A deadly combination.

Bloody. Feckin'. Hell.

Snow landed on his nose and he wiped it away with an irritable movement. Wind ruffled his hair as the moon peeked out from behind a cloud. Although the night grew bitterly cold, a fire continued in his belly.

He'd come to the church to think and discovered a woman with incredible copper penny red hair tumbling in ringlets down her back to her waist. She was a tall beauty about five- seven with curves that fit against his body with agonizing perfection. Her full hips, rounded and soft under those jeans had felt so good. And sweet Mother Mary.Her breasts.

Better not think about the ripe fullness he'd cupped. The weight of her breasts had driven him to within an inch of seducing her. He'd wanted to pluck those nipples, feel them under his fingers. He'd wanted to rip the shirt off her and suck her, lick the round orbs until she writhed and begged to be taken.

His groin throbbed with unsatisfied passion he hadn't suffered for decades.

"Damn it."

Who was he kidding?

A few moments of coaxing and she would have been his. Here in this forsaken graveyard he could have taken her right up against this crypt.

So why had he stopped?

He'd stopped because ClarissaGaines didn't deserve what he'd done to her any more than she'd deserved the pirate's filthy attention. He'd vowed to keep his hands off mortal women a long time ago, and he'd refused to use his seductive powers to possess one.

If a mortal woman came to him it would be because she wanted him, not because he'd convinced her by some vile means that she wanted him when she didn't. Even seven hundred years ago, after he'd been turned into a vampire, he'd never taken a woman against her will. Rape sickened him and he abhorred all who used their power this way.

Yet with one glance at two beautiful blue eyes, he'd lost complete control and tried to seduce her.

Feck. He couldn't afford distraction with the ancient one still haunting this town.

When he turned and looked at the churchyard, he remembered what he'd told his friends only a day ago. What he'd vowed to Sorley,Lachlan,Erin,Gilda, Tom, Micky, and even Jared. He'd promised to findthe woman.

This so-called woman would be everyone's salvation from the ancient one and the parade of darkness, according to the Irish seer and to Yusuf.

A warm feeling entered his weary vampire soul, one with far-reaching consequences.

ClarissaGaines had heated to his influence, and a woman who didn't find him attractive in the first place would have struggled more against his embrace.

Ronan smiled. Besides that, he'd heard some of her thoughts. Reluctantly she'd admitted to herself she thought he was handsome.

Ruggedly handsome.In a mortal, very ridiculous way her attraction gratified him.

Something else kept his interest high; his weakness for wanting to solve mysteries. When he'd held her in his arms she'd murmured about things from his past, things he wanted to forget. A dart of mental pain lacerated him. Somehow Clarissa had known about sweet Fionnghuala or Fenella as her anglicized name would be known. Clarissa had seen the horrible memory of Fenella's death as if the memory were her own and not extracted from the deepest, most agonizing part of his mind. How?

His gaze fell on the abandoned fanny pack on the ground nearby. He smiled again.

Maybe he had foundthe woman after all.

Chapter Two

As Clarissa walked into the town community center, memories flooded her. The old saying about not being able to come home again was true, yet the building smelled, looked, and felt the same as it had twelve years ago.

Long and wide, the log cabin structure seemed a little gloomy this evening. Although the cutesy Halloween decorations should have looked fun and inviting, they managed to appear clownish in the more sinister sense of the word.

She'd noticed as a child that the buildings inPineForestowned a special dimness. They lacked the verve and essential glow of happy areas. When she mentioned this oddity to her parents they'd indulged her with a "yes, dear" and then said no more. She'd chalked up her impressions as her imagination, since she seemed to have a tremendous quantity of it.

Shadows lingered here as they did everywhere else in this odd town. Determined to map this community by word and photograph, she knew she'd get her book written and designed despite the bizarre circumstances plaguing Pine Forest. Photographing haunted places during this Halloween time when the veils between the worlds were thinnest might be advantageous. Who knew what she'd pick up on film?

She stepped through the main foyer and saw the large meeting room to her left bustled with activity. People milled around the room greeting each other and settling into metal folding chairs. Tonight the topic of discussion would be whether to hold the annual Halloween party or to cancel. After all, a serial killer prowled the streets and no one appeared safe. The entire month of October had been rife with murders; Clarissa had lost count of how many had occurred.

How could they celebrate Halloween as if nothing drastic had happened? Halloween was in less than a week. Much could happen in that time, including the capture of the serial killer.

Or, as she knew only too well from the information she had, everyone in this community center could be dead by Halloween night.

She found a chair near the back. No one seemed to notice her, which seemed funny considering she recognized many faces in the room. Then again, she'd been gone for so long and had changed enough they wouldn't know her. Instead individuals appeared tense, alert but not quite with it. Maybe the entire town had been strung out on anxiety.

Although she still trembled from the experience she'd encountered with Ronan Kieran and the pistol-packing pirate, she didn't ignore the thoughts entering her mind now.

She liked this place. As a kid she'd been here many times. Brownies,Girl Scouts, even a high school dance. The place smelled the same with a hint of rose and lavender mixed with old wood. She recalled old Mrs. Bassett and her cologne had a rose and lavender scent, and since the lady worked in the community center for almost fifty years there was a good chance her ghost lingered here. At least that would be Clarissa's theory.

She doubted anyone in this room would be interested in hearing her conjecture. Yes, people believed Pine Forest had ghosts up the ying-yang. But twelve years ago she'd left this town with people's disbelief inher ringing in her ears. They hadn't believed her story, no matter how often she told it.

For twelve years she'd resented their treatment and hadn't been back.

Until now.

When the murders started she knew she had to return. Not just to photograph Pine Forest for her new book, but to exorcise the demons running around in her head and perhaps to find the killer in the process. To save this entire town from imminent ruin.

Her mind kept dragging her back to the graveyard. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened to her earlier in the evening, or the odd way Ronan Kieran made her feel. The visions she'd seen could have been past lives for him, and perhaps he didn't know about them. Reincarnation didn't explain the strange glow she'd seen in his eyes, or the bizarre and immediate attraction that held her in his thrall for several minutes.

She'd almost been mugged and then a strange man had saved her life and turned her on so much she could barely walk a straight line. Her entire center of being, the things she believed about herself were rattled in that graveyard. Her mind shrieked at the danger and wanted nothing to do with it; practicality said it would be hazardous to probe into the thick aura of mystery surrounding Ronan Kieran. The other side, the one searching graveyards for intriguing pictures and even more interesting ghosts, said she couldn't resist the challenge.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats!" A tall, thin man banged a gavel on the podium at the front of the room as he called above the din.

He brushed a hank of gray hair away from his forehead. With his longish hair and tweed suit he looked more like a studious middle-aged professor than Harry Bold, mayor of Pine Forest.

No one paid much attention to him, caught up in the typical summit mentality of no one in charge but everyone wanting to speak. The mayor was flanked by a tall, buxom young blonde and a short little man with thinning black hair and a Hitler mustache.

"People, please!" Harry rapped the podium and the talking and general noise decreased.

"We have a lot of business to get through tonight." As soon as the coughing and shuffling died down, the mayor started. "We're discussing, in light of current events, the feasibility of the annual Halloween party."

Several voices went up, but the mayor used his gavel. His brows pinched into a severe frown. "We're doing this rationally. There will be no heavy debate, only sound decisions." When voices cried out again, he put one hand up. "Now, listen here. This is the plan. Despite the fear and chaos this murderer has caused, we are not giving into the fear. This town has been here over one hundred years, and Pine Forest isn't giving up."

"What about the killings?" One shrill female voice rose above the crowd. "It's the worst thing this town has ever seen. I say we cancel the party."

The mayor held up his placating hand once again. "I can understand your concern. But what I really want to know is if you plan on letting this murderer run us out of our homes, our town, our activities?"

"Yeah," another female voice said. "Maybe that's what this bastard wants."

Not surprised by the vitriol in the crowd, Clarissa took in the argument with interest.

A distinct female voice reached above the crowd. "We have to reconsider the party. It leaves too many people out after dark and vulnerable."