Sydelle looked at Sarah, her expression filled with disdain. "Won't she give it to you?"
Sarah stood up, her hands clenched at her sides, her eyes narrowed as she glared at the other woman. "Get out of my house!"
Sydelle sprang to her feet. "How dare you speak to me in that tone!"
"Get out!"
"Sarah." Gabriel rose to his feet and placed a restraining hand on her arm. "Calm down."
"I will not calm down. And I won't sit here and watch that creature look at you as if you were a plum ripe for the picking!"
"Sarah." His voice was low and filled with warning.
Quillan rose effortlessly to his feet. "We will take our leave, Giovanni," he said. "When next we meet, I think it would be wise for us to meet elsewhere."
Gabriel thought for a moment. "The house at the bottom of the hill is vacant. I'll meet you there tomorrow night."
Quillan nodded. "Midnight?"
"The witching hour," Gabriel mused. "An appropriate time for a meeting such as this."
Quillan sketched a courtly bow in Sarah's direction. "I apologize for Sydelle's rudeness.
Au revoir, mademoiselle
. Giovanni." He sent a sharp look at his two fledglings, then turned and left the room. Delano followed close on his heels.
Sydelle followed more slowly. At the door, she glanced over her shoulder at Gabriel, her gaze blatantly sensual and inviting.
"
Au revoir, chérie
," she called softly. She glanced briefly, scornfully, at Sarah, then followed Quillan out the door, her hips swaying provocatively.
"The nerve!" Sarah exclaimed. "I'd like to scratch her eyes out!"
"It isn't wise for a mortal to anger a vampire, Sarah," Gabriel said dryly. "Not even a fledgling vampire like Sydelle."
"Maybe you'd like to take her up on her offer!" Sarah snapped. "She's probably waiting for you outside."
"
Cara
…"
"She couldn't keep her eyes off you."
"Is that my fault?"
"Yes! If you weren't so darn handsome…"
He was laughing at her now, his dark gray eyes merry with amusement. "You're jealous."
"Damn right!"
"Shall I destroy her for you?"
He said it so casually, Sarah was sure he was joking, until she looked at his face, and then she knew he wasn't kidding at all.
"You'd do that?"
Gabriel shrugged. "If you wish."
"No."
"There's no need for you to be jealous,
cara
. My heart belongs to you." His gaze, dark and intense, rested on her face. "Only you. It always has. It always will."
His words, softly and sincerely spoken, made her realize how foolish her anger really was.
With a sigh, she moved into his arms, her head pillowed on his chest. "What are you going to do?"
"About what?"
"The cure?"
"I won't know until I see exactly what it calls for," he answered, but he already knew he would try it, regardless of the danger. They could not go on as they were. If he could not be mortal again, then perhaps it would be best for all concerned if his life came to an end. In time, Sarah would forget him.
She would marry again, have the children he knew she longed for.
"I think maybe you should forget it. I don't want you risking your life for me. And if it doesn't work, you'd be in grave danger."
He nodded, remembering the touch of the sun on his face and hands, the excruciating pain, the fear that he would perish in flames before he could return to the cellar.
"Come," he said, swinging her up into his arms. "There are only a few hours until dawn, and I would spend them with you."
She snuggled against him, her mind in turmoil. She had been so sure that a cure for what he was would solve all their problems. Now it sounded as if the cure was worse than the disease.
And then Gabriel was kissing her, his hands moving over her body, discarding her clothing, caressing her skin with his lips, sweeping her away to a world that was only big enough for two, and there was no more time for thought; there was only the touch of his hands and the rough velvet of his voice as he whispered that he loved her, would love her to the end of his existence…
She was on edge all that day, unable to concentrate on anything for more than a minute. All she could think of was that Gabriel was meeting Quillan at midnight; that they'd have the formula in their hands. Only two weeks until Halloween, she thought. Only two weeks to make a decision that would have monumental influence on the rest of their lives. Quillan had said the journey back to life had always been fatal. Did she want Gabriel to be mortal again badly enough to risk his life? If the cure didn't work, Gabriel would die a horrible death. Gabriel had said he would not let her go in this life, that he would not stand by and watch her die again, and so there were really only two choices: they must find a cure for what he was, or she would have to become a vampire… and she knew that was something she could never do.
Maybe Quillan was right. Maybe Gabriel should transform her against her will. Maybe she could accept it then, but even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew she would never forgive him, that no matter how difficult the decision might be, it had to be her own.
Never had the hours of the day passed so slowly. She tried to read, tried to watch TV, but she was too restless to sit still, and so she paced the living-room floor, wishing the sun would hurry across the sky, wishing for dusk so she could be with Gabriel. She needed to feel his arms around her, to hear his words of reassurance chasing away her fears.
As the shadows grew long, she went out to stand on the veranda, watching the sun make its downward climb.
It had not yet disappeared when she sensed his presence behind her. With a glad heart, she ran into the house and flung herself in his arms.
"Hold me!" she cried. "Hold me and never let go!"
"Sarah, what is it?"
"I'm afraid."
"Of what?"
"I don't know. Don't go tonight. Forget about the cure. Stay with me."
"Cara…"
"Please."
"I have to try it, Sarah. If there's any chance at all, I have to try it." He tilted her head up. "It's what you want, isn't it?"
"Not anymore."
"Then it's what I want."
"I don't believe that. You're doing it for me, I know you are."
"I want us to be together, not just at night. I want to live as a man again, to walk in the sun with you at my side."
"But what if it doesn't work?"
"Then you must go on with your life. Find a man who will love you and give you children."
"No."
"You found me in this life,
cara
. If it's possible, I will find you in death."
His mind was made up, and there was nothing she could say to change it.
He carried her upstairs and made love to her, slowly, deliberately, savoring each sensation, storing them in his mind. If the cure proved ineffective, he would have only these last two weeks to live. To a man who had survived over four and a half centuries, two weeks seemed but a moment.
And now the hours sped swiftly by.
Too soon, it was almost midnight.
Lying in bed, Sarah watched him dress. He left the room for a moment, and when he returned, he was wearing his cloak.
"I won't be long," he promised, bestowing a kiss on her cheek. "Keep the bed warm for me."
She choked back a sob as she watched him leave the room, overcome with a terrible premonition that she would never see him again.
The door opened at his bidding. He stood in the entryway for a moment, his senses probing the darkness of the house.
"In here, Giovanni."
Quillan's voice. Deep. Predatory. Deadly.
Too late, Gabriel realized Quillan had not come alone.
Three vampires materialized out of the shadows; a fourth ghosted up behind him, cutting off his escape. Fledglings all, they circled him like winter-starved wolves, fangs gleaming even in the darkness, eyes aglow.
Fear slithered down Gabriel's spine. "What do you want?"
"We cannot let you rejoin the ranks of humanity," Quillan said flatly. "You know our habits, our weaknesses. We cannot take a chance that you might turn against us."
"Why would I do that? What would I have to gain?"
Quillan shrugged. "Everything. Nothing. As I said, it is a chance we cannot take."
Gabriel glanced over his shoulder. A tall, slender vampire stood behind him, a stake clutched in his gloved hands. "So you're going to destroy me."
Quillan nodded. "A stake through the heart has always been the preferred method," he said.
Gabriel was afraid, and he didn't like it. Afraid for himself. Afraid for Sarah. "What of the woman?"
"She dies, too. Delano and Sydelle are on their way as we speak."
"No!" The denial was ripped from Gabriel's throat.
"We have survived thousands of years only because we have never let mankind know of our existence. They may suspect. They may have seen or heard something for which they have no logical explanation, but they do not want to believe. The woman dies."
"Quillan, please…"
"Too late, Giovanni."
They moved toward him, closing the circle. But Gabriel had not survived as long as he had by being foolish. In 464 years, he had trusted no other vampire, and only two mortals.
With a low growl, he sprinted past the two young vampires in front of him, his hand reaching inside his cloak, delving into his pants pocket as he vaulted the stairs to the second-story landing.
Whirling around, he fired the pistol four times in rapid succession. The bullets, made of solid silver, had been loaded into the gun by the man who owned the gun shop. They struck the fledgling vampires with deadly precision, and then Quillan was on him, knocking the pistol from his grasp. Locked together, they tumbled down the stairs. Quillan, heavier, older, was on top when they hit the bottom of the stairs.
His hands closed around Gabriel's throat, his weight pinning Gabriel to the floor as he bent toward him, his fangs bared.
"Do not fight me, Giovanni," Quillan rasped, his hand closing over the stake that had fallen from his fledgling's hand. "You are too late to save the woman, and in a moment, you will join her…"
Sarah heard the front door open and breathed a sigh of relief. He was back!
She sat up, combing her fingers through her hair, her heart pounding with happiness. So much for premonitions, she thought.
And then she heard footsteps on the stairs.
Unfamiliar footsteps.
Her gaze darted around the room, seeking a weapon, but found nothing. Muttering a silent prayer, she climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom. Locking the door, she pawed through the drawers, but the most dangerous thing she found was a blow dryer.
Tears of frustration welled in her eyes as she bunched her gown in one hand and climbed out the window. Behind her, she heard someone pounding on the door, and then she heard Sydelle's voice, soft and seductive.
"Let us in, Sarah," the vampire called. "Gabriel is dead, and there's nowhere you can hide."
Dead! No! He couldn't be dead. She slid down the slope of the roof, grabbed hold of a tree branch, and made her way to the ground.
Hide. She had to hide. But where?
She heard a faint crash as the vampires broke down the bathroom door. A moment later, she saw Sydelle's face at the window.
Adrenalin pumping, Sarah ran toward the corral. Never in her life had she vaulted onto a horse's back, but she did so now. Wrapping her hands in the stallion's mane, she drummed her heels into the horse's flanks and Necromancer bolted forward. A sharp kick sent him sailing over the six-foot fence. For a moment, Sarah swayed precariously on the stallion's bare back, and then they were racing toward the back gate.
The horse came to a gravel-scattering halt when they reached the block wall. With fingers that trembled, Sarah opened the gate, then drummed her heels into Necromancer's flanks once again.
She could hear Sydelle calling her name, but she paid no attention. Gabriel, she thought frantically. She had to find Gabriel.
The stallion's iron-shod hooves clattered loudly as he trotted down the middle of the street.
The horse snorted and shied as they reached the bottom of the hill. Sarah screamed as two dark shadows crept up behind her. Delano and Sydelle! How had they gotten there so fast?
With a shriek, Sarah jumped to the ground and sprinted up the walkway to the front door of the vacant house. With a sob, she flung the door open and raced inside.
"Gabriel!"
"Here."
She peered into the darkness, acutely conscious of the two vampires entering the house behind her.
And then she saw Gabriel. He was sitting with his back against the staircase. Moonlight poured through the sliding glass door a few feet away.
"Gabriel?" She ran to his side, Delano and Sydelle forgotten as she saw the dead vampires sprawled on the floor. Nausea rose in her throat when she saw Quillan's body. A wooden stake pierced the vampire's heart. "What happened?"
But Gabriel wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the door.
Afraid of what she'd see, Sarah glanced over her shoulder.
Delano and Sydelle stood silhouetted in the doorway. Even from across the room, Sarah could see the blood hunger burning in their eyes.
"The stake, Sarah," Gabriel said quietly. "Get it."
She looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, her whole being recoiling in horror at the thought of pulling the wood from the vampire's body.
"Do it!" Gabriel hissed, and only then did she notice how pale his face was.
Her gaze swept over him, and she saw the blood, blood so dark it was almost black, seeping from a hideous wound in his chest.
"Hurry," he said urgently.
She glanced at Delano and Sydelle, saw the rage contorting their faces. Bloodred tears welled in Delano's eyes as he stared at Quillan's body.
Closing her eyes, Sarah wrapped her hands around the wooden stake and jerked it free, and then she scooted back toward Gabriel.
"What now?" she asked, but she didn't need or expect an answer. Everything she needed to know was written on the faces of the two vampires as they slowly stepped into the entry hall and closed the door.