Love Me to Death (Underveil, #1)(22)

Dammit, dammit, dammit. No tears. Nikolai lowered himself back onto the sofa to keep from taking her in his arms.

She drew a deep, shuddering breath. “You said you’d kill me before I turned into a monster. You lied. You can’t kill me or else you kill yourself. You knew that.”

He couldn’t kill her anyway. Ever. He was certain of that now. Even if she became a vampire, he would never be able bring himself to do it.

“What kind of monster do you think you will be?” Darvaak asked.

Her voice trembled. “The worst kind. A heartless, soulless murdering vampire.”

The woman working on the shirt stilled for a moment and then continued her sewing.

The Time Folder cleared his throat and recrossed his legs, smoothing an imaginary wrinkle at his knee. “And how do you know this?”

Her eyes shot to Nikolai, and then she shrugged. “I know. Trust me.”

Darvaak leaned forward. “I trust you implicitly, Elena. Itzov, not so much.”

Nikolai stood. “That’s enough. Let it go. We need to get down to business.”

“You are in my home, enjoying my hospitality, asking me for favors, yet you have the audacity to behave as if you are in your own domain?” Darvaak’s voice remained level and his body eerily still. “The rest of the Underveil might fear you, Slayer, but I don’t. And right now, I’m caught up in a situation where I believe a human has been taken hostage, which by your own laws, is a crime, is it not? Shall we summon a tribunal?”

Nikolai sat down. A tribunal would mean certain death for both of them.

Darvaak leaned back again. “I thought not.”

“I’m not his hostage.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

The Time Folder’s eyebrow arched. “No?”

“He saved my life, actually. I need his help. He…he’s helping me.”

“By promising to kill you?” He folded his arms over his chest. “To keep you from becoming a vampire…”

She nodded. “It’s kinda screwed up, huh?”

“Immensely.”

Nikolai opened his mouth to speak, and Darvaak held up his hand. “Not yet. I’ll shock you into unconsciousness and alert them as to where you are if you even utter a peep, Itzov. You’ve involved me in something I’m not happy about, and you’ll indulge me a moment more.”

Nikolai couldn’t believe this man was besting him. The Time Folders were notoriously meddlesome, but also considered rational and fair. He was hoping for a glimpse of the latter attributes. At least Darvaak was calm, as opposed to his counterparts. Over the last two centuries, the only other pair of Time Folders on the planet had become unpredictable at best, as evidenced by the shock he received from a female Time Folder named Hestia the last time the Slayers used them to witness a crime. Stefan Darvaak was the only stable one left—and right now, Nikolai wasn’t so sure about that even.

Darvaak turned his icy eyes to Elena. “So, I only have one more question for you. You fear turning into what you call a heartless, soulless, murdering vampire. Exactly how many vampires do you know?”

“None.”

“So you got this idea from…”

Nikolai fisted his hands to keep from charging him. He was still f*cking with them. “Get to the point.”

Elena sighed. “I was shot by one, and we were attacked by three more. They were horrible. My eyes went red when I ingested some blood. I crave it when I smell it. I’m doomed to be a murderer just like they were.”

The girl sewing on the shirt paused again and laid her needle down.

“When did you ingest blood?” Darvaak asked.

Nikolai cut in and answered. “I ran a little test at the hotel. It was only a drop. Her body reacted. There’s no refuting the evidence.”

“I need to see it. Can you replicate it?”

“No!” she cried.

Darvaak placed his hands on her shoulders. “I am trying to help you. I can’t do that until I’m certain what we’re dealing with. Please. Just one time.”

Elena took a deep breath. “Fine.”

She turned her huge, tear-filled eyes to Nikolai, and his heart hammered. The poor woman was terrified, not of him, but of herself. He forced down his uncustomary sympathy and straightened his shoulders. Bit by bit, she was breaking down his resolve, and he knew it would mean his doom. Before her, it was so easy. Vampires were all bad and had to be destroyed. Now, every single solid truth he had held seemed made of gauze, like the flimsy garments of the elves.

“Quit staring at me and just do it,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut.

As Nikolai pulled the dagger out of his boot, he noticed the woman at the table near the back wall was stone still, watching him. Hands in lap. “Perhaps we should be more private about our business.”

Darvaak shook his head. “My employees are completely loyal. That or they are dead.” He held his hand out, palm up toward Nikolai. “Please, allow me. I’m testing a theory.”

Nikolai placed the dagger hilt in his hand, and Darvaak sliced the tip of his forefinger, then handed the weapon back. “Open your eyes please, Elena,” he said as he got on his knees in front of her. “Yes. Now your mouth.”

She obeyed, and he placed his forefinger on her tongue and then withdrew it.