Fateful (25 page)

When Ethan didn’t pop out of her closet
shouting
surprise
, she
relaxed a little and dropped her gaze to the note stuck to the
front of the GPS. She pealed it off and read it. Laughing, she saw
that he’d written “Drive on the left” in big letters.

Chapter 14

Dr. Deveroux

After her classes, Danielle stuck Ethan’s
note about keeping on the left to the dashboard of Brianna’s car
and pulled up the directions for Ethan’s place on the GPS. She
planned to leave early, knowing there was a huge chance she could
get misdirected even with electronic guidance. She didn’t get lost,
however.

Arriving thirty minutes early, she toyed with
the idea of driving around the block for a few more minutes, but
decided against it. She didn’t want to risk actually getting lost
when she’d already made it there.

Danielle went up to the enormous front door
anxiously wondering what Ethan would think about her early arrival.
Her finger hovered over the doorbell button before she took a
breath and then pressed it. She could hear the dulcet chime it made
through the wood.

She didn’t have to wait long before the door
swung open. It was Nadia, and she looked a little startled to see
her standing there. “Hi, uh ... you’re so early. Ethan isn’t back
yet.”

“Thanks to the GPS, I made it here faster
than I thought I would. I hope it’s all right.”

The expression on Nadia’s face made her
wonder if maybe it wasn’t all right, but instead she said, “Of
course, come in.” Nadia took Danielle by the hand and then said,
“I’ll take you to Ethan’s room. Shall we?”

“Okay, thanks Nadia,” she said as they passed
the drawing room that was bustling with several members of the
Order. They paid no attention to her and Nadia, though.

Danielle almost had to run to keep up with
Nadia’s quick stride. Why was she in such a hurry? After making
their way up the stairs and then down the hall, Nadia tugged
Danielle into Ethan’s bedroom and said abruptly. “Please, make
yourself at home.”

“Thanks, I—”

Cutting her off, Nadia said, “Ethan should be
back soon. My mother is making treats for you again, and she needs
me to go help her.” Nadia twisted the lock on the door. “You’ll be
fine waiting for him here, won’t you?”

Before Danielle had a chance to say
anything more, the pretty vampire was gone. Her gaze dropped to the
doorknob as she pondered,
Why did she lock
me in?
Noting the way the lock worked, however, she
realized she had that backwards. She could get out while others
couldn’t get in. Was she in danger here?

Taking comfort in the fact that the door was
indeed locked, Danielle shifted her focus to exploring Ethan’s
room, and noticed a book on his nightstand. Upon picking it up she
found, with surprise, that it was a bible. She flipped through the
pages and then realized that it was something he read frequently
having become tattered and worn from loving use. Ethan had told her
that he believed in God, and here was the proof. Wow, she mused as
she set the book back on the nightstand—still no skeletons in the
closet—well aside from the venomous, fanged, cursed vampire one,
but she could overlook it. Her eyes trailed to his closet. She
considered taking a peek inside, then resisted the draw of her
curiosity. Knowing her luck, he would walk in while she was
snooping.

So instead she turned on some music, kicked
off her shoes and stretched out on his bed. Her eyes moved to the
clock as she settled against the pillows. She only had to wait
about seven more minutes before Ethan would return. Comfortable,
she closed her eyes and waited. Only a moment passed before she got
the unnerving feeling that someone was watching her, and that
someone was growing too close as they moved into her space. Her
eyes snapped open, she gasped, and her muscles tensed
instinctively. It was Celeste, leaning over her.

Danielle jerked upright. “Can I help
you?”

Celeste’s baby blue eyes darkened with the
fury and menace that lurked within the shallow pools. She said
nothing when she suddenly reached forward and grabbed Danielle by
the shirt, lifting her from the bed easily leaving her feet
dangling. Danielle knew her top was on the verge of ripping when
she heard threads popping.

Instinctively, she kicked at Celeste’s
kidneys while punching at pressure points on her hands and wrists
trying to loosen her grip. The efforts were useless.

Celeste’s wicked grimace widened as she threw
her across the room. The right side of her head and body slammed
into the solid armoire across from Ethan’s bed. The sturdy, elegant
handles protruding from the doors caught her directly on the hip,
and she grunted in pain. She slid down and crumpled on the floor.
Stunned as she was, Danielle made an effort to gather herself,
knowing she needed to flee before this vampire managed to kill
her.

She struggled to sit upright, but Celeste
pounced on top of her before she could. The immortal grasped her
shirt again, lifted only her torso off the floor and snapped the
back of her hand across her face. Danielle could taste the blood
from the inside of her cheek.

Then suddenly Celeste released her and her
head thumped painfully against the hardwood floor.

“No!”

Ethan was back.

Lifting one hand to the side of her head,
which was now throbbing in time with her heartbeat, she checked for
blood, but it was dry. Relieved, she closed her eyes knowing she’d
be okay with Ethan now here.

“Je n’y crois pas! Celeste! What have you
done? Pack your things and get the hell out!” he bellowed. “Enfer!
As-tu perdu l’esprit?”

Danielle had never heard Ethan so furious. He
continued cursing under his breath in more than one language.
German and French, she thought.

Celeste spat something unintelligible and
then left.

Less than a second later she felt Ethan
leaning over her. His touch was gentle like he was afraid he might
break her further. “Danielle, are you all right? Danielle darling,
can you hear me?” he cooed in a sensitive voice.

She opened her eyes and tried to push
upright. Ethan set a hand firmly on her upper chest. “No you don’t!
Do not move, Danielle! I need to check for broken bones first.”

She relaxed and closed her eyes again because
the throbbing in her head was making her eyes ache.

It wasn’t long before she could hear others
running into the room.

“Ethan, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left her
alone,” Nadia said. “I’d locked the door and thought...”

“Is she okay? Can I get you anything?” Sophia
asked, her voice ringing with deep worry.

“Some ice packs and some pain reliever
would be great for now. And please make sure
she
is gone,” he said in a low angry
voice.

“Don’t worry, Ethan, Beon is already making
certain of that.”

“Good,” he said harshly.

“I’ll get the other things and hurry back,”
and with that Danielle heard Sophia leave.

“Danielle, I need to know where you could be
injured. How did you hit the armoire?” he asked gently.

“Here.” She motioned with her left hand to
her right side.

“All over?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” she replied weakly.

Ethan ran his fingers gently over the right
side of her skull. He pressed on a lump he discovered.

“Ow!”

“Sorry, no fracture though, just a nasty
goose egg. But I’m not ruling out a concussion.”

He slipped his hand gently over her shoulder
and along her arm. “Good,” he said, “now your ribs.”

Embarrassment washed over her as he gently
began pushing up her shirt to expose her ribs. Danielle attempted
to stop him by grabbing the hem.

“Danielle,” he scolded softly, “trust
me.”

She reluctantly let go and he proceeded to
push the fabric out of his way, but stopped before her bra was
exposed. Danielle relaxed a little.

Ethan continued with his exam, gliding his
fingers along her ribs, pressing in. “Ah!” she cried out when he
found a particularly sensitive one.

His frown deepened. “Breathe in deep,” he
instructed, keeping his hands on her ribs. She did but it only
ached a little.

“Any sharp pain when you do that?” Ethan
asked.

She shook her head.

“No fractured ribs then. Good,” he said as he
returned her shirt to its proper position.

“Now the most serious, Danielle, if she broke
your hip, it’s a severe injury.”

Danielle tensed reflexively, she didn’t know
what he was going to do next and she didn’t understand how he could
know so much.... “Ethan?”

“Hm?”

“Did you go to medical school?”

“Yes. I worked as a doctor for a few years as
well,” he replied, seeming a little surprised by the question.

“Oh. I was beginning to think you had
some twisted fantasy about
playing
doctor.”

Ethan exploded into laughter.

Sophia returned with pain medication, a
goblet of water and four ice packs but eyed Ethan with a look
of,
W
hat could be
so funny at a time like this?

He swallowed his laughter, and said,
“Thanks.” He then motioned for Sophia to put everything on his
nightstand.

Ethan became sober again, but she could see
the smile tugging at his lips. “Danielle, I can’t move you unless I
check your hip. Are you going to allow that?” he asked.

In truth, Danielle wanted to get away
from him at the moment because he was acting like a doctor, and
she
really
didn’t like
doctors. “What exactly does that entail?”

“I just need to look at your hip and then
press on it. It will hurt if you’re as bruised there as everywhere
else,” he warned apologetically. “And it will hurt like hell if
it’s broken,” he added.

The pain of the door handle smashing into her
hip came to mind. Could it have broken? What did they do with
broken hips? A cast? What? Deciding she didn’t want to know,
Danielle shook her head. “This isn’t necessary because I’m fine,”
she said and tried to get up.

Again he stopped her, forcing her to remain
flat on her back. His lips thinned and a flicker of anger rose
within his eyes. When she still didn’t give permission he went on,
“Danielle, this is important. You were just attacked by a sadistic,
jealous vampire. I must make certain you’re all right.”

“It doesn’t hurt that bad.” Trying another
time to get up she ground out, “If you’d just let me up, you’d
see—”

The hands on her shoulders tightened
and she grimaced in pain when his fingers bit into the bruising on
her right. Apparently realizing what he’d done, he removed that
hand but left the other. “Maybe you didn’t hear what I said
earlier. I
cannot
let you
move until I know nothing is broken.”

“Fine then, fine!” she said, not even trying
to hide the anger in her voice.

As if Ethan thought she might soon change her
mind, he didn’t hesitate as he slid her skirt off just enough to
expose her right hip and nothing more. He cringed at what he saw
there. “Bloody hell! That’s the worst bruise yet!” he exclaimed.
“What did you hit?”

Her gaze lifted to the pretty and
innocent-looking door handle of the armoire.

Following her gaze, he winced when his eyes
landed on the handle. “Yeah, that had to hurt.”

“It did, but I don’t think—”

Ethan ignored her words and applied gentle
pressure on her hips. “Ow!” she wailed.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered releasing her.
“But, it’s not broken either, it’s just the bruises that hurt,” he
declared with a sigh of relief.

With more of those precise movements of his,
he fixed her skirt, scooped her up from the floor and carried her
to his bed.

Danielle couldn’t seem to stop the moan of
pain that she didn’t want him to hear.

Acting as though he hadn’t heard it, Ethan
helped her sit up enough to take the pain medication and water.

She swallowed the pills, then asked, “Why do
you have pain meds here?”

“We may not need them, but one of our mortal
friends might.” Ethan picked up the ice packs, pushed her back into
the pillows and placed one at each bruised location. “Wouldn’t it
look strange if we didn’t have something like that in the
cupboard?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Lying down on the bed next to her, he lifted
her wrist to check her pulse. She scowled at him for that
doctor-like action but was then startled when she noticed that
Nadia and Sophia were still in the room. She’d forgotten about
them. Sophia wore a worried look on her beautiful face, and Nadia
looked practically devastated. It was clear she felt like this was
her fault. Was that because Celeste had been her friend?

They both moved to the side of the bed. Nadia
bent down and kissed her on the forehead as she slid her
deceptively delicate fingers along her jaw. “Danielle, I’m so sorry
I left you. It was foolish of me...”

“No. I don’t blame you.”

“She’s right to not blame you, Nadia,” Max
said now entering the room.

A man behind him said, “Celeste had stolen
the master keys.”

Nadia hung her head at his words but said
nothing more.

“Is she all right?” asked the other man, with
a note of worry in his voice.

The nod of Ethan’s head said yes, but the
look in his eyes said he wasn’t sure yet.

Accepting the answer anyway, both men
left.

“Danielle dear, I have more treats for you,
would you like me to bring them up?” Danielle realized from
Sophia’s tone that she feared she may no longer be in the mood to
eat.

Not wanting her to feel bad, she said,
“Please do, Sophia. It was all so wonderful last time.”