They Come by Night

Chapter 1: Come to Pass-4

Of course he’d known about the Crists. His father was a conscientious man, and he’d made sure Ben was aware of what Maggie’s people were like. They never married out of the family, cousins marrying cousins, and how they hadn’t wound up with numerous hereditary problems was a mystery. In addition, they were prolific. Her brothers had anywhere from seven to ten children, and the number would have been greater if—

But Ben had taken one look at Maggie and fallen head over heels. All the stuff that was in love songs…sweet kisses and gazing at each other with stars in their eyes, standing on the street where his beloved lived and looking up at her window…well, he would have if the Crists hadn’t lived on a farm, but it was the thought that counted. They were just like Romeo and Juliet, and he’d known their love was everlasting, could overcome anything, that she wasn’t like the others in her family…

He’d been wrong, and now his children—but most of all this little boy—were going to pay for it.

“To tell the truth, turning thirty hit Maggie hard, and she was so depressed I was trying to talk her into seeing a psychologist. When she realized she was pregnant again, she was thrilled.”

Although he knew if his wife had been aware of the very special child she carried, she would have aborted the fetus without thinking twice about it, and there would have been nothing anyone could have done to stop her, short of keeping her in a locked room for the duration of the pregnancy. And even then, he wasn’t certain the infant would have survived.

“Ben, I hate to bring this up, but how safe is Ty going to be?” His father looked worn, and Ben hated like hell it was because of him.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean a big, white-haired man tried to get into the nursery.”

Ben felt the color drain from his cheeks. His son was so tiny. It would have only been a moment’s work to snap his neck.

“Ty’s fine right now.” His father rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. “The nurse thought something was fishy and sent for the doctor. Crist said something about not having time to waste and coming back later, and left. Shortly after, so did Magdalena.”

“I have to get up to the nursery!”

“You just concentrate on getting well. Dave and I will take turns watching over Ty. Phil?”

Ben’s youngest brother stared at the Patient Bill of Rights on a bulletin board fastened to the wall, his gaze unfocused. After a minute or so, he gave a crooked smile. “I can stay.”

“Thanks, all of you. Dad.” He lowered his voice. “I can’t stay here. They know where I live.”

“I know, Ben. Too often that family has been underestimated. We won’t make that mistake. Is there anything in your house that you can’t live without?”

Ben thought carefully. “Our marriage license, the kids’ birth certificates. Pictures and videotapes of the family. Pepper—” The look on his father’s face scared him. “What did they do to her?”

His father rested his hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Is there anything else?”

“No.” Imagining what the Crists must have done to his dog, Ben bit down on his back teeth, afraid he might throw up. He shook his head. “Nothing.”

“All right. One of us will get them for you. Dave, you’re about Ben’s size. Your job will be to buy some clothes for him. Nothing to rouse suspicion, just jeans and some shirts, socks, and underwear.”

Ben didn’t bother asking if his dad really thought Maggie’s father would do something. His son’s life was at stake.

“Dad, the other kids?”

“They may not have the birthmark, but they carry the gene. They’ll be watched.”

“But if we can’t find them—”

“There are others who will.”

And Ben knew he’d have to be satisfied with that.

* * * *

Joe

Joe looked down at the baby boy he held. Tyrell was starting to fuss. Had he picked up on his grandpa’s tension?

“Don’t you worry, little one. We’ll all keep you safe.” Joe began to croon a lullaby. It had been a long time since he’d tried to soothe a baby, but it wasn’t something he was likely to forget.

A shadow fell across him. He raised his gaze, up and up, and swallowed as he met the flat black eyes of the vampyre king. Even knowing he had nothing to worry about—after all, vampyres hadn’t fed on the unwilling for the past two or three hundred years—he was intimidated. The only one of their kind Joe had ever seen was the woman who’d come to claim his youngest boy when Phillip had turned eighteen.

He started to get to his feet, awkward with the baby in his arms.

“No, you need not rise. You know who I am?”

He bowed his head. “Sir.” This being was the Rege, and Joe knew the courtesy due him.

The Rege reached out his arms. “This is the child.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. Tyrell.” Joe handed the baby over to him without hesitation, knowing the infant was in safe hands. “My other grandchildren?”

“They will be watched over from a distance. Since they don’t bear the mark, they will be safe enough.”

“Thank you.”

“Your daughter-in-law is instituting annulment proceedings.”

“She? Not her father? Goddammit. I knew Magdalena Crist would be trouble. If only Ben hadn’t fallen in love with her.”

“Crying over ‘if onlys’ is futile.”

“I know,” Joe said in a choked voice. He looked away, an ache building in his throat. “This is going to destroy him, to lose his wife and his children.”

“He has this little one. He’ll need to be strong for him. I’ve found a new home and job for him in Clewiston. He and Tyrell will be safe there. As soon as your son is well enough, we’ll see they get there.”

“We’ll never see them again, will we?” Joe hated the fact that his voice quavered, but it seemed he was losing not only his oldest son, but all his grandchildren.

“Phillip will be permitted to get word of them to you, but it will be safer for the boy. If he’s found…”

“He’s such a little boy.” Smaller than Joe’s sons had been, smaller than his brothers and sisters. “Would they really harm him?” He had to ask, even though he was certain of the response.

“He’s a sabor. They would.” The Rege seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then continued in a soft voice, “Over the centuries, they’ve had no qualms in leaving the infant sabors born to them exposed to the night. Some we could save. Others were not so fortunate. The Crists have cost us in their relentless destruction of a valuable resource.”

“How many?” Joe asked numbly. The very idea that any child, but especially a child who was a sabor, could be so callously murdered was wrong on so many levels, they couldn’t be counted.

“Even one was one too many.” The Rege’s eyes glittered, red now, and Joe swallowed, truly frightened for the first time. “Noah Crist was determined to wipe the strain from their bloodline. Now that he knows they were unsuccessful, he and his brood will do whatever is necessary to find and eliminate this child.”

“Oh, God!” Joe shivered, feeling cold from the inside out.

The Rege, his eyes black once more, observed him with compassion. “Have no fear for Tyrell.”

“How can you say that? I’m losing my son, my grandson, all my grandchildren!”

“I understand your concerns.”

“That’s no help! Why didn’t you wipe out that godforsaken family before this happened?” It was a cold question, but Joe knew how valued the sabors were.

“Because of who they are, it’s impossible to destroy them. In spite of themselves, they continue to produce a resource we can’t do without. No matter what Noah Crist might try to do to eradicate it, his sons and daughters will pass the gene to their own children, and their children’s children.”

Joe ran a palm through his hair. He could feel it starting to thin. Was he losing his mind as well as his hair? He sighed. “Ben told me Tyrell was born with a caul. It’s supposed to be lucky, but…” He sighed again.

“We were not aware of this.”

“I thought there wasn’t anything you vampyres didn’t know.”

The Rege didn’t respond to that. “In all our shared history, there has never been a sabor born behind the veil.”

“Lucky kid.” Joe felt tired. “Does it matter?”

“We don’t know.”

Tyrell began to fuss, and the Rege walked back and forth across the floor, crooning softly to him. Joe couldn’t understand the words, but they seemed to comfort his grandson.

“Adam.” Who was the Rege summoning?

He jumped as another vampyre emerged from out of shadows that shouldn’t have been in such a brightly lit room. Blond where the Rege was brunet, this vampyre’s eyes were a reddish-brown. He could have been in his mid-twenties, but he could just as easily have been ten times that age.

“Adam is my…equerry. I have designated the task of looking after Tyrell to him.”

“Your Grace! Are you sure you want me and not Ştefan?”

“I’m sure.”

Joe watched in reluctant fascination as the Rege handed his grandson to the younger vampyre.

Tyrell’s little fist flailed against Adam’s chest. It seemed to Joe that he patted that spot, and then he clutched at something Adam wore beneath his shirt.

The vampyre drew in a stunned breath, but the Rege nodded in satisfaction.

“What is it?” Joe demanded, alarmed, uncertain of what was happening.

The red in the younger vampyre’s eyes became more subdued, and his grin was crooked. “It would seem the Rege is not the only one who has chosen me as this child’s protector.”

“But this wasn’t done for Phillip. Or my sister, Bernadette.” Joe frowned. Earlier than that, he just didn’t know—his parents and grandparents never mentioned a child needing to be protected. Vampyres would never harm them, and normals were unaware of what they were.

“There was no threat to those in your line. Oh, we watched over them from a distance as we did all young sabors, but it wasn’t necessary to assign them a guardian.” The Rege scowled, and Joe was afraid he was going to piss his pants. “Except for the Crists.”

How was Joe going to explain all this to Ben?

“It grows late, and I must go,” Adam said.

This room had no windows; how did he know that?

The younger vampyre returned the baby to him and bowed slightly. “I promise you that no harm will come to this little one.” He rested a hand on Tyrell’s head, and then, between one blink of the eye and the next, he was gone.

“Your grandson is valued greatly by us, Joseph Small.” The Rege recalled his attention. “Thank you for him. And please let his father know this gift will not go unrewarded. Tokens such as this will mark each year on the day of his birth.” He held up a gold bar, about six inches long and an inch thick, and Joe sucked in a breath.

He’d been given similar tokens to hold in trust for Phillip until he reached the age of twenty-five, but they were nowhere the size of this.

“All we want is his safety.”

“And I promise you he will be safe.” The Rege tucked the bar into Joe’s jacket pocket, then touched his shoulder.

Joe shivered. Even through his clothes, that touch was cold.

Abruptly, he and Tyrell were alone in the room. Joe stared down at the infant with a combination of wonder and worry.

A nurse walked in. “Has he been fussing, Mr. Small?”

“Oh…”

“It’s his dinnertime. Sit down. It’s so nice to see male members of the family get involved. Do you need any help?”