Reclaimed

“You always say the same things. Can you not accept your lot in life?”

“If I had a life to accept, maybe I would. But I’m not alive, Louisa.”

“You aren’t?” Her voice shook as she cried, “Do you get angry? Sad? Can you still love?”

“Do not speak to me of love, Louisa.” He stepped toward her, ready to pound her into the ground.

“I happen to know for a fact you can, and so can I. So you tell me how we are not living right now?”

“Hatred for you doesn’t make me feel alive,” he insisted.

“Maybe if you allowed yourself to feel happy every once in a while, to care about something other than your dead whore, you’d feel more alive.”

He whirled on her, nostrils flared. “Don’t even speak her name.”

“Ah, now you look animated. The mere mention of her existence and you perk up. It’s sick, you realize that, right? If this who—” She broke off at the look he shot her way. “If this woman is so worth it, if your undying devotion is so warranted, where is she now?”

“Dead, by your hand,” he declared. He locked his hands in fists and deliberately ignored her reference to Sabrina. If she didn’t know he loved her maybe, just maybe, he’d stand a chance of convincing her to let Sabrina live in peace.

“By my hands? Or yours?”

He snarled and launched himself at her. She swung up on a nearby branch and kicked him in the face. Pain exploded in his nose. He flew backward, away from the bloody cliff edge.

Pity, that.

She followed him and straddled his hips. She pressed herself against him, and he gritted his teeth to keep his desire at bay. He hardened against her moist heat—Jesus, he could feel her through their clothes—and she laughed. She stroked a hand down his chest to the waistband of his jeans, and he drew a deep breath as she traced his erection. He captured her hand in his steely grip and fought back the desire fighting to overcome him.

It had been too long. Too damn long. Hell, at this point, he’d probably screw a tree.

For a moment, sadness crossed her features. He studied her as he struggled for control. As quickly as the sadness had appeared on her face, it disappeared. In its place came an evil smirk and her eyes glittered at him.

“Don’t overreact, Elijah. I merely pointed out a fact.”

He growled at her and threw her off of him. She landed on the balls of her feet. He didn’t bother to attack her again, simply glowered his hatred.

“Are you forever destined to desire what your brother has?” Her question sounded soft, and for once, there no anger laced through her words. “Will you always deny what happiness you could enjoy in life, those things in your reach, only to yearn for those you cannot achieve?”

He stiffened and sighed. “I can’t be happy with you, ever. I might feel the normal attraction and pull toward you every vampire has for their maker, but I will never love you. You need to accept that, just like I need to accept I will always be a monster. A monster you made.”

“Of course you can’t ever love me,” she said sadly, “because you are too obsessed with her. The new whore.”

So much for keeping Sabrina out of the conversation.

“Sabrina doesn’t want me, so you can leave her alone. She wants Isaac. She is innocent of Amelia’s sins. She looks like her, but she can’t be held at fault for something out of her control. Leave her and Isaac alone. She means nothing to me.”

She moved behind him and whispered in his ear, “Now, Elijah, what would be the fun of that?”

Her laughter taunted him as she fled, and he howled into the wind.

No one heard him.

Chapter Sixteen

As Sabrina sat at her computer checking her e-mail, the phone rang. She answered, not bothering to glance at the caller ID.

“Hello.”

“I made it home in one piece.” Marie’s voice sounded tired to Sabrina.