Page 20 of The Vampire's Redemption

Come to me.His voice was a dark, seductive whisper in her mind.

Gabby hesitated, even though her entire being yearned to see him again. She couldn’t, not here. If Armando found them… found him…

Gabby, I need to see you.

The same soul-wrenching yearning reflected in his tone prompted her to move. She glanced around, seeing no one, and darted down the steps into the olive trees. Darkness enveloped her. Soon she could only make out the shadowy shapes of the trees, but she knew her destination.Her footing was sure, as if some mysterious force guided her.

When she saw him waiting for her in a clearing, she remembered to breathe.

He waited, silhouetted in the darkness. Gabby slowed, a hint of uncertainty coming over her. What was she doing? She’d saved him when she shouldn’t have. Wasn’t that enough?

She’d known full well what he was but hadn’t found the strength to kill him.

Every day, she’d had to face Armando, knowing she’d failed her brother, failed the one person who was her world.

“Gabby…”

There was no denying the raw, primal need in his sensual voice. Her feet moved of their own accord until she was inches from him. His beauty took her breath away, no matter how many times she told herself he was evil.

An abomination.

Vampire.

He was the devil coming to steal her.

“Armando will kill you.” She sounded tiny and afraid, nothing like the hatred she’d practiced.

“Better men than him have tried.” His hand brushed over her hair and tugged loose one braid her maid had spent an hour pinning. “I like it down better.”

“It doesn’t matter what you like. You shouldn’t be here.”Go away. Leave me. Let me forget you!

A curve of the lips. A glint of fang. She shivered, not because she was cold, but because she remembered the intense pleasure when those fangs had brushed against her neck. Her dress was too tight, rubbing against her sensitive skin.

And she ached. Oh, how she wanted him. Every night, the dreams of their short time in the cave tormented her, when his hands and mouth had brought her unspeakable pleasure.

“Dance with me?”

Gabby hadn’t even noticed the strains of the waltz from the villa. Her insides melted when Felix’s hand landed on her back and tugged her against him. She placed her hand on his shoulder and swayed in sync with him to the music.

Too close. Her chaperon would have a heart attack if she saw them.

Gabby almost laughed at the ridiculous thought. As if dancing too close to a man was her biggest problem. No, her biggest problem was the desperate need for the devil holding her. Perhaps she should convince Armando to let her become a nun, to join a convent away from temptation.

“You should be long gone by now. My brother’s men are still searching for you,” she said, pushing past the cobwebs of desire to find reason.

“They’re not doing a good job considering I’m right here.”

Gabby scowled at his teasing tone. Her brother, and the men working for him, her entire family, risked their lives daily to hunt and destroy his kind.

“If I scream, they will come for me.”

“Do it.” His eyes glittered in the darkness. “Maybe this time they will kill me.”

Her chest constricted at the thought of his death. The pain made breathing difficult. It made no sense. He was already dead. Yet, that thought had the same wrongness she’d felt when she’d found him lying in the morning sun, his skin peeling from the sun’s rays.

She had known what he was. She’d heard the commotion the previous night. Her brother had locked her in the safe room and had only allowed her out when the sun rose.

On her next turn, Gabby tripped on a branch. Before she landed in a heap on the ground, Felix’s arm slipped beneath her waist. They stayed there, a second stretching into eternity.