Emma's gaze traveled over them. "You're all like them, like him?" she asked though she already knew the answer.
Isabelle glanced at Stefan before nodding. "There is a lot to explain," Ethan said. "When you're ready to talk."
Jill nudged her, but Emma was having trouble finding her voice again. "We have a lot of questions," Jill told him.
"You can never tell anyone about this, ever," Stefan said gruffly as Emma studied them with a fresh set of eyes. The aura of power they exuded was always there; she'd picked up on it before, but now she finally understood the reason why. Isabelle's face was filled with anxiety as she watched Emma. She was ringing her hands before her, a gesture Emma never thought she'd see the usually confident woman make.
"Who would believe us even if we did tell someone?" Mandy asked.
"Some people would," Stefan told her. "People who would like nothing more than to see all of us dead."
Emma's eyes flew to Ethan. No matter how upset and frightened she was right now, the last thing in the world she wanted was to see him hurt, in any way, and she especially didn't want to be the cause of it. But then, she'd already caused him to be hurt last night when Tristan and his friends attacked them. She stepped toward him before catching herself and stopping near the stairs.
"No one will know anything," Emma promised.
She forced herself to look away from Ethan before she started to cry and forgot all about him keeping such a huge thing from her. But she supposed it wasn't a first date conversation to have. She didn't see how anyone could work the whole, 'hey, by the way, I'm a vampire,' talk in between the, 'what was your major,' and 'what's your favorite color,' conversation topics?
Ethan exchanged a look with Isabelle and Stefan before turning his attention back to the others. He didn't know if it was enough, but for now, it would have to do. He could change Jill and Mandy's memories on his own; he knew he would only alienate Emma even further if he did though. It would also have to be done relatively soon; if it went past a week, he wasn't certain he, or Stefan, could still do it.
He studied Jill and Mandy, two women he barely knew, but they now had his and his family's future, in their hands. That thought didn't sit well with him, but to be fair, his family was the only protection Jill and Mandy had against Tristan and his friends. They were all going to have to count on each other to get through this.
"Can we come in?" Ethan inquired.
"I don't think we could stop any of you, not after what we witnessed last night," Emma replied.
"Isabelle and Stefan haven't been invited in yet," he reminded her. "You may not own the home, but you're residing here right now, and that's what matters."
Emma's mind flashed back to the first morning Ethan arrived here, and Jill had so cheerfully invited him inside. Jill had no way of knowing then that she was inviting in someone with the ability to kill them. She could feel Jill and Mandy's eyes on her as she studied Ethan, Isabelle, and Stefan. They hadn't known before, but they knew now, and she couldn't allow them into this house until she had a better idea of what was going on.
"No, I'm sorry, but no," she said. "We don't know any of you, not really. Jill and Mandy..." She hated the tears burning her eyes, but she refused to shed them as she unwaveringly met Ethan's troubled gaze. "I just can't."
A pang stabbed through Ethan's chest, but he bowed his head in agreement. "That's fine."
"Wait!" Isabelle cried.
She stepped forward, but Ethan grasped her arm and held her back. They stared defiantly at each other for a minute before Ethan shook his head. Isabelle's shoulders slumped, and she gave Emma a longing look. Stefan pulled her away from her brother; Isabelle glanced back at Emma as she reluctantly allowed herself to be removed from the doorway.
"If you need anything, anything at all, we'll be outside." Ethan turned around and left the doorway before Emma could respond.
"It's almost like having two stalkers," she muttered.
Jill rested her hand on her shoulder. "At least one of them wants to keep you alive."
Emma released a harsh laugh. "I guess that's the silver lining in all this."
"There should always be one," Jill said.
"I think I'm going to try and get some sleep. Unless you want me to wait for the new door? It's my fault, after all."
"It's not your fault, and I'll handle the door," Mandy offered. "I'm still pretty wired anyway."
Emma turned away from her friends. All she could think about was lying down and getting some sleep, though she had a feeling sleep would be elusive.
Chapter Nineteen
The room was enshrouded in darkness when she woke sometime later. Memories filtered back over her, and it took all she had not to groan and bury her head under her pillow. "Shit."
She stared at the lengthening shadows moving across her walls and tried to decide if she wanted to get out of bed right now. The shock, anger, and horror over what happened last night had faded while she was sleeping, and now all she felt was a deep ache in her chest.
She was falling in love with him. She'd found a freedom with him she'd never known could exist, and now she was left only with the hollow shell of those feelings. In his arms, she didn’t feel inadequate and trapped, she felt secure and cherished, but it was all a lie.
Or was it? Everyone had their secrets, she had revealed all of hers to him, but some secrets were harder than others to reveal, and this was a
