Fateful 2-Fractured (11 page)

Danielle was shoved, almost roughly, into
the backseat of Beon’s Aston Martin, and slammed into the cushion
by Max’s hands and body. Beon took off with a jerk of the car, and
a squeal of tires.

She struggled to sit up properly. “Max! Let
me up!”

“Stay down, Danielle, we don’t know if
you’re safe yet.” He kept a firm hand on her head pressing her
cheek into the leather, the other hand on her shoulder, and the
rest of him served as a heavy blanket over the top of her.

“Dang it, Max! You’re squishing me,” she
grumbled, trying futilely to budge the heavy vampire.

He said nothing more, nor did he move.

It was several long minutes before he
finally rolled off and let her sit upright. She exhaled loudly as
she straightened her clothes. “Was that really necessary?”

“What if they’d had a gun?”

“Do you really think they’d pull a weapon
amongst so many civilians?”

“Without a doubt. This is war, Danielle.
Never forget that.”

“I don’t get—Is Ethan all right?” she
asked.

“I’m certain he is. You could call him,” Max
offered.

“I just—never mind.”

“I’m terribly sorry, Danielle, but I’m
afraid the dates at night are going to have to stop. Perhaps all
together,” Beon said.

“But … I mean, we’re engaged, we need—”

“You can’t get married if one or both of you
are dead. I’ll consider what we’re going to do during the day, but
as of now there will be no more dates at night.”

Beon continued to mutter to himself angrily
and then said with a curt tone, “I never should have allowed these
movie outings. I think we should also cease any dates in public: no
restaurants, no movies, no clubs, et cetera.” She was aware of the
fact that Ethan had talked Beon into the freedoms they’d had … for
her … and knew this was the risk he’d taken in trying to maintain
some sort of a normal courtship.

Danielle sighed, knowing it wasn’t open for
discussion. “Yes, sir.”

Worries and thoughts whirled through her
mind as she kept her gaze out the window. Danielle always knew in
the back of her brain that this scenario was a possibility, but now
that it was actually here, she found it harder to deal with. The
vampires following her for the cure had generally been harmless,
and easy for her guards to deal with. Celeste and Lucas had still
been out of the picture ... until now. This changed everything.

The car ride back to her uncle’s home was
long and silent while she wrestled with the distressing thoughts
that threatened to make her cry. She missed Ethan already, and
wanted so badly to be done with the drama and just be a regular
couple: no more guards, no more threats, and no more school. But
there was no escaping any of it. This evil curse continued to
plague her fairytale, and she felt if they never found a solution,
it just might become fractured forever.

She realized she’d started to cry when Max
slung an arm around her shoulders and presented her with a
handkerchief. Too embarrassed to take it, she tucked her hands
under her legs, ignoring the offer. Max sighed, blotted at the
tears anyway and whispered into her ear, “Have faith, Danielle, do
not falter. Ethan needs you to stick it out.”

“How can I? This isn’t going to end.”

He sighed again as Beon pulled into the
driveway, and she lunged for the door, muttering, “Thank you, Max,
Beon. I appreciate everything. Goodnight,” She was unable to hide
the new tears streaking down her cheeks as she sprang from the car
and slammed the door.

Max followed and caught her arm as she
turned away. “Danielle, everything will be all right, trust
me.”

“Really, Max, how do
you
know?”

“There is hope. You have many on your side
and we can handle a little bit of mayhem.”

“Don’t you remember Alex? It only takes one
to betray us, and then it’s over.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“You can’t know that!” She wrested free from
his hold and stormed toward the front door.

Still, Max wouldn’t have it. He snagged her
around the waist, turned her into his chest, and hugged her while
she sobbed and struggled to get away. “Shhh, little one, just let
it out,” he said softly while she soaked his shirt. “That’s it.
Have a good cry, then lift up your chin, and carry on.”

He waited until she’d calmed, then loosened
his embrace. “There now, do you feel better?” He’d taken the hanky
from his pocket again to dry her face.

“I guess I’m okay. I’m just …
tired.”
Tired of being followed by
vampires and guards. Tired of being told when and how I can date my
fiancé. Tired of ... and why can’t I stop crying?
She
shoved more tears from her cheeks.

“I still think you should call Ethan.”

“Thanks, Max. You’re right, I will.”

“Now that’s a good girl. I think talking to
him will help,” he said, chucking her chin with one gentle
finger.

“All right, ’night, Max.”

“Sleep well.” Max then performed a chivalric
bow with a great deal of flourish. She couldn’t help but giggle,
and realized his intention was to make her laugh.

* * * * *

She wished her relatives goodnight, went
straight to her bedroom, shut the door and pulled the cell phone
from her purse. She pressed the button to call Ethan, and listened
to it ring as she settled onto her bed and kicked off her
shoes.

Ethan only let it ring once before he picked
up. “Hi, how are you?”

“I’m just peachy, and you?”
Peachy
wasn’t really a good thing in
her book, and from his reply, she knew he’d gathered her
meaning.

“You don’t sound very convincing.”

“Neither do you.”

“Truthfully, I’ve been better. They took me
to Seth’s place, so I’m held up in a guest bedroom for the night.
I’d much rather be in my own room, where I can at least look at
your picture and the painting you gave me. There’s not much to look
at in here.”

Danielle lifted his picture while he spoke,
the one of him from the ball. “That would be frustrating, why
didn’t they take you back to your place?” Wouldn’t Order
headquarters have been a safe place for him?

“I guess because Celeste and Lucas know
that’s where I live. There’s also a good chance they know that I’m
mortal now, which puts me in more danger.”

Knowing he wouldn’t admit it if she asked,
Danielle wondered how helpless he felt now being a mortal.

“They’re only going to become stricter with
our time together. Though, I do think it would be easier for them
if we were under the same roof.”

“Yeah, Beon already told me we can’t go out
at night any more, and threatened to take away our daytime dates,
as well.” She sighed. “I wish we could just get married now because
I wouldn’t be surprised if they took away all of our dates.”

“Me too…. No more fine dining? That would
really bite.”

Danielle heard her aunt and uncle’s phone
ring, and then a few moments later, footsteps came toward her
bedroom. Someone knocked and then her door opened. It was Aunt
Charlotte. “The bell’s for you, dear.”

“Hold on a sec, Ethan, I have a phone
call.”

“I’ll be here. I’m certainly not going
anywhere.”

“Thanks, Aunt Charlotte,” she said, taking
the phone from her hand. Charlotte then left.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Danielle. How have you been?”

The strangely familiar voice sent
chills down her spine. When recognition dawned, she thought, no it
can’t be
her
. “I’m fine,
who’s this?” she asked, fearing she already knew, but hoping she
was wrong.

“I knew you were rather slow, but seriously,
Danielle, how could you not know who I am?”

And that was all she needed. Celeste! She
gasped.

“That’s right.” The menace in the vampire’s
voice couldn’t be missed. “I must say, you and Ethan did manage to
fool us, but now we know the truth. I’m afraid this situation just
isn’t acceptable. Lucas and I will need to give you a friendly
reminder, and you should expect this time to be much more painful.
Thanks for leaving your cell phone with us. It’s nice to have all
of these new contacts.”

Fear clawed its way up her throat as Celeste
then recited Danielle’s home address in Colorado. Her family....
“Don’t you dare—!”

“Oh, and we’re hearing some strange rumors
about Ethan being mortal.” Celeste laughed at that. “What an utter
fool he is to make himself so vulnerable!”

Danielle took a breath to speak again, but
Celeste hung up. Gulping, a trembling hand reached for her cell
phone and brought it to her ear. The other phone slipped from her
fingers onto the blankets.

“Celeste just called me!”

“What?”

“They have all of the numbers off my old
cell phone. What am I going to do?”

“I’d worried about this. I should have gone
back to get it after we’d escaped.”

“You know you couldn’t have done that.”

“The Order needs to know.”

“And, Ethan, they know you’re mortal.”
Knowing it was a reminder of what he’d given up by escaping the
curse, she feared telling him that, and secretly worried he’d want
to go back.

He was silent for a moment. “Danielle, will
you be okay if I hang up, call Beon, and then call you back?”

“I’ll be all right,” she whispered in a
tight voice.

* * * * *

Beon placed guards on her parents, and
anyone else listed in her phone. She was followed by a complete
entourage of vampires when she went to school. Her protectors were
becoming less discrete as they watched over her, and she knew that
people were probably starting to think she was some sort of foreign
dignitary’s daughter, or a celebrity. They did make an effort to
keep it from her relatives as they stayed hidden when she was with
Brianna, or was exercising in her uncle’s garden. Which she could
only do when it was warm or not raining, and those days were
becoming less and less available as the seasons changed in
England.

One Saturday afternoon she and Ethan spent
the entire day self-confined in his room at the bed and breakfast.
The Order wouldn’t let them spend much time at her uncle’s place,
saying it wasn’t secure enough, probably because they didn’t have
full run of Uncle Nick’s house and had to remain hidden. So this
was all she and Ethan had. The only problem here was that Sophia
felt the need to keep them well fed. It seemed she feared they
might actually starve to death if she didn’t…. There were many
things Danielle loved about Sophia, but the constant interruptions
into their desperately needed quiet time were getting annoying.

Ethan no longer cared about the mess
Sophia made of
his
kitchen.
What else could be done? If they wanted to be together, they were
at the mercy of the vampires who protected them. Danielle
understood it, but her emotions were becoming raw and she knew she
could easily crack.

Today—Sophia had been particularly obsessive
about keeping their stomachs full. The coffee table in front of
Ethan’s settee was buried with trays and plates holding everything
from breakfast sausages, scrambled eggs, and waffles, to
sandwiches, pastries, fancy hors d’oeuvres, berries and bananas,
two teapots now holding cold tea, along with teacups, honey and
cream. Not to mention, English scones with jam and clotted cream.
All of that brought to them by noon!

They’d eaten as much as they could, but
Ethan said he was beginning to understand why Danielle complained
about the over-the-top portion sizes he used to try feeding her
when he was a vampire. It just wasn’t physically possible for
either one of them to eat the enormous amounts of food Sophia felt
the need to make.

“Does she know when to stop?” Ethan
asked.

“You’ve known her longer than I have.”

“It’s a few hours before dinner, perhaps
she’ll settle down until then.”

Danielle burst out laughing. “Really? You
think she’ll forget about the traditional four o’clock tea service
with little sandwiches, cakes and whatever other finger foods she
dreams up?”

Ethan groaned, obviously knowing it was
inevitable.

A sexy song by
Black Lab
, entitled Weightless was playing
softly in the background. The breathy voice of the male singer
created a romantic mood which was perfect for snuggling. Lying
curled around each other on the leather settee, Danielle snuggled
closer, dragging her bent leg over his and settling the bottom of
her foot against his denim-clad calf. Even knowing this was
definitely not nineteenth-century appropriate behavior, she decided
she didn’t really care at this point and was glad Ethan was letting
her get away with it. They were engaged to be married! Most
ordinary
twenty-first century
couples would have slept together by now.
But
they had agreed to save those intimacies for
the wedding night. Secretly she wanted that regency-romance-novel
honeymoon of innocent exploration the ideal promised. The thought
fulfilled many of her girlish fantasies, and Danielle knew she’d
found her very own Mr. Darcy willing to give it to her.

Yeah, he didn’t seem to have an issue with
showing his affection for her publicly, but he also strictly felt
anything more would disrespect her. Ethan had said he didn’t want
to spoil the innocence of his own bride. Respecting him for that,
she shifted closer, because despite those feelings, Danielle was
beginning to wonder how long she could last in the face of
temptation. She wanted to wait, yet….

In this position and with his lips so close
to hers, she couldn’t resist that particular enticement and pressed
her mouth against his as she wove her fingers into his hair. Ethan
went along, and then slid his hand up the length of her spine. By
mistake, her blouse came up with his fingertips, allowing them to
graze along her bare skin.