Undeniable (8 page)

And when the sun set on that last endless day, only chains
would deter her from running into the night in search of the only blood that
could soothe the searing pain engulfing her body, from killing any human or
vampire in her way as she drank their blood in a never-ending compulsion to
appease her hunger for
his
blood.

Of course, he would never answer those calls.

His mother in her infinite ability to find someone’s
Achilles heel had chosen this punishment for the vampire hunter. Nothing else
could wound Frank Nostrum as much as witnessing his only child’s descent into
madness. No torture could match that which he would heap upon himself when he
realized she suffered in his place.

Sebastian only now fully understood the extent of that
torture. Just imagining the pain Diana would experience, just knowing he would bring
her into a horrific nightmare from which she would never escape tore at his
heart.

Diana whimpered and rolled onto her back. Sebastian lurched
forward and, snatching the sheet, covered her before she managed to bare
herself to Diego and Tomas. Her hand clutched the sheet to her breasts as if
she heard his thoughts.

He shook his head. For one impossible moment, he thought
he’d heard her plead for mercy.

Damn it, Sebastian, snap out of it!

Sebastian bared his fangs at Tomas and followed him as he
took a step back.
If I have to do this, Tomas, then I’ll do it alone. Get
out.
When Tomas did not immediately turn to leave, Sebastian took another
step forward.
I’m not going to repeat myself.

Tomas backed toward the window, but Diego, his eyes fixed on
the outline of Diana’s nipples imprinted on the sheet, moved to the foot of the
bed. “At least let us check her out. She’s naked, man!”

With a flick of his wrist, he tugged at the bottom of the
sheet, baring her breasts, stomach and some of the soft hair covering her
mound.

Bastard!
A curtain of blood coated Sebastian’s eyes,
casting the room in a scarlet haze. His fangs shot out, longer, deadlier than
he’d ever allowed before. The beast dwelling deep within all vampires sprang
free of its chains. Detached, he watched his hands grab Diego’s arms, heard
Tomas’ shocked gasp and Diego’s scream when his nails tore through skin and
muscle as he lifted the vamp over his head.

Tomas bolted to the side just in time to avoid Diego’s body
as it flew past him and out the window. Blood dripped from Sebastian’s fangs
and two nasty gashes in his lower lip.

What the hell is your problem, Sebastian?

Sebastian turned away from his cousin’s probing gaze as he
forced the beast down.
She knows nothing, Tomas, nothing about Marek or her
father’s hand in his death.

He wondered if Tomas could sense the doubt that still lurked
in his mind. Diana’s ability to block him from her thoughts filled him with
suspicion. His own inability to think straight whenever he came within a
hundred feet of her, whenever he merely envisioned her body, her eyes, her
lips, fed that suspicion.

After just one week, he could see himself following her
anywhere, even into her father’s pen. She
could
be the weapon they’d all
wondered about. The irresistible lure. Drawing in a fortifying breath, he
reminded himself that if she was the lure and he failed in his duties tonight,
the death of the next vampire would be on his head.
Just get the hell out of
here, Tomas.

Tomas moved silently to the window and swung one leg over
the ledge. Don’t forget. Olympia said to give her just a drop of your blood. No
more. It’ll speed things along. Tomas glanced over his shoulder at Diana. It’s
hard to believe that by next week she’ll be a Slasher on Fentmore, isn’t it,
Sebastian? That our blood can turn a hot chick like her into one of those
creatures?

Sebastian turned away, hiding the bloody tears he could feel
sliding down his cheeks.
“It takes no more than the amount of blood in a
tear, Tomas.”

* * * * *

In Tobias’ den, Damien paced from the door to the leather
sectional. Turning around, he glanced at the clock on the mahogany mantle over
the roaring fireplace, cursed, then strode back to the door. He leaned out into
the hall and looked both ways before returning to the mantle and looking up at
the clock. “Do you sense anything?”

Tobias dropped his head onto the back of the couch and
sighed. “For the hundredth time, no. You’re driving me crazy.”

They had known each other for centuries, stood beside
Caesar, stalked the night with Dracula and followed their Dark Prince and Mina
to the shores of Lake George when Mina’s love melted the ice holding Dracula’s
heart captive. Mina, sweet Mina had made it possible for them all to live in
peace with humans that fateful night long ago.

Transformed by Dracula only months before Damien, Tobias
outranked him as the second eldest of their kind, the eldest in Mina’s Cove
during Dracula’s absence. Most cowered if Tobias showed the slightest
disapproval.

Damien ignored him, glanced at the clock once again and
cursed. All night he had awaited some sign that Sebastian had returned. His
head throbbed from scanning his stepson’s home for his presence.

“Why don’t you just go there and wait for him?” Tobias
asked.

Damien spun around. “And what? Congratulate him for
destroying the life of an innocent woman?”

“Now, Damien, have some faith in Sebastian. If Diana is
innocent, he’ll know and leave her untouched.” Tobias rose and, patting
Damien’s shoulder as he passed, strode to the sideboard.

“I know. I know,” Damien muttered.

“And if she’s not, he’ll do what needs to be done,” Tobias
added, holding up a decanter of brandy. “Taste this. It’s exquisite.”

Damien shook his head. “How can you even wonder if she has
anything to do with her father’s crimes? My God, Tobias, she’s Angelina’s
granddaughter.”

“And Frank is your precious Angelina’s son. We all know her
blood did not stop him from coming after us.”

“That’s different and you know it.”

Tobias poured some brandy into two snifters and held one out
to Damien. “Drink this and relax. You’re accomplishing nothing with your
infernal pacing except maybe wearing a hole in my carpet.”

Damien took the snifter and emptied it in one gulp. He sank
down onto the brown leather couch and hung his head.

“Listen, Damien. I know you believe Diana is nothing like
her father, but think, for a moment. How do we know what that man said to her
as she grew up? He’s had twenty-five years to mold her into a hunter.”

“This is my fault. All of it. I should be the one punished.
I broke our most sacred law by bonding with the mother of a human child and
using my powers to alleviate her concerns about leaving him.”

“You broke two laws, Damien. We do not take someone else’s
spouse. She had a husband, one she had been quite content with until you
entered her life. And the fact that her son has been exacting vengeance upon us
all since that day is no one’s fault but his.” Tobias threw his glass into the
fireplace. “We have to find that weapon.”

“Why haven’t we been able to find it or the pen?” Damien
placed his glass on the low mahogany table and raked his hands through his
hair. “It doesn’t make sense. We can read minds, even those a mile away, but we
have yet to breach his or his daughter’s enough to uncover how he manages to
capture our vamps.”

Tobias’ lips thinned. “That, my dear son-in-law, is why I
fear Diana might have a hand in our losses.”

Damien’s head jerked up. His body tensed.

Tobias added, “Both Frank and Diana are quite adept at
blocking their thoughts, building impenetrable walls around feelings and
knowledge they deem private. How? Why? We are the only ones capable of truly
hearing someone’s thoughts and uncovering their memories. So what led them to
perfect blocking us?”

Damien opened his mouth to reply, to once again find a way
to convince Tobias that Diana was innocent, but closed it when Sebastian’s
voice entered his mind.

“No!” From across the room, Tobias swept his arm out.
Although his fist never came close to touching Damien, his head flung back as
if Tobias had struck him squarely on the jaw. “Do not answer him, Damien.”

“You heard him. How can I ignore him when he’s begging for
guidance?”

“He must do this on his own. Trust me.”

Damien couldn’t believe his ears. “Why? He’s your grandson,
for Christ’s sake. Why would you turn your…you know how this night will turn
out, don’t you? You’ve had one of your dreams.”

“Damien, I’m asking you to trust me. I did dream. While I
did not discover exactly how this will end, I awoke convinced that it must run
its course without any interference.”

Damien glared into his friend and leader’s eyes. “And what
about Olympia? Hasn’t she already interfered? Coming up with this insane
punishment? I can’t believe you agreed to it.”

Tobias stared back for a moment, then lowered his gaze to
his hands. “She’s my daughter, Damien. I know I give in too easily to her
demands, but my guilt gets the best of me.”

He understood his friend’s guilt. Transformed by Dracula
when Olympia was just a child, Tobias had been forced to watch from the shadows
as his daughter grew into a young woman. When Olympia fell ill shortly before
her wedding to a young lord, rather than chance losing her completely, he’d
transformed her against her will. Damien placed a hand on Tobias’ shoulder.
“Must we all pay for your guilt?”

Tobias shoved his hand away. “I gave you a woman who loved
you, a son who grew to love and admire you.”

“You forced me to bond with a woman I felt nothing for! And
Sebastian was already an adult. He didn’t need a father.”

“I knew how you grieved when Angelina chose her son over
you. I feared that if you had nothing to live for, you would go over the edge
and face the dawn.” Tobias let out a weary sigh. “It made sense at the time. I
gave you my most precious possessions. My daughter and grandson.”

“I already had something to live for, Tobias. I had Marek.”

“And now you have Sebastian. Trust him to make the right
decision for all of us. Trust me that all this was written in the stars long
before Diana was even born.” Tobias leaned over and lifted the lid of an
antique music box. The tinny chime of a minuet filled the room. After a few
strains, he pressed down on one of the inlaid ivory butterflies. A slender
drawer slid out of the front. Tobias removed a small, yellowed scroll and
handed it to Damien.

Damien unrolled the scroll and immediately recognized Mina’s
handwriting. “Mina wrote this? But when?”

Abject grief filled Tobias’ eyes. “Just read it, Damien.”

Damien sat beside his friend and held the faded poem under
the Tiffany lamp on the end table.

When stars burst free from sunlight’s glare,

The moon regains its throne in air

The creatures of the night then whisper,

Our future changed when Dracula kissed her

The beast that once would kill for fun,

Gave up his life so she could run

God’s Angels touched by love so pure,

Bestowed a gift of life secured

And now his children who once were wild,

In Mina’s Cove live meek and mild

And blood still holds a strong attraction,

But only when combined with passion

It is foretold a woman scorned

Shall risk it with a trusting pawn

A rose so pure, a rose so white

Will blind him with its brilliant light

If two do not unite as one,

We all will lose what we have won

Damien raised the paper and breathed in Mina’s scent. It
seemed an eternity since she and Dracula set out to find more of their kind. He
wondered if Tobias had known all these years that his daughter was the woman
mentioned in the poem, if he’d given Damien to her in the hope that it would
change fate. Guilt kept his eyes from meeting his friend’s.

“Forgive me, Tobias. If I’d known—

“You what, Damien? Would have loved my daughter? No one can
force someone to love.” He gripped Damien’s shoulders. “We can protect
Sebastian, but we must not interfere with his feelings or his decision tonight.
Our future rests in his hands.”

When the sound of Tomas’ feet hitting the ground ensured
that he and Diana were finally alone, Sebastian turned back to gaze upon the
woman he had to destroy, the woman he felt compelled to protect.

How could he protect her? He had already failed, had allowed
Diego and Tomas to feast their eyes upon her bare breasts.

He moved to cover her. His hand stilled. The cropped curls
covering her pussy peeked over the sheet, tempting him to slide his fingers
beneath the edge and feel their softness. But his gaze continued lower, past
her exposed hip, down the inner thigh of her bared leg. The folds of the sheet
drifted between her legs, demanding he give in to the desire pooling in his
cock and grasp there.

Diana shifted with a sigh, spreading her legs farther apart,
revealing the crease where her thigh ended and her softest flesh began. Her
scent rose up and enveloped him. When her hands skimmed down her stomach and
slid beneath the sheet, drawing it lower, his nostrils flared and her scent
filled his lungs.

She flicked the sheet aside and skimmed her fingers over her
tender skin. Before his heated gaze, she spread the moisture from her own
arousal up to her clit. Her fingers swirled around her clit, then swept down to
the opening of her pussy.

A low rumble rose from his chest. He bit down, using the
pain of his already torn lip to help him gain control. It seemed to work until
her familiar essence wrapped itself around him, drawing his head lower against
his will.