With Just Cause by Jackie Ivie

She hadn’t cried. She’d rarely blinked
despite how her eyes burned as she stared time and again at a truth
that couldn’t be. Grimm Bradley was a vampire. They existed. And he
was one. She’d made love with a dead thing. Horror should have
replaced the solid poundings of emotion her heart kept sending to
pain her. But it wasn’t. Why did she still have such massive
feeling for him? He was a monster. Everything that had happened
today was proof, but she’d been so immersed in the aura of being in
love that she’d missed it.
    Love? What a joke. She couldn’t love him. He
was a monster. A demon. An undead being that sucked blood from his
unsuspecting victims while sending them into realms of
delight...
    Damn it!
    Deandra kicked at the dust of the road,
scuffing the toe of her canvas shoe. What the hell. Might as well
have her shoes match the rest of her attire. She looked worn, old,
and used, exactly as she felt. She’d probably be covered in dust
before she reached the hacienda. The road department out here
hadn’t even graveled this stretch and the Bradley’s well-maintained
asphalt ended at their overbearing gatepost. Good riddance to it.
She didn’t want anything to do with any Bradley ever again.
    Ever.
    So... she had a dirt road to follow for
eighteen miles. Might as well be eight hundred. She’d gone about
three, each one getting slower as her mind fought to absorb today’s
events. There wasn’t much moonlight, but that didn’t seem to
matter. She’d put her night vision goggles up, but they actually
made it harder to see. She’d chucked them back in the dirt about a
mile back. She should be thrilled to still have hyper senses. It
was probably a side effect of making love to a vampire.
    At least there was something she’d gained out
of this. Maybe it would help her in the future. Having the ability
to see and hear and smell beyond physical normality in a maximum
security prison couldn’t hurt. It might even be helpful. Deandra
swiped at her eyes. She wasn’t going to cry. Nope. Regardless of
how the road blurred before her face and her eyes kept watering.
She wasn’t admitting to tears. Geez. That would be the frosting
atop this cake.
    The dust swirled suddenly, choking her, and
then Grimm was there. Right in front of her. Massive. Gorgeous.
Spine-tingling. She gasped a moment before she was grabbed, lifted
against that sculpted belly and chest, and then just held, while
everything about him shuddered.
    “Deandra, my love! Finally! Do you have any
idea how long I’ve searched—”
    “Put me down.”
No. Don’t do it!
    They dropped. His legs flexed on the
landing.
    “Now, let me go.”
    His arms opened. She stepped away. One step.
Another.
    “Are you angry? Forgive me. I know I’m late.
But it took forever to find my mother’s ring. You don’t know how it
is! You put something away, and over the years you forget where.
And then it took quite a search to locate you. Len was certain
you’d be at the Bradley Ranch. But no. I checked.”
    “That probably went over well.”
    “I wasn’t seen! I am rarely that stupid. You
don’t know what happens when a Bradley catches a glimpse of
me.”
    “I have a pretty good idea,” Deandra
replied.
    “You do?”
    “I had a bit of conversation with an old lady
named Grace. She’s... uh... some sort of relation. Wait a minute.
You’re doing an awful lot of talking all of a sudden.”
    He winked. Her heart replied with a hard
staccato of beats. She ordered it to cease. She might as well try
to quit breathing. What was she doing? He was dead. Or rather...
undead. There wasn’t any future for them. There wasn’t anything
other than more heartache.
    “You noticed? It’s strange, but all of sudden
I want to talk. I want to communicate. I need to talk and listen,
and share... everything! I have been so favored! I had no one to
talk to until now. And then like magic, you appear. Standing in a
window, as if it’s nothing to upend my entire world. My