Forever (Book #3 in the Fateful Series) (26 page)

Suddenly a man appeared in front of them, and they were forced to skid to a halt. Ethan barely bit back a surprised shout. The man smiled, white teeth shining out from a shadowed face with downcast eyes. “You called?” he asked in a thick Hungarian accent.

One of the vampires. A second later, several more joined him.

“I’m Max, and this is Ethan. Thanks for coming so quickly,” responded Max, because for some reason Ethan had fallen mute.

The vampire lifted a hand to his face and peered at them through a gap he’d created between two of his fingers. Apparently he wanted to get a good look at the famous Ethan Deveroux without knocking him senseless with the curse magic in his eyes. “I’m Kristof,” said the vampire, “but I’m sure we don’t have time for pleasantries. What do you need?”

Ethan cleared his throat and explained the situation, mentioning the danger to the vampires because of the witches’ arrows. If he’d been flattered by their reaction to his name, his ego was taken down a notch when he saw how incredibly eager they were to face death-by-poison-arrow to save the even more infamous Danielle Darcey.

Kristof hung back with him and Max to protect them if they encountered any of the werewolves, and the rest of them sped off toward the witches’ house.

It really hadn’t taken them long, but when he and Max finally arrived, the vampires were creeping toward some hedges Ethan had overlooked earlier, thinking they were just part of the landscaping. The men were advancing with a level of caution that told him they knew witches were there and were probably wary of the arrows that could turn their immortality into a swift mortal death. It was also obvious they hadn’t been discovered yet, like he and Max had. Of course the vampires had advantages that he and Max didn’t.

The area seemed deserted and it was as quiet as a tomb. That concerned him. His vision wasn’t good without his glasses, so he squinted trying to bring things into focus. The flames, though lower, still jumped from the wood, sending sparks into the air. The big shape he knew to be the house was dark. Ethan could see the tree because it was still lit up, but he couldn’t tell if the ropes were still on the ground at the base of it. As his eyes traveled over the lawn, they caught onto something reflecting moonlight and he realized it was probably his glasses. Ethan wanted to go get them to at least hold the lenses up to his eyes, but going out into the open for a pair of spectacles with werewolves about wasn’t exactly wise, so he discarded the idea.

The smell of smoke was as strong as before, but there was something else. Drawing another breath, panic welled up in his throat. He recognized it as the smell he’d noticed when the werewolves had broken into their home. They were here then, but why were they being so quiet? Their howls had completely ceased. “Where do you think—?”

Kristof shook his head sharply, making a slicing motion over his throat. Ethan snapped his mouth shut at the command, and that’s when he heard it. Voices—female ones. So where were they then? Suddenly the hushed speech turned into screams and a number of women came out from behind the shrubs the vampires were closing in on. Were Danielle and Nadia with them? They were too far away and it was too dark for him to pick out anyone he recognized.

All hell broke loose after that. The vampire held them back when whoops and growls obliterated the quiet. Ethan didn’t need his glasses to know the werewolves were attacking. “What’s happening?” Ethan asked, because he couldn’t make it out with the explosion of movement by the shrubbery and the house.

“The witches have armed themselves and they’re fighting the werewolves.”

“Do you see Danielle or Nadia?” asked Max.

“I do not.”

“Well, they’ve got to be somewhere around here!” Ethan ground out, angry and frustrated with the horrible events over the last twenty-four hours.

“The rest of my men are working their way into the shrubbery.”

Ethan didn’t have patience for this commentary. He
needed
to see what was going on, so he asked angrily, “Could you get my glasses?”

It took Kristof a moment to respond, and when Ethan thought he might not be willing to retrieve them, something cold pressed into the palm of his hand. His fingers closed around the remains of his spectacles. Misshapen because the rims were bent, Ethan lifted them to his face and asked Max, “Did they get like this when you hit me?” It felt like he’d been struck in the jaw, not his nose.

“Ah ... no.”

Ethan peered through the glass, which was cracked but still intact, and blinked at the battle trying to see if he could find his wife.

“That happened when I picked you up. I didn’t see them, and—”

Ethan waved his hand, not needing to hear anymore. It was obvious Max had stepped on them.

They watched, trying to understand what was happening as the witches screeched out cries of terror, and the werewolves snarled and howled.

“I can’t stand on the sidelines like this any longer,” complained Max before he took off across the lawn, lifting his rifle to his shoulder.

He didn’t get far before the vampire stopped him, dragging him back.

“Fine,” Max grumbled, yanking his arms free of the Kristof’s hold.

“You called us here for help. I can’t let anything happen to you.”

Ethan ground his teeth together because he wanted to do the same thing, but also knew he wouldn’t get any farther than Max had, especially when Kristof spread his arms out in front of them like he could read Ethan’s mind.

“There!” shouted the vampire suddenly.

“What? Where?” Ethan asked, pressing as forward as he could against the vampire’s arm that was extended in front of his chest.

“I see two women running into the woods.”

Just before they disappeared into the trees, Ethan caught a glimpse of them. His lungs froze up when he also noticed several werewolves in pursuit. He wasn’t sure if he could take much comfort in the vampires who’d followed as well, because there were just too many werewolves. Ethan sank against one of the trees they stood between. He was sure Lucas was there tonight, sure he was hunting Danielle specifically, and poor Nadia would become a devastatingly unfortunate casualty. The tips of his fingers bit into the palms of his hands as they fisted at his sides. He wanted to scream in frustration or hit something, but that wouldn’t help this situation. Ethan felt so utterly useless, and his thoughts naturally returned to the idea of becoming a vampire again. He could remember what it was like to run so incredibly fast, the powerful curse magic coursing through his veins, the ease at which he did physical things, the lack of physical pain.... But if Lucas got to them tonight, being powerful wouldn’t change anything. It was too late to reconsider any of his past choices, and it might just be too late to save his wife and his friend. Emotion made his already despicable vision blur even further.

A hand landed gently on his shoulder. Lifting his eyes, they met with the vampire’s sympathetic expression. Ethan frowned in bewilderment when his legs turned to cooked noodles and his back began sliding down the bark.

The vampire blinked, spat out a curse and jerked his head to the side while catching Ethan under the armpits. “Sorry. I forgot about that.”

It was the first time Ethan had been influenced as a mortal by the curse magic, and he decided he didn’t like it much as he latched onto the trunk behind him, trying to regain the strength in his legs. How long had he done this to Danielle? And how could she have liked it so much?

“Are you all right?” Kristof asked.

Remembering how the curse magic was supposed to work, he realized the effect hadn’t gotten to the point of him
wanting
to die yet. “I’m fine,” he managed. The small lie didn’t take away the fact that inside he was collapsing. “Can we follow them?” He had to know the outcome, and couldn’t sit here waiting for a call.

“Can you run?” Kristof asked with a note of concern in his voice.

To prove he could, Ethan shoved away from the tree and took off in the direction he’d see the women go.

For what felt like miles, they ran. Or maybe it felt that way to Ethan because he had to hold his glasses up to his face so he could see. His arm was beginning to cramp, his jaw was throbbing and his legs burned. Trying to forget about how he felt, Ethan listened for any sound that would tell him they were getting closer. It distressed him that he couldn’t hear the howling anymore, but he kept going.

Like a ghost materializing before his eyes, another man suddenly showed up in front of them. Ethan was forced to stop so abruptly, he fell backward and crashed into Max. They toppled over like a pair of dominoes. Pushing up from off the ground, and from off of Max, he wanted to shout, “Stop doing that!” Instead he asked, “Did you catch them?”

Not looking him in the eye, the vampire shook his head. “The werewolves got to them before we did.”

Had they been killed? His legs went weak again but it wasn’t because he could see the vampire’s eyes. “Explain!”

“I believe they didn’t want to infect them with their curse, so they tossed blankets over them and hauled them off like that.”

“How did they get away from you?”

“There were too many of them for us to fight all at once. A couple of them snatched the girls while we battled with the others, and fled. We searched, but we couldn’t find them.”

“You couldn’t scent them?”

“We tried that.” The vampire shook his head. “They did something to mask it.”

Max swore.

“What were the witches doing behind the shrubs?” Ethan asked because he had to understand what had happened while they’d stood hidden in the trees.

“They were going to kill them.”

Max swore again.

“How do you know?” Ethan felt breathless.

“That coven has lived here for longer than many of us have even been vampires.”

Ethan gaped at that because he knew witches were mortal.

The vampire continued, “It is said, that they have some kind of ritual that makes them live longer and look as beautiful as they do.”

“And you believe that is what they were trying to do?”

“Yes.” A pause and then, “If the werewolves hadn’t come, we might have been too late to save them.”

“What?” Ethan asked, his insides churning so much he felt nauseated.

“The witches heard the werewolves coming and stopped their chant because of it. If not for that, they would have still been in the process of the spell and nearing the completion.” Pressing a fist to his mouth, Ethan tried to keep the fish soup down. The vampire went on. “When the werewolves did finally attack, the girls managed to escape in the confusion.”

“Were any of your men harmed by the witches’ arrows?” Ethan managed to ask, knowing he’d feel horrible if any of the vampires were killed trying to help them.

The vampire’s mouth twisted with an evil smile, revealing fangs. “No. We managed to get the bows away from a couple of the pretty creatures...” The unspoken death of those witches hung between them.

Chapter 14

Werewolves and Little Red Riding Hood

“Make sure you don’t scratch them,” she thought a werewolf said in the raspy voice of a beast.

Danielle didn’t want that either and she’d decided it was best not to struggle for that reason.

It felt like she was being hauled around like a sack of potatoes on her captor’s shoulder. Bound within a huge blanket or something, she couldn’t see at all, and what she could hear was muffled through the material. The moist warmth of her breath puffed back into her face with each exhale, and she was getting lightheaded because of it. Bent at the waist like she was, the blood was rushing to her head and that wasn’t helping her feel any less sick. If this creepy beast wasn’t careful, he’d soon have the contents of her stomach all over him. Danielle pinched her lips together—too bad her stomach was empty....

It was correct for her to have assumed they’d get a chance to escape if the werewolves showed up. When the witches had heard the howls, they’d run for their bows and arrows. And since she’d already pulled one hand free, she was able to unbind her legs and Nadia. They’d run into the woods and toward the street, praying to find someone who could hide them. Of course she hadn’t forgotten about the werewolves’ heightened sense of smell, and wasn’t surprised when they’d caught up to them so fast.

She could still hear Nadia’s screams of terror ringing in her ears when the werewolves had surrounded them. Her friend must have felt so incredibly vulnerable and fragile as a mortal woman being encircled by such hideous things. A cross between enormous men and monsters, they
were
the things of nightmares and she felt horribly guilty about Nadia being caught up in this mess with her. It was her they were after, not Nadia. Why hadn’t they just left Nadia behind like she’d begged them to? Thinking she’d seen a few vampires fighting some of the werewolves before something had been thrown over her head, Danielle believed Nadia would have been rescued.

Whoever had her didn’t sound like Lucas, but she knew she’d soon face him again. A sense of foreboding uncurled inside her stomach like a snake. Nadia hadn’t been the only one of them screaming.

As all of their hopes for freedom had crumbled around them, Danielle mentally grasped onto one glimmer of light. In the back of her mind, she believed someone would still try to rescue them. Because of the way Max had been forced to knock Ethan out, she didn’t think he’d give up on finding her despite the look on his face telling her he’d believed her lies. Ethan Deveroux was too stubborn and too possessive for that. If she ever saw him again, she would hug him for that blessed character flaw.

Danielle wasn’t sure if she’d fallen asleep or passed out from lack of air, but when her back landed against something soft and springy she was jolted awake. The blanket was roughly pulled out from around her and she blinked up at the man standing above her. Instinctively, she cringed away from the stranger. It must have taken them the rest of night to get to wherever they were, because sunlight was filtering in through the crack in the dark-green curtains behind him. She was also aware of the fact that Nadia was next to her, but she didn’t trust this guy enough to take her eyes off him just yet.

“I would assume you’re both hungry,” the guy said.

Startled by the friendly offer, she didn’t respond right away. Her gaze traveled over the blond man and the other three men with him. The guy who’d spoken to her was dressed in jeans and a plaid flannel shirt. The others were dressed similarly, like they were campers. His fairly handsome, but rugged face split into a smile, showing a pair of dimples in his cheeks. Danielle’s eyes rounded in surprise. He seemed friendly and harmless even though she believed these were probably the werewolves, just during the day without their curse surrounding them. He held out a bag of jerky for her. “I’m sorry, but this is all I’ve got at the moment. Jack is busy cooking up some eggs, bacon and boxty for you.”

As she wondered what the heck boxty was, her eyes landed on the bag of jerky and her stomach asked for it with a loud growl. Her fingers grazed along her stomach, her cheeks heating.

“Go on now,” he said, still grinning. “I can hear how bad you want it.”

When her gaze still shifted from him to the bag and back to the other guys, he frowned, reached inside and pulled out a piece which he held out to her instead of the bag.

“What do you want with us?” she asked, ignoring the food.

His arm dropped to his side. The guy blinked in bewilderment like he was surprised she was scared of him. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

A groan drew her attention to Nadia on the bed beside her. Danielle only hesitated for a moment before she looked at her friend. Besides her hair being a mess and her clothes rumpled, it seemed as though she was all right, but Danielle reached over to check for any tears in her clothes anyway. She hoped her friend hadn’t been scratched by one of the werewolves by mistake.... Nadia’s black lashes fluttered up and once she focused on the men she sprang upright and scrambled backwards until she bumped into the headboard and couldn’t go any farther.

“Are you okay?” she asked Nadia.

Nadia blinked and nodded a mute reply.

Drawing a breath, she released it slowly. She could smell the food he’d just described being cooked, and her stomach responded with another gurgle. “What do you want with us?” she repeated because he hadn’t answered her the first time.

“We just want you to cure us.”

Danielle felt her jaw drop. “But I thought Lucas—”

His face lit up again. “Lucas said you could cure us like you did that vampire. Should we go get him for you?”

“No,” she snapped perhaps a little too hastily.

The guy’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not his friend?”

Shaking her head, she tried to decide if maybe they could trust these guys to turn on Lucas, especially if his lies were the reasons they’d kidnapped them. Danielle still believed Lucas meant her a great deal of harm, but the other werewolves seemed kind of nice.

“You
can
cure us, can’t you?” asked the guy. Had she noticed a hint of annoyance in his voice that hadn’t been there before?

“You don’t want to be werewolves?” she asked without answering his question because she really didn’t have an answer for him. Just as there were vampires who’d wanted to stay cursed, weren’t there some werewolves who wanted that too?

Hesitating for a moment, he just stared at her and she worried he’d noticed her hedge. “Why would anyone in their right mind want to be a werewolf?” he asked. “We’re prisoners every full moon, and—”

“And,” chimed in the guy with black hair, “my family is starting to ask why I disappear once a month.”

Yet, Danielle would bet on the fact that Lucas
wanted
to be a werewolf, and that’s what led her to her next question. “But don’t you have super powers because of it? And a chance to become alpha, or something?”

The black-haired guy belted out a laugh which was punctuated by a derisive snort. “We’re cursed
men
. There’s no such thing as alpha here. That’s a dog and wolf thing. We’re neither of those.”

The blond guy cocked his head to the side, folded his arms and narrowed his eyes further. “You didn’t answer my question earlier.” So, he had noticed.

Trying honesty, she said, “I don’t know how I could. Is there some prophecy about how it’s done?”

Not only did his eyes stay narrowed to angry slits, his eyebrows lowered, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. That’s when Danielle started to think that maybe these guys weren’t so nice after all. “What exactly are you talking about?” he growled.

“Well, with the vampires, there was a prophecy that said, ‘The one who gives himself to humanity will find the cure to the curse.’ So, Ethan asked me to bite him when he was under the influence of the curse and weak from thirst.”

Confusion clouded the guy’s expression. By now, anger was practically radiating off of him, and she worried that maybe she’d been too honest. “Who’s Ethan?” he snapped.

Apparently Lucas hadn’t told them everything. “Um, he’s the vampire I cured.”

His arms dropped from their folded position in frustration and he turned to the other men. “What do you make of this?”

Danielle’s gaze met with Nadia’s for a brief moment before she started assessing their situation. They were in some sort of cabin made out of logs. It was rustic and not really decorated, so she figured only men stayed here. Straight ahead was a window. To her left was an open doorway that led to an area with a sofa and a fireplace. Beyond that, she suspected there was a kitchen and that’s where Jack was, making breakfast. Her next thoughts were how she could get out of here, and what she could use as a weapon.

“We don’t know of any such prophecy. I say we have her bite us and see what happens.”

“Does it need to be done while we’re cursed?”

“Couldn’t that turn her? I don’t think she could cure us if she’s one of us too.”

Again the blond guy folded his arms, his boot tapping against the wood floor as he thought about it with an obvious air of impatience.

She wasn’t prepared for it when he spun on his heel and looked directly at her. He’d caught her staring at a heavy-looking lamp as she considered its usefulness at clobbering him over the head while he had his back to her. “You’re thinking about escaping,” he pointed out with a lift of his eyebrows.

She didn’t bother to answer that.

“Tie them up while we figure out what to do with them,” he ground out. “I’m going to ask Lucas about this.” Then he left the room.

She did not want to be bound with Lucas nearby and made the split second decision to fight them. Her biggest concern was that she didn’t know if these guys would be stronger than normal men without their curse or not, but she had to try. Casting a look at Nadia, she gave the signal of what she planned. The muscles in Nadia’s body tightened in anticipation even though she looked scared about what they were going to attempt.

The other blond guy reached for a pile of ropes on the dresser behind them. Dark blue eyes swung her way while he stretched out the length of it and stalked forward. When the black-haired guy reached for her wrists, Danielle grabbed onto his instead, yanked him forward, knocking him off balance, and kicked him in the kidneys. Hard.

He doubled over with a grunt of pain, but recovered way faster than he should have. Apparently as werewolves they were more resilient than mortal men. Danielle gulped.

Nadia had jumped to her feet and grabbed the lamp on her side of the room. She stood with her feet shoulder-width apart, the lamp turned upside down and ready, but she stared at Danielle in fear after having witnessed what she just had.

“Collin, are you all right?” asked the second blond guy.

“Yeah, I am,” replied Collin.

“How do you want to handle this?”

Collin considered Danielle before smiling with renewed determination. “I’m
going
to tie her up.”

Not if she had anything to say about it. She jumped off the bed and lifted her fists.

Collin laughed like he was pleased with the idea of a fight. Rolling his shoulders back, he came at her again. “Bring the rope, Darwin.”

He must have been too confident because she managed to punch him in the face three times without him doing much at all to avoid it. Each strike made his head snap backward before he simply shook it off. He kept coming, and Danielle realized that maybe he wasn’t too confident after all. With sable eyebrows drawn low in anger, Collin reached out with surprising speed and caught her in a headlock.

Dang it!

Danielle couldn’t escape his grip while Darwin wrapped rope around her wrists and ankles. Once she was securely bound, he lifted her up and tossed her back on the bed.