Stakes & Stilettos ib-4 Read online

  "Actually, I think it might be my opinion. Ten weeks. Almost all of it difficult."

  "We have had our difficulties."

  I laughed, and it sounded amazingly convincing. "Difficulties? Well, let's see about that.

  Yeah, there are difficulties. You being overbearing and unemotional. That's a couple of them. There's also you being judgmental, possessive, and jealous."

  He stood up, his brow deeply furrowed. "And this little outburst was inspired by your chat with Veronique, was it?"

  I put a hand on my hip. "Yeah. Your wife, Veronique. She made it very clear that's how she was staying, too. Seriously, what's in it for me?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Exactly what I said. What's in it for me? I'm just supposed to stand by and be your mistress? For what? The next thousand years? Sorry, Thierry, but I need more commitment than that in a relationship. I thought I could ignore it, because there were a hell of a lot of other perks, but at the end of the day, there are way too many strikes against us."

  "Such as?"

  Dammit. "Veronique told me about your little financial difficulties."

  His eyes widened a fraction. "Did she?"

  "Yeah. I can't believe you didn't tell me. I thought you were rich."

  "And this was a prerequisite for our relationship? The fact that I had money?"

  "I didn't think it was, but now that I think about it…" I paused and tried not to cry. Oh, my God, I didn't want to say these things. None of it was the truth. I didn't care if Thierry only had two cents to rub together, it didn't change how I felt about him. "I guess it does.

  What am I supposed to do? Eat Kraft Dinner for the rest of my life?"

  "You don't eat."

  "Figuratively."

  "I must say I'm disappointed to hear this from you." But he didn't sound all that disappointed. He sounded bland and emotionless. His expression was now completely unreadable.

  "I would be surprised," Gideon had said to me earlier. "If Thierry raised one finger to help salvage your love affair or try to talk you out of your decision. If Thierry really puts up a fight, if he really loves you as much as you think he does, then maybe I'll reconsider."

  "I'm sorry to have disappointed you," I said.

  "Barry did warn me that he suspected that you were after my money, being one of very little personal means."

  I shrugged. "A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do."

  "Veronique had no right to tell you any of my personal affairs."

  "She's funny like that."

  "I'm sorry this evening has not gone as well as I'd planned."

  "We've had worse evenings."

  "Oh?"

  Nail in the coffin alert. My heart ached so badly with every word I spoke to him, but I forced myself to hold it together. "Yeah, remember that crazy night you nearly tore out my throat and then left me for dead? That was memorable."

  His expression went from bland to icy. "I do remember. It is one of my greatest regrets."

  "I told somebody a while ago that I was involved with a married man who had a serious drinking problem. Sounds like a huge mistake, doesn't it?"

  His gaze remained as cold as ice. "It does indeed."

  I gave him a small shrug. "I think tonight is a really good night for us to… I don't know.

  Start fresh."

  "I agree," he said slowly. "Perhaps we should spend a little time apart and meet tomorrow to discuss this further. I'm sure we can come to an understanding. I know that your words tonight are spoken out of frustration with Veronique and stress from dealing with the curse. I will choose not to take what you have said personally."

  "That's not exactly what I meant." I felt like crying, but I held it inside. If I let one tear fall—if I let Thierry think for one moment that I didn't mean what I was saying—then I had no doubt that Gideon would find out and he would kill everyone I loved. Including

  Thierry. It was all up to me.

  I willed my hands not to shake, and I pulled off the eternity band and placed it on Thierry's desk. He eyed it before his gaze returned to me.

  "I'm starting new," I said. "I haven't been happy for a very long time and I'm realizing that a lot of it has to do with being with you. We're not right together. We don't fit."

  "They say that opposites attract."

  "Maybe temporarily. But I'm not looking for a temporary relationship, Thierry. This isn't right. I can feel it. I'm trusting my gut on this one. It's over. I want to see other people.

  People who aren't so overbearing and moody. And when I leave, I would really appreciate it if you don't try to see me again. It'll just be awkward. Do you understand?"

  He stared at me for a very long time. His eyes were gray and there was no warmth there.

  "I see," he said finally, and there was no inflection to the words. Just a general statement.

  "And I do understand, Sarah. I feel no ill will toward you for this decision. I have expected it for some time."

  "Well, that makes things much simpler."

  "Indeed it does."

  "Then I won't draw this out any longer." I took a deep breath. "I thought I loved you, but

  I was wrong. I'm sorry to have wasted your time and mine. Good-bye, Thierry."

  "Good-bye, Sarah."

  I blinked and turned around, and then all I could hear was the click-clack of my heels as they touched the ceramic-tiled floor and the accompanying thudding of my heart slamming against my chest.

  I waited until I was outside in the cold February air before I started crying, great heaving sobs that made me clutch at the brick walls in the alley to stay on my feet. I'd never felt worse in my entire life. It felt as if all of my insides had been pulled out through my mouth and lay on the snow covered ground next to me in a horrific steaming pile of pain.

  And, no. Definitely not an exaggeration.

  I loved him. Oh, my God, I loved him so much.

  But it was obvious. He couldn't love me in return. What he'd told me before had been words. Just words. If he really loved me he wouldn't have stood there and listened to me without trying to defend himself. Without trying to fight for me. He didn't fight. He didn't care.

  Gideon was right.

  It was over. I'd never see him again. But at least he'd be safe. He'd be alive. That was all I could ask for. He'd never know how much this had hurt me. He'd never know how much I loved him.

  But at least he'd be alive.

  I tried to pull myself together and slowly, very slowly, I did.

  Gideon would pay dearly for this. The devil would get his due. The ball was now in my court. Les jeux sont faits.

  I sniffed. And other sayings appropriate to the situation.

  I pushed my tears away. I'd go home to George's place and pull a Scarlett. Tomorrow was another day. My first day as a vampire without Thierry in my life.

  Dammit. Here come the waterworks again.

  Interlude

  Toronto, Ontario, Present Day

  Thierry watched in silence as Sarah left his office.

  She'd left him. His throat felt suddenly tight at the thought. He'd always feared that the day would come that she would see him for the man he truly was and that she would turn her back on him forever. However, he had never realized how much it would hurt.

  He'd believed that she was different. That perhaps she wouldn't leave. That perhaps she was someone he could finally, at long last, open his heart to.

  That perhaps the fortune teller from so long ago had been right.

  Sarah Dearly was so incredibly wrong for him. So different. So young and sweet.

  It had surprised him to hear such cruel things from her beautiful lips, although he had to agree that a great deal of it was very true and needed to be said. Perhaps he should have tried to defend himself, but from what? He had hurt her. That was the truth. His fortune was drained, although not nearly as much as she seemed to think. His stubborn, estranged wife—who had her own life on a separate continent—refused to give hi
m the freedom to truly commit to their new relationship.

  All true. And all reasons for harsh words.

  He leaned back in his leather chair behind the desk that would no longer be his as of tomorrow.

  Sarah had always claimed to him that she once wanted to be an actress of stage and screen, but it had never worked out for her. He'd always wondered why.

  But now he finally knew.

  Sarah Dearly was a horrible actress.

  Horrible.

  Completely and absolutely dreadful in every way.

  She had lied to him tonight. Completely and shamelessly.

  Instead of making him angry, this realization made him happier than he had felt in centuries, if not ever.

  She loved him. Of everything in his long difficult life, of this he had no doubt. His money meant nothing to her. If it had, she would have accepted his many attempts to give her spending money and then asked for more.

  He loved her so deeply it made his heart ache.

  She'd made every day a gift instead of a curse. Before he'd met her he'd believed that he had nothing left to live for. But now he knew that he was wrong. Now he lived for her and the promise of a future together.

  It was all very clear.

  It was also very clear that she was being coerced into her current actions. Forced to leave him. He frowned deeply at the thought.

  It couldn't have been Veronique's doing. Of this, too, he was certain. Veronique might have many faults, but she wasn't an evil woman.

  No, something else had happened. Something that had scared Sarah so badly that she had no choice but to lie to him. He had considered calling her on this during her tirade of hurtful words but had decided against it.

  Something had happened. Someone else was involved with this, and he was willing to bet that it had to do with the false Red Devil.

  He had threatened Sarah. It was obvious. She was afraid.

  The thought made him furious. Whoever was responsible would be very sorry.

  He picked up the eternity band from where she'd left it on his desk and slid it into his front jacket pocket.

  Sarah had told him that she didn't love him. That it was over between them once and for all.

  He'd once wished for this—for her to walk away from him and not look back. Only a short time ago he wouldn't have fought for her; fought for their relationship and for a future together. But that was before he realized how very much he loved her.

  A small grin of determination turned up the side of Thierry's mouth.

  He was different now.

  Chapter 21

  "How did it go, Sarah?"

  Gideon's low voice in the darkness of the alley outside Haven startled me. I raised my damp eyeballs in his direction expecting to see him grinning or looking proud of himself for what he'd made me do.

  Instead he simply looked at me. The black scarf was wrapped around his scarred face again so all I could see were his eyes, but that was enough for me to know that he wasn't smiling.

  Neither was I. To say the least.

  "How the hell do you think it went?" I managed.

  He studied me for a moment longer. "You've done the right thing. I will assume he didn't question your decision to end your relationship?"

  I swallowed past the large lump in my throat. "No, he didn't. Are you happy now?"

  "This doesn't make me happy."

  "Sure. I believe that." I started to move past him, but he stepped in front of me to block my path.

  "Where are you going?" he asked.

  "Home. To bed."

  "Is it safe for you to be out all alone like this?"

  "The leader of the vampire hunters is concerned that little old fanged me is going to get home safely? How sweet of you." I could practically taste the venom in the words. I took a deep breath and faced him again. "I agreed to sire you in two weeks. Does that mean I have to put up with you constantly being around between then and now? Because if I have a choice, I'd rather you stay as far away from me as possible and mind your own goddamned business about what I do."

  He blinked. "I'm not leaving. I'll give you your space, of course, but don't think that I won't be near and well aware of whatever you do. There's too much at risk for me to give you too much freedom."

  I wiped at my tears, which had turned from grief to frustration. "I did what you asked—I broke up with Thierry for good. On Valentine's Day. Now I just want to be alone tonight.

  Do you think you could do that for me, you scarred son of a bitch?"

  His green eyes glittered. "Since you put it so politely, I suppose that's only fair.

  Goodnight, Sarah. I'll see you again soon."

  He stepped to the side to let me pass.

  I wanted to give him the finger, or possibly kill him where he stood, but I didn't have the energy. Instead, I slowly walked away, out of the alley and onto the sidewalk, all the way to George's, with my now-blistered, screaming-in-pain feet the only things to keep me company.

  An hour later I was in bed with the lights off, and I tried to will myself to go to sleep.

  Maybe my life wouldn't seem quite so hopeless tomorrow, although I seriously doubted it.

  Not too surprisingly, I couldn't get to sleep. I would take a few over-the-counter sleeping pills, but drugs, unless they were of the garlic-dart variety, didn't work on vampires.

  Garlic sleeping pills for vampires, I thought absently. That quite possibly could be a million-dollar idea.

  I lay awake, my attention on the dark ceiling above me, as I went over everything that had gone wrong in my life.

  Never should have gone on that blind date, I decided. That's where the trouble had begun.

  If I hadn't, the obsessive creep wouldn't have bitten me so we could be "together forever."

  He wouldn't have turned me into a vampire. I wouldn't have been chased by vampire hunters.

  And I never would have met Thierry.

  If I hadn't met Thierry, he would have gone ahead and staked himself on the bridge that night, his remains falling into the river below to be washed away. He wouldn't have had to save me. He wouldn't have felt this solemn need to protect me ever since—which obviously was what I had confused for romantic feelings. He would never have even been a blip on my radar and my life wouldn't have been completely ruined.

  I'd be the same Sarah I used to be—a fashion-loving, apartment-dwelling, party-going personal assistant with no direction in her life.

  But I didn't want to be that Sarah anymore. Being a vampire had changed me, but not all of the changes were bad ones. At least, I didn't think so.

  If I hadn't become a vampire I never would have met George or Quinn. Amy never would have met and married Barry.

  And then, of course, there was Thierry.

  I wanted these horrible feelings to turn into anger against him. That would be helpful. But

  I just felt empty and so very sad. I know he was difficult, overbearing, judgmental, and jealous, but he was also generous, wonderful, sweet, protective, and passionate.

  I didn't want to love him, but I did.

  I wanted to stop loving him, but I couldn't.

  And if it meant I had to turn Gideon Chase into a vampire to save him and all of my friends, then that's exactly what I was going to do.

  I let out a shaky sigh and closed my eyes.

  Then they snapped right back open a moment before I sat bolt upright in bed.

  What the hell had I done?

  I got out of bed, straightening my bright pink I'm a Rock Star nightshirt (with the image of a cartoon star wearing sunglasses and playing an electric guitar—chic it wasn't) and left my tiny bedroom to scramble in the darkness for the phone. I pecked out the numbers instinctively.

  "You've reached Haven." George's voice boomed in my ear. "How can I be of excellent service so you will strongly recommend to the new owners that I can keep my job here?"

  "George," I whispered into the receiver. "I need to talk to Thierry. Please… can you get him
for me right now?"

  There was a pause. "Sarah? Is that you?"

  "Yes." I was afraid to raise my voice to regular speaking volume.

  "Do you have laryngitis?"

  "No… just, please, George, get Thierry for me."

  Bottom line: I was not Gideon Chase's bitch.

  I don't care what he threatened to do, he wasn't infused with superpowers—he was only human. He couldn't possibly know what I might tell Thierry. I'd gone along with him out of fear and confusion, but now that I'd had some time to think things through, I was sure that I'd made the wrong decision. Hugely wrong.

  Gideon didn't have to know what was going on, but Thierry did. He could help me. I wasn't exactly sure how, but at present I was at Gideon's mercy, and I didn't like that at all, since, from what I knew of the guy, he didn't have any honor or compassion to go along with his billions of dollars.

  He was a murderer. He'd killed countless vampires over the years, and he'd even murdered

  Stacy last night. He was a very bad man. Not that this was a revelation.

  I'd tell Thierry I had to talk to him. I'd explain what had happened and then we'd… we'd…

  I didn't know what we'd do, but it would be better than waiting and worrying that Gideon would just kill everybody anyhow.

  This was the best was. The only way.

  And sure, it did bother me that Thierry had accepted our break-up without even standing up from his desk; with his expression only growing colder and more distant.

  Then again, he might not believe me. After everything I'd said to him…

  Oh, God, I thought. He has to believe me.

  "Sorry," George said. "He's not here."

  I licked my dry lips. "Where is he? This is urgent."

  "Look, I'd get him to give you a call, but he's gone. Like gone, gone. I figured you already knew about this."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "I can't believe you broke up with him, Sarah. Wow. I didn't see that coming. He was in a foul mood when he came out of that office. Foul. I asked him where you were and he told me that you dumped him—although he didn't use those exact words, of course. He finished the paperwork and cleared out his office of all of his personal belongings, which I believe amounted to a fountain pen and an extra black shirt. He said he was going to the airport."