Embrace the Night

Page 235



He was walking up the hill toward the mansion when he felt it—an awareness that he was no longer alone, that another immortal being was nearby.

He paused, his gaze sweeping the darkness, as the sense of another presence grew stronger.

And then they emerged from out of the shadows, two men and a woman. For a time, they stared at him, and then the taller of the two men spoke.

"You sent for me, Giovanni, and I am here." "But not alone."

"I brought two of my younger fledglings with me."

Gabriel's gaze swept over the other two vampires. The boy was young, no more than twenty, with curly brown hair and limpid brown eyes. He was curious and afraid, and he hovered close to his master, making Gabriel wonder how he'd found the courage to cross the gulf from life to death and back again.

And then he got a good look at the woman, and for a moment he was looking into a face from the past. She had Nina's dark eyes, Nina's long black hair, the same haughty tilt to her chin. She was, he knew, a woman perfectly suited to the life of a vampire, a woman whose heart and soul had rejoiced in darkness even before the Dark Gift had been bequeathed to her.

He sucked in a deep breath, let it out in a fervent sigh of relief as he reminded himself that Nina was dead.

"My house is at the top of the hill," Gabriel said.

Quillan nodded, the gesture telling Gabriel more plainly than words that the vampire already knew where he lived. "Does the woman know what you are?"

"Yes."

A look of surprise flitted across the ancient vampire's face. "And she accepts it?" "As much as a mortal can."

"Does she know you sent for me?" "Yes."

Quillan nodded, and Gabriel started walking again, acutely aware of the three who followed him.

Sarah was waiting for him at the front door, a smile of welcome on her lips. A smile that quickly died as three black-clad figures followed Gabriel into the entry hall.

Vampires. She knew immediately what they were. A chill unlike anything she had ever known seemed to enter the house with them.

"Sarah, this is Quillan."