Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3) (27 page)

"Emma." He took hold of her hands and held
them loosely before him. "I'm not going to let him get to you, I
can promise you that much. Whatever happens between us, you have to
know that I will never let anyone hurt you. Not him, not me,
no
one."

She found she couldn't breathe as his fevered
gaze burned into hers. There was so much between them but as she
searched his eyes she couldn't think of one reason why she wasn't
kissing him right now. Then again, he had just killed someone and
probably still had the taste of their blood in his mouth. That was
reason enough, or at least it should have been for any sane person,
but she still found herself longing to touch and taste him right
now.

Instead, she forced herself to take a step
back in order to keep some distance between them. No matter what
her heart and body desired, her mind was screaming at her to
maintain her distance.

For a moment Ethan had thought that she was
finally going to come to him, finally going to let him hold her
again, but it wasn't to be. He sighed as he thought over their
conversation. "Did Tristan go out in the daytime when you were
together?" He had to fight the urge to drive his fist into the wall
at the mere thought of that man touching her, holding her. If he
lost his temper in front of her now though, he knew he would
officially be driving the final nail into what would become the
coffin of their relationship.

She frowned as her gaze ran over him. "He
did, but so do you."

"I can because I'm not a killer, or I
wasn't," he said as his gaze drifted toward the bathroom at the end
of the hall. "The sun will be tougher for me to handle now, but I
haven't killed so much that I won't be able to withstand its rays.
It's when murder becomes a part of you, a constant daily thing that
the sun's rays become impossible for us to withstand. For some of
our kind, killing someone is something they partake in daily. The
more a vampire kills the stronger it becomes and yet the weaker it
will also become. The vampires with Tristan have gotten to a point
where they can't tolerate the sunlight, that much was made clear
this morning when they fled as soon as the sun came up. If they
continue on this way, it will become increasingly difficult for
them to cross bodies of water too."

"You mean to tell me they could become
trapped on this island, terrorizing these people?" Emma couldn't
think of anything worse, and it was something she wasn't about to
let happen. She'd go to Tristan before she ever let innocent people
suffer because of her.

Ethan couldn't stop himself from grabbing her
shoulders at the panicked and appalled look that crossed her face.
"No, they'll leave before that's possible, believe me. Tristan was
sick and twisted before all of this began, but I doubt every human
he found to change was the same way. Self-preservation is key in
almost everyone; it's even stronger in our species. Once
immortality is gained, it's not something that is willingly given
up. Keeping themselves trapped on an island with a growing pile of
bodies, and missing people reports, will arouse suspicions amongst
the humans. It is almost a sure way to guarantee that their
immortality comes to an end. They'll leave before they become
trapped here."

"Even Tristan?"

Ethan thought over her question before
shaking his head. "No, I don't think Tristan will go with them if
they leave and you are still here. What he's become has done
nothing to ease the madness that resided in his mind before he was
changed. His safety isn't his number one concern, his obsession
is."

"And I'm his obsession."

"You are," he confirmed.

"And what am I to you?"

Words tumbled through his mind so fast that
he didn't know what to say. There was so much that he had to
explain to her, so much that he had to tell her, but he wasn't sure
where to begin or how to start to make her understand what she was
to him. In the end, he settled for the simple truth. "You're my
everything."

His words melted her heart. "Ethan..."

"I didn't say that because I expect a
response from you, because I expect it to make everything better. I
said it because it's the truth and you have to know that."

How could she possibly stay mad at him when
he was saying things like that to her? She didn't even have time to
process that question or how to answer it before Isabelle appeared
in the hallway.

"Are you two going to join us?" Ethan tore
his attention away from her to focus on his sister. "I think it's
time for us to answer some questions."

"So do I," Ethan agreed. He reluctantly
removed his hands from Emma's shoulders. "Come on."

Emma almost grabbed hold of his hand but
though his words had melted a good chunk of her resolve, she
thought it was better to have some of her questions answered before
she made any rash decisions.

Emma settled onto the couch in between Jill
and Mandy, she folded her hands before her as she studied the three
vampires across from her. She'd actually just said that to herself,
three
vampires
, but that was
exactly what they were, what
Ethan
was. She watched them as they moved with the fluidity of liquid
mercury around the room. It was impossible not to see them as
predators now that she knew what they were, but she didn't feel the
urge to get up and run away like she'd experienced last night.

She wasn't frightened of them anymore, she
supposed she should be, but she couldn't seem to summon the
emotion. Maybe she'd gone as batty as Tristan but she didn't think
so. These three had done nothing to warrant her fear; Ethan had
saved her and her friend's lives multiple times over the past
twelve hours. Even if there was never anything between them again,
she would always remember him with love and she would think of him
daily.

Her heart shriveled a little at the thought
of never being with him again but her mind, full of its annoying
practicalities, reared back to life. She had a family and friends;
she didn't even know what it was that Ethan expected from her if
she were to stay with him. What would she lose or gain, what was
she
willing
to lose or gain?

"What is it you want to know?" Stefan
inquired from his position by the sliding doors that led to the
balcony.

"Who changed you?" Emma inquired, her gaze
focused upon Ethan.

"No one changed Isabelle or me, or any of our
siblings. We were born this way," Ethan answered.

"That's possible?" Mandy asked excitedly as
she wiggled forward on the couch. Emma could almost see the
scientist wheels spinning in her head as she practically salivated
over Ethan's words.

"It is," Ethan confirmed.

"So you're not the living dead?" Emma
inquired.

"Well considering the fact that Isabelle and
I have never died, no, we are not the living dead."

"But to be changed you have to die?" Jill's
eyes were focused on Stefan as she asked the question.

"Yes," Stefan slid his arm around Isabelle's
waist and pulled her against him. A twinge of longing coiled
through Emma's chest as she watched them, she found she couldn't
look at Ethan.

"Your heart still beats?" Mandy asked.

"And we still breathe. Think of the change as
similar to being brought back to life after a heart attack, like
being hit with a defibrillator. The heart briefly stops beating,
breathing ceases, but you're still aware of what is going on around
you. Then the influx of vampire blood shocks the heart back to
life. We become something more afterward, but we also retain our
ability to do human things such as reproduce, eat, breathe, and
have a heartbeat."

"Amazing," Mandy breathed. "What exactly
are
you? I mean where did vampires
originally come from? Was Dracula the first?"

Stefan and Ethan both chuckled as Isabelle
shook her head no. "Vampires go much farther back than Dracula, or
so the legends go," Isabelle said. "It's said they go back to a
time when demons used to freely roam the earth. They were forced to
retreat when humans began to hunt them and sealed themselves away
in what the legends claim to be Hell."

"And these demons gave their blood to humans
before they were forced into Hell?" Emma inquired.

"No, they mated with humans. The first
vampires were
born
. They discovered
later that by sharing their blood they could create more of their
kind, but we were born of this world," Stefan explained. Emma could
feel her eyebrows in her hairline but she couldn't seem to get them
to go back down as she examined the three of them. "Because they
were born of two vampires Isabelle and Ethan, as well as their
siblings, exhibit stronger abilities, especially for their young
ages."

"Amazing, just amazing," Mandy said again.
"And you are immortal?"

"Yes," Ethan confirmed.

"Your blood, does it have healing
capabilities?"

"It does," Isabelle said.

"Just imagine the possibilities," Mandy
murmured.

"There are no possibilities," Stefan said
gruffly. There was a malevolent look in his eyes that made Emma's
skin crawl and caused her to slide a little further back on the
couch.

"Back off Stefan," Ethan said in a low rumble
that did nothing to lessen the unease growing inside of her.

Isabelle rested her hand on Stefan's arm and
pulled him back a step. Stefan relaxed visibly but his eyes were
still fixed upon them. Isabelle shot a pointed look at Mandy.
"
No
one is going to say anything
Stefan," Isabelle assured him.

"No of course not," Mandy gushed. "It's just
the scientist in me, the future doctor talking about the
possibilities. I would never say or do anything about it though, I
swear. It's just fascinating."

Emma stared defiantly at the three of them as
she rested her hand on Mandy's arm and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Of course you wouldn't say anything," she said soothingly. "The
three of you don't kill, but do you feed on humans?"

"Some of us feed on them but don't hurt
them," Ethan answered. "I prefer to use blood bags, it's easier
that way."

"Before Stefan that was what I did too,"
Isabelle said.

"I feed on humans when it's necessary but
they're never aware of it," Stefan informed them.

"You're safe with us," Isabelle said
reassuringly.

Jill nodded but her hands were fisted
together in her lap. "You said you can control people's minds and
alter their memories, we've seen how fast you can be, is there
anything else you can do?" she asked.

"Our hearing and eyesight is exceptional,
better than a human's and we're stronger than any human," Ethan
told her.

"That we've seen," Emma muttered. "Is the
stake through the heart thing true?"

"It is, but to be fair a stake through the
heart would kill anything. Beheading and fire, for some sunlight is
another way to go. Garlic has no effect and crosses don't bother us
either," Ethan continued.

"Good to know," Emma said as she curled a
strand of hair around her finger and tried to digest this
information. It was all so strangely fascinating and bizarre this
world that she'd never imagined could exist and that Ethan was a
part of.

"I really don't like the idea of staying in
the place where someone died, especially with that body still in
here," Jill said.

"We'll take care of that first thing tomorrow
morning," Stefan promised. "But going out there right now is not an
option."

"You can come stay at our place, there's more
room and with Aiden and Ian arriving tomorrow there will be more
protection," Isabelle offered. Mandy and Jill looked to her but she
didn't know how to respond to that. "Ian and Aiden can share a
room, that won't be new to them."

Emma didn't know what to think about the idea
of being in a home with five beings that could kill them with ease,
but then again she was sitting in
this
house with three beings that could kill them,
and a dead body. She had to admit she'd prefer the five lethal
beings and no dead guy, over just the three of them in a home where
someone had been killed, and where everything seemed to have gone
to shit in less than twenty-four hours.

But she didn't know about sharing a home with
Ethan either, she didn't know if she could maintain her restraint
and distance if they were put so closely together.

Her eyes drifted back to Ethan. "I'll leave
you be Emma," he promised, as he seemed to sense where her thoughts
were going.

Isabelle spun toward him, she opened her
mouth to speak but Ethan gave her a censuring look and shook his
head. She closed her mouth but her face remained scrunched in
disapproval as she stared at her brother. Stefan squeezed
Isabelle's shoulder.

"What is it?" Emma inquired. "What's
wrong?"

"It's nothing," Ethan assured her with a
forced smile but Emma didn't believe him. There was something he
wasn't telling her, something that was upsetting Isabelle as she
continued to stare helplessly at him. "I think it would be better
if you came to our house, but that is entirely your decision to
make."

Emma took hold of Mandy and Jill's hands.
"Can we have some time to talk?" she asked.

The three vampires exchanged a look before
nodding. "We'll be in your room, scream if anything happens," Ethan
told her.

She waited until she heard the click of the
door closing before she turned to her friends. "What do you want to
do?" she asked quietly.

"I think we should stay with them Emma, look
at what happened tonight. There's no guarantee a human won't try
something there too, but I've lost all interest in staying in this
place," Jill said and shivered in disgust.