Mysteria Nights

And then Miss S. and you almost went all the way.

Those brats! They did know Colin and I had been in the painting! At that point there was a “musical” interlude in the rap, and both boys mouth farted and popped around looking silly and semicharming at the same time. Summer had just decided she’d been entertained enough and had started forward again when her eyes went to Colin, and she froze in place. He was watching the boys and laughing with the youthful joy of a man filled with light and promise. And Summer once again saw the happy, open man who had shared the painting, and his passion, with her.

He was completely and utterly captivating.

It was then that the question of whether she should risk getting entangled in a life of passion and darkness became moot. She was entangled with him already. Somehow within this dark, brooding vampire there lay the man she’d fantasized about and longed for all these years. It wasn’t a question of fitting him into her future. Colin was her future.

Summer must have made an involuntary sound, because Colin’s gaze instantly went from the boys to her. The smile didn’t leave his face; on the contrary, when their eyes met, his joy seemed to blaze from him to her.

“So we be here to make yestaday okay,” rapped Purdom.

“Yea, we got to give you somethin’ ’cause Sullivan says we got to pay,” intoned McArter.

“And she’s scary—even though I’d like to tap that play.”

The fart noises came to a crescendo, then Purdom went into the closing lines of the rap.

“We thought ’bout what we could do that would stay.

And come up with a magic spell to melt our dissin’ ya away.”

Magic spell? Those words broke through the smoldering look she was sharing with Colin at the same time she noticed that the little shivers going up and down her spine weren’t just because she was hot for the vampire. The rap was really a spell the boys were casting! Then four things happened simultaneously.

Summer opened her mouth to scream at the kids to stop.

Colin moved toward her with an inhuman speed that blurred his body.

Purdom finished the rap/spell with the line, “Dude, we give you a future bright as the sun’s ray!”

And as the vampire’s body slammed into Summer, she realized the magic catastrophe was unavoidable, so she closed her eyes and braced herself, sending out one concentrated desire: This will not mess up Colin and me. Then the area around her exploded with light.

Nine

When Summer opened her eyes, she was in a strange bed in a room she didn’t recognize. It was nice—she noticed that right away. Actually, it was freakishly like her dream room: huge, antique iron bed piled with rich linens in soft blues and yellows. The furniture was simply carved oak, well made and expensive but not fussy. The floor was glossy pine wood, dotted here and there with thick butter-colored area rugs. The walls told her she was in a log cabin—a damn big one at that. There was a fireplace along one wall. The others held several incredible original watercolor paintings of landscapes that all had one thing in common: they were bright and beautiful and painted in the full flush of summer days.

Then her eyes caught something on top of the long, low dresser. Was that her jewelry box? She climbed down from the mountain of a bed and realized two things: One, she was wearing her favorite style of pajamas: men’s boxer shorts and a little matching tank top. Two, it was, indeed, her jewelry box sitting on top of the dresser. Actually, as she looked around the room more carefully, she saw that the jewelry box was just one of several items that belonged to her. Over the ornate beveled mirror hung one of her favorite scarves. The Kresley Cole book she’d been reading was on the nightstand beside the bed, as was her favorite honeydew-scented candle. Feeling surreal and very Twilight Zone–ish she opened the top drawer of the nearest dresser and, sure enough, inside was a neat row of her bras and panties.

“What the hell is going on?” She cried, and then, wondering how she could have been stupid enough to forget, memory flashed back to her, and she recalled the two boys and their rap that had become a spell and the terrible light that exploded just as Colin had grabbed her.

Light? Colin?

Light! Colin! The two definitely didn’t mix. Where was she, and where was Colin? Summer hurried to the window and peeked out. The sun was setting into the mountains, painting the lovely landscape around the cabin in hues of evening. She was definitely in a cabin, out in the woods. But it wasn’t her sister’s cabin. She tried to calm her freaked-out mind. Think—I have to think! The kids’ spell finished with something about Colin having a bright future. Goddess! Did that mean he was trapped in the dark somewhere? And if so, why was she here in this pretty cabin? It didn’t make one bit of sense.

“Okay. Okay. You’re a college graduate. You can figure this out,” she told herself. “This room looks like it could belong to you, so . . .” With sudden inspiration, Summer went back to the bedside table and, sure enough, plugged into the charger, just as it was in the bedroom in her sister’s cabin, was Summer’s cell phone. She grabbed it and dialed the first number that came to mind.

“Summer! Where are you? Are you okay?” Jenny’s voice was uncharacteristically frantic.

“I’m fine, I think, and I don’t know where the hell I am. Where’s Colin? Is he okay?”

“Other than having lost his damn mind worrying about you, your vamp’s fine. And what do you mean you don’t know where you are?”

“What do you mean he’s lost his mind?” Summer and Jenny spoke their questions together.

“I can’t tell—” Summer began.

“He’s freaked completely—” Jenny said.

Both women paused. “You start,” Jenny said. “Why don’t you know where you are?”

“’Cause I’ve never been here before. I’m at a gorgeous cabin and, weirdly enough, it’s not just decorated exactly how I would have decorated it, but a bunch of my stuff’s here. Now tell me what’s up with Colin.”

There was some unintelligible noise in the background and then Jenny said, “I’ll do better than that. I’ll let Colin tell you himself.”

Summer could hear her passing off the phone, and then Colin’s deep voice was in her ear. “Summer? Are you hurt? Where are you?”

“Colin! Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine; don’t worry about me. Are you okay?” he said.

“Other than not understanding what happened, I’m fine. Especially now that I know you’re okay.”

“I am okay, sunshine.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “Now that I’m not scared into my second death. Don’t ever disappear like that on me again.”

“Disappear? Is that what happened? All I remember is a bright light. Are you sure you’re okay? I know the whole light thing isn’t good for you.”

“I didn’t see a light. The kid finished the spell just as I grabbed you, and then an instant later my arms were empty, and you were nowhere.” His voice lowered. “I don’t like my arms being empty of you.”

His words made warm, fluttering things happen in the pit of her stomach. “Yeah, I know,” she said.

“Where are you? The sun’s setting. I’ll come to you.”

“I wish you could. I don’t have any idea where I am. I woke up in this beautiful iron bed in an amazing room that, weirdly, has a bunch of my stuff in it.” Summer walked to the bedroom door while she kept talking. “I peeked out the window, and I’m somewhere in the mountains—great view, by the by—in a big cabin. You should see this place. Your brother would definitely appreciate the quality of the watercolors on the walls, and they’re all of summer landscapes. I haven’t gone out into the rest of the house yet, though.”

“Does the bedroom have a large, wood burning fireplace in it?”

Summer nodded. “Yeah, it does.”

“Go out into the rest of the cabin, and tell me what you see.” His voice had a strangely excited tone to it.