Embrace the Night

Page 163



Returning to the house, he checked the spare bedroom, hoping to find her there asleep, but it was empty.

Hesitantly, he opened her bedroom door and peered inside. Gabriel lay on the bed, as still as death. Shutting the door, Maurice went to the entry hall. The front door was closed, locked from the inside.

Where was she? With a low groan of despair, he sank down on the sofa, his head cradled in his hands. Where was she?

And what would Gabriel do when he woke and discovered she was gone?

He woke in the hour before dusk. Lying there, still weak, he sent his thoughts to search for Sara, and knew, in that moment, that she was gone.

"Maurice!" The word was a cry of rage, a scream of primal fear.

It vibrated off the walls, shook the glass in the windows, and filled Maurice with a quiet sense of doom.

On legs that trembled so violently he could hardly stand, he walked to the bedroom, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Gabriel sat up, his back propped against the headboard. "Where is she?" Maurice shook his head. "I don't know."

"Damn you! I told you to watch her for me."

"I… she was in the kitchen, cooking. I… I fell asleep. When I woke up, she was gone."

Gabriel glared at Delacroix. It had been days since he fed; the lust for blood was strong, and growing stronger. "Come here."

Maurice took a wary step backward. "No."

"You will not like what happens if I have to ask you again."

On legs that felt like stone, Maurice approached the side of the bed. He tried not to look at Gabriel, but the vampire's gaze burned into his, hot and bright and hungry.

Slowly, Gabriel swung his legs over the edge of the mattress, his gaze fixed on Delacroix. "Sit here, beside me."

Maurice didn't want to obey, but he seemed to have no will of his own. Like a puppet whose strings had been cut, he sat down beside the vampire, his heart pounding so rapidly, so loudly, he wondered if he was going to die. And then he saw the blood lust blazing in Gabriel's eyes, and a short, hysterical laugh bubbled from his lips. Of course he was going to die.