"Tristan!" Jill blurted.
The color drained from Emma's face, and Mandy looked tempted to leap on the man. That would be the biggest mistake she ever made, as Tristan's red eyes gleamed in the night.
"What...what are you on?" Jill stammered.
Ethan's heart pounded with excitement and bloodlust as he focused on the man across from him. Tristan was about six foot, a little shorter than he was and appeared to be about twenty pounds lighter. Ethan didn't get the impression he was dealing with an older vampire, like he had the first time he'd encountered Stefan, To him, Tristan smelled as if he’d been rolling through garbage for a week. Tristan may not be older, but he was feeding on humans, killing them, and gaining strength from them.
Ethan didn't care what this vampire fed on, didn't care about the power that came from the murder of innocents; he was going to kill him. The fact Tristan was a vampire only made it better. He wouldn't have to murder a human, and he would enjoy taking down the monstrosity across from him, but he couldn't do it in front of them. This had spiraled into something he hadn’t expected, but he couldn't allow Emma to see the brutality residing so strongly within him right now. He moved to the side, placing his body between her and Tristan.
Emma's mind spun as she tried to process what she was seeing. Mandy's hand dug into her arm with enough force to bruise her skin, but she didn't care. Mandy stepped forward. Emma knew her well enough to know her innate curiosity was drawing her closer when she should be running for the hills. They all should be fleeing, but it seemed the sand had turned to concrete around her feet as she found it impossible to move.
Tristan's eyes were the color of a demon's in the night. The flash of red she thought she saw in Ethan's eyes, had it really been there? Was he something like Tristan, and just what was Tristan?
Her mind spun as she tried to process everything going on. The two of them looked like they were about to tear into each other like a T-rex on a triceratops. They stared at each other with a predatory look completely out of place for a human.
The realization took its time to come, but once it did, she couldn't shake the certainty she wasn’t looking at two people. If she hadn't seen the red in Ethan's eyes maybe, just maybe, she could convince herself Tristan was on something or wore contacts. It didn't seem implausible after all, but no, there was far more going on here. She had no idea how it was possible, but there was something entirely inhuman about them.
Her heart raced, her palms were damp, and her throat was dry as Ethan stood before them. His frame partially blocked Tristan from her view, and she had to look around him to see the strange thing Tristan had become. Whatever he was, Ethan wasn't the least bit afraid of him, which made her head spin even more.
"You have to leave," Ethan grated at Tristan from between clenched teeth.
Tristan rocked back on his heels and moved to the side so he could see around Ethan. Emma's skin crawled as his hideously creepy eyes focused on her. She knew they weren't, but she got the sensation those eyes were laser beams burning through her skin to reveal everything inside her.
"I don't think so," Tristan responded.
Ethan took a threatening step toward him. He was larger than Tristan, but Tristan had those freaky eyes and that look on his face. A look which said he would like nothing more than to tear her open and rip her to shreds. This was not about love with Tristan, but it never had been.
She’d realized a long time ago Tristan didn’t love her. He hadn't pursued her because he loved her and wanted her back. He’d pursued her for his own perverse reasons, and now those reasons were warped by something far more malicious and sinister than anything he'd been before.
"You weren't expecting me," Tristan continued in a lilting voice far more appropriate for a kindergarten teacher.
"You weren't expecting me either," Ethan sneered.
Ethan took another step toward Tristan. He struggled with the urge to launch himself at Tristan and sink his fangs into his throat. There would be power in his blood; it was how Stefan had gotten so powerful before he stopped killing their kind. He would relish in the power Tristan gave him, delight in feasting on the blood he would spill.
"Emma, I need you to go," he said in a low voice.
"Ethan—"
"You and your friends have to get out of here, Emma, now. Run!"
She was almost as frightened of him as she was of Tristan, but the idea of leaving him here nearly tore her to shreds. There was no way she could do that. If something happened to him, she would never forgive herself.
"I can't leave you here," she whispered.
His shoulders hunched forward a little, the veins in his arms stood out as his hands fisted more forcefully. He turned to look at her. Like a blown tire, all the air rushed out of her lungs as eyes the color of burning coals stared back at her. A startled squeak escaped Jill, and she jumped backward, dragging Mandy with her.
"Go!" he roared.
Emma's legs were wobbly as she took a few more steps back. It was Mandy who recovered the fastest though. She took a hasty step back, tugged on the arms still holding her, and jerked them both forward. Ethan's eyes continued to burn into Emma's; she couldn't tear herself away from the sight of them. This couldn't be real. It simply couldn't be. Yet she knew it was as true as the ocean's continuous ebb and flow.
What is he? She wondered frantically as her
