Enraptured (6 page)

Mandy took hold of her wrist. She held it in
her hand as she stared at her watch and counted the beats. Nodding,
Mandy released her wrist and rested her hand on the needle embedded
in her arm. “This is going to hurt a little.”

Paige braced herself and turned her
attention away as Mandy gently removed the needle from her arm.
Mandy placed a cotton ball against her arm. “Hold this,” she
instructed.

Holding the ball in place, she watched as
Mandy pushed away the IV stand. “Can you put this outside?” she
inquired.

The vampire from the bar nodded and wheeled
the stand out the door as Mandy returned to her side. Mandy took
the cotton ball away, she placed a bandage on her before grabbing
the blood pressure cuff. Paige remained mute as the cuff compressed
around her, pinching her skin before Mandy released the valve.

“Much better,” Mandy said and pulled the
stethoscope from her ears. “You’ll make a full recovery.”

And then what will become of me
? She
bit back the question; she wasn’t ready for the answer, and she had
a feeling she would find out soon enough.

“I’m Ian, what’s your name?” he
inquired.

The woman’s turquoise eyes were as
inflexible as stone when they met his again. “What are you going to
do with me? What am I doing here?”

“You’re here so we could keep you alive,”
Ian replied. “And you’re welcome for that.”

Her jaw clenched and unclenched. “Thank
you.”

“Was that so difficult?” he teased in the
hopes of coaxing her into relaxing a little. The smile he gave her
had lured a lot of women into his bed, but she simply stared back
at him. He’d met briars friendlier than this woman. Yet, something
about her had him enraptured, and it had nothing to do with her
pretty face.

Paige refused to be swayed by the twinkle in
his sky blue eyes or the smile easing his handsome features. She
could almost believe he was human, almost believe he was a good
man, but he survived on blood, and he wasn’t a normal man. “What
are you going to do with me?”

“We’ll get you back to your family, to where
you belong,” he assured her.

She stared doubtfully at him. “With my
memory intact?”

“You know that’s not an option,” Stefan said
from the doorway.

Paige tilted her chin up as she met the
shark-like eyes of the man in the doorway. There were great whites
that radiated more sympathy than him. “I have a right to keep my
memories,” she replied with more bravado than she felt.

“We have a right to keep ourselves safe,” he
retorted.

The ringing of a phone silenced her protest
as Stefan pulled it out from inside of his pocket. The strange
looking phone reminded her of a walkie-talkie. She’d never seen
anything like it before. He looked at the phone and winced at the
caller ID. A smile lit his face though when he lifted it to his
ear. “Hello love,” he greeted and turned on his heel to walk out of
the room.

Paige frowned at the endearment and the
abrupt softening of his tone. Someone loved that man? And
apparently he loved them too. She supposed even a shark had to kiss
another shark once in a while.

“I don’t envy him,” Ian said.

She pursed her mouth as she fought against
asking the question he knew was on the tip of her tongue. Finally,
she broke down and asked it, “Why not?”

“My sister is a little annoyed with him
right now, and she can be worse than a bear when she’s in a
mood.”

“He’s in a relationship with your
sister?”

“It’s
far
more than a relationship
between them.”

Paige glanced over at him, her forehead
furrowed as her gaze ran over him. “Were you and your sister turned
at the same time?”

Ian shook his head. “No.” He debated not
elaborating further, but he didn’t see what damage it could do.
She’d never remember this conversation anyway. “My siblings and I
are all born vampires.”

“How awful for you,” she muttered.

“You definitely had a bad experience tonight
with a vampire, and apparently at least one other time in your
life, before tonight.” His gaze flicked pointedly toward the scars
on her neck.

Paige fought the urge to touch her scars
again. She felt inexplicably exposed before him. Most didn’t know
what the scars were from, and the ones who did recognize them,
rarely mentioned them. They were proof she was a survivor, that she
had seen the darkness within this world, endured it and lived to
see another day. That was all most of the people she dealt with now
wanted, or needed, to know about her. She had no idea what he saw
when he looked at her scars, but he appeared to have sympathy for
her. Something she absolutely did
not
appreciate from his
kind.

“But I can assure you,” he continued. “We’re
not all like the vampire who attacked you tonight, or before.” She
wasn’t about to tell him they were one-in-the-same. “My family is
far from awful.”

“I’ll second that,” Mandy muttered as she
finished storing away her blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. “I
might be dead right now if it wasn’t for them, and Emma most likely
would be too, or she may be something worse.”

“Who is Emma?” Paige inquired.

“Emma is my sister-in-law,” Ian answered.
“She’s also here. So is her husband, my brother Ethan, and some of
our friends.”

Paige really didn’t care to learn anything
more about him, but her curiosity niggled at her. She’d never heard
of a vampire being born before, and she’d definitely never heard of
a family of them, with friends. But then, he could be lying to her;
she wouldn’t put it past him. It was what his kind did after all.
Even if they did believe they could change her memories, she didn’t
believe anything they told her was the truth.

She still couldn’t stop herself from asking,
“How many siblings do you have?”

“Nine.”

“Nine?” she squeaked and wrapped her hand in
the blanket.

“And every single one of them would never
mistreat you,” Ian assured her.

Movement in the doorway drew his attention
to Emma as she stepped into the room. At five foot four she was
small in stature, but she radiated warmth far beyond her size.
“Hi,” she greeted and strolled across the room toward the woman.
“I’m Emma Byrne.”

The woman recoiled when Emma thrust out her
hand, her hand fisted on the bed, but before anyone could react a
blur raced into the room. Ian barely detected Ethan before he stood
between Emma and the woman. His eyes danced with flames of red as
he glared at the woman who had quickly retreated to the far corner
of the bed.

Ian stepped forward and placed his hand on
his brother’s chest. He shook his head as he nudged Ethan back a
step. “Back off,” he warned.

“It’s fine, Ethan,” Emma said, her hand
encircling his arm.

Ethan’s eyes became their normal green color
again as he stared at the woman. “I know you’ve had a rough time.
You have every reason to be distrustful and frightened, but if you
hurt her, or anyone else in this house, I’ll tie you to that bed
until it’s time for you to be returned.”

The woman’s mouth had dropped at Ethan’s
abrupt arrival, her mouth closed as he spoke. “Animals,” she
murmured.

“If I was an animal I would have torn your
throat out and not thought twice about it,” Ethan replied.

Some of the color drained from her face, but
she thrust her shoulders back. “Not everything is what it seems,
and sometimes what you think you know is wrong,” Ian said
quietly.

She glanced at him, but her mouth remained
clamped shut. “I’m Emma.” Ethan tried to push Emma’s hand down
again, but she elbowed him in the stomach. “And Ethan here is a
giant, mushy teddy bear wrapped in an overprotective shell.”

Mandy laughed, it took all Ian had to keep
his smirk suppressed as his brother scowled. The woman stared at
the hand Emma kept out. “I was once human too. Once frightened and
overwhelmed by these guys, and their family, but believe me I’ve
met the vampires that kill, you wouldn’t still be here if anyone in
this cabin were one of them.”

The woman swallowed and hesitatingly took
hold of Emma’s tiny hand. Ethan bristled, but didn’t move to
intervene. Ian kept his body protectively in between the woman and
his brother just in case. He didn’t want to fight with his brother;
he understood Ethan’s drive to keep Emma safe, but he would protect
her if Ethan made a move to harm her.

“Paige Dryer,” the woman replied. Ian
speculated if it was her real name, but he didn’t get the
impression she was lying about it.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Paige,” Emma
said and released her hand. “You
are
safe here, for however
much time you need to be.”

Jill materialized in the doorway. “Is
everything ok?” she inquired.

“Fine,” Emma assured her. “I bet Paige is
hungry though.”

“I’m not,” Paige replied, but Ian heard the
rumble of her stomach. Emma must have too, as she turned away and
said, “Jill makes the best grilled cheeses.”

“I do,” Jill confirmed with a smile. “and
I’ll be happy to make one or two for you.”

Emma hooked her arm through Jill’s as they
walked down the hall together. “I’ll bring you some coffee too,”
Mandy offered. She patted Paige’s arm before following her friends
from the room.

“I’ll be fine in here,” Ian told his
brother.

Ethan hesitated before finally leaving the
room. Ian settled into the chair as Paige’s eyes returned to
him.

Paige stared at the vampire sitting across from her.
The casual air surrounding him set her teeth on edge. How could he
be so relaxed when she felt like she was sitting on a bed of nails?
She longed to punch him in his too handsome face, to throw him off
in some small way, but he’d only heal back into the sexy man he
was, and he’d probably just laugh at her. A small smile, more of a
smirk, curved the corner of his full mouth. Eyes the color of the
sky danced with merriment, as he seemed to guess at her thoughts.
She may only be a human, but she was still deadly, something she
would prove to this man if given the chance.

She had no idea what was going on here with
this bizarre as hell vampire family, but she did know they were all
monsters no matter what any of them said. She’d heard other male
voices too, drifting from the main part of whatever house she was
in, and assumed there were more than the three men she’d met so
far. Maybe this was some kind of sick, twisted game they all played
with their prey before torturing them, and finally putting them out
of their misery. Maybe they lured their prey into a false sense of
security and then laughed as they drained them dry. They may kill
her, but they wouldn’t fool her into thinking they were decent;
she’d make sure of that.

Thick muscles rippled as the man across from
her leaned forward again. The three men she’d seen were all large,
but he was the biggest of them all. She guessed him to be around
six-four and easily two hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle,
if not more. He also
knew
he was good looking. He ran a hand
through his hair and gave her a smile she had to admit was
endearing. And then she hated herself for thinking it. She’d seen
that charming smile work its magic on multiple women over the past
few days. Refusing to be swayed by it, she icily stared back at
him, but the smile didn’t leave his face.

Ian tilted his head to the side to watch
her. Her eyes had shifted back to the door; her brow furrowed as
she listened to the voices from down the hall. Trying to figure out
how many of them are here, he deduced when her mouth pursed. Her
eyes shot back to him when he shifted; her upper lip curled
slightly before becoming a flat line again. She was the first
female he’d come across who truly disliked him, also the first who
fascinated him in such a strange way.

He enjoyed the subtle nuances fluttering
across her features. She tried so hard to be brave, to remain as
impassive as possible, but the beads of sweat on her upper lip, and
the increased beat of her heart belied her stony exterior. He had
to give her credit, she believed she was surrounded by monsters who
would kill her, yet she didn’t back down.

“I’ve seen you around the past few nights,”
she muttered.

He folded his hands together and rested his
elbows on his knees. “I don’t recall seeing you, before
tonight.”

Paige snorted, “That’s not surprising with
the revolving door of women you maintain.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her statement but
the smile didn’t leave his face. “You’ve been watching me closely
then.”

“No,” she said far more briskly than she’d
intended to.

“Do you go to the college?”

“No.”

“So you’ve been hanging around the bar?”

She shrugged and brushed back a strand of
her messy, oily hair. A shower would be amazing for her aching
muscles and to get rid of the sweaty, back alley odor she currently
sported. People participating in triathlons smelled better than she
did right now; it would be nice not to reek of death before her
actual death.

Rubbing at her temples, she wondered if the
loss of blood had caused her brain to short circuit. What did it
matter what she smelled like, or how she felt before she died? She
hoped she smelled so bad the taste of her would still be stuck in
their fangs months after her demise. Maybe she’d give them
heartburn, if vampires got heartburn.

Yep, the loss of blood had definitely
affected her mind, she decided.

“For a little bit,” she admitted.

Her thoughts chugged along sluggishly as she
tried to recall everything that had occurred last night. She’d seen
him in the bar, and for the first time he’d also seen her. Then
she’d gone outside with Nabel and walked around to the back. That’s
where they’d finally found
him
, the one she’d been hunting
for, the monster who had haunted her dreams even before he’d become
a walking dead guy. The one she’d been searching for, for what felt
like forever. She’d found him, but it had all gone so horribly
wrong. She’d played the scenario of their reunion out in her head
millions of times over the years. In every one of those scenarios
she’d been the one to drive a stake through his heart, not the one
to end up being his Lunchable.