Embrace the Night

Page 169



"Sara, no!" Maurice's voice was sharp.

"It's my decision, not yours," she retorted.

Maurice met Gabriel's eyes. "She's been through enough tonight." He paused, the color draining from his face. "If you need blood, take mine."

Gabriel quirked an eyebrow at Delacroix. "I know what it cost you to make the offer," he said solemnly, "but you've both been through enough for one night."

Sara followed Gabriel into her bedroom, watched while he slipped into a black shirt, drew his cloak around his shoulders. At his nod, she wiped the holy water from the sill and opened the window.

"I won't be long," he promised, dropping a kiss on her brow, and then, like a drifting shadow in the night, he was gone.

Gabriel paused in the darkness, his nostrils testing the wind, his senses searching for any sign of Nina's presence, but the night was dark and quiet, with only the soft sigh of the wind to break the stillness.

On silent feet, he prowled the darkness, the lust for blood growing ever stronger within him, fueled by the pain of his wounds, by his rage.

He searched until he found what he was looking for, a whore with pale skin and long black hair. He called her to him with the power of his mind, pretending it was Nina who stared up at him, helpless to resist, Nina's blood he was taking.

And he wished he had the power to control Nina's mind as easily as he manipulated the mind of the whore.

He was tempted to drain the girl dry, to sink his fangs into her throat and take and take until nothing remained but a dry husk, and by so doing, find a measure of release for the rage, for the sense of helplessness, that was pounding through him. Nina had sent that monster to abduct Sara, had frightened her, and then had dared to take her blood…

Gabriel lifted his head. A quiet word put the girl to sleep. When she woke, she wouldn't remember him, or what had happened.

He walked slowly back to Sara's apartment, wondering if Sara was now in Nina's power. Did he dare take his rest in Sara's apartment while there was a chance that Nina had enslaved Sara's mind?

As amusing as Nina might find it to have Sara destroy him, it would be a quick death, at least for him. Somehow, he didn't think Nina would find much satisfaction in that. She'd want him to surfer more, want Sara to suffer more. What was it Nina had told Sara? This is just the beginning…

He swore under his breath. There had to be a way to defeat Nina, to catch her off guard, but how?

When he returned to Sara's apartment, he found her asleep on the sofa, her head pillowed in Delacroix's