Carson's Night (The Stonebrood Saga) by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Chapter One
    August 1977, New York City
    Tally moved from asleep to awake in one breath. With the next, she eased her hand under her pillow and gripped the handle of her knife as she pretended to sigh and roll onto her side in her sleep.
    Iron fingers clamped onto her wrist. “It’s me, Tally. Nick.”
    She opened her eyes. The dark shape in the room looked like him. “Turn on the light,” she said.
    He reached for the light without hesitation, proving he knew his way around her bedroom. She stared at the person who eased himself down onto the chair beside her bed. He looked haggard and ill-used and that frightened her enough to sit up in her bed despite wearing only her Pink Floyd tee-shirt and panties. She brought the knife with her. It was an automatic move, a trained move, triggered by the alarmed created by Nick’s appearance.
    Nicholas Sherwood should not look tired. He was a vampire and did not need sleep or rest. Yet he blinked at her now like a man who had seen too much of the night.
    She glanced at her bedside clock. The hands hovered over the two and the three. It would be dawn soon. “Nick?” she coaxed, her heart hammering.
    “I need you to get dressed and come with me, Natalia,” he said softly. He reached down beside him and picked up something. He raised it and placed it vertically between his knees and rested both hands around the long hilt.
    It was her father’s Japanese sword. His katana.
    Nicholas looked at her over the top of hilt. “I’m sorry, Tally. Your father died tonight. You must take his place now.”
    * * * * *
    Tally was too numb to cry, which was just as well, for the cab driver was normal human and they had to guard their tongues. Nick paid off the driver. In the pre-dawn hush the vampire looked up at the flat face of the old dockside warehouse, his expression grim. “Ready?” he asked, settling the light coat around his shoulders better. He was very tall, about six foot two, and the sword made the coat hang awkwardly.
    She shook her head.
    He gripped her shoulder. “Neither am I,” he confessed. “But we must do this now.” He led her with gentle firmness over to a dark doorway. It stood open, a black maw she was wildly reluctant to step through. Inside was misery and death.
    “Where was my father’s partner? The new one?” she asked. “Why wasn’t he watching out for him? Why didn’t he stop this?”
    “Inside,” Nick told her in a murmur.
    “Why were you here, anyway, Nick? You don’t usually work with my father.”
    “Just wait until we get inside.”
    “Why? What’s in there?” She tried to turn to look at him, but Nick’s grip on her arm was too firm. He was a vampire, after all. He could rip her apart like humans can shred paper. She knew that but still, she tried to resist.
    Nick didn’t use his strength against her. He let her halt and face him.
    “What’s inside?” she asked.
    “It’s easier if you just go in and see for yourself.” He tried to smile. “It’s nothing dangerous, for now. I wouldn’t let anything hurt you.”
    Tears stung her eyes. “Too late, Nick.”
    He made a helpless gesture. “I wasn’t here when it happened. I don’t know how he died. I need you to help me figure it out.”
    “Why me?”
    “Because you’re your father’s daughter, and because I trained you. I know what you can do.”
    She sniffed, trying hard to halt the tears rolling down her cheeks. “What does that mean?”
    Nick swore softly, then reached over and wiped her cheeks. “Damn, I wish you wouldn’t do that. It’s a completely unfair tactic, especially when you look the way you do, with those big green eyes of yours.”
    “I thought I was just a lousy human female,” she reminded him.
    “You’re a pathetic human female,” he corrected her. “But that doesn’t mean I’m completely invulnerable to your charms.” He gave her a smile that was full of effort. “I know exactly what you are, Natalie Grey. You are one of the most powerful