she climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom. Locking the door, she pawed through the drawers, but the most dangerous thing she found was a blow dryer.
Tears of frustration welled in her eyes as she bunched her gown in one hand and climbed out the window. Behind her, she heard someone pounding on the door, and then she heard Sydelle's voice, soft and seductive.
"Let us in, Sarah," the vampire called. "Gabriel is dead, and there's nowhere you can hide."
Dead! No! He couldn't be dead. She slid down the slope of the roof, grabbed hold of a tree branch, and made her way to the ground.
Hide. She had to hide. But where?
She heard a faint crash as the vampires broke down the bathroom door. A moment later, she saw Sydelle's face at the window.
Adrenalin pumping, Sarah ran toward the corral. Never in her life had she vaulted onto a horse's back, but she did so now. Wrapping her hands in the stallion's mane, she drummed her heels into the horse's flanks and Necromancer bolted forward. A sharp kick sent him sailing over the six-foot fence. For a moment, Sarah swayed precariously on the stallion's bare back, and then they were racing toward the back gate.
The horse came to a gravel-scattering halt when they reached the block wall. With fingers that trembled, Sarah opened the gate, then drummed her heels into Necromancer's flanks once again.
She could hear Sydelle calling her name, but she paid no attention. Gabriel, she thought frantically. She had to find Gabriel.
The stallion's iron-shod hooves clattered loudly as he trotted down the middle of the street.
The horse snorted and shied as they reached the bottom of the hill. Sarah screamed as two dark shadows crept up behind her. Delano and Sydelle! How had they gotten there so fast?
With a shriek, Sarah jumped to the ground and sprinted up the walkway to the front door of the vacant house. With a sob, she flung the door open and raced inside.
"Gabriel!"
"Here."
She peered into the darkness, acutely conscious of the two vampires entering the house behind her.
And then she saw Gabriel. He was sitting with his back against the staircase. Moonlight poured through the sliding glass door a few feet away.
"Gabriel?" She ran to his side, Delano and Sydelle forgotten as she saw the dead vampires sprawled on the floor. Nausea rose in her throat when she saw Quillan's body. A wooden stake pierced the vampire's heart. "What happened?"
But Gabriel wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the door.
Afraid of what she'd see, Sarah glanced over her shoulder.
Delano and Sydelle stood silhouetted in the doorway. Even from across the room, Sarah could see the blood hunger burning in their eyes.
"The stake, Sarah," Gabriel said quietly. "Get it."
She looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, her whole being recoiling in horror at the thought of pulling the wood from the vampire's body.
"Do it!" Gabriel hissed, and only then did she notice how pale his face was.
Her gaze swept over him, and she saw the blood, blood so dark it was almost black, seeping from a hideous wound in his chest.
"Hurry," he said urgently.
She glanced at Delano and Sydelle, saw the rage contorting their faces. Bloodred tears welled in Delano's eyes as he stared at Quillan's body.
Closing her eyes, Sarah wrapped her hands around the wooden stake and jerked it free, and then she scooted back toward Gabriel.
"What now?" she asked, but she didn't need or expect an answer. Everything she needed to know was written on the faces of the two vampires as they slowly stepped into the entry hall and closed the door.
Sarah was shivering now. Cold sweat beaded across her brow and ran in cold rivers down her back. Try as she might, she couldn't draw her eyes from the two vampires. She was going to die, she thought, here, tonight.
There was one brief moment when everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
A soft grunt of pain escaped Gabriel's lips as he stood up.
She saw Delano bare his fangs as he lunged forward, his hands looking like claws as he reached for Gabriel's throat.
And then Sydelle sprang toward her, and time ceased to exist. The vampire's strength was incredible. Sarah gasped as she was driven backward. The breath whooshed from her lungs as she fell against the staircase. Her head struck one of the steps and bright lights flashed before her eyes. She felt Sydelle's hands wrap around her throat, heard a blood curdling growl as