Sacrifice (2 page)

Converting
the house into two apartments would give her extra income to aide her flagging
business, and possibly the company she craved.

When
Ethan turned up to view the apartment a few days after she placed the ad, Hallie
was thrilled someone showed interested in renting so soon. But when he arrived
to view the apartment, she didn’t know what to think. The gorgeous Ethan looked
about her age, but wore a ten thousand dollar watch and rolled up in a vintage
Aston Martin. Hallie almost told him he had the wrong address, but a desire to
spend a little more time drooling over the visitor had her leading him into the
house. He signed the lease a few minutes later. By the time he left, Hallie had
a major crush on the tall, delicious man with the tousled brown hair and
dazzling smile, and she got a fistful of cash. He’d paid six month’s rent in
advance and asked how soon he could move in. Two days later, he arrived with a
van load of furniture.

The
local gossips must’ve heard about the handsome stranger living in her house, by
next morning business boomed at the store. The very people who’d caused her
financial problems by choosing to get their supplies at the new mall close by,
suddenly couldn’t stay away.

“What’s
the story with that tall drink of water living in your Grandma’s house?” one of
them had asked, causing the half dozen others in the store to stop their
chatter and pause to listen. The woman let her gaze roam over Hallie’s long
blonde hair and slim body, as if assessing how much competition she’d be should
the woman try to get friendly with Ethan herself.

“No
story. I needed the money and he needed a place to stay. That’s it.”

“What’s
he like?” asked one of the women, her gaze sharp and calculating. “Is he
dating?”

“I’d
pay that pretty young thing to live in
my
house!” someone shouted.

The
women gathered around, inundating Hallie with questions and comments. She put
up her hands to keep them at bay. “I don’t know much about him. He’s only just
moved in and we’re not really acquainted yet.” She’d gazed around at their
eager faces and smiled, knowing one sure fire way to put an end to the
conversation. “Now, did you ladies just come in to snoop, or are you actually
gonna buy anything?”

They’d
drifted out of the convenience store, a few of them paying for an item or two
before they left, and hardly came back since. It was clear all they wanted was
a bit of gossip and she didn’t have any to give. Hallie groaned as she
remembered that
that
wasn’t quite
true anymore, not that she’d have told them anyway. No, she’d take her embarrassing
seduction attempt to the grave.

Hallie
blushed at the memory of the welcome dinner she’d organized a couple of nights
after he’d moved in. Okay, so she’d been attracted to him at first glance but
it seemed only sensible to get to know him better, after all, the man was living
in her house. They’d spent a pleasant evening getting acquainted. His accent
told her he’d grown up in
Louisiana
,
same as she, although he never mentioned where he’d lived before his move to
Fairborne. Besides learning about his job as a reporter for,
The Faustian Times
—an occult magazine—she’d
found out very little else.

Having
dinner together had quickly become a habit, with both of them taking turns to
cook, four or five nights a week. Hallie had the new friend she’d craved but
soon friendship just wasn’t enough. One night, after a few glasses of wine and
a lot of flirting, she’d moved in a little closer, made confident by the
message she detected in his gaze. At first, he’d responded as she dreamed he
would, dragging her across the last few inches separating them and crushing her
lips with his own. The kiss rendered her breathless and evoked a deep hunger
for more. But suddenly, he abruptly pulled away, apologized for his behavior
and damn near ran out of her apartment. Ethan had avoided her in the four
months since that night.

Hallie
groaned as she chased away the memory of her humiliation and put her feet up on
the sofa. The gossips would have a field day if they knew that, she thought
acerbically, sinking down into the plush cushions, her head heavy and her eyes
burning from the urge to close. Ethan’s gentle snores filled the night and she hoped
his peaceful slumber meant the worst had passed.

Maybe
Doc Fletcher was right.

Sometime
during the night she woke suddenly, confused when she didn’t instantly recognize
her surroundings, as the memory of a nightmare lurked at the edges of her mind.
In her dream, Ethan had cried out for her, his voice painful and heavy with
need, but she hadn’t been able to find him. She’d followed the sound of his cries
to a dark basement where he lay dying, his face as contorted and unrecognizable
as it had been earlier.

Hallie
got up to check on him, unable to shake the fear she’d woken with until she could
see for herself that he was okay. She tiptoed into his bedroom, resolving to
take him to a hospital if he looked no better than before. But when she got
there, the bed was empty and the window wide open.

Ethan
was gone.

*
* * *

 
“I can hear you in there, so you might as well
let me in.”

Ethan
clenched his fists, feeling guilty for ignoring Hallie’s pleas which tested the
fragile grip he had on his new and terrifying urges.
Didn’t the fool woman know he was avoiding her for her own good?

He
hadn’t laid eyes on her since the night two weeks earlier when his life ended
and he became a vampire. He’d awoken, still in the throes of the change, to
find Hallie asleep on his sofa. The last time he’d gazed at her beautiful face,
he was standing over her, fighting the urge to sink his newly formed fangs into
the tempting vein beating in Hallie’s exposed throat. Ethan fled her home that
night, hiding underneath a deserted house nearby until darkness fell. Then he
raced away in his car, driving non-stop until he reached his friend and mentor,
Clive.

Hallie
wasn’t giving up. “I just want to check if you’re okay,” she said, sounding as
if her lips were pressed against the wood. “Please, Ethan. I know you are in
there.”

The
confusion and sadness in her voice tore at his dead heart. He should have stayed
away and gone back to his own home but Clive said it was still too risky. Yeah,
well staying here was risky too—for Hallie at least. Wanting her so badly but
being unable to have her tortured him constantly, despite Clive’s reassurances
that his obsession with her would pass. Instead, it just got worse. Ethan lay
awake every night, the thought of her naked, warm body mere feet away drove him
crazy with need. He knew his kind had insatiable sexual appetites—for sex as
well as blood—but then why didn’t he want anyone else but her? Pushing her away
all those months ago was the hardest thing he’d ever done and his desire for
her had only intensified since.

He
should’ve never come back, but in his crazed condition, and with the venom
killing the last of the human in him, all he could think of was seeing her one
last time. Ethan didn’t know how many hours he’d spent wandering in terrified
agony that night, trying to make his way home to Hallie.

About
to leap from the window and escape into the night, the scent of her tears
assaulted his nostrils and he realized he’d made her cry. He walked back towards
the entrance to his apartment, testing his willpower by standing close enough
to smell her sweet skin through the wood separating them. When the urge to tear
the door off the hinges and drag her into his arms didn’t come, he knew he
could risk seeing her.

“Give
me a minute, okay?”

He
ran to the kitchen and heated a quart of blood in the microwave, downing it
desperately. A shudder ripped through his body at the bitter, coppery taste he
was sure he would never get used to. He didn’t need to feed again but Clive warned
him that a hungry new vampire couldn’t afford to be around people, not unless
he wanted them to know what he was.

Hallie
had wiped away her tears by the time he cracked open the door, but he could
still see the tracks on her face and the redness around her pretty green eyes. She’d
lost a few pounds in the last couple of weeks, evident from the way the sweat
pants that used to hug her lovely curves now hung loosely from her hips. Another
thing he felt responsible for.

“H…hi,”
she said, her voice still husky from crying. “Can I come in?”

Ethan
wanted to tell her to stay away, but as he struggled to find the right words
without causing her more pain, his delay in answering clearly upset her. Her
beautiful green eyes sparkled with unshed tears. It physically pained him
knowing he was the cause of her sorrow.

He
moved out of the doorway, gesturing for her to enter, and took a last deep
breath of air before her scent and taste assaulted his senses.

“Thanks.”
Hallie took a seat, perching on the edge of the very sofa where he’d almost
ended her life. Ethan didn’t join her. Instead, he remained standing, watching
her silently.
The
highly sensitive awareness coursing through his body warned him she was more
than a little angry. She was livid.

“Now
I can see you’re perfectly okay. Do you mind telling me why the hell you’ve
been so mean to me? I took care of you, only to find you had disappeared in the
middle of the night, and I haven’t laid eyes on you since.” She stood up
abruptly and moved towards him, her finger jabbing at his face. “The least you
could do is thank me for helping your sorry ass!”

Ethan
took a step back, unsure if he could handle it should she touch him. “I sent
you some flowers. Didn’t you get—”

“Yes,
I got them.” She sighed and the anger drained from her face. “But that’s hardly
the same as seeing with my own eyes that you were alive. Ethan, I truly thought
you were dying.”

“I’m
sorry, really I am. But as you can see, I’m fine.”

He
moved a little closer to the door, his hand extended as if to grab the knob. Any
hopes that she’d accept his flippant answer and leave him to his misery were
dashed when she walked back to the sofa and sat down again.

“Are
you going to tell me what happened?”

“Why?”

She
smiled, but it didn’t reach her tired eyes. “Besides the fact you owe me an
explanation, I’m a lone woman living in a house with a man I don’t really know
as well as I thought I did. If you have drug or alcohol problems—”

Ethan
swallowed his offense at her words. “I don’t drink, and as for drugs, do I look
like an addict to you?”

Hallie
shook her head, a shy smile lighting her features. “Not really. You do look
well, though. Amazingly so, considering how bad you looked two weeks ago…” Her
voice drifted off and she seemed to lose her train of thought as her gaze crawled
over him slowly. Ethan tensed and turned away.

“So,
what happened?” she asked, the weariness back in her tone.

 
“I don’t know the details.” That much wasn’t a
lie at least. “I was researching a story at this club and the last thing I
remember is a young Creole woman—”

Hallie
cast her gaze downward. “Did you…you know…with her?”

“Have
sex with her? No.”

The
blush crawling over Hallie’s cheeks almost made him growl. He didn’t need to be
reminded that her warm, sweet blood lay mere millimeters below the surface of
her skin.

“So
what did she do to you?”

He
shrugged, feigning ignorance. “I can only guess what happened but it doesn’t
matter now anyway. As you can see, there’s no lasting damage.” Hallie fell
silent. If he was very lucky, she’d let it drop. But since when had he ever been
lucky?

“I’m
sorry Ethan, but that’s bullshit. You’re a reporter for God’s sake. Do you
really expect me to believe you didn’t try to find out what she did to you?”

“Like
I said, it doesn’t matter—”

“Like
hell it doesn’t! All kinds of shady stuff goes down in
New Orleans
. How do you know she didn’t poison
you? Doc Fletcher said—”

“Whatever
he said was wrong.”

“So
you
do
know what it is.” Hallie got
to her feet and closed in on him, her voice a gentle plea. “Tell me.”

She
reached out to grip his t-shirt but he stopped her, wrapping a hand around each
of her wrists and held her away. Hallie gasped from the contact, obviously shocked
at how cold he felt. For him, her skin almost burned his palms as her heat
radiated through his flesh.

“Please,
I need to know,” she whispered.

“It
would only frighten you.”

Ethan
dropped his gaze, unable to look into her eyes while they silently begged him
to open up to her. Instead, he gazed at her trembling lips, groaning when the
sight of them caused a hard jolt of desire to course through him. Ethan let go
of her and tried to move away but he stopped, frozen with dread when her
fingertips caressed his cheek.

Ethan
felt her heart thud with frenzy and she sucked in shallow, rasping breaths. He
stared at her face, then her sensuous lips slightly parted as she tilted her
head back, telling him without words she wanted to be kissed. Ethan drank the
sight of her in, promising himself this was all he would take…but then he
caught another aroma…one he couldn’t resist.