"Where is he?" she asked.
Ethan turned away from the doors and folded his hands behind his back as he studied her. Even with clothes on, she was still the most enticing female he'd ever laid eyes on, and she was the only one who could save him. She was also the only one who could drive him over the edge.
"Stefan moved him into the bathroom down the hall," he told her.
"How are we going to get a body out of here in the daylight?"
"We'll figure out a way to take care of it, don't worry about that."
Emma fiddled with the frayed edges of her cut-off shorts. "I feel like there's far too much for me to worry about lately."
"I'm sorry Emma, I—”
“Don't apologize, Ethan, please. Nothing can be done to change it, and I'm not sure I'd want to."
"Really?"
She hated the hope in his eyes. "I'm not ready to sit and talk about us. I'm not ready to continue this relationship. We've known each other for two weeks, and you've already met my crazy ex and killed someone. It might just be me, but I'm pretty sure that's a bad omen. Like even worse than the groom seeing the bride in her wedding dress before the ceremony, or a black cat crossing your path kind of bad omen. I'm not one for superstition, but this goes beyond that."
He moved away from the doors. "I'll kill anyone who tries to come after you again. Anyone."
Emma swallowed at his words, and her gaze drifted to the curtains he'd pulled over the doors. She could hear the other vampires out there, still running around and laughing like a group of patients who had escaped the asylum. He stepped closer to her, and despite all the words she’d just uttered, she found herself instinctively swaying toward him. Her skin came alive at the prospect of touching him again.
What was this influence this man had on her? She fisted her hands at her sides to resist touching him. "I can't stay in this room, not anymore," she said to distract herself.
A jolt of electricity shot through her as he rested his hand on her elbow. "Understandable. The others are in the living room."
She couldn't help but move closer to him as he led her from the room and down the hall. "He was human when I knew him. Tristan was," she clarified at his questioning look. Ethan frowned as he thought over her words. "I mean, I realize I didn't know what you were, I assumed you were human too, but he had to have been human."
"I'm sure he was," Ethan assured her.
"If he wasn't," she stopped abruptly and tugged on his arm. "Do you think he twisted my mind or changed my memories in some way?"
Ethan pulled her a step closer to him. "I believe he was human when you knew him, Emma. If he wasn’t I don't think you would be here. When you first walked out of his life, there was nothing he could do to get you back but harass you. He would have changed your mind then if he’d been a vampire. I think he disappeared from your life because he was changed, and he was with the creature who made him. He's returned now because he's stronger, and he has a way he can get you back by bending your mind to his will."
Cold horror spread through her at his words. She couldn’t think of anything worse than what Ethan described. "That is why he's here, isn't it? To change my memories and make me do what he wants."
"Emma." He took her hands and held them loosely before him. "I'm not going to let him get to you, I promise you. Whatever happens between us, you must know 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 be for any sane person, but she still found herself longing to taste him.
Instead, she forced herself to take a step back 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 she would finally come to him, 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 fought 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, he would officially drive 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 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 endure. For some of our kind, killing someone is something they partake in daily. The more a vampire kills, the stronger it becomes, yet the weaker it also becomes. The vampires with Tristan are to a point they can't tolerate the sunlight. That much was made clear this morning when they
