When Darkness Comes (Guardians of Eternity #1)(38)

Abby blinked, not expecting that. 'You were born a vampire?"

"No, but it isn't like in the movies. I didn't crawl out of a grave and continue on as if I never died."

"Then what happened?"

His expression hardened as he dredged up his ancient memories. "I woke up one evening on the docks of London and couldn't remember my name or anything about my past. It was as if I had just been born without the slightest clue of who or what I was."

Abby frowned at the clipped words. Holy crap. He must have been terrified. It had been bad enough for her to accept she had a… thing rummaging around inside her. At least she hadn't woken up allergic to the sun, addicted to blood, and with her few brain cells wiped clean.

More importantly, she had Dante at her side to ease her fear.

That, of course, was the only reason she wasn't sitting in a padded room.

"Good God," she breathed.

"At first I thought I must have been on a bender and that my memories would eventually return," he said with a grimace. "I probably would have still been sitting on the docks when the dawn came if Viper hadn't stumbled across me and taken me into his clan."

Abby had an odd image of kilts and bagpipes. Not at all fitting with beautiful, deadly vampires.

"Clan?"

"A sort of family without all the guilt and drunken holiday brawls," he retorted.

Abby chuckled softly. 'That sounds like my kind of family."

'Yeah, not bad if you can get it."

His tone was flippant, but Abby was not foolish enough to believe that it had been easy.

Unconsciously, she reached out to grasp his hand. "Still, you must have been curious about your past."

His gaze dropped as he interlocked her fingers with his own. "Not really. From my pungent scent and ragged clothes, I could guess I had been one of the endless hordes of undesirables that plagued the city."

"But what if you had a family?"

For the barest fraction of a second, his fingers squeezed her own almost painfully; then he was once again leaning against the cave wall with that coiled ease.

"What if I did?" he demanded. "I wouldn't have remembered them. They would have been strangers to me. Or worse."

"Worse?"

He deliberately held her gaze. "Dinner."

Her stomach clenched in horror. Damn. He warned her not to forget who, or what, he truly was. Unfortunately, he made it so damn easy.

"Oh."

"It was better for everyone to allow the man I had been to simply die."

She couldn't argue. She never had believed in all that Leave-it-to-Beaver crap anyway. There were definitely times when it was better for all when Daddy walked away and never looked back.

She tugged her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knee.

"It must have been so strange. To just wake up and be someone you didn't even know."

Almost absently he raised her fingers to his lips. "In the beginning, but Viper taught me to appreciate my new life. He was the one to give me the name Dante."

It was difficult to imagine Viper acting as a father figure. He seemed so remote and cold. Still, it was obvious that the older vampire had a great influence on Dante. And for that she had to be grateful.

"Why Dante?"

Dante smiled wryly. "He said that I needed to learn to be more a poet than a warrior."

"Ah, Dante, of course."

"He warned me that a predator was more than muscle and teeth. A predator must use his intelligence to observe his prey and learn their weaknesses. A kill is far easier when you can predict how your quarry is going to react."

Abby grimaced. "God, I thought my outlook was bleak."

He shrugged. "He wasn't all wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"If I had been quicker to sense a trap, then those witches would never have gotten their hands on me."

In a heartbeat, Abby was on her knees and had her hands framing his face. The thought that it might have been some other vampire besides Dante here with her was enough to make her stomach clench with horror.

"And you wouldn't be Dante," she said in stern tones.

An odd smile touched his lips. "And that would be a bad thing?"

"A very bad thing," she whispered.

Without warning, he leaned forward to plant a fierce, possessive kiss upon her lips before reluctantly pulling back to regard her with a searching gaze.

"As much as I would love to stay and play, I think we had better move along."

Abby stiffened. Move along? Go out into the dark and face whatever creepy crawlies were out there waiting?

It didn't sound at all appealing. Not when she could think of several other things she would rather be doing in the dark.

Things that involved one sexy vampire and maybe some scented oil…

"Do we have to leave?" she demanded. "We're at least safe here."

He gave a shake of his head. "No, we're very nicely trapped here. Especially once the sun rises."

Abby wrinkled her nose, accepting that he might have a point. "Where will we go?"

Rising to his feet, he reached out his hand to help her up. "First we find the car and then head back to Chicago."

Once on her feet, Abby made a hopeless stab at dusting off her pants. Stupid, of course. The dust helped to cover the wrinkles.