone on a cattle farm. Her life changed one evening when a visitor arrived on a black horse.
Lachlan.
She had never fallen out of love with Lachlan. He told her he had left because bad men were looking for him, and his presence would bring danger to her family.
They argued, she wept, and they talked about her father’s passing. Penny couldn’t help but notice that Lachlan hadn’t aged a day. When confronted, he revealed he was a Mage.
I could only imagine the confusion and betrayal she must have initially felt. A person could only disbelieve for so long, and once he showed her his power, there was no denying. While she could have thrown him out and called him a witch, Penny did no such thing. They consummated their love, and Lachlan gave Penny her first spark. Had he not been a Creator with the ability to make another immortal, would he have stayed with her until she died of old age? The diary was fairly new, so the pages were a mixture of the past and the present. I finally closed the journal and set it on the nightstand beneath the dim lamp.
Motels didn’t get more basic than this. The bed and an upholstered chair were on the left side of the room, a bathroom across from the door, and a short dresser with a cheap television bolted to it. The room carried an unpleasant smell, like mold and thirty years of body odor.
A knock at the door startled me. Christian entered and tossed the key on the rinky-dink table.
“What’s all that?” I asked, noticing the white plastic sacks hanging from his arm.
“Aren’t we all cozy in here? I take it Gem had something to do with those,” he said, nodding at my pink knee-highs.
I straightened my long black T-shirt. “It’s not my style, but they do the job of keeping my legs warm. What’s in the bag? Is that our free shrimp?”
He strode toward the bed. “Sorry, lass. I didn’t get the shrimp-and-cable package.”
“Bummer. I thought it was free.”
“Well, as it so happens, they’re all out of shrimp. I figured since my blood repulsed you, the least I could do was buy you dinner.”
I sat up and propped a pillow behind me. “How thoughtful.” And I meant it. I hadn’t expected to see Christian until morning.
He set the bags on my lap and sat in the chair on the other side of the end table. I couldn’t see his face because of the lamp between us.
I reached in the sack and pulled out a giant hamburger. “Hello, darling.” My mouth watered instantly.
“It’s the Angus burger,” he said absently. “I recall you mentioning something about that.”
“I can’t see you over there. Come sit next to me. I won’t bite.” I unwrapped the burger and set it on my lap. To avoid crumbs, I dumped the onion rings into the empty paper sack. “Why do they always forget the napkins?”
Christian rounded the bed and fluffed the flat pillow to my left before he took a seat, legs straight and ankles crossed. “So whatcha reading?”
I lifted the diary and set it in his lap. “The life and times of Penny Burns. She was an interesting person. I’ve confirmed she was a Mage; it’s all in there.”
“That’s what Wyatt says. He did a background check, and her name came up in the Mageri records.”
Christian thumbed through a few pages while I bit into my burger, and it was the most delicious burger I’d had in ages. The tomatoes seemed more flavorful than ever, the meat succulent, and it made me wonder if drinking Christian’s blood had awakened dormant taste buds.
“She was in love with the guy who made her,” I said around a mouthful of burger. “It’s so romantic I almost don’t want to believe it.”
“Nor should you. Just look how it ended. Where is he now? Maybe that’s the killer we’re looking for.”
I licked my finger and grabbed an onion ring. “He died. They were together for twenty years before these guys showed up and cut off his head. It doesn’t mention what the reason was, but he made Penny escape on her horse. Maybe those guys are the ones who killed her.”
“Doubtful. It sounds like it was him they were after. Did you read this bit here?”
I glanced over. “No. I hadn’t gotten that far yet. Don’t spoil the ending.”
He set down the book. “Everyone dies in the end.”
Crumbs from the onion ring scattered into the wrapper on my lap. “Remind me never to see a movie with you. It sounds like Lachlan was the reason she never wanted to love again. She believed he was her destiny and didn’t think another man would ever be able to fill his shoes.”
