Embrace the Night

Page 233



do they remember anything about what happened."

"You hypnotize them?"

He smiled faintly. "A handy trick, for a vampire."

"There was a story in the newspaper a while back about a woman who claimed to have been attacked by a man just like Dracula…"

Gabriel grunted softly. "Someone happened upon us before I could erase the memory from her mind."

He pressed a kiss to the top of Sarah's head, gave her shoulders a squeeze, and released her. "I won't be gone long."

Sarah nodded, aware of his gaze searching hers, judging her reaction. She should be used to it by now, she thought, so why was it so hard to accept? She'd known what he was in a previous life, had accepted it without hesitation. Why couldn't she do that now? If she was the same woman, why didn't she feel the same? Was it possible that the soul remained the same, but not the mind, or its perception of life?

"I will not let you go again, Sarah." His voice was hoarse, edged with what sounded curiously like regret. "If ever you feel that you can no longer accept me for what I am, if you ever wish to be free of me, then you must destroy me."

"I couldn't!"

"I will not let you go."

His eyes burned into hers with an intensity that she had never seen before. It was a look even more frightening than the blood hunger she had seen blazing in his eyes.

"There are three ways to kill a vampire, Sarah. Drive a stake through his heart. Cut off his head. Expose him to the sun."

She felt the color drain from her face. "No…"

"There's a small window in the cellar. If you ever wish to be free of me, you have only to remove the board from the window while I sleep. Nature will take care of the rest."

She pressed her hands over her ears. "Stop it! I don't want to hear any more!"

Reaching into his pocket, Gabriel withdrew a large brass key and forced it into her hand. "This fits the lock on the cellar door."

"I don't want it!"

"Keep it. The day may come when you'll wish you had it." "Gabriel, you're scaring me."

"You should be scared," he retorted bitterly. "I am, after all, a monster."