Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1) (26 page)

“Stefan—” I whimpered as the fear gripped me.

“Let go, Erin. I will catch you,” he whispered, though even his voice was growing weaker.

“I love you.”

“I…”

But I never heard his reply. The sun had risen. We were out of time.

Chapter 19

My soul dropped back into my chest and I jerked awake. Night had fallen once again and I was alive … so to speak. I instantly started to take in my surroundings while scanning the region. Daphne had stressed that it was important for me to determine who was closest to me when I awakened. There were no humans, but there was a nightwalker. Even as my body tensed, I heard a chuckle beside me and I slumped on the bed. Stefan. I was still in Stefan’s private liar and his cool, naked body was pressed against mine under the blankets.

Leaning up on one elbow, Stefan looked down at me, a little smile playing on his lips. “Did you sleep well?”

“You ask that as if there is any chance of us sleeping any other way?”

The sexy nightwalker gave a shrug of one shoulder. “Mira has nightmares occasionally. And sometimes I feel like I remember parts of dreams.”

“Ahh... but I think that might have something to do with the fact that you’re both older than dirt,” I teased. Stefan gave a little growl and started to lower his lips toward mine, but I deftly slipped out of the bed and darted across the room to where my panties and bra were strewn over a chair.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the nightwalker grumbled at me.

“Breakfast.”

Stefan looked utterly flabbergasted that I would want to be anywhere than in the bed with him. “I thought we would have sex first. Possibly in the shower. Or maybe sex and then sex in the shower.”

“It has been far too long since you’ve been a young little vampire,” I giggled, partially tempted by his suggestion.

Stefan glared at me. “Yes. You’ve already pointed that out with your older-than-dirt statement.”

“What I mean to say is that sex sounds wonderful but I must feed first. It’s the only way that I stay in control.”

A soft sigh slipped from Stefan’s parted lips, but he gave a nod of agreement. “You are smart. Let us get you something to feed upon before I spend the rest of the night exploring the many ways I can make you scream my name.”

My knees threatened to buckle at his words. As it was, I had to grab the arm of the chair I was standing beside to keep upright as well as to keep from launching myself back across the room. His idea sounded far more appealing than hunting or heading out to track down the person who was truly behind my murder. In the end, I managed to hold up my free hand, motioning for him to remain in the bed.

“Stay.”

“I am not going to allow you to hunt without me,” Stefan snapped.

“I’ve hunted many times alone and I’ve gotten quite good at it,” I countered, inwardly wincing at what felt like an exaggeration. While in Poland, I’d hunted “alone” but had always known that Daphne was close by, keeping an eye on me. The only time I’d truly hunted alone was when I’d finally reached Italy and prior to meeting up with Stefan again. All the same, I didn’t need to fall into the habit of relying on Stefan at my back. I had to be able to take care of myself.

“Erin,” Stefan said in warning, his hand tightening on the blankets as he prepared to throw them aside so that he could jump out of the bed.

“I’m serious, Stefan. I need to do this on my own and you know it. I can do this.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I don’t really expect you to. But I’m sure you took enough of my blood last night. You can feel what I’m feeling. You can sense my location.” I paused, giving him a stern look until he finally conceded that I was correct. “Then you will still be with me while I’m gone. Besides, I want to know that you’re in this bed, naked and waiting for me. Think of it as incentive to make breakfast quick.”

Stefan stared at me for several seconds, his entire body tensed while I waited for him to decree that he was going with me.

“You have one hour to return here before I come looking for you,” he said in a low voice that send a shiver down my spine. “Do not make me come looking for you, Erin.”

I nodded, pulling on my shirt and my shoes as quickly as possible without ripping them. It wasn’t that I was afraid that he would do some physical harm to me. No, it was rather that I was sure he would never let me out of his sight again. My kidnapping had severely shaken his sense of security, making his feel vulnerable in ways that I was sure he hadn’t felt in a very, very long time.

This was big step for him and I appreciated his concern, but we both knew we needed the space. He needed to know that I could take care of myself should we ever be separated again. Or if maybe he decided that he didn’t want me for a companion any longer.

A soft chuckle drifted from my lips as I stepped outside into the crisp, evening air. Yet, even as funny as the thought seemed, I knew there could very well be a moment when we no longer felt as if we needed to be together, as hard as it may seem now. As Stefan and Daphne had pointed out to me on more than one occasion, an eternity was an extremely long time — far longer than any human could understand. But even knowing that, I felt like decades wasn’t long enough to spend with Stefan. After we were together a century or two, maybe then we might need a break, but a few centuries of traveling the world together was a good place to start.

Pausing outside Stefan’s house, I stretched my arms above my head, reaching for the sky as I lengthened my spine while trying to work the kinks out of my body after laying perfectly still for hours, wrapped around Stefan’s body. The air was crisp without feeling cold, refreshing. Or maybe it was just my own hopefulness that we were drawing close to the end of the insanity that had engulfed my life since I’d first met Stefan.

Reaching out my powers, I scanned, searching for the nearest cluster of humans. With any luck, I could cross the distance in just a blink, feed, and be back in Stefan’s arms before his over-protectiveness finally beat his will to hold his promise to give me some space. It didn’t take long before I sensed a relatively small cluster of humans. Just a few dozen gathered in a region to the south of Stefan’s home. Maybe a tiny village or a grouping of farms.

I started to turn, putting my feet toward the road that would lead me to the humans when the pain I’d felt last night lanced through my head with white-hot fury. Gripping my head with both hands, I crumpled to my knees, a scream erupting from my parted lips. There was no thought. No will to find Stefan. Blinding pain crowded everything else out of my head. For a second, the pain eased and I was able to pry open my eyes. Before me in the damp grass was a pair of small feet encased in tiny, delicate slippers. Behind me, I heard the backdoor to Stefan’s house slam open and the nightwalker shouted my name. I never got the chance to respond.

The newcomer dropped a hand on my shoulder and we disappeared from my lover’s secret lair, whisked across the darkness. I tried to scream in frustration, but I heard no noise leave my lips. But a cry of pain did find release when we reappeared, my knees slamming into the hard, black marble floor. My captor gave me a shove as we reappeared and I fell over, my hands slamming into the ground as I tried to catch myself.

A quick glance around revealed that we were back in the main throne room where I’d suffered through the nightwalker trial, the place where Stefan had been forced to hand me over to Mira if he wanted to keep me safe. But then safe had become such a relative term.

Torch light flickered in the cavernous room, doing little to beat back the deepest of shadows. There was no one else present except for my captor, and some small part of me didn’t want to turn around, but stalling wouldn’t help.

Elizabeth paced into my view, her lovely face twisted with hatred and rage. Her long black hair swung loose at her back like a dark curtain of night, making her appear even younger than I’d first thought. She couldn’t have been twenty when her maker had chosen to turn her. Her pale blue eyes glowed brightly while she clenched and unclenched her fists as she paced.

“Wretched beast,” she muttered, and I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or to herself. I was willing to bet that I was the wretched beast, though. “You couldn’t just let Vanko torture you for a bit! Another few months and Stefan would have been snarling at Mira and that damned hunter for their incompetence.”

“Why do you want Stefan fighting with Mira? What good does that serve?” I demanded, pushing back to my feet so I wouldn’t feel like I was a total disadvantage to the woman. Of course, standing wasn’t a great help. Elizabeth was a member of the Coven — that meant she was centuries old and insanely stronger and faster than me. I didn’t have a shot in a fight with her.

“Because Mira has enough power on Coven!” Elizabeth screamed at me. “It’s not enough that she’s the Fire Starter but she has to put one of her own allies on the Coven as well. Do you really think he would vote against her?”

“Yes, I do,” I said firmly.

Elizabeth screamed again as she closed the distance between us in a blink of an eyes. Her hand seemed to come out of the ether, slamming into the side of my head with enough force to knock me down again. “Of course he wouldn’t. No one crosses Mira if they wish to continue existing.”

I shook my head to clear it. Pain spider-webbed through my jaw. If I’d been human, it would have been shattered. As it was, I could already feel it healing. “If Stefan honestly didn’t agree with her, he would not side with her. He has more integrity and honor than that. Plus, Mira respects his opinion.”

“Useless, stupid idiot,” Elizabeth grumbled as she paced away from me, shaking her head in disgust.

“Stefan is not Mira’s pawn,” I snapped, wishing I had the strength to fight her, but I had only my words and a prayer that Stefan would find me before Elizabeth got tired of listening.

“There’s an open seat on the Coven. Why don’t you put your own supporter in that seat? Then you won’t feel so outnumbered,” I argued.

“Don’t you think I’ve tried!” Elizabeth shrieked, zooming back to my side. She grasped a handful of my hair and twisted it, jerking my head so that I was forced to stare up at her at an awkward angle. Pain screamed through my scalp as she threatened to rip my hair out. “I’ve convinced two nightwalkers to try for the seat and each time Mira has voted them down. They could have challenged here, but do you think any of them were brave enough? Of course not! She’s the damn Fire Starter.”

Elizabeth released my hair by shoving me away. Pacing a short distance across the floor, the lithe woman pressed a hand to her forehead in weariness. There was something adorably delicate about the woman, but I knew that she could break me in half if she wanted.

I pushed to my feet as she continued to walk around. There wasn’t much I could do against this woman, but at least I had a fighting chance while on my feet. “I don’t understand why you need to get rid of Mira and Stefan. It’s not like they hate you or anything. All three of you can get along for centuries in relative harmony. Isn’t that better?”

“Better?” she screamed, whipping back around. “Is it better to know that I will never have my own will done so long as those two are on the Coven to overrule me? Is it better to know that I am nothing more than a silent corpse in a seat?”

“I guess not,” I muttered.

“No, it’s not! I spent centuries being weaker and overlooked because I’m a woman. I will never go back to that now that I’m an Elder on the Coven.”

Sadly, I was starting to see her point of view. She had undoubtedly fought for her seat on the Coven and now her power and influence had been sharply reduced due to Mira’s presence. No one wanted to dare oppose the Fire Starter, and I really couldn’t blame them. I didn’t think that I needed to lose my life — again — so that Elizabeth could regain control and power.

When the nightwalker turned back to me, she looked calmer, more in control than she had since first appearing. It didn’t set me at ease.

“I think I’m sorry about this,” Elizabeth said with a strange note of surprise. This was confusion wrinkling her brow as she clasped her hands before her. “You seem like a nice person.”

“I am,” I replied, smiling at her.

“But when your mangled corpse is found in Stefan’s chair, I think it will finally be enough to push Stefan into attacking Mira. They have a grim history already and I think this will tip him back in the right direction.”

I backpedaled away from the nightwalker, fear surging through my body. “Stefan can’t beat Mira. She’s the Fire Starter and has Danaus constantly at her side. He can’t win!”

“Possibly true.” Elizabeth gave a little shrug and continued to follow me step for step across the room. “But in the end, one of them will be dead and that will be one less vote against my will. I can live with that.”

There was a small ripple of energy through the air and muscles throughout my body clenched, waiting for Elizabeth’s attack. I would never be fast enough to outrun her or strong enough to fend her off. There were no more tricks in my bag to keep stalling for time or to change her mind.

“But I can’t live without Erin,” Stefan growled from the deep shadows of the room. While they might have been incredibly sweet words, a new fear surged through my veins to see the look of rage twisting Stefan’s handsome features.

Elizabeth screamed in rage. Apparently I’d stalled long enough. Stefan had found me.

The two nightwalkers came together in a blur of hissing and motion too fast for the eye to comprehend. I kept moving back as they fought each other around the room. It seemed like Stefan was stronger than Elizabeth, but Elizabeth was faster and more agile.