Fateful 2-Fractured (19 page)

Ethan cursed, clearly knowing Max was right,
and punched the wall then hissed in pain as he cradled his bruising
knuckles.

“You shouldn’t be here either. You’re just
as susceptible—”

“I’ll be fine,” he shot back, almost
angrily, and then his tone changed as though he regretted his firm
response. “I-I need to be here. This isn’t safe for you…. It’s
eating at me.”

“But we can trust them to protect us,
right?”

With a frown and a groan, Ethan gathered her
hand and turned to face the others. “All right, let’s go.”

“Nadia!” Beon shouted. “Move away from the
door. Now!”

“Watch closely for her fangs, I don’t want
them even touching you. And remember not to swallow. And don’t look
into her eyes or let her breathe on you,” Ethan whispered, his
fingers tightening round hers.

“I remember.” How could she forget?

As the door began to slide open again, Nadia
did not move back but kept pushing further in toward them, snarling
and bearing her fangs. The five vampires had to muscle her back
while Danielle and Ethan followed them inside.

Suddenly Max turned and shoved them to the
floor just as two books flew over their heads and slammed into the
cement wall. Max then released them and darted for Nadia.

Once there, he held Nadia in an embrace
while she struggled and growled, and he spoke softly to her trying
to soothe her. It seemed to work, and he was able to release a
slightly more calm, though panting Nadia. Crazed eyes locked onto
Danielle. She avoided them. She’d seen enough to observe the hunger
brewing in the depths of Nadia’s freaky and glowing stare. Bracing
against one knee, she rose to her feet with Ethan at her side.

Looking at the books, Ethan shook his head
and noted, “I knew that was a bad idea.”

“Nadia.” Danielle frowned at her barely
audible voice. She cleared her throat and tried again, “You asked
me to be here. Do you still want this? Do you still want to be
mortal and released from this curse?”

“Yes,” she hissed in reply through clenched
teeth.

Danielle blew one slow breath out and then
disengaged herself from Ethan’s clutch. Slowly she moved in Nadia’s
direction. The guards fanned out and surround them. They appeared
ready to spring if Nadia made any violent moves toward Danielle.
Nadia began to advance, and her movement forced Danielle to
instinctively retreat around the bed in the center of the room.
Nadia followed. They circled the bed, attention locked, muscles
tensed.

“Will you let me bite you? It’s the only way
to escape this curse. You must be willing.”

“I’m considering it … though you do smell
... delectable.”

“Stop thinking about that, Nadia. Lie down
and let her bite you,” Ethan said from behind the guards who
wouldn’t let him pass.

Nadia turned to him and took a few
threatening steps. “The aroma coming off of you is just as
appealing.”

“Nadia! Stop this—please let me bite you.
Remember how badly you want to eat and enjoy food? You’ll get to
have chocolate and tea. You won’t lust for blood any longer. Don’t
you still want that?” Struggling for bravery she didn’t truly feel,
Danielle moved toward Nadia again.

Nadia took advantage of this and streaked to
Danielle, took her about the waist and threw her six feet in the
air. She landed on the bed, and bounced, but soon Nadia was on top
of her, pinning Danielle to the mattress, straddling her.

“No!” The men were there in a flash. Nadia’s
arms and waist were captured and she was hauled from Danielle who
scrambled off the other side of the bed, gasping.

With the guards distracted, Ethan ran to her
and tugged her to his chest. “Did she hurt you?”

Danielle shook her head.

“I can’t let this happen. If she bites
you...”

However, before she could reply Beon was
removing Ethan’s hold on her and forcing him back.

“We have this under control, Ethan. Stop
interfering or I’ll have you removed from the chamber.”

Ethan began to argue, but she couldn’t hear
his words any longer, and her attention returned to Max and Nadia.
Max had the thirsty vampire enveloped in a hug and he was talking
down her rage again.

She laughed; it was a cold humorless sound.
“I’m not going to hurt her.”

“Please, let her bite you, and I’ll follow.
I swear to you, you won’t regret this. I’m begging you, Nadia.”
Max’s words remained kind and gentle, despite the intensity of the
situation.

Danielle lifted her chin and forced herself
to near them.

Nadia noticed this immediately and shoved
away from Max. “I’ll do it, Max. I’ll let her bite me, but you need
to back off.”

Frowning, he did as she asked, but remained
close enough to intervene again if necessary.

Suddenly Nadia snatched her by the throat,
shoved her to the wall, and pinned her there with her lithe
body.

“Damn it! You said you wouldn’t hurt her!”
Max shouted and moved toward them again.

Holding out her hand Nadia said, “She’s not
hurt. I didn’t hurt you, did I, Danielle?”

Danielle shook her head, always averting her
gaze to the side. She wasn’t hurt, though she was terrified.

“Do it now, Danielle, or die…” Nadia hissed,
and tipped her exposed throat toward Danielle.

She swallowed, then parted her lips and
tried to lean toward Nadia’s neck. But she couldn’t reach. She
couldn’t move with Nadia’s cold hand wrapped so snuggly around her
neck.

Growling again, Nadia tightened the fingers
holding her. And Danielle coughed as she struggled to get air into
her pinched airway.

“Stop! You’re killing her!” Ethan screamed,
and one glance in his direction told her they had to restrain him
again.

But the rest of the men were moving closer,
hands outstretched, ready to free Danielle again. Nadia shot out
one open palm again, and then dropped the strangling hand from
Danielle’s throat to her arm, still keeping her in place. “Stay
back. Let her bite me. I-I’m not going to harm her.”

Nadia froze then, and Danielle knew it was
like when Ethan had stopped himself. She knew Nadia would allow it
this time. She didn’t hesitate in taking Nadia’s skin between her
teeth. She ground them as she’d done when she bit Ethan and was
able to break through and then taste Nadia’s sweet blood. She
sucked, while clutching at Nadia as Nadia clutched at her.

Then she shoved Nadia away and fell to her
knees. She dropped forward onto her hands and spat the blood onto
the floor.

Danielle found it difficult to breathe, as
she rubbed her neck. Ethan was there then, his hand on her
shoulder. He shoved a water bottle under her nose. “Rinse. I’m not
taking any chances.”

She took the bottle, tipped it to her lips,
swished and then spat, then again, until she couldn’t taste blood
any longer.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” rasped out and she winced at how
her voice didn’t sound fine.

The other men had moved Nadia to the bed to
finish her transformation from cursed to un-cursed.

* * * * *

About a week later, Nadia bit Max. But he
didn’t fight like she had, and he was even calmer than Ethan had
been. They figured it had to do with his knight training. He was
simply in more control. Plus it was Nadia who did the deed, so that
certainly could have been part of it.

Nadia apologized profusely for her violent
behavior and seemed to be tortured with the memory of it every time
she looked at Danielle. But she was clearly enjoying the gifts of
being mortal as much as Ethan, and as much as Max.

There were many who wanted to be turned, but
Ethan wouldn’t ever let Danielle bite anyone else after that. He
and Max did it from that point on. Since Danielle didn’t really
like the process, she didn’t mind. She still would have chosen to
kiss a bumpy slimy toad rather than bite anyone.

Danielle sighed with relief when he returned
to his old room at Beon’s bed and breakfast after another turning.
She didn’t like waiting for him, always worrying he’d get
bitten.

“This one was easy,” he told her, clearly
responding to the distressed look on her face. “He only fought for
a minute or two.”

“Good.”

“There shouldn’t be too many more after
this, and we’ve decided that if they don’t submit after ten minutes
then we’re kicking them out without being turned.”

Danielle sighed out a shaky breath.

He leaned toward her for a kiss, but she
leaned away when she noticed his chin, “Um, you have a bit of—” She
motioned over her face to show him where.

Ethan swiped angrily at the blood on his
face. “Again! Why doesn’t anyone ever tell me?” He glanced down at
himself and groaned. “Ah, man! I got my shirt. Every time I wear
white!”

He launched from the settee and stomped
toward the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

When he returned, he shoved off the soiled
shirt and gathered a clean one from his bag. “I brought a change of
clothes this time. Biting with fangs was much tidier than these
blunt mortal teeth.”

She had no idea what to say to that, but
accepted his kiss this time.

Chapter 12

Fractured Bliss

Unfortunately, Ethan caught his first
illness a month later. She could hear his groaning and complaining
as she carried the bowl of soup up to their bedroom.

“I have hot soup for you. I promise it’ll
make you feel better,” she said, stepping through the doorway.

“I can’t eat that,” he grumbled, tugging the
sheets up under his chin as he shivered.

“I also brought medication to help bring
your fever down, and it’ll soothe the achy muscles.” She tried to
make her tone cheerful, though she knew how crappy he must feel
suffering with his first bout of the flu after being an
illness-free vampire for over a century.

“The dreaded lurgy is the absolute
worst!”

“The lurgy what?”

“The dreaded flu!” Ethan wailed. “Honestly,
how can one survive this torment?”

“I said it hurt being mortal. Suffering the
effects of viruses is part of being human. I told you this before.
Surely you’d been sick before you were turned.”

“’
Tis likely so, yet I do not recall
it.” He then clutched at, what she figured was, his aching stomach
and cut loose a string of curses in French as she set the tray on
the nightstand. She had to laugh. Ethan was proving to be such a
baby when sick.

“It’s not funny!” he ranted angrily in a
scratchy voice.

And she laughed again. Her giggles earned
her the funniest, grumpiest scowl she’d ever seen him produce.
“Poor, baby, have some soup.” She helped him sit upright and tucked
a pillow behind his head.

Leaning back into the softness, he managed a
tiny smile. “You’re so good to me.” He sounded congested.

“You’d do the same for me.”

“Yes, I would. And it would be the most
amazing soup you’ve ever—” He sneezed, hard, then groaned again.
“Do you happen to” –another sneeze— “have something for the
sniffles too?”

“Of course I do.” She had a dose of strong
flu medicine. That should dope him up nicely. “Would you like the
drugs first?”

He blew his nose into the tissue she’d given
him. “Yes, please.”

She handed the little cup to him and watched
as he threw it back and then coughed and sputtered. “That’s
disgusting! Bloody hell!”

Bursting into more giggles, Danielle patted
his cheek and tipped a glass of water to his lips. “Medicine
usually isn’t pleasant, but you should enjoy the soup.”

Ethan tasted the broth from the spoon she
held out for him and smiled. She wasn’t going to tell him it was
canned. Sophia had given her a really great recipe, but she hadn’t
had time to actually make it. It was one of those that needed to
simmer all day, and she wanted to feed him now.

After a few spoonfuls, he said, “I’m dying
for a cup of hot tea. Would you get it for me, darling wife?”

“Of course. I already have the water
heating.” She handed him the bowl of soup. “Don’t eat that too
fast. You need to sip it slowly.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Danielle frowned when she noted the empty
bowl as she returned to his bedside. He’d already finished off the
soup by the time she got back, and it hadn’t taken her long to
prepare the tea. “You wolfed it down even after I’d cautioned
against it?”

“
That really hit the spot, honey.
Thank—” Then his face screwed up with pain, his arms seized around
his middle and he raced for the bathroom. Danielle set his tea on
the nightstand and followed.

“That’s why I said to sip it slowly,” she
told him from the doorway, her arms crossed.

Ethan heaved until he’d completely emptied
his stomach. Cursing, he staggered to the sink and began to brush
his teeth, then muttered as he stumbled back to bed, “That soup
tasted much better the first go around.” He then collapsed back
into bed with a groan, his forehead beaded with sweat.

Dabbing at his face with a warm cloth,
Danielle said, “You’re almost done with this. I think you’ll feel
much better tomorrow.” She pushed from his forehead a lock of hair
that was stuck to the moisture dotting his brow.

Ethan only moaned in reply, and weakly
bobbed his head.

When she held the tea out for him, he
pinched his lips together like a two-year-old.

Laughing. “You need fluids or you won’t get
better. I can’t let you get dehydrated.”

“I really don’t want to taste it twice.”

“If you sip slowly you won’t. Now be a good
boy and drink, please.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he began
drinking the tea at such a tortoise pace she wanted to say he could
go a little faster, but decided to just let it be.

* * * * *

“
How are you feeling?” Ethan asked as
they snuggled in bed late into the morning, a couple of days
later.