Reclaimed

“No,” he insisted, “get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night.”

“Good night.” She sighed in dejection. She headed upstairs to attempt some sleep, though she alleged she’d get none. But hopefully, she’d be blessed by some quiet, empty, dreamless sleep.

Please.

***

Isaac spent all the next day tracking Elijah, to no avail. Anger coursed through him at his brother’s ability to escape him, but with considerable effort, he tamped it down. Eight o’clock had finally rolled around, and he pulled his car to a stop in Sabrina’s driveway. Had Elijah visited her dreams last night?

Had she moaned beneath his body, welcoming him into her open arms? Did she show him the same eagerness she always showed him? He exited the car and slammed the door behind him, before leaning against it.

Get a grip, man.

She wasn’t Amelia. He could trust her. Right?

Not if the past repeated itself….

***

“This way, Lady Harding. I am certain they are out here.” Isaac glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as they crested the hill. Did he imagine things, or did she seem even more silent than usual? He desperately hoped Amelia and Elijah were here. He couldn’t stand another moment of her stone-cold beauty.

Arriving at the meadow, he stopped as pain grabbed hold of his heart and squeezed. They were here, indeed, but not awaiting their betrotheds. No, they were quite content to be alone. His loving brother and fiancée were making love.

The pocket watch his father had given him for his eighteenth birthday fell out of his hand as he studied the pair in horror.

When the hell had this happened? How long had it been going on?

Son of a bitch.

A growl broke him away from the horror before his eyes, and he swung toward Lady Harding in surprise. The sound seemed too feral to come from such a small slip of a girl. She crouched on the ground, her silk dress getting dirty from the mud at their feet, and snarled as she bared her teeth.

Bloody hell, she couldn’t be human. Not if she had those teeth. He ripped his gaze away from her face and ran toward the lovers embraced across the meadow. They had to get out—now. As enraged as he felt, he didn’t want to see them eaten alive by this monster. Whatever she—or it—was.

He got maybe two steps before being thrown to the ground, Lady Harding straddling him in a mockery of an embrace with her long skirt hiked up to her hips. She slammed his head into hard stone, and his vision blurred. She jerked his head to the side, and he heard a bone snap.

Damn, that hurt.

Unfortunately for him, it only symbolized the beginning of his pain. His blurry vision caught sight of shining teeth headed toward his neck before the agonizing pain ripped through his body.

She must be a bloody demon of some sort.

Who even knew they were real? He tried to break free. To scream his agony to the world, but he’d been paralyzed. He couldn’t even fight.

And worse yet, when Lady Harding twisted his head to the side, she faced him toward the traitorous pair across the meadow. He didn’t know which hurt more: the pain wracking his body as she sucked the life out of him, or watching Amelia and Elijah make love. The anguish of their betrayal echoed deep inside of him, and he closed his eyes to the sight of their writhing bodies.

It didn’t work. He saw them as vividly as if he were standing above them, cheering them on.

Son of a bitch.

Tears escaped his eye, rolling down his face to land in the grass below, like raindrops falling from the sky.

Mercifully, the world faded to black.

***

Sabrina slowly opened the door and peeked around the side of it to examine her visitor. She studied his eyes most carefully before she sagged in relief. It was Isaac. She motioned him in and locked the door behind him.

Thank God he’d come.