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“Rafe? Rafe!” I flew into his arms, thinking I had never been so surprised or so happy to see anyone in my life.
“Rescue party's here,” Rafe said, giving me a hug.
“How did you find me?”
His gaze moved over my face. “I'll always be able to find you. Are you all right?”
“I'm fine, now. Are you all right? How'd you get in here. Where are Edna and…”
He silenced my questions by kissing me. When I came up for air, I saw that we weren't alone.
Susie and Cagin had Edna and Pearl trapped in the far corner of the room. For the first time since I had met them, Edna and Pearl looked subdued, their faces pale. Moving deeper into the room, I stared at the six bodies sprawled on the floor at one end of a long table. The scent of blood and death made my stomach churn. The bitter taste of bile rose in the back of my throat.
I looked up at Rafe. There was no remorse in his eyes when he looked at me. I could only hope it had been self-defense.
“Let's get this over with,” Cagin said.
I followed Rafe across the room, my stomach churning with apprehension. “What are you going to do with them?” I asked, though I was dreading the answer.
“What do you think?” Cagin asked, a growl in his voice.
“But…” I looked up at Rafe. “Are you just going to kill them in cold blood?”
His gaze met mine. “Don't you think they deserve it?”
I didn't know what to say. Edna and Pearl had killed innocent people. True, some of the ones they had killed hadn't been people in the true sense of the word, but they had taken innocent lives. I remembered the fear and humiliation I had felt while I waited in that awful cage, the horror that engulfed me when they injected me with their formula, the pain that had wracked my body. I could have been killed. We all could have been killed.
I looked at Edna and Pearl. You had to admire their courage. They were both glaring at Rafe, as though daring him to do his worst.
“Kathy?” I felt the weight of Rafe's gaze as he waited for my answer.
“I don't know.” Maybe they deserved it, maybe not. Who was I to make such a decision?
“Well, I know!” Cagin said. “Look at Susie's face!” His power filled the room, and I knew he was eager to shift into the tiger and rip out their throats.
“Wait.” Rafe's voice, soft as dandelion fluff, stopped Cagin in his tracks. “I have a better idea.”
“Better than killing them?” Cagin asked. “I don't think so.”
“Call it poetic justice,” Rafe said.
Taking a step forward, he reached for Edna's hand. Lips compressed in a thin line, she recoiled from his touch.
In a blur of movement, Rafe grabbed her by the forearm. “Time to pay the piper,” he said. She struggled in his grasp, but she was no match for Rafe's strength as he propelled her across the room. For the first time since I had met her, she looked old and scared.
I stared after him. I knew suddenly what he was going to do. It gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I didn't want to watch, but I couldn't look away. Preternatural power filled the room. It made it hard to breathe, lifted the hair along my nape.
Edna's eyes grew wide with revulsion when she realized what he intended to do. “No!” She tried to escape his grasp. “No, damn you!”
“Oh, yes,” Rafe said.
His fangs extended, and his eyes went red as he pulled Edna into his embrace. She sobbed once, a sound that tore at my heart, and then she fell silent. Though it seemed he drank from her forever, in reality only a few minutes passed before he lowered her body to the floor. Kneeling beside her, he tore a gash in his wrist and then held the bleeding wound to her mouth. When she resisted, he forced her to drink. After the first swallow, she grabbed his wrist and held it to her mouth as though she were drinking from the fountain of youth. How quickly revulsion turned to need.
Sickened, I turned away to find Susie watching avidly. Her eyes were bright, her body quivering, as she watched Edna drink from Rafe. Cagin's expression was impassive.
Realizing what her own fate was going to be, Pearl darted toward the door, only to be stopped by Cagin. She put up a good fight for a woman her age, but, like Edna, her strength was as nothing when pitted against a creature with Supernatural power.
She renewed her struggles when Rafe stood and walked toward her.
She stared at Rafe, her eyes narrowed with hatred. “Damn you,” she said. “May you rot in hell for all eternity.”
“Most likely,” Rafe said.
When Cagin dropped her arm, Pearl backed away from Rafe, but there was no place for her to go. When her back hit the wall, she let out a high-pitched squeal, like a rabbit caught in the jaws of a lion. She glared at Rafe, her expression one of mingled fear and defiance when he pulled her into his arms. Knowing it was useless to fight, she squeezed her eyes shut as he bent his head to her neck. And then, like Edna, she went limp in his arms.
And, like Edna, she took one drink of his blood and wanted more.
When it was done, Rafe helped both women to their feet.
For a minute, they looked at each other as if they were strangers, and then they joined hands.
“I don't guess I need to tell you what happens next,” Rafe said, glancing from one to the other. “If you don't want what I've given you, the sun will put an end to it. If you decide to accept it, I wish you well in your new life. Oh,” he said, glancing at the bodies behind the table, “you might want to clean up the mess.”
“Wait!”
Rafe looked at Pearl, one brow raised.
“Travis,” she said.
“What about him?”
“If I bring him across, what will it do to him?”
“I imagine he'll be the same arrogant ass as a Vampire that he was as a hunter,” Rafe said with a shrug. “Just keep him the hell away from me.”
With their heads together and their arms around each other, Edna and Pearl staggered to the far side of the room. Clad in bulky sweaters, jeans, and comfortable shoes, they were the most unlikely-looking Vampires I had ever seen. I couldn't help wondering how they would fare in their new life, and if being Undead would have any effect on their wardrobe. I laughed when I heard Pearl say this would be the best Halloween ever.
Rafe looked at me, and then he held out his hand, a question in his dark eyes.
I looked at Edna and Pearl. I looked at the bodies on the floor. I thought about what it would mean if I went with him. I thought how dreary my life would be without him. And because I loved him, because I couldn't imagine a future without him in it, I put my hand in his and we left the building.
