Undeniable (32 page)

“Goodbye, Frank,” she mumbled and, without waiting for his
reply, hung up the phone.

The afternoon hours lagged. Knowing instinctively when the
sun had finished its descent, she rose to open the blinds. As soon as she
raised the first an overpowering sense of foreboding rushed over her. She
released the cord and rushed from window to window, checking all the locks.
Glass shattered somewhere downstairs.

She ran to lock her bedroom door. Her eyes darted about the
room as she frantically tried to remember her visions. Dark, bleak, frightening
visions. She’d thought they foretold danger for only Diana. Now, feeling the
evil emanating from whom or whatever had entered her house, the same evil she’d
sensed in her visions about Diana, she realized their fates were intertwined.

Angelina flung her sweater to the closet floor, then grabbed
the oversized, woolen one her husband had insisted she always keep fully
stocked with enough wafers to last a month. He had placed one such sweater in
every closet in the house. He hadn’t foreseen this night, had only included her
wafers on the necessary medications list he’d written the day after the attack
on the World Trade Center.

She caught sight of an old pocketbook. Deciding to take as
many wafers as possible, she grabbed the bag, then reached up to the shelf and
retrieved one of the boxes of wafers stacked there. Trying not to scream when
the sound of an approaching helicopter filled the room at the same time another
crash resounded from below, she emptied the contents of the box into the bag.

She draped the strap over her shoulder. The weight of the
wafers dragged it down. The straps dug into her flesh. Taking off the bag, she
slung it over her head, then slid one arm through the opening. Within moments
she had the sweater on and buttoned over it. She turned to leave the closet
just as her bedroom door burst open.

If she weren’t so terrified, she would have laughed when she
saw the woman standing in the doorway surrounded by the splintered remains of
the molding. Barely five foot six with soft curves in all the right places, she
didn’t appear strong enough to remain upright in a strong wind much less break
down a door. Oh but her beauty could stop any man’s heart. Thick black hair
tumbling down over full breasts and narrow hips, fawn colored eyes so pale they
were nearly gold took Angelina’s breath away.

Angelina’s eyes darted to the dark hallway behind the woman,
expecting to see someone more capable of breaking down her door.

A snarl drew her attention back to the beauty. She
immediately realized how wrong she’d been. Fangs dripping with saliva protruded
from a cavernous mouth. All beauty vanished as the woman’s face twisted with
rage.

Angelina clutched the bag to her stomach. Her heart pounded
so fiercely she was sure it would explode.

“Why aren’t you insane? You should be a fucking maniac by
now. Why aren’t you a Slasher,” the woman yelled, spraying the floor with
spittle.

Angelina stepped back from the hatred coating each word. “I
have no idea,” she lied, then began to repeat her answer over and over in her
mind in case the vampire before her probed for the truth.

After a moment, the woman laughed. “It doesn’t matter. I
think you are. I’ve decided you’re a danger to us.”

“Who are you?” Angelina asked, hoping to stall just in case
she had somehow breached the wall Damien had erected between their minds.

“Who am I? Who am I?” Olympia’s eyes grew increasingly
wider, then suddenly returned to normal. “That’s right. You wouldn’t know. You
haven’t seen or spoken with my bonded mate for how long? Forty years?”

Shaking her head, Angelina once again saw the beauty of the
vampire before her. Her heart fractured. “You’re Damien’s bonded mate?”

The vampire slowly crossed the room and extended her hand.
“That’s right. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Olympia, Damien’s mate, lover and
the mother of his two, well, one son.” When Angelina ignored her outstretched
hand, Olympia leered and bared her fangs. “And you’re the naïve human who
spread her legs for him and gave up her blood to appease his hunger after a few
meaningless words. We laughed about it every time we made love.”

“You lie.”

“Really? If he loved you, why did he turn his back and never
return? Why did he bond with me?” Olympia pouted. “Oh you poor thing. You
thought he loved you, didn’t you? I keep telling him that he should stop his
little game with humans.”

Every fiber of Angelina’s heart told her Olympia was lying.
She had to be. This all couldn’t have been some sick game. “Then why are you
here? If I’m just someone Damien took advantage of, why are you here?” Angelina
spat back before thinking. “I’ll tell you why. Because he did love me.”

Olympia moved so quickly, Angelina lost sight of the
vampire. Her back slammed into the dresser. Before she could catch her breath
and react to the pain shooting up her spine, she felt Olympia’s hands clamp
around her neck.

“I could kill you right now. Do you know that? One flick of
my wrists and your precious neck would snap. But death would be too good for
you. You should suffer. Suffer the way you and your granddaughter have made me
suffer.”

Angelina’s lungs burned. Her fingers clawed at the hands
growing ever tighter around her neck. Staring into eyes filled with pain, her
heart broke for Olympia.

Olympia brought her face up to Angelina’s. “You stole my
mate. And now your whore of a granddaughter has seduced my son into betraying
me.”

Olympia sliced open Angelina’s cheek with one fang, then
dragged her tongue across it. Spitting the blood onto the floor, she released
Angelina’s neck and wiped her arm across her mouth. “Your blood is foul. It
contaminates every body it flows through. I can never be happy, Damien can
never be happy with me as long as you and your spawn walk this earth.”

Angelina’s heart slammed against her ribs. Damien was alive.

Olympia’s fist flew toward her face.

When Angelina came to, it took her only a moment to realize
she hung suspended from a helicopter. A rope tied around her waist was all that
prevented her from tumbling to the ground below. Suddenly, she plummeted some
twenty feet, then came to an abrupt halt. Her shocked screams turned to cries
of pain as the rope wedged between her ribs. Grasping onto the rope, she craned
her neck and gazed up at a black helicopter. Leaning out of the opening,
Olympia gleefully waved a huge ax.

“We’ve been waiting for you to wake up. Your new friends are
growing very impatient.” She pointed the ax down.

The loud whirring of the helicopter failed to drown out
Olympia’s words. Angelina’s heart missed a beat before she dared to glance
down. A crowd of snarling creatures leapt at her dangling feet. Her eyes
widened at the dagger-like teeth filling their mouths. Her hands flew to her
bulging pockets.

The Isle of Fentmore.

Forty years ago, Damien had warned her that she would end up
here if she refused to complete the bonding. He’d nearly cried as he explained
how and why she’d go mad and how their laws demanded they send any Slasher they
discovered to the Isle of Fentmore. Every time her unanswered call to him had
her doubting his love, she reminded herself of his vow that he would never
return and chance finding her in such a state, would never be the one bound to
abandon her on Fentmore.

She dropped another foot, then came to a bone-jarring halt.
Her scream rent the air when a mouth closed around her ankle. Teeth ripped
through her flesh as her attacker dropped back down to the ground.

Before another could do more damage, she reached into her
pocket and tossed a handful of wafers to the crowd. The Slashers dove for them,
surprising her with their apparent familiarity with them. The ones directly
below her began to amble away, already feeling the calming effects. She took
another handful and tossed it farther away.

“Why are they leaving?” Olympia screeched, peering down.
“Bring this thing lower. I want to see where they’re going.”

“No way, Olympia. I can’t chance going any lower than this,”
the pilot yelled over his shoulder. “If the scent of her vampire blood is
strong enough, they’ll come back.”

Olympia slammed the ax against the side of the doorway when
more Slashers drifted away. “Something is luring them away from her.”

She leaned out and caught sight of Angelina’s arm as it
swung out again and again. The crowd grew less and less dense. Letting out a
roar of anger, Olympia cut into her own arm with the ax. “If she’s covered with
pure vampire blood, they’ll come back.”

She dropped the ax to the floor, and was reaching out with
her good arm to hold onto the door when a gust of wind rocked the helicopter.
Olympia screamed, lurching back and forth.

Below, Angelina alternated between tossing out wafers and
untying the knot at her waist. The longer she hung here with her ankle dripping
blood, the more Slashers she would have to deal with. The rope gave just as she
heard a scream from above. She landed in the outstretched arms of a Slasher.
From the look on its face, she knew it had devoured some wafers and let out a
sigh of relief. She jumped from its arms and took off, scattering wafers to
clear a path.

The sound of the helicopter as it left filled her with both
dread and relief.

Sebastian knew without opening his eyes that Diana still lay
cradled in his arms, could feel her leg draped across his hips, her warm breath
fanning his face. His soul mate.

He grinned. His very wild soul mate.

Images of the previous night flashed in his mind. Diana had
been insatiable. Groaning from the throbbing ache in his cock, he moved along
the path of her breath and brought his lips to hers.

He never expected her to giggle in response and pulled away
to ask her what she found so funny.

Giggles from a distance?

His eyes shot open.

Damien, his face no farther than an inch away, winked. “Love
you too, son,” he said, then, with a smirk, rubbed his thigh against
Sebastian’s erection. “Glad to see me?”

“Shit.” Sebastian leapt out of the bed and spun around.
Diana, giggling uncontrollably, lay sprawled across the couch.

“I knew it,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I’ve
been watching you two and waiting to see what would happen when you woke up.”

Damien’s booming laughter filled the room.

“Very funny.” Sebastian grimaced in disgust and swiped his
arm across his mouth. His eyes flew open. He ran to a small wastebasket next to
the bed and began spitting into it. “God, Damien, I had my tongue in your
mouth.”

Damien’s grin vanished and then he too began to spit over
the side of the bed.

Diana squealed in pain as another fit of laughter took hold.

Glancing up, a hint of glee lingering in his eyes, Damien
smirked. “I wouldn’t laugh, Lady Godiva.”

Sebastian’s head swung around as Diana screamed. Her legs,
spread wide and revealing way, way too much to Damien, quickly clamped shut.
Her breasts, no longer jiggling from her laughter, disappeared behind her
hands. She vanished beneath the cushions of the couch. Sebastian’s eyes flashed
with jealousy as he turned and looked at Damien’s cock. Relief poured over him
like a fine, cooling rain. Damien’s cock remained unaffected. “Diana, why the
hell are you hanging around here naked?”

Peeking out from under the cushions, she scowled. “I would
have put on clothes if you two had bothered to bring my backpack down with us.”

The two men smirked.

She smirked right back. “Oh, but I’ll never tell who’s
bigger!”

Sebastian and Damien both glanced down at themselves and
then at each other.

“Well, I would be if—” Damien began.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, old man.” Sebastian
straightened his back and proudly jutted out his hips.

“Boy, Sebastian, you must have really enjoyed that kiss.”
Diana winked at Damien.

Sebastian ignored her and glared at Damien. “Where the hell
are your clothes?”

“Ah, I had a little accident and had to wash them.” He
grinned and looked away from Sebastian’s troubled gaze. “It was nothing,
Sebastian. I tripped outside.”

“Actually, I prefer being naked,” Diana said, still covered
by the cushions. She smiled back at Damien.

But Damien no longer smiled.

Damien stared at a spot behind Diana, yet when she turned to
look, she saw only the bookshelves. “Damien?”

Sebastian grabbed Damien’s arm. “Damien, what’s wrong? What
do you see?”

“Diana, quick, get on the bed,” Damien ordered, virtually
dragging Sebastian into the middle of the mattress.

Diana sprang to life, no longer concerned about her lack of
clothing. The urgency in Damien’s voice reminded her of the foreboding she’d
had earlier about her grandmother. As the bed began to rise, she turned to him
and dared to ask, “It’s Nana, isn’t it. You feel it too?”

“She’s in trouble. She’s calling me.” He closed his eyes.
“She’s terrified.”

“Where is she, Damien? Can you see where she is,” Sebastian
asked, wrapping his arms around a now terrified Diana.

“I can’t tell. But— Ah.” He clutched his stomach. “Oh, God,
the pain.”

Diana buried her face into the crook of Sebastian’s neck.
“Tell me it’s not her pain he’s feeling, Sebastian. Tell me it’s not Nana.”

But Sebastian only tightened his grasp on her shivering
body.

Within moments after the bed reemerged in the dark interior
of the cottage, the three were dressed and bolting into the night. Sebastian
swept Diana into his arms and once again followed Damien’s lead.

When they finally reached Angelina’s house, Damien fell to
his knees in the middle of the lawn and let out a gut-wrenching roar.

Diana, realizing they were too late, screamed and tore at
Sebastian’s iron hold on her. “Let me go! Let me go to her!” she sobbed. “She
needs me!”