Fateful (35 page)

Her eyes dropped to the wonderful gown as it
swished around her feet with each step. She really was enjoying
tonight, and didn’t want it to end despite ... but.... “Am I really
safe?”

When he didn’t answer right away, she turned
her face toward his. He reached over to slide his fingers along her
jaw, and then tapped the tip of her nose sweetly. “Trust me,” was
all he said.

They entered the kitchen and Ethan invited
her to sit on a barstool while he got the cake for her.

After retrieving a plate and fork, Ethan
sliced off a thick piece of cake, with a long knife. Balancing it
on the edge of the blade, he carefully set it onto the pretty white
dish.

Before giving it to her, he asked, “Would you
like it warmed?”

“You think of everything,” she said, now
smiling.

He set it in the microwave and pressed a
couple of buttons. After a ding sounded, he took it out and placed
it in front of her while he slipped a cloth napkin across her lap.
Next he went to the refrigerator and poured cold milk into a fancy
goblet.

Danielle couldn’t stop smiling while she
enjoyed the comforting treat of scrumptious chocolate, because this
was the perfect thing to get those other vampires off her mind.

“Mmm, Ethan, thanks for going to culinary
school,” she said licking the fork clean.

Ethan watched covertly, as he leaned against
the counter with his ankles crossed and his arms folded.

Staring down at her plate, Danielle decided
she didn’t really want to go back to the ball. They’d gone through
almost all of the dances she’d learned anyway and she didn’t want
to risk another run-in with Alex. She wouldn’t put further teasing
past him.

But she didn’t want to leave just yet and her
mind wandered back to the photos they’d taken in the drawing room.
“Can we go to your room and look at the pictures we took?” she
requested hopefully, even knowing that being in his room alone was
off-limits, according to Uncle Nick and perhaps Beon. They didn’t
need to know. She felt safe with Ethan, so why let the evening end
earlier than planned?

“You don’t want to go back to the ball?” He
lifted one eyebrow as he gazed at her through narrowed eyes.

“I really don’t.”

“I don’t know if that’s allowed,
Danielle.”

“Oh come on, you’ve been in my bedroom at
night, we should be fine. Plus, don’t we only have another hour or
so before midnight? I’ll have to go home soon anyway.”

Wondering if he might bring up the lines he
wanted her to draw, she let her gaze again drop to the chocolate
smeared plate and she ran her finger through it, waiting for his
deliberation. She sucked the frosting from her finger. Danielle
hadn’t meant for that gesture to come across flirtatiously, but
realized when she lifted her face to his that it had. His lips had
formed a tempted lopsided smile.

She sat up straight and her eyes widened.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

Danielle thought for sure, he’d start
lecturing her about propriety but was surprised when he simply
laughed. “You didn’t mean to be a temptress?”

“No!” Taking in the look of wicked rebellion
on his face, she asked, “Are you tempted?”

Stalking closer he revealed in a husky voice,
“Yes, you tempt me.” He leaned down, touching his lips to the shell
of her ear before nipping at her lobe. “But that isn’t new
information, is it?”

With eyes rounding at his sudden intimacy,
she thought, who’s tempting whom now? He was more than close enough
to smell. Of course she’d been getting strong whiffs of his magical
essence all night. Each time when she’d thought she’d lose the
battle she’d held her breath. Like just before now when he’d led
her to the kitchen. If she hadn’t been worried about Alex she might
have been overwhelmed. “Does this mean you don’t want to go look at
the pictures?”

“No. I’ll go get the camera,” he replied, his
grin mischievous.

She believed Ethan was just as surprised as
her when Sophia suddenly joined them. The young-looking, yet
grandmotherly vampire had uncanny timing. Danielle wondered if
she’d heard their conversation and planned to enforce the rule her
uncle had set down.

“Could I make you some tea, Danielle dear?”
Sophia offered sweetly.

Ethan halted in his stride and turned a
shocked gaze onto Sophia. “But you’ve never—”

“Been around mortals at night? That is true,
but I could smell her earlier and it didn’t bother me.” Sophia
lifted her chin. “Ethan, do not worry yourself. I’m fine.”

“But—?”

“Hush.” She made shooing motions with her
hands before opening a cupboard and collecting a teacup and
saucer.

Ethan stood there like he didn’t quite know
what to do with himself. After a long pause he asked, “What was I
just about to do?”

“The camera.”

“Ah, yes.” Another long hesitation, then, “I
shall return.” The words came out slow, like he felt it important
she knew he’d be back. Or was it a warning for Sophia?

With one more look directed at first Sophia
and then her, he finally left.

“Have you tried blueberry yet?” Sophia asked,
with eyes averted.

Drawing her gaze from the doorway Ethan had
just left through, Danielle said, “Um.” Should she be worried about
this innocent-looking woman? “No, but that sounds nice,” she
managed.

Silence hung heavily between them as they
waited for the water to boil. It seemed to be taking forever.
Danielle tried to look anywhere but at Sophia who was watching her.
Intently. Then Sophia moved closer. Bringing the teacup, Sophia set
it on the bar in front of Danielle as she settled onto the barstool
next to hers.

“This fragrance,” Sophia began, then
corrected with, “This human fragrance is quite different from
animals.”

That was a freaky strange statement....
“Ethan said you’ve never been this close to a mortal at night?”

“Never.”

Really? This pretty woman has really never
been outside of this place at night since...? “And Beon allowed me
to be here tonight?” she asked in amazement.

“He has always beleived it best to never
taste mortal blood to be able to resist it and I suppose with me,
he took it a bit further and made certain I never smelled it
either. But he and Ethan resist the smell of fresh human blood all
of the time. If they can handle it surely I can too.”

Another bout of intense silence filled the
room, and Danielle decided this vampire was a little too close for
comfort. She gathered up the plate smeared with chocolate, to take
it to the sink. But when she turned, she managed to catch the edge
of it on the teacup and the delicate bit of china rolled over the
edge and shattered onto the tiled floor.

Bending to clean up the mess she’d made,
Danielle began gathering the shards onto the plate. Just as she was
wondering what could be taking Ethan so long, she cut herself and
drew in a sharp intake of air with the pain. Lifting her hand, she
examined the cut that was now blossoming with little droplets of
crimson.

Danielle remembered the vampire in the room
and glanced up. She was greeted with a pair of dilated blue eyes
that were staring at her hand before shifting to her eyes. She
snapped her eyelids shut. A sense of panic settled in the base of
her spine because there was another thing she’d seen before closing
her eyes. Fangs. She had to get out of there. Blindly lunging to
her feet, Danielle wheeled around and ran right into a solid
body.

She looked and blew out a sigh of relief
because it was Ethan.

His nostrils flared and he said, “What
happened?” It sounded like the words were forced out between
clenched teeth.

“I knocked over the teacup and it broke,
then—”

Flexing muscles rippled along his jaw. “Then
you tried to clean it up.”

“I’m sorry.” She closed her eyes again as she
hung her head, but opened them when his fingers tightened and bit
into her arms. “What should I do?”

Tugging her fingers free of his coat, Ethan
shoved something cold and hard into her hand. “Take my keys.”

“What?” Danielle shook her head and sought
his gaze. “Ethan I trust you, won’t you just take me home?”

Ethan looked away, his brows furrowed.
“We’re talking about the magical power of a
curse
here, Danielle. I’m not sure you can
trust
any
of us right now.
You must leave.”

“But,” she trusted him; he’d been around her
at night. Backing away the truth began to sink in when she saw her
blood on his brilliant while cravat. Yes, he’d been around her at
night but never when she’d been bleeding. This was different. And
she was in a mansion full of cursed beings. Ethan was right, she
had to leave.

Turing on her heel she fled to the foyer when
the toe of her shoe got tangled in her long dress and she stumbled
to the floor. Reaching out to catch herself she cried out in pain
when the keys bit into the palm of her hand, drawing more
blood.

As she struggled to her feet in a long
flowing gown, she noticed Alex, Marguerite, Beon and another male
vampire she hadn’t met emerge from the drawing room.

Euphonious sounds of the band could be
heard from the ballroom. The buoyant music was a disturbing
contrast to the frightening scene before her. And the festivities
of the others continued as they danced joyfully oblivious to the
possible murder scene unfolding in the foyer as Danielle stood
bleeding deliciously in front of five cursed beings. Curling
fingers into her newly wounded palm, she realized she’d just fallen
from a
Pride and Prejudice
movie to a Hollywood horror film.

An immoral smile pulled up the corners of
Alex’s lips, and Danielle covered her eyes.

“Let her leave!” Ethan thundered.

Danielle didn’t open her eyes until she’d
turned and her back was to the cursed humans when she ran for the
door. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might burst as
she made her way to Ethan’s Jag. She unlocked the door with
trembling hands, then slid into the driver side seat, pulled in the
yards of fabric from her dress, and locked herself inside. She
fought her shaking hand to put the key in the ignition.

The engine purred peacefully to life, despite
her feelings of terror. She drove through the dark streets of
London having no idea where she was going, or which way she should
go. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she tried to drive a car that
was unfamiliar to her and didn’t belong to her in a city that was
now teaming with hungry vampires, somehow trying to remember to
stay on the left side of the road.

After checking the rearview mirror, a scream
clawed its way up her throat at the sight of the shadow that moved
through the street behind her. It had to be a vampire, but whom?
Terror gripped her lungs and she began gasping for air as tears
continued to blur her vision, making driving impossible.

She’d left a mansion full of supposedly tame
vampires only to enter a world of vampires who lurk in this city
for mortal prey like her. Who was watching out for the weak mortals
while the supposedly noble knights of the Order where reminiscing
over the past with a party?

There was a sudden thump on the window. She
screamed again and turned to see a vampire looking at her through
the driver side window, while she was driving! But calmed when she
realized it was Ethan. She slammed on the brakes and buried her
face into her crossed arms on the steering wheel as the vehicle
came to a halt.

Ethan rapped on the window again. “Danielle,”
he said, his voice muffled through the glass, “unlock the door,
I’ll take you home.”

She looked at her bloodstained hands.

“Danielle, please, you’ll be safe with me, I
give you my word,” he urged tenderly.

After another hesitation, she silently
unlocked the door and slid to the passenger side of the car,
dragging the many folds of her dress with her. Ethan jumped in and
locked the doors again. That earned him a startled and frightened
look from her.

“Just in case I was followed,” he said.

“Who would have followed you?”

“Anyone could have. Lucas is still out
here.”

He pulled an immediate U-turn and gassed the
Jag in the opposite direction from which she’d been going. Of
course she wasn’t going the right way, she wasn’t even remotely
surprised.

They sat in silence while she struggled to
control her erratic breathing. She felt safer, even after he’d said
she couldn’t trust any of them. Danielle had to trust him, never
believing he could ever harm her.

“I’m sorry, Danielle, if you even knew the
thoughts that went through my head when I…” His hands tightened on
the steering wheel, then he continued without finishing the first
sentence. “You would understand why I let you leave alone … I
didn’t trust myself.”

“Why? What were you thinking?”

Ethan lifted one hand to press his
fingers to the bridge of his nose. “I wanted to take you to my—just
as Alex suggested and—” But his words cut off abruptly as he shook
his head. “No. No, Danielle, we will
not
discuss this.”

Changing the direction of their conversation,
he said, “After you left I began to worry about you. I knew you
wouldn’t be able to find your way and I knew Lucas was out there
somewhere still thinking about you. I knew I had to fight the curse
to get you home or I could lose you.”

The sight of a curse-entranced Sophia flashed
back into her mind. “Is Sophia upset with me?” she asked, swiping
at another wave of tears.

“She is upset, but not with you. She feels
intensely guilty for the way she looked at you, and probably had
thoughts of draining you right there in the kitchen.”

Ethan paused to look at her. She felt his
gaze, but just stared into her lap and continued to cry.