Silence fell on the stage as his laughter ceased.
“Nicolai,” I said after a moment. “I don’t know you very well, but I know that you aren’t a bad guy. Listen to me. Listen to reason for a second, would you?”
He turned to me and cocked his head. “I am nothing if not a reasonable man.”
“Thierry didn’t kill Elizabeth .”
His expression darkened to match his haunted, and as I realized now, insane eyes. “He did.”
I shook my head and tried to keep my voice steady and panic-free. “He may have bitten her—which
I’m not trying to justify—but when she ran, she was attacked by hunters.They’re the ones who killed her.They’re the ones to blame.”
He stared at me for a long moment.
“And why did she run?” he asked softly. “What did my Elizabeth run from?”
My mouth went dry.
“Me,” Thierry said. “She ran from me.”
Nicolai nodded. “So you see, my dear Sarah, that is all the proof I require.” He turned to Thierry again.
“So you do accept the punishment that has taken me a century to deliver?”
Thierry didn’t look at me. “Release Sarah first.”
Nicolai smiled. “But Thierry, my old friend, Sarah is part of your punishment.”
Thierry’s eyes widened and he struggled with his bindings as Janie stood like a statue behind him. “Sarah
. . . run!”
But I didn’t have a chance. With a speed I’d never witnessed from either human or vampire, Nicolai had closed the distance between us and was behind me, an arm around my neck that I grabbed, searching my brain for a suitable self-defense tactic. I came up blank.
“Yes,” Nicolai hissed into my ear. “Before I kill you, Thierry, I will drain the woman you love. So the last thing you see will be the life slipping from her eyes, knowing there was nothing you could do to save her.” He moved his face down my neck where the faint bite marks from the other night still remained. He pulled the collar of my shirt down to expose more skin.
“Hey,” Janie said. “Is that the necklace I’ve been looking for? Around your vampire neck? What the hell?”
I ignored her, as a sick realization hit me. “Nicolai . . . are you . . . are you the one responsible for the recent vampire attacks in the city? The murders? I hoped it wasn’t true. That a vampire . . . that a vampire wouldn’t—”
“Wouldn’t kill?” I felt him smile against my ear. “Wouldn’t hurt another soul? That they were innocent creatures unjustly accused of centuries of monstrous crimes? That hunters are completely and totally wrong in what they do? After what happened to you the other night I would have thought that your naive opinion of your kind would have changed. And perhaps that your doubts would be with Thierry. But they weren’t, were they? Not for one moment.”
I managed to shake my head at that. “Thierry wouldn’t do something like that.”
He inhaled and pushed the hair off my neck. “Loyal to the end. Just like my Elizabeth .”
I struggled, but the guy was just as strong as he looked. He held my head in such a way that I couldn’t even bite him. “Just an FYI, Nic, your Elizabeth was a bit of a tramp. She tried to seduce Thierry. Real loyal. I guess absence made the heart go yonder, didn’t it?”
“Shut up.” His words were accompanied by the tightening of his arm around my neck. I choked against the intense pressure.
“It is true,” Thierry said, his eyes glittering like diamonds under the stage’s spotlight. “And I was not the first.”
“Liars.”
Janie shifted the stake to her other hand and pressed it against Thierry’s neck to stop him from saying anything else, but her attention was on me and Nicolai.
“Is it true?” she asked. “Are you responsible for the murders?”
I felt his lips against my neck and I shuddered. “A man has his appetites. And sometimes they can’t be denied. Isn’t that right, Thierry?”
She frowned. “So, is that a yes?”
He snorted. “Oh, Janie. Always so inquisitive. That’s what I like about you. Yes. I take what I want when I want it and have done so since I was a fledgling. Hunters, other vampires, humans. I do not care whose blood I enjoy. I am bound by no human rules. If more vampires thought as I did, we would have no need to fear the hunters. They would fear us. Remember that, Thierry, for the moments you have yet to live. That only the strong survive.”
“Nicolai . . . no!” Thierry shouted.
I felt a searing pain as Nicolai sank his fangs into my neck. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. I should have fought harder against him. I should have learned more self-defense. I shouldn’t follow my heart instead of my head. It only led me into trouble.
I couldn’t get out of this one. And there was nobody left to help me. To helpus .
Suddenly Nicolai’s body jerked and I yelped as he pulled his fangs out of my neck. I staggered back from him a few feet. He looked down at himself, then pulled a dart out of his shoulder and looked up at
Janie.
She had the garlic dart gun in hand. “Sorry, Nicolai. But you just weren’t playing fair.”
“What do you care?” he snapped at her. “You hate her. She killed your brother.”
She flinched. “I’m beginning to learn that there are no easy answers in life. To anything, I’m afraid. And I guess I’m not too happy that I’ve been working for a serial killer. Just couldn’t let that slide. Not even for a little revenge.”
“Morals? For a mercenary?”
“Well, she also has my necklace.” She shrugged, and then frowned at him. “Uh, shouldn’t you be unconscious by now?”
He nodded. “It is good that I trust no one. Including you. I took an antidote for the darts before arriving here.”
“Well,shit .”
I looked across the floor as I clamped my hand against my neck. Things were a bit blurry. I didn’t know how much blood he’d taken. Couldn’t be much. It hadn’t been that long. But I’d felt better, that was for sure.
A small silver key sparkled about six feet away from me. The key to Thierry’s handcuffs. Janie must have dropped it.
I looked at Thierry. His face was filled with concern for me. He followed my line of sight to the key. He shook his head and mouthed “run” to me.
“Bad girl, Janie. I’m very disappointed. You came highly recommended.”