Chapter 12

 

Three hours of pretending to be tourists, and nothing—not a sign or clue of anything out of the ordinary.

Liberty dropped wearily onto a bench in front of a Starbuck's. She drew in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of fresh ground coffee beans mixed with the ocean air. From somewhere down the boardwalk, the distant strains of "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley filtered to her.

She bit her lip and studied Eli from beneath her lashes. Paul's words had been weighing on her mind for days, and now she was going to get an answer—or at least attempt to. "Eli, can I ask you something?"

"It's a free country." He dropped to the bench beside her.

"Were you there?" She swallowed. "Were you in the ice cream shop when I was a child? During the attack?"

He frowned. "Why would you ask me that?"

"Just something I heard. Tell me."

He blew a breath out between his lips. "Yeah. I was there."

"But you weren't one of the vampires who attacked us."

"No."

"You helped us."

He shrugged. "I might have."

"No, you did. Back then you were one of the Evil Ones. Why did you help?"

"It was a long time ago. It's not important."

She rested a hand on his forearm. He looked at it, then up at her eyes. "It's important to me."

He stared at her silently for so long, she thought he wasn't going to tell her. Finally, he said, "Even as bad as I was, I couldn't stand by and watch a child being..." He scrubbed his hands over his face. "...well, you know. And even the others... I saw the happy smiles. I remembered for just a moment what it was like to be human." His jaw clenched. "You and your dad were next. As Van Helsings, you were the targets."

"And you could have rid the island of Van Helsings by just standing back and doing nothing."

He chuckled. "Yeah, what was I thinking, right?"

"Is that why my father befriended you?"

"That was years later."

"Yes, but he must have remembered you from that day. Tell me how it all happened."

He tightened his jaw. "We don't really need to talk about this. We have other matters to deal with."

"Let me ask you one more thing." She didn't know why she was pushing, why she wanted to know, but she felt the need to dig into his soul, to see what went on behind those enchanting light grey eyes. To know what he really felt about her. Once and for all. She and Ryan were close to a commitment, but she needed to deal with her feelings for Eli. One minute she hated him, the next she craved his touch. Beneath it all was the constant yearning. The need for... something...

"So, ask."

"When we first met, you tried to mesmerize me into kissing you. Was that just a ploy you use on all women you meet? Some kind of game?"

"More or less." He wouldn't meet her eyes. He laughed. "Little did I know I didn't have to use any tricks. You were easy."

That stung, but she wouldn't let his shield of sarcasm reroute her from her goal. "Is that really all it was? A game? What about all the flirting? The times I see... something... in your eyes. Do you have feelings for me?" There. She'd said it. She'd never been that brazen, but somehow the need to know gave her bravado.

Now he turned to her. His brows were drawn over his eyes, his expression thunderous. "Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to."

"But I do. I want to know. How do you feel about me?"

His gaze moved over her face, paused at her mouth, then rose to her eyes. "How I feel doesn't matter. We can never be together."

"Why not?" She couldn't believe she said the words even as they fell from her lips. She cared about Ryan. A lot. The last thing she needed was a brooding, dangerous vampire. But still, she waited breathlessly for his answer.

"You mean other than the age difference?"

"Age difference?"

"Sure. You're eighteen and I'm three-hundred."

She rolled her eyes. "Can you please be serious? Just give me a straight answer."

He looked out over the ocean as he spoke. "You are the last of the Van Helsings. It's your duty to carry on the lineage. That means children. Something I can never give you. Something that Ryan can. He loves you. You need to be with him."

Her mouth dropped open and she pushed to her feet, scraping her hair back from her forehead. Children? It was up to her to carry on the Van Helsing bloodline, or the human race would suffer. For God's sake, that was a heavy burden to bear.

He stood also and took hold of her upper arms, pulled her closer. "Now let me ask you something. Would it make a difference if we could be together? Are you in love with Ryan?" His voice lowered. "Or do you have feelings for me?"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. How could she admit to him what she didn't know herself?

Finally, she managed to speak. "I—I, I don't know what—"

"There you are." Ryan's voice broke the moment and Eli released her abruptly and stepped back.

She turned a smile on Ryan, hoping to hide her inner turmoil. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

He slung an arm around her shoulder, gave her a peck on the cheek. "I've missed you." He looked at Eli. "I was hoping I could steal you away for a while. I think you need a break."

"What did you have in mind?"

He pulled her into his arms, cupped his hands on the back of her head and kissed her. "You'll see," he whispered.

She glanced at Eli from the corners of her eyes. His mouth was tight, his eyes glittering. Jealous? Or just pissed in general? Not that it mattered, as he'd made clear, the two of them could never be together. He had just been toying with her.

Some childish need for retaliation made her wrap her arms around Ryan's neck and return the kiss, passionately, thoroughly. "I can't wait to find out."

* * *

Eli sat on a bar stool at the Blind Lady, an out of the way, all-nighter dive on the outskirts of town. He lifted the glass to his lips and drained it, then slid it back to the bartender.

"Another? This makes your third," Malcolm said.

"Keep them coming until I tell you to stop."

"Is it the girl?"

Eli grunted a bitter laugh. "Isn't it always?"

Malcolm slid him another scotch and Eli lifted it to his lips.

"You've got it bad for her," Malcolm leaned forward and crossed his arms on the bar.

Eli nodded. "It's tough. Being around her. Knowing I can't have her."

Malcolm nodded. "Life's like that sometimes."

"Yeah, yeah it is." Eli tipped his glass toward the bartender. "Thanks for listening, brother. You're the only one I can talk to about it."

"Any time. No other customers right now. Want to tell me what happened?"

Eli sighed and finished his drink. Malcolm rose and poured another.

"Every time I'm around her, it's like this weird kind of exquisite torture. When I'm not, it's even worse. I think about her day and night. I crave her like I've never craved blood."

Malcolm whistled. "Man. I've never felt that way about a woman."

"I haven't either. I've loved women, don't get me wrong. In the hundreds of years I've been alive, I've loved lots of women. But never like this." A stone of pain settled in his chest. "Sometimes when I look at her, I can't breathe." He choked out a laugh and shook his head. "I loved Christelle, but not like I love Liberty. She... consumes me. Being with Christelle made me happy. With Liberty, I want to make her happy."

"Damn." Malcolm shook his head in sympathy.

"Tell me about it." Eli took another hit off his scotch. "There are times, like when I saw her and Ryan kissing, I get this explosion in my brain, this red curtain falls over everything and I don't think, I just react. That's why I did what I did."

"What did you do?"

Eli shook his head and smiled. "Talk's over buddy. Now, look at me. Focus."

Malcolm stared into Eli's eyes.

"You won't remember a word of our conversation, you understand?" Eli said.

The bartender nodded.

"Good." Eli drained his glass, still holding Malcolm's gaze. "Remember, I was never here."