Embrace the Night

Page 221



endless and unforgiving hell?

But even the thought of spending eternity in the bowels of perdition didn't frighten him now because he was already on fire, his insides burning as the hunger raged relentlessly through his body, tearing at his insides with talons of flame.

A last meal, he thought dully. Weren't the condemned entitled to a last meal? "Gabriel?"

He whirled around, startled by the sound of her voice.

"I knocked," Sarah said, and then, seeing his face, she took a step backward, one hand pressed to the back of his chair to steady herself. She didn't have to ask what was wrong. She knew. She had seen him like this once before, in the cellar of an abandoned cottage.

"Go away." He spoke the words through tightly clenched teeth.

Sarah nodded, intending to do just that, but her feet refused to obey and she stood rooted to the spot, unable to tear her gaze from his face. He wore a black sweater that emphasized the pallor of his skin. His eyes burned with a familiar red glow. His nostrils flared, like those of a wolf on the scent of blood…

"Go… away… now."

"It seems as if you're always trying to get rid of me."

He stared at her, trying to understand what she was saying, but the scent of her blood was overpowering, making it difficult to think of anything but the hunger roaring through him, growing stronger with each passing minute.

"You were lucky the last time," he said, his voice dry and brittle. "I cannot promise you will be so lucky now." He took a deep breath, willing his hands to stop shaking. "Why did you come here?"

"We need to talk."

"Talk?" He shook his head. "About what?"
"About us, about what we're going to do." "There is no us. Go away, Sarah."

"I can't. I've spent every minute of the last three weeks remembering another life in another time, remembering the night we made love here, in this house. I love you, Gabriel."

He closed his eyes. Her words washed over him, cleansing the bitterness from his heart. Sweet words, he mused, the most welcome words in the world.

With an effort, he turned away from her. "Sarah, please… go away."

"You need blood." She had a sudden sense of déjà vu as she spoke the words, the same words she'd said a hundred years ago.