“My God,” Erin breathed. It all seemed so clear to her now. She staggered to her feet. “I have to get out of here,” she said numbly. But when she turned to ask Racine for help, Erin discovered that she was all alone. “Racine?” Her voice echoed back to haunt her in the empty apartment. Erin stumbled to the door, tried the knob and found it locked. She pounded on the wood. “Racine? What are you doing? Let me out!”
But again, the only answer she got was the sound of her own voice vibrating eerily off the walls. Trying to quell her rising panic, she hurried across the room to the other door Racine had opened earlier, but the knob rattled uselessly in her hand.
Erin turned, gazed up at the window that was beyond her reach and realized that she was trapped inside the basement where the monsters of her childhood had once lived.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The closer you become to Erin Ramsey, the more D’Angelo will want her.
Dr. Traymore’s warning rang in Slade’s head as he sped through the darkened streets, trying to get back to Erin. She was safe, he tried to convince himself. He’d taken the necessary precautions in his apartment. No one, not even a vampire as powerful as D’Angelo, could enter Slade’s private domain.
Still, he found himself running red lights, ignoring speed limits as he rushed through the deserted streets. What a damned fool he was to think for even a moment that he could ever have someone like her. His past would always come between them. The darkness would always be there to threaten them.
Slade would never find peace. He knew that now. Not as long as the evil that was D’Angelo existed in the world. He would never reach the light because from now on he would have to go deeper and deeper into the darkness to find his enemy, to destroy Drake D’Angelo once and for all.
He loved Erin. He knew that now. He loved her, but he couldn’t have her, he thought with a pain that went deeper than any he’d ever before experienced. His love would only destroy her. All he could do now was send her away from him, as far and as fast as he could.
He pulled into the warehouse and shut off the engine, getting out and walking to the elevator. He barely registered the ride. When the metal cage stopped, he slid up the elevator door and strode into his apartment. “Erin?”
The silence that answered him was like a scream.
“Erin!” He ran through the apartment into the bedroom. Her clothes were gone. The only thing left to indicate she’d ever been there was the rumpled bed that gave silent testimony to their passion a few hours ago and the subtle, misty fragrance of lilacs that clung to the air like a haunting memory. As Slade stood there in the doorway, the scent seemed to fade as if Erin herself was now beyond his reach.
Then he saw her note and realized why she had left the apartment. She had been lured outside where nothing could protect her. A dark rage more powerful than any he’d experienced before swept over him. Erin was gone from him. She was out there somewhere in the night, and a monster who wanted nothing more than revenge against Slade was stalking her.
D’Angelo.
It could be no other.
The name rose before Slade like a black wave of evil. Deep inside, he’d always known that he and D’Angelo would meet again, that the final outcome of their destiny had not yet been determined. He had always known that there would have to be a final resolution to the conflict.
But this time, there would be no mistakes. This time, one of them would have to die.
Slade turned and walked out the door without looking back.
* * *
Erin slid down the wall and sat on the floor, her eyes glued to the shadows moving outside the window. She could see the moon crowning the treetops, and for just a moment, something blocked the lunar light. It looked like the silhouette of a huge, winged creature—a bat, perhaps. Then the shadow swooped down toward the window. Erin’s hand flew to her face as if for protection. When she dared look again, the silhouette of a woman was standing just outside the window.
“I’m cold, Erin. So cold. Open the window and let me come in.”
Erin blinked, trying to dissolve the image in front of her that had spoken in her sister’s voice. “No,” she cried. “You’re not real.”
“Help me, sissy.” The figure lifted one arm and beckoned to Erin, a supplication so powerful that Erin found herself rising against her will. Slowly she walked toward the window.
“I’m dreaming,” she said out loud, refusing to believe what was happening.
The figure shook her head, and the dark hair rippled with moonlight. “I’ve come back for you, sissy. Now we can be together. Open the window and let me come in.”
“Megan.” Erin whispered the name as tears rolled down her cheeks. She was scared, terrified beyond anything she’d ever experienced before, but beneath the fear was a hope so powerful it threatened to engulf her. To see Megan one more time. To have the chance to tell her sister how much she loved her. To beg Megan’s forgiveness for leaving her… “How?” she asked, moving even closer to the window. “How can it be you?”
“I’ll show you,” Megan said, her voice flowing through the glass like the darkest of winds. “I’ll show you everything. We can be together forever, Erin. Just open the window and let me come inside.”
“And whatever you do, don’t invite anyone inside.”
Nick’s warning reverberated through her soul. Erin shivered, holding back. “I…can’t,” she said. “It’s too high. I can’t reach it.”
“Then come out here to me,” Megan said. “Please hurry. I’m so scared. Help me, sissy. Please help me.” Suddenly the figure before her was not the Megan who had died a few days ago, but the little girl who had begged Erin to save her from the monsters years and years ago. And she was crying, pleading with Erin to help her. “They’re coming for me, Erin. Please come get me.”
“I can’t,” she whispered, her voice broken, her heart thundering in confusion and fear. “The doors are locked. I’m trapped, Megan.”
“Try them again,” the voice pleaded, an iron thread running through it. “Hurry!”
Erin ran across the room, but before she could even try the knob, the door opened before her. Erin’s steps faltered. Alarm pounded inside her. She looked back at the window.
“Hurry!” Megan urged again. Then a shadow appeared behind her, a looming silhouette that made her scream. “Hurry, sissy. He’s here. He’s come to get me.”
Without thinking, Erin ran out the door and up the basement steps. She had to find Megan. She had to save her. She had to prove to her sister that she hadn’t deserted her.
Erin dragged open the back door. A cold, damp wind whipped her hair against her cheek. As if from a distance, she heard Megan calling, “Don’t leave me, Erin. Never again.”
“I won’t,” Erin promised breathlessly. She hurried out into the backyard, where she had found Megan’s body just a few nights ago. It was cold outside. So very cold, Erin thought as she peered through the night. “Megan?”
“Over here.” Then Erin saw her. She was wearing a flowing white gown that shimmered with moonlight as her arms reached out to Erin in supplication. Her hair, as dark as night, flowed down her back. She smiled. “I’ve been waiting for you, Erin.”
The voice sounded a little different now. Erin took a step toward her. “Megan? Is that you?”
The figure moved closer. She stepped from the shadows into the moonlight, and then Erin saw that the woman who stood before her wasn’t Megan. It was Racine.
“You,” Erin whispered. “It’s been you all along. You made me believe Megan had come back, that she still needed me.”
“I made you believe what you wanted to believe,” Racine said, smiling.
“Why?”
“Because he wanted me to. Because he commanded it,” she said. “Because he wanted you to come to him.”
“Who? Are you saying that Nick—”
Racine’s gaze lifted skyward. She was staring at the moon. A shadow drifted over her face, and she closed her eyes, sh
uddering in ecstasy. “He’s here,” she whispered.
Erin whirled, searching the darkness. A fierce wind rushed over her, tearing at her hair and clothes now in earnest, almost knocking her off her feet. She heard a laugh, a low, triumphant sound that vibrated with evil.
Slowly she turned toward the voice. A man stood in front of her, looking directly at her with eyes that glowed silver in the darkness. With eyes that were ringed with fire. Erin caught her breath, and he smiled. His fangs glistened in the moonlight. How had she ever thought him handsome? Erin wondered. He looked like a beast. The very embodiment of evil. He was dressed completely in black, his dark hair pulled back from his face.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Erin,” said Roman Gerard.
“You’re a monster,” she said. “You killed my sister.”
Gerard laughed. The fire in his eyes grew more brilliant. Erin tried to look away but found she couldn’t. She was mesmerized—trapped by the power of his gaze. “Detective Slade killed your sister, Erin.”
Erin’s hand crawled to her throat. She could hardly breathe. “I don’t believe you,” she said.
“It’s true. He killed Megan just as he did Simone. He tore out her heart, Erin.”
Erin’s head reeled. She felt sick. She didn’t want to listen to Gerard anymore, but she had no choice. His voice kept her captive, made her listen. Made her believe… “Why?” she cried out.
“To destroy her chance for eternal life.” Gerard was edging closer to her. Erin wanted to run. She sensed his power, and it terrified her, but she could do nothing to save herself. She couldn’t move, couldn’t scream. Could only stand there held by his eyes and hypnotized by that satiny voice.
“Racine,” she pleaded, “please help me.”
“She can’t help you,” Gerard said. “She’s under my power. When I’ve finished with you, I’ll take care of her. And then Slade will take the blame.”
“Why do you hate him so?”
The fire flashed in his eyes. “He took from me the one thing I loved most in this world,” he roared. “He took Simone. And now I’ll take from him. I’ll take and take and take until he has nothing left.” In the blink of an eye, one hand whipped out and he seized the back of Erin’s neck. Effortlessly he drew her to him, forcing her gaze upward to his eyes. “See me,” he commanded. “Know my power.”
“No!” But the treacherous lethargy had slipped over her again. No matter how hard she tried, Erin couldn’t look away. She stared deep into those glowing depths and a thousand images rushed through her mind. She saw Megan and Desiree standing together, calling to her, beckoning her to join them. She would never have to be alone again.
“I can give you that, Erin.” The beguiling voice slid over her, shattering her defenses. “I can give you your darkest fantasies. Your deepest desires. Close your eyes and see it all.”
Erin struggled to keep her eyes open, but her lids were suddenly so heavy she couldn’t fight the languor. Her eyes drifted closed as Gerard’s mouth moved toward her neck. “Nick!” she cried, in a last bid for sanity. “Help me!”
“No one can help you now,” Gerard said.
Erin felt little more than a sting at first, then the pain at her neck deepened. She screamed and tried to push him away, but his arms were like steel. He held her against him, sinking his fangs into her throat, drinking her blood until she grew so weak that the pain began ebbing and the pleasure surged.
“Erin!” She was dimly aware of a voice calling to her through the darkness.
“Nick.” She murmured his name but she had neither the will nor the strength to resist Gerard’s kiss. The pleasure deepened and she strained toward him craving more.
“Erin, no!”
Gerard’s mouth lifted from her neck and the pleasure began to fade. Erin became aware of the pain again. She reached for Gerard, trying to draw him back, but he released her and Erin crumpled to the ground.
Slade had never known such fear as he did the moment he saw Erin fall. With the last vestige of control he could muster, he willed himself not to rush to her. He had to be smart. He couldn’t let down his guard, even for a second.
“Is she dead?” He tried to keep his voice even, emotionless, giving D’Angelo no hint of his true feelings.
D’Angelo smiled. “There’s dead and then there’s dead.” His fangs gleamed in the moonlight. There was blood on his mouth. Erin’s blood. Slade’s insides twisted at the sight. “Don’t try to pretend you don’t care about her, Slade. I’ve seen you with her. I’ve heard the way she calls your name.”
“She means nothing to me.”
“Then you won’t mind if I finish what I started.” D’Angelo moved toward Erin. In a flash, Slade moved between them. D’Angelo’s eyes glowed. “You move quickly for a mortal, Slade. I must give you credit. But you’re no match for me. You never have been. You took Simone from me, and now you will have to pay.”
“You’re the one who destroyed Simone,” Slade said. “You turned her into a monster as vile as you are.”
D’Angelo threw back his head and roared with laughter. The sound echoed in the night like thunder. “You still don’t understand, do you? She came to me. She wanted what I could give her. She craved the darkness.”
“You’re lying. You seduced her. You put her under a spell—”
“Simone was worthy of so much more than you could possibly imagine. You could never appreciate someone like her.”
An image of Simone flashed through Slade’s mind. He saw her beautiful face, saw her beguiling smile, but he realized now that there had always been something else in her eyes. A coldness that he had tried to ignore. For the first time since she’d died, Slade let himself see Simone for the woman she really was. A woman who had chosen darkness over light. A woman who had chosen death over life. A woman he couldn’t have saved no matter what he might have done.
The guilt he had lived with for so many years began to lift from his shoulders. Slade stared at D’Angelo, knowing he could defeat him now. No longer chained to the past, he had faith in himself once more.
“You killed Simone,” D’Angelo said again. “And for that I shall rip out your heart. But first, I want you to see what I’ve done to your precious Erin.” He knelt and tilted Erin’s head. In the moonlight, Slade saw two thin trickles of blood oozing down her neck. “She’s mine now,” D’Angelo taunted. “For eternity.”
“I’ll see you in hell first,” Slade snarled. He had a stake in his pocket and he reached for it as D’Angelo began to circle him. “Erin,” Slade called tersely, willing her to open her eyes, to get up and run to safety. But she lay on the ground motionless, while the blood continued to run down her neck.
“I can make this painless,” D’Angelo taunted, “or excruciating. Guess which one I’ve chosen for you.” He moved in then, anxious for the kill. Slade drew back his stake, but D’Angelo reached out, and in a heartbeat, snatched it and flung it to the ground, laughing. “What’s a vampire hunter without his stake? Let’s see what you can do against me now.”
His movements were no more than a blur as he flung out his hand. Slade felt the breath leave him in a rush as he flew through the darkness and landed against the side of the wrought-iron fence that enclosed the backyard. Every bone in his body seemed to be snapping as he lay where he’d fallen, stunned. He got up and faced D’Angelo again. And again the vampire sent him sailing. Time after time, Slade got up only to have D’Angelo knock him away, as if he were no more harmless than a fly.
He was going about this all wrong, Slade thought groggily. Shaking his head to clear it, he ignored the cold smile D’Angelo directed toward him as he patiently waited to knock him senseless again. Slade was playing by D’Angelo’s rules. He had to be smarter, think faster. He had to put the knowledge he had gained over the past eight years to use. He had to be cunning, diabolical, evil. He had to think like D’Angelo.
D’Angelo stood over him, grinning, his fangs dripping. “I could finish you off just like that,
” he said, snapping his fingers. “But what pleasure would there be in that? So much more satisfying to let you know what I have planned for the charming Erin. I’ll drink from her again, Slade. I’ll drink my fill while you lie there and watch helplessly. She’s mine now, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
He had to find a weapon, Slade thought desperately, and almost immediately he saw it. One of the metal spikes in the fence had come loose and lay several feet away. If he could reach it before D’Angelo saw him, he might have a chance. Erin might have a chance.
He stretched out his arm, reaching for the spike. It was just out of his reach. If he tried to get up, D’Angelo would see him, stop him. Then there would be no hope for Erin.
He struggled again to reach the spike. D’Angelo was standing over Erin now, gazing down at her. His eyes were glowing, eager for more blood.
Slade moved an inch, but he still couldn’t reach the spike. Desperation filled him. Then something moved in the shadows just beyond where Slade lay. Racine, her face pale in the moonlight, her hair blazing like fire, slowly bent down and reached for the spike. For a moment, Slade thought this was the end. There was no hope left. Then miraculously, she tossed the spike toward Slade and he caught it, rolling to his feet in one quick motion.
D’Angelo looked up. His eyes widened. But it was too late.
With all his might, Slade hurled the spike through the darkness, straight toward D’Angelo’s heart. The vampire flew backward from the force as the spike drove through him. He struggled to his knees and looked first at the stake through his heart, then at Slade. His expression was one of cold black fury, of disbelief. Blood poured out of the wound and stained his chest in ever-widening circles. Though his hands struggled with the iron spike, his strength had already diminished far too much to allow him to remove it.
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