Night's Promise(76)

Derek brushed a lock of hair from her brow, then left the house. He had just enough time to hunt and make it back to California before the sun came up.





Early the next morning, Sheree and her mother were back at the hospital. Sheree was relieved to see that some of the color had returned to her father’s cheeks and that he was resting comfortably.

Sitting beside her mother on one of the hospital’s hard plastic chairs, Sheree offered a silent prayer of gratitude that she had met Derek. Without him, she was certain her father would have passed away during the night.

For a time, neither of them spoke, both focused on watching her father’s every breath, tracking the lines on the monitors.

After a while, Meredith took a deep breath and turned toward her daughter. “Tell me about the young man who brought you home. Who are his people? Where is he from? What does he do for a living?”

Sheree shifted in her chair as she tried to gather her thoughts. “Derek’s from California. His parents have a lovely home in the Hollywood Hills. Old money,” she said. Then, hoping to impress her mother, she added, “They also own a castle in Romania.”

“Royalty?” Meredith queried, her eyes suddenly alight with interest.

Sheree nodded, remembering that Derek had called his mother the Queen of the Vampires.

“Neil was upset when you left without saying good-bye.”

“Oh, Mom, stop matchmaking. I wouldn’t marry Neil Somerset for a million dollars in gold. Or Ralph Upton, either. I’m in love with Derek, and nothing you can say is going to change that.”

The argument Sheree saw coming died on her mother’s lips when Dr. Carlson entered the room. He nodded at Sheree and her mother, then checked his patient’s vital signs.

“How is he?” Meredith asked anxiously.

“Much better.” He smiled at the two of them. “Someone must have prayed up a miracle.”

Sheree grinned inwardly. A miracle, indeed, she mused, and his name was Derek.





Chapter Thirty-Four

During the next two weeks, Sheree’s father made a remarkable recovery. She spent her days and early evenings at the hospital, but her nights were spent with Derek. He had never been to Philadelphia, so she took him sight-seeing. Of course, going with a vampire meant they went touring when most of the places were closed. Being whisked into museums when they were no longer open added a bit of excitement to viewing the Rodin and the Woodmere, or touring Independence Hall and the quaint home of Betsy Ross.

Sheree supposed it was inevitable that her mother would continue to delve into Derek’s family, since Meredith was enthusiastic about genealogy and had spent considerable time and money tracing the Westerbrooke line.

Derek sidestepped her questions as best he could, claiming, truthfully, that he had no idea who his grandparents were, or where his mother and father had been born.

“Maybe I should just tell her the truth,” Derek suggested one night as he and Sheree left the hospital.

“Oh, there’s a good idea,” Sheree retorted.

“Well, it would certainly keep her busy, trying to trace Mara’s ancestry back to the time of the pharaohs.”

“Does it ever just boggle your mind that she’s so old? I can’t even comprehend it.”

“She’s like a force of nature,” Derek said, opening the car door. “You just have to hope you don’t get in her way.”

Sheree slid into the passenger seat. Sometimes it was hard to imagine that Derek’s mother was a vampire. She was easily the most beautiful woman Sheree had ever seen, elegant and graceful. And deadly. For the first time, she wondered how many people Mara had killed. The number was probably in the thousands, considering how old she was.

Derek looked at Sheree, one brow arched in amusement as he started the car. “Thousands?”

She flushed with the realization that he was reading her thoughts, though why it continued to surprise her, she didn’t know. “Too many? Not enough?”

“I have no idea, but I’m sure the number is considerable.”

“She seems so nice.”

“Nice?” Derek laughed as he pulled out of the parking lot. His mother was a lot of things, but he’d never thought of her as nice.

“Well, she’s been nice to me.”

He couldn’t argue with that. Mara had taken a definite liking to Sheree. “So, where do you want to go tonight?”

“I don’t know.” Home was out of the question. Her mother would be there soon, and she just wasn’t up to listening to Meredith quiz Derek about his family. She wasn’t in the mood to go to the movies. She wasn’t hungry. . . . She slid a glance at Derek. Well, not for food.