"I am working on it."
She looked up at him, her expression puzzled. "Working on what? I do not understand."
Rourke grinned. He had only been here a few weeks and he was already picking up the local slang. "Do not worry, Ana Luisa. Everything will work out," he said, and hoped he was telling the truth.
After Rourke left the room, Ana Luisa stared at the moving images on the strange rectangular box called a TV. Karinna had tried to explain the moving images to her, saying that some of the things she saw on the box were like plays and some, like news programs, were events actually happening around the world while she watched. It was all so confusing. She hadn't been happy trapped in that horrid painting, but she wasn't any happier here, in this strange place and time. She didn't belong in this new world, and she never would.
She wondered where her father was. He would know that she had been freed from the prison he had made. Was he looking for her, even now? What would he do to her, to Jason, if he found them together? She shuddered at the thought of facing her father's wrath again, and yet, who else could she turn to now that Jason no longer wanted her?
Rising, she made her way to the front door, then hesitated with her hand on the doorknob. Was she being foolish to go outside alone? With a shake of her head, she squared her shoulders and opened the door. Even though she hadn't practiced her craft in centuries, she was still a witch. She could take care of herself.
After leaving the house, she turned left at the edge of the yard and continued walking. It was a lovely night, cool and clear. There was no manure in the road; the air didn't stink of sheep and goats.
She passed one house after another, thinking how nice and clean everything was. Sometimes she could see people through the windows. Grass grew in neat, well-tended plots. There were beds of flowers, and trees in all shapes and sizes. How different life was here, in this place, from what she was used to. There were no fields here, no sheep, no cows, no horses or goats or chickens, only dogs that barked at her as she passed by.
Those strange moving vehicles called cars moved past her from time to time. Riding in one had frightened her more than she had let Jason or Karinna know. The noise, the sense of having no control over the metal monster, the peculiar smell. Given her druthers, she would rather ride a horse.
Lost in thought, she paid little attention to her surroundings until she found herself on a dark street. There were no houses here, only buildings with broken windows and sagging doors. A shiver of fear ran down her spine. Though she was not familiar with this time or place, she knew that she was in danger here. Why had she been so foolish as to venture out at night, alone?
Chiding herself for her stupidity, she turned on her heel and quickly started back the other way. She glanced over her shoulder time and again, discomfited by the horrible sensation that she was being watched. A gasp escaped her lips when she ran into something. Something that reached out to steady her.
Something that turned out to be a stocky young man with short sandy-colored hair and shaggy brows.
He studied her through pale hazel eyes, and then a slow smile spread over his face. "Well, well," he drawled, "what do we have here?"
Ana Luisa took a step backward. Her first instinct was to run, but something told her that would be a very bad idea. Squaring her shoulders, she murmured, "Excuse me," and walked past him with her head held high.
His laughter rang in her ears like the tolling of a death knell, sending shivers of dread down her spine.
She ran then, like a frightened rabbit fleeing from a hungry fox, but it was no use. There was no place to go, no place to hide.
He caught her quickly, his hand closing around her forearm in a grip like iron. "Here, now, little lady, not so fast."
"Unhand me, sir!" she cried, trying to wrest her arm from his grasp.
"Sir?" He arched a brow at her. "I like the sound of that."
"Please, let me go."
"Not until I know your name."
"Ana Luisa. May I go now?"
"Oh, I don't think so. Not until you've paid the toll."
"What is that?" she asked suspiciously.
"A kiss and a taste."
"A taste of what?"
He smiled at her. Even in the darkness, she could see the milk-white gleam of his fangs. She tried to summon her magic, but her mind went blank as fear's icy hand coiled around her insides.
"I don't want to hurt you," he said, tightening his hold on her arm, "but I will if I have to."
"Let me go!" she shrieked, then cried out in pain when he backhanded her across the mouth. When she licked her lower lip, she tasted blood.
"Here now," a deep voice demanded. "What's going on?"
Ana Luisa looked toward the newcomer, silently pleading for help. She stumbled backward as her captor abruptly turned her loose.
"Are you all right, lady?" the newcomer asked.
She nodded, her gaze moving from one man to the other. The newcomer had tawny skin, dark brown hair, and deep brown eyes.
"Maitland," the dark-haired man said, "get the hell out of here."
Maitland's eyes glinted with resentment, but he did as he was told.
Ana Luisa shook her head. One minute the man known as Maitland had been standing in front of her, the next he was gone as if he had never been there. How was it possible? Had she imagined him?
"I'm sorry about that," the newcomer said. "Are you sure you're all right?"
Ana Luisa nodded. She couldn't stop staring at him, could scarcely resist the temptation to reach out and touch him. Until tonight, she would have said that Jason Rourke was the handsomest man she had ever seen, but there was something about this man.... She frowned. Even though Jason and the stranger looked nothing alike, they seemed very similar, though she couldn't say why.
"I'm Ramon Vega," the newcomer said with a wink. "But you can call me anything you like."
She looked at him but didn't say anything.
"Come, chica," he said, offering her his hand. "I'll walk you home."
Ana Luisa stared at him uncertainly, torn by the need to be cautious and the desire to throw herself into his arms. It was a most peculiar sensation.
Vega let his arm fall to his side. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you."
"That man, Maitland," Ana Luisa stammered. "He had fangs, like a vampire."
"Yes, but you're safe now."
She blinked at him. "Are you saying he was a vampire?"
"Yes, but he won't hurt you."
"Why did he obey you?"