Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1) (27 page)

Looking around the room for some kind of weapon, I found only a scattering of floor stand candelabras made of iron. It wasn’t a chair leg, but it would have to do. I wasn’t quite sure what I’d do, but I wanted to help Stefan in some way. My only plan was that if she happened to get close enough to me, I could bash her in the head and knock her out. Maybe then they could lock her up in nightwalker jail or something.

Not my most thought-out plan, but damn it I didn’t have a lot of experience with fights, let alone potentially fatal nightwalker fights conducted in super fast forward.

Blowing out the candles so I didn’t accidentally set myself on fire, I grasped the center pole and tipped it over. The legs of the stand were directed out in front of me and I rallied my nerves, convincing myself that I had the strength to help Stefan defend himself.

Stefan struck Elizabeth hard, sending her careening across the room toward me. I had barely enough time to raise the candelabra in defense when Elizabeth crashed into the legs and stuck.

Time stopped. No one moved. We all stared at the candle holder and Elizabeth in a kind of stunned horror. She had impaled herself on it, one of the legs going directly through her chest to her heart.

Elizabeth raised her eyes to my face one last time, a look of betrayal crossing her tensed featured, as if she’d expected me to just quietly submit to her elaborate plans, before she finally collapsed. The weight of her limp body pulled her from the end of the candelabra so that she fell to the ground with a sickening thud.

Stefan closed the distance between us, a grim look in his eyes. There was no relief or horror over the accident that had just occurred. Just an expression of cold purpose. The nightwalker knelt besides Elizabeth’s remains and drove his fist into her motionless chest.

A short scream of horror jumped from my lips and I dropped the candelabra with a loud clatter on the black marble as I backed away from Stefan and Elizabeth. Was this some strange nightwalker ritual? Did he have to drink the blood from the heart of his opponent to gain their strength? Hell! Did I have to do it since I was the one who technically killed her?

My stomach rebelled at the idea. Sure, I survived on an all-liquid diet now, but I didn’t have to do anything so gruesome as rip out a person’s heart to achieve it. In fact, my mind was still trying to accept the fact that I’d killed someone — it didn’t matter than she was trying to kill me first.

“Removing the heart ensures that she isn’t faking her death,” Stefan grumbled, squeezing the thick muscle between his fingers. A soft patter of blood hitting the floor was the only sound in the room. I wanted to scream again to break the stillness. Anything to move beyond this horrible moment of death.

Shaking my head, I took another step backward. “So, she was the one who killed Sabrina and framed me?”

Stefan nodded, tossing her heart aside with disgust. “I’m sure her hope was to create a situation that put me in her debt, pitting me against Mira.” Standing, he wiped his hands on his pants. “She just never expected me to move so quickly to strike a deal with Mira.”

“I was a little surprised myself,” Mira chimed it, pushing away from the wall.

I jumped a little at her sudden appearance. Unlike Stefan’s arrival, I hadn’t felt any magical shifting in the air. But then again, I could have been completely distracted by Stefan’s fight with Elizabeth or the nightwalker’s unexpected death or Stefan pulling the heart from the woman’s chest. All three were worthy of capturing my attention.

“Bells!” I shouted, pointing at Mira and then Stefan. “If I ever get on the Coven, I swear to you that I’m going to make you all wear bells around your necks, damnit!” Mira smiled broadly at me, but when I looked over at Stefan, he was staring at Elizabeth, which brought me straight back into the grim moment. “Never mind. I’m never ever getting on the Coven,” I mumbled under my breath.

Mira’s shadow was missing, but I had little doubt that she and Danaus would be reunited soon enough. There was just something in her manner. Despite her obvious love for the hunter, the nightwalker liked having her secrets. Or maybe it was just how they made their unique relationship work.

“Erin is my life,” Stefan announced when finally looked away from Elizabeth. He made that statement evenly without embarrassment or hesitation, as he circled back to Mira’s earlier surprise. “I would do anything to protect Erin and Mira is the one nightwalker I know who cherishes life more than power. I had no qualms about making a deal with Mira.”

“But that’s why Sabrina died, isn’t it? Power. That’s why I had to die. Why you nearly died,” I interjected with no small amount of frustration.

“I’m sorry, Erin,” Mira said gently, sadness filling her eyes. “This is my fault.” She opened her mouth to say something more and then shut it. Turning away from us, she stared at the dais filled with chairs for the members of the Coven. The four golden chairs glowed in the flickering candlelight. “Three Coven members have died since I rose to power, though this is the first that I didn’t have a direct hand in. Nonetheless, Elizabeth was right. I wield too much power on the Coven. There’s no room for growth or change.”

“Are you stepping down?” Stefan asked. There was no missing the shock filling his wide eyes. It was becoming clear to me that too much of a nightwalker’s existence was filled with the pursuit of power, and walking away from it... well, that just wasn’t done.

“The reason I joined in the first place is finished and gone. It’s time to move on.” She looked over at Stefan with a little smirk. “I’ll stick around to make sure you get a fair balance of members on the Coven so that you and Erin aren’t slaughtered in some damn bloody coup, but yeah, it’s time for me to move on to something else.”

“What’ll you do next?” I asked when a heavy silence fell over the room.

Mira’s smirk turned in a wide, wicked grin as she put her back to the chairs. “I hear Nicolai, a werewolf I once ran with, is fumbling around in Argentina. Maybe I’ll pay him a visit.” With a mischievous laugh, Mira disappeared, likely off to tell her mate that she was going to be unemployed soon and they were headed to South America.

“She is so strange,” I murmured to myself, still staring at the spot where I last saw her. Of course, I had a feeling that Mira wasn’t all that strange and I probably needed to redefine my idea of normal if I was going to survive as a nightwalker.

“I’m sorry, too,” Stefan said, his voice barely over a whisper.

My head jerked up, my heart aching at the pain in his voice. I started to brush off this apology, but he held up one hand, halting the words in my throat before I could set them free.

“If I had wiped your memory that first night as I originally planned,” he paused, balling his hand up in a tight fist. “If I had never returned to your apartment a second or third time, you’d be alive right now. You’d be working on your beautiful sketches, sitting in your hotel room in Pamplona,” he said, mentioning the next stop of my itinerary. “You would have your life and none of this danger or ugly violence. I’ve stolen your life from you and I am sorry.”

Shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I stared at the handsome face streaked with his blood and Elizabeth’s blood. His shirt was torn in spots where her sharp fingernails had slashed through the fabrics. Dried blood stained his pants. He was a frightening sight and yet I still loved him. To me, he was still the most beautiful, wonderful creature I had ever met and was likely to ever meet.

“You’re right,” I said on a sigh. “I would be in Pamplona right now and after that back home to the States. I’d take job after job so long as my talent was appreciated. That was my life as a human, but things change. I’m a nightwalker now and I’ll find something else to do with my existence. I don’t know if one life is better than the other, but I’m looking forward to exploring this one. And I would very much like to explore it with you.”

Stefan closed the distance between us in the blink of an eye, gathering me tightly against his chest. “You will not regret becoming a nightwalker,” he vowed as he kissed me. “I will make you happy.”

I laughed, dropping my head back and stopping him from kissing me a second time. “We’re going to drive each other crazy and you know it!”

Stefan grinned at me. “True,
ma petite
. But it will be fun.”

“Yes, it will.” Lifting one hand to his face, I let my fingers dance over his features, reveling in the knowledge that we were together at last and I could touch him whenever I wished. A thousand years and I would never grow tired to looking into his eyes, kissing those lips, hearing his laugh. “I love you.”

His smile gentled as he cupped my face in both of his hands. “As dawn broke this morning, I thought I heard you whisper those three words.”

“I did.”

“And would you be available to whisper those words to me several times every night?”

“I can be. How long would you like to book me for this unique service?”

“Let us start with eternity.” Stefan leaned forward and pressed a sweet kiss to my forehead. “When that is over, we will renegotiate.”

“And what about you? Do you think I will ever hear those words from you?”

Stefan looked sad for a moment as he drew back. “I said them every night you were gone. They became a prayer. You didn’t hear?”

For a second, I thought about lying, my heart was breaking at the look on his face. But I shook my head. “I caught only snippets most nights. My name. Or an emotion. I hoped what I sensed from you was love.”

“I love you, Erin Prescott. I have loved you from the first moment I stepped into that horrible little apartment and you snapped at me for entering your room uninvited. You’re fearless and brilliant and compassionate.” He paused and smiled at me. “And you are going to drive me insane.”

I arched one eyebrow at him, or at least tried. He was still much better at it than me. “But…” I prompted.

“I’m looking forward to every second of it.”

Epilogue

The early evening air was warm, still holding the heat of the newly ended day. I stepped out of Stefan’s embrace the moment the earth settled under my feet. It was still an adjustment to suddenly teleporting from place to place with Stefan. A part of me couldn’t wait until I got that ability for myself, even if it didn’t kick in for a thousand years. I was happy to stand in Stefan’s arms, my head on his chest, as he teleported both of us across vast distances.

It had been the first time we’d gotten out of Italy in over two weeks. Since Elizabeth’s death, Stefan had stubbornly remained in Venice until Carla was finally located and brought before the Coven. It wasn’t that we suspected her of killing Sabrina and framing me, but we wanted to be sure that the matter was finally closed. Neither of us wanted to spend a very long time looking over our shoulders, waiting for her to attack me.

Walking a short distance from Stefan, I found that we were standing on a grassy hill overlooking a valley. There were some long fences running across the valley and a couple dimly lit structures. Farms perhaps. The air was sweet with the scent of flowers as summer started to descend upon the earth. While sunbathing was out of the question, I was looking forward to talking Stefan into a midnight swim in the ocean.

“Where are we?” I asked, turning back to my companion. Nothing looked familiar and the sneaky man hadn’t said a word when we awoke this evening. After I’d finishing feeding, he’d pulled me close and we disappeared.

“Somewhere special.” Stefan extended his hand to me, a nervous smile lifting the corners of his mouth.

Narrowing my eyes, I stared at him for a second, but I knew that I wasn’t getting any information out of him until he was ready to spill. He was getting better about talking to me, but this was a new relationship for both of us and he was learning to trust.

With a shrug, I slid my hand into his larger hand, allowing him to lead me away from the valley toward a small grove of oak trees. As we drew closer, I started to make out two large square stones standing beside each other beneath the trees.

“Are those graves?” I said, squinting. Stefan said nothing, just kept moving closer.

When we were directly in front of them, I could finally make out that they were two large granite slabs. One was significantly newer than the other, possibly having been lain within the past few months, while the other was weathered and worn as if it had stood there for centuries.

My eyes skimmed past the angel carved in relief into the granite to the name:

Erin Nicole Prescott

1988 - 2015

Artist, Friend, Lover

I lurched away from the headstone, wrapping my arms around myself as if to ward off a sudden chill. “What the hell is that? Did you do this?” I demanded roughly.

“Yes, I did,” Stefan said evenly.

“Why? It’s creepy. I feel like Ebenezer Scrooge.”

“I thought it would help you adjust to being a nightwalker.”

I looked at him in confusion for a moment before dragging my gaze back to the headstone. It was beautiful and looked as it had cost Stefan a fortune, but it was a definitely creepy staring at my own grave, particularly considering that I had died.

“Your death was sudden and you never wanted this life,” Stefan said, coming to stand beside me. He rested his hand on my shoulder and I lifted my hand to cover his. The contact was soothing, sweeping away the last of the willies and the lingering heebie-jeebies so that I could think about what he was saying. “People who are turned like that often struggle to let go of their human life. It makes the acceptance and transition into being a nightwalker that much more difficult. Many don’t survive.” His strong voice drifted off with those last three words.

“And the gravestone?”

Stefan’s hand tightened on my shoulder and I relaxed. “Merely a symbol. Your life as Erin Nicole Prescott ended. Her life was stolen from her and I hope you can lay her to rest here.”

“And then what?”

“Begin your life as a nightwalker ... with me.”

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hold in the laugh. I twisted around to face Stefan, a shocked grin on my face. “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend here? Standing at my own grave?”

A wide, devilish grin spread across Stefan’s lips as he snagged my arm and jerked my back into his arms so that I was pressed tightly against his chest. “My consort. Be my equal at my side for as long as you wish and let all nightwalkers cower before you.”

“Except Mira,” I corrected with a giggle.

Stefan gave a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes. “Except for Mira, but she will respect you.”

“Consort, huh?” I teased. “That’s kind of a long-term position.”

“I’m aiming for eternity, but it may go longer.”

“You realize that I’m not going to bow and scrape and kiss your ass like the others,” I warned.

“I would never expect that, though I would appreciate the occasional compliment regarding my sexual prowess.”

“Of course.”

“I love you, Erin, and I want to spend this life with you beside me. It doesn’t have to be forever if that is not what you wish. I will appreciate whatever time we have together.”

Laying my head against his chest, I snuggled as close as possible. “I love you, too. An eternity sounds just fine with me.”

We stood holding each other for several minutes before my eyes fell on the other gravestone. I’d been so stunned by seeing my own name that I hadn’t looked at it yet. Pressing a kiss to Stefan’s chin, I pulled out of his arms so I could get a clear look at it.

“I hope this isn’t one of your other consorts,” I muttered as I knelt down to brush away some of the dirt and debris that had collected in the worn letters. The date was completely gone, lost to the elements and time, but I could make out the name.

Gregor Jean-Louis Simoneau

“I don’t understand,” I said, turning to look over my shoulder at Stefan. “Do you know who this is?”

“It’s me. Gregor Jean-Louis Simoneau was the name I was given when I was a baby.”

My smile returned as he helped me back to my feet. “So we’re together in death?”

“Yes, and now we have a life to live together.” He gave a nonchalant shrug and grinned. “It’s a bit backwards from what the humans do, but this way, we will have many more years together.”

Rising up on tiptoes, I kissed the tip of Stefan’s nose. “Let’s get out of here. I’m in the mood to find out what this nightwalker existence is all about.”

“As you wish,
ma petite
.” Stefan wrapped his arms around me and we were gone.