"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."