“So, what did he do?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Drake ripped his heart out.”

She swallowed hard. “With . . . with his hands?”

Stefan nodded. “You look a little pale. Can I get you anything?”

“No. No, I’m fine.” She recalled the body lying under a blanket on the floor of her room in the Fortress, the awful bloody stain on the blanket, and on the rug beneath.

Wrapping her arms around her middle, she whispered, “I think I’m going to be sick.”

In a blur too quick for human eyes to follow, Stefan left the room, only to return a moment later, chamber pot in hand.

She grabbed it just in time.

He left again, returning with a damp washcloth, a dry towel, and a glass of warm water. She quickly wiped her face, then rinsed her mouth. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” he said, grinning as he took the chamber pot and soiled linen and left the room.

Elena sighed. She didn’t know which was worse, throwing up, or doing so in front of Stefan.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured when he returned. “I guess vampires don’t throw up.”

“No. Not a pretty sight.”

“I suppose not. Are you sure Drake isn’t going to fight?”

Stefan’s gaze slid away from hers.

“Stefan?”

“He will not fight. Unless Rodin is defeated.”

Chapter 27

The atmosphere in the Fortress was subdued that night. Everyone knew about the upcoming challenge, though no one spoke of it openly. Even the sheep knew. But then, it seemed as if they always knew what was going on. Drake had often wondered about that. Did they have some sort of telepathy of their own? Or were they just in tune with what went on around them? He thought it more likely that they eavesdropped on what their captors said. They certainly didn’t learn anything from the drones, those poor, unfortunate humans who were little more than zombies.

Too keyed up to sit still, he prowled the corridors for hours before going to his apartment.

Katiya looked up when he entered their quarters. “Have you seen Andrei?”

Drake nodded. “He is shadowing Olaf. He told me to kiss you good night.”

She laughed softly, her cheeks flushing as Drake dutifully brushed a kiss across her lips.

“Did you see Florin?” she asked.

“No. He has wisely chosen to stay in his room. One of the drones is keeping watch outside his door, ostensibly to do his bidding. Ciprian is also watching over him, from a distance, of course.”

“And Rodin?”

“He is sequestered with Liliana.”

Drake paced the floor, then dropped into one of the chairs, his hands braced on his thighs. “I have a bad feeling about this whole thing.”

“You are not afraid Rodin will lose? He has defeated every challenger who has ever come against him.”

Drake nodded. Maybe he was worrying for nothing. Maybe it was being away from Elena that had his insides tied in knots.

“Listen,” he said, rising quickly to his feet. “I need to see Elena.”

“You are leaving?” Katiya asked, her eyebrows rising in disbelief.

“I will be back before dawn. If anyone comes looking for me, you do not know where I am.”

Elena had gone to bed early, only to toss and turn. A glance at the clock showed it was almost 2 A.M. Would this night never end? With a sigh, she closed her eyes, wishing Drake was there beside her.

“Elena?”

“Drake?”

“I could not go to sleep without kissing you good night.”

She threw her arms around him. “Oh, Drake. I hate it when we’re apart.”

He gathered her close, a sense of peace stealing over him as he inhaled the scent of her hair and skin, heard the familiar beat of her heart, tasted her lips with his own. Without his knowing how it had happened, she had become the most important thing in his life, his only reason for living. After five hundred years, he felt as if he had found the other half of his soul. Love, he thought, it was more binding than blood.

When she would have spoken, he silenced her with a kiss. It lit the fire between them as quickly as a match ignites tinder. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding tightly, while his hands caressed her back, her shoulders, the sweet curve of her thigh, the swell of her breast.

He growled something under his breath, and the next thing she knew, her nightgown and his clothes were gone and he was rising over her. There was no need for foreplay. She sensed the urgency within him, but it was as nothing compared to her own need. They came together in a rush, his mouth crushing hers, her fingers digging into his back, urging him on.

Just when she was certain it couldn’t get any better, she felt his fangs at her throat. She moaned softly as pleasure exploded deep within her, spreading outward like ripples in an ocean, until she was certain she would expire from the sheer wonder of it all.

His tongue laved her neck, and then he was kissing her again, carrying her over the edge of pleasure into ecstasy.

Elena sighed as she turned onto her side, her head pillowed on Drake’s shoulder, one arm across his chest, one leg sprawled over his. For this moment, he was hers, and only hers.

But it was a moment fated to end too soon. She sensed the change in him, knew he was getting ready to leave.

“Do you have to go so soon?”

His hand lightly massaged her neck and shoulders. “I promised to be back before dawn. The challenge is tonight at midnight.”

“Please take me with you. Can’t you hide me somewhere in the Fortress?”

“No. Have you forgotten what happened the last time I took you there? I will not willingly put your life in danger again.”

“I’m not afraid.” It was a bold-faced lie, but she was desperate to be with him.

“I will return to you as soon as I can.” He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, then kissed her slowly, deeply. “Stay close to Stefan.”

Determined not to cry, she sat up, watching him as he dressed, thinking it was a shame to cover that perfect masculine body, wishing he had time to make love to her again.

“Thank you, wife,” he said with a wicked grin. “I will fulfill that wish when I return.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

“Please do.”

Fully clothed, he bent down and kissed her again. “Do not worry. Rodin has never lost a battle.”

She nodded, but she couldn’t ignore the shiver of unease that speared through her when Drake vanished from her sight. Was it only her fear making itself known? Or a premonition of something worse?

The bad feeling was still there when she awoke in the morning—afternoon, she amended when she looked at her watch. It was a little after one thirty. Ten and a half hours left until Gerret challenged Rodin for control of the Fortress.

Rising, she went down to the kitchen. Too upset to eat, she drank three cups of coffee, then wandered out into the garden.

A good cry, she thought. That’s what she needed. But the tears wouldn’t come.

Feeling thoroughly depressed, she sat on the wrought-iron bench and stared at the fountain. What was Drake doing? Was he resting? What of Liliana? And Katiya and Andrei? How could any of them rest when Rodin was going to fight another vampire to the death?

She should be there. She had to be there. She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Drake needed her.

She lost track of time as the certainty grew within her that she needed to go to the Fortress. Unfortunately, she had no idea where it was.

But Stefan knew.

She drummed her fingertips on the arm of the bench.

Stefan knew.

Eventually, hunger drove her back into the kitchen. She fixed a sandwich, ate it with a glass of milk while she warmed several pots of water on the stove.

When she finished eating, she bathed in the wooden tub. When this was over, she was going to ask Drake about having a bathroom installed in their bedroom.

Wrapped in her bathrobe, she went upstairs to get dressed, only to come to a halt in the doorway when she saw a large brown cat curled up on her pillow.

“Stefan?”

“Meow.”

She frowned. She had never seen Stefan in his cat form before. Why now? Moving to the bed, she sat on the edge of the mattress.

The cat rolled onto its back, inviting her to scratch his belly.

“I’m not sure Drake would approve,” she muttered as she rubbed the cat’s belly.

The cat purred loudly.

Elena stretched out on the bed, her hand still stroking the cat, who continued to purr, even after she had fallen asleep.

Elena woke with a start. What was she doing in bed? She had come up here to get dressed. A glance at her watch told her that had been over five hours ago. She frowned, remembering how she had found the cat in her bed. There was something supernatural about purring cats, she thought. They inevitably put her to sleep.

Rising, she pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater and went downstairs.

Stefan was waiting for her in the main hall.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

“You were driving yourself crazy. I thought I would save you a few hours of worry.”

“Oh. Thank you. I think.”

“It will be over soon.”

“Where will they fight?”

“There is a clearing below the Fortress. They will meet there at midnight, with their seconds.”

“Just the four of them?”

“No. There will be four other vampires, summoned from other Fortresses, who will serve as witnesses.”

“So, it’s outside?”

“Yes.”

“Take me there.”

“No.”

Grasping his shirt in both hands, she shook him as hard as she could. It was like trying to move a mountain. “You have to take me! Drake needs me. I know it! Please, Stefan.”

“Dammit, Elena, do you know what he will do to me if anything happens to you?”

“Do you know what will happen to me without him?”

Stefan swore long and loud. Not all of it was in English, but some words sounded the same in any language, and she knew she had him.