My temperature had plunged even more at hearing his full diagnosis. "You think."
"There have been others like you, many years ago, and their blood was a sacred gift thought to be sent from the gods as a cure for illness."
"So, what? You mix a little of my blood with some Peach Schnapps and call it a day?" My jaw was tight. "So what was with the whole song and dance? Why didn't you just do it a week ago when the stake was sticking out of my chest? There was plenty to go around then."
"I have to wait for the full moon two weeks from tonight." He sighed and it came out sounding very weary. "There are all these annoying rules with this sort of thing."
"So the full moon. Then what?"
"Then you will sire me as a vampire."
I blinked. "But you're the leader of the vampire hunters. Don't you see a bit of a problem with that?"
"I am dead to the hunters. I've been buried. I can begin a new life."
"You're crazy."
"Getting there."
"I'm not making you a vampire."
"I'm afraid that I'm not giving you a choice in the matter."
I took a deep breath. Okay, I'd had about enough of this. I walked over toward him and put my hand on his chest. My nightwalker juices had started to flow and the fog that had slowly rolled in was helping to chase away that petrified feeling and solidify it into something much different and a hell of a lot scarier. For him, that is.
With one push, he stumbled backward and landed in the chair.
He raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
"Oh, I'm just getting started." I leaned forward so I was looking directly into his eyes, knowing without a doubt that mine had turned black, since I now saw the world a bit differently—more like a predator would. "I want you to let me out of here. Right now. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you." He didn't make any moves and his eyes didn't glaze over in that special mind-
control way.
I frowned. "Let's try this again. Let me out of here now."
"I believe I told you before, Sarah, that vampiric mind control only works on weak-
minded humans. My mind, despite my obvious injuries, is very strong from years of training against potential dangers like this."
I hissed at him. Maybe I couldn't stab him in the heart with a knife, but his neck, on the good side, did look extremely appetizing. I settled down onto his lap and pressed my face against his throat. "What if I bite you right now?"
"I would strongly suggest against it."
He didn't flinch as my teeth grazed his flesh. The world began to narrow in and I felt the darkness gathering inside me. I could taste his pulse, and sinking my fangs into his neck seemed like the best idea I'd had in a very long time.
"Taking the chain away was a mistake," I whispered into his ear. "I'm a little different when I'm hungry these days. And I'm suddenly extremely hungry."
"I don't think Thierry would appreciate you sitting on my lap like this."
"I'm sure he'd understand." I traced my tongue along the side of his neck and tasted the salt of his skin and the smell of his cologne. Very tasty.
Then I felt his hand on my ass under my skirt and he squeezed. It made me jump and I got up quickly.
"What the hell was that?" I snapped.
He grinned. "What I normally do when a woman is crawling all over me." He flicked his head to the right. "Take a look at what's over there on the table. Perhaps we should move this meeting along a bit, although I did enjoy the lap dance."
I glared at him, drawing my upper lip back from my fangs. Then I moved toward the table to the side of the chair and looked down.
There were photos on top of it. Black-and-white surveillance photos.
"You see?" He stood beside me now. "I have been watching, Sarah. I know everything about you. And all I want from you is for you to sire me come the full moon. I want to be healed and I have no intention of going to Hell—even if it means becoming a vampire to avoid that fate. In fact, I look at it as a great adventure."
I could barely hear him, since I was too focused on the photos. There was one of Thierry leaving through the back door of Haven and heading to his Audi. One of Amy and Barry laughing outside their house. George walking down the street holding a tray with two
Starbucks coffees. The front of George's house with the blinds drawn and a FedEx truck out front.
There was a picture of the high school where I'd attended the reunion. A shot of me and
Thierry and Claire and Reggie outside after I'd bitten George. There was a picture of my parents' home with all the cars belonging to my relatives parked in front. Another photo showed my mom and dad putting birdseed out.
"I will kill them all," Gideon said softly. "I hate to do this with such a lack of finesse. It's not really my style. But I'm afraid if you leave me with no other choice, then what can I do? I'm a desperate man."
I turned and grabbed him by his throat and squeezed. His hands came up to claw at mine but I had a good hold of him. I pushed him back and he flew across the factory floor, before hitting the ground hard, coughing and sputtering.
"You stay the hell away from these people!" I yelled.
He kept coughing. I could see the red, bruiselike imprint of my fingers on his throat. "You have quite the grip on you."
The need for blood had been replaced by anger. No fear, no panic, no anxiety, just a simple, hot line of fury that anyone would threaten the people I loved.
"Stay away from them or I will kill you myself," I said.
He struggled to get up from the floor. "I already gave you that option. That door has closed, Sarah. You made your choice."
"Maybe I've changed my mind." I took a step toward him.
"Harm me and all those who are pictured there are dead." He breathed out. "I haven't taken any chances. The other hunters may think I'm dead and buried, but my money still speaks volumes. And hired killers are a cheap commodity these days. Hired killers who, if they don't hear from me in the next hour, will go ahead with their assignments."
"So if I'd killed you when you gave me the chance all of these people would die anyhow?"
I was shaking with anger. "You son of a bitch."
His now-blank expression didn't waver. "If you'd killed me I automatically would have gone to Hell."