"Yes! Exactly!" she said in a soft whisper.

He shook his head. "We are magnificent creations! We are the culmination of the power of evil, or so we can be! We are predators, like sharks, like crocodilians-black widows, Maggie, if you will. We are born to kill, to rip, to tear, to weed out the human population. You are a blind little fool to deny it, to try to be what you are not!"

"I refuse to be a monster, Aaron!"

"You refuse to do so, alas! Perhaps you'll change your tune. All for a n.o.ble cause, of course. Come to me, Maggie. Ask for my forgiveness. I think I'd like you on your knees.

Beg me, promise me-poor, d.a.m.ned creature that I am!-a taste of heaven. Do all this . ..

and maybe I'll let the girls and old Canady here live."

"I'll do anything you want, Aaron. Just let me untie them so that-"

She had reached Cissy and Angie. They were bound with their own stockings. Tightly.

So tightly that she struggled with the knots. Her gaze met Angie's, and she tried desperately to rea.s.sure her with her eyes, and make her understand that she must free Cissy as well, and that they must get out.

She screamed, startled when a heavy blow fell across her shoulders, sending her flying across the room."Get up, Maggie. I didn't decide to free anyone yet."

She stood.

"I just told you that I'd do anything-"

"Lip service, Maggie. Come to me."

"Where are you?" she demanded harshly, coming to her feet, alarmingly aware of his strength. She realized that she'd beaten him before because she had always fought him with a heedless rage-he had killed all that she had loved, and she hadn't cared anymore. He had gotten smart as well as strong. Taunt her, make her think that she could save her friends, and he had power over her.

"Where are you?" she repeated. She needed to get him out of the library. Perhaps that would give the others a chance to free themselves.

She started walking slowly back toward the door to the library. When she reached the doorway, she heard his laughter again-coming from behind her. She spun around.

Now he was there, in the flesh-standing beside Daniel Canady.

Tall, lean, handsome features as ever distorted by a cruel grin.

He had picked up Daniel's head by the hair. He held his knife, one with a blade over six inches long, against Daniel's throat. "Remember all that I've done, Maggie? With a knife just like this one ..."

"I remember, Aaron." She lifted her chin and waved a hand in the air, indicating his head. "But when you started all of this, here, now, were you trying to make me think that Lucian was the one doing the killings?"

He shrugged. "Sure ... I didn't intend to fool you for long, but I thought that perhaps, seeing me from a distance, hearing what I looked like, well, you might think that your precious Lucian had come back to basics and was truly being a king of our kind."

"No one would ever mistake you for Lucian, Aaron."

"Oh, and why is that? Do you think that our mighty Lucian has never ripped mortals to shreds? You fool yourself, if you believe such fantasy."

"No one would ever mistake you for Lucian," she repeated.

"Come on, get into the spirit of this. What will you do for me, Maggie, if I let Canady live? He's so close to death at this moment, I can almost taste it."

She exhaled on a long breath.

"Aaron-"

"Psychology, Maggie? I'd be so careful if I were you. No matter how powerful you think you are, you couldn't possibly reach me in time to stop me from killing him."

"You're asking me what I'll do for you. What do you want, Aaron?"

He reflected on the question for a minute, smiling.

"I've made myself pretty clear, I think. Kneel, Maggie."

Slowly, keeping her eyes on him, she did so.

"Tell me you're sorry, Maggie. Come to me on your knees, and tell me that you're sorry for the way you've hurt me over the decades."

She inched toward him, realizing that she had no choice. Aaron didn't bluff.

Time. She had to think ...

She came toward him slowly on her knees. Very slowly. "Let him go, and I'll leave this house with you."

"Oh, Maggie! How you lie."

She shook her head. "I'm not lying, Aaron. I'll do anything if you'll let him live, and let the girls go."

"How n.o.ble. But let's see if you're telling me the truth. Come ... keep coming. Come all the way over here ... Now stand. Slowly. Now kiss me, Maggie. Make it good. Make it a promise of everything to come."

She stood before him, and yet he hadn't moved. He still held Daniel's head by his hair; still held a knife to his throat.

She touched his cheek. On her toes, she brushed his lips with her own. His mouth was cold. He tasted of blood. It should have whetted her own hunger. That was what he had intended.

"Thirsty, Maggie?" he whispered against her lips.

"Yes," she said.

"Why don't you kill Canady?" he suggested.

"Because I have learned not to kill."

"Not good enough, Maggie," he whispered against her lips, moving the knife slightly. "Try another kiss. Taste my lips. Taste what you are."

"Let Daniel go. Get that knife away from him."

"All right." He let go of Daniel. In a split second, the knife was pressed hard against her throat, and she realized he had the strength to sever her head from her body with little effort if he chose to do so.

"Come on, Maggie, now," he whispered softly, sensually.

With his free arm, he pulled her closer.

"If you kill me, others will kill you. Lucian-"

"Lucian's reign is ending. Can't you see that? Has your precious Lucian come here to intervene? Lucian has no blood l.u.s.t, and no power. Don't you understand yet? I've spent all this time, nearly a hundred years, Maggie, learning greater power, greater strength. I'm not afraid of Lucian judging me. If I kill you, I'll kill Lucian as well, and my reign will begin.

Don't make me do it, Maggie."

She exhaled on a long breath, meeting his eyes. Then true terror filled her, for she suddenly heard a voice.

A mortal voice.

"Let her go, a.s.shole!"

Sean had come.

CHAPTER 19.

contents previous

Despite being a cop, despite everything he'd witnessed in all his years on the force, tripping over the corpse had nearly caused him to scream. Who was it, Jesus Christ, who was it, who lay there dead?

He fell to his knees.

Examining the poor dead woman had nearly made him ill.

Then the fear had set in, colder than any he had ever known, deeper than any pit of h.e.l.l.

His father. What if this had been done to his father? To Maggie. The house was so silent.

Silent and dark, while outside, the storm clouds seemed to whirl in a strangely purple sky.

He staggered to his knees, inhaled deeply.

Prayed for courage, as he'd never prayed before.

He wanted to shout out, call his father, call Maggie. He didn't dare. His only chance was the element of surprise.

Nearly blind in the dark shadows of the house, he used his memories of a lifetime to inch his way through the rooms. The dining room was empty; the kitchen ominously silent.

He went to the parlor, and then ...

Then he heard the voices. Heard the husky depth of Carter's voice, taunting Maggie. He paused, dead still, as he listened to Maggie. Bargaining for his father's life.

He moved closer. He was as prepared as he could be.

Yet, fear moved him, and he came to the library door, and he saw Aaron with his knife at Maggie's throat.

And he shouted out, raising his .38 special.

"You heard me! Let her go."

The killer pushed Maggie aside, holding her with one arm. He leaned his other arm upon Daniel Canady's head. With his eerily glowing eyes strangely alive in the shadows, he laughed at Sean.

"Let her go ... or what, big boy? Look, Maggie, sweetie, the cop has come. Why don't you tell him that his bullets can't kill me."

Maggie, staring at Sean, swallowed hard.

"Tell him, make him understand!" Aaron said angrily. "Or I'll rip his throat out!"

"Sean, you've got to go. You've got to turn around and go, please-"

"You heard her, big boy. Get out of here. If you do, when I get my hands on you-I'll just kill you. Short and sweet and simple. Give me trouble, big boy, and you'll just wish that you were dead."

Maggie was at Aaron's side. So was his father. Sean had to do something.

He heard noise to the side of the room. He didn't dare glance away, but with his peripheral vision, he saw Cissy and Angie huddled against the wall. Angie was barely moving.

But her hands were on Cissy's wrists; she was untying her friend. Aaron Carter meant to have a field day here. A glut of murder.

He was a cop. A crack shot. He couldn't kill Carter with a bullet, but he could sure as h.e.l.l hurt him. Buy some time for the others. Sean raised his .38 and aimed at Aaron's head.

The shot sounded like a cannon. His aim was true. The bullet plowed into Aaron's forehead.

Maggie screamed; Aaron cursed as he floundered backward. Sean felt one moment's wild elation.

Then he realized that Aaron Carter, white faced and snake-eyed, was coming forward.

Maggie moved like lightning, taking one of his father's ma.s.sive old historical volumes from the desk. She slammed it against Aaron with a savage force. Aaron doubled over, gasping. Sean started forward, firing his gun again and again.

But when he reached the spot where Aaron had stood, he was gone. "Maggie! G.o.d, Maggie!" he cried out, clasping her in his arms, trying to see to his father at the same time.

"Your father probably has a concussion," Maggie said quickly, touching his cheek, her hazel eyes shining with unshed tears. "Oh, Sean, you shouldn't be here-"

"The girls, my father. Help me!" he said simply. He lifted his father's dead weight from the chair at the desk. Maggie ran to Cissy and Angie. Angie was free. Her fingers fumbled with the ties that held Cissy. "Come on, come on, up, are you all right?" Maggie asked anxiously. Cissy nodded, swallowing hard. "Maggie, for the love of G.o.d, what is he? His strength ... we were helpless. We-"

"You've got to get out of here, fast, and send help, please, while Carter is weakened.

Go! Can you drive, can one of you drive?" "Yes!" Angie exclaimed. "Cissy, let's go. Maggie, you've got to come with us-"

"No, we need to stay with Sean's dad! Go, please, go, get to the police station, quickly!"