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"Gabby, please call me as soon as you get this. I know you're scared, honey, but the police really need your statement. Ray's about to go on break from duty. He says he can come and pick you up, if you'd feel safer - "
Gabrielle hit the erase button.
And felt the hairs at the back of her neck begin to rise.
She was no longer alone in the kitchen.
Heart lurching into overdrive, she whirled around to face her intruder, not at all surprised to see that it was Lucan. He stood in the door from the living room, watching her in thoughtful silence.
Or maybe he was just sizing up his next meal.
Curiously, Gabrielle realized she wasn't so much afraid of him as she was angry. He looked so normal, even now, standing there in a dark trenchcoat, tailored black pants, and an expensive-looking shirt that was a few shades darker than the mesmerizing silver of his eyes.
There was no trace of the monster she had witnessed last night. Just a man. The dark lover she only thought she knew.
She found herself wishing that he would have shown up with fangs bared and fury sparking in his strangely transformed eyes, as the terror he'd betrayed himself to be last night. It would have been more fair than this outward semblance of normalcy that made her want to pretend everything was all right. That he was actually Detective Lucan Thorne of the Boston Police, a man pledged to protect the innocent and uphold the law.
A man she might have been able to fall in love with - perhaps already was.
But everything about him had been a lie.
"I told myself I wasn't going to come here tonight."
Gabrielle swallowed hard. "I knew you would. I know you followed me last night, after I ran from you."
Something flickered within his penetrating gaze, which held her too intensely. Too much like a caress. "I wouldn't have hurt you. I don't want to hurt you, now."
"Then leave."
He shook his head. Took a step forward. "Not until we've talked."
"You mean, not until you've made sure I won't talk," she replied, trying not to be lulled into complacency simply because he looked like the man she had trusted.
Or because her body - even her idiot heart - responded to him on sight.
"There are things you need to understand, Gabrielle."
"Oh, I do understand," she said, amazed that her voice held no tremor. Her fingers came up near her neck, feeling for the cross pendant she hadn't worn since her first communion. The delicate talisman seemed like ridiculously flimsy armor now that she was standing in front of Lucan, with nothing to separate them except a few strides of his long, muscular legs. "You don't have to explain anything to me. It's taken me a while, granted, but I think I finally understand it all."
"No. You don't." He came toward her, pausing to notice the knot of chalky white bulbs tied above his head in the door of the kitchen. "Garlic," he drawled, and exhaled an amused chuckle.
Gabrielle retreated a pace from him, her Keds squeaking on the kitchen tiles. "I told you, I was expecting you."
And she'd done a bit of other prep work before he arrived. If he looked around, he would find the same threshold decoration in every room of the apartment, including the front door. Not that he seemed to care.
Multiple locks hadn't stopped him and neither had this further attempt at a security measure. He walked under Gabrielle's homemade vampire repellant unfazed, his eyes dark and fixed on her intently.
As he stepped closer, she backed up farther into the kitchen, until the counter came up behind her. A trial-sized mouthwash bottle lay on the polished granite top. It no longer contained Scope but a little something else she had picked up on her way home that morning, when she'd stopped in at St. Mary's for a long overdue confession. Gabrielle grabbed the plastic bottle off the counter and held it close to her chest.
"Holy water?" Lucan asked, coolly meeting her gaze. "What are you going to do with that, throw it on me?"
"If I have to."
He moved so quickly, she saw only a dizzying blur in front of her as he reached out and snatched the small vial out of her grasp and emptied it into his hands. He smoothed his dripping fingers over his face and into his glossy black hair.
Nothing happened.
He tossed the useless container aside and took another step toward her.
