The Ornament

Chapter Seven



aylee woke with a start. She dreamed of him K again. In his early to mid-thirties, no real man could compare to him. She knew he was nothing more than a dream, but she still couldn’t convince herself to let him go and start dating again. Dating felt too much like a betrayal, no matter how crazy it seemed.

For a year, she dreamt of him making love to her almost every night and for a year, she hadn’t dated another man. Just the idea of it felt…wrong somehow, even though she knew Gregori couldn’t exist.

Throwing the covers back, she climbed out of bed with a sigh. Of course he couldn’t exist. He was a vampire. A very handsome, sexy and virile vampire, but he drank blood to survive, just the same.

Stripping her nightgown off, Kaylee padded to the shower and climbed beneath the warm spray.

She loved the new instant hot water her new hot 44

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water heater provided. Kaylee washed herself as quickly and efficiently as possible, then stepped from the welcoming warmth of the shower into her cold bathroom.

Donning her bathrobe, she returned to her bedroom and frowned. Yesterday’s clothes were strewn about the room as though she stripped them off on her way to bed, too tired to put them in the hamper. She wandered about the room, picking up her dirty clothes as she went, frowning at the small card that fell from one of her pockets.

It was for the ornament store she’d visited the night before.

She had wanted that ornament last night so much, but now…now it just didn’t seem so appealing. She set the card on her bureau and began to dress. Still, she’d promised the man she would buy it since she broke it.

Picking up the card, she stuck it into her back pocket, then slipped on her shoes. She was nothing if not a woman of her word. With a sigh, she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

Thirty minutes later, she stood outside the shop, looking in. She was early. It didn’t open until ten and she checked her watch. It was only nine-thirty.

“Excuse me, Miss. Can you tell me the time?” The voice was deep, almost as deep and sexy as Gregori’s but not quite.

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“It’s about half past nine,” she replied as she turned around. The man was tall, almost as tall as Gregori and almost as handsome. He smiled down at her and her legs wobbled a bit. This was a man she could get to know. A real man.

“That explains it.” He grinned. “I’m way early.” He spun around in a circle. “Is there a place around here to get a good cup of coffee?”


“Sure, The Bean Shack is just around the corner, they have great coffee.”

He smiled his thanks and began to walk away.

After a few steps, he turned around. “I’m Robert MacMasters. I think my father just bought this mall. Could I interest you in a cup of coffee with me?”

Take him up on it, Kaylee. He’s a real, flesh and blood man, the sound of Laura’s voice chanted in her head.

Behind her, someone unlocked the door to the ornament shop and she turned. It was the old man. He held the ornament that caught her attention so thoroughly the night before in his right hand. He was wearing gloves, of course.

She turned back Robert. “I’m sorry, but I have an appointment in the shop. Maybe another time?”

“I’ll hold you to it,” Robert MacMasters said before he turned and walked away.

“Come on in. I need to get the door closed 46

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before people think I’m open.” The old man hurried her into the shop, then closed and locked the door behind her.

“I couldn’t get the ornament fixed,” he said with a frown. “For some reason, my glue just won’t hold it closed.”

Kaylee looked at the broken plastic inside the plastic bag the man kept it in since she’d broken it the day before. “I’ll pay for it since I broke it, but you can keep it. I don’t know what came over me last night, but I don’t think it’s the right addition to my decorations.”

“Nonsense.” He scowled at her. “No one is perfect. Do you think the fates give everyone a chance like the one they gave you.” Turning, he peered through the window toward the coffee shop and sighed. “If you want rich and spoiled, you know where to find him. If you want a man who will appreciate you, you have to take a chance. How many people do you think get the chance to live out their lives with a person who loves them more than their life?” He handed her the bag. “The ornament is ten-dollars and fifteen-cents after tax. Do whatever you want with it, but you only have until midnight to make up your mind.”

“Midnight?” Kaylee asked, confused. “I don’t know what you mean.” She nervously licked her lips and stared at the ornament in the bag. Was it 47

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real? Was everything she thought she’d dreamed real?

“Yes, you silly girl. It was real and he’s dying without you. That ornament, and others like it, take people to other times, other dimensions and most of them only work during the Yule Sabbat.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but if you want to stay here and live your boring existence without knowing true love and without ever having really lived,” he paused and gestured to the bag, “throw that away when you leave here. You don’t deserve it. Perhaps someone with a sense of adventure will find it and it will work for them just as well.

Now,” he added as he pushed her toward the door. “I do have a real life, so if you’ll excuse me.

I’ll get on with it,” the old man growled as he unlocked the front door and pushed her out into the mall corridor without another word.

Kaylee looked down at the plastic bag and wondered if what the old man said was true or if she was still in a dream. She pinched her arm.

Hard. If this was a dream, it was a good one, because that had hurt like hell. She’d have a bruise there in a few minutes.

She thought about the man she just met and knew he was interested. Perhaps she could have a nice boring life here with him, but that’s what it would be. A nice, boring life. Kaylee wasn’t sure she wanted boring. She wasn’t sure she wanted to 48

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be beheaded in another dimension either.

It didn’t take much to make up her mind. If she put any thought at all into it, she knew she loved Gregori with everything within her. Robert MacMasters seemed like a nice guy, but he didn’t make her knees go weak quite the same way Gregori did and he certainly couldn’t make her melt with a look.

Kaylee opened the plastic bag, reached inside and grasped the ornament with her bare hand. “I want to go home.”

This time, there was no doubt in Kaylee’s mind that this wasn’t a dream. She felt the vortex pulling her down, down into some sort of strange cosmic whirlpool that took her from the mall and deposited her inside a large home with beautiful marble floors.

“Don’t you now Arabella me,” a beautiful woman said as she rounded the corner, a coffee cup in her hand.

The woman, whom Kaylee presumed was Arabella, stopped short, brown liquid sloshing from the cup.

“Oh!” She looked around, her large brown eyes wide. “Where did you come from?” She turned to call over her shoulder. “Gregori darling, did you know you had company?”

Gregori darling? Tears burned Kaylee’s eyes as she realized she’d made a horrible mistake. “I—

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I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she stammered as she stared up at the gorgeous brunette. The woman was beautiful. How could she ever compete with that?

Arabella smiled. “You aren’t interrupting, dear.

I was just about to leave.” She snapped a lid onto the cup of coffee in her hand. “See? It’s a travel mug. I just wanted to let it cool a bit first. Even vampires get burned, you know.” She winked.

“I’m off to work now. My brother should be down shortly. Don’t make him grovel too much, will you, dear?” With a chuckle, Arabella breezed from the room. After a few seconds, Kaylee heard what sounded like the front door close as the other woman left the house.

“What company?” Gregori asked as he rounded the same corner that his sister had just a few moments before. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Kaylee as though she were a figment of his imagination.

“If you’ve come to taunt me again, please don’t.

I’m not sure I could remain sane this time.”

“I came back, Gregori.” Kaylee sighed. “I still don’t like the idea that you can control me at any time, but I figure that if I’m in danger and I won’t listen to you, you don’t have much of a choice.” Pausing, she licked her lips. What else should she say? She looked around the room for ideas.

“Say that you’re really here, that this is some 50

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sort of Christmas miracle and that you love me.” Gregori advanced on her by a step. “Say that you’ll never leave me again.” He rested his hands on her shoulders. “And say that if you’re ever in danger again, you will allow me to use whatever means necessary to keep you safe.” Bending, he pressed a kiss to her lips. But most of all, my love, tell me you will be my wife, my mate.

Kaylee rested her hands on his broad chest and pushed. Looking up, she smiled. “Only if you promise me we can get married today.” Gregori grinned, then winked. “Baby, I can have a priest over here in less than ten minutes.”

“Well, then,” she paused to give him another kiss, “by some strange power in a tree ornament, we have our Christmas miracle. What are we waiting for?”