by Luxie Ryder
I love you Ethan, she repeated over and over in her head, clinging to the words for strength. Hallie shut her eyes and waited for the fatal blow. Another dark chuckle assaulted her ears and she resolved not to move a muscle and give the sick bastard the sport he craved. She couldn’t stop him doing whatever he wanted to her, but he wouldn’t have the satisfaction of watching her beg for her life.
“Bring her.”
Before she could process his words—and what they meant to her short term prospects of survival—the young boy rushed her out into the night air. The open trunk of a car filled her vision seconds later as she was roughly tossed inside, before the lid slammed shut, sealing her miserable fate. The car engine roared to life almost instantly and as the car lurched forward, Hallie rolled back against the cold, hard metal.
Alone in the dark, Hallie lost all track of time. Tossed about by bumps and sudden hard turns, shattered any slim grip she had to get out of this alive. She began to cry. Deep, gut-wrenching sobs filled the trunk. She tried to stifle them with her fist, terrified that if she didn’t get control of herself, she would anger Silas and force him to deal with her now rather than later.
Ethan…where was he? Had he returned from his trip and stayed hidden while they took her? Hallie rejected the idea because she knew Ethan loved her. He would die for her—he’d even told her as much. The irony of her thoughts wasn’t lost on Hallie. It might be her who would die for him.
“Ethan! Stop and think, man. If you rush in there now, he’ll kill both of you!”
Clive’s words seeped through the rage clouding Ethan’s mind, stopping him in his tracks. Mere seconds earlier, he’d watched impotently as Silas dragged Hallie through the back door of his club. The look of absolute terror on her pale, tear stained face had damn near torn out his dead heart. “I can’t just sit here. God knows what that sick bastard is doing to her.”
“Listen to me.” Clive grabbed his shoulders and forced him to turn away from the door Hallie disappeared through. “If he only wanted to hurt her, he wouldn’t have brought her back here. It’s you he wants and he is using Hallie to get you.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Ethan pulled free. “The sooner he gets what he wants, the sooner he lets her go.”
Clive sighed and shook his gray head, then he took off his glasses and pinched the rim of his nose. “At the moment, the only thing keeping her alive is the fact that she is useful to him. Once he has you, he has no need for her…and no desire to leave any witnesses.”
Ethan punched the wall, surprising himself with his own strength as a small section of the concrete crumbled to the ground at his feet. He kicked at it, frustrated anew at the freak he’d become. What was the use of the powers he had now if he couldn’t even use them to save the woman he loved?
“How in the hell did he find her?”
“I guess that explains the reason for the breakin at the office. He was looking for some clue as to where you were staying. I’m sorry I didn’t figure it out before. I should never have called you.”
“Hell, it’s not your fault. It didn’t occur to me either. Besides, you couldn’t move all that furniture back by yourself.” The office had been trashed with filing cabinets overturned and bookcases thrown down, contents and all. The frail old man blaming himself for the recent developments, had simply thought he’d been vandalized, as did Ethan. They’d both been relieved to find that nothing was missing. “So what now? What’s he gonna do?”
“I wish I knew. We have a little time yet. It doesn’t look like he knows we’re here.”
Clive had taken a call an hour earlier from a woman instructing him and Ethan to meet Silas at the club at midnight. They’d been across the street for the last fifteen minutes, taking the time to check things out before they walked in to what could be a trap. Ethan checked his watch. They still had three quarters of an hour before the meeting. He couldn’t simply wait and hope Hallie was okay.
“I’m gonna take a look around, try and figure out where they’re holding her.” Ethan moved forward as Clive reached out to stop him again. This time, he pushed the old man’s hand away, shoving him much harder than he’d intended to. Ethan quickly stopped Clive from hitting the wall, setting him straight on his feet. “Jeez…I’m sorry buddy. I just can’t stand here and do nothing.”
“I’m okay. All I was going to say is that I think I know where she is. Remember that cleaning woman we interviewed? The one who said she’d found a hidden room when she’d gone in to work to pick up some stuff one night? She didn’t know the brick wall at the back of the storage room had a door in it.” Clive’s face suddenly lit up. “Didn’t she say there was a blacked-out window at street level?”
Ethan nodded, recalling the woman was fired when she mentioned her discovery to Silas. “You’re right. You think that’s where they’re keeping her?”
Clive shrugged. “I don’t know where else they could keep her. My guess is its Silas’s lair. I think he sleeps there during the day.”
“Okay, I’m gonna go check it out. Stay here.” Ethan ran across the street, keeping to the shadows in the alleyway behind the building. He inched closer, spying a thin shaft of light cutting through the dense foliage growing up the side of the wall. The window hidden behind it couldn’t be much more than two feet square. He definitely couldn’t get through it, but Hallie might. Ethan frowned, wondering if Clive would be strong enough to pull Hallie out. They couldn’t take any chances with her life.
“I’ve got a plan,” he said, after he’d rushed back to Clive’s side. “But we’re gonna need some help.”
Thirty minutes later, Ethan walked into Silas’s club leaving Clive and a friend he’d enlisted to help him at the back of the building. He checked his watch. At twelve fifteen, he had to make his move, ready or not. That was the moment they’d agreed on when Ethan would cause the distraction and Clive and his pal would smash the window and rescued Hallie. Clive didn’t like the plan. He thought it was too risky and argued as long as he could against it, but Ethan’s mind was made up.
They didn’t have time for long goodbyes but Ethan hugged the old man as fiercely as he’d dared before walking away. If what he knew of vampires from ancient books were true, Silas’s death would also mean his own.
Anger tore through him at the cruel joke. He’d just found the love of his life and now it would come to a bitter end. But if he wanted to save her, he had no choice. He would die willingly to make her safe…he just wished they’d had more time together and a chance at a normal life.
Silas gave him an insolent smile when he noticed Ethan leaning against the bar. An imperceptible jerk of his head told Ethan that he should follow as he walked through a door leading to the corridors behind the club. Ethan kept his distance, swallowing down his burning frustration that the last time he would ever see Hallie would have to be shared with a vile creature like Silas.
Starting at a sudden movement through his peripheral vision, Ethan recognized the beautiful young woman who’d bit him, fall into step behind. His body reacted to her nearness, as if remembering the pain she had inflicted on it, and he spun towards her, teeth bared. The woman grinned, crouching in a predatory stance.
“Enough!” Silas roared. She backed off instantly and stood to one side, allowing Ethan to follow Silas through the doorway.
Ethan knew he couldn’t react on his instincts when he saw Hallie. He needed Silas to be as far away from her as possible. If the cruel bastard was forewarned of Ethan’s plan, he might order someone to hold her down. The smell of her fear and sweat reached him seconds before his eyes found her, crumpled and terrified on the dirty stone floor.
She cowered against the wall, afraid it seemed to look at the people standing around her. The desire to gaze into her beautiful eyes one more time warred with another that wanted to protect her from further horror. Ethan figured as soon as he spoke, she’d know he was there anyway, so he decided to make the most of what might be his last opportunity to talk to her.
“Hallie…don’t be afraid, honey.”
She peeked through her hair, as if afraid to believe her ears. “Ethan?” She tried to get to her feet but the young boy guarding her, pushed her back, laughing as she slumped to the ground.
A rage like he’d never known before tore through Ethan, and for the second time that night, he wanted to kill somebody. But he knew Hallie’s fate wouldn’t be good if he reacted on his anger. Instead, he satisfied himself with the mental image of slamming the youth through the brick wall—knowing that if he lived long enough after Silas’ death, he’d be coming for the kid next.
“What do you want?” Ethan directed his question at Silas, while gazing at his watch, covering the fact he was checking the time by acting like he was in a hurry to get this over with. Two minutes left. Ethan prayed the plan would work and hoped fervently that God would still listen to a sinner like him if it meant Hallie’s innocent life would be saved. He sure hoped so.
“Where’s your colleague?”
Ethan ignored the question, playing for time as his gaze slid around the room. The bookcase against the far wall had thin struts holding up the shelves and he cast a closer eye over them to assess how easily they’d come away. No, too thin, he decided, looking around for something better. A hard-backed chair in the corner seemed a sturdier choice, with curved legs carved out of thick pieces of oak. He’d have only one chance to do it…and he had to do it right if Hallie was to get out of this alive. He checked his watch again. Sixty seconds. Ethan spun around and walked over to the chair, turning as if to sit on it.
“Have you no more touching words for your woman?” Silas mocked him but Ethan refused to take the bait.
“Plenty, but we’re not performing for your amusement. In fact, why is she here at all?”
Silas laughed. “She’s here because she lied to protect you. I knew then you were more than just friends and would do anything to save her life.”
“Well now you have me, so you can let her go.”
“Ah, if only it were that simple…”
He left the sentence hanging but Ethan had no time left to ponder its meaning. A sound outside the window alerted the young man guarding Hallie. Time seemed to stand still as Ethan gazed into Hallie’s eyes once more, trying to project his love for her, and sending up a silent prayer for Clive to get her out in time.
He spun, grabbing the chair by one of its legs and smashed it against the wall just as the glass in the window shattered. Ethan leapt forward before a single shard hit the ground and jumped high, hands aloft, with a piece of the chair leg aimed at Silas’s heart. Ethan caught a brief glimpse of Silas’s bared teeth before he drove the stake into his chest.
Ethan was thrown across the room, his body smashing into the stone wall before he hit the floor. A pain, compared only to the one he’d suffered after he’d been bitten, tore through him and he fought the darkness threatening to drag him under. He lifted his head to look for Hallie, just as Clive and his friend yanked her through the hole.
Silas stood as if in shock, his hands clutching at the stake…blood beginning to seep from his eyes, ears and nose. The woman and the youth dropped to the ground, wailing and writhing, probably consumed with the same burning agony raging through Ethan.
With one last hair-raising scream, Silas crumpled, his flesh and bone turning to dust. Only then did Ethan allow his eyes to close, determined that Silas would not be the last thing he saw as he succumbed to the blackness of death.
Hallie’s beautiful face swam into view, so real he could swear she was right there with him. “I love you,” he said to the hazy image. A searing pain tore through his heart when she smiled at him, tears and love glistening brightly in her pretty green eyes.
“I love you too, Ethan…so very much.”
The warmth in her voice and the love shining in her eyes chased away his fear of an eternity without her. As the last breath left his parted lips, and the vision of Hallie faded away…the vampire accepted his fate with a smile.
Chapter Four
Hallie slumped onto Ethan’s chest, sobs wracking her body as she realized he was dead. She wanted to scream and beat at him for sacrificing himself for her. She wanted to hurt Clive for stopping her running to Ethan sooner.
When she was yanked from the room with a violent jerk, finding herself out on the street and in the arms of two men she didn’t know, her first instinct was to get back to Ethan. But they’d managed to hold her off until the blood curdling screams filled the air and she was able to break free.
Hallie ran to the window just as Silas disintegrated into a pile of dust but her gaze didn’t linger on him long. Ethan lay a few feet away, his body writhing in agony. She’d leapt through the jagged hole and raced to his side, dropping to her knees. As she cradled his head in her lap, he’d opened his eyes and smiled as if he’d been woken from a pleasant dream, but Hallie didn’t think he could see her. He told her he loved her as his eyelids fluttered closed and she bent her head to whisper that she loved him too. Then his smile faded away and his mouth opened on a final gasp…and the man she would have given her soul to save, died in her arms.
Hands grabbed at her shirt, trying to pull her away, but she held on to Ethan’s body, screaming for them to leave her alone. “Why?” she shouted, turning to look up at Clive who had tears in his eyes. “Why is he dead, too?”
Clive let go of her and sank to the ground beside her. “We didn’t know until this very minute if it was true. Legend says that when you kill a vampire, the undead he created die as well.” He sniffed and wiped his eyes, pushing himself to his feet. “It’s my fault he’s dead. I should never have gotten him involved in all of this.”
Hallie couldn’t offer the old man the comfort he needed, not when her heart and mind were consumed with Ethan. She pressed a kiss to his cold, firm lips, tears running down her face. Then she placed her head on his chest and curled into his side, her fingers bunched in his shirt.
Clive cleared his throat, whispering, “I’ll leave you alone for a minute,” and faded into the background.
She closed her eyes and snuggled into his chest. The heat from her cheek seeped into his skin from the opening of his shirt. Hallie remembered the time a few days earlier when she’d tried in vain to find a heartbeat. Her hand smoothed over his ribcage, resting where it had before. His skin felt warm there too…
A sudden groan from the other side of the room dragged Hallie’s attention away from Ethan. Fear clutched at her throat. One of them was still alive. She looked for Clive, wondering if he’d made it outside safely…when a gentle thud underneath her palm brought her attention sharply back to Ethan.
Hallie looked down at her hand, her eyebrows knitting together as she realized his chest grew warmer with each passing second. The thud came again, stronger this time, and repeating almost instantly. Her gaze flew to Ethan’s face just as his eyelids fluttered open and a tiny glimpse of sapphire blue appeared.
She stayed frozen in place, afraid to breathe or move lest she break whatever spell may have brought Ethan back to life. More sounds echoed around the room, this time distinctly female, but Hallie couldn’t drag her attention away from the man lying beside her, whether she feared for her safety or not.
Clive rushed back in, skidding to a halt at her feet. “Well I’ll be damned…” he said, when Hallie looked at him for an explanation. Clive looked as stunned as she felt.
“If you’re damned, then we all are.”
Hallie shifted her shocked gaze to the sound of the familiar voice. “Ethan?”
He smiled at her, then craned his neck around to look over his shoulder and struggled to sit up as if suddenly remembering they were in danger. “What the hell?”
“That’s what I was about to ask you,” Clive said.
“You’re alive?” Hallie couldn’t seem to move her hand away from the strong heartbeat pounding beneath it. “I mean…really alive?”
Ethan stared back at her, appearing to have trouble un
derstanding her words. He got to his feet and his hands went to his face, pulling and pressing at his skin as if checking that it was really his. Hallie got up too and grabbed his wrist, dragging his hand away from his jaw and placed his palm on his chest.
Ethan’s shocked expression made it clear he’d felt what she had minutes earlier. He looked from her to Clive. “How?”
“What?” Clive shook his head, unsure what Ethan was asking him, apparently still in shock that he wasn’t dead.
“My heart…it’s beating again.”
“What?” Clive repeated, this time reaching out and pressing his palm to Ethan’s chest as well. The three of them stood quietly for a moment, all of them focused on the gentle but vibrant heart beat.
Ethan sucked in a shaky breath and started, as if waking suddenly from a nightmare. He grabbed Hallie’s shoulders and gazed intently over her face, apparently making sure she was safe. “Oh God, are you okay? I’m so sorry you got dragged into this, honey.” He crushed her to his chest. “What did that bastard do to you?”
“Nothing much…besides scare me half to death.” Ethan didn’t return her smile. “I’m fine. Just stunned and relieved you didn’t die.”
His lips locked with hers and she didn’t care that Clive stood only inches away, or that the ashes of the being who’d almost taken Ethan from her lay at their feet. When Ethan’s arms locked around her even tighter and she felt him grow hard against her abdomen, she pulled away. They had a lot of making up to do, but that needed to wait until they were alone. Then she’d show him how happy she was he’d survived this horrific ordeal.
“Where am I?”
Hallie turned at the sound of the plaintive, frightened voice coming from the woman struggling to her feet. The young man got up as well, turning to Ethan, Clive and then Hallie, as if looking to them for guidance.