Fateful (45 page)

He spoke when he leaned back. “I’m not angry
with you. You continue to be my rarest possession, and I will
always cherish you. Don’t worry about your family. Your uncle is a
wise man. He thinks they could exist, and with that amount of
knowledge he will be safe.”

She smiled when his eyes caught onto hers and
held for a few quiet moments.

“It’s nice to be able to look into your eyes
at night,” she said.

“And it was a pleasure to be able to have tea
with you and your uncle—at night,” he said. “The moon is a welcome
sight for me now, thanks to you and your valiant bravery.” He slid
his fingers along her cheek as he spoke.

“No, it was thanks to you and your incredible
self-control,” she argued.

“I guess that is one thing we’ll never agree
on.”

“Agree to disagree?” she offered.

“Yes, agreed.”

He gave her a second goodnight kiss for the
night, but it was cut short by a vampire. “Come on, Ethan, enough
with the smooching. Let’s go already.” Cedric and Max had emerged
from their hiding places, drawing closer, but kept their enchanting
eyes narrowed.

“What’s the matter, Cedric? Not getting a
decent salary for your work?” Ethan asked without looking at
Cedric.

“Paid!” He laughed. “You’re funny, Ethan. We
do this because we like you for reasons I can’t fathom at the
moment,” Cedric ranted.

This caught Danielle’s interest. “They’re not
paid?”

“They’re all volunteers, and trust me,
they’re the only ones who can be trusted with this. Old vampires
don’t need the money, as they’ve had plenty of time to accumulate
wealth. Only a young vampire could be bought off. Beon will not
allow any youthful vampires around us, and if they’re not paid then
we have a better chance of them doing it for honest reasons.” Ethan
explained.

“But what if someone else bought them
off?”

“That’s why Beon has chosen old guardians
whom he’s known for many years and can trust.”

“Oh. How old are you, Cedric?” she asked.

“I’m younger than Ethan, he’s an old fogy.
I’m only eighty-four,” Cedric stated as if he was clearly still in
his youth. Ethan cringed and chuckled at Cedric’s joke.

“And you, Max?”

“Truthfully, I’m quite a bit older. I’m six
hundred and sixty-seven,” Max announced, puffing out his chest like
a proud rooster.

Danielle laughed, though she was astonished
by the huge number. “You’re ancient! You all are!”

“All right, time to go, Ethan.” Cedric
grasped Ethan’s arm. “We need to get out of sight before Danielle’s
uncle decides to check up on her.”

“Yes, sir,” Ethan said. He swiftly lifted her
hand and pressed his lips to her knuckles as he was then dragged,
stumbling backwards as he tried to match the speed of the vampire
pulling him.

She waited for Cedric and Ethan to drive away
in their separate cars, and then watched as Max vanished into the
greenery. She realized he was taking a long shift, watching Ethan
all day and her all night. She couldn’t help but wonder when the
changing of the guards would be, and figured that it would most
likely be when she was soundly sleeping.

Epilogue

Beyond the End

Over the next few weeks Danielle and Ethan
continued to date during the day and night. Well, Friday nights.
They went on double dates with Will and Brianna. They watched Will
play rugby, and danced in the club again. Ethan became immersed in
this new world that had surrounded him, but had always been just
out of his reach. He was having a great deal of fun going out to
eat frequently. They’d explored places serving everything from
Mexican, to French cuisine, to Thai, and even American. He was
willing and eager to try pretty much anything and everything, and
was lucky that London, being such a huge city, happened to have
many choices available besides the traditional English fare,
although, he was more than enthusiastic about trying those too.

While sitting in an Indian restaurant with
Max and Nadia, Ethan hummed while he chewed. Danielle thought it
was kind of cute and endearing when he did, and suspected he didn’t
even know he was doing it. “Clair, my family cook, introduced me to
curry,” he said before filling his mouth again.

“Indian food?”

“My dear, curry has been popular here since
before we ever discovered India.”

“Really?” Danielle asked.

“That’s true,” Max said. “I remember it
being made
way
back
when.”

Ethan swallowed a mouthful of the spiced dish
and then moaned in bliss again. Apparently his fervent sounds
motivated Nadia to taste her uneaten curry. But it was clear from
her expression that she was disappointed with the curse-stifled
flavor, and abandoned her fork in the bowl, propping her chin on
her fists to likely sulk about it while Ethan made more happy
noises.

Danielle snickered. “It’s become entertaining
to watch you enjoy this. Were you this passionate about life before
turning into a—? Well, you know…”

“I took simple things for granted, like
anyone else. In my day, we didn’t have the foods we have now. These
wonderful take-away selections weren’t available until fish and
chips came along, but that was in the eighteen-sixties and I was
already on a liquid diet by then, so I missed out. Besides that,
imagine no internet, or cell phones, or even telephones, or tooth
extraction anesthesia, or safety pins, or bicycles with pedals and
cranks.” He grinned to himself. “Or fast cars. You would have hated
riding in a hack. A painful ride, I tell you. Brutalized my
backside every time.”

“You’re starting to sound like my grandfather
again, except older.”

“It’s likely I have trousers older than your
grandfather.”

“Have you seriously kept clothes for that
long?”

“All right, maybe not trousers, but a few
things like my sword, certainly.”

As Ethan and Danielle finished eating, Nadia
received a call. She dug the phone from her purse and answered,
listened quietly as her eyes enlarged to the size of salad plates,
and then she giggled fervently.

When she hung up, Max asked, “What was that
about?”

“Beon is building the room!”’

“What room?”

“The cement room!”

Danielle shuddered, knowing what room
she was talking about now
.
That cold, spider-infested chamber of fear she’d been trapped
in for one long night....

Max cleared his throat. “You two ready to
leave? We’re nearing your curfew, younglings.”

It seemed Max liked to call them either
younglings or little mortals, and Danielle wasn’t sure if she liked
the endearments or not. While she enjoyed hanging out with them,
she was growing tired of being guarded so strictly around the
clock. Nothing had happened for weeks, and it seemed Celeste and
Lucas had no idea she was still breathing air as they hadn’t been
seen for just as long. “Can’t we stay out a little longer?” she
asked feeling like she was whining to her father.

“Sorry, Miss Darcey, but I must keep the
darling mortals safe, and it’s past your bedtime.”

Darling mortals, that’s a
new one
, she thought. “I normally stay up way later
than this, I’ll have you know.”

Max guffawed, and the loud noise raised a few
eyebrows from the other guests at the restaurant. “You’re welcome
to stay up as late as you like in your bedroom.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “Let’s run away
together,” she whispered to Ethan.

“That would be quite reckless, and don’t you
even dare think I’d let you get away with it, young lady,” Max
said.

Danielle narrowed her eyes at the knight, and
Ethan set his hand on top of hers. “Careful, men beat their women
in his day. Don’t tempt him to turn you over his knee, he just
might do it.”

Her eyes widened, but relaxed when Nadia
laughed and she recognized the mirth as it flickered to life in the
knight’s gaze. “You wouldn’t really … I mean…”

“Try me,” Max growled with a note of danger
in his tone.

However, she knew a gentle and kind center
lay hidden beneath his stringent exterior. She stood abruptly,
feigning rebellion. “We’re leaving! And we’re hanging out at my
uncle’s place for tea and sweets—even if it is late.”

Max chuckled as he and Nadia followed them
from the restaurant, proving she was right about his softer
side.

She led Ethan to the sofa when they arrived
at her house. None of her relatives were home at the moment, and
the guards thankfully stayed outside.

Danielle may have fought their restrictions a
little, but she never forgot the possible threats looming in the
background of their fairytale. She hoped their fateful romance was
drawing to a happy closure, but the end still seemed distant—though
it was now in sight. Was it their destiny to have a happy ending?
Could they endure to the end, or rather, could they survive for
that long? They remained mortals trapped in a world belonging to
immortals. How long could they live in such a world, or would this
end tragically? She knew that not all fairytales had a happy ending
and hated the uncertainty hanging over them.

Her brows knitted while she pondered these
troubling things, as she and Ethan snuggled in front of the fire
he’d just started.

Ethan reliably noticed her sinking mood,
still being able to read her better than anyone else. “Danielle,
what are you thinking about? What disquiets your thoughts?” He
gently brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, tucked the curl
away, and then began working circles on her back in an obvious
effort to comfort her.

Danielle groaned audibly as she shifted
closer into the cradle of his chest. “Ethan, will we ever have a
happy ending?”

“No, Danielle, we will not.” She felt
horrified for a moment because his answer was not at all what she’d
expected and then he explained, “We will never have an ending.
Happily ever after is more like it. Our story will last forever,
for an eternity—our story is never-ending.”

Smiling at his words, Danielle looked up into
his blue eyes, which reflected his beautiful soul into hers. “I
love it when you say things like that.”

He chuckled softly, caressed her cheek with
his fingers, and placed a tender kiss on her lips.

###

Other Titles by Cheri Schmidt

Fractured, book #2 in the Fateful Series

Fair Maiden, book #1 in the Fair Maiden Series

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