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  Sarah peeled away his black leather jacket so that she could feel his cool skin and his muscles rippling beneath her hands. Darrien moved until he was positioned behind her. She heard the sharp sound of him lowering the zipper on his pants. She then felt his stiff flesh resting against the back of her thighs.

  The sound of her panties being ripped from her body cut through the stillness that surrounded them. Sarah gasped, anticipating the moment that he would fill her with his need, and bring her the released that she craved. She felt him slide between her legs, teasing her moist heat with the promise of fulfilling her utterly. It was the promise of absolute ecstasy when he finally took her.

  “Say my name,” she gasped.

  “Hmm … Sarah … I want you Sarah,” Darrien’s smooth voice was like an aphrodisiac that sent her over the edge of reason.

  Wiggling her hips against him, she tried to force him inside of her, but he continued to tease, letting her feel only the silky head of his erection.

  “Once we do this … there’s no taking it back,” he warned, though he continued to tease her until she was sure she would explode from within.

  “I want it.” Sarah’s voice cracked. The effort to speak was too much to deal with while her body burned for him with such intensity.

  Darrien mounted her before the last word left her mouth, and a small scream escaped her lips as he parted her flesh with his throbbing tool.

  At last he was within her and she could finally feel him as intimately as was possible for two separate beings to feel each other. The sensation was akin to being reborn as one.

  As he moved within her, he pulled her with him to unimagined heights of pleasure - pleasure that was like nothing that she had ever experienced. Sarah pushed against him hard, trying to feel even more of him. Darrien made love to her with the skill that only an immortal could possess - giving her pain and pleasure within the same instant.

  With his hands on her hips, he held her tight against him. Leaning over her, he sank his teeth into her back. Tenderly, he slid his tongue across her skin, licking up the droplets of blood that dripped from her wounds.

  Just when she was sure that the fire would sear her flesh, she felt him pulsate within her as he spilled his seed into her body. She started shaking with the force of the pleasure that ripped through her, beginning at the core of her womanhood and spreading to every nerve ending in her body.

  Sarah’s screams of ecstasy were quickly cut off when he clamped a hand over her mouth.

  “Shhh … you’ll attract attention,” he whispered.

  When Darrien moved away from her, Sarah sat up and stared down at her tattered dress. Darrien had shredded the silky material and now it no longer covered her sufficiently. Sensing her dilemma, Darrien draped his leather jacket over her shoulders.

  “Thank you,” she told him, an uncertain smile tugging at her lips. Their lovemaking had been nothing short of unbelievable. But Sarah could not help but wonder if it was she he had made love to, or Caroline.

  Darrien gave her a feather soft kiss on the lips. “What’s troubling you,” he asked. “Do you regret what happened?”

  Sarah shook her head. “No … I could never regret what we’ve had.

  From the top of the building the view of the city was captivating. The neon lights of the casinos lit up the streets below, but on the rooftop the darkness shielded them - wrapping them in a blanket of enchantment that could not be penetrated by the outside world - at least not yet.

  Darrien pulled her into his arms. “So tell me what’s wrong?”

  “I’m Sarah … not Caroline.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he whispered and kissed her again. “I love you no matter who you are.”

  “What will happen with us? I mean when this is all over?” Sarah looked over at him, wanting to hear that he would be with her always, but somehow knowing that wasn’t what he would say.

  Darrien seemed completely engrossed in the city lights. When he spoke he refused to look at her. “You and I, we are very different Sarah. If I am unlucky … I will live forever, but death will claim you at some point, even if it’s when you are old and have lived a full life. I cannot watch you die … not again.”

  “There you go again, thinking I am Caroline.” Sarah pulled away from him.

  “When is my birthday Sarah?” he asked, his question seemingly off topic.

  “June 10, 1735,” Sarah answered quickly - too quickly.

  Darrien lifted his hands. “Now how would you have known that … if you are not Caroline? I have never told you what my birthday is, at least not while you were Sarah.”

  “Maybe I am reading you? I can do that sometimes.”

  “Yes, I’m sure you can, but you can’t read me Sarah. I’m a vampire, and that would be difficult … even for a psychic. Only the oldest and most powerful vampires can read other vampires.”

  “Okay then, I’m picking up Caroline’s spirit … her memories,” Sarah shrugged.

  “Close your eyes Sarah. Remember the first time we spoke. Go back to that time and relive it as if you were there.”

  Sarah closed her eyes and instead of darkness, she saw a field of wildflowers. Darrien was there, at the gates of the chateau. He was riding a black horse. Unlike the many times that she’d seen him out riding, on that day he noticed her right away, and waved. Through the years she’d watched him from a distance, but that day had been the first time he’d acknowledged her.

  When she waved back, he started riding toward her. Looking down, she could see that she was no longer Sarah, but Caroline. She wore the woman’s brown cotton skirt and leather shoes. Although she felt extremely unattractive in such unflattering garments, she need not have worried. To Darrien she’d been the vision of perfection with her long auburn hair resembling a cascade of fire, and green eyes that sparkled like jewels. He had been unable to take his eyes from her.

  Darrien pulled up on the horse’s reins and stared at her as if he’d never seen her before.

  Caroline fixed her eyes on the wildflowers she held in her hand. “My lord.”

  “Are you not Caroline Fabre?” he asked.

  “Yes my lord.”

  “Call me Darrien,” he told her.

  Caroline didn’t respond. She continued to stare at the flowers, afraid of what her eyes would reveal if she looked on his face. Too many times she had dreamt of this moment - longed to hear him say her name, and now he was here and talking to her.

  “Do you know how to ride?” he asked.

  Caroline shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. She was filled with too much anxiety.

  Darrien held out his hand to her. “Come … we will ride together. I would like to know more about Caroline Fabre.”

  She’d gone with him that day and everyday after, for weeks. They’d make love in a grove of trees, far from prying eyes. Though she’d known that she would never be more than a diversion to him, she could not help but hope that just maybe it might be different with her than it had been with the others. She’d heard the rumors about Darrien and the servant girls. How he’d take them for his pleasure and disregard them when done. Each day she vowed to love him forever - if he would only do the same.

  Then the day came that he did not show up for their ride. He didn’t come the next day, or the next. She’d been heartbroken, but as the months passed, she moved beyond her pain and eventually married.

  When Sarah opened her eyes she was yanked back to the present. This time she was as one with Caroline. She experienced the same love for him, and the same pain.

  “How dare you treat me like that?” she seethed.

  “Now you remember?” he smiled.

  “You left me without a word!”

  “I had no choice,” he defended himself. “Omar attacked me with the intention of turning me and gaining control over my father’s domain in France. As soon as my father found out, he sent me away, despite the fact that he should have destroyed me instead. I had to go away and could not ret
urn to you the next day, or any day.”

  “But you could have come to me in the night,” she insisted.

  “Yes I could have, but what could I have offered you?” The hard glint in his eyes had disappeared to be replaced by sorrow.

  “You could have at least told me, instead of letting me believe that you’d disregarded me like trash.” Sarah felt a lump forming in her throat. Though she had not lived through the pain and the memories that she was experiencing, they were real to her.

  “Try to remember … I did come back to you eventually,” he told her softly.

  Visions of darkness and the horror of what he’d become filled her mind. The memories came back like a relentless storm, pounding at her heart until she was in tears.

  There was that dark spirit - the one that had threatened to take the life of her child if she accepted his kiss of immortality.

  “You were the last person I saw before I died,” she told him, her voice soft and full of sorrow.

  “I know. I wanted it to be that way. I wanted you to go from life seeing the face of someone that loved you.” Darrien kissed her again, this time putting so much emotion in it that she could feel it radiating from his soul.

  “My baby?” Sarah asked, pulling away from him.

  Darrien put a finger up to her lips. “Shhh … she was taken to safety. Otherwise the Fabre witches would not be … would they?”

  “But what about us? Promise me that you will not go away again.”

  At her words, Darrien again turned away. “I cannot give you that promise. As I said, I will not bring death to you again.”

  “That is what you do when you turn away from me,” Sarah told him, hoping that he would see reason.

  “Let’s not waste time,” he told her. “We have right now and that’s what is important.”

  His mouth covered hers when she tried to protest. Though she let herself get lost in his kiss, she vowed that this time they would not be parted.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Deep within the catacombs below Rome, is a place of darkness - a place so black that the darkness itself seems to be alive. That darkness wrapped itself around Nicole - mocking the human weakness that prevented her from seeing what was hidden within the black void of the tomb. Her arm throbbed, but the pain only scratched the surface of her consciousness. Even the intense throbbing of her dislocated shoulder could not overcome the terror that crawled through her mind – taking control of her thoughts.

  The last thing she remembered was someone or something dragging her through the tunnels by her arm, and then the excruciating pain that had sent her into nothingness. When Nicole opened her eyes - nothing changed. If anything, it seemed even darker than when her eyes were closed. She felt around the wall near her and concluded that she was in some type of small room - closed in by a heavy wooden door. She tried to pull the door open with her good arm, but it wouldn’t budge.

  Dash had been right behind her, chasing her abductor, but as far as she could tell he wasn’t in the room with her.

  What had happened to Dash?

  Fear chewed at her insides. Had he simply lost her in the chase, or had something happened to him?

  Nicole’s breath caught in her throat at the sound of rattling chains somewhere in the darkness, not far from where she lay on the cold earthen floor. Memories of what Omar had done to Ethan pounded through her head.

  “Dash!” she called out, her voice seemed small in the thick - inky void.

  She heard a growl and then the sound of rattling chains grew louder. Whoever was bound in those chains was trying to break free.

  “Dash! Is that you?”

  Again there was no answer but a series of angry growls, and then silence. A moment later the silence was shattered by the harsh sound of a lock releasing. The door swung open and the bright light of a torch blinded Nicole. She could not see who carried the torch, but she guessed it to be whoever had dragged her into the hole where she was being held prisoner.

  As her eyes adjusted to the light, Nicole saw the shape of a woman behind the light.

  “Isn’t this cozy?” the female voice was poisonous.

  As Julia’s face came into focus, Nicole’s despair grew. Next to the female vampire was a man that she assumed was also a vampire. Her companion’s eyes radiated hunger, his short-cropped white hair and his pasty complexion made him appear more specter than vampire.

  Julia was the definition of pure evil. It had been Julia that had been so instrumental when Omar had taken Nicole captive with the intention of turning her. It had also been Julia that had turned Alec so long ago. Julia was angry, and she directed that anger at Nicole. Alec had made it clear to Julia that he would not treat her as his mistress, and that he preferred Nicole to her.

  Now Julia directed her fury at both of them.

  Nicole blinked, trying to force her gaze away from the vampire’s cold eyes.

  “So Donavan’s human brat is awake?” she glowered at Nicole.

  Nicole said nothing.

  “Good … I want you awake when I let your vampire lover loose on you,” Julia told her, nodding toward the darkness behind Nicole.

  Nicole looked to her side and saw who had been rattling chains. Visions of Ethan’s deformed features mingled with the horror of what she was seeing at that moment. Blood deprivation - it would turn a vampire into a true monster. Alec did not seem to be quite as far gone as Ethan had been, when Omar had deprived him of feeding for weeks, but he was not the Alec that she knew.

  His blue eyes were alight with bloodlust, and a hunger she’d never seen in them before. When he drew back his cracked lips, his fangs protruded abnormally, as if he were drying up - becoming a shell. The growls that ripped from his throat were that of a creature that had no thought but to go with the hunger that controlled him.

  “Why are you doing this to him?” Nicole cried. “It is me that Omar wants.”

  “As noble as your thoughts are … doing it this way is just easier. We get rid of you both, and I get to watch the horror on Alec’s face when he comes to his senses and realizes that he fed on his beloved human bitch.” Julia’s face twisted with hate.

  Julia turned to her companion. “Let him go and we’ll leave her to him,” she told the male vampire before placing the torch in a bracket attached to the wall.

  “Nooo!” Alec’s growled, as he yanked at the chains that bound his arms.

  Julia laughed. “Will you be able to resist your hunger Alec? Will you die in agony so that she will live? Somehow I doubt it.”

  When Alec was free, the two vampires left the room, locking the door behind them.

  Instead of lunging toward Nicole, Alec fell to the ground and rolled into a ball. With howls of agony, he began tearing at his hair. The aching in Nicole’s heart subdued her fear. His pain was her pain, and she could not endure it. Getting to her hands and knees, she crawled to where he lay.

  “Go away,” he snarled, trying to roll away from her.

  Nicole unbuttoned her blouse so that her breasts were bare. It would be safer than him feeding from the artery in her neck. “Feed from me,” she urged in a low voice.

  Alec ignored her and continued to wither in pain on the cold floor.

  Nicole leaned closer to him until her breast brushed against his face. “Please … take what you need,” she told him.

  Nicole gasped at the sudden sensation of pain when his fangs sank into her tender flesh. He was ravenous, and as he fed, she could feel her strength ebbing and the warmth leaving her body.

  * * * *

  Sarah sat at the cave’s entrance, watching as the sun descended into the western horizon. Behind her, the darkness of the cave provided a safe haven for Darrien as he slept. That was how they traveled. By day they would find shelter from the sun, most often a cave, but an abandoned building would do as well, if it had a basement. At night they would travel.

  Darrien had found a motorbike at a truck stop. Taking it by force from the owner. The biker had resisted
, until he’d seen Darrien’s ugly side. After that, the man had been more than happy to let them take his bike, as long as they left him alone.

  Before sunrise Darrien would find shelter. When he thought Sarah was asleep, he left her so that he could hunt. Sarah let him believe that she didn’t know what he did when he was gone, but she knew. She watched him leave and return with the hunger gone from his eyes.

  After three nights of travel they entered the Ozarks. There were caves to hide in, but after tonight there would be no more caves to offer shelter. When they entered Louisiana, there would be swamp. Darrien had informed her that once they were in Louisiana they might be forced to turn to the above ground tombs for shelter. Unless they could make it all the way to New Orleans, but that was doubtful. The thought of sleeping in a tomb sent shivers down her spine. What stories would the dead tell her? What horror and heartbreak would she live through their memories and pain?

  As the light faded, she heard Darrien stirring from within the shadows of the cave. From behind, she felt him wrap his arms around her.

  “Did you get any sleep?” he asked.

  “A little.”

  Darrien gently moved her long hair out of the way so that he could kiss the back of her neck. “I want you again,” he whispered.

  His touch and the desire in his voice sent shivers through her body. They had made love before she’d gone to sleep, and everyday since leaving Reno. Still her need for him was as great as it had been the first time they’d come together.

  Being the object of his desire was pure heaven, but Sarah could not shake the feeling that he wanted to make love to her so much, because he knew there would be no tomorrow, at least not for them. Sarah would not voice her doubts - she would not taint their time together with regret.

  Sarah leaned her head back to look at him, and she felt his lips on hers. His kiss was tender, but with an underlying heat that could not be denied. When the kiss ended, Sarah smiled at him.

  “I’m starving. We can’t live on love alone,” she told him.