~ Eternity's Lonely Heart ~

by

Jayme Evans

Since she was on a roll, she was going for all of it. "Well, now that you mention it. How did you get me out of the car? Sometimes you seem to move so fast and have so much strength, you really do seem like a vampire with the strength of ten men."

His deep voice came out in a loud chuckle. "I thought it was twenty men."

Argh! He was laughing at her. Now that was rude. He had told her to ask, and now he was amused. She couldn’t stand it. "Whatever, Blake. Just answer something, please."

"If I were a vampire, I wouldn’t need the bedrooms to sleep in. All of them have way too much light."

Even with her frustration, Holly couldn’t help laughing. "Be serious, Blake. You’re not a vampire."

His gaze locked on hers, making her nervous. He looked too danged serious. Was he setting her up for a bad joke? "Well, you’re not."

He brushed his finger across his chin. "Are you sure?"

Was he crazy? Her heart thumped in her temples. Was he trying to scare her? Why was he acting this way? Was their hidden household secret that he was psychotic?

"Why are you becoming afraid?"

"The way you’re looking at me is making me nervous. I was expecting you to jump all over me and say your affairs are none of my business and maybe I should be on my way."

"I’m not going to say that. How should I be looking at you while you charge me with being a vampire?"

"Come on Blake. Stop fooling around. That was just a wild example of your behavior."

He didn’t answer right away. Why couldn’t he be serious? She had been. Dang it! Why did he have to be so vague? Yeah, right. A vampire. If he thought she was so easily fooled, he had to think again.

If anything made her mad, it was word games and not getting a straight answer.

"Anger doesn’t become you." His voice was low but reprimanding. "It spoils your lovely face. Now that I know all your concerns, or at least I think I do, ask me one question at a time. Ask what you feel you must know and I’ll do my best to answer it."

Finally, he sounded serious. But would he turn it around again to a farce? "I’ve already done that. You’re just making fun of me, and I don’t like it."

"One at a time," he said. "I promise to give a sober answer to every question. Does that suit you?"

She signed. It did and already she could relax a little. "Yes. I never did like being laughed at."

"I don’t either."

Well, he said to ask them one at a time. She certainly would. "Where do you go during the day?"

"To my resting place below ground."

Holly frowned. He was playing with her again, but she wasn’t going to stop now. "Why does your help call you Master?"

"Because they are my entranced servants."

She scrunched her nose. "What’s that?" She didn’t even know what that meant, even if he was playing games.

"They are hypnotized to do my will."

He sounded so serious. How could he say this with a straight face? He had to be the ultimate actor. "How can you do that?

"Because I am a vampire."

A vampire. Well, she had tossed out the accusation for a bad comparison and he had every right to throw it back in her face, but she didn’t like this game. He was much too serious. He couldn’t be a vampire because there weren’t any such creatures. What did he hope to gain by these ridiculous answers? "I thought you said that you’d give me truthful answers."

"I said sober answers. I could not be any more frank."

"Yeah, right." He wanted her to believe that he was a vampire. Michael and Ena were entranced. Master. That’s why they called him

Master. But why else would they call him Master? It almost made too much sense. "Why were you at the wreck?"

"I heard it from here and searched for it."

She swallowed hard for what seemed like the dozenth time.

"You must have awfully good hearing. I didn’t think that I blacked out. How did you get to the wreck so quickly?"

"I flew."

"Like a bird?"

"As a bird. A night owl, to be exact."

Holly squirmed. This was getting outlandish. If he was trying to convince her that this was all true, he was doing a good job. "How did you keep the car from going over?"

"My strength is superior to humans’."

Aggravation filled her. Why was he doing this? She placed her arms on the recliner arms and with a jerk she pushed the recliner to sit and lower her feet to the floor.

Blake laughed and she wanted to slap him.

He must have suspected it because he made his face serious. "I hope that you don’t follow up on the mood that you hold in your gaze. Rarely have I seen anger so strong. If you don’t want to believe my words, then let’s discuss Luke."

"He’s smart." If he thought he would play her for a fool and ignore it, he had another thought coming.

"I gathered that he had an intelligent mind."

"If he’s figured out that I’m in one of these houses, he’ll search until he finds me."

"He won’t find you here. The local police believe that you hitched a ride out of the area."

"How would you know that?"

"I convinced them."

She glared at him. Could he see her in the darkened room? "And how was that? Through this hypnosis of yours?"

He chuckled. "Of course."

"Well, Luke comes up with his own theories. I don’t know if Luke will believe the local police."

Holly, they will not find you unless I want them to, and I have no reason."

Holly couldn’t keep her heart from pounding. "How can you be so confident?"

"I know my abilities."

"What abilities?"

"If I told you, would you believe me?"

"Not if you continue to talk as silly as you have been. I don’t know what you’re trying to prove, but I’m not stupid. You’re not a vampire."

"Are you sure?"