Sacrifice

by Luxie Ryder

  “What assignment?” she asked, nudging him away when he looked as if he was about to kiss her. Once his lips met hers, she knew she wouldn’t be capable of rational thought for a while.

  “I hoped you’d forgotten about that,” he admitted with a grin.

  “Of course not.” Hallie tucked the sheet around her breasts and sat up. Ethan gave a little groan of protest. She smiled, securing the sheet in place. “I need some answers. ‘Fess up Butler.”

  The time had come to open up to Hallie and tell her the truth about his work. She already knew that the periodical he reported for specialized in investigating paranormal phenomena. Ghosts, stigmata, werewolves—you name it, they covered it. But what she didn’t know was that the light hearted face of The Faustian Times hid Clive and Ethan’s real mission—to prove the existence of vampires.

  Clive Hawkins was Ethan’s business partner. He was a rich man in his seventies with an interest in all things supernatural. He’d mixed in the same social circles as Ethan’s wealthy parents, and it was Clive who had first suggested to him that their sudden and brutal deaths might not have been what they first seemed.

  At twenty years old, Ethan’s world shattered around him. He’d inherited a house he had no idea what to do with and more money than he would ever need. So when Clive first mentioned vampires, Ethan threw him out. But he kept coming back, again and again, until Ethan finally listened to what he had to say. Clive discussed the autopsy reports and the suspected cause of his parents’ demise, scoffing at the MD’s belief that they could simply have bled to death from the two small puncture wounds each of them had on their bodies.

  “The injuries were exactly three inches apart,” Ethan explained to Hallie, “and each hole was the same shape, size and depth. Like Clive said, the chances of that happening to both of my parents were millions to one. I understood then why Clive had been suspicious about the way my parents had died, especially considering that none of their money or valuables had been taken.” Ethan bowed his head, reliving the horrible memories.

  “So we began investigating and set up the magazine to attract freelance writers to help with research. In the years since, we’ve followed so many false leads but eventually we stumbled across the real thing. A vampire male named Silas was seducing and murdering women in and around New Orleans. We’ve been tracking him ever since.”

  Silas was the head of a nest of vampires residing in Louisiana and Ethan had managed to infiltrate his private club as a member. “But Clive suggested I move out of the city in case my cover was blown.”

  “Which brought you to me.” Hallie grimaced. “I knew there had to be an explanation as to why a rich guy like you wanted to live here.”

  Ethan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then tickled her chin. “You were a complication I didn’t allow for.” Hallie recoiled and looked away, trying to hide her reaction to his teasing words. “I mean, how could I know you would be so beautiful or that I would have to force myself to keep my hands off you?”

  She smiled her forgiveness and pushed him away as his fingers caressed the curve of her breast. He tried to show her just how hard keeping his hands off her had been, but she avoided his touch, eager for him to finish the story it seemed. “So what happened that night?”

  Ethan groaned. “I was stupid. I’d seen Silas and kinda expected all vamps to look like him, you know?”

  “What did he look like?”

  “Exactly how you’d imagine—tall, pale and absolutely terrifying. Nobody besides me seemed freaked out by him but then again, everyone in those Goth clubs dresses the same way to try and look as weird as possible. To be honest, if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew who he was and what he was capable of, he wouldn’t have stood out from the crowd. So when Clive got word that Silas had agreed to speak to me, I didn’t suspect the young woman he sent to fetch me. He wanted to meet on neutral ground at another club he frequented from time to time, and I thought I’d be safe.”

  Hallie gasped in shock. “She attacked you?”

  “Attack is too strong a word. She simply sat beside me in the back of his limo and pushed my head back against the seat. Then she bit me. I couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything. I’ve never seen anyone so strong.”

  Hallie’s hands went to her throat. She seemed horrified by what she’d heard. Ethan waited while she processed what he had told her, guessing that once she recovered, she would want to know more.

  Her gaze roamed over his neck and he guessed what she would say next. “But then why did your parents die and you didn’t?”

  “Clive and I discussed that. We think that the girl was inexperienced, or decided to turn me, possibly against Silas’s wishes. I’m not really sure why she didn’t kill me. ”

  “Well I’m glad you didn’t die in the traditional sense, but can you call this being alive?”

  Hallie fell silent. Her gaze locked onto his chest and she reached out and placed her hand over his heart, squeezing her eyes tight as if praying that she would hear a gentle, reassuring thud. A sob tore from her throat when all either of them could feel was her hand shaking. Ethan covered hers with his and pulled her to him.

  “Don’t be sad. I’m still here, in every way that matters and I’ve got you with me. What more do I need?”

  His words didn’t help to ease the shock that seemed to be setting in. “But Ethan, I sat idly by as you were dying in agony. I should have done something…helped you somehow—”

  “Baby, it’s my fault, not yours.” He crooned soft words into her hair, still trying to soothe her. “It was already too late by the time I got here but I didn’t have the strength to stay away from you. I’m sorry for putting you through that. When I woke up in the alley she’d dumped me in, I had to get away before she came back to finish me off. I couldn’t think of anything except getting back to you.”

  He kissed her then, trying to chase away her tears and show her how much he adored her by his actions. When she pulled away but wouldn’t meet his eyes, Ethan tensed for her next question, sensing by her hesitation that it wouldn’t be a pleasant one. “Do you…I mean, how do you eat, if that’s the right word? Do you kill people too?”

  Ethan winced internally, but he was determined to show Hallie he could handle her questions, no matter how much they hurt. “I’ve never killed a living thing and I don’t intend to start now.”

  “But if you need blood, how do you get it?”

  “Blood banks. Lucky for me, I can afford to buy it. Clive helped me source it for the first few days. I feel bad taking it from people who need it but I figure it’s the lesser of two evils, you know?”

  Hallie shuddered and Ethan decided they’d discussed enough for one night. She looked to be physically and emotionally drained. He pulled her into his arms, trying to ignore the arousal raging through his body at her nearness and allow her to get the rest she needed. Just when he thought she was about to fall asleep, she sat up again.

  “Why would Silas want you dead? So what if you exposed him?”

  “He has to stay under the radar. Many of his clients are politicians and judges with very particular sexual proclivities that only Silas can cater to. Clive thinks they allow him to operate in exchange for certain ‘services’ but he needs to be discreet.”

  “What—”

  “Hush. We’ve talked enough for one night, don’t you think?”

  Hallie smiled and leaned in to kiss him. Ethan didn’t have the willpower to tell her he meant she should rest. The way she’d accepted him for who he was rather than what he was filled his heart with a gratitude he would never be able to fully express. His body was a slave to hers and for every part of him that knew he should let her sleep; another shouted even louder that he couldn’t afford to waste a single chance to hold her.

  She rolled on top of him, pushing him down into the mattress, giving Ethan a triumphant smile when she thought she had over-powered him. His amusement with her game soon disappeared, replaced by an altogether different sensat
ion. As her warm, silky thighs wrapped around his torso, the breath stilled in his throat and his body hardened further at her touch. His groan of hunger became one of frustration. Ethan’s head settled into the pillows as a jolt of desire tore through him, and then he noticed the first faint fingers of daylight crawling across the ceiling above them.

  “Hallie…darling, it’s almost dawn. I…I have to go.” His voice sounded hoarse even to his own ears. He felt weak by the effects of having this intoxicating woman wriggling and squirming over him as she trailed kisses over his jaw and down his neck.

  “Then we don’t have any time to waste, do we?” Her husky laugh travelled through his ears and straight down to his groin, just at the very moment that she hovered above him and aligned her delicious pussy with his shaft. About to tell her they didn’t have time, his protest turned into a breathless curse as she impaled herself on him. She felt so tight and wet and hot, his hands clamped around her hips almost against his will, and he began to lift her up and down on top of him, his breath ragged as he watched her respond to him the same way she had before. Hallie gasped through her moist, open lips, her gaze locked with his, her body shuddering in ecstasy.

  Ethan couldn’t take his gaze off her. He’d die before missing a second of her beautiful body riding him if he dared close his eyes. With his heart and brain fighting for domination over his feelings, fear that he might not have many more chances to be with her this way, were suddenly chased away by the joy he felt at that very moment. That in turn was replaced by an ever-growing hunger that intensified no matter how near to her he was. He simply couldn’t get close enough to her.

  His gaze fixed on her undulating breasts, the dusky pink nipples swaying inches in front of his face. Capturing one in his mouth, he watched her shuddering reaction to the gentle teasing of his tongue. Careful to keep his teeth away from her flesh, he flicked against the tight bud over and over again, holding her body against his mouth with firm hands on her back. A trembling began in her thighs and Hallie’s head fell back. She twisted her fingers in his hair, as if to keep herself from falling.

  “Ethan!” she shrieked as her orgasm hit. “Oh, God…I love you. I love you.”

  The words she gasped, the sight of her coming for him and because of him, the warm sheath of her convulsing body around his…these things all combined ripped away the last of his defenses and he fell helplessly into his own release.

  When she stilled in his arms and collapsed onto his chest, he stroked her hair away from her flushed face, pressing his lips against her forehead. “I love you too, Hallie,” he whispered, sure she was falling asleep against him.

  He didn’t have time to check if she’d heard him or not. Fiery sunlight flooded into her room, threatening to wreak havoc upon his flesh if he didn’t move this very second. Slipping out of her embrace, he pressed a soft kiss on her shoulder and ran from her apartment, as fast as his new abilities would allow, rolling under his own bed and into the cavity he’d created beneath the floorboards.

  Ethan willed himself to sleep, keen for sunset to come quickly, regretting now that he hadn’t woken Hallie and told her again how he felt about her. Would he ever get another chance to tell her that he loved her?

  Chapter Three

  Hallie hovered outside Ethan’s apartment, wondering if it was dark enough outside for him to get up. He’d left earlier than usual that morning, claiming a need to visit Clive to plan their next move. Ethan said he’d be back in the house just before dawn and that he would sleep until the sun went down and see her at the usual time . She pressed her ear to the door and strained to hear any sound of movement inside the room. Turning to use her other one, as if somehow it would work a little better, she caught sight of herself reflected in the glass of the front door. She looked like a stalker.

  Running back to her room with a guilty giggle, she shrugged off the accusation she’d leveled at herself only seconds earlier. Counting down the minutes until he would wake every day might have seemed strange to her a while back, but now…now, she was in love.

  Finally, blessedly, she and Ethan had taken the step from friends to lovers.

  Hallie flopped onto the sofa for the tenth time since the sun went down and surfed through the TV channels, trying to find something to occupy her time, but she couldn’t focus. A commercial, showing a handsome young couple walking in the sunshine, each of them holding the hand of their beautiful daughter, soured her mood. She and Ethan could never be like them.

  The dark cloud brewing over her head for the three days since she’d discovered Ethan’s secret, was dark and disturbing. Ugh! Don’t do this to yourself Hallie, she thought, turning the TV off and sliding onto her back to stare at the ceiling. She couldn’t help her train of thought. No amount of positive thinking could change the basic fact that the man she loved wasn’t even a real man. Admitting he’d claimed her heart and her body didn’t matter a damn in the grand scheme of things. She knew she’d been blocking out any thoughts of a future with Ethan because she didn’t want to face the truth. They didn’t have a future.

  Hallie begged him to quit the investigation. Surely now, exposing them would mean exposing himself too. What would be the point? But he’d refused to talk to her about it, making it clear that he didn’t want to argue over a course of action he was set on following.

  “Let’s not waste these moments together talking about things that are beyond our control,” he would say, and then do something to distract her. And boy was he good at distracting her, but Hallie never missed the implication in his words. He too thought their time together was limited.

  A noise in the hall dragged her out of her dark musings and she leapt to her feet, ready to run into Ethan’s arms and cherish every moment with him. Hallie barely took a step forward when the door exploded from the wall, shattering into a million splinters of wood. She fell backwards with a scream, shielding her face from the debris and landed on the floor with a hard thud that knocked the wind from her lungs. Almost as soon as she hit the ground, a hand grasped the back of her neck, threatening to choke the life from her, and suddenly Hallie was up against the wall, her feet kicking the air beneath.

  Still in shock and dizzy from her fall, Hallie had to squint to get the image swimming in front of her into focus. A man filled her vision. He was tall, dark and terrifying, just as Ethan described him. There was no doubt the being wasn’t human…nor was there any doubt in her mind that it was Silas.

  Her mind screamed to run away, but strong hands of people she didn’t notice before, held her captive and lifted her from the floor. Her feet pedaled the air uselessly, yet still she kicked, terrified into motion by the blood red eyes staring at her.

  “You know of me?”

  The soft caress of his voice confused her into stillness. Like a badly dubbed movie, the sound that emanated from the huge man didn’t fit with his appearance. The gentle, almost lilting tone washed over her again when he repeated his question.

  “Cat got your tongue?” he asked with an indulgent chuckle as he took another step closer.

  Hallie felt as if she had been drugged. The nearer Silas got to her, the less afraid she became. A part of her knew she was in mortal danger, but for some reason she couldn’t react to the notion. She watched in almost morbid fascination as he got close enough for her to see that his eyes were more than just red. They were speckled in multiple shades of red yet ringed in black…and totally mesmerizing.

  Silas smiled again and his lips parted to expose strong white teeth, his fangs already extended. The helpless stupor which held her immobile lifted at the sight of them, and she screamed in terror, struggling anew to free herself. Her tormentor laughed, enjoying her fear it seemed, so she clamped her lips together to stifle another shriek lest it excite him more and he attack his prey.

  “If you know of me,” he said, answering the question she had ignored, “then you know where he is.”

  “W…who?”

  Silas leapt forward, closing the narrow gap b
etween them in a fraction of a heartbeat and snapped his teeth together, inches from her face. “Don’t test my patience, child. Ethan. You know of whom I speak.”

  “He’s not here.” Hallie barely heard the hoarse whisper that she managed to force through her fear-stricken throat.

  “She is lying,” one of her captors snarled in her ear. She turned to look at him, surprised to find the hands bruising her arms belonged to a youth barely out of his teens. On her other side was a slightly older Creole woman. Hallie wondered if it was the same woman who’d attacked Ethan.

  Silas assessed Hallie’s reaction to the accusation, his eyes narrowing as he watched her. “No, I don’t think she lies. After all, he would have tried to save his lover already if he was close enough to hear.”

  Hallie couldn’t ignore the logic in his words. Obviously, Ethan wasn’t back yet.

  “He left here…weeks ago. After the night…you know…the night he…” She shut her eyes, unable to make the lie believable with Silas making her feel like he could see into her soul.

  He growled in anger and she flinched, expecting to be punished for her disobedience but when she opened her eyes, he was glaring at the woman beside her. “You mean the night he should have died? Had Martine done as she was ordered, we would not be here looking for him now.”

  “Master—”

  “Silence!” Silas cut short the woman’s explanation with nothing more than a deadly whisper. He turned to Hallie, his chilling smile back in place. “You are not the only one who fell for his charms. Martine thought she could have him for herself and that I would never find out. And I might not have, had he been sensible enough to stay hidden and keep out of my affairs. He and that old fool he thinks so much of, have become…troublesome.”

  “Well, he’s not here. I don’t know where he is.” Hallie forced herself to maintain eye contact, narrowing her gaze. “If I hear from him again, I will tell him you dropped by. I am sorry you wasted your time.”

  Silas laughed again, stroking a finger down her cheek. Hallie’s flesh crawled at his touch. “Silly girl, I have wasted nothing. I got what I came for.” He leaned in closer and she tensed; sure now he would kill her.