Rising to his feet, Gabriel carried her out of the building.
Maurice had stood in the shadows while Gabriel comforted Sara. Now he glanced briefly at the creature sprawled on the raw plank floor, and then hurried outside.
There were more frightening beings than vampires lurking in the dark, he thought, and fates worse than death.
PART One Chapter Twenty-six
Sara felt better by the time they reached her apartment. She made Gabriel sit down in the kitchen while she removed his cloak and shirt, then washed the blood from his wounds, shushing him when he tried to tell her she was wasting her time, that he was in no danger, but she refused to listen. He was hurt and she needed to care for him, to assure herself that he was all right.
Maurice, still silent, made sure the doors and windows were locked, that the strings of garlic were in place. He sprinkled fresh holy water across every entrance, and then, feeling that he had done all he could, he stood in the kitchen doorway, watching Sara tend Gabriel's wounds. Incredibly, the wounds looked as though they were already healing.
"You're very quiet," Gabriel remarked, glancing up at Delacroix.
Maurice shrugged. "What is there to say? Nothing in my life has prepared me for anything like this."
"I wouldn't think so," Gabriel allowed with a faint grin.
"Do you think we can truly protect Sara from that... that woman?"
"I don't know, but I intend to try."
"Are there more of those creatures out there?"
"As many as she cares to make." Gabriel stood up. For a moment, he gazed at Sara, his fingers caressing her cheek. It was all so impossible, he thought, their love, the problems they faced, not only now, but in the future. Should they find a way to defeat Nina, they would have to find a way to weave their lives together.
He kissed her lightly, then turned toward Maurice. "I have to go out."
For a moment, his words, and what they meant, hung in the air. Sara and Maurice exchanged glances: hers, resigned but accepting, Maurice's filled with condemnation.
A muscle clenched in Gabriel's jaw. "I won't be gone long. Lock the door after me and don't open it for anyone." He fixed Maurice with a hard stare. "Do you understand?"
Maurice nodded.
"Gabriel, please don't go."
"I wish I could stay, cara," he replied, reaching for his cloak, "but I cannot change what I am, not even for you."
Sara placed her hand on his arm. "If you're in need, then take from me, but please don't go out."
"Sara, no!" Maurice's voice was sharp.
"It's my decision, not yours," she retorted.
Maurice met Gabriel's eyes. "She's been through enough tonight." He paused, the color draining from his face. "If you need blood, take mine."
Gabriel quirked an eyebrow at Delacroix. "I know what it cost you to make the offer," he said solemnly, "but you've both been through enough for one night."
Sara followed Gabriel into her bedroom, watched while he slipped into a black shirt, drew his cloak around his shoulders. At his nod, she wiped the holy water from the sill and opened the window.
"I won't be long," he promised, dropping a kiss on her brow, and then, like a drifting shadow in the night, he was gone.
Gabriel paused in the darkness, his nostrils testing the wind, his senses searching for any sign of Nina's presence, but the night was dark and quiet, with only the soft sigh of the wind to break the stillness.
On silent feet, he prowled the darkness, the lust for blood growing ever stronger within him, fueled by the pain of his wounds, by his rage.
He searched until he found what he was looking for, a whore with pale skin and long black hair. He called her to him with the power of his mind, pretending it was Nina who stared up at him, helpless to resist, Nina's blood he was taking.
And he wished he had the power to control Nina's mind as easily as he manipulated the mind of the whore.
He was tempted to drain the girl dry, to sink his fangs into her throat and take and take until nothing remained but a dry husk, and by so doing, find a measure of release for the rage, for the sense of helplessness, that was pounding through him. Nina had sent that monster to abduct Sara, had frightened her, and then had dared to take her blood...
Gabriel lifted his head. A quiet word put the girl to sleep. When she woke,