Мишель Роуэн - Tall, Dark & Fangsome

“You missed his heart?”

“If I hadn’t, he’d be a sullen, moody puddle right now, wouldn’t he?”

Gideon’s jaw clenched. “Why didn’t you finish him?”

I shrugged.

Gideon cast a dark look over at Steven. “What am I paying you for, boy? A little assistance or a warning might have been nice.”

I tried to pay attention, but I was dealing with a rather intense inner battle at the moment.

I could have killed Thierry, but I didn’t. Something stopped me.

When he kissed me it worked a bit like a slap, helping the other side of me gain much-

needed strength.

He loves me. He wouldn’t kill me.

Maybe he should have.

“Drink more, then,” I heard Steven say. “If you want to.”

“Give me everything,” Gideon commanded. “I want her power. I want her strength.

Everything.”

“Understood.”

“What are you—?” I began, but then felt Gideon’s sharp fangs sink into my throat.

His fangs? He had fangs already? How was that even possible? Fledglings don’t develop fangs for a long time after they’re sired. I got mine quicker than normal only because I’d been on a fairly steady diet of master vampire blood from the beginning.

But Gideon wasn’t a typical fledgling.

And he wanted more.

I tried to ignore the pain of his bite. I looked down at Thierry. He looked helplessly up at me. I wanted him to stay back. It was safer to have to deal with a stake in his chest at the moment than come any closer to this.

“Open yourself up to this, Sarah,” Steven instructed. “Give Gideon everything.”

“I can’t,” I said.

“You have to.”

His voice was strange and different from before. Darker. Scarier. I tried to look at him and noticed that his eyes weren’t just red anymore, they seemed to be blazing.

Hellfire.

It was the demon, wasn’t it? Steven channeled demon powers in order to work his wizard magic. Had Gideon known that? I didn’t think so. It would have been too risky. Gideon was trying to avoid hell, not welcome it into his life and invite it out to a leisurely, candlelit dinner.

The demon wanted Gideon. And Gideon was trying to escape by having me sire him.

“Do it, Sarah,” the demon possessing Steven again told me—only his lips didn’t move. I heard his voice in my head. “Let it go. I can help you.”

A helping hand from a demon to help transfer my power to Gideon Chase. Okay.

“No,” the demon said as if it could read my mind. “Not just your power. Your curse as well. Everything.”

My eyes widened. Then I slammed them shut and concentrated every ounce of energy I had on relaxing and opening up my mind. Gideon wasn’t feeding only on blood then, but on everything behind it as well. My power—the energy that came from three separate master vampires. With the demon’s help, I felt that strength slip away from me as it was channeled into Gideon.

A moment later he raised his eyes to mine. His were black with power. They looked exactly like death.

“More,” he said. “I need more.”

I hesitated. The part of me that cared for Gideon on some strange level tried to pull away in an attempt to save him from his own greed. But he held me firm and continued to drink.

“Give him everything,” the demon instructed me in that voice as cold as the night around us.

I nodded, and I did as he said.

My nightwalker held on tight for a moment, kicking and screaming, as she was scraped away from my insides by the pull of the demon’s magic. I felt the black poison of my curse curl into a ball from where it had settled deep inside me. She liked it there. It was comfortable. But, like rotten taffy, sticky and smelly, it finally pulled away and I felt it channel out of me and directly into Gideon.

His eyes widened and his lips peeled back from his long, sharp fangs. He looked around at the night as if seeing it for the first time.

“I never thought it would feel this good,” he said. “You did it, Sarah. You gave me everything.”

I swallowed hard. “You’re welcome.”

He smiled and it chilled my insides. He was a monster. He even looked like a monster now, black eyes, sharp teeth, and a strange maniacal look of too much power in too small a space.

I was afraid of him. And for him.

I wasn’t sure if he knew just how much he’d taken from me. The demon inside Steven had transferred every last ounce of my extra master vampire strength to him. Plus, as an added bonus, he now had my nightwalker curse.

I’d leave the celebrating for a bit later, though.

Gideon cocked his head to the side and looked down at Thierry, who was now struggling to get back to his feet. “Why don’t I finish him off for you, Sarah? I hate loose ends.”

He took a step toward Thierry, but I moved to stand in his way.

“So now what?” I asked. “You got what you wanted. You’re a vampire now.”

“I’m more than just a vampire.”

“True. But what’s your next move?”

He smiled. “Anything I want. But I’m going to start with killing the master vampire.” He blinked those black eyes of his. “Both of them. I think I’ll do it with my bare hands just for kicks.”

“What about me?”

He studied me. “What do you want me to say?”

“Just tell me the truth.”

His lips quirked. “For a moment I thought there was something there. But perhaps it was only the pain. I will be forever grateful for what you’ve done for me, Sarah. But I warn you not to stand in my way right now.”

“Or what?”

“Or you’ll be sorry you did.”

I drew in a shaky breath. He noticed. He placed his hand over my chest to feel my heart beating and he raised an eyebrow. “Very interesting.”

“You’re the proud owner of a shiny black nightwalker curse.”

“Lucky me.”

“Probably sorry you burned the grimoire now, huh?”

“I’ll get used to it. Like I said, it’s an asset. It only gives me more power.”

He flinched then and backed up a step from me. I realized that something invisible had slashed his chest. There was now a deep scratch on his flesh.

“What the hell was that?” he snarled.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

“I did that,” the demon said.

I backed up until I felt Thierry behind me. Somehow, in the last couple of minutes he’d managed to soundlessly remove the stake from his chest. There was a sheen of perspiration on his forehead and his eyes were shadowed with pain.

“You’re ours, Gideon,” the demon said. He looked so harmless in the body of the teenaged wizard—Death Suck T-shirt under his black jacket. But he wasn’t harmless.

“Ever since the hellfire touched you, you’ve been ours. You can run, but you can’t hide.”

Gideon’s black eyes went cold with fear. “But I’m healed. My scars are gone. The pain is gone.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the demon said. “You think we give up that easy? You have no idea.

You belong to us. Nothing you did would have made a bit of difference. You made your choices, now you must deal with the consequences.”

Gideon touched the bleeding scratch on his chest. When he pulled his fingers away the blood caught fire. The hellfire was still inside him. And now the demon was coaxing it out.

“We’re close to the end now. And if you don’t step aside when the blood begins to flow it will devour you whole.”

We were close to the end now. Gideon’s end.

“I have money,” Gideon said. “Lots of money. I can pay you whatever you want. Don’t do this.”

“Really?” the demon said. “How much are we talking about here?”

“Lots. Everything. I’ll give you everything I have. Everything I am.”

The demon smiled. “Yes, you will.”