Enraptured (7 page)

Then… then… her memory came up against a
wall. Where had Nabel gone when she’d entered the alley? How had
she ended up being alone in the alley with the vampire? Her head
began to pound when she tried to recall what had happened to Nabel.
She’d been training for years to fight a vampire, but it hadn’t
been enough, and now she was sitting in a nest of them.

“What were you doing there?” His question
brought her attention back to him.

“Hanging out with a friend.” It wasn’t
entirely a lie, but she wasn’t about to tell him the truth.

“Your friend is a hunter,” he stated. The
only part of her that indicated any kind of reaction to his
statement was the dilation of her pupils. “What does that make you?
Are you a hunter or one of the humans they use as bait?”

That got a reaction as her nostrils flared.
“They did not use me as bait!”

“I guess that answers that question then,
human.”

If she’d been a vampire her eyes would have
been red as fire, instead she glared at him. “You have no idea what
you’re talking about.”

“Then enlighten me.”

“I’d rather die before I ever told you
anything about me, or anyone I associate with. If you want answers
tear them from my mind, that’s the only way you’ll get them.”
They’d all be lies, but she wasn’t about to admit
that
to
him. “You can torture me or whatever it is
your
kind does, I
won’t tell you anything.”

“If I take control of your mind…”

“You
are
a monster!” she spat.

“I’m not,” he murmured. “and you will not be
mistreated. Nor will we take from you what you know about your
life, we’ll only change what you know about us. The hunters are
dangerous; they don’t understand there are differences in all
vampires, but hunters serve their purpose by helping to rid the
world of some evil. I will kill one if they try to kill me, but
your secrets are yours to keep.

“They will do me and my family little good.
We lead peaceful lives. I hope to never encounter another hunter
again, but if I were you, I’d rethink your loyalties and what
you’re doing. You were nearly killed. The hunter you were with
didn’t arrive on the scene until
after
I did. You would have
been dead if I hadn’t gotten there first, and I know the two of you
left the bar together.”

Paige didn’t respond to him; she didn’t know
what to say. “So what were you doing in the bar, trying to learn
how to tell a vampire from a human?” he continued. “Not as easy as
you thought it would be, was it?”

Paige felt an uptick in her heartbeat at his
words. How had Nabel not known he was a vampire? Nabel had been
doing this sort of thing far longer than her; he’d been born into
it. Shouldn’t Nabel have known something else to look for, but then
this man had been associating with humans. They certainly couldn’t
have
all
been vampires in the bar, and every woman she’d
seen him leave with had still been alive the next night. What kind
of a vampire was this man if he didn’t kill?

Refusing to answer his question, she simply
stated a fact. “You left with a different woman every time I saw
you.”

“And they were all very happy and alive when
they walked back out of my room.” The words were casual, but his
smile had vanished. “You have some pretty ingrained ideas about
what we are; you’re wrong. Not that I expect you to believe me; I
can see in your eyes that you don’t, but I can promise you, I’ve
never killed a human.”

“And the others in this house?”

“Sometimes there are things that must be
done, no matter if you want to do them or not. Everyone in this
house can walk in the sun, cross water, and wouldn’t have killed if
it hadn’t been necessary to save themselves or someone they love.”
He rose to his feet, his massive frame towered over her, but she
didn’t get the impression he was trying to intimidate her.

“You said you’ve never killed a human,
you’ve killed something else then?” she asked.

“I’ve killed vampires who deserved it
before.”

She swallowed as she stared up at him. “I
see.”

“Do you? Or do you still have me lumped into
the same category of monsters as the ones of us who kill for
pleasure?”

“I know what I’ve seen of your kind.”

“And what have you seen?” he inquired. Paige
clamped her mouth shut; she’d already revealed far more than she’d
ever meant to. “The scars on your neck, they’re older. They’re from
a vampire.”

Her eyes flickered toward him, but she
didn’t see any reason to respond to him. He already knew what they
were, which was far more than she would have ever told him. A
flutter of alarm went through her belly. She’d assumed she was
going to die the first time she’d learned about vampires, and she’d
been certain of it again last night. Her fingers dug into her palms
as she tried to bury her apprehension; he couldn’t think it was
because of him.

“When can I leave?” she inquired.

“Soon.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets as the
small woman from earlier stepped into the doorway again. Her
husband stayed behind her. Paige had no doubt he would be on her in
an instant if she made a move toward Emma again, something she had
no intention of doing. She didn’t trust them as far as she could
throw them, but in order to survive here, her head still had to be
attached to her body. Attempting to attack Emma was a good way to
ensure her head didn’t stay on her neck for long.

She glanced between Ian and Ethan, their
coloring was opposite from each other, but she could see the family
resemblance in their sculpted cheekbones and slim bridged noses.
Ian’s jaw was narrower than Ethan’s, his features somehow softer
and more inviting; something that had worked well for him if his
parade of conquests out of the bar was any indication.

Emma moved to her side and held the plate
out to her. Paige stared at it before taking it from her. The
delicious scent of melted cheese and crispy toast drifting from the
plate caused her mouth to water, but she couldn’t bring herself to
pick it up.

Her eyes were drawn to the door as the other
two women appeared there. “Jill, Mandy, and I all went to college
together,” Emma said. “We’ve all been friends for five years
now.”

Paige glanced between the three of them as
she fiddled with the crust of her sandwich. “I’ll take a bite of
it, if you’d like,” Jill offered. “To show you it’s not drugged or
something.”

Paige shook her head and lifted the
sandwich. She didn’t see any reason why they would drug her food,
she was already at their mercy, and they didn’t know she wasn’t
susceptible to their mind control powers. Biting into the sandwich,
she was unable to suppress a low groan of delight as the warm
cheese melted in her mouth.

“She can’t boil water, but I still eat her
grilled cheeses,” Emma said with a smile.

“Hey!” Jill protested.

“It’s true. Everything else she cooks tastes
like crap,” Mandy said. “But these are delicious.”

Paige finished the sandwich and licked her
fingers. “Would you like another?” Jill inquired.

Shaking her head, Paige placed the plate on
her lap. Emma took it from her and set it on the bedside table.
“Can I go home now?” Paige inquired.

Ian looked her over. Her cheeks had taken on
a rosy glow, her eyes shone with life and were more alert than
they’d been when she’d first woken. She looked healthy, but he
found himself hesitant to say goodbye to her already. He wouldn’t
keep someone against their will; no matter how much he longed to
spend just a few more minutes with her. He forced himself to take a
step away from her.

Shaking his head, he tugged at his hair in
an attempt to rid himself of the strange impulse he had to keep her
with him. Don’t get attached, he reminded himself, it would only
end in her getting hurt, and this girl had experienced far too much
of that in her lifetime. He didn’t have to hear her story to know
that.

For the first time ever, he found himself
curious to know more about a woman. It was probably better if she
left sooner rather than later, he decided.

“Is she stable enough to go back, Mandy?” he
asked.

“I believe so,” Mandy replied.

“You can’t go back with your memories of us
intact,” Ian told her.

Maybe he could tweak them a little so their
paths could cross again. He quickly shut that impulse down. In
order to keep himself and his family safe, he had to get far away
from this girl and everything she was mixed up in. This would be
the last time they ever saw each other.

“I understand,” she murmured and folded her
hands demurely in her lap.

She was taking this far easier than he’d
thought she would, but then she knew there was no other choice.
Still, he couldn’t bring himself to step forward and do it. He
wouldn’t be the one who violated her mind and erased her memories
of him from it. “Stefan, will you do it?”

Stefan shot him a questioning look, but he
approached the bed. Ian moved toward his brother in the doorway.
Behind him, she spotted two other men in the hall. They both had
blond hair, it was different in hue than Ian’s, but she wondered if
they were some of the other siblings he’d mentioned. However, she
wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Ethan wasn’t really his
brother, and Stefan wasn’t his brother-in-law.
Nothing a vampire
says is true
, she reminded herself.

Her attention was diverted to Stefan when he
settled onto the bed across from her. She had a whole new
understanding of black ice as his eyes burned into hers. “This
won’t hurt,” he assured her.

“What are you going to do?” she asked,
though she’d already heard what vampires could do.

She figured pretending to be in the dark,
and frightened, would probably work better for her than admitting
she knew what was going to happen. She prayed her acting skills had
improved considerably since her one venture into the theatre world.
In seventh grade she’d been cast as Veruca Salt in
Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory.
She’d been so ready and excited for the
play, until she’d hit the stage.

The dazzling lights and the sea of faces had
caused her to forget half of her lines and stutter through the ones
she could remember. Halfway through the play, she’d stumbled and
tripped some of the Oompa Loompas. She could still clearly recall
their stuffed, little, orange bodies bouncing over the side of the
stage and onto the laps of their horrified parents. It had been the
most embarrassing moment of her life, this would be one of the most
important.

“He’s going to change a few memories around,
and then we’re going to take you home.” Ian was the one who
answered her question. “He’ll leave almost all of your memories
intact, and he won’t change any of your beliefs. Your life is your
own to live. I will give you this bit of advice, and Stefan will
allow you to keep it, be careful whom you trust with your life, not
everything is what it seems, and you were left in that alley
alone
before you were attacked. Remember that, Paige, and
think long and hard on it.”

She knew what he was trying to tell her, but
she couldn’t process it right now. She couldn’t bring herself to
believe the man she’d come to trust so much over the past year,
really would use her as bait. Couldn’t believe these last years of
her life may have revolved around a group who had as much regard
for her life as most vampires did. She had a few more important
things to worry about right now, she realized. She could think
about all of that when she wasn’t surrounded by a group of
bloodsuckers.

Were they actually telling her the truth
right now? Vampires were monsters, but if they were telling the
truth then that meant Ian and his family had actually saved her
life and intended to return her to it. Was that possible for a
vampire to do?

“Ian, it might be best if we remove all
memory of the attack from her mind,” Stefan suggested.

Ian shook his head and folded his arms over
his chest. “No. She can go back, but I won’t allow her to be tossed
to the wolves. She has to have that memory, otherwise we’re sending
her back to die, and I would have put everyone at risk for nothing.
I won’t let that happen, and I won’t have her life be worth nothing
more than being used as vampire bait.”

Everyone in the room stared at Ian before
turning to look at her. The thought of what was to come no longer
had her heart doing the can-can in her chest. Rather it was the
impassioned tone of his voice and his words. She didn’t know what
was up and what was down anymore, but she did know he meant what
he’d said.

Stefan rested his hands on top of hers,
drawing her attention back to him. “Look at me.” His eyes burned
into hers. “You were mugged behind the bar. You were alone, you
don’t know how you got that way, but you do remember your friend
abandoning you there. A kind stranger saved you from your
attacker.”

The soothing tone of his voice relaxed her,
despite her reservations about what he planned to do to her. She
could feel something niggling at the back of her mind, but just as
she’d been promised, she didn’t feel his power seeping inside to
twist her memories to something they were never meant to be. She
kept her face slack as he continued to speak.

“He took you to a friend’s house near the
campus. They helped to clean you up and brought you where you
needed to be when you were feeling better. The name of the man who
rescued you is Mike.” There was a ripple in the hallway, one of the
blonds behind Ian muttered something, but she couldn’t make it out.
“You don’t remember much about his face because you hit your head.
You don’t remember anything about his friends. All you know is he
and his friends kept you safe. You never saw a vampire last night.
You will pick up with your life where you left off before the
attack.”