into the parlor and sank down on the sofa. "He told me about Nina, said I was to protect you during the day." Maurice paused, willing his hands to stop trembling, but he couldn't shake off the fear that had gripped him. "What are we going to do, Sara Jayne?"
"I don't know."
Maurice glanced around the room, at the garlic hanging from the windows and over the door. "Do you really think that will keep her out?"
"It kept Gabriel inside the cottage."
"Yes, but from what he says, Nina is stronger than he is. What if she's immune to something as mundane as garlic?"
"I sprinkled the windowsills with holy water, too. I don't care how strong she is, I don't think she can cross that."
"And if she can?"
"I don't know!" Sara jumped to her feet and began to pace the floor. "I'm just as frightened as you are."
Her words were like a slap in the face. Squaring his shoulders, Maurice stood up and gathered Sara into his arms.
"I'll protect you with my life, Sara Jayne," he said quietly. "I swear it on the life of my mother."
PART One Chapter Twenty-three
Nina stood in the darkness across from the opera house. Dressed all in black, she blended into the shadows, watching Giovanni.
He was waiting, she thought, waiting for his little ballerina to emerge from the theater.
She could sense his mind probing the night, searching, Nina knew, for her.
Nina smiled. Did he honestly think he could keep her from exacting revenge, that he could protect that silly little mortal woman?
The smile died on her lips as she recalled how he had refused to share a single night with her. In a thousand years, no man had ever refused her and lived to tell it.
But she would not kill Gianni - it would be so much more satisfying to destroy his woman.
Or so she told herself. It was a lie, and she knew it, but she refused to acknowledge that she simply could not bring herself to destroy him, that even now, after all these years, after the way he had coldly dismissed her, he was the only man she had ever truly cared for, and he had refused her because of another woman.
Jealousy rose up within her, as bitter as gall. It was unthinkable that a man who had once adored her had spurned her in favor of that doe-eyed creature with her innocent blue eyes and pale blond hair.
Eyes narrowed, she stared at Giovanni, and at that moment she hated him, hated him as fervently as she loved him.
In a thousand years, she had desired many men, made love to many men, but she had loved none of them. She was too selfish to give anyone a part of herself. It seemed ironic, somehow, that the only man with whom she wanted to share a part of her existence did not want her.
And for that, the woman would pay.
And through the woman, Giovanni would pay.
But not too soon, she thought, shielding her presence from Gianni.
Not too soon...
PART One Chapter Twenty-four
Gabriel walked behind Sara and Maurice, his eyes and ears attuned to every drifting shadow, every sound. His senses told him that no one was following them. He detected no trace of a supernatural being, and yet he knew, somehow he knew, that Nina was nearby.
His gaze narrowed as he stared at Maurice's back, wondering if he would have to destroy the man once the danger to Sara was past. Or if, by some slim chance, Maurice would destroy him.
He could feel Maurice's hatred, his distrust and revulsion, but stronger than those emotions was the man's jealousy.
But it wasn't Maurice who held his attention. It was Sara. She moved with innate grace, her gown flowing around her ankles, the moonlight shimmering in her hair. He had tried not to love her, had tried to stay away from her, but to no avail, and now he knew he would not let her go. He had told her she must decide whether she would stay with him or not, but should she decide to leave him, he had no intention of letting her go. Right or wrong, willing or not, she would be his for as long as she lived.
Sara unlocked the door to her apartment, then stood on the top step with Maurice while Gabriel went inside to make sure the house was empty.
A moment later, he motioned them inside.
Sara went from room to room, turning on lights. When she returned to the parlor, Maurice was