“And you did.”
“They’d better damn well yield some information.”
She hoped so. Those bastards had tried to kill her. Again.
The two of them stood that way for Krysta didn’t know how long. A minute passed. Ten? Twenty? She couldn’t tell and didn’t really care.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered, unable to calm her thoughts.
Leaning back, he gazed down at her.
His handsome face wavered as moisture welled in her eyes. When a tear slipped over her lashes and trailed down one cheek, he brushed it away with his thumb.
She shook her head. “This is all I’ve known, Étienne, all I’ve done, for six years.”
“You never told me what sparked your vampire-hunting career. Not all of it anyway.”
“I was a student at UNC,” she began, reluctant to revive those memories. “My fiancé and I were walking back to the dorm one night—”
“You were engaged?” he interrupted.
Was that jealousy sharpening his tone?
She nodded. “Michael and his family moved into a house down the street when we were both in the ninth grade. We hit it off from the start, became best friends, and”—she shrugged—“fell in love. We dated throughout high school and intended to marry as soon as we finished college.” It all seemed so long ago. Another life. Another her. She had been so young and naïve and innocent then. Michael had been, too. Looking back, it sometimes felt as though decades had passed since that last night they had been together instead of a mere half dozen years.
Were Michael alive today, she doubted he would even recognize the hardened warrior she had become.
“Anyway, Michael and I were walking back to the dorm when two vampires attacked us. They tortured Michael. And made me watch.” It had been agonizing. And was still agonizing to recall. She doubted any amount of time would alter that or lessen the impact his screams of pain had had on her, though her grief had finally dulled. “Then one bit me and I lost consciousness, I think from blood loss. I don’t know what happened after that, why they let me live. But I never forgot their faces or what they were.”
“I’m surprised you remember it.”
“I don’t think the chemical that you told me is released when vampires or immortals bite someone works on me.” Apparently it acted like GHB and made victims more pliable. It also affected their memories, which explained why none of the victims she had spoken with had had any recollection of being attacked.
“Did you tell anyone?”
“The policeman who took my report at the hospital. He said I had been rufied and was confusing things. He didn’t believe the vampires were real.” Her gaze strayed to the bed. “Sean believed me, but told me I’d be committed if I didn’t stop pushing it.”
“So you decided to hunt them down yourself.”
“Yes. Hunting and destroying vampires is all that has driven me for years. How can I give that up?”
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes, I do. I can’t keep hurting the people I care about. I have to stop.”
“Sean is going to be fine, Krysta.”
She took a chance and met his gaze. “I wasn’t just talking about Sean.”
He stilled.
“Twice now Seth has warned me I’m a liability. By stubbornly insisting on hunting, I’m endangering you.”
“I don’t care about that. I’m immortal. I can take it.” He cupped her face in both hands and studied her intently. “Are you saying you care about me?”
Krysta didn’t think she had ever felt so vulnerable in her life. Not emotionally anyway.
“Never mind,” he said with a gentle smile. “You don’t have to answer that.”
Hell. She was too tired and heartsick to lie or evade. “I think I’m falling in love with you,” she confessed.
He sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes flashed bright amber.
Étienne thought his heart would burst from his chest. “What?” The jealousy that had infiltrated him as she had spoken of Michael fled.
She bit her lip. “Don’t make me say it again.”
“Why?’
“Because it scares the hell out of me.”
He stroked her lovely face with his thumbs. “It scares me, too.”
“Why would it scare you? You’ve probably been with hundreds of women and had dozens of relationships.”
He shook his head. “There have been fewer than you think. And I didn’t love any of them. I fell for you the first night I saw you fight vampires.”
She swallowed. “No, you didn’t.”
“Then why was I so relieved to learn you and Sean were brother and sister, rather than lovers?”