The rifle Ethan held was heavy, and it felt unnatural in his hands, but he knew how to use it, and was more than willing to take out a witch to get his wife back. With his senses on high alert, they approached the dancing witches, and he wondered where the women could be when his eyes snagged on the movement of one of the witches. He recognized the way those hips swayed back and forth and his next words lodged in his esophagus. “What the hell?”
Danielle’s resistance and her words were a complete surprise. How could she give up? Panic welled inside him. No ... No.... I can’t let this happen.
“Ethan.”
He tried to shake his head free of the devastating emotions gathering in the back of his throat, choking him. Their baby! She can’t really think she can take their baby away from him, can she? Sure she could, and it made perfect sense. Why would she want to risk another child’s life? Why would she want to be with him at all? It didn’t matter that they’d chosen each other before; his past mistakes had changed all of that.
“Ethan.”
His eyes flew open. He blinked as his hand lifted and he rubbed at his aching jaw, the growth from several days rasping against his fingers. Someone was bending down over him. Ethan blinked again, but he couldn’t quite focus on who it was. Patting at his pockets, he tried to find his glasses.
“I broke them. I’m sorry.”
Max. A flood of anger made him shove his friend aside and surge to his feet. He dropped against a tree for support because he wasn’t quite steady on his legs yet. “You hit me! Why?”
Ethan flinched when Max grabbed his shoulders and gave him a shake, making his back bounce off the trunk. Another shove at Max made him feel a little better, and his fingers curled into a fist and he tried to punch Max for payback. The knight caught his hand, easily stopping him. “Snap out of it you moron. She still wants you.”
Danielle. The way she’d rejected him came back so vividly he felt his eyes begin to sting. His right hand clawed at his shirt over his heart as it broke in two. “She left me.” Ethan closed his eyes and dropped his head against the tree. “She said she didn’t want to put our next child in danger, so she’s leaving me, and staying with those wicked— But maybe she’s right. What if they can protect her better than we can?” They knew how to kill vampires. Besides sorcerers, he knew of nothing else that could accomplish that.
Max made a scoffing sound, drawing Ethan’s returned gaze. “Stop being a thickheaded idiot, would you? Or I’ll be sorely tempted to deck you again.”
“I beg your pardon?” Ethan asked, confusion soaking his brain so much he couldn’t rationalize properly.
“You’re so damn lovesick you can’t even see straight, and you were completely useless in that situation.”
A frown tugged his eyebrows together. “What the hell are you talking about? I had her! They could be safe right now if you hadn’t—!” Using what Danielle had taught him, he caught Max in the ribs with a swift undercut.
The knight expelled a gratifying grunt and stumbled back a step or two, but he was quick to react and returned with fists ready. Ethan managed to block Max’s jab, but he missed the left hook that landed against his jaw, right where he’d been hit before. Pain exploded in his face. Clamping his teeth together to soothe it, Ethan retaliated with a cross and a kick. But Max ended the confrontation with another hook that sent him sprawling in the dead pine needles and dirt on the forest floor. Ethan rolled to his back, breathing heavily.
Max reached a hand out to help him up. Ethan stared at it feeling his lip curl. The knight hadn’t even broken into a sweat. How was it this guy sweated buckets when running, but had the endurance of a gladiator in a fight? Releasing a breath and with a roll of his eyes, Ethan accepted Max’s offered assistance. “We both would have been dead,” Max explained, letting go of Ethan’s hand once he’d gained his feet. “And as dead men, we wouldn’t be much help to them.”
“I still don’t understand what happened. The witches kept dancing. They were ignoring us...”
Max laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “They weren’t ignoring us at all.” When Ethan just stared at him in confusion, brushing himself off, Max finally elaborated, “The girls were forced to send us away. It’s obvious you didn’t notice the archers hiding in the woods ready to kill us if they didn’t accomplish that.”
Sir Roland’s two warnings came to mind. Mind their cunning nature, and watch out for poisoned arrows. Of course he still wondered what the third warning would have been, had the old man remembered it, but Ethan supposed that didn’t matter any longer. This explained the warnings and Danielle’s actions. It was quite cunning of them to use her love for him to make her do what they wanted. He’d known how affected she was when he’d let her taste his breath. The way she’d melted into him, the way she’d clutched at his clothes, and the welcoming little sounds she’d made when he went to kiss her all proved that. And he knew by the passion shining in her eyes she would have followed him anywhere—until she remembered the danger he was in, and she’d pushed him away. Ethan could only imagine how many witches stood behind him, for her to see, to keep her in line. As everything slid into place, Ethan mentally berated himself for being so stupid. “That explains it.”
“Of course it does.”
“Was it the archers that tipped you off?” Ethan asked with frustration in himself for not noticing.
“No. I taught Nadia to use a code word in case she needed my help but couldn’t explain. I saw the archers as we left.”
“Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“You’re just not amazing, like I am,” commented the knight dryly.
“My head isn’t swelled with exceeding pride either,” Ethan added in a mocking tone.
“A certain amount of pride comes naturally with such brilliance.”
Deciding that perhaps it was best to change the subject, Ethan asked, “What do you think the witches want with them?”
“It can’t be good, whatever it is.” Max’s throat worked when he swallowed. “We should get back there.”
Ethan nodded in agreement, urgency still driving him. “Which way is it?”
Max pointed. Ethan marked the direction as north based on the position of the moon in the sky. They started running. As they went, the knight began checking his weapons, pulling the gun out of its holster, removing the clip and popping it back in. Ethan had already checked his gear earlier, and besides, without his glasses, he really had to focus to keep from smacking into a tree as they ran.
“How long has it been?” he asked, as worry for Danielle’s and Nadia’s safety returned.
“Not long.”
“What’s the plan?”
“The only thing I can think of is stealth right now.” The knight tested the sight on his rifle. “Maybe I can pick them off from a distance.”
With regret, Ethan took mental inventory of what he had left since he’d dropped the rifle to grab Danielle. He carried a handgun that was best suited for close range, and a knife strapped to his thigh, again, a weapon best suited for close range. His mind went over the scene when they’d first arrived. When his brain called up the ropes he’d seen around the base of the tree, he said, “They knew we were coming. I think they’d had them tied to the tree.”
“I agree, and then they made the girls dance with them to throw us off guard.”
Ethan hated himself for falling for that, but Danielle really had done a great job of playing up her fear for the baby’s safety to mask her concern for him. At the idea of a child, his heart soared, and he recalled his hasty wish to be a vampire again. Would that really solve all of his problems? Now that he thought about it again, he wasn’t so sure.
Rubbing at his bruised knuckles, Ethan considered his friend as they moved ahead. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Max angled a look his way. “I get it.”
Ethan suspected he did since Nadia was involved in this too. “I’m sorry about Nadia.”
&
nbsp; Max waved away the apology. “We’ll rescue them. We just need to reassess our tactics.” Making a sound of frustration, Max’s gaze swung to the moon. It was getting low in the sky, but there were probably a few more hours before morning came, and Ethan didn’t understand Max’s annoyance with the moon until he said, “You noticed it’s a full moon tonight, didn’t you?”
Ethan swore. No, he’d been so worried about Danielle he hadn’t noticed.
As if on cue, a wolf howled.
An intense sense of fear enveloped him. In Ethan’s past, fear hadn’t been one of those emotions he’d had to deal with much. But since meeting Danielle, he feared many things. As mortal men, they really didn’t need to encounter these things, in the woods, without any kind of protection. His palm landed on the butt of his gun. Just as with the pixies, he doubted it would do him any good in this situation. Desperate, Ethan shoved a hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He dialed. Max raised an eyebrow at him, probably wondering who he was calling. Ethan didn’t take the time to explain. When they picked up, he said, “This is Deveroux. We—”
“The Deveroux?” the man on the other end of the line asked, interrupting. “The cured vampire, Deveroux? The—”
“Yes, that Deveroux.”
“Truly, it is an honor to speak with you. What brings you to Hungary?”
“I don’t have time to explain, but we need Order members here now.”
“Where is here?” asked the man. His tone had shifted from friendly to professional.
After he explained where they were and the vampires had promised to come, Ethan disconnected.
“The Hungarian vamps?” asked Max.
“Yeah.”
“I wanted to call them before we got here actually, but after Sir Roland’s warning about the arrows killing them too, I didn’t want to put anyone else at risk.”
Ethan shook his head. “Me either.” He did feel guilt for bringing others into this, but he didn’t see how they could survive without reinforcements.
Another keening howl sliced through the quiet, sending chills along his nerve endings. “Do you think they really could have found them as fast as we did?” Or was this simply another group of werewolves out on a full moon?
Max turned regret-filled eyes on him. “This is Lucas we’re talking about, right?”
“Bloody hell.” Lucas was resourceful enough to have found them, especially since they didn’t have the fairy necklaces to hide them any longer. He had to find some way of killing that blackguard, and he wished he’d asked Sir Roland if he knew anything. It was believed that the beasts had actually turned on and killed the sorcerer or sorceress who had created them. Because of that, there was a chance they couldn’t be destroyed, but Ethan was willing to ask anyway.
Suddenly a man appeared in front of them, and they were forced to skid to a halt. Ethan barely bit back a surprised shout. The man smiled, white teeth shining out from a shadowed face with downcast eyes. “You called?” he asked in a thick Hungarian accent.
One of the vampires. A second later, several more joined him.
“I’m Max, and this is Ethan. Thanks for coming so quickly,” responded Max, because for some reason Ethan had fallen mute.
The vampire lifted a hand to his face and peered at them through a gap he’d created between two of his fingers. Apparently he wanted to get a good look at the famous Ethan Deveroux without knocking him senseless with the curse magic in his eyes. “I’m Kristof,” said the vampire, “but I’m sure we don’t have time for pleasantries. What do you need?”
Ethan cleared his throat and explained the situation, mentioning the danger to the vampires because of the witches’ arrows. If he’d been flattered by their reaction to his name, his ego was taken down a notch when he saw how incredibly eager they were to face death-by-poison-arrow to save the even more infamous Danielle Darcey.
Kristof hung back with him and Max to protect them if they encountered any of the werewolves, and the rest of them sped off toward the witches’ house.
It really hadn’t taken them long, but when he and Max finally arrived, the vampires were creeping toward some hedges Ethan had overlooked earlier, thinking they were just part of the landscaping. The men were advancing with a level of caution that told him they knew witches were there and were probably wary of the arrows that could turn their immortality into a swift mortal death. It was also obvious they hadn’t been discovered yet, like he and Max had. Of course the vampires had advantages that he and Max didn’t.
The area seemed deserted and it was as quiet as a tomb. That concerned him. His vision wasn’t good without his glasses, so he squinted trying to bring things into focus. The flames, though lower, still jumped from the wood, sending sparks into the air. The big shape he knew to be the house was dark. Ethan could see the tree because it was still lit up, but he couldn’t tell if the ropes were still on the ground at the base of it. As his eyes traveled over the lawn, they caught onto something reflecting moonlight and he realized it was probably his glasses. Ethan wanted to go get them to at least hold the lenses up to his eyes, but going out into the open for a pair of spectacles with werewolves about wasn’t exactly wise, so he discarded the idea.
The smell of smoke was as strong as before, but there was something else. Drawing another breath, panic welled up in his throat. He recognized it as the smell he’d noticed when the werewolves had broken into their home. They were here then, but why were they being so quiet? Their howls had completely ceased. “Where do you think—?”
Kristof shook his head sharply, making a slicing motion over his throat. Ethan snapped his mouth shut at the command, and that’s when he heard it. Voices—female ones. So where were they then? Suddenly the hushed speech turned into screams and a number of women came out from behind the shrubs the vampires were closing in on. Were Danielle and Nadia with them? They were too far away and it was too dark for him to pick out anyone he recognized.
All hell broke loose after that. The vampire held them back when whoops and growls obliterated the quiet. Ethan didn’t need his glasses to know the werewolves were attacking. “What’s happening?” Ethan asked, because he couldn’t make it out with the explosion of movement by the shrubbery and the house.
“The witches have armed themselves and they’re fighting the werewolves.”
“Do you see Danielle or Nadia?” asked Max.
“I do not.”
“Well, they’ve got to be somewhere around here!” Ethan ground out, angry and frustrated with the horrible events over the last twenty-four hours.
“The rest of my men are working their way into the shrubbery.”
Ethan didn’t have patience for this commentary. He needed to see what was going on, so he asked angrily, “Could you get my glasses?”
It took Kristof a moment to respond, and when Ethan thought he might not be willing to retrieve them, something cold pressed into the palm of his hand. His fingers closed around the remains of his spectacles. Misshapen because the rims were bent, Ethan lifted them to his face and asked Max, “Did they get like this when you hit me?” It felt like he’d been struck in the jaw, not his nose.
“Ah ... no.”
Ethan peered through the glass, which was cracked but still intact, and blinked at the battle trying to see if he could find his wife.
“That happened when I picked you up. I didn’t see them, and—”
Ethan waved his hand, not needing to hear anymore. It was obvious Max had stepped on them.
They watched, trying to understand what was happening as the witches screeched out cries of terror, and the werewolves snarled and howled.
“I can’t stand on the sidelines like this any longer,” complained Max before he took off across the lawn, lifting his rifle to his shoulder.
He didn’t get far before the vampire stopped him, dragging him back.
“Fine,” Max grumbled, yanking his arms free of the Kristof’s hold.
“You called us here for help. I can’t
let anything happen to you.”
Ethan ground his teeth together because he wanted to do the same thing, but also knew he wouldn’t get any farther than Max had, especially when Kristof spread his arms out in front of them like he could read Ethan’s mind.
“There!” shouted the vampire suddenly.
“What? Where?” Ethan asked, pressing as forward as he could against the vampire’s arm that was extended in front of his chest.
“I see two women running into the woods.”
Just before they disappeared into the trees, Ethan caught a glimpse of them. His lungs froze up when he also noticed several werewolves in pursuit. He wasn’t sure if he could take much comfort in the vampires who’d followed as well, because there were just too many werewolves. Ethan sank against one of the trees they stood between. He was sure Lucas was there tonight, sure he was hunting Danielle specifically, and poor Nadia would become a devastatingly unfortunate casualty. The tips of his fingers bit into the palms of his hands as they fisted at his sides. He wanted to scream in frustration or hit something, but that wouldn’t help this situation. Ethan felt so utterly useless, and his thoughts naturally returned to the idea of becoming a vampire again. He could remember what it was like to run so incredibly fast, the powerful curse magic coursing through his veins, the ease at which he did physical things, the lack of physical pain.... But if Lucas got to them tonight, being powerful wouldn’t change anything. It was too late to reconsider any of his past choices, and it might just be too late to save his wife and his friend. Emotion made his already despicable vision blur even further.
A hand landed gently on his shoulder. Lifting his eyes, they met with the vampire’s sympathetic expression. Ethan frowned in bewilderment when his legs turned to cooked noodles and his back began sliding down the bark.
The vampire blinked, spat out a curse and jerked his head to the side while catching Ethan under the armpits. “Sorry. I forgot about that.”
It was the first time Ethan had been influenced as a mortal by the curse magic, and he decided he didn’t like it much as he latched onto the trunk behind him, trying to regain the strength in his legs. How long had he done this to Danielle? And how could she have liked it so much?
Forever (Book #3 in the Fateful Series) Page 21