Undeniable (23 page)

Colette shook her head. “I think she was protecting us.”

“From who?”

Colette simply stared at him.

“Me?” He shifted Diana so that her head rested on his
shoulder. The vein in his neck nearly burst free from the skin separating it
from her lips. Diana groaned. He carried her into the living room and laid her
down on the couch. “That’s ridiculous. Why would she think I’d hurt you or
Luna?”

Colette lowered her eyes. “Because she knows.”

Ice-cold fingers wrapped around his heart. “So, she was
protecting you from me.” Although the idea that Diana thought he would sink his
teeth into a helpless woman and child made him sick, he had to admire her
bravery. He gazed down. She looked so pale. So frail. “Faints at the sight of
blood, yet she stands up to a vampire to protect her friends.”

Colette began to nod, then jerked her head up. She swatted
his slumped shoulders. “You big oaf. As far as Diana was concerned, she was
only standing up to a man.”

“But you just said she knows.”

“About me and Luna. Not you.”

Sebastian felt the fingers around his heart release their
grip, slip away. “That’s why she screamed? She realized you were vampires?”

“No, no. She’s known about us for a while.”

“Before Marek?” The fingers returned, this time squeezing so
hard he thought his heart would stop beating. “Then Olympia was right. She must
have led her father to him.”

“She found out after Marek died. Open your eyes, Sebastian.
She made it quite obvious tonight that she would never help her father.”

He longed to believe that, but the safety of his niece and
sister-in-law weighed heavy on his shoulders. “You shouldn’t have invited her
here. What if you’re wrong? What if this was all an elaborate act?”

“We trust her.” Colette brought her chin up. “As a matter of
fact, we’re all going into town to watch the fireworks.” She glanced down.
“Well, as soon as she comes to.”

Sebastian examined Diana’s finger. His blood already
mingling with hers and his saliva had worked its magic. The gaping wound had
already sealed into a mere scratch.

Over the past three weeks his hunger had gnawed at him,
weakening his willpower more each day until he thought he’d go mad. Blood
surged through his veins, pooled in his eyes. Seeing Diana through a red haze
terrified him. His fangs shot out. His nostrils flared. The smell of her blood
permeated the room. He closed his eyes, clenched his fists, flung his head back
and roared until his fangs receded with his hunger.

Drawing in a shaky breath, he glared at Colette’s shocked
face. “First we’re going to get this covered and wake Diana. Then I’ll go with
you into town, just in case you’re wrong.”

“You still don’t trust her. What does she have to do?”

“More than what could have been a very good act.”

“Men are such fools.” Colette shook her head as she went to
get a bandage. When she returned, she handed it to him and rumpled his head.
“Well, not Marek. He trusted me the moment we met.”

“Marek trusted everyone, Colette. That’s the problem.” He
wrapped the bandage around Diana’s finger.

“What was with the gun, Sebastian?”

“I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on in here. I felt
her distress before I heard her scream and, well, I couldn’t come in baring my
fangs.”

“I thought she was going to wrestle it out of your hand,”
Colette said, softly laughing. “When she accused you of stalking her, I thought
I’d die.”

“The little spitfire called me a nut.” He ran his finger
over Diana’s lower lip. “I think I’m in big trouble here, Colette.”

“Can I still go see the fireworks?”

Colette and Sebastian turned. Luna peered out from the hall
leading to her room. She glanced at Diana’s body. Her chin scrunched up. “Did I
kill Diana?”

“What?” Sebastian frowned.

Luna ran across the room. She wrapped her arms around her
mother’s waist. “It wasn’t my fault. She pulled her hand away before I let go.”

“You bit her?” Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell is
going on? Will someone tell me why she screamed?”

“No.” Colette lifted her chin. “If Diana wants you to know,
she’ll tell you.”

“Luna, you’ll tell Uncle Sebastian why Diana was crying,
won’t you?”

Luna glanced up at her mother, then looked at him and shook
her head.

He stalked them across the room, taking one long step
forward for every two they took backwards.

Colette bared her fangs when they bumped against the wall. “Back
off, Sebastian. You’re scaring Luna.”

He gritted his teeth. “I will when you explain to me why my
niece bit Diana.”

“She told me to!” Luna held up her finger and wiggled it.
“She wiggled her finger in front of my mouth right after she said a mouse bit
her.”

Diana moaned. Sebastian leaned down and whispered into
Luna’s ear. “You’ll tell me why Diana screamed, won’t you, Luna Moona.”

“No.” When he continued to stare into her eyes, Luna gasped.
“Stop it. Daddy said it’s really, really rude to sneak a peek into someone’s
head.”

“Sebastian, you didn’t!” Colette lifted Luna into her arms.
“I can’t believe this is you.”

“Well what do you expect, Colette? I have to protect you and
Luna. I—”

“And Diana,” Luna said, twisting around in her mother’s
arms. She pointed a finger at him and wagged it in front of his face. “You have
to protect her for me, Uncle Sebastian.”

Sebastian hooked Luna’s chin. “I do?”

“She gave me the locket her mommy gave her. It protected her
from monsters, but she gave it to me. Then I got scared ‘cause now she has
nothing to keep her safe. So I’m giving her you.”

“Me?”

“Grandpa said I could. He said you would take care of her
for me. He pinky promised!”

Sebastian cleared his throat. “Grandpa Tobias?”

When Luna nodded, he lifted the locket.

How many times had he seen Diana reach for something on her
chest, seen her sigh when her hand came away empty? He slid his nail into the
side of the heart and opened it. The tiny picture of a young woman kissing the
cheek of a baby sent a lump to his throat.

“Still don’t trust her, Sebastian? She gave that to Luna the
day she found out what we were,” Colette whispered. “That very day. I bet that
was her most precious possession.”

He snapped the two sides of the heart back together, felt it
slide through his fingers. Luna’s small hand wrapped around it, clutching it as
he imagined Diana had a thousand times since her mother had given it to her.
“Don’t worry, Luna. I won’t let anything happen to Diana.”

“Promise, Uncle Sebastian? Cross your heart and hope to fry?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fry. And no calling me Uncle
tonight.” After Luna nodded solemnly, Sebastian returned to the couch.

“Diana.” He leaned over and brushed his lips over hers. His
heart swelled. “Come on, goddess, open your eyes.”

He never expected her to bolt upright just as he leaned down
to once again whisper in her ear.

Chapter Nine

Strolling beside Diana, Colette licked the ice cream
dripping down the side of her cone. “You two look hysterical.”

“Thanks a lot,” Diana and Sebastian said in unison.

Sebastian glanced at Diana. She hadn’t said much since
coming to, back at Colette’s. He hadn’t been able to get close enough to talk
to her privately. For some insane reason, Colette and Luna acted like they had
to protect her from him.

“I think Sebastian’s bump looks funnier than Diana’s, don’t
you, Mommy,” Luna said, popping a piece of caramelized corn in her mouth. “His
is all red and lumpy.”

Colette giggled. “Oh, Luna, I think you’re making him
blush!”

Sebastian came to such an abrupt halt that Colette, Luna,
and Diana continued on a few more feet before realizing he was no longer with
them. When they turned, he crossed his arms and glared at their surprised
faces.

“I believe I’m red from anger, ladies. I’ve been the brunt
of your jokes about my bump for the entire ride here, during the fireworks and
that ridiculous tour through Alien Attack.” He reached up and tenderly touched
the lump above his brow.

“I think it’s cute.” Diana walked up. Her fingers slid
around his neck and pulled his head down.

He closed his eyes, needing her kiss. Just before she awoke
at Colette’s and slammed her forehead into his, he’d come to a frightening
realization. Sometime during the last month, he had fallen in love with Diana
Nostrum. Sometime during the last month, she became his life’s essence.

Her lips pressed gently onto the bump. Not what he’d wanted,
but he felt his anger at the three females dissolve.

He opened his eyes. They stared at his forehead, then burst
out laughing. He spread his hands out. “It’s just a bump, for chrissakes!”

Tourists ambling up and down the sidewalk turned to peer at
him. Some giggled, others merely shook their heads and moved on. Diana, Luna
and Colette clung to each other as their laughter grew more and more out of
control. Tears rolled down Colette’s face.

Sebastian’s heart ached. For the first time since his
stepbrother’s death, Colette was having fun—smiling, laughing, crying tears
that had nothing to do with grief.

He watched Diana whisper something into Colette’s ear,
wondered what she could have suggested to make his sister-in-law emphatically
shake her head. His mouth dropped when Colette stifled a hiccup, ran up and
kissed his bump. He watched Diana’s eyes grow wide.

“What?” Sebastian frowned, grasping just what the love of
his life and his sister-in-law had done.

He strolled over to the Frankenstein in front of the House
of Wax. “Hey, Frank,” Sebastian said, grinning into the green face. He winked
at the vampire beneath the costume. “Do you find anything funny about my bump?”

Frankenstein shook his head, then doubled over and slapped
his leg.

Luna squealed. “You got lips. Pink and red lips on your
bump.”

“Traitor!” Diana yelled, wrapping her arms around the little
girl before she could run away. “Now you must be tickled until you pee-pee in
your panties.”

“No, don’t.” Luna gleefully wriggled free and clutched her
crotch. “I’ve been holding it in all night.”

“Oh, Luna.” Colette grasped her hand and quickly led her
across the street.

While Colette took Luna into the public restroom, Diana and
Sebastian waited on a nearby bench. Sebastian stretched his legs out in front
of him and crossed them at the ankle. Diana lifted his arm, draped it over her
shoulder and snuggled against his side. Her warm breath flowed over his neck as
she peered up at him.

By now her finger had healed completely, but her blood
remained on the bandage, and when she brought her hand up to his cheek, the
hunger he’d denied much longer then he should have reared its ugly head.

The stench from the bathroom mingled with the odors rising
from the dumpsters behind the nearby restaurants and bars. The incessant
chatter of the people milling in the nightclubs, restaurants and attractions
coupled with the pounding bass of the various radios, bands and DJ booths
assaulted his ears. The simplest breeze pelted his skin like a thousand grains
of sand. His hunger devoured him, weakened his power to control the overload of
sensations surrounding him. His stomach roiled. He drew in a deep breath and
held it until his lungs burned.

Diana’s hand grabbed the front of his shirt. “Stop that.
You’re scaring me.”

Her voice calmed the beast that would have driven him to
sink his teeth into her flesh. He brought his forehead down to hers. “By
holding my breath?”

“You held it too long.” She tilted her head up until the
tips of their noses touched.

Sebastian chuckled. “Scared I’ll pass out? Bump my head?”

Diana blushed and rested her cheek on his chest. “You have
lipstick on your forehead.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I know.”

“I thought so. Thanks.”

“For what?” He shifted so he could see her face.

Diana’s eye welled. “For bringing a little light into their
lives.”

He chucked her under the chin.
She’d
set their dark
world aglow. They spent their entire existence avoiding the sun’s dreaded rays,
yet they basked in the warmth of the light that seemed to follow Diana wherever
she went. “You did that, goddess. Not me.”

She leaned over and kissed his neck, then took a tissue from
her purse and tenderly wiped away the lipstick.

He recalled his mother’s warning that if he fell under
Diana’s spell, she’d introduce him to the sun and a pain he could never
imagine. Well, he’d definitely fallen under her spell and she had become his
sunshine, his light in the dark. And the mere thought of losing her when he
revealed what he was, what he’d done that night in her bedroom, pained him more
than if someone thrust a red-hot poker into his heart.

He had no doubt that sometime in the near future, he would
lose Diana.

What could he possibly offer her to convince her to accept
eternal darkness by his side? A life devoid of sunshine? Children doomed to
spend their days abed, keeping one foot on the floor even as they slept in case
some misguided fool tried to plunge a stake through their hearts? Teens who
were virtual slaves of their community until they could control the erratic
behavior of their adult fangs?

His eyes burned. Diana had spoken so often about how she
loved the way the stars peeked through the ebony blanket covering the night
sky, how pools of moonlight floated across lake and how the fireflies arose
from the grass and bushes like fairies heralding the arrival the moon.

But she also loved the heat of the sun on her bare flesh,
how bright the colors of flowers looked in the middle of the day and recounted
with glee each and every time she caught sight of a hummingbird hovering over a
bloom as it drank the sweet nectar.