She bit down on her lip and then nodded. “They said they would kill me if I refused. And I believed them.”
Stefan bit off a vile oath. Damn, dirty cowards.
“What’s the Guild?” she asked. “And why are they after you?”
He looked back at her then. “Why? I am a vampire. They are hunters. It is the way of the world.”
“They said you might be the last of your kind. Do you think that’s true?”
He shrugged. “It matters not. I have put your life at risk for the last time. Pack your belongings, fair Bryony. I am taking you home tonight,” he said, and vanished from her sight.
Bryony stood there a moment, stunned by his words. Going home, thank the Good Lord.
Closing the door, she threw all her things on the bed and began to pack. She was going home, she thought, with an odd sense of detachment. And then she began to weep.
She was going home.
Stefan came for her an hour later. Wordlessly, he carried her bags and everything else out to a waiting carriage. He loaded some of it inside the coach and the rest on the top. James sat on the high front seat, reins in hand.
Bryony looked at Stefan, who kept his face turned away from her. “Aren’t you coming with me?”
“No. James has the directions. He will see you safely home. Daisy is already there.”
“But…”
“Be happy, fair Bryony. Forgive me for interfering in your life. I had no right to do so.”
Unable to resist, he leaned forward and brushed her lips with his.
“Stefan…”
Putting his hands at her waist, he lifted her into the carriage and closed the door. When she turned to look out the coach window, he was gone.
She cried all the way home.
Stefan woke the servants, paid them each a year’s salary, and sent them away. James had been paid earlier. Going outside, he turned all the animals loose before returning to the house. He wandered from room to room, remembering every moment he had spent with Bryony, every kiss, every caress, the warmth of her smile, the sweetness of her kisses, the lilting sound of her laughter, the gentle touch of her hand.
Leaving the house again, he summoned his witch power, set the manor on fire, and watched it burn until only ashes and his shattered dreams remained.
A thought took him to the Stone House in the valley. Bryony’s scent was strong here. He stood in the main room a moment, remembering the first night he had found her lying cold and wet on the couch and first tasted her blood, and then he thrust the memory away.
He secured the place against intruders, then sprawled on the couch and stared into the cold hearth. The hunters had said they believed he was the last of his kind. Could it be true? Had they destroyed his sire, as well? Vampires were not particularly sociable creatures. They tended to lay claim to one part of the world or another, as he had laid claim to this part of the country, and keep to themselves. But they did get together on rare occasions. He had acquaintances in America and Ireland, France and Italy. Had the Hunter’s Guild destroyed them all?
If so, he was now truly alone.
He sat there until he felt the subtle change in the air that signaled the dawn of a new day. Rising, he went up to the second floor and fell into the bed Bryony had slept in. A deep breath carried her familiar scent to him before he closed hiseyes and tumbled into oblivion, Bryony’s name on his lips, her image forever etched on his heart.
Chapter Twenty-One
It took hours to get home. Bryony was by turns excited, apprehensive, and sad. Although she had desperately wanted to return home, she also wanted to spend more time with Stefan. There was still so much about him that she didn’t know. Her feelings for him were all tangled up. One minute she was certain she loved him, yearned to be in his arms, taste his kisses, hear his voice whispering intimacies in her ear. The next, she was terrified of him, of what he was, and of the preternatural power that was so much a part of him. A horrifying part she had seen on full display only hours ago.
Her heartbeat increased when the house came into view. Home!
The carriage stopped in front of the porch steps. Bryony sat there a moment, unable to believe she wasn’t dreaming. But no, someone inside had heard the approach of the carriage. She opened the door of the coach as Alistair stepped onto the porch. He peered through the darkness, smiled broadly when he recognized her.
Moments later, she was surrounded by her family, all asking questions at once. Was she all right? Where had she been? Was she hurt?
Laughing and crying, they went into the front parlor where she spent the next hour telling them everything she could, except the part about Stefan being a vampire.
