Fateful 2-Fractured (6 page)

“She’s not a child—”

“Not according to her uncle, or me, or you,
for that matter.”

Danielle winced at that. Did Ethan really
see her has a child? She knew her uncle did, and of course so did
Max. It was no wonder really, especially with him being over six
hundred years old, but Ethan....

“Stay with us. Please,” Ethan petitioned,
obviously ignoring the comments about her age, or perhaps trying to
distract her from it.

“Ethan, you’re asking—” The knight shook his
head, his thick brows furrowed.

“Max, please. Please,” Danielle begged.

Apparently he held a soft spot for her as
she thought she recognized regret in his expression. “Fine,” he
snapped. “But only for tonight.”

“Thank you,” she and Ethan chorused.

After a moment of silence, Danielle asked,
“Max?” She leaned up onto one elbow to look at him.

“Yes, Danielle.” He was seated in the soft
chair situated near the fireplace in her room with his arms folded
across his chest. He kept his chin down, avoiding eye contact.

“Thank you—for saving me.”

Danielle felt Ethan slipping into the bed
with her, and the weight of one arm moved around her waist.

“You’re very welcome, my lady, it was my
pleasure.” Then he mumbled something under his breath, and again,
he sounded angry.

“What did you say?” she asked.

Max sighed and then repeated himself loud
enough for her to hear this time. “‘Hon Y Soit Quit Mal Y Pense.’”
He paused, smiled at her with half-closed eyes and translated,
“‘Shame to him who evil thinks.’ It’s the motto for the Order of
the Garter.”

“Oh, I like that.”

Max lifted his feet to the ottoman.

“Thanks again. I really am very
grateful.”

He nodded at her words and she sensed that
he was still angry. Probably with Alex. She realized that knights
held to very high moral standards, and Max had remained true to
that just as he held true to Beon’s Order. It was impossible to
miss the fact that it encompassed every aspect of his nature. Yet
Alex had betrayed it—had betrayed them.

“What happened with Alex anyway?” Ethan
asked this time.

It appeared Max wasn’t quite as patient with
Ethan as he’d been with Danielle. “I can’t do this if you’re going
to talk all night. Now be quiet, both of you. We can discuss all of
this later. Go to sleep, little mortals,” Max scolded, but then
softened his wrath with a smirk.

Danielle’s attention shifted to Ethan, she
could feel his breath radiating into her hair as he pressed his
lips to it. Shuddering as his warmth tickled her skin, she closed
her eyes. This man, her man, was also a member of the Order, and he
displayed the same knightly loyalty as Max.

Cedric’s complaints about Ethan’s faltering
propriety came to mind as he snuggled closer to her body, his bent
knees fitting into the bend of the back of hers. Danielle rolled to
face him. “How is this even remotely appropriate for a gentleman?”
she whispered, hoping Max wouldn’t yell at her for talking right
after he’d told them to be quiet.

“It’s not, but I don’t bloody care right
now. I could have lost you tonight. The horrible thought continues
to disturb me. I need to be next to you.” His fingers slid along
her cheek as he spoke.

“This stupid war,” she muttered against his
chest, knowing her lack of understanding in the matter was part of
why Max thought of her as a youth. War just wasn’t part of her
world, her peaceful, spoiled world.

“You’re finally taking this seriously?”
Ethan asked.

“I guess so.” She quietly searched for
Ethan’s lips with hers, hoping to distract herself from the truth.
And knew Ethan was all for it when he responded so readily.

But it seemed Max had no patience for that
either, because he then revised his demands. “I’m not listening to
you two mess around all night. I said sleep…. If you can’t behave
I’ll just leave, and I will drag Ethan with me,” he warned curtly
but quietly.

They settled for cuddling instead, and slept
the rest of the night like that.

Max woke them just as the sun was
about to peek above the horizon. “Now it
is
time to go, Ethan. They can’t find you here.”
Forcefully, the knight lifted Ethan from the bed by the front of
his shirt. Ethan rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stumbled, as he
wasn’t steady on his feet yet. Danielle had never seen him groggy
like that before. There was a boyish innocence about him with his
hair a mess and his clothes rumpled.

He smiled sleepily at her as Max instructed
him to hang onto his neck preparing to jump from the window.

“I’ll come get you later,” Ethan said.

Danielle nodded as she followed them to the
window.

She watched as Max climbed over the
windowsill and dropped into the morning darkness with Ethan. She
then noticed Beon standing outside, ready to take the morning shift
of watching over her. He nodded at her while she slid the window
shut.

“Beon wants to have another ... Order
council. He’s changing the security arrangements,” Ethan said as
she settled into his car later that day after her classes.

“Those are kind of intense,” she
complained.

“I know, but you just barely survived your
fourth vampire attack. It’s a miracle you’re still alive,
Danielle.”

Four attacks? Could it really be that many?
She thought back: there was Celeste, no before that was Lucas,
then, oh, well she didn’t count Ethan, but she figured he would
count himself. She supposed adding Alex did make it four. Without
commenting on that, however, she said, “Sometimes I wish … oh,
never mind, it’s reckless.”

“Tell me.”

“I’ve never thought like this before, and I
never thought I would. But sometimes I think it would be nice if we
could just run away, just you and me, and leave all of the dangers,
the war and threats behind.”

“That is reckless. And it would never
work.”

“I know,” she agonized.

“Though it is beginning to look more and
more appealing as time goes on,” he said, surprising her. He felt
the same?

“Unfortunately, Uncle Nick would just call
the police again. And you’re sure there isn’t anything we can do to
defend ourselves?” Secretly Danielle hoped there was some defense,
like a stake through the heart, or a spell of some sort, or a plant
that was poisonous to them.

Ethan groaned and then glanced at her while
he drove, she didn’t like the hopeless look in his eyes. “Sorry,
Danielle, there is no defense we can use against a vampire, unless
we were lucky, or rather unlucky enough to come across one who
happened to be weak with thirst. He’d need to be extremely frail
with it. That is the only vampire who could be killed by a mortal,
by the usual means—a gun, or knife, or anything like that—but he
would also be much more dangerous. He’d fight ferociously to get
his fangs into you.

“That’s why you were able to break the
skin when you bit me. I was so weak my body wouldn’t heal on its
own. And ... I
allowed
you to
bite me. Most vampires would
never
allow
that. Ever.”

“Figures,” she grumbled, then wanting to
change the subject, she asked, “What do you have in here right
now?” Without letting him answer, Danielle turned the stereo
on.

A rocking blend of electric guitar and drums
filled the air. The measure wove through the car with a low beat
that rumbled lower and harder, banging through a varying range of
notes. Then the singer touched on a wide vibrato with his voice,
which caused throbbing notes to linger in the air. The vocalist had
an almost pretty voice that blended so well with the violent sounds
coming from the instruments that it gave her chills, and she leaned
back into the headrest to enjoy the ride without conversation.

* * * * *

The others were waiting for them in the
drawing room. Cedric and Seth were also there.

“We need to double up on your security. We
can’t risk that ever happening again,” Beon said, unsmiling.

“Danielle, I’m so sorry!” Cedric suddenly
wailed. “He offered to trade shifts. I had no idea he was—”

“Cedric, it’s okay. I’m fine,” she said, but
hoped he didn’t see her shudder at the memory of a fanged Alex
going for her neck.

Beon continued, “Danielle, may I have your
cell phone?” She fished it from her bag and passed it over. He
flipped it open and began pressing buttons, saying, “I’m setting
you up with an autodial to me directly. Just in case you need help
again.”

“
Thank you,” she replied in a docile
tone dropping her gaze to the material covering the sofa. She ran
her hand across the textured fabric as guilt nudged at her senses.
She was certain Beon and the others had better things to do than
baby-sit her and Ethan. Plus, as she recalled the incident with
Alex, she was fairly certain she wouldn’t have been able to call
anyway.

“I don’t believe this is going to get any
better, only worse. I had heard that Celeste and Lucas fled the
country fearing retaliation for Danielle’s death, so it seems they
don’t yet pose a threat, but word is getting out about Ethan being
cured. The other vampires are becoming even more of a problem. As
I’d said before, some desperately want the cure and may try to
force Danielle into giving it to them. But worse than that,
however, are others who are deeply upset about this discovery and
could pose a threat to either of you simply for bringing it about.
This incident with Alex has brought this concern to light. And from
what you said, it’s clear he wasn’t working alone,” Beon announced
solemnly.

Troubled by his words, Danielle realized
that the number of vampires who wanted to harm either of them was
growing at an alarming rate. The enormity of what she’d actually
gotten herself into was sinking in, and walking away from it would
never be an option. It’s true nothing had happened for a while, but
now.... It wouldn’t matter if she broke it off with Ethan—which she
could never do anyway—as the dangers would continue to creep along
behind them because of what they’d done. The thought of running
away with Ethan slid back into her mind, but she pushed it aside
again. There was no guarantee that would solve their problems
either.

“The good news is that there are
many
good
vampires who want
to help us, and have volunteered to take guard shifts. We will have
more help when it comes to keeping you two safe. There are many who
want to protect the two who discovered the cure.”

“What happened with Alex?” Ethan asked.

“I gave Alexander a well deserved beating,”
Max said. One side of his full mouth lifted into a crooked grin as
he chortled. “He won’t bother Danielle again if he would like to
continue breathing air.”

* * * * *

Curling up onto the settee in Ethan’s room,
Danielle reached for the throw draped over the back of it, pulled
it forward and around her legs. She got comfortable even knowing
they didn’t have much time to spend together before she’d be sent
home. “We opened up a can of worms when we cured you, didn’t
we?”

Ethan sat down and slipped under the throw
with her. “Yes, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Danielle couldn’t help but wonder if he
really meant that. Yes, he loved food but now he was in as much
danger as she was in, with no way of defending himself except to
rely on Order members for protection. Beon and Max said they could
be trusted, but could a bunch of vampires who’d supposedly turned
over a new leaf really be trusted? Deep down she knew she would
trust Max, Beon, Cedric and even Seth with her life, but what of
the others? What about the ones who had killed, who had tasted
mortal blood? What if they turned sides like Celeste had or like
Alex had? And forget privacy after this.... “It doesn’t look like
the bodyguard situation is going to improve.”

“It might change,” Ethan said, leaning back
into the cushion.

“For the worse you mean?”

He leaned forward, his elbows braced on his
knees. “No. For the better.”

She studied his calm expression. “I don’t
understand.”

Gently, he dragged the backs of his fingers
along her cheek. She looked at him, wondering if he was going to
answer her question. His eyes darkened with soberness before he
asked, “Do you want to be with me forever, even with the problems
surrounding our relationship? Do you love me?”

Unsettled by the fact that he even had to
ask that question, she twisted further to face him more straight
on. Of course she realized she hadn’t expressed her love for him as
much as he’d said those words to her, but she didn’t want him to
doubt how she felt about him. “Of course I love you! You’re
everything to me.” She slung her arms around his neck and hugged
him tight. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone, and because of
that, I’ll face this with you.”

Just as Danielle finished her ramblings she
realized, with panic, that she didn’t know why he was bringing up
this line of questioning. What if he’d changed his mind about them
and hoped she had the same doubts? What if he thought it was too
dangerous for them to be together? Feeling color leave her face as
fear washed over her, her shoulders slumped.

A finger came up to her chin and Ethan
inspected her expression, the depths of her eyes. She realized that
he’d sensed the shift in her mood, as usual. And his response made
it clear he understood enough of what was going on in her head.
“Danielle, I feel the same. I love you, I adore you ... you’re more
valuable to me than anything in this world.” The finger holding her
face dropped to the pearl necklace around her neck as he spoke. “I
don’t want you to worry about the guards or anyone else, because,”
one corner of his mouth lifted, “I have a plan.”