Samhain Publishing

The heart sees what the eyes cannot.

The Watchers, Book 5

A first impression is all it took to fill Tank’s nights with dreams of a beautiful woman caressing piano keys with long, graceful fingers. And to throw his level head completely off-bubble. Then the music vanishes, replaced by the woman’s frantic pleas for help.

Dreams clash with reality when a Watcher mission leads Tank into a musty, rat-infested basement where he finds his piano lady broken and bleeding from a Rogue attack—and suffering the beginnings of the change.

Music is Sonya Brown’s salvation, and her job teaching students to overcome their blindness—just like her—is a perfect fit. At least it was, until a new co-worker’s unwelcome advances cross over into an obsession that rips away everything she holds dear.

She awakens frightened. Confused. Somehow…different. But not alone. Gentle hands tend her wounds, feed a strange, new hunger. And build an inner fire she’s never before known.

Keeping Sonya safe from the Rogue who would fully claim her is only half of Tank’s battle. Sonya must accept her new life, or his dream will become only a memory.

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Copyright © 2010 Author
All rights reserved — a Samhain Publishing, Ltd. publication

“Si. Si. Water. Please.”

Tank jerked awake. He’d dozed for a moment. Anger gripped him for doing so. Intending to watch over her until she’d regained consciousness, he’d managed to remain awake through the remainder of the night. But, his body had had other ideas. He’d lost the battle against fighting the daytime sleep.

After he’d bathed Sonya and cleaned the blood from her hair and body, he had dressed her in the flannel shirt Robyn had left outside the door.

With a quick glance at the bed, Tank noticed Sonya stirring as she called out for water. Quickly vacating the chair, he filled a glass from the bathroom faucet, then returned to her side.

“Sonya.” Tank spoke her name softly, hoping not to startle her with his voice. He knew she was anticipating hearing Si’s voice and not his deep baritone.

As expected, she stiffened, freezing every muscle in her body. If not for his keen hearing, Tank would’ve thought she’d stopped breathing. He spoke again before fear ran rampant through her mind.

“Sonya, don’t be afraid. My name is Tank. I’m here to help you. We found you at the sanatorium and brought you to our home. No one is going to hurt you. You have my word.” Pausing for a moment, Tank thought of what else to say to make her relax. “Si and Mya are here as well.” He’d evidentially picked the right thing to say. The tense look on her face seemed to soften.

“Would you like some water?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Seeing Sonya in this condition made his gut clench.

Tank knelt at her side. “I’m going to lift your head so you can drink.”

When she nodded slightly, he eased onto the edge of the bed, slid his arm behind her head and then lowered it to her shoulders. With her head cradled in the crook of his shoulder, he brought the glass to her mouth and held it there a moment, giving her a chance to open her mouth and settle her lips on the glass before he tipped it slightly. He tried his best not to let the liquid pour too quickly into her mouth. As she swallowed he watched the ripple of her soft skin along her long, slender throat…

Cough…cough Sonya jerked away from the glass, choking on water that must have flooded her mouth and throat. Tank gathered her to his chest and lightly patted her back.

“I’m so sorry, Sonya. I should’ve been paying closer attention. Are you okay?”

“Do…?” She cleared her throat then tried to speak again. “Do I know you?”

“No. I know who you are from when you spoke on the news recently about your students’ concert.”

Her face brightened at the mention of her students. Tank could tell she held great affection for them. He almost felt envious.

“Where am I?” she asked as she eased out of his grasp and rested her back against the headboard of the bed.

Tank figured she hadn’t caught what he’d said earlier since she’d still been pretty out of it. “You were sick. I brought you to the Ce…my home to take care of you.”

With eyes closed, and her face turned downward, deep furrows formed between her brows as if trying to put pieces of a puzzle together.

“Sonya. We found you in the basement of the old sanatorium. Do you remember how you got there?”

She lifted a shaky hand and settled it on her forehead, rubbing back and forth slowly.

“David.”

Her voice was so soft, so small Tank almost missed her answer.

“David?”

An almost unperceivable nod followed his question.

“He’s a fellow teacher at the school. He came to my house sounding very upset, so I let him in. We were talking, then he…”

Her entire body started to tremble. Tank placed his hand on her shoulder. He wanted to do more. He wanted to gather her into his arms. Instead, he settled for this small gesture. She didn’t know him and had already been brutally attacked by someone she did know. David. He hoped this to be the same man he’d snapped like a twig at the sanatorium.

“Is there anything you can tell me about him, any description at all?” Tank felt almost foolish asking such a question since Sonya was blind. What kind of description could she give?

She grew quiet once more as if thinking. “The only thing I can tell you is that he has a mustache. I felt it once when he kissed my hand. I don’t know much else. He does have somewhat of an accent. A northern one. He’s from Boston, I believe.”

Damn. Tank closed his eyes. The Rogue he’d killed at the sanatorium had definitely not been David. The vamp had had no mustache, and his speech had been about as country as one could get. Obviously, the presence of the cologne on the bloodsucker had meant nothing but a possible coincidence.

The deep furrow returned. “I must’ve been unconscious when he took me from my home. When I awoke, I was in someplace that smelled musty. Si found me, and…”

Like a train jumping track, her expression changed from tired and confused to frightened and anxious. She started to slide out of bed.

“David killed Si and Mya’s adoptive parents. We’ve got to call the police. We…”

Tank wanted to kill the son-of-a-bitch, but right now, he had to calm Sonya. Calling the police was definitely out of the question. This was a matter for the Watchers, and he planned on being the first in line to take care of David. He grasped Sonya’s wrists to get her attention.

“Whoa. Okay. Settle down. I know about the children’s adoptive parents, and I’ll take care of David. I just need to know more about him and where to find him.”

Her eyes still closed, Sonya shook her head.

“No. You don’t understand. He’s crazy. He’ll kill someone else if the police don’t lock him away.”

Tank didn’t know how to break the news to Sonya that she was no longer human and now lived a different life—a life among the vampire society. He doubted she had any idea what David was, and since she was blind, it would’ve been even harder to detect how different he was. The hunger would come upon her soon. He couldn’t wait any longer. She had to be told.