Twilight Vendetta Read online

  Emma closed the basement door. It creaked loudly on its long unused hinges. Then she turned to face what had once been a kitchen, walked to Tavia’s offering on the table, and set the lamp down. The bag produced two pre-made, pre-wrapped ham sandwiches, a sixpack of Coke, and several bags of assorted chips. First things first. She didn’t want the food to go bad, so she needed to find a nice cool place to stash it, and those caves down below fit the bill. So she took out one sandwich and a can of Coke, and went back down to the basement to tuck the bag inside the third tunnel, the one she intended to explore later on.

  When she returned to the kitchen carrying her lunch in both hands, it was decidedly lighter, so she blew out the lamp, tucked the food into her backpack, and headed out through a back door. Then she hiked through the dim forest until she emerged on the beach and found a nice spot to sit down.

  Emma ate her sandwich facing the mainland, which was barely a blur on the horizon with a vast stretch of ocean in between her and it. She watched the sun rise slowly in the east, turning the blue water into blaze orange and fiery yellow.

  Imagine, she thought, never seeing a sunrise again. Imagine never being able to go outside in daylight. Imagine existing entirely by night. What would that be like?

  She wished she had asked her mother those things when she’d had the chance. When Devlin had demanded her reasons for wanting to live among the Undead, she’d thought she had pulled one out of thin air. But all she had done was pull it out of the depths of her own soul. She really did have a decision to make sometime within the next decade or so. And she wanted to know everything she could before she made it.

  Emma slept for several hours in the shade on the beach, in a spot where she wouldn’t be seen by any passing boats or planes. She didn’t have any desire to rest in that musty house all alone.

  When she woke, it was early afternoon, going by the new cell phone she’d turned on very briefly. After that, she spent some time exploring the island, discovered lots of fruit growing in the sunnier patches, apples, plums some nuts, too, and she picked a few nice pieces to carry along with her and keep her energy up while she wandered. There were so many kinds of birds she couldn’t count them all and a few mammals, small ones, she only heard, never saw, scurrying in the underbrush at her approach. She found a little stream, bubbling up from the ground, and used her by-then empty Coke bottle to help herself to some of its sweet, icy cold water.

  Eventually she came to the lighthouse, which was in much better repair than the big old house. It stood high on a cliff top, above a sheer face, and the wind there whipped her hair deliciously. She went right to the edge and looked down at the waves crashing against the rocks below. It would be a great climbing cliff. She made a mental note to get some gear out here when possible, so she could do just that. Well, if Devlin would let her come back here once she left.

  And then she heard the telltale buzz of a motor, just beyond her range of vision and realized she was too visible out there in broad daylight, standing on a cliff, silhouetted against the sky. Yeah, she’d better move.

  Emma explored the lighthouse, where she thought she would love to live, and the entire side of the island it occupied. She found the tunnel entrance, hidden in a pile of boulders about ten yards from the lighthouse’s front door. She discovered a waterfall, a couple of small caves that didn’t go anywhere, and a hidden little cove where she took a bath, rinsed her hair, and put on the clean jeans and T-shirt from her backpack.

  By the time she made her way back to the mansion, it was mid-afternoon. Several more hours before the vampires would wake. And while she wanted to explore the entire house, she settled for rescuing the books she’d seen scattered on the floor, wiping the dust off them and placing them on a nearby shelf with care. She was tempted to sit and thumb through some of the very old volumes, but there was something she wanted to explore even more. That third tunnel. It was a mystery she couldn’t resist.

  She put the battery back into the new cell phone so she could use it for light. There would be no signal underground, so it was safe. She put some fruit and her bottle of water into the backpack, leaving the rest of its contents on the makeshift kitchen table, and headed into the basement to explore.

  The tunnel sloped downward, but she didn’t see or hear any water, so it was probably okay. Then, holding the phone high for illumination she moved through, following it, examining the ground beneath her feet–stone–and the walls around her–also stone–and the unending darkness both ahead and behind. It was cool, but not cold. Just cool enough to make her glad she’d put on her jacket. After a while, she started hearing something...a distant roar, deep and powerful. Had to be the ocean.

  Swallowing hard, she pushed on. She’d walked for more than an hour before the roar grew louder, and she thought she saw light up ahead. Hurrying forward, she came up short when her feet hit water, splashing it onto her calves.

  Water. She was who knew how far beneath the surface of the Pacific, and she was standing in water. She wondered how long before her vampire rescuers would wake, and realized it would be too long. She couldn’t depend on them to save her if she got into trouble here. But then again, she was pretty good at getting herself out of trouble, and that light ahead and the changing tones of that roar, lured her onward. And so she kept on walking.

  She’d traversed miles–she had no idea how many, but her pace was brisk and there had been few obstacles, so she figured at least ten. Then she came closer to the source of the light, a chimney like chasm that opened to the sky. Every couple of seconds, the roar of the ocean grew louder, and water sprayed through the crevice. At her feet, barely visible, was a pit so dark she couldn’t see its bottom. Its sides were worn smooth, and she presumed the constant spray of seawater from above had worn the stone away over countless centuries. It was too wide a gap to jump. At least for a human. But when she aimed the beam of her phone along the left hand wall, she found it wasn’t quite as smooth as it had at first appeared. There were places where rock jutted an inch or two inward from the side, both down low, and up high.

  Smiling at the challenge, Emma took off her shoes, which were for running, not climbing. She stuffed her socks inside and threw them across to the other side, and then she gripped the nearest protruding bit of rock in her strong fingertips, leaned out over the pit, and found her first foothold. Her other hand found a grip, further in. She leaned over farther. Water from far below sloshed and gurgled, deep and ominous from the bottom of the pit. “Don’t bother, my friend. I don’t scare easily.” She was still smiling as she swung her leg around, breaking contact with solid ground. Her toes found the next foothold and clung. And she stood there for a moment, like Spiderman on a skyscraper, clinging and feeling the familiar and welcome rush of adrenaline in her veins. It felt good. Maybe she was addicted to that sensation. But that wasn’t a bad thing, was it?

  She located the next hand and footholds, a little higher. She’d have to angle up and down to make her way across, a foot or so of progress at a time. And that was what she did.

  Chapter Six

  As the arrival of the night summoned him from depths of sleep unimaginable to humankind, Devlin felt Emma’s energy. It was high, excited, aroused. She was near him, and he heard, unguarded, her thoughts.

  I could kiss him. I could do it right now, and he wouldn’t even know. God, I want to. I really want to.

  He struggled toward consciousness, determined to open his eyes before Emma did anything that dangerous.

  And since when do I not do anything that I really want to do? She thought.

  And then her mouth was brushing across his, once, then twice, and then a third time, lingering and pressing, her lips moving over his in a way that brought him to screaming, burning lucidity.

  And hunger.

  He clasped her upper arms in his hands, pulled her down on top of him, and kissed her in return, pressing her lips apart and taking her mouth the way he wanted to take her body. He plunged inside, no hesitation, no p
ermission sought nor granted. No holds barred.

  One of his hands slid up into her hair, tangled there, tugged at it, mashing her face closer to his. He clasped her backside with his other hand, pressing her hips to his and arching into her.

  Then he opened his eyes and saw her through the red haze of bloodlust.

  She gasped and pulled away from him so hard that she landed on the floor and stared at him.

  “Yes, Emma, be afraid of me. You’re playing with a fire that will devour you if you’re not careful.”

  Her back was against the cave wall. She held his eyes, didn’t flinch or avert her own from the hunger that blazed from them. And then she lifted her chin a notch and said, “I’m not afraid of you.”

  “No?”

  Her gaze unfaltering, she shook her head left, then right. “I’ve swum with piranhas. With sharks. I’ve shot most of the world’s class six rapids and base jumped from the tower at Koala Lumpur.”

  I know, Devlin thought. I was there, fearing for her life every time. “Those things don’t begin to compare with tempting the passions of a vampire.”

  She shrugged. “I’ve got a dozen years to live. Really, Devlin, nothing scares me. Not even you.”

  To his mind, those words had the ring of a challenge. And on a deeper level, they tolled his own doom.

  “Why are you down here?” he asked, deciding to change to a safer subject.

  “Why do you hate humans so much? You used to be one. Every vampire was.”

  “Why are you down here?”

  The others were awake. They’d each chosen their own spot to rest, but they were gathering now, just outside this small chamber, and he got to his feet. “Come, you can tell us all at once.”

  He took her hand, surprised himself by doing so, then realized it was too late to let it go again. So he pulled her angrily behind him as he walked out of the chamber and into the main section of the tunnel. He let her go only when he’d walked as far as he needed and the others had gathered around him. “Our guest saw fit to come down here and await our awakening,” he said.

  Bellamy sucked air through his teeth and made a face, then he patted Emma’s shoulder. “No one told her that was bad form, Dev. She couldn’t have known.”

  “No,” Emma said, “that’s not true. It wouldn’t be good manners to go into anyone’s bedroom while they slept and sit around waiting for them to wake up.” She turned to face Devlin. “I’m sorry I was rude. I was just so excited about what I found today that I couldn’t wait to tell you.”

  She was completely composed, Devlin thought, while he was still awash in passion and desire from that kiss. How could she recover so quickly?

  Bellamy clapped his hands together. “What? What did you find?”

  She grinned. “I found out where the third tunnel leads. Come on. I’ll show you.” And unabashedly she took hold of Devlin’s hand, and ran all the way back up the tunnel they were in, then led them all to the third arched chasm and into it.

  After only a few steps, Devlin asked, “How far is this discovery of yours?”

  “My best guess, about twelve miles. Maybe fifteen”

  “Well, let’s make it quick, then.” He stopped walking, snapped an arm around her waist, and scooped her up, swinging her around behind him. She locked her legs around his hips, and her arms around his shoulders. “Stop when you get close to where the ocean is roaring like a lion,” she told him. “Otherwise, we’ll all be dead.”

  And they were off like a bullet through the chamber.

  Soon enough, he did hear the roar of the ocean. He stopped then, and set her on her feet. Andrew, Bell and Tavia had kept pace, and now they all looked at the jagged opening in the rock, like a chimney extending upward.

  “I had to climb,” Emma said. “But you guys can jump. Although you might want to spider-climb up that chimney first so you can see where we’re going.”

  “You climbed across this?” Devlin asked. “You climbed up into that?” He couldn’t look at her, only at the gaping hole she’d spanned. Sea water churned a few hundred feet down. Then he gazed up at the wormhole above them, where the water kept splashing in. She’d climbed to its top to look out. “You could’ve been killed.”

  “Oh, come on, Devlin, I’ve climbed the Dawn Wall at Yosemite. This was a piece of cake.”

  “You’re mortal, Emma. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that?”

  Tavia released what sounded like a seal’s bark. He was sure it had started as a laugh, only to be disguised as a cough. Bellamy was looking at Emma as if he’d discovered the one true goddess.

  Sighing, Devlin braced a hand and foot on either side of the chimney, and spider hopped up into it, wondering how a slip of a mortal female had managed the feat. When he got up above sea level to a split in the rock, he looked out. And stared at what was a bit of rugged Oregon coastline, far nearer than before. Frowning, he let go and descended, jumping to land beside Emma once more. Then he cast his gaze farther along the seemingly endless tunnel.

  Waves crashed up against the stone chimney, over and over, their frothy foam spraying inside and raining down into the chasm.

  “It goes all the way to the mainland, Dev,” Emma said. “I found where it ends, but I didn’t leave the tunnel to see what was around the opening.”

  “Why not?” Bellamy asked.

  “Because I promised Devlin I wouldn’t leave the island while you all slept. To my way of thinking, exploring the tunnels wasn’t really leaving the island. But emerging on that side would’ve been.”

  She walked around behind him, and he realized she wanted to ride on his back again. He closed his eyes and sought patience. “It’s only a few more miles,” she said. “And we’re going to the mainland tonight anyway, to hunt for Dad and your pair of teenage mutant vampire killers.” Then she gripped Devlin’s shoulders and jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. Tavia looked mildly amused and Bellamy bit back what sounded suspiciously like a giggle. Andrew was shaking his head and looking irritated.

  Devlin twisted his head to look at Emma on his back. “We have to at least go back for the map. And probably a phone or two, in case we get separated.”

  “Oh, right. I forgot.” She let go with one hand, and then used the other to remove her backpack, which she tossed it to Bell. “Phones and the map are in there.” Then she kicked Devlin’s sides. “Let’s go, noble steed.”

  Devlin rolled his eyes, trying hard to be irritated instead of amused, enticed and delighted by her adventurous spirit and fearless heart.

  A single night among them, and she was already trying to run things. He didn’t think he’d ever met another woman like her.

  He leapt the pit easily, then ran, though not at top speed, because he was wary of what might lie ahead. A sub-Pacific cave was not exactly the safest place to be. He wouldn’t drown, of course. He didn’t need to breathe to live. But she did.

  As he traversed the cave with his comrades streaking along behind him, he wondered about Emma’s mother. When a vampire vanished, particularly during recent decades, it usually meant they were dead. A lot of vampires had been wiped out of existence by humans reacting in panic to the news that the boogie men of their childhood nightmares were real. He had trouble believing any woman with a daughter like Emma could stay away from her for very long, if she could help it.

  Emma was still young, and facing a decision most mortals never dreamed of having to make. A life or death decision, or rather, a death or undeath decision. Life wasn’t an option for her. Not life as she knew it, anyway. She had time, yes. But not a lot of it. Her mother must know that, and she would want to be there for her daughter if she were any kind of mother at all.

  If she hadn’t returned, then she was probably dead. And that was a shame. Emma deserved a happy ending to her sad tale.

  At last, he saw a solid wall of rock ahead. Their tunnel had reached its end. He came to a halt, and Emma jumped off his back, squinting in the darkness. And then suddenly something flashed brig
htly in her hand. Her phone, he realized. She was shining it around like a flashlight and he had to avert his eyes.

  Then she pocketed the thing, and started climbing the sheer rock wall in front of them. She’d taken off her shoes, tied their laces together, and had them dangling around her neck.

  “She’s like a spider monkey,” Bellamy said. “Jeeze, Emma, be careful.”

  She was nothing like a monkey, Devlin thought, watching her denim-clad backside shift this way and that as she climbed the sheer face.

  “The opening is up here!” she called down. Then she was wriggling through it and out of sight.

  “Dammit, Emma, you still don’t know what’s out there.” Devlin went up after her, but when he reached the opening, she was gone. He poked his own head out through the chasm in the rock to see her sitting on a patch of grass with the ocean wind blowing her blond curls playfully. She sent him a smile and patted the spot beside her.

  Devlin climbed through the small opening, barely fitting, and then, aware the others were coming out behind him, he stood and looked around. But there was no one in sight. They were in a grassy area with a few trees, high on a cliff overlooking the ocean. “You were right, Emma. We’re on the mainland.”

  “I know, right? Isn’t it fantastic?”

  Tavia came out last and stood looking at the hole in the ground. It resembled an animal burrow, except that it vanished into rock instead of soil. “We should conceal dis opening, to keep people out.”

  “We will,” Devlin said.

  “Isn’t it great, Dev?” Bellamy asked. “We can get back and forth way faster this way than by rowboat, and all without being seen. Just think, we can transport supplies, building materials, food–”

  “This passage needs to be used for emergencies only, and maybe for vampires who are seeking to join us,” Devlin said. “The more often we use it, the more likely it will be discovered. We need to be extremely discreet about this. It’s not only a portal for us, but could serve as one for anyone else.” He wondered if it should be destroyed, to protect the island from invaders.