“I still don’t understand—why kill my parents and me if the future is alterable?” I asked, careful about jostling my jaw. I knew that I would die before I was responsible for the mass extermination of vampires, regardless of their innocence.
“That is exactly what Andre said when he learned of the prophecy. He thought he could change your fate. So he forbid all vampires from making an attempt on your life. A true leader eliminates all threats to his people, but when it came to you, his soulmate, Andre put himself before his subjects. Coward. He has left the dirty work to me.” With that, he grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet.
He brought my neck to his mouth and bit down hard. I screamed as blood seeped down Theodore’s chin and my neck. Theodore hissed an intake of breath. “Perhaps we can have a little fun before you die. You are truly an exquisite thing.”
This was not how I was going die. Then Theodore’s words sank in.
I thought back to when Andre and I practiced how to captivate prey. That barely contained monster had surfaced, the one that feasted off of sex and other dangerous things. The siren inside me.
I knew what I had to do—I’d just never consciously attempted it before. Theodore bent down to my neck and ran his tongue along the wound. I suppressed my horrified shiver and opened myself up to my unearthly heritage, which legend says men have died for.
I felt the warm rush of power as the siren took over.
“Theodore.” I thought I had spoken his name, but it sounded more like an ethereal song. This voice could not be mine; I could never sound so seductive.
He stilled at my throat. Slowly he lifted his head up and looked into my eyes. I could almost see his wicked thoughts as he stared at me.
“You know you do not want to kill me … yet.” Again, I sang the words, my voice dripping of sex, an activity I really had no idea about.
Almost against his will he shook his head. “Stop it.” He spoke through clenched teeth.
“I know what you want to do.” I backed up towards the bed that loomed on the far side of the room and beckoned him to follow.
He gazed at me for a moment, his hands fisting as he tried to fight off the glamour. Gradually his hands slackened again as he became mesmerized, and then he began to follow me, no longer the feared predator.
I felt my control slipping. The siren in me wanted blood and sex, and she’d go all the way if she could. I put my hand to his chest, and pushed him partially onto the bed. His legs dangled over the mattress’ edge, and I bent over him.
I slid my hands over his thighs and made a sound low in my throat. His eyes were too bright, and they watched me in awe. I moved my hands to his hair, running them through his wavy locks.
His own hands cupped my butt and then moved out to my hips. He pulled me closer, our lower bodies flush with one another.
Tantalizingly slow, I leaned towards him until my mouth hovered over his. There, I paused before pulling back.
I stared into his eyes. My heart pounded and my breathing was becoming erratic. “Now I am going to give you exactly what you deserve.”
I slammed my knee as hard as I could into his crotch—which, given my strength, was considerable.
He screamed like a wounded animal. I turned and sprinted down the hallway, towards the stairs. I looked behind me to see Theodore leaning on the doorway, painfully straightening up. Taking into account his superhuman speed, I had only bought myself a few precious seconds. I dashed around the banister, knocking over a few candles that rested on its edge. Behind me I smelled smoke as the rug caught on fire.
Crap, I was responsible for burning down the mansion?
“Gabrielle!” Theodore roared behind me. I flew down the steps, hoping I wouldn’t trip in my stilettos. It would be a shame to escape death only to break my neck during my great escape.
Below me, I saw Andre fill the front doorway. “Gabrielle?”
“Andre—go!” I yelled. He could not die here too.
He looked quizzically at me, and then past me. “Theodore?”
Theodore must have registered that his time was up. He pulled out a gun. There was no hesitation. He looked down the barrel at me and fired. Almost instantaneously, something large and solid tackled me. My shoulder exploded as the bullet tore through muscle and tissue.
I shrieked as Andre and I hit the stairs, the pain causing my vision to cloud. Getting shot was just as unbearable the second time around as it was the first.
Andre stood up, his tux partially stained with my blood. An unholy fire blazed in his eyes as he stared Theodore down. The ground beneath us quaked. He was absolutely stunning and utterly terrifying.
I tried to sit up, but as soon as I moved, pain shot through my left side. I contented myself with watching everything sideways.
Slowly Andre walked the stairs towards Theodore. Each step he took shook the floor. Abandoned champagne flutes wobbled and china tinkled.