Fateful (36 page)

“Danielle, please remember we were meant to
feed on mortals and the strong aroma of your fresh blood triggered
the power of the curse—in all of us. But the rest of us have come
across that scent at one time or another. It’s easy to run into
someone with a fresh cut or scrape, especially with the way I
search the streets looking for other vampires at night. I can
resist it if I’m not thirsty, but only if I remove myself from the
odor as quickly as possible. I can’t linger while breathing in that
succulent scent without being influenced. That’s why I will always
see the curse for what it is and not the blessing of immortality
the others do. That’s why I let you leave without me. There’s
always the risk we could become murderers. If anyone would have
been thirsty tonight, you wouldn’t have made it out alive.”

“This is my fault. Sophia shouldn’t feel
guilty. I should have been more careful,” she said while she
continued to push the relentless tears from her cheeks, but drew
her hands away when she recalled the blood on them. Was she covered
in it? Looking down, she could only see one spot of blood on her
dress but wondered if she’d smeared her face with it while trying
to control the tears, and reached for the sun visor. While she saw
her face was clean of blood, she did notice she looked like she’d
been crying with black tracks of mascara running down her face.
Choosing two uninjured fingers she tried to scrub it away.

Ethan handed her a handkerchief, which she
took. “It was an accident, no one blames you. We made a mistake in
assuming nothing like this could happen. It’s my fault for wanting
you there. Beon was right, I was too arrogant.”

Danielle laughed with self mockery as she
looked at her cuts. At least they weren’t bleeding anymore, but
they were caked with dried bits of blood. “How can you even stand
to be in the same car as me right now?”

“It helps that I’m not thirsty right now …
and, Danielle, I love you. You needed me and I wanted to be here
for you. Because of those things, I can ignore how appealing you
smell right now.”

She drew in a little wet sounding sniff. “I’m
sorry I cut myself and ruined everything.” Ruined the perfect Jane
Austen fantasy date.

Ethan pulled to the side of the road, stopped
the car, and reached his hand out. “Let me see.”

Her eyes widened. He’d just finished telling
her how tempting her blood smells at night and now he wants to see
the open wound? “Are you completely mad?”

He rolled down his window, filled his lungs
with fresh air and then held his breath. He grasped her wrists and
looked, apparently not giving her a choice in the matter.

Danielle dropped her head against the
headrest and turned her eyes to the roof of the car, it’s Dr.
Deveroux again. He looked carefully for a moment. Yanking the
cravat loose of his neck, he gently wrapped her palm with it. The
keys had done more damage than the small piece of broken teacup.
“You don’t need stitches, it’s superficial.”

He shifted his Jaguar into gear and continued
on to her house. “I won’t come inside your room tonight. Keep the
cuts dry so they seal up fast. We’ll be watching for Lucas or any
other vampire who may have taken an interest in you, and I’ll see
you tomorrow.” He then kissed her swiftly on the forehead and once
she was safely inside, he left.

It was eleven, and she wasn’t expected back
until twelve-thirty. The volume on the television was set low, but
she managed to sneak past a sleeping Brianna and get to her
bedroom. Danielle really didn’t want to explain her tearstained
face or her bloody hands.

Weary from the night’s events she, washed her
face, bandaged her wounds, removed the gown with some difficulty
and fell asleep before she’d changed out of the chemise.

C
hapter 20

Monster Deveroux

That night, Danielle had her most frightening
dream yet and it wasn’t about Lucas. Ethan was the monster of her
dreams this time.

Cold hard stone surrounded her, but the
coldest thing in the bleak room was easily Ethan. With eyes a
frightening, and unnatural silver, like those of a wild animal
reflected in car lights, she knew he was very thirsty and weak, yet
still dangerous. What troubled her more, however, was the
distressing fact that she couldn’t see the Ethan she knew in the
depths of those eyes, he was gone. He’d pinned her to the floor,
his sharp, pointed fangs exposed, and he was leaning in to bite her
on the neck. Somehow Danielle knew it wasn’t to transform her, he
meant to kill her. She was going to die at his hands, the hands
that she’d trusted.

Screaming his name, Danielle woke up and knew
from her volume that everyone must have heard her.

Seconds after she’d screamed Ethan appeared
on her bed, seemingly from thin air. He’d left the window open in
his haste, she realized, when a breeze caught her lace curtain and
lifted it away from the wall. Apparently to make sure his sudden
appearance didn’t cause her to scream again, his hand was already
over her mouth. But he’d materialized so quickly, she didn’t
actually have time to even think about that.

Danielle avoided his eyes because she knew it
was still early, the sun wouldn’t be up for a while, and so his
powers were still strong. With caution, she let her gaze rise to
his face. He was guarding her from his enchantment, but his
attentive concern was impossible to miss. Clearly he had the early
morning watch, and he’d heard her scream, otherwise she was fairly
certain he wouldn’t be in her room now.

“Are you all right?” Ethan removed his hand
from her mouth.

Relief swamped her at his gentle words and
she knew this wasn’t the Ethan of her nightmare, but the Ethan she
knew and loved. She flung her arms around his neck not wanting him
to disappear. But he pried her grasp from him and did just
that.

Wondering why he would leave so soon, she
searched for him. Then when her bedroom door burst open, she
understood the sudden disappearance.

Brianna came running in, followed close
behind by her aunt and uncle. They all looked dazed, like they’d
just sprung from a deep sleep. “Dannie, are you okay? We heard you
scream,” Brianna asked warily.

“I’m sorry I woke you. It was just a bad
dream, that’s all.”

“I swear I heard you say Ethan’s name,”
Brianna pressed further.

“I don’t remember what I said.” The words
came out slow, mainly because they weren’t exactly true. “Like I
said, it was just a dream. I’m sorry I disturbed your sleep. But
really, I’m fine.”

“Danielle, why is your window open?” asked
Uncle Nick, frowning probably because it was a bit too chilly for
that.

“Um ... I was hot, now I’m cold.” She got up
and closed the window.

“And you’re sure you’re fine?” asked Aunt
Charlotte.

“Yes, I’m sure, please go back to bed.”

“Very well then, goodnight, Danielle,” said
Uncle Nick.

“Goodnight.” They finally left and shut the
door behind them.

Lying back down, she rubbed the sleep out of
her eyes. She opened them to find Ethan had returned. He sat down
on the bed and leaned over to kiss her on the neck, which was one
of the safest places for him to kiss at this hour, but his movement
was almost identical to how he leaned down in the dream. Instinct
took over, and she cringed away from him. Could Ethan look any more
crushed then he did right then? He obviously now knew this
nightmare hadn’t been about Lucas.

“The dream that drew that terrified scream
from you was about me, wasn’t it?” he asked, ill at ease.

She gulped, knowing she had to tell him the
truth. “Yes, I’m sorry.”

“Tell me about it.”

A deep sigh. She didn’t want to tell him
about it because this was the worst thing that could possibly
happen between them.

“Danielle, I need to know.”

With reluctance, she told him, even knowing
the details of it would cause the look of deep worry holding his
expression to deepen.

But as she watched him process this dark
information, the agonized features of his face shifted as they
became calculating. “You don’t normally have prophetic dreams,
correct?”

“Right,” she said slowly wondering where he
was going with this.

“How was I different in this dream, compared
to the other dreams? Was I glowing white?”

She hadn’t thought of that before, and had to
relive the dream to remember. Her muscles tensed, she closed her
eyes tightly and then answered, “No, you weren’t glowing at all,
you looked like I see you now.”

“But my eyes were silvery instead of
blue?”

“Yes.”

“Was I pale?”

“Yes.”

“This room, what did it look like? Where was
it?”

“I have no idea where it was, and there
wasn’t anything in it.”

“No furnishings?”

Danielle shook her head, still confused.

Surging to his full height he began pacing
her bedroom.

Still very sleepy, Danielle couldn’t seem to
help it when she began dozing as he tried to wear a path into her
rug. Suddenly he was there lying next to her as one arm wrapped
around her, and her eyes flew back open. After momentarily tensing,
she forced herself to relax, snuggling further into the comforting
embrace. She didn’t feel threatened by him, even after the dream,
because that’s all it was. “It was just a silly dream,” she
murmured in a sleep drenched voice.

“I need to find the cure before anything like
this does happen.”

“It won’t, I trust you.”

Ethan was silent for a few moments, but his
body was practically thrumming with something she suspected was
determination. “I’m going to Benjamin to ask him about the
prophecy.”

“But—” As she rolled to face him, Ethan
quickly closed his eyes. “Isn’t he the first vampire?”

“Yes, he’s the only one who can help me with
this. Beon and Seth have spoken to many vampires, but they haven’t
been able to come up with anything to help us. We have to figure
this out on our own.”

“Where is he? Is it dangerous to go to
him?”

“We believe he lives in Moldova.” A charged
pause hung between them before he said, “I’ve heard he is
dangerous, but I have to try. I must try.”

“How will I know you’re safe? Could he kill
you?”

Self-mocking laughter left his lungs. “You
just had a dream about me killing you, aren’t you worried about
that?”

“No.” Danielle thought again on what she’d
seen in his eyes. Ethan simply was not a murderer. “I know you
could never do that to me, and you never let yourself get that
thirsty. It just doesn’t make any sense. My dreams are usually
complete nonsense anyway. And this one was likely brought on by
eating chocolate cake so late.” Well, that and what happened with
Sophia, but she wasn’t going to voice that.

“Danielle, my killing you is still a risk,
and always will be unless I find the cure. If I never find the
cure, we can’t stay together. We can’t be with each other at night,
and we can’t even look at each other in the eyes right now. What
kind of a relationship is that?”

She didn’t like the way he was talking.
Was that true? If he didn’t find this Benjamin would he really
break it off with her? He just couldn’t! They
knew
each other. Danielle wasn’t surprised when
silent tears slipped down her face dripping onto her pillow. “Don’t
go. Take me with you,” she pleaded.

“I have to do this for us, Danielle,
and you
cannot
go with me.
Benjamin doesn’t have a problem with killing mortals.” Shifting
closer, Ethan brushed her tears away with his own cheeks, knowing
she was crying even if he never looked at her directly.

When her only response to his words was to
shed more tears, Ethan changed tactics and began exploring her face
with his fingertips. As always the touch soothed her, and she
pushed at his chest trying to escape it, because she could also
smell the curse magic and it was starting to affect her.

Darn him, she thought when he only drew
nearer. That wasn’t what she needed and the potion that made her
want the death he could give further saturated her senses. It
wasn’t long before she was doing the same to him, dragging soft
fingers over his profile, over his cheeks, into his hair.

Taking a peek, she noticed his eyes were
still closed and she could look as much as she liked without being
overpowered by his trance-like gaze. Danielle felt herself become
pulled into a burning moment of which something sweetly innocent
became something more without ever crossing lines. They had been
closer than this physically during the day, but for some reason,
this limited contact, before the sun made its morning appearance,
felt more intense. Danielle slid closer, pressing her wet cheek to
his.

They had never allowed themselves to be this
close at night, not even the first night they tested his influence
on her, and while she knew in the back of her mind this wasn’t wise
... as her brain became drunk with dark magic she found she didn’t
particularly care.

Aware of the fact Ethan wasn’t allowing
himself to breathe, she believed it was because he didn’t want to
smell her blood, and secretly thanked him for it. Or, she thought,
as she smashed against his body, maybe it was so he wouldn’t
overpower her with his super-potent breath.

Knowing full well it was probably reckless of
her, Danielle decided she could partake in the less-potent version
from his skin. She slid her nose under the line of his chiseled
jawbone, filling her lungs selfishly with his delectable bouquet.
Moving her nose up to meet with his, she stole the forbidden kiss
she wanted.

Danielle had no idea why he allowed it, but
she kept going, wondering when he would call a halt to something
she knew wasn’t allowed.