Stakes & Stilettos - Michelle Rowen [72]
He grabbed her arm and brought it to his lips, raising his eyes to meet hers. Her eyes closed with pleasure as he drew his tongue along the self-inflicted wound.
“Yes,” she hissed.
The blood stirred a darkness inside Thierry that only took seconds to overtake him. He’d overestimated his control, especially after so long. He wanted more. Needed more. The desire overwhelmed him.
He broke the connection with a growl.
“See?” Elizabeth gave him a slow, amused smile. “Was that so bad?”
“No.” He grabbed her shoulders. The look she gave him made him believe that she expected him to kiss her and perhaps carry her off to his bed, but that wasn’t what he wanted from her.
He pushed the light-colored hair away from the side of her neck and sank his fangs in.
She gasped in pain.
He drank until he felt her small hands on his chest. She was attempting to push him away. Finally his senses began to come back and the world widened to include more than just the taste of her blood.
She held a hand up to her neck, her eyes wide with shock. It hadn’t been as exciting as she’d expected. He saw fear in her eyes now. He’d taken too much.
He swallowed. “I’m… I’m sorry. It’s been so long. I misjudged my control.”
She blinked at him. “I will tell Nicolai. I’ll tell him everything. That you are the Red Devil. That you attacked me. He’ll kill you for this.”
She turned away, but he grabbed her arm. He had to stop her—to convince her to say nothing. His secret couldn’t be revealed. “Please, Elizabeth. Listen to me—”
She wrenched away from him, then turned and ran out of the room and down the stairs of the inn. Thierry thundered after her. She opened the front doors and ran out onto the street—
—Where there were five hunters waiting. Thierry halted his steps and watched in horror as they grabbed her, pulling back her lips to see her fangs.
“Our information was half right about this place, but it’s a female not a male. She is one of the monsters.”
The others roared their appreciation before a stake was plunged into the beautiful actress’s heart. She hadn’t even made a sound of protest. She’d already been weakened by loss of blood and was too stunned by the sight of the hunters to scream.
Thierry’s knees gave out and he collapsed, shaking, to the ground.
It was his fault. The death of his friend’s wife was on his hands.
All his fault.
He felt certain as he stared out at her body, lying in the middle of the street as the hunters departed, that he would never recover from this.
The Red Devil died that day as well.
Chapter 13
In the park, after the Red Devil had disappeared, Thierry grabbed my hand and practically dragged me back to Haven.
“We must talk,” he said. He didn’t sound happy.
We entered the club and I glanced at George, Amy, and Barry, who all took a step back from us as we passed them on the way to Thierry’s office. Even the patrons in the club glanced up in our direction with wariness in their gazes. Butch sat at a table holding a wet cloth up to his head.
I was a jumble of emotions, but the slamming of the office door helped me snap back to the present. I looked up. Thierry’s gaze was filled with anger.
“Why would you go out there all alone? After everything that has happened to you? You could have been killed.”
I crossed my arms. “George was with me.”
“You’ll excuse me if that does not fill me with confidence.” His expression slowly began to soften a little around the edges. “Sarah, why must you continually tempt fate?”
I blinked back tears. “I had to meet Stacy. I had no other choice.”
“There are always other choices.”
“She called and I met her to apologize. She’s thinking about breaking the curse, but it doesn’t sound all that positive.”
He was silent for a moment. “I’m very sorry.”
“She confirmed that the curse was to make me into a nightwalker.”
His expression was grim. “Yes, I have suspected that for some time now.”
I felt so frustrated that I wanted to scream. “Are you