Fateful 2-Fractured (33 page)

“You need only the scent. Trust me, and
close your eyes.”

“I—I—”

“Do it,” he commanded.

Her eyes pinched shut and she felt her
other hand tighten into a fist at her side. She listened as he
sliced open the fur and flesh to expose the still warm, wet and
fragrant insides. Yes, it did smell appetizing.
How disturbing!

The craving was an evil feeling, he was
right about that. And Danielle gasped when something shifted inside
her mouth and she realized her fangs had sprung from their sockets
as they stabbed at the inside of her bottom lip.

“Find the other one, darling, then go to
it.”

Without direction from her, her head twisted
toward the left, but she was mentally unwilling to move. Ethan
forced her to and she wanted to cry when she knew she stood in
front of the second deer without opening her eyes.

“I’ve stilled it for you, but you must look
at it, Danielle and give it your breath.”

He was behind her now, his chin resting on
her shoulder, his hands on her hips keeping her from running the
other direction. This man of hers knew her way too well.

Opening her eyes, she peered into the deer’s
hypnotized orbs as they shifted from Ethan’s to hers and she knew
it would not fight as she killed it. This helpless, innocent,
creature would easily give her its life. So she could live.

No, she couldn’t do it, and looked away.
Probably because she wouldn’t, Ethan bent around her and she
listened as he exhaled into the animal’s face for her. Ethan’s
hands pressed on her hips to make her follow as the deer’s knees
gave under its weight. He caught its neck and held it for her. He’d
remained at her back as she knelt between his knees. “Touch it,
feel the pulse.”

She stretched four fingers to its throat,
not only could she feel it, she could hear it pounding in her
eardrums. Looking into its eye again, Danielle lowered her mouth to
the neck. This close, however, she could now see fear within its
glassy gaze. It knew it was going to die. So that’s why he’d
apologized and she couldn’t prevent herself from doing the same.
Then she brought her lips lower and parted them, but when the
course coat prickled at her flesh she jerked backward, slamming
into Ethan’s chest.

“I can’t! I can’t do that! The fur! I just
can’t get past that!” She stood and ran.

Hearing Ethan moving along behind her as he
took pursuit, Danielle kept going. She wasn’t willing to stop, even
knowing she would never be able to escape him. Getting away from
Ethan wasn’t her goal. In truth, she didn’t know what she was
trying to get away from.

He let her go for several minutes as
she flew past trees, and boulders and creatures of the night as
fast as he had run with her in the fog. She should have been
unnerved by it, but she wasn’t. She knew she was doing things she
couldn’t do before, but she didn’t
feel
different, she still felt mortal. So to
expect her to think differently, to act differently ... it just
wasn’t going to happen.

What she was more distressed about was
the fact that the guards were obviously still there, still
attempting to protect her. She could hear them crashing through the
underbrush just as Ethan was. Apparently stealth was not a concern
for them at the moment.
What did she need
to be protected from?
she wondered, but then she
remembered the pixies. Could they still kidnap her while she was
cursed? She stopped. The abrupt action sent leaves and dirt and
other debris dancing into the air. As it settled in front of her,
she examined the life around her again searching for anything
magical besides the vampires and herself.

Danielle realized she was able to identify
the other men besides Ethan. Richard was to the left. Merrick was
also left but ahead of her location, and Cedric was to the right,
pacing like a caged panther. The French guard, whose name she
really needed to know, was behind Ethan, and then besides those,
seven others littered the forest.

“Do I need to worry about pixies?” she
asked.

Ethan surrounded her with his arms and
kissed her temple. “We haven’t seen any—yet.”

“Do I need to worry about them?” she
repeated because his answer wasn’t satisfactory.

“Probably.”

Another unsatisfactory answer. The silence
lengthened, until she broke it. “Ethan, I’m sorry. Are you
disappointed in me? I’m turning out to be a horrible excuse for a
vampire.” Here she’d been cursed for merely hours and she was still
frightened of insects, terrified of touching fur with her teeth,
getting it on her lips, gagging on it. She shuddered at the
thought. What was she going to do? “Please, let me starve. I want
to go back.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Instead of answering, he turned in Richard’s
direction. “Stand-down. I’ll call if we need you.”

Danielle listened as the guards
retreated.

“Come this way.” Ethan led her to the base
of a cliff and directed her to start climbing. She’d never been
rock climbing before but figured with this curse she probably could
and reached to slip her fingers into a hold, then hesitated as she
imagined what could be lurking inside that crack. “Danielle, you
can sense the insects. Use that, and you will be able to avoid
them.”

This must be so frustrating for him. While
she was most definitely stronger, she was still fearful. “Why do
you even love me?”

“Because you’re mine, and I knew what I was
getting into. In fact, that girly side of you is part of why I fell
for you, and it is one of my favorite traits about you. Forget that
we knew each other before, I adore who you are now, and I suspect
you were like this even then. Now let’s get up there and enjoy the
night sky.”

She lifted her face upward and realized he
was expecting her to make a fifty-foot climb ascending a sheer rock
face. Without another complaint, she clutched at his faith in her
and began climbing. Once they reached the top, Ethan settled onto
the grass growing there, and directed her to lower her head into
his lap. “See how much brighter the stars are?”

How could she not notice that? The sky
glimmered like a velvet blanket that had been adorned with millions
of bright diamonds. Only a handful of thin clouds muted some of it.
A breeze tickled across her flesh and she picked up the scent of
flowers, and pine, and rotting leaves and moss and bark as Ethan’s
fragrance also surrounded her. The musky, citrus scent of him was
intensified and even more appetizing and tempting. She tried really
hard to ignore the bats and the owls and the mice sharing this
setting.

Ethan’s fingers began to travel her flesh
and she smiled up at him. “I’m sorry if I rushed you. I know you
were frightened…” he said.

“About having a baby?”

“Yes. We might have been able to avoid this
whole scenario if we’d waited.”

“Do you really think they would have left me
alone if I hadn’t been pregnant?”

“No, certainly not. We would have turned you
when Beon suggested it, when things got worse, more dangerous.”

Her insides twisted when he said that. She
was one of them now, and wasn’t enjoying it. She would have taken
the fears of pregnancy over being cursed any day. “I’d rather face
doctors and hospitals.”

“You hate them.”

“But I was willing to do it to have the
baby.” Her voice caught on a little sob. “I desperately wanted that
child … I still do.” The last three words came out on a whisper,
punctuated with a tear and a fit of uncontrolled sobs.

Ethan wrapped himself around her and
rocked her gently. “I’m sorry. I’m equally heartbroken by this. My
first child.
Our
first child,
lost so tragically, so violently.” She could hear his voice tremble
with the emotion of this loss. “I so wished for a son or daughter.
It wouldn’t have mattered to me which one. Our child was loved and
wanted, yet now taken from us.”

Quietly they cried again and held each other
until dawn began to lighten the horizon to the east. They probably
had another thirty minutes before the spell was broken for the
day.

“Let me go back. Please, Ethan.”

“I can’t. I couldn’t bear this loss again.
We must wait until this war has ended.”

“It could go on for years.”

“I’ll make certain that it doesn’t”

“How can you do that?”

“I’ll go to Benjamin. I believe I can
convince him to help our cause.”

That idea still terrified her. “But we don’t
know which side he would take. He could be against us.”

“That’s a risk we must take.”

“Too much of a risk!”

Ethan ignored that. He shifted, forcing her
to sit upright. “Let’s go.”

“To feed?” she asked with naked fear.

“No. I’ll bring you takeout or nurse you
myself.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” He tugged her
to her feet.

“But—you weren’t happy about doing takeout
for Nadia and Sophia because you had to kill more. I remember. And
how was that fresh enough?”

He didn’t answer, and then she realized that
maybe she didn’t really want to know.

“I hate this,” she muttered softly.

“Shh, everything will be all right. And I
understand your reluctance. But we need to keep you alive until we
can turn you back.” He moved to the edge of the cliff, towing her
behind. “We’re jumping down.”

“What?” she shrieked, peering over the
edge.

“We could have jumped up, but I didn’t want
to overwhelm you.” He stepped closer, she tugged backward. “Now
behave, and trust me.” He gripped her waist. “Or, I’ll toss
you.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“No, of course not, silly. You can close
your eyes if you like, but I don’t think you should.” Then he
lifted her feet from the ground and sprang over the edge. She
screamed and he slapped a hand over her mouth.

They landed without so much as a jolt. “I
hope you didn’t call the undead with that.”

The guards stepped from the greenish-gray
shadows. “All appears to be clear. But I suggest you get home
swiftly,” the prince said.

Ethan snatched up Danielle’s hand and took
off with her through the trees.

As they entered through the recently
repaired back door, she asked, “How can you get takeout when the
sun is coming up?”

“We need to get you fed before that happens.
I don’t have time to go out again.”

She was dragged to their bedroom and shoved
back onto the bed where Ethan straddled her and offered his
neck.

“Do you mean for me to bite you?”

“Precisely, now get on with it.”

She moaned. “I’d rather go hungry.”

“Thirsty,” he corrected and dropped closer
so she could see the stagnant blood-filled vein just below the
surface.

“Right, I’ll pass.” Though she didn’t want
to admit it, it was becoming tempting to do as he asked. Fragrant,
tasty, inviting….

“I can’t allow that, you’ll become
dangerous. Damn it, Danielle, do it! Now!” And he gripped her
shoulders, giving her a little shake.

That tone, added to the lure of his blood,
was motivation enough and she did what he asked. She settled her
fangs over his flesh and pressed down. The moment they broke the
surface the blood flowed into her as if her canines could suck it
up on their own. And there was again that sense of pleasure, except
it came as she took from him instead of him taking from her and she
realized that he was experiencing the same desirable feelings. She
couldn’t stop herself from clutching at his shirt and drawing from
him greedily.

This was the only way to do it, forget
animals and their fuzzy coverings. Oh, yes, Ethan was right. It
wasn’t so much about flavor but this delicious consumption of
energy, of a life-force. Moaning, she ran her hands along his arms
and just lavished in the way he gave vitality to her, the way he
poured it into her. But then he pried her off and collapsed next to
her on the bed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I should have fed more before I let you do
that,” he said weakly.

She looked at him then. “You’re pale! Why
didn’t you tell me? I’m sorry. Go, Ethan, go feed! Or take some
back from me!”

“I can’t, the sun is up. Do you not feel
your heart?”

Her tongue darted forward to find that her
fangs were gone, and then she lifted her palm to her chest. There
it was, her heart thumping away, though weaker than it had
been.

“Are you going to be all right?”

“I’ll be fine.”

She curled up next to his side with her head
propped on his shoulder. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

“I’m here for you, Danielle, no matter
what.”

With one glance down their bodies, she
noticed that they’d messed up the bed linens with their forest
debris-covered clothing. “We’ve made a mess.”

After sitting up and moving from the bed,
Ethan swayed when he tried to stand.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

With a nod, Ethan said, “Let’s get changed
and bathed.” He moved to go toward the bathroom and then bent over
with his hands on his knees.

Her hands shot to his shoulders as she tried
to steady him. “Tell me what I can do to help.” She felt sick with
guilt. He did this to himself for her.

Ethan dropped backwards onto the mattress
and bounced as he lifted one booted foot. “Mind taking them
off?”

Dropping to her knees, Danielle worked on
the laces and then tugged at the leather. It slid off, and his sock
came with it. She removed the other one as well. Then stood and
lifted the hem of his t-shirt and pulled that over his head.
Danielle didn’t like how ashen he was looking; even his lips were
nearly colorless.

She turned on the water and then began
undressing herself as soon as she’d helped Ethan out of his grubby
hunting attire, then assisted him to the bath. She didn’t think he
could stand any longer, and while she thought she could support him
now that she was also cursed, she didn’t want to risk dropping him.
Together they slid into the bathwater with her chin against his
back and her arms snug around his waist.