Fateful (38 page)

“Lucas, if you wouldn’t mind…” Celeste said
angrily.

Lucas’ gaze passed over her briefly before he
punished her with a swift punch to the stomach. Danielle realized
as the wind whooshed out of her that he could have hit her harder
than he did, but held back for reasons she didn’t understand.

Weakened and helpless, it was easy for them
to drag her toward the house, but a prayer rose from her heart that
maybe she’d get another chance if they left her alone.

After jerking her inside, they turned to the
right, and entered a dark staircase, probably leading to the
basement. The smell of mold assailed her senses as it wafted up
from the darkness. At the bottom was a long hallway. It was
carpeted with an ornate old-fashioned rug, and dimly lit with
electric sconces on the walls.

“Nice place, Lucas,” Danielle mumbled in the
most sarcastic voice she could find.

They ignored her comment, but she did
grimace as Lucas’ grip tightened on her already bruised flesh. They
finally stopped in front of a cement door with huge metal locks on
it. Why would they need to lock her up in something so secure? And
how would she
ever
escape
that? Defeat twisted her stomach and, feeling desperate, she tried
to escape one last time.

Of course that attempt was as futile as
the others had been. Lucas held her captive while Celeste reached
to unlock the door. The blonde vampire paused to look at her before
she opened it. “Danielle, Ethan is
very
thirsty right now.”

Eyes rounding, Danielle’s gaze shifted to the
solid door and back. Ethan? Wasn’t he in Moldova? “What do you
mean?”

A slow wicked smile curled Celeste’s mouth.
“Lucas wanted the honors, but revenge is so much sweeter forcing
Ethan to kill his love. You will be the first mortal blood he has
ever tasted.” A round of laughter tumbled out of Celeste. “How
ironic is that?”

Incredulous she asked, “Ethan is here?”

“You’re rather thick, aren’t you,
Danielle?”

“But how?”

Apparently Celeste was done answering her
questions when she passed a withering look to Lucas, who curled his
fingers around Danielle’s neck and forced her against the wall.

“When you see the demon that emerges from
your prince as the sun sets, you’ll wish I had killed you,” Lucas
spat his, tone dripping with heinous intent.

“He won’t do it,” she said, her tone as cold
as the fear constricting her heart.

“Ethan should have let me have you that first
night. Killing you himself will destroy him. He won’t be able to
save you from the ravenous monster he is right now. It is perfect
poetic justice.” Lucas let that hang there a moment, then added,
“Oh, you will likely have a sweet little reunion, but as the
sunlight diminishes, your prince will disappear and a devil will
crawl from his cursed soul. That is the Ethan who will drain the
life from you mercilessly.”

Certainly those words reminded her of her
dream, but still, she couldn’t doubt Ethan, could she? He just
couldn’t, she thought, and shook her head.

“Your precious blood will be irresistible to
him,” Celeste said.

“He won’t do it! You never knew him, you
don’t know him!” she argued, trying desperately to stand on shaky
ground.

“You’re a fool.” Celeste pulled open the
alarmingly thick door. As soon as the gap widened enough for her to
fit through, they shoved her into the dark room beyond. Blinded,
Danielle stumbled and fell, landing hard on her chest with a huff.
Before she could gather herself enough to get off the floor, she
heard the door slide shut just before the grinding of metal against
metal signaled the lock driving into place.

Danielle’s eyes hadn’t adjusted, because
there wasn’t even a hint of light. She then heard a clicking noise
and then the sound of more cement sliding heavily against cement.
She guessed it had to be another door. This dungeon, or whatever it
was, had a double door entrance. Why was that necessary?

Chapter
2
2

Trapped

Still sightless because of the thick
blackness surrounding her, Danielle practically jumped out of her
skin when a fierce roar rent the air, and then a loud thud sounded
as someone blew past her and slammed into the first door. After
that she heard sobbing ... desperate, anguished sobbing, and then,
“No, no, please no,” spoken in the deep British voice that she knew
so well.

“Ethan.”

She remained where she was, until her eyes
adjusted to a shaft of muted light filtering down in the middle of
a chamber past the second doorway. It appeared to be coming in from
outside, through some sort of small skylight. This place must have
been under the garden behind the house, which was certainly
possible with how far they’d taken her.

The room was sparsely furnished, with only a
rug in the center and an old sofa against one wall. With walls,
ceiling and floor constructed completely of cement, she could see
that Ethan had been trying to escape because he’d put many deep
dents into much of the surface as well as around the skylight.
Chunks of broken cement and dust cluttered the floor underneath
each crater. He had done a great deal of damage, but the cement was
simply too thick for him to break through.

Turning her head, Danielle could see him
leaning against the door, with his whole demeanor broken. She
realized the fierce angel who could take on anything had been
oppressed. She got up and ran to him, putting her hands softly on
his hunched shoulders. “Ethan? What have they done to you?”

With her back to one wall she pressed on his
shoulder, and curled her fingers into his shirt, trying to bring
him away from the door. Because he was looking down as he turned,
she let one hand rise to his jaw, which was covered in whiskers. He
seemed reluctant to let her see his face, but he did allow her to
encourage it upward. When the soft surrounding light caught onto
his face, she gasped—as Celeste had said, he was thirsty. Very
thirsty. His beautiful, sapphire-set eyes had been replaced with
chips of cold, reflective steel, and his complexion was a sickly
pale shade of gray.

“Oh, Ethan,” she whispered with intense
sadness filling her.
This
is
my dream.

With his despondent appearance, her heart
fractured into shattered pieces, and tears filled her eyes. How
could they do such a cruel thing to him? How dare they?

His eyes flashed with determination as he
wrapped his arms around her. “Danielle ... I’ve missed you so
much.” He pulled back, lifted her chin with one gentle finger, and
she saw a tear trickle down his cheek.

He studied her face for a long moment, and
she watched as several emotions passed over his expression: joy,
sorrow, fear, longing, and pain. He then closed his eyes and
pressed a delicate kiss to her lips. When he opened them again,
perseverance still reigned fiercely in his gaze. “I won’t let them
make me do this, Danielle. I won’t kill you,” he said, his usually
smooth voice was hoarse. “Your dream won’t come true. I won’t let
it!”

“I trust you, Ethan. You know I trust you.”
The tears continued to flow down her face.

“How did they capture you?” he asked, visibly
tracking the moisture as it trickled to her jaw.

“With a note that said for me to meet you at
the library.”

“A note?”

Slightly startled to see his glowing eyes
flash with fury as they narrowed, she nodded. “A fake note from you
that Celeste left for me on my bed. She said she got in during the
day when my guards were off duty.”

Ethan cursed angrily, braced one hand against
the wall, and the other fisted in his hair as he began shaking his
head. “They’ll never find us.”

“The Order?” When he nodded sharply, she
asked, “Why not?”

“Lucas and Celeste know they’ve been watching
them.” He released his hair and dropped his hand.

“But they know where he lives, where we are,
don’t they?”

“Yes, but they don’t know I’m missing. They
think I’m in Moldova.”

“Won’t they figure out I’m missing?”

“Eventually, but if Celeste sneaks in again,
which she could easily do when your relatives are away today, she
could set it up so it looks like you’re there, by leaving the light
on. Your family will likely figure it out before the Order does and
by then...”

“What are we going to do?” Her gaze shifted
and found the damage he’d done to the walls. “You couldn’t escape,”
she whispered, as panic began to rise. She realized he’d been
trapped here while everyone thought he was in Moldova. He’d been in
this horrible place for two and a half weeks! “You never made it to
Benjamin, did you?”

“No.”

“But how?” She couldn’t fathom how they’d
managed to trick her incredibly smart and strong Ethan.

He motioned to the only piece of furniture in
the room, the worn and dingy sofa. On it laid her missing sweater.
On a shaky exhale, she murmured, “I’ve been looking for that…. So
they made you think they had me.”

He nodded. “Cunning little trick of theirs. I
fell for it like a fool and when they’d shut the doors it was too
late.”

“Ethan, I’m so sorry. This is my fault.”

“No! Danielle, you can’t blame yourself.”
Ethan placed his hands gently on her cheeks and pushed the tears
away with his thumbs. She lifted her hands to his, but he hissed
sharply at her touch, like it hurt him. Danielle pulled his hands
carefully from her face to find that his knuckles were battered
with bloody cuts and bruises. He’d injured them while punching the
walls, but he couldn’t heal without feeding. Ethan was starving to
death.

“Oh no,” she cried as she began kissing his
bruises softly, having to wipe her tears away as they dripped onto
his skin. She then released his hands and slung her arms around his
chest. He returned the embrace, and it was a bleak but comforting
moment in the gloom of this terrible tomb. Lucas’ words had come
true so far, they did have a sweet reunion. Would the rest of it
progress as he’d foretold?

“Danielle, I’ve been so desperate without
you, worrying about you,” he said. “I’ve spent my time breathing in
your essence from your sweater, and trying to punch my way out of
here, failing miserably.”

Lifting her eyes to his, Danielle felt as
bemused as usual. She’d sure missed that feeling. “I’ve been going
crazy without you too because somehow I knew something was
wrong.”

“You knew before I left … I should have
listened to you. But I don’t know how we could have avoided this
one, unless I’d locked you up safely at my place.”

“And then you would’ve had the detectives
looking for both of us, you as my kidnapper and me as the missing
person.” But what they could have or should have done didn’t matter
any longer. “Can you think of any way to get out of this?”

“We need to make it through the night without
me killing you first. When night falls, our situation is going to
change.” He slid one finger along her jaw as that unfaltering
determination of his continued to burn in his eyes. He then closed
them and pressed his trembling lips to hers. Needy for this sort of
attention from him, she slanted her mouth over his and tugged him
closer by pulling on his shoulders.

Ethan pulled away, took her hand, and then
led her to the sofa. He pushed it as close to the wall as possible,
and then guided her to sit on it. “I need you to stay here, all
right?”

She nodded in agreement.

He knelt down in front of her, perusing her
face, as if he was committing every detail to memory. Ethan reached
up to swipe away more tears then sighed, hugged her, gave her a
gentle kiss on her still wet cheek, and then moved to the other
side of the room as far away from her as he could possibly get. He
then sank to the floor placing his chin on his knees, and closed
his eyes. She realized what he was doing; he was trying to keep her
safe from him.

Just like in her dream, the underground room
was very cold, and she realized why she hadn’t seen the sofa
before. Her gaze shifted to the rug, understanding that’s where
he’d held her down and from that position she wouldn’t have been
able to see much else. Danielle shivered at two thoughts and pulled
her feet up onto the sofa: first, that dream had to have been a
prophetic one, and second, the chilled atmosphere was sinking
through her clothes. She slipped her jacket off and wrapped it
around her legs like a blanket, and tried to get comfortable as the
reality of the situation crept through her thoughts. She knew that
once the sun sank below the horizon, this whole circumstance would
become dangerously different.

Ethan was seated in front of her a
little to her left, but she caught a glimpse of movement on her
right. Her stomach flipped with a surge of nausea when she turned
to see what had moved. There on the armrest of the sofa sat a huge
spider with long hairy legs … to her, at least, it was
gigantic.
Of course this basement has
spiders!
she mused as another wave of sickness rolled
through her guts. How had that thing gotten in here anyway?
Thinking on it, her eyes noted the dingy armrest of the sofa where
the arachnid stood and realized it was likely inside the sofa
before it was brought in here.

Great, she thought with sarcasm, now she was
locked in a dungeon with a starving vampire and a nightmarish
insect.

But even without how much it tormented her to
look at it, Danielle couldn’t take her eyes off it just in case it
decided to move closer to her. Carefully she slid to the other end
of the sofa, trying to distance herself from the furry beast.

For a delusional moment she considered
removing her shoe and dealing with it herself but the thought of
feeling the oversized thing crunch under her shoe made bile rise in
her throat, and she shuddered in response.