"What happened to her?" Emma croaked in a strangled voice when Tristan's hand wrapped around her throat and his thumb stroked up to caress the underneath of her chin.
"You are and always will be my only love, Emma; no one was ever going to come between us. I was the only one who had been within you, and I will make you pay for allowing another to take my place, but you are still mine. My creator gifted me with immortality and the ability to do as I please. She taught me everything she knew, taught me the joys of our ways. And one day, while she was sleeping, I put a stake through her heart," Tristan said.
Unwillingly she flinched away from him as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. "And just think, she didn't betray me like you have, with this man."
She inhaled sharply as his fingers dug into her chin and he held her so she had to look at Ethan. The fire rose in Ethan's eyes as his gaze burned into hers. She flinched away when Tristan's tongue ran from her chin to her temple, leaving a trail of saliva behind.
"Fuck you!" she spat, unable to keep her temper anymore as exasperation and helplessness tore through her.
Tristan laughed and turned her face to his. "Oh, believe me, Emma; you will be doing that again too."
Nausea and horror twisted within her at the thought. Without thinking about the consequences, she leaned back and spat in his face. His eyes turned red almost instantly, and before she knew what he intended, he raised his arm and backhanded her across the face with enough force the chair toppled over.
Pain exploded through her head, her vision blurred as a roar filled her ears. It felt like a shovel hit her instead of a hand as blood spilled from the corner of her eye. She was still trying to gather her wits when a hand wrapped in her hair. Her skull screamed in protest, strands of hair ripped free as she was lifted off the ground and the chair returned to a seated position. Though it felt like her head would explode, she realized it was Ethan's bellow vibrating through the room.
"It sucks you can't get in here, believe me, I know. I had a door slammed in my face recently too, but this time I'm going to leave it open just so you can watch," Tristan taunted Ethan.
Emma didn't have a chance to react before he sank his fangs into her neck. A scream boiled up in her throat and clogged there as he drained the blood from her body. Her hands and legs strained against the ropes binding her, sweat broke out on her forehead, but though she tried to get away from him, it was useless as the pain made it almost impossible for her to move.
The scent of her blood lured Tristan's cronies from the shadows; she saw the eager gleam in their eyes as they narrowed in on her. Panic tore through her; she somehow managed to get her fingers to spasm as she partially broke free of the paralysis gripping her. A cruel smile curled the lips of the woman she'd hit with the rock as she knelt by her side. Emma's heart raced as she realized her intent, and there was absolutely nothing anyone could do to stop her.
Tristan broke away from her and shoved the woman away. "This one is mine; you can have the other one."
The woman hissed in protest but turned away from her to approach Jill's immobile form. Jill hadn't moved from that spot since Tristan told her to sit and stay as if she were nothing more than a dog. Emma's pulse raced as the woman knelt before Jill and rested her hands on Jill's thighs. Ten more of Tristan's cohorts emerged from the shadows and moved toward her friend.
"No," Emma croaked.
The word was barely out of her mouth before Tristan sank his teeth into her neck again. It was the strangest feeling to go from moving to completely immobile in less than a second, but her body felt as if cement encased it while he fed on her. There was a deafening, almost static sound in her ears due to the rapid pulse of her blood in her ears.
She could barely get her eyes to move toward the doorway. When she did, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. It seemed like there was a clear wall of rubber pushing inward as Ethan put his shoulder down and pushed against whatever blocked the doorway.
Sweat coated his brow as he moved one excruciatingly deliberate inch at a time into the house. What he was doing should be impossible, and she thought perhaps she had taken a few too many blows to the head today, but when she closed her eyes and looked again, he appeared even closer.
He was almost two feet inside the living room when the wall gave. With a roar rivaling the largest of lions, he raced at them in a blur of motion so fast she didn't see him again until he snatched Tristan up by the throat and heaved him across the room. Plaster cracked and shattered as Tristan crashed loudly into the wall. The painting on the wall slid to the ground and broke when it hit the ground.
Emma gasped in a breath as her lungs were finally released from their paralysis enough for her to inhale again. Her head lulled down; her chin bumped against her chest as weakness crept through her now mobile body. Her heart felt like lead in her chest as it labored to pump what blood remained through her system.
Ethan grabbed the ropes binding Emma's wrist to the chair and shredded them before seizing the ropes around her ankles. Her limp body slumped to the side, but he caught her before she fell to the ground. He spun her around and hunched protectively over her as Tristan launched
