The Ornament

Chapter Five



aylee continued to stare through the window K as Gregori prepared to add gas to the tank.

Another car pulled into the station from the other direction and she watched as they drove up to the other side of the pump. Bored, she opened the glove box and shuffled through the contents. She did the same with the center console, frowning at the paperback book she found there. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.” She had thought she lost that particular book a few weeks ago. Hesitant to purchase another, she read others with the hope that sooner or later this one would turn up. It was her first vampire romance. Her dreams had begun not too long after she started the book and she had chalked the dreams up to her too-active imagination fueled by the author’s muse.

She leafed through the pages and frowned at the placement of the bookmark. She didn’t remember getting so far into the story. Opening it 26

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to the marked page, she knew she’d never read that far. It was in the middle of a love scene. There was no doubt in her mind that she would have remembered the spicy text.

Flipping backward through the book, she found the last thing she remembered about it, approximately fifty pages back, and began to read.


She was so engrossed in the book when Gregori got into the car, she didn’t even look up. Putting the car in gear, he hit the gas and they took off, tires squealing. Kaylee looked up and gasped.

“Who are you and what do you think you’re doing to my car? Where’s Gregori?” The stranger on the seat next to her laughed.

“Who I am isn’t important. That I have you is. I will bargain with your boyfriend when we reach our destination. Your life for that of my friends.”

“How did you—”

“The idiot doesn’t carry credit cards. He had to go inside to pay. I didn’t expect such a break, but I guess there’s no fixing stupid.”

“Gregori isn’t stupid.” Kaylee looked around for something to hit the guy with. No one dissed her dream lover and got away with it. “He’s the most brilliant man I’ve ever met.”

“How many times do we have to tell you idiot vampire lovers? They aren’t men and women.

They’re monsters, fiends! They drink your blood to survive. They feed on you until you’re all used 27

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up, then they move on to someone else.” He shook his head with a growl. “You would think that people could figure that out.”

“Gregori would never hurt anyone like that.” Kaylee bit her lip. Would he? After all, what did she really know about him? Next to nothing if she were to be truthful with herself. She stared out the window, wondering how long she had to live. She may not be dead, like everyone kept saying, but something told her she soon would be. “Besides all that, why kidnap me? Why kill me for that matter? What have I or any of the other people you and your so-called society has sentenced to death done to you?”

“You feed the vamps, that’s what you do.” Spittle ran down his chin as his expression filled with some unholy light. “You are all revenants, slaves, servants to the vampires. You protect them during the day when they are forced to sleep in their coffins and you feed them when they awaken.

“Our leader has decreed that all of you must die. If we cut off the unholy fiends’ supply of nourishment, they will eventually starve to death.” Glancing at her, he gave her an oily smile.

“The more of you we kill, the closer we are to having our world as it was meant to be—free of the pestilence of vampires once and for all.” Kaylee brought her hand to her lips and bit her 28

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knuckle so hard she drew blood. She barely felt the pain through her fear. He was nuts! The man was certifiably insane and he apparently had like-minded friends.

What would she do? What could she do? She stared out the window into the darkness. Tears ran down her face as she realized she was about to die. Could you die in a dream and if you did, was it permanent? She hoped to God it wasn’t. If it was, she would die before she woke, never knowing the love of a flesh and blood man. It didn’t matter that Gregori had told her he loved her many times. He wasn’t real and as much as it pained her to say it, even to herself, it just wasn’t enough.

I am real, my love. Never doubt that.

Ignoring him should have been easy. If he was a figment of her imagination, she should be able to turn off the sound of his deep and sexy voice.

Incredibly, Kaylee felt the brush of warm fingers over her cheek, down the side of her neck to rest on her shoulder. That, in itself, should have convinced her that he was nothing more than a figment of her imagination. People just couldn’t reach out through time and space to give you a touch with their thoughts that felt so incredibly physical.

I can, my beloved. You are my life, my very reason for living. I have no idea where you came from or how 29

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you came back into my life, but I will take you any way I can get you, even if you don’t believe.

Perhaps it would help if I reminded you that my people announced our presence to the world nearly ten years ago. We are allowed to get our blood through blood banks, much like your grocery stores. She felt him give a mental shrug. Most of my people are not fond of drinking the cold, bagged blood and still prefer to stalk prey, but for the most part, we all conform to one norm and feed from the bagged blood provided by people who give their life’s essence in a charitable effort to sustain our lives.

Some say we never should have gone public, that we should have kept ourselves apart from humans, but I cannot bring myself to regret the decision. It ultimately brought me to you. My life changed the day you walked into that lab to make a delivery. I knew the moment I saw you that you were the one put on this earth to be my beloved mate.

Stop it! Just stop it! Kaylee put her hands over her ears, trying to block out the sound of his voice.

She knew it was impossible. He was inside her, somehow inside her head, driving her crazy.

Perhaps she deserved to die. She was going insane herself. I can’t hear you. She projected her thoughts at him in a singsong manner, then frowned. Why did she project her thoughts if she didn’t really believe he was real? Oh, my God, Kaylee, you are

going mad.

Gregori sighed into her thoughts but refrained 30

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from saying anything more, which was probably for the best, considering the fragile state of her mind. What could she do? If she was crazy, what could she do about it and if by some bizarre twist of fate she’d fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole, there was nothing for her to do but go along for the ride.

The loon driving her car was no longer talking to her. He merely drove the vehicle with a slack expression. Had Gregori taken control of his mind? If so, where were they headed? Her spirits lightened as he pulled into the parking lot of a small motel. Maybe Gregori had him pull over so he could catch up. She had seen him turn into large raptors before. For all she knew, he could be circling overhead at that precise moment.

The driver opened his door and used her vehicle remote to open the trunk. Uh, oh. I think he’s about to let our prisoners go. Kaylee wondered for a moment how he knew they were there, then shrugged it off. He’d known they held the men, he probably just assumed they were in the trunk of her car.

Looking up toward the sky, Kaylee waited. She may not believe he was real, but one thing was certain, if this was some weird dream, there was no doubt in her mind that Gregori would come to her rescue.

It is of no consequence, my love. He has led us to one of their meeting places. Council members are on their 31

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way, as we speak. Never fear, baby, their time of judgment is at hand.

Just moments after Gregori spoke into her mind, nearly twenty impossibly large raptors landed on the roof. There was a mixture of owls, eagles and condors. Thankfully, she didn’t see one bat among them. She didn’t know what she would do if Gregori turned into one of those nasty creatures. Beating him with a tennis racquet came to mind.

I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that you will never ask me to turn into a bat. Gregori’s voice caressed her mind with a chuckle. And I would hope that you would hesitate to beat me with anything no matter which form I chose to inhabit.

When the last of them arrived and perched on the roof, they all dove for the pavement, landing at the back of her car in human form. They surrounded the man who kidnapped her as he still sluggishly attempted to awaken his comrades.

“Martin Moleski, James O’Bannon and Jiggy Tyler…” There was a short pause as the vampire speaking looked around at his friends and made a face. “Is Jiggy really a name?” He shook his head, his expression filled with disgust. “It almost makes me wish we killed prey when we fed off the hoof and one of us found this boy’s parents before they had a chance to give him that ridiculous name.”


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He turned back to the three men who were all awake but looking groggy. “The three of you and the men and women waiting inside the hotel room where you all planned to murder Miss Hamilton have been sentenced to death. Your sentence will be carried out forthwith.” He turned away from the three men as though they disgusted him. He waved his arm, gesturing toward the prisoners and barked, “Bring them. They shall all die in the same room. I don’t want to have to punish the motel owner for having the bad luck of renting to these people.”

“Yes, Oberon,” one of the other vamps said as he bowed in deference before following the instruction.

Kaylee watched as Oberon, an obviously powerful vampire, turned and walked toward the rooms along the parking lot. He stopped in front of a door. After only a second or two, the door burst inward as though blown by a great wind.

The vampires all made their way into the room and Kaylee covered her ears as she attempted to block out the sounds of the humans’ terrified screams.

Grateful that Gregori never left her side, Kaylee knew she would have had a difficult time coming to terms with it had he gone with the others and helped dispatch her kidnappers and would-be killers to hell. Gregori wrapped his arm about her 33

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and hugged her close. She leaned against him, needing his strength and warmth. What would she have done had he not come to her rescue?

“How could I not do everything to ensure your safety?” He pressed a kiss against her temple.

“You are my love, my very life. There is no other for me, only you.” He moved to stand in front of her, his hands gripping her shoulders. He bent down to peer into her eyes. “I love you more than my life itself. I couldn’t bear to lose you a second time.”

The other vampires filed out of the hotel room, looking just as clean and elegant as they did when they went in. Not one of them looked like they just went into that room and killed several men and women. “Dispose of the bodies,” Oberon said. He seemed to be the one in charge since they all arrived. “Gregori, why did you not join in the feast? It isn’t often we can gorge ourselves on warm blood like this.” He turned back toward the room as the others carried the men out.

Kaylee looked around, hoping no one was around to witness this blatant act.

“There is no one here, Miss Hamilton. Even if there were, it would be of no consequence. We would sense them, wipe their memories clean and there would be no problem.” He grinned, showing off his perfect white teeth that now looked human.

It surprised Kaylee when the other man 34

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reached out and shook Gregori’s hand. She didn’t think they did anything so mundane as that.

“We are gentlemen, first and foremost.” Yeah, gentlemen who drank the blood of their enemies. No wonder Vlad the Impaler was so sick.

He probably was one of these guys.

“No, my heart. Vlad the impaler was a madman, but he managed to do what he set out to do. He drove the enemy from his lands.” Kaylee shuddered. She couldn’t imagine drinking blood to survive. She gave Gregori a narrow-eyed look. She also couldn’t imagine sifting through other people’s thoughts uninvited like some sort of snoop either.

The two men started to choke and turned away.

“What do we do now?” Gregori asked the other man as they both pretended that neither of them had just read her mind.

Kaylee shook her head and sighed. Did they think her stupid, that she didn’t know they read her mind every chance they got? What was she, some form of entertainment for them?

“We wait,” Oberon said as they watched the others pile into the dead men’s vehicles and took off. He waved a hand toward the motel room.

“Call in a cleaning crew, will you? There’s blood all over the place in there. A few of them were idiot enough to think that draining them dry would turn them into one of us, so they slit their 35

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wrists.”

“I can’t imagine why they would do such a thing. After all, what do they say about you guys in the movies these days?” Wrapping her arms about herself, Kaylee turned away from them with a sigh. “I need to go home.”

“You cannot,” Gregori and Oberon said at the same time.

Gregori stepped up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his warmth. “The slayers know of your return. You will not be safe at your home. You must come with me.”

“You will go with Gregori, Miss Hamilton,” Oberon said as he stared deep into her eyes.

Kaylee felt a strange sluggishness overcome her along with the sudden urge to do whatever this man said.

She shook her head and glared at Oberon. “I’m not going anywhere I don’t want to go and don’t you dare try to use your mental powers on me again.”

Oberon narrowed his eyes, a strange red glow showing in his pupils. “Control your woman, Gregori, or I will.”

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