No one said anything. No one moved. The air stopped circulating in the magnificent room. Slowly, her tears came again and even they fell in silence.

"Okay, then. I have my answer." He stood, bent down to the floor to retrieve his shirt and then headed for the door.

"Almonzo, wait." She reached for him and clung tightly to his upper arm.

"I have nothing left to ask you about. I believe you were honest. I also believe you told half-truths, something you mortal women seem to think serves you well in our world. I can't compete with whatever it is you are trying to avoid. If it's loving me, I can help you out by staying away from you until you make the decision to love me. If you have more secrets where Darian is concerned, then h.e.l.l's fury, you'd better tell me now before he takes a hostage again or worse, kills one of us with his new experimental potion. And you d.a.m.n sure better tell me before we all end up in the same bed together."

He yanked his arm free and glared at her. "Either way, Mother is having a dinner party here tonight. Dinner is at eight. I expect you to show up and act like a Spenser."

The hurt she witnessed as it flashed across his face sliced through her chest and left her doubled over with a ripping pain. Her jaw fell open when she'd heard his tone and immediately she regretted everything she'd said, and everything she didn't. Now, it was too late. He left her to sulk, if not wallow, in her sorrows alone.

Chapter 12

From the moment he left her, she felt the void. Her bones and muscles ached. She sat on the bed for a long time and rocked herself into a pity-party. When she heard the knock on the door and then the lock release, she expected to see Almonzo. Instead, she glanced up to find her sister.

Natasha's look of understanding only granted permission for Tabitha's tears to continue their fall. She fell into her embrace and Natasha hugged her tightly.

"Tabitha, you are a free spirit. I know what battles you've fought just to be with Almonzo. I understand what it's like better than anyone."

Dabbing at the corners of their eyes, the young women both held onto one more hug before separating. "I do love him," Tabitha admitted.

"Why, of course you do. I know you love him. Honey, he knows you love him."

"Then why the h.e.l.l do I have to tell him?" She hated to whine but by G.o.d if her sister wanted to play the role of big sis, then she'd found the right place.

"Do you like to hear him tell you?" Natasha's gentle patience seemed out of place.

She swallowed hard. "It's like music to my ears." She giggled, and it sounded more like a snuffling sniffle rather than laughter.

"Don't you think he'd feel the same way?"

She didn't respond.

"Honey, what is it? Why can't you tell him how you feel?"

Finally, Tabitha's defense mechanisms went to h.e.l.l and she cried harder making the sounds hum throughout the room with her heartier bawling.

"Tabitha? What is this about?" Natasha first cradled her sibling in a protective hold. When it didn't seem to work, she ran out of patience fast. She pushed her away, stood up and walked over to Almonzo's bay window, where she pulled back the drapes. She stared outside for a long time before she turned back to give Tabitha a scolding stare.

"Okay, you're going to start talking and you're going to start spilling all of your secrets right now."

It didn't take a lot for Tabitha to ascertain what she faced. Her sister established by glares alone what she suspected before she ever voiced it.

"You're hiding something and I think I know what it is."

She hoped like h.e.l.l Natasha realized it because then it would save her the trouble, never mind the heartache. "If you know so much, then you tell me," Tabitha snapped back before going to the mirror to check her makeup. Ruined-a total train wreck. "Baby," she criticized herself in the reflection and made a few faces before turning around.

"Interesting. You can cry like you have a broken heart, curse yourself like an insecure teenager and then face me with the defiance and will of a strong woman. I see where Almonzo is clearly frustrated. You are too many people living under one thick skin."

"Don't take his side." Tabitha rested her hands on the small of her back.

Natasha strode over to the sitting area of the master suite and flopped down in a beanbag. "Gee, I love these things. It's the only comfortable furniture in the house."

The ensuing uncomfortable silence threatened to tear the two sisters apart after several minutes pa.s.sed without a verbal exchange. The longer they didn't speak, the more Natasha wouldn't trust her own blood and Tabitha realized it.

"I want the truth. I know your tactics and you're hiding something and running scared at the same time. I fear it will affect the entire family."

Breathing was difficult and Tabitha nearly choked when she started to speak. As quickly as she opened her mouth, she snapped it shut.

"d.a.m.n it, answer me!" Natasha's anger consumed her and while an outsider might have thought it came from out of nowhere, Tabitha felt it was well warranted.

The fiery redhead's temper wouldn't stay in check longer than maybe a minute now. Her fierce eyes were streaked with red and her skin almost matched her hair color. She buried her head in her palms. "Oh h.e.l.l, you did it, didn't you? You slept with that monster?" She spoke to her own hands more than her sister but when she looked up again, she didn't peer up at her as her sibling but as a Spenser. Tabitha noticed it.

"Worse." She began pacing the room.

"Worse? There's nothing worse."

"I'm afraid there is." Tabitha lowered her voice. "You see, I believe the vampire legacy does live on through the virgin brides the royal families secure but more than their virginity, they want their blood."

Natasha's glare pierced through to her sister's soul before she answered her slowly. "You gave him your blood?"

"He took it."

"Oh holy h.e.l.l." Natasha doubled over and held her chest, as if she'd just endured a direct hit.

Tabitha began to gain strength in her tone just because she no longer carried the weight of the world on her shoulders alone. "I didn't really give it to Darian. He took it and, Natasha, you have to listen to me, it is why he could destroy this family."

"She's right."

Both females quickly turned to see Almonzo standing in the doorway. Hurt consumed him. Fear lingered in his eyes as much as his body language held a much stronger meaning. "I knew it. I realized it all along. Did you not trust me enough to tell me?"

"I understand the blood he took from me could destroy us and I didn't want to risk losing you."

"d.a.m.n it, Tabitha! You didn't want to risk losing me? Do you realize you've now put us all at risk? This is why his potion is a death poison vile enough to destroy our clan. It's how he designs his formulas." He moved closer. "The elders asked if he took your blood. He would've stood a chance at keeping you, a good one actually, if he'd admitted it."

"He doesn't want to stay with me." She told him. "He wants to use me."

"Oh, he's done that and he's going to get to do it again-three more times!"

Natasha looked from Tabitha to Almonzo and back again at her sister. "I think I need to dress for dinner." She started to move by them but before she left the room, Almonzo called out to her.

"Tell the others to meet me in the pod and tell Mother to cancel the dinner party."

"What?" Natasha turned around full of questions. "Your mother has worked very hard on this party. She's been planning it for weeks and wanted to introduce us to your family friends."

He didn't turn around to face her, just ordered, "Do it, Natasha!"

"I am not going to be the one to hurt your mother. She's put a lot of effort into this and if you want the party cancelled, then you tell her yourself."

Almonzo walked over to the wall, pressed the panic b.u.t.ton and then sat down on the edge of the bed, glaring at the woman he claimed to love. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Have it your way, ladies. We'll all meet here for a pow-wow. Believe me, I think the others will see the urgency of canceling the party."

The Spensers appeared shaken when they rushed into Almonzo's suite. Marion's eyes were haunted. Samuel and Orlando-deadly. Even Tate looked all rogue. They seemed surprised to find Almonzo calm, cool and dangerously collected.

"Son?" Samuel waited for an explanation.

"d.a.m.n you, Almonzo! Tell me you didn't use the alert b.u.t.ton for something foolish," Orlando said.

A set jaw was ample proof enough. They should be able to see he was a determined and very angry man. He stood up and faced his family. He then turned to his mate, his wife and lover. His world. The impact this new revelation would have on his family sent a shiver down his spine. "We have trouble."

Orlando looked around the room in antsy antic.i.p.ation. "Where? What the h.e.l.l is going on here?"

Slowly, Almonzo began to speak. "Darian Sabbat, as we've known for some time, has been trying to develop a chemical to destroy the vampires he cannot control. As Father knows, and you may, Orlando, the main problem the elders faced was in not knowing how or why this poison is apparently working for some when he had such a high rate of failure before." He glared at Tabitha and watched as a bead of sweat formed on her forehead. If he didn't love her so deeply, he'd ridicule her but he tried to keep in mind that she didn't know their ways. She didn't know the importance of her own blood.

Samuel moved closer to Almonzo. "It's what you initially thought, yes?"

Almonzo nodded. "He takes the blood of virgin women but he doesn't take their virginity. He has a team of experts working to determine possible matches for virgin brides. Then he makes it a point to find them before they are mated with an unsuspecting vampire. He searches them out and tries to find a way to secure them as his friend, maybe even a lover, though I seriously doubt it. In Tabitha's case, he didn't bed her but he took something far more precious than her virginity."

Tabitha swallowed hard. He watched her and answered her unspoken question. "I thought you knew. Sure, I wanted your virtue, what man wouldn't, but your blood was just as important to me."

Marion looked at her new daughter-in-law. "Oh, for crying out loud." Her hand rose and fell at her side. "You're not a stupid woman!"

She shot Natasha a glare too. Both young women looked appalled. She turned to face her other son and husband before she looked back at Tabitha.

"Don't tell me," She paused before her anger rang through the room. "You didn't think it would be important to tell Almonzo you had played around with Darian and just happened to let him nip your neck?"

Almonzo's eyes glazed over with pain. "That's not what happened, is it Tabitha?"

She shook her head. "No."

Almonzo paced the room as he watched the others grasp what he had revealed. He also paced to walk off the rage. She'd just confirmed what he suspected. Tabitha had been s.e.xually manipulated. He had enough proof of Darian Sabbat's ways to know how he convinced the women to willingly give up blood samples.

"Darian finds suitable matches. He then discovers their blood type and, believe it or not, convinces them he has a sick sibling or parent dying because they need blood. The unsuspecting, never mind nave, women gladly donate. He arranges everything and then he washes his hands of them completely. If this doesn't work, then he uses, how should I put this..." He didn't want to offend his own wife by stating something far too painful but it needed to be said. "He uses continual and ongoing s.e.xual stimulation until the women are begging for him to take their blood or worse, bed them."

"He didn't seem to wash his hands of Tabitha." Natasha knew there must be more.

"No. He wanted Tabitha to lead him closer to us and I imagine he would've taken her for his own but he realized early on I wasn't going to let her go. He believed he tried and failed. Either way, he won because he had the opportunity to move in closer and learn more about us."

Samuel nodded. "This is the very reason he took you to the Dark Castle of the Desert. He's a mental case. For some reason, he took you to the very place Orlando and Natasha joined. It's insane."

"None of this makes sense to me." Natasha crossed her arms and looked at Orlando, who didn't offer an explanation.

Almonzo did. "In a nutsh.e.l.l, ladies, Tabitha's blood is like a reverse immunization. It doesn't belong to Sabbat but because he has it now, he can use it to destroy any Spenser he wants to. One injection and we're toast."

"That's impossible." Marion looked at her husband. "Samuel?"

"That's the way it is." His tight lips studied the young women before he spoke. "Tabitha, I wish you would've trusted us enough to let us know this because it might have changed things when we had Darian under our control."

Orlando rubbed the back of his neck. "It would've changed everything. I would've brought him here and the son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h would've remained here for eternity. We would've imprisoned him. We wouldn't have had a choice and crying to the elders would not have been an option for the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

Tabitha tightly closed her eyes. "I am so sorry. I didn't know. I swear it."

Samuel walked over and draped a paternal arm over her shoulders. "This is a setback. What I want you to know is something you need to understand. We are Spensers. We stick together and this, while it is devastating news, isn't going to be the death of us. We're not going to let him get away with this and he will not destroy what we have as a family." He kissed her lightly on the forehead and then turned to the others.

"Marion, love, I'm afraid you'll have to cancel the party. We are going on lockdown for a few weeks. Constance will play inside or in the courtyard. Marion, you and the girls will not shop or leave the compound for anything. We cannot place ourselves at risk." He turned to his sons. "Orlando and Almonzo, we know what we'll need to do without discussion. We'll start to work on it tomorrow. I need to speak with the elders and let them know we now have Sabbat's formula for destruction. It took us d.a.m.n long enough to figure it out."

"What about the trilogy ceremony?" Tabitha questioned. "You don't want us to go out because of Darian but yet I am going to be placed in his bed because of some kind of sick custom?"

Samuel winced. "Darian will come here. The elders are always present for the final negotiations, naturally not the ceremony itself, but arrangements will be made. Almonzo will be with you and you will be safe."

"I don't want him near her!"

"We don't have a choice in this, son. This is the way we've done things for centuries. It's scheduled for tomorrow at midnight. They'll have to make arrangements to bring Darian here."

"If Darian is so dangerous, then why are the elders forcing us to use him as a secondary?" Tabitha asked.

Samuel locked his gaze with Almonzo.

"You think they knew he had her blood?"

Samuel confirmed. "I'm certain of it now."

Almonzo closed his eyes and for a minute seemed to be lost in his own mind. "I've thought of something and if after discussing it with Tabitha, she agrees, then I think I have a way around Darian as an a.s.signed secondary. It will infuriate him because of the terms, but it will save her in the event of my..."

"Demise?" Samuel finished it for him. "Then I know what you're thinking and she'll never go for it."

Chapter 13