Dark Melody (7 page)

"Are you going to believe me?" He asked the question quietly, but she could feel him waiting in the darkness for her answer.

"You forget, my husband was murdered. I know someone was in the house," she answered firmly. "I felt it."

He winced inwardly at the word husband. John. Her husband, John. Dayan had to get over that sick feeling whenever she mentioned him. John had been a part of her life for many years, first as a childhood friend, then later as a husband. A part of her loved him, would always love him. His hand bunched in her hair and he brought the silken strands to his face, inhaling the fragrance that was so unique to her. "There were two men in the house. They had guns and orders to kidnap both of you."

Her large eyes moved over his face. "Why?"

"A few months ago our band received word that we were on a hit list. That was how I first met Cullen. He risked his life to warn us. There is a society, a group of fanatics who believe in vampires."

Corinne lifted her head off the pillow to stare at him in shock. "You've got to be kidding me. Vampires? In this day and age? And what does that have to do with me? Or with you, for that matter?"

"You said you were different, that John had gone to talk to someone about his differences. That is the kind of thing these people target. The moment he set foot in the Morrison Center, you were noticed. How are you different, Corinne?"

His voice was like magic in the darkness, soft velvet brushing over her skin and in her mind. She loved the sound of his voice, his interesting accent, which she could not identify. The way he twisted certain words and sounded such a mixture of Old World and modern. "I can move objects without touching them." Somehow it was easier to make the confession in this dark room with his body lying close to hers, with her palm resting over the steady beat of his heart. She waited for his reaction, his derision, his shock. She waited for him to get up and quietly move away from her. Corinne didn't realize it, but her heart had gone crazy, beating irregularly again as she waited for Dayan to respond.

Dayan captured the hand over his heart, brought her knuckles to his mouth so that his breath moved over her skin, warm and reassuring. "What an amazing gift you have. I too can do such a thing."

Corinne turned her head to look at him. "You can? I've never met anyone else who could. It's so cool. Lisa doesn't like me to do it, but I can't help myself. John knew things. Like the telephone was going to ring and who would be calling. I've never met anyone else who could move objects."

"I can do other things too," he told her softly, his white teeth scraping along her fingers, back and forth in a soothing rhythm so that her heart settled down into the steady pattern of his.

Tears of relief were burning behind Corinne's eyes. Somebody who could understand. Even Lisa, who loved her, didn't really understand. She wanted Corinne to hide her differences from the world, and from her. Lisa pretended that Corinne was like everyone else. They had enough trauma in their lives without adding any more burdens. "Can you read minds?"

Dayan nodded solemnly. "Yes. I do not have to touch the person to read his thoughts. I was very relieved to know you found me attractive when you saw me, because you took my breath away."

A slow smile curved Corinne's soft mouth. "That is so cheating. You honestly can read my mind?"

"Right now you are attempting to keep your mind totally blank and you are wondering if there is any way you can censor your more, ah… how shall I put this delicately…?"

Corinne burst out laughing, the sound soft and inviting in the privacy of the bedroom. Dayan closed his eyes in an attempt to control himself. His body was burning with need, a hard, urgent ache. Little jackhammers seemed to be ripping at his skull. Her body was soft and tempting against his, her curves fitting into the hard angles and planes of his body. Fitting just right. He ached with need and loneliness. Inside him the beast was fighting to break free, raging against the restrictions Dayan was placing on himself. He reminded himself over and over that first and always came her health and well-being. He allowed the scent and sound of her to wash over him, into him, through him, so that he felt centered and balanced.

They weren't joined yet, but she was beside him, giving him the precious gift of color and emotion. She was there, alive and real, a truth he could barely grasp.
Corinne.
Her name was a light in the terrible darkness of his soul. Shining for him alone. Leading him away from a path down which so many of his kind had disappeared for all eternity.
Corinne.
He breathed her name and calmed his raging body with the knowledge that she was beside him.

"Let's not go there," Corinne said softly, laughter in her voice. "How did these people know about your gifts? And why would they think you were a vampire?" It was much safer to keep the conversation away from the almost bewitched way she felt in his company.

"I think there are many reasons. Our lifestyle, traveling from country to country, seems odd to many. The name of our band may even have contributed to the society's suspicions. We hand-raised two leopards and they travel with us. We sleep during the day and perform at night. Somehow it all added up to our being vampires. They tried to kill us by spraying the stage where we were performing with bullets." In the darkness he shrugged. "Cullen used to belong to the society."

"Cullen?" She echoed the name in alarm, astonished that Dayan could say it so casually. Lisa was alone in the other room with Cullen, asleep and very vulnerable.

Dayan touched her gently, his hand moving over her face. "Be calm, honey. Cullen risked his life to warn us. Those killers want him more than they want us. I've stayed with him to help protect him. My family owes him a great debt. Thanks to you, I can feel friendship again, even affection, where before I felt only a debt of honor. You have already given me more than you will ever know."

"I don't understand the vampire thing. Why haven't the police found these men?" Corinne was deliberately ignoring his strange references to her. She didn't understand her attachment to him, the way she needed to be with him when she had never been a needy person in her life. She felt safe with Dayan, yet at the same time threatened in some elemental and very exciting way.

"This group operates the same way terrorist organizations work. Hit and run, meet in secret. Only those at the top know who belongs. No one trusts anyone else. Some of those on the bottom have no real idea that killing goes on. I know it sounds bizarre, but unfortunately the society is very real. We have to protect ourselves at all times. If these people have targeted you and Lisa, you need protection too. They will not stop hunting you. Somehow we have to find a way to convince Lisa she really is in danger. She is resisting the truth because she does not want anything else in her life to change."

"Lisa had it much harder than John or me. When we were very young, their father began to date my mother. It was mainly a drinking relationship. We didn't know it then, but their father when he drank was extremely violent. To make a long story short, their father murdered my mother. Lisa walked in when he was bludgeoning her with a tire iron, and he knocked Lisa down, put a bag over her head, threw her in the trunk of a car with my mother's body and doused them with gasoline. John knew – he always knew things, and between the two of us, we managed to free Lisa without her father knowing." Corinne had unlocked the trunk of the car using her unique gift. "Lisa, John and I stayed together. We lived mainly on the streets, sort of fending for ourselves." She said it hurriedly, in a little rush, not wanting to dwell on the painful details of her childhood. She never talked about that time, never revealed the details of her early life to anyone, yet she couldn't stop herself from giving Dayan whatever he asked for.

Dayan threaded his fingers through Corinne's, all too aware of the sorrow beating at her, the horror of those memories. "After the murder, Lisa was so battle-scarred she didn't talk for days on end. I sat with her for hours and rocked her back and forth, and she would hold me when I broke down and cried. John was our rock; he stole food for us and kept us safe as we grew up. Eventually we all landed jobs in a cafe. Lisa was discovered there by a huge modeling agency. After that we didn't have to worry about a roof over our heads. I was already making money writing songs, so I pursued music in college. John became very successful at landscaping. We lived together as a family."

He touched her mind very gently, not wanting to be intrusive when she was reliving painful memories, but he wanted to "see" the details. Her life had been difficult, and he could clearly see her loyalty and love for John and Lisa. They had formed a family together and kept one another safe in a world gone insane. They had virtually raised themselves in a harsh environment and managed to remain loving and sensitive despite the odds against them.

"Lisa is not different in the way you are." He made it a statement, his hand tangling in her heavy mass of hair.

"We were terrified of Lisa's father. God only knows what he would do if he ever saw my gift, or found out about John. Lisa still is frightened and prefers not to talk about our differences." Without thinking, Corinne burrowed closer to his warmth. "Why would these people target Lisa? It isn't as if she does anything strange. No one could possibly think she's evil."

"It does not matter what their reasoning is, we will have to protect her. I have searched long for you, Corinne. I know you have accepted your death as inevitable because the human doctors have convinced you there is no hope, but it is not going to be that way. You are going to get well and spend your life with me." His thumb was rubbing the inside of her wrist, a caress that she felt all the way to her bones.

"You said human doctors. Is there any other kind?" She was trying to tease him because he sounded so intense.

"I want to try something. I am not a real healer, but I can help you, at least for a short time if you will allow me to do so," Dayan said tentatively. He was in new territory, feeling his way carefully. But her health was so fragile, he wanted to help in any way he could.

"What do you mean? Like faith healing?" She tried not to sound skeptical, but they were talking about vampires and religious fanatics and other highly impossible things. Still, Corinne didn't mind the strange conversation; she enjoyed lying in the darkness beside him, whispering softly.

"Do this for me." There was a magical quality to his voice that always made her want to do anything for him. How could anyone resist him? Ever?

"Tell me what to do."

"Just stay still and allow me to attempt this. I have to leave my body and enter yours. Usually a healer does this, not someone like me. I have sent for our best, but until the healer arrives, I am sure I can help you."

Corinne believed him. She didn't know why she believed he could do what he claimed – it was absurd – but she could see his confidence and she believed. It was odd to think he could read her thoughts, but it didn't bother her much, certainly not as it would if anyone else claimed such a thing. She lay perfectly still, waiting, without protest, to see what he did.

Beside her, Dayan became motionless, not a single muscle moving. Even his breath seemed to cease. She felt a warmth inside her, growing, moving, spreading. She heard a faraway chant. The words were in another language, quite beautiful and soothing, so she relaxed completely. The voice was male, definitely Dayan's, but it was in her mind, not spoken aloud. And he had a beautiful voice.

Dayan examined her enlarged heart carefully, then moved on to the baby. A tiny infant, a female. She was beautiful, fully formed and aware of his intrusion. He reassured the baby immediately, sending waves of serenity to surround her. She had the same abilities as her mother; perhaps they were even stronger. Although extremely small, the baby was perfectly formed, needing only to mature to thrive in the outside world. He left the child with encouragement and returned to his primary mission. Corinne's heart was definitely laboring.

He was not a healer and he didn't have the necessary skills to repair her heart. He could give her his blood to help strengthen her, but he had no idea what it would do to the child. He had touched the infant's mind, knew her as a person; he knew that Corinne already loved her. He couldn't chance harming the baby, not unless Corinne's time ran out. Still softly chanting the ancient healing ritual, Dayan did what he could to shore up her weak, laboring heart.

Corinne knew the exact moment he pulled out of her body. The warmth was gone, and she felt the loss of his presence instantly. She turned her head to look at him, slightly bemused. Perhaps he was a black-magic sorcerer. She was totally bewitched by him, completely under his spell. When his black gaze met hers, she saw hunger there, a terrible aching need, a void only she could fill. Corinne felt it, although she realized the intensity of their emotions made no sense.

"I just met you," she offered softly, her moss-green eyes examining his face.

Dayan linked their hands again, brought hers over his heart. "I have searched the world over for you, through time and distances you cannot imagine. You are the one. My other half. My lifemate." His voice was gentle, whispering over her like velvet.

Corinne shivered, edged closer to the protection of his strong body without realizing she did so. "I like that word. Lifemate. It sounds magical. Like we were meant to be together." Her eyes widened. "I can breathe easier, Dayan, I really can. What did you do?" She was experiencing that strange phenomenon again: Her heart was beating in the exact same rhythm as Dayan's. "Do you hear that? Listen to our hearts."

"We were made to be together, two halves of the same whole," he informed her gently, knowing she wouldn't understand. He meant it literally when she thought he was talking figuratively. "You are the other half of my soul, the light to my darkness. I hold the other half of your heart. We belong, Corinne."

She loved the way he said her name, a lazy drawl, his strange accent curling the vowel sounds until they were intriguingly sexy. "How strange, when I've never believed in love at first sight. You're overpowering, I'll give you that much. I can't make up my mind whether it's your guitar playing or the sound of your voice that's making me lose what little sense I had. Which do you think it is?"