Stefan’s heavy eyebrows snapped together as he stared down at me. “Why?”
“Italy is thick with nightwalkers, and it gets worse the closer you are to Venice,” I explained with a little shrug. “I didn’t want anyone to know I was in town until I figured out who our enemy was or at least who my friends were here.”
“Then we’ll go hunt now. You need to keep up your strength.”
I shook my head as I pulled the cell phone out of the hoodie pocket so I could glance at the time. “Not yet. We’ve still got a few hours before sunrise.”
“What’s wrong?”
A frown tugged at my lips as I looked at Stefan with a hint of disbelief. “This,” I said, waving my hand back at the gathering of nightwalkers just a few yards away. “Is this my future? If I’m lucky enough to live as long as you have, will I have the same impressive collection of people who’d do anything to ruin my life and harm those I care for? Is that what it means to be a nightwalker?”
“That’s not all of it.”
I groaned and shoved away from the wall, but I didn’t get more than a few steps away from Stefan before I turned back. “I can’t do that. That’s not who I am.”
“You are—”
“I’m not. Sure, you’re excited because I killed two people my first night, but that was an accident. It was my desperation to survive. Nothing more.”
Stefan closed the distance between us and placed his hands lightly on my shoulders. “A part of me wishes that I could tell you that a need to survive was the reason I killed. For some that was the reason, but not most. I was born and lived in a different time. I started my existence as a nightwalker in a different, more brutal time. Maybe I am paying for some of my crimes now and you have been unfairly caught up in my punishment.”
A half smile lifted one corner of my mouth as I met his gaze. “I’d rather think that I’m incentive for you to be a good boy.”
Stefan returned my smile with a slow, seductive grin that warmed parts of me that I thought had gone permanently cold with my dead and rebirth. “For you, I can be a very good boy.”
“Down, boy,” I said, fighting a wide grin as I pressed a restraining hand against the center of his chest.
Stefan reached up and moved some hair away from my face, threading it behind my ear. His expression had turned tender and a little sad as he looked down at me. I could feel the seductive heat radiating from him turning into something sadder. “I have missed you,” he whispered. “I thought... When you disappeared, I thought....” But he was unable to fully voice the horrible thoughts that came back to him.
Rising up on my tiptoes, I pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. “I’m here. I’m safe now. You will keep me safe and I will keep you safe.”
“Yes,” Stefan said before kissing me back. He started to deepen the kiss and then jerked back, frowning at me. “You need to feed.”
“Stefan—”
“No!” he said sharply, cutting off my argument. “Your hunger is wearing heavily on you. You need your strength to stay safe.”
“But—”
“You need your strength so that we can enjoy our first evening together again.” The seductive evil grin had returned with those words, which caused my toes to curl in my sneakers. “Come.” Stefan started to pull me into the garden so that he could likely take flight yet again, taking us off to a more populated area, but I dug my heels in, trying to halt his progress.
“What about everyone else? Don’t they need to know that we’re leaving?”
“I’ve already told Mira. She laughed,” Stefan grumbled as he swept me up into his arms so that I could no longer fight him. “Annoying woman.”
“Her or me?”
He looked stunned by my question. “Her, of course.”
I laughed as he took flight. He didn’t realize that I’d been teasing him. That was fine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head on his shoulder. It was nice to tease someone again; to feel like it was okay to laugh again.
“You know I’m only letting you get away with this high-handed, chest-beating Neanderthal behavior until this psychopath is found,” I warned. “Then you have to listen to my wishes as well.”
I felt more than heard Stefan’s chuckle deep in his chest. “I am surprised you’ve allowed me to force my wishes on you this long.”
A surprised laugh jumped from me and I felt lighter. The stars blurred overhead and the clouds rolled by while the cool wind bit at my cheeks and fingertips. It was strange, this new awareness of temperature. I could feel that it was cold, but it didn’t bother like it had when I had been a human. It was more of an annoyance like a pebble in the bottom of my shoe. It would likely get worse if I stayed too long in the cold, but it was tolerable in the grand scheme of things. I could only imagine that I’d register heat much the same way.
When Stefan set me on my feet again, we were not far from what I believed to be Florence, which was a little surprising. I’d never been to Florence before but I recognized the Ponte Vecchio bridge across the Arno River from pictures I’d seen.
“Why here?” I asked as Stefan took my hand and led me toward what felt like a large crowd of humans. The hick, heavy pulse of life beckoned me. The hunger I had been pushing aside most of the evening came back with a vengeance so that my fangs now throbbed. Yet even with hunger crowding my thoughts, I was reluctant to continue. This city felt incredibly crowded and overwhelming — more so that any place I’d been in Poland or even Venice.
“Humans have grown more cautious since the Great Awakening. It’s easier to hunt in large cities. They feel safer in numbers,” Stefan explained with a little scoff. There was no question that he felt that their safety in numbers mentality was a joke. And in many ways, he was right. As it was, we were both cloaking our presence as we strolled down the winding, narrows roads of the city. No one saw us.
“What’s the Great Awakening?” I asked as we strolled through the city.
“It’s what we call the moment when the world discovered that nightwalker and shapeshifters were real.”
“You mean that fight in Savannah five years ago?”
Stefan pursed his lips together and shook his head with a look of disgust. “That was how it happened. Bloody naturi,” he muttered under his breath. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask what a naturi was, but he continued before I could. “We always knew that humans would discover the truth eventually, but we were trying to control the moment. Put nightwalkers in a positive light. The battle in Savannah was not how it was supposed to happen, but it could not be avoided.”
“Were you there?”
Stefan stopped walking, looking down one street and then another, as if he were carefully weighing his options before he finally resumed his trek down a side street. “In Savannah? No. I was in Venice, trying to keep the nightwalkers calm in Europe. Mira and Danaus were in Savannah.”
Another question rose to the forefront of my mind but it was brushed aside when a wonderful scent caught my attention. I jerked to a stop and turned my head, following it while letting my eyes drift shut for a second in ecstasy. I didn’t even realize that I’d started to follow it until Stefan squeezed the hand he was still holding.
An embarrassed grin tugged at my lips as I looked up at my companion. “Sorry. It takes me by surprise sometimes. Can you wait here for a moment?”
“No.”
I was torn. The wonderful scent was blood — prey was a lot closer than I thought. For some reason, some people smelled so much better to me than other. Unless I was absolutely starving. Then they all smelled so damn good. But this one drawing close smelled really damn good, but I was uncomfortable with the idea of Stefan watching while I fed. I didn’t know if I was embarrassed or shy or just private.
“Please, I can do this alone.”
Stefan’s dark expression didn’t waver as he stepped close, towering over me as if he could use his impressive height to cow me into doing what he wanted. “I do not doubt your skills, ma petite
. You’ve obviously learned to care for yourself and I am glad, but while you are in Italy and in my presence, you will hunt with me close by. It is more dangerous here and I am not going to let another person harm you.”
And just like that, I was cursing myself and my soft heart for this man. Hadn’t he been through enough torment where I was concerned? Hadn’t I? Was it such a bad idea having someone I trusted at my back? Daphne had followed close during my first week and I knew that she remained close even when she said that she was going to let me hunt alone. Friends were always protective souls.
“Fine,” I said with a little sigh. I stretched up and kissed his jaw quickly. “Go hide yourself where I can’t see you and let me do my stuff.”
Stefan chuckled as he ducked away from me, disappearing in the blink of an eye. He really needed to teach me how to move so fast. But that was for another time. With my companion gone, I was once again drawn to the sweet scent of blood. It was time to feed.
Keeping my cloak in place, I silently wandered down the alley, cutting over to another street as I followed the heavenly scent. Stefan was little more than a ghost, his presence barely felt as he followed along behind me. As I reached the street, I was relieved to find that it wasn’t quite so busy, but my prey was part of a larger group of twentysomethings who appeared to be out for a night of fun at a bar or nightclub.
I frowned as I stared at her. The one with the lovely blood stumbled along on high heels, walking as if she’d already enjoyed few drinks before they decided to hit the town. In fact, judging by their noise and laughter, they all had. My reluctance drained away and I nearly laughed at my unexpected good fortune. Sober, I wouldn’t have had a shot at this, but drunk, I’d learned that a person’s mind was much more pliable.
With little effort, I jumped into my victim’s mind and sorted through her most recent memories, picking out a viable excuse when I found the easiest of all.
“Oh!” the young blonde cried. “I forgot my cell phone back in the hotel room!” Lucky for me, it was the truth. “I have to go back.”
Her friends quickly attempted to argue with her, saying she didn’t need it as long as she stuck with them. Still holding onto the first woman’s mind, I sent out a blanket mental shove. We’ll meet you there. You’ll be safe.
Almost in unison, they all repeated those two sentences as if they were robots. I cringed at the creepiness of it. Apparently, alcohol wasn’t the only thing they had been enjoying because the barriers to their susceptibility were like tissue paper. I was tearing through their thoughts with little effort.
As the woman headed the opposite direction from her friends, I did one last scan of the area to make sure that I truly was the only nightwalker in the region before I quickly crossed the street. With a new mental shove, I directed the woman to a little dark alcove between two buildings.
It was only when I was standing next to her that I realized that she was taller than me. Damn it sucked to be short! Why couldn’t this vampire thing come with a few other perks like a couple extra inches in height? Frowning, I commanded the woman to step out of her heels, which put her at a height I could easily reach her neck.
Stefan had been right to laugh at me when I’d offered my wrist that first night. The jugular vein in the neck was so much better. Larger with a strong flow of blood, the vein allowed for quicker and more comfortable feeding. With the woman’s mind firmly in my control, I sank my fangs in while cloaking us both at the same time from any prying eyes.
Relief and power washed through me in an instant and the woman moaned in pleasure as my control slipped for a second. Snatching control back, I wiped her mind, removing both the pain and pleasure so that she was completely unconscious. When I fed, I shielded them from both feelings. I couldn’t allow it yet. When I fed, I couldn’t let myself see their humanity. If I did, I would choke on the blood and the guilt of what I was doing. For now, she was nothing more than a doll. A soulless, empty, impersonal doll and I took only what I needed to survive. Not a drop more.
But even keeping such strict control over the process didn’t stop me from feeling the pleasure that went along with feeding. The power, the sweet relief, and the physical joy were intoxicating. You wanted to just stay attached to the vein at all times.
It was always tough to pull away, but luckily the euphoria stayed with you for several minutes, making the separation a little easier.
Fighting the lassitude that was seeping into my limbs, I quickly placed my hand over the wound and healed it. When her skin was perfect again, I used my hoodie sleeve to wipe away the small streak of blood against her tan skin. After one last dip into her thoughts to make sure there was no memory of me or the feeding, I convinced the woman that she didn’t need her cell phone after all. Slipping back into her heels, she turned and hurried down the block to catch up with her friends, oblivious to the fact that she’d been ever been stopped.
I stood in the middle of the sidewalk, watching her as she toddled along, her heels loudly clacking against the cement. When I looked up again, Stefan was leaning against a lamppost, his arms crossed over his chest and a smile playing on his lips.
“I will admit,” he slowly drawled, pushing away from the lamp. “When I saw the group you had chosen, I had my doubts of whether you could handle such a feat without coming to trouble. Brava, ma petite. I bow to your skill.” And as he said it, Stefan bowed low to me.
A soft derisive snort escaped me before I could stop it. “They were all intoxicated, Stefan, and you know it. They were an easy target and I would be shock if I’m the only nightwalker to pick off one of them tonight.”
“True, but your handling was quite smooth. Was that something you learned on your own or were taught?”
“A mix of both. Daphne taught me how to manage several people at once.”
“And this Daphne was good to you?”
“Yes, she was a wonderful friend to me. She taught me a lot of things before I came to Italy.”
A sad look filled Stefan’s eyes as he came to stand before me. Without reading his mind, I had a feeling that he regretted not being the one to teach me so many important lessons. Or maybe he was just wishing that I hadn’t had to learn them in the first place. But he blinked and the look was gone.
“Then she has won a favor from an Elder should she ever need one.”
Leaning up, I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I think Daphne and the others would prefer to remain off the Coven’s radar, but I’ll pass your favor along to her when we speak again.”
Stefan took a step closer, leaning toward me as if meant to kiss me, but I suddenly tensed. Something was wrong. I could feel it pushing through my brain like a worm burrowing through the soft earth. Stepping back from Stefan, I pressed the heel of my hand against my temple and shook my head as if the movement could dislodge whatever was trying to get inside my thoughts.
“Erin?” Stefan inquired, laying a hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off, taking another wobbly step back from him.
“Something’s wrong.” I pressed my other hand into my temple and squeezed, trying to halt the pressure that was increasing with each passing second. “I don’t know what it is. It’s like someone is trying to climb inside my head.”
“What do you mean? No one can do that. Because of your injury.”
I shook my head again, as much to get rid of this feeling as it was to answer Stefan. “Yes and no. Vanko could, but I thought that was because he made me. But the others, the nightwalkers I met in Poland, couldn’t. Can you?”
“No,” Stefan replied, looking more than little grim. This wasn’t an age or a power thing. I had a feeling this was a blood issue — I was of Vanko’s line. But even so, that line was now dead with the exception of me, right? No one should be able to read my mind or control it.
“What’s happening? I can feel this ... pressure ... like someone is trying to get me to do something.”
“What are they trying to force you to do?”
“I don’t k
now. There’s no clear picture or words. It just ... feels bad. I think this person wants me to hurt you.”
Stefan turned where he stood, his eyes sweeping the area as he searched for the person who was attacking me. He didn’t get far. The pressure increased until sharp, blinding pain slashed through my head. A scream was ripped from my lips as I crumpled to my knees. The world was going dark, slipping from my grasp as I plummeted toward unconsciousness. From a distance, I felt Stefan scoop me up into his arms and hold me close. And then ... there was nothing at all.
He’s going to kill you. He’s planning it now with the others. He wants you dead. You’re nothing to him now. Worthless. Chum. He’s going to kill you. You need to kill him first...
I woke up with a strangled scream lodged in my throat. Blinking, I looked around to find myself back in the room where I’d met Valerio and the others. Stefan was froze in the center of the room, as if he’d stopped himself in mid-pace, his expression twisted with worry. He started for me and I darted away from him, falling off the small sofa I had been lying on.
“No! Don’t! Wait!” I shouted, trying to clear my head and focus on where I was while at the same time shake off the last tendrils of fear created by the voice... or dream.
“Erin—”
“Don’t!” I kept crawling across the floor until I found myself settled beside Danaus’s firmly planted boots. I touched his scuffed black boot with one hand and some of the fear within me eased. Muscles unwound a bit and my thoughts grew less fragmented and coated in terror. Then I realized why and I wanted to cry.
When I looked up, nearly the length of the room separated Stefan and me. I was half-hidden behind the hunter, who stood like a dark shadow over me with a hand on his knife hilt once again. I could think because I was safe from Stefan.
But that wasn’t right. Stefan wasn’t a threat to me. He would never harm me. Logic said that I was safe with him, but there was now a little ball of fear living in my brain that was constantly whispering otherwise.
“She got in,” I whispered, my voice shaking with equal parts horror and anger.
Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1) Page 22
