Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3)

by Brenda K. Davies

  "They say people like him escalate Emma, no one can understand why, but the police will catch him," Jill brushed the hair back from her face in an attempt to calm her further.

  "I hope so. That poor cat..." Emma shuddered and hugged herself. "Tristan's completely lost it."

  Mandy and Jill were unable to keep their uneasiness hidden from her as they exchanged a look. "We will get through this," Mandy promised. "Maybe we should go home early."

  Panic shot through her at the thought and her gaze flew to Ethan. His jaw clenched, he folded his arms over his chest but he didn't say anything. The thought had already crossed her mind that she should leave, Tristan would follow her, she was certain of that, but she would be away from her friends and they would be safer.

  "Maybe I should just go," she suggested.

  "Absolutely not!" Jill said vehemently. "We're not going to let you travel all that way alone with that douchebag running around. If you go we all go."

  "Jill..."

  "No arguments," Mandy interrupted. "Jill is right."

  "If you would like to go, I will go with you," Ethan said. Jill and Mandy glanced at her in surprise but their surprise was nothing compared to hers. "I'll make sure you stay safe. No one will harm you Emma, not while I'm around."

  "Your brothers are coming Ethan, your family is here," she said.

  "They'll understand. You're my biggest concern right now."

  If she hadn't already been falling in love with him, those words would have started the plunge. As it was, she realized he had just pushed her completely over the edge. How was it possible she'd only known him for such a short time and yet he had taken possession of her heart in a way that no other man ever had? It seemed too good to be true and she supposed she should be leery of that, but she simply couldn't be when he was saying things like that and staying by her side when others would have left.

  Tristan had shown her just how awful a relationship could be, and he was continuing to show her that now, but with Ethan she saw just how fantastic one could be. What it could be like to trust someone and have them raise her up instead of trying to tear her down. Her heart continued to swell with love and she was beginning to feel like an idiot for just standing there staring at him.

  "Awww," Jill said so quietly that Emma barely heard her.

  "I think I might be falling in love with the guy," Mandy said in a low whisper.

  Emma released them and walked over to him. She slid her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. "I'm not going to run," she said. "It will only give him satisfaction and he'll follow me. We're here to have fun and we're going to try and have it. The police know, they'll be looking for him, I'll be no safer in the states than here."

  Relief filled Ethan as he held her against him. He would have an easier time keeping her safe as long as they were on this island. He may not know exactly where Tristan was but he'd be able to figure that out while they were still here.

  CHAPTER 16

  Emma leaned against Ethan's side as they walked along the beach back to the house. The warm air caressed her skin and she couldn't rid herself of the goofy smile on her face. It had taken a lot of prodding for them to get her out the house, but she'd finally relented to Ethan, Jill, and Mandy's insistence that she had to at least try to keep having fun.

  She'd had a couple more drinks than she was used to tonight, but she'd been hoping to ease some of her strain over the awful events of this day. Walking down the beach with Ethan though, feeling his body against hers, she could almost forget everything that had happened and the fact that Tristan was somewhere on this island. It was peaceful here and she felt secure with him and her friends so nearby.

  Jill and Mandy were just ahead of them, giggling together as Jill ran through the sand and did some strange dancing motion with her hands and legs that made Emma realize that she was actually the sober one. Though lights from a couple of bars and some homes filtered over the sand, there were few people on the beach at this time of night. Emma stifled a yawn as Jill began to twirl in circles that looked more like a spastic marionette than the ballerina Emma thought she was trying to emulate.

  "She's not going to try out for a beauty pageant is she?" Ethan inquired dryly.

  Emma chuckled. "I hope not."

  The gentle sound of the ocean on her right was almost enough to lull her to sleep on her feet as she stifled another yawn and snuggled closer to Ethan. Jill began to sing, which was the one thing that was even worse than her dancing, as she hopped back to Mandy and slid her arm through hers.

  "I think I'm going deaf," Ethan said.

  "Can you make me deaf too?"

  She'd meant the question to be airy, but he had become rigid against her and abruptly stopped walking. Emma frowned as she turned toward him. His eyes were narrowed, his eyebrows furrowed over the bridge of his nose as he searched the night around them. His nostrils flared, his head began to turn slowly back and forth. Apprehension slid down her spine, she'd never seen him look like this before, never seen such a look come over anyone else before.

  "Ethan?" she asked. Jill's singing was growing distant but Ethan remained unmoving upon the sand. "Ethan what's wrong?"

  A shimmer of movement to the left caught her attention seconds before Ethan pushed her forward. "Run!" he spat and turned away from her.

  "What?" she cried.

  "Run Emma! Now!" he shouted. A scream swirled up and choked in her throat as she swore his eyes flashed red when he looked at her over his shoulder. That was impossible though, completely impossible, no one's eyes could do that. He was pushing her forward before she could even pause to consider what it was that she might have seen in his eyes. "Go!"

  The urgency of his voice, and the look on his face, caused her to turn and flee toward where Jill and Mandy had moved further down the beach. Her feet slipped in the sand, her lungs burned from the exertion, but she continued to race onward.

  Ethan spun to face the threat he had sensed in the air. The shimmering on his left caused him to move in that direction. He used the strength that had flowed so freely through him since he was a child, and that had intensified tenfold upon his reaching maturity, to hone in on his prey and seize him by the throat. He lifted the man above his head as if he weighed no more than twenty pounds and slammed his two hundred pound frame into the sand. The man landed on his back with an explosive exhale that blew the hair back from Ethan's face.

  Lips skimmed back to reveal the man's fangs as he released a low hiss and his eyes turned a volatile shade of red. Ethan had never seen the vamp before, but the aroma of a landfill radiated from him and caused Ethan's nose to instinctively wrinkle. "Who are you?" Ethan growled.

  He didn't get an answer though as another flash on his right caught his attention. This one wasn't coming at him though; it was heading for Jill, Mandy, and Emma. Ethan twisted the head of the man beneath him sharply to the side. The crack of his neck breaking resonated loudly through the air, it wouldn't kill the vampire but he wouldn't be able to follow them for a little while.

  Launching to his feet, Ethan poured on the speed as he raced across the beach to where the girls were heading toward the road. Mandy's gate was the most awkward he'd ever seen it as she struggled to run through the shifting sand. She stumbled and nearly fell but Emma and Jill grabbed hold of her arms and kept hold of her as they helped her forward. The other blur was almost to them when Ethan lowered his shoulder and smashed into it. Years of playing football with his family and The Stooges had trained him on how to take down another vampire, and he did so now with ease. Satisfaction filled him as he heard a couple of ribs give way from the impact and he felt the unhinging of the other vampire's shoulder.

  The vampire sprawled across the sand, kicking it up around him and causing Emma and the others to turn at the sound of the commotion. "Keep going!" Ethan yelled at her but none of them was looking at him, their eyes were on the other vampire that had rolled over and climbed to his feet.

  "Tristan!" J
ill blurted as the color in Emma's face faded and Mandy looked tempted to leap on the man. That would be the biggest mistake she would ever make as Tristan's red eyes gleamed in the night. "What... what are you on?" Jill stammered.

  Ethan's heart pounded with excitement and bloodlust as he focused on the man across from him. Tristan was about six foot, a little shorter than he was and appeared to be about twenty pounds lighter. Though Ethan didn't get the impression that he was dealing with an older vampire, like he had the first time he'd encountered Stefan, to him Tristan smelled as if he had been rolling through garbage for a week. Tristan may not be older but he was feeding on humans, killing them, and gaining strength from them.

  Ethan didn't care what this vampire had been feeding on, didn't care about the strength that came from the murder of innocents, he was going to kill him. The fact that Tristan was a vampire only made it better. He wouldn't have to murder a human, and he was going to enjoy taking down this monstrosity across from him, but he couldn't do it now, not in front of them. This had spiraled into something he had never expected, but he couldn't allow Emma to see the brutality that resided so strongly within him right now. He moved to the side, placing his body in between hers and Tristan's.

  Emma's mind spun as she tried to process exactly what it was that she was seeing. Mandy's hand dug into her arm with enough force that she knew there would be bruises covering her skin, but she didn't care. Mandy took a step forward; Emma had known her long enough to know that it was her inherent curiosity drawing her closer when she should be running for the hills as fast as she could. They all should be, but it seemed that the sand had turned into some kind of concrete around her feet as she found it impossible to move.

  Tristan's eyes were the color of a demon's in the night. The flash of red she thought she'd seen in Ethan's eyes, had it really been there? Was he something like Tristan, and just what was Tristan? Her mind spun frantically as she tried to process everything that was going on. The two of them looked like they were about to tear into each other like a T-rex on a triceratops as they continued to stare at each other with a predatory look that was completely out of place for a human.

  The realization took its time to come but once it did, she couldn't shake the certainty that she was not looking at two humans. If she hadn't seen the red in Ethan's eyes maybe, just maybe, she could convince herself that Tristan was on something, or had bought some strange contacts. It didn't seem that implausible after all, but no, there was far more going on here. She had no idea how it was even remotely possible but there was something entirely inhuman about the both of them.

  Her heart was racing, her palms were damp, and her throat had gone completely dry as Ethan stood before them. His frame partially blocked Tristan from her view and she had to look around him in order to see the strange thing that Tristan had become. Whatever he was, Ethan wasn't the least bit afraid of him, which made her head spin even more.

  "You have to leave," Ethan grated at Tristan from between clenched teeth.

  Tristan rocked back on his heels and moved to the side so that he could see around Ethan. Emma's skin crawled as his hideously creepy eyes focused on her. She knew they weren't, but she got the sensation that those eyes were almost like laser beams that were burning through her skin to reveal everything inside of her.

  "I don't think so," Tristan responded.

  Ethan took a threatening step toward him, he was larger than Tristan but Tristan had those freaky eyes and that look on his face. A look that said he would like nothing more than to tear her open and rip her to shreds. This was not about love with Tristan, but then she knew it never had been. She had realized a long time ago that Tristan had never loved her; he hadn't been pursuing her because he loved her and wanted her back. He had been pursuing her for his own perverse reasons, and now those reasons had become even more warped by something else, something far more malicious and sinister than anything he'd been before.

  "You weren't expecting me," Tristan continued in a lilting voice that seemed like it would be far more appropriate for a kindergarten teacher.

  "You weren't expecting me either," Ethan sneered.

  Ethan took another step toward Tristan as he struggled with the urge to launch himself at the man and sink his fangs into his throat. There would be power in his blood; it was how Stefan had gotten so powerful before he had stopped killing their own kind. He would relish in the power that Tristan gave to him, delight in feasting upon the blood that he would spill.

  "Emma I need you to go," he said in a low voice.

  "Ethan..."

  "You and your friends have to get out of here Emma, now. Run!"

  She was almost as frightened of him as she was of Tristan but the idea of leaving him here nearly tore her to shreds. There was no way that she could do that, if something were to happen to him she would never forgive herself. "I can't leave you here."

  His shoulders hunched forward a little, the veins in his arms stood out as his hands fisted even more forcefully. He turned to look her in the eye. Like a blown tire all of the air rushed out of her lungs as eyes the color of burning coals looked back at her. A startled squeak escaped Jill and she jumped backwards, dragging Mandy with her a little bit.

  "Go!" he roared.

  Emma's legs were wobbly as she took a few more steps back. It was Mandy that recovered the fastest though. She took a hasty step back, tugged on the arms still holding her and jerked them both forward. Ethan's eyes continued to burn into Emma's; she couldn't tear herself away from the sight of them. This couldn't be real, it simply couldn't be, and yet she knew it was as real as the ocean's continuous ebb and flow.

  What was he? She wondered frantically as her gaze searched the fierce contours of his set jaw and cheekbones. He was whatever Tristan was; something lethal and something far beyond the mortal realm that she had always been a part of, and had always been so certain of. The whole world seemed to blur and shift before her but she had no time to wrap her mind around it as Jill and Mandy were propelling her across the sand.

  Mandy leaned heavily against her side, her extra weight was a strain on Emma's shoulders but Emma refused to release her. She was having a difficult time trying to run through the sand with her prosthetic leg, but she was keeping up with them. The shock of what they had just witnessed made Emma's legs feel like she was trying to walk with her ankles tied together. She couldn't quite get her feet to work in a cohesive way but she still managed to get them to move enough to get off the beach and onto the pavement of the road.

  Ethan turned his attention back to Tristan; a malevolent smile twisted his mouth as he was finally given a chance to get him alone. He'd seen the look on Emma's face, the revulsion and terror that had radiated from her eyes. She wasn't supposed to have found out like this, there was no easy way to break this news to anyone but this was a complete disaster. It was something he wasn't sure he would ever be able to fix, but he could make sure this monstrosity never went near her again.

  "She really was a good piece of ass," Tristan said in a taunting tone of voice. Ethan had never experienced such a burst of rage in his life as he did at Tristan's words. With a ferocious snarl, he lunged forward. He almost had his hands on Tristan when a scream reached his ears. The sound of it was diminished by the nearby restaurants and bars but he was able to detect it. Tristan grinned at him as he danced backward across the sand. "By the way, I have more friends."

  Those words weren't like a cold glass of water in the face; they were more like being dunked into Niagara Falls in the middle of January. He didn't hesitate, didn't think twice about Tristan as he spun toward where he had last seen Emma and her friends. Thoughts of Emma pushed him over the sand faster than he'd ever moved in his life. It almost felt like he was flying, his feet barely touched the ground as he covered the beach in bounds that would have surpassed a Cheetah as the world rushed past him in a blur.

  The only thing he saw were the three people ahead of him and the vampire pursing them. There was no way the th
ree of them were going to be able to escape the woman honing in on them, even as the thought crossed his mind Mandy stumbled and went down. From the shadows, another vampire emerged.

  Emma's shoulder had been wrenched when Mandy went down, Jill groaned on the other side of her as they were both almost pulled over with Mandy but they somehow managed to remain on their feet. Emma's lungs were on fire, there wasn't enough oxygen in the air as she panted heavily in an attempt to get more of it into her body. The woman with red eyes that had been pursuing them was getting closer and from the shadows of a cropping of palm trees another man emerged. She bit back a scream and released Mandy's arm to snag a brick sized rock off the ground.

  "Get inside!" Ethan's bellow echoed through the night. "Emma, get in the house!"

  There wasn't enough time for that though as Jill managed to get Mandy onto her feet and the woman jumped at her. Panic for her friends and herself took over, acting on instinct alone she kept hold of the rock as she swung her arm up and smashed it off the side of the woman's head. The force of the blow jolted her arm and knocked the rock from her hand, but it also sliced the side of the woman's face open. Blood poured from the gash that revealed her cheek all the way to the bone.

  Jill had Mandy's arm around her shoulders as they stumbled past her, but the woman was already recovering from the blow and coming back toward her. "Key! Key! Key!" Jill shouted frantically as Mandy scrambled for the key in her pocket and Emma stumbled back and fell against the side of the house.

  Her heart leapt into her throat as the woman's lips peeled back to reveal two lethal looking fangs hanging over her bottom lip. The world seemed to come to a screeching halt as her mind spun in circles faster than the earth spun on its axis. There was no way to completely process what it was that was coming at her. Even as every sane part of her screamed that it couldn't possibly be real, that this must be some sort of nightmare, or alcohol induced hallucination, the rest of her knew there was no way to deny the events of this night and everything that it had revealed to her.