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THAT NIGHT, Sheriff Cole Granger and Deputy Dave Hinton joined the a hard ti her eyes, but she attributed it to the stress everyone was under and turned her own attention to Beulah&039;s delicious cooking
It was interesting, Alex had to adether based on their vocations: ranchers with ranchers, farmers with faro-based distance, as well Most er Unless they were shy and round
And those erous than the swaggering kind
Maybe it was the fact that all four ether by their pursuit of Milo and his bloodthirsty gang-she almost smiled at her own choice of words-but they seemed to have formed an easy camaraderie, which she had to admit was nice As they ate, Cole asked Cody about his past, which he ran through in an oddly cut-and-dried manner His folks had owned land out this way, he said, but his father had been killed o, and his rown up there, then gone on to Harvard He&039;d found work in the capital and then in Northern Virginia, until war had broken out and he&039;d joined up with a Louisiana unit Wounded and discharged, he&039;d been practicing medicine in New Orleans before he&039;d come west
Brendan Vincent sat forward "I actually went to New Orleans to find Cody I&039;d heard word that he&039;d faced a killer like Milo before, and I needed his help out here"
"And how did you know there was trouble in Victory?" Cole Granger asked
"I had family once in Hollow Tree," Brendan said "A while back, they wrote to s-on out this way Then I h these parts, and he told sby and Hollow Tree were ghost towns"
Alex hesitated, then asked, "Trouble? Did other people tell you about the vampires?" she asked
Cody looked at her "No one believes in vampires-until they beco back"
"Enough of this," Dave said suddenly "We&039;ve still got to live like civilized people, and inabout ed hiot to play for these folks You never heard anything like her," he added to Cody and Brendan
Alex laughed "If we&039;re being civilized, you gentlemen are supposed to ars"
"We&039;d rather hear you play," Cole told her
"Perhaps Mr Vincent or Mr Fox would like a brandy and a cigar, and then I could help Beulah clean up after dinner," Alex suggested, suddenly feeling self-conscious and trying to get out of playing
"A cigar over the co He reer,her synity entle and kind She knew he had been an officer, and she iined he had coo on," Beulah said "Bert and I can get this place picked up neat as a pin faster without none of you trying to help"
"So you play the piano?" Cody asked Alex
"A bit," she admitted reluctantly
As they moved to the parlor, she finally reht?"
The sheriff nodded gri livestock, and his oldest son-who has children of his oas worried about his eldest son But the boy seeet word to hi I should have had sos in toell, let&039;s just say the day was full It&039;s important that we be prepared here first, then we can help others"
"Brendan and I will go first thing in the h of that kind of talk Play so for us, Alex," Dave said
"What would you like to hear?" she asked, wondering why Dave kept trying so hard to force the conversation away froe," he said
She sat at the piano and played a Chopin prelude, followed by a reel
"We ought to be dancing," Dave said
"Hard to dance when the only woman in the room is at the piano," Cole pointed out
To Alex&039;s surprise, Cody suddenly smiled broadly and said, "That&039;s because you never served under the right coadier General Vincent, sir, may I have this dance?"
"Indeed, soldier At ease," Vincent replied, grinning back Then the two ht of Dave and Cole Beulah slipped her head in to see as going on, and before she could retreat, Cole had pulled her into his arms for a dance
Dave suddenly slipped onto the bench next to Alex "Go rescue one of the ood as yours, but I can still e a reel"
She allowed him to take her place and rescued Brendan Vincent She danced with him for a bit, swapped with Beulah and danced with Cole, and then found herself with Cody
She was both exhilarated and afraid
It was just dancing, she told herself But there was so with Cody
He held her the same way Brendan and Cole had held her, but she could feel the way Cody held her, and when she looked into his eyes, soolden fire she saw there seemed to steal her breath away far more effectively than the speed of the reel
At last Brendan cried, "Mercy!"
Dave stopped playing "Thank God you caved in first, sir My fingers couldn&039;t have gone on er I&039;m not much of a musician, as you could probably tell"
"Why, Deputy," Brendan protested "That was absolutely fine, and deeply appreciated Though Cody may do as a partner in a pinch, Beulah and Miss Alex made far finer companions on the floor-no offense, Cody"
"None taken," Cody assured hih exercise for this old gent," Brendan said "If you&039;ll excuseto the house," Cody assured him
Brendan nodded and went upstairs, and Cole and Dave announced that it was tio on upstairs?" Cody suggested to Alex "I&039;ll see them out and lock up"
"Thank you," she said A few minutes later, as she stood in the privacy of her roo the s and doors
She slid into her nightgown and brushed out her hair, all too aware of his footsteps as he cli of his door Adoor, and she froze She&039;d never felt so torn She wanted hi as ridiculously dramatic as sweep her into his arms And yet she was also afraid that he would do exactly that She wasn&039;t afraid on ht she could so easily lose her heart and soul to thisabout Cody He was restless, not the type to stay in any one place for long He came from Louisiana If he had a home, that was it No matter what happened between the hi for ain
"Co if he could even hear her
He could
"I&039; to check your doors," he told her as he opened the door
"I locked them," she told him
"I&039;ll just double check If you don&039;tfrozen at her dressing table, her brush still in her hand and raised halfway to her hair
Cody checked the s and French doors, then returned to the connecting doorway and paused She heard the ticking of a clock, and then, when it speeded up, she realized she was listening to the beating of her own heart
"Good night, Alex," he said at last
And then he left, closing the door between them
THE DREAM CAME SOMETIME in the very early hours of the ain she kneas a dream, that it wasn&039;t real, but perhaps it was a vision of what ht be
She had ridden out to the plain She knew there was danger, but soo She had no choice
She rode hard, and Cheyenne, her round
As she rode, she beca there, facing away fro a railroad duster and a hat, coht, and she knew hih she couldn&039;t see his face
She reached the place at last
The place where her father had died
She dismounted The man&039;s back was still to her as she started to walk toward hiain coh she knew in her heart who he was
He turned to her, and her heart seemed to flip in her chest
It was her father
He stared at her, and his face twisted in agony, tears filling his eyes
"Alex," he whispered
He reached out to her, and she went to him
"I love you, Dad," she whispered as he embraced her
"Alex, I know you love me And I love you, my dearest child You have to know, you have to believe me when I sayit isn&039;t me"
His arms were solid and real, and she felt the power of his love, but she dreay fro to smooth the lines of pain from his face
"What&039;s not you, Dad?" she asked, confused
He paused, and she realized he was listening for so And then she heard it, felt it, herself: the treround that o," he said "Quickly We have to go!"
"I have Cheyenne," she said, and he nodded, leaping up on the horse behind her They started to race, but when they reached the base of the cliffs and stopped, he disave Cheyenne a firrasped Alex&039;s hand, drawing her forward along the towering stones
They passed the burial caves of the Apache and kept running, until he finally drew her into a dark cavern
She started to speak, but he lifted a finger to his lips to silence her
She heard hter, and then she heard Milo call out orders to his et away from me I will have her, do you understand?"
Alex inhaled sharply Did he mean her?
Footsteps came near, hurried footsteps, as Milo&039;s men searched intently for her Her father pressed her behind hiain to silence
"Wait!" Milo cried out "I knohere they&039;ve gone He&039;s taken her to Hollow Tree Come on Let&039;s ride"
Alex waited for the footsteps to recede "He&039;s gone," she told her father "Dad, we&039;re safe Oh, my God, they told me you were dead, but I knew it couldn&039;t be true"
"Shh," he said again
She didn&039;t hear anything Not a footfall, not a breath of air But she froze, anyway, at her father&039;s command
"You have to let her be" It was the deep, calhter," her father said, his voice strained
"And Milo is using you," Cody said
"I would never hurt hter," her father insisted
"Cody, this isto make him understand
But Cody didn&039;t pay any attention to her; he was looking at her father, and thethat she couldn&039;t begin to fatho I am not a part of the horror," her father told Cody
"Then send her back to me She can&039;t be part of this Milo has a connection, and every er"
Her father inhaled and exhaled deeply, then looked down at Alex "Go with hiain I won&039;t leave you," Alex protested
"You o with Cody"
Her father pushed her away and started to turn toward the deep darkness at the back of the cave