might not understand the consequences of getting pregnant by him or that I might not understand fully what the virus would do to him.”
“Did she try to talk you out of seeing him?”
“No. She loves Cliff and wants him to find whatever happiness he can. She just wanted me to be prepared.”
Aidan sighed. “Well, Vince asked Bastien to end his life before the damage progressed too far, so we don’t really know if he would’ve attacked Melanie eventually. Cliff has held out far longer than the others but, despite his valiant efforts, is beginning to lose the battle. His greatest fear now is that he may hurt you.”
“He won’t,” she insisted and wished Cliff wouldn’t worry about that. Even when fury rose within him like magma in a volcano and erupted in the form of shouts and bellows, he never directed that anger at her.
Aidan pointed to the piece of paper she held. “That’s my cell phone number.” He pointed to the box. “And that is one of those cell phone wristwatch gadgets with voice activation. If you want to continue seeing Cliff, program my number into it and keep that watch on you at all times. And I mean all times. When the two of you are making love. When you take a shower. Never take it off.”
She frowned. “Is it waterproof?”
“Yes. And if you have even the slightest fear that Cliff is about to have a break or that he may hurt you, call me immediately. I’m a teleporter, so I can be here in half a second to protect you and help Cliff.”
Everything within Emma demanded she reject this. She didn’t need protection from Cliff. He wouldn’t hurt her. But did she really have a choice? Cliff was the one who’d sent Aidan to talk to her. “He’ll stop coming here if I don’t agree to this, won’t he?”
“Yes. He loves you, Emma. If you love him as much as you appear to, then do this for him and ease his fears. He doesn’t need those on top of everything else he’s facing.”
No, he didn’t. If this would give him some relief, she’d do it.
Nodding, she opened the box and fastened the watch to her wrist. Emma hadn’t worn a watch in years since she always had her phone with her. And she’d certainly never had a smartwatch. So it took a while and several consultations of the instruction manual for them to figure out how to add Aidan’s number and achieve voice recognition. But they finally succeeded.
“Call Aidan,” she said.
Aidan’s cell phone chirped in his pocket.
Both grinned.
“Now,” Aidan said, sobering, “here is something Cliff doesn’t know about.” Reaching into his coat, he withdrew two tranquilizer guns identical to those she’d seen the guards at network headquarters carry.
“Uh-uh,” she said. “No way. I am not going to shoot Cliff.”
“These are tranquilizer guns, already armed with darts that can sedate Cliff should the need arise.”
Shaking her head, she held up her wrist. “I don’t need those. I have this.”
“You need to have a defensive measure that Cliff doesn’t know about, Emma,” he insisted. “Once the brain damage progresses to a certain point, psychotic breaks can occur without warning. If Cliff flies into a rage and rips the watch off your arm, you’ll have to go for one of these. They’ve been specially designed for vampire hunting by the network’s weapons experts, so each can fire up to five darts. A single dart should calm him. Two will knock him out. Three will kill him. Avoid the last if at all possible.” He placed the guns beside her on the sofa. “Hide these where they will be handy in an emergency but where Cliff won’t accidentally happen upon them.”
She eyed them with dread, unable to imagine aiming one at Cliff, let alone shooting him.
“If Cliff hurts you, Emma, it will kill him. He will end it himself in a heartbeat, even if the wound is so minor you shrug it off. If you want to hold on to him, you need to ensure he can’t hurt you.”
She nodded, so inundated with despair she could barely speak. “He said I quiet the voices,” she murmured again.
Aidan nodded. “You do. But the voices are getting louder. And soon you will only dampen them a little.”
She lived in constant fear of that.
Returning his chair to the corner, Aidan headed for the front door. As he reached for the doorknob, she spoke.
“Aidan?”
He turned.
Her limbs weighted with weariness, Emma forced herself to stand and