Warrior (Relentless #4)(231)

But you didn’t protect Sara, taunted a voice in my head. You failed her.

“You do remember me,” Elena crooned, her fingers caressing my jaw. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much.”

Can’t be Elena. Elena is dead.

“Sara?”

The fingers stopped moving.

“Nikolas, open your eyes,” commanded a hard voice that was not Sara’s. “Look at me.”

I forced my lids to rise. The light hurt my eyes, and I closed them again. What the hell was wrong with me?

“Here, my love.” A lamp clicked. “Try now.”

My eyes opened again. The light was less harsh, and above me a face swam into view. I blinked a few times to clear my vision. The face grew sharper, the features coming into focus.

I stared at the face of the young girl who had died over one hundred and fifty years ago. Tristan’s sister looked as she had the last time I saw her, except there was a hardness in her face, a malice in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

“Hello, Nikolas.” She picked up my hand and held it between both of hers. I could feel her touch, but my arm was lifeless when I tried to move it.

“Elena? You’re not real.”

Her smile was as sweet as I remembered. “Oh, I’m very real.”

“How?” My mind was still fuzzy, and I couldn’t make sense of what I saw. “You died. I…helped bury you.”

“No, my love.” She stood and twirled beside the bed I lay on. “See? I’m as alive as you are. And now we can finally be together.”

“Together?” Something faint brushed against my mind. Like a curtain lifting, the fog in my brain dissipated.

Sara. The cabin. The prick of a dart. Her screaming my name.

Oh God, Sara. The vampires had found us and knocked me out. Where had they taken us? Where was Sara? I concentrated on our bond and felt her nearby, not in the next room but close enough to know she was still alive.

Sara? I called to her. Sara, can you hear me?

Nothing.

Was she hurt? Afraid? What had they done to her?

“Nikolas, are you even listening to me?”

I stared at Elena who had come to sit on the bed again. The sinking feeling in my gut turned into horror as I put the pieces together.

Vampires had captured us.

Elena was a vampire.

“It’s not possible. You can’t be… A Mohiri can’t become a vampire.”

She smiled, and this time, two dainty fangs appeared at the corners of her mouth. “Oh, but you can. It’s rather painful, of course, but entirely possible if the right vampire does it.”

“Jesus, Elena.” My chest ached for Tristan and the memory of the girl I used to know. All this time, we’d believed she was dead. The vampires must have put her clothes on a human girl and burned the body so we wouldn’t recognize it. They knew we’d come for her if we thought she was still alive.

“I’m so sorry.” She was alive, but becoming a vampire was a fate worse than death.

Her smile faded. “You should be. I suffered a lot more than you will. You’re fortunate you are mine, and that I’m a better Master than my old one.”

“Master?” It took a moment for her words to register. Shock tore through me, leaving a solid lump of ice in my stomach. “It’s you?”

“Yes.”

“But how?” Masters were very old and powerful. How could she have become one so fast?

She patted my arm. “That’s a story I’m saving for when my dear niece joins us.”

Fear threatened to suffocate me. “What have you done with Sara?”

The gleam in her eyes was pure evil. “She’s well – for now. She’s enjoying my special guest accommodations, which I’m afraid are not as nice as yours. I must say, she’s an intriguing little thing. I quite enjoyed talking to her, although she had no idea who I was.”

She laughed gleefully. “Do you know she actually tried to comfort me, thinking I was a scared little human girl in the cell next to hers? She even told me we were all getting out of here. Endlessly entertaining, my niece.”

I swallowed dryly. “Why her?”

“That is something else I’m saving for our little reunion.” She glanced at a clock on the wall. “Oh dear, look at the time. We have to get ready for the party I’ve planned in your honor.”

I tried to rise, but whatever drug they had used on me left my body as week as a newborn’s.

Elena leaned over me, and I realized I was shirtless. “Don’t worry, my love. You’ll be strong again very soon.” She kissed my jaw, and a shudder went through me. Pushing my head to one side, she ran her tongue down my throat.

I gasped when her fangs pierced my skin. She latched on to me, drinking my blood in long pulls, and I was helpless to stop her.

In my entire life, I’d never been bitten by a vampire, until now. Revulsion twisted my stomach as she made little moaning sounds and slowly drained me.

I was close to passing out when she released me and lifted her head. She closed her eyes and licked her lips like she had just sampled a fine wine.

“I’ve waited so long to taste you, and you are better than I dreamed. We’re going to have so much fun together. But first, we have other business to take care of.”