Fateful 2-Fractured (5 page)

“
Hello, Danielle, it’s a pleasure to
see you again.” Although his tone was light, friendly even, a sense
of foreboding accompanied the voice which drifted over
her.

“I’m going to remove my hand now, but I
recommend that you do not scream. I could easily stop you. Hence,
it would be completely futile to attempt it.” There was no
hesitation as he lifted his hand, proving his egotistical
confidence in the threat.

Danielle could feel his movement as he
leaned closer and rested his hand on the other side of her
body.

After swallowing, Danielle said in the
calmest tone she could muster, “Why are you here, and what do you
want?”

“I’m your guard tonight. I’m filling in for
Cedric,” he informed her, sounding bored now.

“The others don’t bother me while I’m
sleeping ... and you still didn’t tell me what it is you want!”
Gentle fingers landed on her lips for speaking too loudly.

“Softly please,” he warned.

She jerked her head away from his
touch in answer. Inside Danielle was beginning to panic. If he was
guarding her, then she was trapped alone with a thirsty vampire.
She
really
wanted to scream.
Facing an opponent blind was so unnerving.

A curled finger caught the edge of her chin
and forced her face back to his. “I’m afraid this cure of yours is
a problem. For many of us. I’ve been sent to end it.”

What did he mean by that? Was he going to
kill her? Turn her? “I don’t understand.”

“You’re the one responsible.”

“That’s stupid!” she shouted too
loudly and wasn’t able to say,
I’m nothing
special. Any mortal could do it
, because his hand
prevented it.

Alex kept her mouth covered this time, his
fingers biting into her cheek as he continued in a lazy tone of
speech, “I am fond of you, however, and I do think you’re pretty,
so let me make this pleasant, shall we?” The cruel touch softened,
turned into something like a caress before lifting and then
trailing along the side of her face. Danielle shuddered
reflexively, and her insides twisted with revulsion.

“Make what pleasant?” she managed, squeezing
her eyes shut tighter. It was so tempting to look, to try and read
his expression.

“You must die, of course,” he said, like he
was talking about taking her to lunch. “Don’t worry, I’ll make
certain you won’t feel ... much. Now how should we begin? Would you
like a kiss or two, first?”

That creepy invitation made her stomach
twist uncomfortably. “I feel like I need to vomit now. Would you
please just get out?” she whispered frostily as a shudder traveled
the length of her body.

Danielle was trying to remain brave, and
resist any feelings of fear because she knew that would only
aggravate his thirst. He’d be able to sense fear. But her words had
clearly offended him, and his inviting tone changed to an ominous
one. “Well, if you’re not going to be any fun, then maybe you’ll
just have to sate my thirst for me.”

Beon’s warnings of war took on a whole new
meaning at that point. She knew she hadn’t been taking it seriously
before, before she truly believed it could actually mean her death.
Desperate, she snapped, “You’ll never get away with it! Get out you
repulsive, sick—” His hand returned.

“I would advise you to watch your tongue,
Miss Darcey. You are in no position to insult me and get away with
it.” With that he suddenly jumped onto her bed landing his knees on
either side of her. She heard a popping sound as he apparently
ripped the first button undone on her pajama top and slid the silky
fabric from her shoulder, getting the collar out of the way. The
better to bite her, she was sure. Danielle attempted to scream, but
his palm easily hushed the noise.

She had to fight harder; she’d be dead in
seconds if she didn’t. Danielle kicked her legs and screamed under
his palm. She lifted her hips trying to shove him off that way. She
beat at him with her fists, and clawed at him. She knew karate
techniques to get out of this situation, but nothing worked. She
couldn’t budge him. And there was nothing more frustrating than
being a black belt and still feeling helpless.

Danielle opened her eyes to gauge his
position over her, but she was careful to avoid his spellbinding
gaze. Sharp fangs were exposed as he scoffed at her struggles, and
the wicked grin on his handsome face grew because he obviously
enjoyed the fact that she was trying to fight him.

Alex soon made a sound of irritation,
however, and grasped one of her attacking hands, holding it firmly
to the bed, while he kept her silent with the other.

“
I could have made this pleasurable
for you, Danielle, but you’ve made your choice.” Because she was
looking, she was aware of what he was about to do only a
millisecond before he did. His stifling breath fanned across her
nose and mouth. Luckily, she’d cut the air off to her lungs before
that. She’d been able to resist Ethan’s magic. Their spiritual
connection gave her an advantage when it came to him alone, but she
knew she’d fail against Alex’s magic. She’d already learned at the
ball that the supernatural power of other vampires was too strong
to fight off. It would make her weak and easily defeated. She
couldn’t allow that potion into her lungs. She had to keep
fighting. She had to remain alert.

“I can wait until you need to breathe again,
my dear. You can’t hold your breath indefinitely.” Clearly, he
wanted her to be still while he drained the life from her.

Alex then waited for her to gasp for air,
knowing she would be forced to do it at some point. He was right,
of course. After a couple of minutes Danielle couldn’t fight the
natural need for oxygen any longer. Alex was ready for that and he
added his powerful breath to her needed air.

Danielle fell limp as the magic flew into
her lungs and crept through her veins. Her breathing became labored
and she was paralyzed. Her already moist eyes now overflowed with
forlorn tears. The droplets slipping down along her temples and
into her hair were the only sign that she didn’t want this. Inside,
the mental battle had begun. The logical part of her did not want
this, while the other part, because of the magic in the curse, made
her wish to feel his fangs sink into her flesh, made her welcome
death.

Alex took her chin and tipped her head
to the side, then slid his long fingers along the veins in her neck
probably to select the best location to bite her. He took his time
with it, savoring his meal it seemed. Danielle felt his tongue
glide over the chosen vein with one long stroke.
Gross!
she thought, and shuddered
involuntarily, yet, knowing it was illogical, she also wished he’d
just get to it.

Is this it?
Her soul screamed for Ethan, for anyone to help her. She
prayed to God desperately, but any hope she had left was slipping
away. Helpless and alone with beloved relatives only a few steps
away she let her longing for life slide through her fingers as
easily as a handful of sand.

As Danielle surrendered to her fate, sudden
movement caught her eye near the other window. A large figure was
blocking the moonlight that had been the only illumination to her
room. Another vampire? Alex saw him too because he lifted his head
from her neck to look.

Danielle recognized him then. Max! And
his presence was a miracle.
Thank you,
God, for sending a knight!
But, because of the spell,
she also thought,
Although,
I’d be just as pleased if Alex would finish what
he started
. Internally, she continued to wrangle with
herself, and the only physical reaction she could give was to sigh
weakly.

Max threw one solid fist into Alex’s face.
With the force, Alex was hurled to the floor, but he wasn’t
injured. He leapt to his feet like a ninja and readied himself to
take on Max. But Max was much stronger than him. He wrapped his
steely arms around Alex and dove with him through one of the open
windows. They hurtled head first to the ground below. Danielle
could hear the fight continue in the garden as they threw fists at
each other—but then—she was startled to hear another noise directly
outside the window. She watched with an odd mixture of dread and
hope, anticipating another monster to crawl through it.

A shadow stumbled clumsily over the
windowsill and then tumbled to the floor.

“Danielle,” he whispered, rising to his feet
as he brushed leaves from his clothes.

Ethan! She wondered how he’d climbed to her
window without much to hold onto. No matter how much she wanted to
die, she was relieved to see him moving toward her and attempted a
smile.

After jerking the blankets off, Ethan
scooped her up from the bed. He cradled her limp form in his arms
just as he’d done when they faked her death, and sat down on the
edge of the mattress.

“Are you all right? Did he bite you?” he
asked, his tone thick with worry as he examined her neck for any
visible wounds.

She couldn’t speak.

“Blink once if you’re all right.”

Danielle blinked and attempted another
smile. She was okay; she was more than okay now.

He refastened the button she’d thought had
broken and wound his arms around her, tugging her into a tighter
embrace. Ethan rocked her as he began whispering words of comfort,
and patted her back gently. She thought maybe he did it to soothe
himself as much as her.

The effect of the spell was slowly wearing
off, and Danielle was able to lift her hands to his back and turn
her nose into his shoulder. Inhaling, she drew his sweet, familiar
essence into her recovering lungs.

“I’m so sorry. The others trust Alex. He’s
even a member of the Order, and I’m sure Cedric had no idea he was
capable of this. But when I heard Alex had stepped in for Cedric, I
insisted Max bring me here immediately,” Ethan explained in a
hushed voice.

“Thank you,” she said barely audibly.

Danielle felt secure now, but it seemed
Ethan was still distressed. He pulled away enough to look into her
face. “Danielle?” His eyes glistened with emotion and reflected
panic. “Did he … touch you? Did he try to do more than just bite
you?”

A shudder ran up the length of her spine.
The thought of Alex … was horribly disturbing to her, and she
couldn’t stop the trembling and tears from returning. Plus, she’d
almost died, and even more distressing was how much she’d actually
wanted that.

But knowing what Ethan was thinking,
Danielle wanted to help him understand that it was okay, she was
fine. Shaken, but fine. However, she was still under the influence
of the magic, which didn’t help as she began trying to explain what
happened. “He … he said … he’d make it pleasant, but I—”

“I’ll kill him,” he bit out as a murderous
flame blazed to life in his gaze.

“Ethan … no…” She fought to push the magical
mist from her mind. “No … he didn’t touch me. I insulted him. He
became angry and then Max—”

“I’m still going to kill him.” Somehow, he’d
managed to push the threat out between pinched teeth.

“But you’re mortal!” She shook her head,
trying to shake off the spell completely. “You’ll just get hurt!
Ethan, we’re both helpless.”

He closed his eyes and fisted one hand into
his hair. “I can’t take this anymore. You should always be with me.
I can no longer trust others to care for you.”

Danielle jumped when Max suddenly bounded
back through the open window.

“Come on, Ethan, we need to go.”

“No!” Danielle said, but with too much
volume. She may have woken Brianna with that outburst, but she was
growing frantic, she didn’t want Ethan to leave and go looking for
Alex. Not to mention his presence was comforting for her as the
reality of what nearly happened sank in.

Max frowned as he glanced toward the closed
door. “The others are stirring. There’s been too much commotion in
here. We need to get out of sight.”

Neither Danielle nor Ethan moved.

After exhaling a groan, Max then moved at
vampire speed to clear the room before the others came in. He shut
the windows. He pried Danielle’s grip from Ethan, set her in the
bed, and pulled the sheets over her. Grabbed Ethan by the arms and
shoved him in the closet. Snatched up her school books and set them
in a disheveled pattern on the floor next to the corner of her bed,
pointed at them, and said, “You kicked these off in your sleep by
mistake.” He then disappeared into the closet with Ethan. He’d
actually moved around the room so fast that he created a draft that
tossed Danielle’s hair across her face when he disappeared.

Only seconds later her bedroom door
opened.

“Danielle, are you all right? I’ve heard
some thumping noises, and I thought I heard voices.” It was
Brianna.

Danielle sighed while pushing her hair out
of the way. She kept disturbing her family in the middle of the
night, and she realized, they just might send her home early for
causing lack of sleep. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left my books
on the end of my bed. I kicked them off while I was sleeping … and
I think I was talking in my sleep again. All is well.” At least the
part about her being sorry was true. She still hated lying. The
guilt twisted her insides every time.

“Okay, ’night then,” Brianna said.

“’
Night, Bri.”

Her cousin shut the door and Danielle
watched as Ethan and Max stepped out of her closet. Ethan tried to
go back to her, but Max caught his arm. “We really need to leave,”
the knight said sternly.

“Max, I’m not leaving her.”

“You can’t stay here. You won’t be able to
hear if they’re coming to check on her. You’ll get caught, and then
they won’t let you continue to see her.”