Fateful 2-Fractured

by Cheri Schmidt

  “The others don’t bother me while I’m sleeping ... and you still didn’t tell me what it is you want!” Gentle fingers landed on her lips for speaking too loudly.

  “Softly please,” he warned.

  She jerked her head away from his touch in answer. Inside Danielle was beginning to panic. If he was guarding her, then she was trapped alone with a thirsty vampire. She really wanted to scream. Facing an opponent blind was so unnerving.

  A curled finger caught the edge of her chin and forced her face back to his. “I’m afraid this cure of yours is a problem. For many of us. I’ve been sent to end it.”

  What did he mean by that? Was he going to kill her? Turn her? “I don’t understand.”

  “You’re the one responsible.”

  “That’s stupid!” she shouted too loudly and wasn’t able to say, I’m nothing special. Any mortal could do it, because his hand prevented it.

  Alex kept her mouth covered this time, his fingers biting into her cheek as he continued in a lazy tone of speech, “I am fond of you, however, and I do think you’re pretty, so let me make this pleasant, shall we?” The cruel touch softened, turned into something like a caress before lifting and then trailing along the side of her face. Danielle shuddered reflexively, and her insides twisted with revulsion.

  “Make what pleasant?” she managed, squeezing her eyes shut tighter. It was so tempting to look, to try and read his expression.

  “You must die, of course,” he said, like he was talking about taking her to lunch. “Don’t worry, I’ll make certain you won’t feel ... much. Now how should we begin? Would you like a kiss or two, first?”

  That creepy invitation made her stomach twist uncomfortably. “I feel like I need to vomit now. Would you please just get out?” she whispered frostily as a shudder traveled the length of her body.

  Danielle was trying to remain brave, and resist any feelings of fear because she knew that would only aggravate his thirst. He’d be able to sense fear. But her words had clearly offended him, and his inviting tone changed to an ominous one. “Well, if you’re not going to be any fun, then maybe you’ll just have to sate my thirst for me.”

  Beon’s warnings of war took on a whole new meaning at that point. She knew she hadn’t been taking it seriously before, before she truly believed it could actually mean her death. Desperate, she snapped, “You’ll never get away with it! Get out you repulsive, sick—” His hand returned.

  “I would advise you to watch your tongue, Miss Darcey. You are in no position to insult me and get away with it.” With that he suddenly jumped onto her bed landing his knees on either side of her. She heard a popping sound as he apparently ripped the first button undone on her pajama top and slid the silky fabric from her shoulder, getting the collar out of the way. The better to bite her, she was sure. Danielle attempted to scream, but his palm easily hushed the noise.

  She had to fight harder; she’d be dead in seconds if she didn’t. Danielle kicked her legs and screamed under his palm. She lifted her hips trying to shove him off that way. She beat at him with her fists, and clawed at him. She knew karate techniques to get out of this situation, but nothing worked. She couldn’t budge him. And there was nothing more frustrating than being a black belt and still feeling helpless.

  Danielle opened her eyes to gauge his position over her, but she was careful to avoid his spellbinding gaze. Sharp fangs were exposed as he scoffed at her struggles, and the wicked grin on his handsome face grew because he obviously enjoyed the fact that she was trying to fight him.

  Alex soon made a sound of irritation, however, and grasped one of her attacking hands, holding it firmly to the bed, while he kept her silent with the other.

  “I could have made this pleasurable for you, Danielle, but you’ve made your choice.” Because she was looking, she was aware of what he was about to do only a millisecond before he did. His stifling breath fanned across her nose and mouth. Luckily, she’d cut the air off to her lungs before that. She’d been able to resist Ethan’s magic. Their spiritual connection gave her an advantage when it came to him alone, but she knew she’d fail against Alex’s magic. She’d already learned at the ball that the supernatural power of other vampires was too strong to fight off. It would make her weak and easily defeated. She couldn’t allow that potion into her lungs. She had to keep fighting. She had to remain alert.

  “I can wait until you need to breathe again, my dear. You can’t hold your breath indefinitely.” Clearly, he wanted her to be still while he drained the life from her.

  Alex then waited for her to gasp for air, knowing she would be forced to do it at some point. He was right, of course. After a couple of minutes Danielle couldn’t fight the natural need for oxygen any longer. Alex was ready for that and he added his powerful breath to her needed air.

  Danielle fell limp as the magic flew into her lungs and crept through her veins. Her breathing became labored and she was paralyzed. Her already moist eyes now overflowed with forlorn tears. The droplets slipping down along her temples and into her hair were the only sign that she didn’t want this. Inside, the mental battle had begun. The logical part of her did not want this, while the other part, because of the magic in the curse, made her wish to feel his fangs sink into her flesh, made her welcome death.

  Alex took her chin and tipped her head to the side, then slid his long fingers along the veins in her neck probably to select the best location to bite her. He took his time with it, savoring his meal it seemed. Danielle felt his tongue glide over the chosen vein with one long stroke. Gross! she thought, and shuddered involuntarily, yet, knowing it was illogical, she also wished he’d just get to it.

  Is this it? Her soul screamed for Ethan, for anyone to help her. She prayed to God desperately, but any hope she had left was slipping away. Helpless and alone with beloved relatives only a few steps away she let her longing for life slide through her fingers as easily as a handful of sand.

  As Danielle surrendered to her fate, sudden movement caught her eye near the other window. A large figure was blocking the moonlight that had been the only illumination to her room. Another vampire? Alex saw him too because he lifted his head from her neck to look.

  Danielle recognized him then. Max! And his presence was a miracle. Thank you, God, for sending a knight! But, because of the spell, she also thought, Although, I’d be just as pleased if Alex would finish what he started. Internally, she continued to wrangle with herself, and the only physical reaction she could give was to sigh weakly.

  Max threw one solid fist into Alex’s face. With the force, Alex was hurled to the floor, but he wasn’t injured. He leapt to his feet like a ninja and readied himself to take on Max. But Max was much stronger than him. He wrapped his steely arms around Alex and dove with him through one of the open windows. They hurtled head first to the ground below. Danielle could hear the fight continue in the garden as they threw fists at each other—but then—she was startled to hear another noise directly outside the window. She watched with an odd mixture of dread and hope, anticipating another monster to crawl through it.

  A shadow stumbled clumsily over the windowsill and then tumbled to the floor.

  “Danielle,” he whispered, rising to his feet as he brushed leaves from his clothes.

  Ethan! She wondered how he’d climbed to her window without much to hold onto. No matter how much she wanted to die, she was relieved to see him moving toward her and attempted a smile.

  After jerking the blankets off, Ethan scooped her up from the bed. He cradled her limp form in his arms just as he’d done when they faked her death, and sat down on the edge of the mattress.

  “Are you all right? Did he bite you?” he asked, his tone thick with worry as he examined her neck for any visible wounds.

  She couldn’t speak.

  “Blink once if you’re all right.”

  Danielle blinked and attempted another smile. She was okay; she was more than okay now.

  He refastened the button she’d tho
ught had broken and wound his arms around her, tugging her into a tighter embrace. Ethan rocked her as he began whispering words of comfort, and patted her back gently. She thought maybe he did it to soothe himself as much as her.

  The effect of the spell was slowly wearing off, and Danielle was able to lift her hands to his back and turn her nose into his shoulder. Inhaling, she drew his sweet, familiar essence into her recovering lungs.

  “I’m so sorry. The others trust Alex. He’s even a member of the Order, and I’m sure Cedric had no idea he was capable of this. But when I heard Alex had stepped in for Cedric, I insisted Max bring me here immediately,” Ethan explained in a hushed voice.

  “Thank you,” she said barely audibly.

  Danielle felt secure now, but it seemed Ethan was still distressed. He pulled away enough to look into her face. “Danielle?” His eyes glistened with emotion and reflected panic. “Did he … touch you? Did he try to do more than just bite you?”

  A shudder ran up the length of her spine. The thought of Alex … was horribly disturbing to her, and she couldn’t stop the trembling and tears from returning. Plus, she’d almost died, and even more distressing was how much she’d actually wanted that.

  But knowing what Ethan was thinking, Danielle wanted to help him understand that it was okay, she was fine. Shaken, but fine. However, she was still under the influence of the magic, which didn’t help as she began trying to explain what happened. “He … he said … he’d make it pleasant, but I—”

  “I’ll kill him,” he bit out as a murderous flame blazed to life in his gaze.

  “Ethan … no…” She fought to push the magical mist from her mind. “No … he didn’t touch me. I insulted him. He became angry and then Max—”

  “I’m still going to kill him.” Somehow, he’d managed to push the threat out between pinched teeth.

  “But you’re mortal!” She shook her head, trying to shake off the spell completely. “You’ll just get hurt! Ethan, we’re both helpless.”

  He closed his eyes and fisted one hand into his hair. “I can’t take this anymore. You should always be with me. I can no longer trust others to care for you.”

  Danielle jumped when Max suddenly bounded back through the open window.

  “Come on, Ethan, we need to go.”

  “No!” Danielle said, but with too much volume. She may have woken Brianna with that outburst, but she was growing frantic, she didn’t want Ethan to leave and go looking for Alex. Not to mention his presence was comforting for her as the reality of what nearly happened sank in.

  Max frowned as he glanced toward the closed door. “The others are stirring. There’s been too much commotion in here. We need to get out of sight.”

  Neither Danielle nor Ethan moved.

  After exhaling a groan, Max then moved at vampire speed to clear the room before the others came in. He shut the windows. He pried Danielle’s grip from Ethan, set her in the bed, and pulled the sheets over her. Grabbed Ethan by the arms and shoved him in the closet. Snatched up her school books and set them in a disheveled pattern on the floor next to the corner of her bed, pointed at them, and said, “You kicked these off in your sleep by mistake.” He then disappeared into the closet with Ethan. He’d actually moved around the room so fast that he created a draft that tossed Danielle’s hair across her face when he disappeared.

  Only seconds later her bedroom door opened.

  “Danielle, are you all right? I’ve heard some thumping noises, and I thought I heard voices.” It was Brianna.

  Danielle sighed while pushing her hair out of the way. She kept disturbing her family in the middle of the night, and she realized, they just might send her home early for causing lack of sleep. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left my books on the end of my bed. I kicked them off while I was sleeping … and I think I was talking in my sleep again. All is well.” At least the part about her being sorry was true. She still hated lying. The guilt twisted her insides every time.

  “Okay, ’night then,” Brianna said.

  “’Night, Bri.”

  Her cousin shut the door and Danielle watched as Ethan and Max stepped out of her closet. Ethan tried to go back to her, but Max caught his arm. “We really need to leave,” the knight said sternly.

  “Max, I’m not leaving her.”

  “You can’t stay here. You won’t be able to hear if they’re coming to check on her. You’ll get caught, and then they won’t let you continue to see her.”

  “She’s not a child—”

  “Not according to her uncle, or me, or you, for that matter.”

  Danielle winced at that. Did Ethan really see her has a child? She knew her uncle did, and of course so did Max. It was no wonder really, especially with him being over six hundred years old, but Ethan....

  “Stay with us. Please,” Ethan petitioned, obviously ignoring the comments about her age, or perhaps trying to distract her from it.

  “Ethan, you’re asking—” The knight shook his head, his thick brows furrowed.

  “Max, please. Please,” Danielle begged.

  Apparently he held a soft spot for her as she thought she recognized regret in his expression. “Fine,” he snapped. “But only for tonight.”

  “Thank you,” she and Ethan chorused.

  After a moment of silence, Danielle asked, “Max?” She leaned up onto one elbow to look at him.

  “Yes, Danielle.” He was seated in the soft chair situated near the fireplace in her room with his arms folded across his chest. He kept his chin down, avoiding eye contact.

  “Thank you—for saving me.”

  Danielle felt Ethan slipping into the bed with her, and the weight of one arm moved around her waist.

  “You’re very welcome, my lady, it was my pleasure.” Then he mumbled something under his breath, and again, he sounded angry.

  “What did you say?” she asked.

  Max sighed and then repeated himself loud enough for her to hear this time. “‘Hon Y Soit Quit Mal Y Pense.’” He paused, smiled at her with half-closed eyes and translated, “‘Shame to him who evil thinks.’ It’s the motto for the Order of the Garter.”

  “Oh, I like that.”

  Max lifted his feet to the ottoman.

  “Thanks again. I really am very grateful.”

  He nodded at her words and she sensed that he was still angry. Probably with Alex. She realized that knights held to very high moral standards, and Max had remained true to that just as he held true to Beon’s Order. It was impossible to miss the fact that it encompassed every aspect of his nature. Yet Alex had betrayed it—had betrayed them.

  “What happened with Alex anyway?” Ethan asked this time.

  It appeared Max wasn’t quite as patient with Ethan as he’d been with Danielle. “I can’t do this if you’re going to talk all night. Now be quiet, both of you. We can discuss all of this later. Go to sleep, little mortals,” Max scolded, but then softened his wrath with a smirk.

  Danielle’s attention shifted to Ethan, she could feel his breath radiating into her hair as he pressed his lips to it. Shuddering as his warmth tickled her skin, she closed her eyes. This man, her man, was also a member of the Order, and he displayed the same knightly loyalty as Max.

  Cedric’s complaints about Ethan’s faltering propriety came to mind as he snuggled closer to her body, his bent knees fitting into the bend of the back of hers. Danielle rolled to face him. “How is this even remotely appropriate for a gentleman?” she whispered, hoping Max wouldn’t yell at her for talking right after he’d told them to be quiet.

  “It’s not, but I don’t bloody care right now. I could have lost you tonight. The horrible thought continues to disturb me. I need to be next to you.” His fingers slid along her cheek as he spoke.

  “This stupid war,” she muttered against his chest, knowing her lack of understanding in the matter was part of why Max thought of her as a youth. War just wasn’t part of her world, her peaceful, spoiled world.

  “You�
��re finally taking this seriously?” Ethan asked.

  “I guess so.” She quietly searched for Ethan’s lips with hers, hoping to distract herself from the truth. And knew Ethan was all for it when he responded so readily.

  But it seemed Max had no patience for that either, because he then revised his demands. “I’m not listening to you two mess around all night. I said sleep…. If you can’t behave I’ll just leave, and I will drag Ethan with me,” he warned curtly but quietly.

  They settled for cuddling instead, and slept the rest of the night like that.

  Max woke them just as the sun was about to peek above the horizon. “Now it is time to go, Ethan. They can’t find you here.” Forcefully, the knight lifted Ethan from the bed by the front of his shirt. Ethan rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stumbled, as he wasn’t steady on his feet yet. Danielle had never seen him groggy like that before. There was a boyish innocence about him with his hair a mess and his clothes rumpled.

  He smiled sleepily at her as Max instructed him to hang onto his neck preparing to jump from the window.

  “I’ll come get you later,” Ethan said.

  Danielle nodded as she followed them to the window.

  She watched as Max climbed over the windowsill and dropped into the morning darkness with Ethan. She then noticed Beon standing outside, ready to take the morning shift of watching over her. He nodded at her while she slid the window shut.

  “Beon wants to have another ... Order council. He’s changing the security arrangements,” Ethan said as she settled into his car later that day after her classes.

  “Those are kind of intense,” she complained.

  “I know, but you just barely survived your fourth vampire attack. It’s a miracle you’re still alive, Danielle.”

  Four attacks? Could it really be that many? She thought back: there was Celeste, no before that was Lucas, then, oh, well she didn’t count Ethan, but she figured he would count himself. She supposed adding Alex did make it four. Without commenting on that, however, she said, “Sometimes I wish … oh, never mind, it’s reckless.”