Brian snorted. "Are you kidding me?"
"Remember what I said."
"I know you'll kill me if I come back. Trust me I've had enough of Oregon. Now, get out of here."
Stefan nodded as he led Isabelle forward. She was still cradling her arm, but he didn't have the time to look at it now. They needed to get out of here as soon as possible; he could already hear the distant wail of sirens. "Take care of him," Brian said.
Isabelle stopped before Brian, her head tilted as she studied him. He smelled off, but it wasn't like the others, not like she’d first thought anyway. There was a lingering odor of death around him, but it was different, it wasn't as strong. There was also a loneliness and despair in him that reminded her of what existed in Stefan when she’d first met him. For some reason, she didn't think Brian was a horrible guy. Although, she wouldn't mind punching him in the face for all the trouble he’d caused.
"You're not as far gone as you think or as you like to pretend you are. You can come back," she told him.
His mouth quirked in wry amusement as he studied her. "And how would you know?"
Stefan's arms tightened around her, but she ignored the subtle hint as she held Brian's gaze. "I just know," she answered.
The smile slipped from his mouth as he turned toward Stefan. "Never thought I'd see you like this, guess that soul mate thing is true after all," he said. "Take care of her."
"I intend to," Stefan replied. "Take care of yourself."
The amusement was instantly back in Brian's eyes. "Of course."
Stefan tried to lead her away, but she remained where she was. She wanted to help Brian, to assure him he wasn't the villain he thought himself to be. "Remember what I said," she whispered.
Brian glanced back at her, his face remorseless, and his eyes cold again. Isabelle turned away from him. There was nothing more she could say or do. He would make his own decisions; she could only hope they would be the right ones. Mike suddenly appeared in the doorway with Kyle slumped over his shoulder.
"There's a crowd gathering, Doug's taking care of the ones who came outside, but we have to go."
"I'll take care of everything," Brian assured them. "They'll never know what happened."
"Does he have the power to do that?" Isabelle asked Stefan as he led her out to the idling cars.
"Yes," he answered as he opened the back door of Jack's car for her.
She waited for him to slide in beside her and close the door. "Do you?"
"Yes."
She leaned against his side. "Will you tell me everything?"
"Yes."
Chapter Twenty-Five
Isabelle didn't remember being placed in bed or losing her clothes, but both occurred at some point, she realized as she awoke. She almost purred as Stefan ran a hand down her back, causing shivers of delight to course through her. She moved closer to him, savoring the warmth of his body as his hand dipped between her legs.
She gasped and jerked as pleasure coursed through her. His mouth seared into her neck and back as he left a trail of kisses across her skin. Trembling with need, Isabelle was swept away by his touch as he continued to make love to her with his hand. Isabelle moaned her displeasure when his hand slid away from her. She was about to roll over when he slid on top of her and his body pressed against her back.
"Stefan," she breathed as his muscular thigh parted her legs.
"Shh," he soothed as he nibbled on her ear.
Isabelle forgot all about her trepidation as he slid slowly into her, enfolding her in his arms as he moved over her. Isabelle was whimpering with pleasure when he grabbed her waist and pulled her to her knees. She was swept away by the feel of him and the delicious sensations flooding her body when his movements grew more demanding. His hands encircled her, fondling and caressing her breasts as he teased her nipples.
Isabelle cried out from the force of her orgasm as it shook her legs. His arms held her up as he fiercely drove into her, groaning as he spilled into her.
She collapsed onto the bed, panting for air, and trembling from the shivers of delight still racking her. Stefan fell beside her, pulling her on top of his chest and entrapping her against him. She nuzzled his chest and relished the feel of him against her. Her hands curled around his neck and lightly played with the silky hair curling at the base of it.
He smoothed back her hair as he stroked her back. Isabelle didn't want to move, didn't want to think about anything, but she knew she had to. She had to know the truth, and she couldn't put it off forever, no matter how much she wished to.
"Stefan—"
"When I was eleven my family and I were coming back from the theater; we were attacked." He knew what she was going to say before she even spoke. The time for the truth had arrived, and he wanted to get it over and done with as soon as possible. He held her close as he opened himself up to memories he’d been trying to forget for a long time.
"There were three of them, two men, and one woman. Vampires. They trapped us in an alley and killed my mother and father instantly. My brother was sixteen at the time, and my sister had just turned fifteen. My brother tried to stop them, he went after them, but he was useless against them. My sister grabbed me and started running toward the street. I tried to go back, but she wouldn't let go of me. My brother's dying screams followed us out of that alley."
Isabelle shuddered against him; tears welled in her eyes as she continued to rub the back of his neck. His voice revealed no emotion as he spoke. If it weren't for his hands digging into her waist, and the increase of his heartbeat, she would have thought the death of his family didn’t affect him.
"We were sent to live with my aunt and uncle in Wales. My sister and I never spoke of what happened again, not even to each other. I think we were both scared we’d end up in Bedlam; at least I knew I was. She married three years later and moved back to London. I didn't see her again until I was eighteen, and by then, she had a son. That was the only time I tried to talk to her about what happened. She screamed at me and told me they were thieves, and I was crazy. When I pressed the issue, she ordered me out of her house, and told me to never come back. I never did.
"After that, I searched London. I knew what I had seen, what they were, and I was determined to seek vengeance for my family. When I couldn't find them there, I went to the continent. I spent a long time searching France, Spain, and Germany before moving to Italy. That was when I met up with a group of vampire hunters and joined them. I was twenty-one at the time."
Stefan paused to take a deep breath. Isabelle remained silent; her hands curled into his neck as she fought back her tears. Tears she instinctively knew would cause him to stop speaking. He didn't want her tears, but her heart was breaking for the boy he’d been, for the cruel twist of fate that ripped his family away from him and caused him to grow up in an instant.
She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose any of her family; it was like a knife in the chest just thinking about it. She couldn't imagine what it was like for him to see them murdered, and so viciously. She wanted to cry for the man who went to his sister only to be turned away by the only family he had left. If the woman was still alive, Isabelle would rip her to shreds for being so cruel to him.
"For the next five years, I searched the continent, destroying any vampires I came across. I found the two men in that time, both in Greece. With the help of my newfound friends, I overtook and destroyed them, but the woman still evaded me."
"I ran into her again two years later, in Dublin. Her name was Brenda." His voice was strained, and his hands dug into her skin. She knew he wasn't aware of it, and she didn’t protest it. "She recognized me, remembered me. I was alone with her, consumed with vengeance and hatred, but it wasn't enough. She won the fight but thought it would be more fun, more amusing to turn me into the one thing I’d loathed for the last sixteen years.
“She changed me instead of killing me. I fought against it, but as you know, the more you fight, the more it hurts, and
the more difficult it becomes to resist. She forced her blood into me and disappeared. After that, I had nowhere to go, no idea of what to do. I couldn't return to my friends, they would have killed me instantly, so I left Europe and went to Canada."
Isabelle could no longer hold back her tears; they slid down her cheeks to wet his shoulder. Sorrow engulfed her for the man he’d been, for the man he could have been if things had been different. She bit back a sob as his grip eased on her waist and he began to stroke her back again. She was the one who should be offering him comfort, not the other way around. She snuggled closer as she sought to ease some of the torment radiating from his body. He nuzzled her neck before speaking again in a softer, less cold voice.
"I spent the next fifty years traveling between Canada and the states. A lot of our kind came here. It was an excellent place for them to feed. People could just disappear into the wilderness with no questions asked.
"I hunted the killers amongst our kind, feeding off them, and growing stronger. I couldn't go for the most powerful ones; they would have destroyed me. So I bided my time, killing the newer ones until I grew stronger. I met Brian in Boston when I was seventy-eight. He’d been changed twenty years earlier, his wife, and children were murdered at the same time."
Isabelle shuddered as she bit back a sob. "He was just as determined as I was to avenge their deaths. He’d been doing his own hunting, destroying any vampires he came across. We fought, I could have killed him, but I didn't. I could sense he wasn't evil, wasn't like the others. Brian's powers hadn't matured enough for him to sense the same thing about me. When I explained to him not all of us were evil; we joined together to hunt the ones who were.
"With Brian's help, I killed even more, and went after ones who were stronger. After a hundred years, we found the two who killed Brian's family. They were the most powerful we’d ever come up against, but we destroyed them. Both of us left the battle severely wounded but much stronger from their blood.
"That was when we decided to go back to Europe. Most of the older ones had remained on the continent. Our strength steadily grew as we moved through the continent, hunting and destroying everyone we could find.
"I never found Brenda, and after thirty years we decided to return to the states. By this time, I was beginning to doubt I would ever find her and that she may already be dead. Twenty years later, I ran into her in New Orleans. By then, I was stronger than she was. I’d fed from some of the most powerful of our kind, absorbing their strength and powers. Brenda lived off humans and took pleasure in destroying families, but their blood wasn't as strong as the blood I’d been thriving on.
"The battle was short and brutal, and when it was over, I was left with nothing. For the last two hundred years, I’d been consumed with a need for revenge. It was the only thing driving me; the only thing keeping me alive for so long. After Brenda was dead, there was nothing left to fuel me.
"Brian and I continued our mission, but it wasn't the same. I was only going through the motions, just surviving. I began to realize all my existence had ever been, and ever would be, was nothing but death and destruction. There was nothing left to drive me, except for survival, and the need to try and make sure no other families were destroyed, but it wasn't the same.
"I wasn't much better than the monsters I’d been killing. I also thrived on it, for the same reasons they did, for the power. Granted, I didn't destroy families, I didn't take innocent lives, but I was a brutal killer all the same."
Isabelle shuddered; never had she thought this side of Stefan could exist. Never had she dreamed it could be possible. It frightened the hell out of her.
"Two years ago, we ran into a group of human hunters. I killed one of them; Brian killed two. Neither of us had ever killed a person before, and it rattled us both. I vowed I was done, I would never kill anyone, or anything, again. Brian was more determined than ever to destroy everything in his path. He hasn't been killing humans, but he has taken everything to a darker place than ever before. It gives him a purpose.
"I lost everything that day when Brian and I went our separate ways, the idea of killing anything again made me sick. I did the one thing I’d vowed never to do, the one thing that made me exactly like the monsters I’d been killing for centuries, and I hated myself for it.
"I wanted to live in some semblance of peace, but I never found it. Everywhere I went, I was alone. That's when I started settling down with just one girl at a time, for a couple of months at a time. It was at least someone to have around for a little bit, so I wasn't completely alone, but it wasn't enough. I was still alone, no matter what I tried to do. When I came here and met you, I felt alive again for the first time since I was a boy. Felt as if I had found a place where I belonged, and had a purpose other than death."
Isabelle sobbed into his shoulder as she clung to him. She couldn't imagine such loneliness. She ached everywhere for what he’d experienced. She hated herself for what she’d said the other night. There was no way she could take the words back, no way to erase his past, but she vowed his future would be better. She would make sure of it.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry for everything. I didn't mean it. I love you, Stefan. I love you more than anything. Please forgive me."
"There's nothing to forgive," he assured her.
"There is!" she sobbed. "What I said to you the other night, the way I reacted was completely unforgivable. I should have listened to you; I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I should have known."
"Isabelle, you were angry and upset, I understand that."
His forgiveness and caring words didn't help to ease the anguish she felt. They only made her feel worse. She wouldn't have forgiven him so easily if it was the other way around, but he readily did. It made her hate herself even more.
"How can you be so understanding?" she demanded.
"Easily," he said with a laugh. "I know you, Isabelle; you're quick to judge and very quick to lose your temper. But you're also strong, proud, determined, loving, and one of the most loyal women I’ve ever met. I love you for all those reasons, the good, as well as the bad. I wouldn't change a thing."
He wasn't making her feel any better; he was making her feel worse as she wept into his shoulder. "I'm sorry you lost your family," she whispered. "I wish it never happened."
"It was a long time ago. It may have taken me a while to come to terms with it, but I have. It is the past, and the two of us are going to have an incredible future."
"Yes we are," she vowed fervently. "I promise we will."
He laughed as he dropped a kiss on her neck. "Stop crying, Isabelle. I hate it when you cry."
She tried to stifle her sobs, but she couldn't. "Why didn't you tell me?"
He sighed as his hands stopped stroking her back, and he pulled her head out of his shoulder. He turned her toward him as he tenderly wiped the tears from her cheeks. Misery filled her eyes when she hesitantly met his gaze. Her lower lip trembled as she valiantly tried to hold back her sobs.
"When Brian and I first met David, I was surprised by the way he talked about his friends. For the last hundred and fifty years, all I'd had was Brian and all the ugliness that came with him. The air of freshness and innocence David possessed amazed me. When he talked about how none of his friends had ever killed, and how close they all were, I wondered what it was like to be that naive. He knew what our kind was capable of, but he didn't let it corrupt him.
"When I came here, you were so beautifully innocent that the last thing I wanted was for anything dark to touch you. Until the night at the club, you had no idea how cruel and vicious the world could be. I didn't want you tainted by it, and by what I was. I wanted to keep you protected from it, and I mistakenly thought the past was the past. You gave me a reason to live, to feel, and I never wanted to take anything away from you. I wasn't about to let darkness into your world, Isabelle."
Tears slipped free as she stared into his warm eyes. There was so much tenderness, so much love radiatin
g from him that it shook her. She was incredibly grateful fate had thrown them together; that it had given her someone as wonderful as him.
"You told my mom all of this."
He frowned. "I didn't tell your mom any of this. You and Brian are the only two who know."
Isabelle stared at him in confusion. "She said she asked you why you killed our kind and you told her."
"She asked me if I had a good reason for killing our kind, I told her, yes, and that was all."
Isabelle closed her eyes, dropped her head to his shoulder, and groaned as she realized the full extent of her stupidity and foolishness. It made her feel worse her mother put such blind faith in him when she hadn't.
"I'm such an idiot," she mumbled.
He laughed as he rolled her over and pinned her to the mattress with his solid body. "You are anything but an idiot, Isabelle; you're just stubborn. Your mother knows that."
Isabelle opened her eyes to look up at his twinkling black ones. "We don't have to leave," she murmured. "Ethan and I are a lot alike; he didn't mean what he said, and he'll come around."
He grinned at her as he brushed a light kiss across her mouth. "I know, trust me, I know."
Isabelle frowned at him as he happily smiled down at her. "What is Europe like?" she asked.
"It's beautiful."
"Do you want to go?"
His smile faded as he stroked her cheek. "We can stay here, Isabelle. I like it here, your family is here, and I know this is where you're the happiest."
"Yes, but I've decided I want to see the world, and I want you to show it to me. We'll always be welcome here, always be able to come back, but I would like to go if you want to."
He smiled as he bent and placed a feather light kiss on her lips. "I would love to show you everything, Isabelle," he whispered.
She smiled as he brushed away her drying tears. Seizing his hand, she brought it to her mouth. Drawing one of his fingers inside, she began to suck and lick it as she savored the taste of him. His eyes clouded with passion as he watched her with fascination. She released his finger and wrapped her hands around the back of his head.
The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5 Page 56