Free The Vampire's Warden by S J Wright Page A

greatly disturbed at having the horses invade her space up near the house.
     
    I turned toward Alex, who had followed me upstairs and stood waiting by the door to my room. As I waited for Dr. Fleming’s answering service to pick up, I covered up the phone with one hand and said, “I hope Messy didn’t kick that gate down again. Can you try to get them both into that pen behind the barn? I’ll be out as soon as I can.”
     
    He nodded shortly and headed outside. I gnawed a little more on my thumbnail until the doctor’s answering service finally answered my call. I asked them to have the doctor call me back then headed outside to help Alex round up the horses.
     
     
     
    Several hours later, I collapsed in a heap on the sofa in the den. I was completely exhausted. Three hours of chasing a frisky and rather stubborn mare around our property could do that to anyone. We had both finally thrown our hands up in defeat, closed and locked the gate at the road and left Messenger to her own devices. In the end, we had lost sight of her in the woods behind the barn and hoped she might be tempted by an open stall door and a couple of scoops of grain in her feed bin. We were both unwilling to do anything more about it that night.
     
    Alex had headed over to his cabin for a shower and Nelly was busy preparing us a small dinner in the kitchen when the phone rang. I struggled to my feet and went into the entry, where we had one of those old-fashioned phones sitting on a table near the stairs.
     
    “ Woodhaven Inn. This is Sarah. How may I help you?”
     
    “ Sarah this is Dr. Fleming. You need to come on down to the end of your driveway. I’ve got a couple of guests that need to be let inside.” He sounded a little odd. Nervous.
     
    I held the phone away from my ear and called into the kitchen, “Nelly, did we get another reservation that I didn’t know about?”
     
    “ Not as far as I know.” She replied from the doorway, a kitchen towel in one hand, and a wet pan in the other.
     
    “ That’s weird.” I pressed the phone against my ear, “Dr. Fleming, we don’t have anybody on the books for tonight.”
     
    He hesitated for a moment then continued in a shaky voice that was completely out of character, “Sarah honey, these are the special guests I told you about a few days ago.”
     
    Holy crap. The Council reps. Trying to ignore the weary feeling in my legs and my desire to fall asleep, I pulled on a jacket, grabbed the keys to my truck from the hook inside the pantry door of the kitchen, and rushed out of the house. Vampires. I was surprised they had not just come up to the house. Couldn’t they fly or something?
     
    Seeing me rush out, Sadie came galloping over to me with her pink tongue flailing around. I shook my head, “No way, girl. You’re staying in the barn tonight. These people would probably make a quick snack out of you.” I ruffled the thick soft fur around her neck, grabbed her collar, and pulled her to the side entrance of the big barn. I got her inside without too much of a fuss and closed the door.
     
     
     
    An increasing amount of adrenaline had begun to revive me as I pulled up a few dozen feet from the closed gate at the end of our long driveway.
     
    Three figures stood in the darkness there. One was a very tall man with short white hair, dressed in a pristine black suit and wearing dark glasses. At his side stood a woman, who was nearly as tall as the male vampire beside her. She had long ebony hair that was elaborately braided and twisted into lovely circles on her head. She was dressed in a classy red business suit that included a mini-skirt that barely covered the tops of her long thighs. They both looked entirely irritated and completely out of place. A dozen or so feet away stood the doctor, leaning against his still-idling Pontiac.
     
    I left the truck running and opened the driver’s door. I wondered how dangerous these two strangers were and if they posed any possible harm