Fateful (33 page)

Danielle was so happily imprisoned that she
didn’t notice Max enter the room until he started the music up
again. She tried to look, but Ethan wouldn’t permit it. He’d
trapped her face with his hands and began relentlessly planting
kisses over her entire face until Max’s booming voice rudely
interrupted.

“May I cut in?” he requested boldly.

The last thing Danielle expected was for
Ethan to say yes, but he did as he dropped his hold on her and
stormed angrily from the room. She tried to follow, but was quickly
pulled into Max’s custody.

“Max, let go, what are you doing?” she asked
as she feebly attempted to gain freedom.

“I’m only dancing with you, sweetheart. Ethan
gave his consent, did you not hear it?” He lifted her feet from the
floor and began twirling her.

She closed her eyes. “Max, you’re making me
sick! Cut it out … please.”

“Not a chance, it’s my turn to torture the
mortal,” he announced with a deep guffaw.

After a few moments of reeling torment, Max
stopped suddenly. “Uh-oh,” he mumbled and then set her feet on the
floor.

Danielle couldn’t let go right away because
the room was still lurching. She opened her eyes when she felt
steady enough, then saw Ethan carrying a chair and … something else
hiding behind it. Was that a sword?

He set the chair down, strode toward them and
addressed Max with venom, “That’s it, Max! Now we duel!”

Ethan tossed a sword to Max, which he caught
carelessly. She then realized Ethan was wearing the sword he’d worn
in the painting. Ethan snatched Danielle about the waist and
carried her to the chair. She noticed, with surprise, that he was
smiling!

“You should have a wonderful view from here,
my lady.” He bowed and stepped away. It dawned on her then—they’d
orchestrated this for her—it was all just a ruse to give her what
she wanted. To see them duel.

She laughed and clapped her hands.

Max was twisting and slicing his sword
through the air. She could hear the whistle of the sharp blade as
it cut through it.

Ethan pulled his sword from the sheath and
brandished it ostentatiously. Danielle had no doubts that he could
easily take on just about any threat. He’d removed his jacket, and
his thick muscles could be seen bulging and bunching under the thin
cotton. Her breath hitched at the sight.

“What’s the matter, Ethan? You can’t handle
some healthy competition?” Max taunted, keeping the act going.

They circled each other trying to intimidate
the other while sparring verbally.

“She’s
mine
, there is no competition, so you’d better
keep your oversized paws off her,” Ethan countered. The look on
Ethan’s face was very intimidating. If he ever looked at her like
that, she was certain she’d have a nervous breakdown.

Max winked at her in his usually flirtatious
manner. Ethan lunged at him. Max counter attacked. Their swords
crashed together in a loud metallic ping.

They swung their blades at terrifying speeds
with alarming force. It was like watching a choreographed fight
scene in a movie. They conversed with their blades in an intense
fencing bout, and they knew the moves instinctively. It was also
apparent they enjoyed it immensely.

They slammed the steel together more
aggressively and moved their foot work closer to her. She gasped,
wide-eyed as the two knights clashed dangerously close to her
proximity. They were only a few feet away. It was so intense and so
realistic she was actually getting nervous. Not because she was
frightened, but she could feel the currents of air from the blades
slicing softly across her face, and couldn’t resist pressing back
into the chair.

Ethan glanced her way while he blocked Max
blindly. He may have sensed she was getting a little over
stimulated. They both lowered their swords and walked over to her.
“Why is the ninja getting nervous with the sword fighting?” Ethan
asked.

“Um, I fight with my bare hands,
remember? I’m not used to swords. And you were kind of too close
for comfort, but … I have
really
enjoyed the show. Bravo!” She clapped her hands again. “Thank
you, both of you.”

“A fight with her would be quite an
intriguing challenge if she were a vampire,” Max said, measuring
her in curiosity. “Beon might be right. She could defend herself
against Lucas and Celeste—”

This comment started the muscles in Ethan’s
cheek to twitch as a look of anger arose in his normally calm blue
eyes. “Don’t go there, Max.”

“How can you ignore—?”

Ethan abruptly swung his sword at Max with
violent force. But Max deflected it easily and ignored Ethan’s out
lash. “Danielle, I’m curious, are you trained to defend against a
sword?”

“Max! Stop while you’re ahead!” Ethan snarled
his tone dangerous.

What happened to the
teasing playacting from before?
she wondered as she
stood and went to him. “Ethan, relax...”

“I’ve continued to be criticized by Beon and
the others for not turning you. And it needs to cease. I
can’t—”

Apparently deciding not to answer that, Max
bowed to her and said, “It’s been a pleasure, my lady. Perhaps
we’ll dance another time?” Swinging upright he left grumbling
something about trying to help a friend and all he gets is snapped
at, but when he got to the doorway, he turned back and addressed
Ethan. “I’m going hunting, are you coming?”

“Yes. I’ll be there in a few,” Ethan replied
and slipped his sword back into its sheath.

“Are you okay?” she asked because he still
seemed angry.

“The sun is sinking fast,” he said, without
answering her question.

Yeah, she thought, shifting her gaze to the
open windows along the front. Only a faint glow of orange from the
sunset touched the formal landscaping beyond.

Chapter 18

The Vampire Ball

“Are you ready for this? No more eye contact
with anyone for the rest of the night.”

“I’m ready.” She felt bemused as she looked
into his eyes, but she liked it, and that wasn’t all she wanted.
“May I have one more kiss before you go?” she asked, hoping to wipe
the scowl from his brow.

She realized it worked when he smiled. “I was
already thinking the same thing.”

Ethan’s mouth dropped down to cover hers and
she didn’t know how she was going to spend the rest of the evening
with him without any of this.

“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling away, “but I do
need to lock you up while I’m gone.”

“What?” she asked as Ethan led her toward the
staircase. “Oh, right, because of all the other vampires still
here.”

“No. They should all go hunting as well.”

“Then why?”

“Well, the ladies will likely just go to the
garden where the men will bring,” he paused, then said, “take away
so they don’t mess up their fancy hair-dos which took hours to
create and their fine gowns which need to remain unwrinkled.”

“Take away?” she asked, as they cleared the
last step and made their way down the hallway.

He was silent for a moment and then said, “To
you it’s known as takeout.”

“I don’t think I want to know what that
means.”

“Probably not. Please stay here, just in case
the ladies finish before I do,” he said firmly, stepping into his
bedroom.

“But if I can trust you, why can’t I trust
them?”

“I believe you can, but I’m the one who has
spent the most time around you at night and I know I can handle it.
I just don’t want to risk it if I’m not here. Promise me that
you’ll stay put.”

“I promise,” she agreed, but his request
troubled her. Could they really be dangerous to her? She couldn’t
picture it. Sophia and Nadia were so friendly and kind.

Ethan told her to cover her eyes while he
changed into his “hunting clothes.” He then left to find his
dinner.

But he didn’t tell her how long he would be
gone. She wished she’d asked that as she grew impatient with
waiting. She’d already listened to music and flipped through a
photo album she’d found on the bookshelf. While the album had been
interesting, she was done with it, and had to move on to something
else. She wasn’t in the mood to start a book, so she tried a little
surfing on the internet. Again it wasn’t long before she tired of
that too, and shut down his laptop.

Her thoughts wandered to the pictures they’d
taken earlier. She noticed that he had a card reader for the camera
next to his laptop, and considered sneaking to the drawing room to
get it. But he said not to leave his room….

With a sigh, she moved to the window. It was
completely dark outside meaning the vampires would be at full
power. Thinking of Ethan’s complaint about the others not
supporting his decision to not turn her, she decided he was
right—she shouldn’t risk running into someone before he got back.
Just as she made that decision, she heard Ethan enter the room
behind her and realized she would have been caught if she’d
attempted to get the camera. That wouldn’t have gone over well.

She turned to face him, and her eyes
naturally went to his, but he was elusive as he always was at
night. She couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. They’d
enjoyed one of their best days yet together, but the dark magic was
back, and the prince had to be careful.

Danielle hadn’t really seen him this soon
after he’d been hunting, because he’d never come to her room
immediately after. He was clean, but he seemed pensive and
glum.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

“I just took more than one life … I need a
shower before I can even think about touching you.” He went to his
bathroom and shut the door.

She realized how emotionally affected he was
by the curse. He had told her how much he hated hunting as a
vampire, but she didn’t appreciate the intensity of it until she
saw him tonight.

Danielle watched his bathroom door when she
heard the water shut off. He walked out shirtless while he towel
dried his hair. His muscles bunched and rippled while he rubbed the
towel over his head. Danielle inhaled sharply and bit her lip. Max
may be slightly bigger, but Ethan was nothing to scoff at. His body
was incredibly well defined. It was like seeing one of those hunky
men seen on the front of romance novels, only better, he was right
there, only a few feet away. At that point, she understood why he
reacted the way he did when he saw her in the chemise. She found
herself reacting the same way now.

He hung the towel around his neck and looked
up. Her eyes met with his. Unlike before when he’d prepared her
mentally to fight it off, she fell instantly under his spell like a
deer caught in the headlights. When his eyes rounded and his
expression changed, she realized he only then remembered his effect
on her and pulled his supernatural eyes from hers. “I’m sorry. I
can’t believe I forgot about that,” he said. “I guess I’m getting
too accustomed to having you here.”

“Is that a bad thing?” she asked after she
got her senses back and she’d covered her eyes.

“No, I think it’s a good thing.… Uh,
Danielle, you can look at me. It’s my job to protect you from my
eyes.”

“Okay, but only after you put a shirt
on. You’re tempting me to update
my
principles now.” She peeked through her fingers to find him
still shirtless and smiling. Dang, she thought, tonight is going to
be a long night.

She was slightly disappointed, but also
relieved when he finally got dressed back into his grand ball
attire. Moving to his bathroom mirror, she freshened up her red
lipstick so they weren’t tempted to kiss because, in truth, she was
struggling with that after having seen his bare chest.

Tucking the lipstick into the little bag that
matched her gown, she turned to leave the bathroom, but Ethan was
there extending one arm to her. “Ready?”

Out of habit her eyes swung to his face. He
was staring at his shoes raising an eyebrow at her. “I’m
ready.”

He escorted her to the ballroom.

The band played random notes as they tuned
their instruments. The guests began to arrive and fill the ballroom
with finely dressed men and women. Vampires, she corrected in her
head.

Watching the vampires mingle before the ball
officially began, Danielle was a little shocked to see they didn’t
hide the truth of what they were, even with a mortal in their
midst. They would frequently move at supernatural speeds, going
from one side of the ballroom to the other in a streaked blur of
color. Of course she knew they could travel fast like that, but it
was a little unnerving to watch.

Danielle also knew they were aware of
the fact that
she
was the
mortal amongst them. But aside from a few curious, though cautious,
looks her way they seemed to be ignoring her. With her stomach
churning at this kind of elusive attention, she tightened her grasp
on Ethan’s arm unconsciously. He gave her a soft squeeze back
probably to comfort her.

“How are you feeling, Danielle? Panicking
yet?” Danielle recognized Nadia’s voice as well as the gently
teasing tone to her words as she turned to look at her. Nadia too
stared at the floor.

“Not yet, but I’m borderline,” she
replied, shamelessly truthful. “Are they
really
okay with my being here?” As she spoke,
her gaze shifted to Beon and Sophia standing next to Nadia.
Sophia’s face was held with a soft compassionate smile, while
Beon’s was filled with a frown. Of course she already knew how Beon
felt about it. But how many more felt as he did? While Beon had
said he supported it even though he didn’t agree, were there others
who might try to force the issue?