Chapter 20

Loss

“What do you think of this one?” Danielle asked as she lifted up the decorative clock she was admiring.

They’d talked the men into letting them shop again after being cooped up in the house for a couple of weeks. Nothing more had happened which was probably the only reason the guys had allowed it. Plus they traveled with a troop of thirty-four guards to watch over them, including Ethan and Max. The other men remained hidden, but lurked with listening devices in their ears, while Ethan and Max attempted to make it look like a simple double date.

“I like it,” replied Nadia. “It would look nice in your sitting room, with the soft colors in there.”

“I like it too,” Ethan said. “Go ahead and get it.”

He began fishing his wallet out of his pocket, but she stopped him. “I have enough. I want to pay for it.”

“Very well,” he said, even though he did look rather unwilling.

As they left the shop, Ethan asked, “What would you like for dessert this evening?” She smiled up at him, and he laughed as he added, “Why do I even ask? I’ll need to get some fresh strawberries, and I’m low on chocolate.”

She sensed that Ethan wanted to caress the tiny bump on her stomach but didn’t dare draw attention to that in a public place, so he held back.

“Thank you, you’re the best ever.”

They were distracted by a small family that passed by and their baby bubbled with a bunch of adorable cooing sounds. Ethan practically sighed when he smiled at them.

“You want that, don’t you?”

“More than anything,” he whispered back.

With that smile still fixed on his features he swept a look over her belly and then exhaled. “I’ll go now, and meet you back at home.” He kissed her forehead and then left.

She and Nadia rushed through another store, mainly because they suspected Max was getting restless. Actually it was all too obvious with the way he shifted his weight back and forth between his feet while they browsed. Just as Danielle was going to suggest checking yet another store, Max cut in, “The sun will be setting soon. I think it’s time for the shopping spree to end.”

Before she or Nadia responded to him the knight froze, lifting a hand to the listening device in his ear. It seemed whatever he heard wasn’t good because he began searching out eye contact with his men.

“What is it?” Nadia asked, twisting to look around.

Danielle turned as well and felt her stomach sink, because she knew the look on Richard’s face as he approached meant there was a serious problem.

After a brief conversation between the knight and the prince, Max touched his ear-piece again and began dividing the men into two groups and then sent Nadia off with eleven of them. They were splitting them up just as they’d split Ethan and her up at the theater.

Danielle felt slightly claustrophobic as the remaining guards joined Max and closed in around her. “Max, tell me,” she asked starting to feel slightly nauseated as well as concerned.

“Celeste was here. Dorin saw her. We need to leave as soon as possible.”

Celeste?

The tension surrounding them became almost tangible as they traversed to the exit. Once outside, Danielle thought the anxiety would dissipate but it remained as they moved on to where they’d parked.

Shouts that sounded like battle cries came from all directions as they moved across the parking lot. What looked like an army of a hundred men advanced toward them. Max and Richard took her arms and turned back toward the mall but they were surrounded.

They’d been ambushed.

One by one the guards were plucked from around her, as from every direction, they were engaged in battle in which they were outnumbered three to one. It wasn’t long before Max and Richard were forced to distance themselves from her because they were being attacked by at least fourteen each. She knew this was bad because they’d singled out the two guards who were obviously in charge of her protection.

Danielle yelped when Dorin snatched her roughly by the arm and dragged her to the Hummer.

She dropped back against the side of the vehicle unable to take her eyes from the scene. This tangle was more destructive than any she could have imagined during daylight when they should have been weaker. And she supposed they were, but they were still creating a lot of damage. Men were thrown into cars that dented under their weight. Windshields crushed, setting off car alarms. Her insides twisted when she noted Lucas wrestling with Max, but watched with pride as he used what she’d taught him to reduce the number of men attacking him by half in a matter of seconds.

Her gaze shifted to Richard and he appeared to be doing just as well, but then his eyes locked onto hers as he wrangled with several at once. He looked murderous and ... worried? She frowned when something metal bounced light from the sunset into her eyes. Her gaze dropped to what Dorin was holding in his hand. It wasn’t keys, it was a knife. A long blade trained on her.

“No!” Richard screamed, as he leapt onto the roof of a car, ignoring the men attempting to tackle him, and began loping toward her across the vehicles.

“Danielle!” Max bellowed, struggling to do the same.

Dorin’s lips twisted into a victorious and sadistic leer as he moved the weapon closer, twisting his wrist so the flat side caught the light again.

Her reaction was instinctive and swift as she moved into the best karate defense for this exact situation. Unfortunately, it would never work against this fearsome giant, this powerful vampire, but she had to try. And fail….

A pained gasp wrenched past her lips as the blade sank into her abdomen, slicing through what she suspected were vital organs. The noises around her, the shouts of the others trying to get to her to save her sounded like they’d been drenched in syrup.

Dorin actually laughed as he slid the knife from her and stabbed her two more times. “I told you they were watching,” he sneered with another evil chuckle, and then he left.

“Max,” she whispered, doubting anyone could have heard that because the word came out so weakly. She felt herself slip along the side of the Hummer as her knees gave out and she dropped to the pavement.

Her eyes rolled back and her lids drifted down halfway as she struggled to keep a grasp on consciousness. She strained her ears to listen to the others fighting to get to her, shouting, and cursing more and more violently, and then shivered at the sensation of warm blood leaking from her wounds, drenching her clothes.

“Call Ethan,” someone shouted. She thought it was Richard or Merrick?

“Danielle,” she heard Max say as he lifted her from the street to his lap. “The sun is almost set, you’ll be just fine.”

She couldn’t seem to process exactly what he meant by that. What did the sunset have to do with anything?

His fingers stroked her hair and face as the sound of a car racing through the parking lot reached her ears. The tires squealed against the blacktop and the engine revved as it neared.

“Just hang in there, love. Ethan is on his way, and the sun is almost below the horizon.”

Why was Max again mentioning the position of the sun?

And how this all looked to pedestrians and owners of the smashed vehicles never crossed her mind until she heard the growing buzz of commotion, and sirens in the distance.

“We need to get out of here. We need to get her out of here,” another man said, Cedric this time? “We can’t let the paramedics get involved.”

Then the car that she could hear approaching screeched to a stop near them and a door opened, followed by Ethan’s frantic voice, “Oh, God,” he prayed. “Please don’t let her die!”

“She won’t if you turn her, Ethan.”

Oh, she thought hazily ... the sun….

“What the hell happened?” Ethan shouted.

“There were too many. Just too many,” Richard rumbled over and over again, as he cursed creatively. “I feared we had a spy amongst us. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, but they knew who to single out and stall with most of their men. We couldn’t get to her. Damn Dorin! I’ll kill him myself!”

That’s why the prince had stared at her so much…. He wasn’t obsessed with her, just her safety as he feared this kind of treachery.

A groan was forced from her as she was passed from Max to Ethan and lifted from the ground.

“Drive, Max!”

“Hey!” someone shouted, most likely a mortal eyewitness. “You can’t take her like that! The ambulance is almost here!”

The shouts were ignored as the engine revved again and two doors slammed shut. The inertia as they jerked forward created another painful experience, and she whimpered.

“Do it as soon as you can!”

“Danielle, honey, can you hear me?” Ethan asked, his tone gentle.

She opened her eyes, as much as she could, which was still only about half way. Her breathing was erratic and shallow. It hurt to move air in and out.

“You can’t survive this.” He paused, then another tear dropped onto her cheek, and she realized that it wasn’t hers. An anguished sob escaped him before he collected himself and continued, “The baby couldn’t have survived this. I’m so sorry.”

Yes, she knew. Painful, wrenching cries ripped from her throat. The discomfort sliced through her like being stabbed all over again. She may have wanted to be free of the medical demands of having a baby, but not like this. Because deep down, she knew she loved and wanted this child and would have gone through any number of frustrating doctor’s visits to have it.

“Shhh. Shhh, try to be calm, darling.” His eyes locked onto the view out the front windshield as his hands stroked her face and hair in what she perceived as an attempt to soothe her.

Ethan was watching the sun dip lower, and she could see the golden glow of it slide slowly down his features until it was finally gone. His gaze dropped to hers then and she could see the fangs there behind his parted lips.

“I love you. I can’t let you go,” he whispered right before he fanned his breath into her face.

She pulled it in, let it take over. And like a drug it calmed her and sent her into that familiar daze where she remained alert but couldn’t move. Secretly she wished Ethan’s affect on her was stronger than it was, and figured the pain would have been more dulled if Max had done it.

Ethan had one hand cradling the back of her head as he pressed upward on her back with the other, lifting her closer to his mouth. Danielle cried out. But Ethan said nothing about the pain he’d caused her as he kissed the side of her neck and then parted his lips.

His fangs slid into her flesh with a momentary pinch and then … pleasure took over.

What a way to go! Danielle fully understood how the victim would beg for this, would plead for the vampire to continue and take their life. Right then she wouldn’t have cared if Ethan finished her off. She wanted desperately to clutch at his shoulders to keep him close, but couldn’t lift her hands.

When Ethan pulled away, he fed another dose of his breath to her, kissed her mouth, and then lowered his face to her ear. “One bite should turn you—”

“Again,” she managed to whisper, barely shoving past the magic of his breath.

His head lifted. His eyes rounded slightly. After a moment of silence he said, “I suppose more than one bite could make it go faster.”

Ethan then kept his eyes locked with hers as he lifted the inside of her wrist to his lips, kissed the skin there and then sank his fangs in.

An involuntary shudder moved through her as she watched his eyes slide shut, as though he were enjoying it as much as she was. So this is what happens when the frog bites the princess….

“We’re home,” Max said as the vehicle rocked from going over the gutter to enter the driveway.

Ethan slid his fangs from her wrist and lifted her into his arms. There was still pain in her abdomen, but it was slightly dampened by the vampire magic now coursing through her veins.

Max opened the door, and Ethan stepped out. They entered the house. The rocking movement of his stride forced another moan from her.

Nadia shrieked. “What happened!”

“We were ambushed,” Max replied.

“Who bit her! Oh, no! No! This will kill the baby!”

“I did,” Ethan muttered, without slowing his pace. “The baby was already dead.”

The sound of Nadia’s cries faded away as Ethan continued on.

“Max, get a towel,” Ethan ordered. “And lay it on the bed.”

After a short pause, Danielle felt herself being lowered onto the mattress. Mentally she figured the towel was to protect the bedding from her blood-soaked clothes. She must look terrible, she imagined.

She heard the door softly click as she supposed Max had left, and then without a word, Ethan began stripping her shoes and clothes off.

When he finished he left momentarily, and the sound of water running traveled from the bathroom. Danielle realized that he’d also removed his clothes as she was lifted to his nude chest. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he said as he entered the shower with her in his arms and the hot spray began to pelt her flesh.

Ethan shifted her weight so that she was facing him and was held up by his left arm while he gently rubbed the blood from her skin with the other; all the while he kissed her face and neck, murmuring words of comfort and apology to her. Then he turned her around to clean her stomach too. Danielle remained unable to move or speak, and it seemed that the venom in her system was magnifying the power of his breath. Her chin dropped to her chest and she noticed that the stab wounds were healing as if by magic.

He turned off the water, lifted her from the shower, toweled her off, then took her back to the bed. He reached down to toss the sheets back and she felt herself sink into the bed again. Her limbs felt like limp noodles.

It sounded as though Ethan had tugged on a pair of pants before he came back into view and climbed over the top of her. “How do you feel now?” he asked with his arms braced on either side of her head.

“Please, bite me,” she slurred out unable to stop thinking about how much she wanted to be bitten with his magic in her veins and in her lungs.

A frown drew the corners of his mouth down. “I don’t want to risk draining you. I don’t think that would help.”

“Just two more?” she pled, staring at his mouth and the fangs she could still see half hidden behind his parted lips.

A knowing smirk tilted his mouth. “I’m afraid you like that too much.”

“Please.”

When his head rocked to the side she knew he was considering it. “I suppose two more won’t hurt.” And that’s when she realized he liked biting her as much as she liked being bitten. His hand cradled the back of her head and neck as he exhaled into her mouth, then kissed her. Next he moved to the other side of her neck, planted another kiss and pierced her with his fangs again.

Again, she wanted to arch up into him, and just let him keep doing that, but he left her and lifted her arm. This time he bit the inside of her other wrist. With each bite he’d kissed her skin before he sank into her skin with his needle-sharp canines. After the first bite, none of the others had hurt and the level of magic thrumming through her made her want more. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew this was how the victim begged for death, but as before, she couldn’t find it in herself to care much. “More?” she heard herself say, knowing she shouldn’t ask.

“Don’t tempt me,” he said not smiling. A moment of sad anger flamed within his gaze. “How do you feel now?”

Danielle matched her eyes to his thinking, loopy and lusty, but she couldn’t seem to get any more words out. The curse magic had a strong grip on her now.

“Sweetheart, I need to warn you. Death at this point would be easy. Wanted,” he added taking in the dazed, probably wishful look on her face. “But the poison of the curse is like a living evil as it transforms you and because of that, it’s not the most pleasant of experiences. Plus I fear losing the baby is going to add to your suffering.” He dropped his weight to his hip next to her, and drew her close to his side tugging the sheets over the both of them. “But I’m here for you. I’ll fight to make you as comfortable as I can.”

The next stretch of time drifted by in a potion-filled haze, but she was aware of her husband’s efforts to comfort her through all of it. It seemed his lips almost never left her ear as he whispered gentle and loving words to her. And when his mouth was not sending his breath into her lungs it was traveling her flesh with tender kisses. She also remembered him bathing her with a warm, wet washcloth.

Danielle remained paralyzed as her body was reworked, as the curse changed her with a strange magical kind of gnawing. She wouldn’t have called it horribly painful, just disturbingly uncomfortable. Besides that and Ethan’s doting presence, she wasn’t conscious of much else….