“Oh, no! Poor Carl.”
“Yeah. Listen, Sara, I never should have come here. I think Bowman threatened Overstreet and Carl told him where I am. Which means you might be in danger.”
“I don’t care.” Cupping his face in her palms, she kissed him. “You’re here and that’s all that matters.”
“I can’t stay. You’re not safe as long as you’re near me. As soon as Bowman’s no longer a threat, I’ll come back for you.”
Soft laughter came from the doorway.
Muttering an oath, Travis put Sara behind him then pivoted to confront Jason Bowman. Travis swore again when he saw that Bowman hadn’t come alone. Four vampires Travis didn’t recognize stood behind him.
“Afraid to face me by yourself?” Travis taunted.
“This time we finish it,” Bowman snapped.
Murmuring, “Stay here, Sara,” Travis stepped into the room and closed the balcony doors behind him. “Let the girl go. She’s got no part in this.”
“She knows too much. And I want her.”
“No way in hell!”
With a shake of his head, Bowman jerked his chin at one of the other vampires, then stepped back while the vampire flew across the room, claw-like hands aiming for Travis’ throat.
Sara glanced around, looking for a way off the balcony so she could go find help, but the only exit was going back the way they’d come.
Looking through the door, Sara pressed a hand to her heart as Travis and the other vampire came together in a silent, bloody battle. Faces impassive, Bowman and his three companions watched until, in one swift move, Travis ripped the heart from the other vampire’s chest and tossed it aside. The vampire collapsed like a rag doll and disintegrated.
Sara looked away, her hand covering her mouth as she fought down the urge to vomit.
The other three vampires were on Travis before the dead man hit the floor.
Filled with despair, Sara closed her eyes, certain Travis would be killed. She risked a peek, let out a startled cry when Bowman materialized beside her. Terror trapped the scream in her throat as he grabbed her by the shoulders and sank his fangs into her throat.
Travis let out a harsh cry of denial when he saw Bowman bending over Sara’s neck. Fighting for his life and for hers, he managed to tear the throat from another of Bowman’s henchmen. It made the other two wary and they backed off.
Panting, Travis faced them across three feet of blood-stained oak floor. He needed to end this now, before it was too late.
His head jerked up when he felt a stir of preternatural power in the room and suddenly Ronan was there. And he wasn’t alone. Overstreet was with him.
“I want Bowman,” Overstreet said,
Travis snorted. “Get in line.”
“No way! Damned bloodsucker turned me and threatened Winona. He’s mine!” Carl declared and darted past Travis out to the balcony.
Travis turned to follow him, let out a cry of denial when he saw Sara sprawled on the balcony floor. He ran toward her, only to be stopped when the two remaining vampires flung themselves at him.
Desperate to get to Sara, Travis was trying to fight them off when his sire’s power tore them to shreds.
“Get Sara,” Ronan said. “I’ll clean up the mess.
Travis raced toward the balcony, eyes burning with tears as he knelt beside Sara and lifted her into his arms. Bowman hadn’t been gentle. Her neck had been cruelly savaged. Her face was fish-belly white, her breathing shallow, her heartbeat so faint he could scarcely hear it.
“Sara? Sara! What should I do?”
“Travis …”
“I’m here!” He held her close, one hand lightly stroking her cheek. “Tell me what to do.”
“I don’t … want … to … leave …” Her voice trailed off as her eyelids fluttered down.
“Sara!” He looked up as Ronan came to stand beside him. “What should I do?”
“That’s your decision. But whatever you decide, you’d better do it quick. She’s almost gone and even I can’t bring back the dead.”
Travis shook his head. How could he make a decision as life changing as this for someone else? He glanced at Overstreet, who had come to stand beside Ronan. The writer’s clothes were splattered with blood. The fact that he was still alive meant Bowman was dead.
“She said she didn’t want to leave,” Ronan remarked. “I can only surmise it’s you she didn’t want to leave.”
“I’ve never turned anyone. What if I do it wrong? Can’t you …?
“If I turn her, I’ll be her sire.”
“No!” He glanced at Sara. “What if I do it and she hates me for it?”
Ronan shrugged. “Then you’ll have centuries to apologize.”
Travis scowled at him. “I can’t do it here. What if someone comes?”
“Don’t worry. No one will come up here until you’re through.”
Travis drew in a deep breath and blew it out in a long, slow sigh. He had never turned anyone before, but he discovered that he knew instinctively what to do. Because her neck had been savaged, he bit gently into her arm and drank as much of her blood as he dared take. And then, praying she wouldn’t hate him for what he was about to do, he bit into his own wrist and held it over her mouth. “Drink, love,” he whispered. “Drink and be mine forever.”
When it was over, Travis wrapped his arms around Sara and transported them to his lair, leaving Ronan and Overstreet to clean up the mess.
After removing Sara’s clothes down to her underwear, he washed the blood from her neck and face, then carried her to his room and put her to bed. He watched in amazement as the torn flesh in her neck knit together. A hint of color returned to her cheeks. Her breathing grew less labored, her heartbeat stronger, although it beat less often than when she was human. Her hair took on an added luster.
He sat at her side all through the night, praying that she wouldn’t hate him, that he had made the right decision.
Two hours before dawn,
