Dark Obsession (21 page)

“I…don’t know,” she admitted.

“Do you trust him enough to leave here without learning the truth?” Racine demanded. “Can you live with that? Is your faith in him that great? If you can
answer yes to those questions, then turn around, Erin. Run away. I won’t try to stop you. Run back to
him
…and take your chances.”

Racine’s voice was like a chisel, chipping away at Erin’s faith, not just in Nick, but in herself. Had she been wrong to trust him? All these years she’d protected herself, built up her defenses, but Nick had penetrated those walls so easily. He had made her believe what she had so desperately wanted to believe. But she had to know the truth now. No matter what it cost her.

“Show me,” she whispered.

Racine’s white teeth flashed in the darkness as she grinned in triumph. “I knew it! Your faith
isn’t
strong enough. Come on,” she urged. “It’s down here.”

“But why here?” Erin asked when they reached the bottom of the stairs. They paused outside the basement apartment, and Erin’s heart began to pound even harder. Behind that door lay her greatest fears. After all these years, did she dare face the monsters?

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Racine prompted, her eyes gleaming. She shoved open the door and stepped inside. “We’re quite alone.”

Moonlight filtered in through a high window as Erin stepped inside the apartment. She heard a sound, a muffled little cry that sent chills scurrying up her spine. “What’s that?”

Racine shrugged. “Rats probably. This building is very old. But then, you know that better than I, don’t
you?” She lit another candle. In the eerie, flickering glow, her eyes looked almost red and her hair seemed to crackle with an unholy fire.

Erin rubbed her arms, feeling increasingly chilled as she gazed around. “What did you want to show me?” she asked.

“I’ll be right back.” Racine opened another door and disappeared inside.

Erin walked around the room. It was almost empty, except for a huge wooden crate shoved against one wall. It looked as if some kind of appliance might have been delivered in it. A refrigerator, perhaps. There was nothing inside the room that seemed the least bit threatening.

Erin took a deep breath and began to relax. But as she stepped closer to the crate, she heard the smothered cry again. She knelt and peered in the shadows behind the box. A cat huddled against it, shivering from cold and fear. It wasn’t the same cat she’d seen the other night, and Erin thought how odd it was that another one would be down here. Automatically she reached for the animal. The cat sniffed her hand, then meowed again, this time as if begging her to rescue it.

“Come here,” she said softly. “I won’t hurt you.” Gently she lifted the cat from its hiding place, and cuddled it against her coat.

“Where did you find that cat?”

Racine’s voice startled Erin. She jumped, and her
grip tightened convulsively. The animal cried out in protest, its claws seeking purchase against Erin’s bare hand.

“Ouch!” The sharp sting made Erin release her hold. The cat jumped from her arms and raced toward the door to the hallway, then vanished through the crack. Erin started to go after it.

“Don’t bother,” Racine said sharply. “He won’t be needing it now.”

“He? Who are you talking about?” Erin lifted her hand to examine the wound. It was almost in the exact same place the other scratch had been.

“Are you bleeding?” Racine asked quickly, almost hopefully, it seemed to Erin.

“Just barely. Who were you talking about, Racine?” Erin demanded.

“I think you already know.”

“This is ridiculous. I’m tired of your riddles. Show me what you have to show me, and let’s get out of here.” Erin’s uneasiness began to grow. “I really think I should go back to Nick’s place. He’ll be looking for me.”

“He’ll be occupied for hours.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know. Trust me, Erin. By the time he finds you, it’ll be too late.”

Her voice sent a wave of chills through Erin. “Too late for what?”

“To stop you from finding out the truth. Look at
these pictures, Erin. Look at these pictures and tell me you think your Detective Slade isn’t responsible for the killings.”

Racine opened the book she’d been holding and set it on the floor beside one of the candles. Then she backed away, motioning Erin to take a look. Reluctantly Erin knelt and gazed at the newspaper clippings and pictures mounted inside the scrapbook. They were all about Nick. She looked up. “Where did you get this?”

“I’ve been doing a little research,” she said evasively.

Erin turned back to the articles. There was a picture of Nick, taken as he left the hospital. His hands were heavily bandaged, his eyes already covered by dark glasses as he tried to look away from the cameras. The headline above the photo seemed to scream at her. POLICE OFFICER QUESTIONED IN FIANCÉE’S DEATH.

The article went on to describe Detective Slade’s suspicious behavior, how he’d refused to answer questions even after he’d been suspended from the force. He’d hidden himself away in an old warehouse down by the river and refused to come out. If not for the commissioner’s intervention, Slade surely would have faced criminal charges. Even after he’d been reinstated, the questions had remained and the rumors had continued to rage. Especially when it was learned he would only work at night.

“My God,” Erin breathed. It all seemed so clear
to her now. She staggered to her feet. “I have to get out of here,” she said numbly. But when she turned to ask Racine for help, Erin discovered that she was all alone. “Racine?” Her voice echoed back to haunt her in the empty apartment. Erin stumbled to the door, tried the knob and found it locked. She pounded on the wood. “Racine? What are you doing? Let me out!”

But again, the only answer she got was the sound of her own voice vibrating eerily off the walls. Trying to quell her rising panic, she hurried across the room to the other door Racine had opened earlier, but the knob rattled uselessly in her hand.

Erin turned, gazed up at the window that was beyond her reach and realized that she was trapped inside the basement where the monsters of her childhood had once lived.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

T
he closer you become to Erin Ramsey, the more D’Angelo will want her.

Dr. Traymore’s warning rang in Slade’s head as he sped through the darkened streets, trying to get back to Erin. She was safe, he tried to convince himself. He’d taken the necessary precautions in his apartment. No one, not even a vampire as powerful as D’Angelo, could enter Slade’s private domain.

Still, he found himself running red lights, ignoring speed limits as he rushed through the deserted streets. What a damned fool he was to think for even a moment that he could ever have someone like her. His past would always come between them. The darkness would always be there to threaten them.

Slade would never find peace. He knew that now. Not as long as the evil that was D’Angelo existed in the world. He would never reach the light because from now on he would have to go deeper and deeper into the darkness to find his enemy, to destroy Drake D’Angelo once and for all.

He loved Erin. He knew that now. He loved her, but he couldn’t have her, he thought with a pain that went deeper than any he’d ever before experienced. His love would only destroy her. All he could do now
was send her away from him, as far and as fast as he could.

He pulled into the warehouse and shut off the engine, getting out and walking to the elevator. He barely registered the ride. When the metal cage stopped, he slid up the elevator door and strode into his apartment. “Erin?”

The silence that answered him was like a scream.

“Erin!” He ran through the apartment into the bedroom. Her clothes were gone. The only thing left to indicate she’d ever been there was the rumpled bed that gave silent testimony to their passion a few hours ago and the subtle, misty fragrance of lilacs that clung to the air like a haunting memory. As Slade stood there in the doorway, the scent seemed to fade as if Erin herself was now beyond his reach.

Then he saw her note and realized why she had left the apartment. She had been lured outside where nothing could protect her. A dark rage more powerful than any he’d experienced before swept over him. Erin was gone from him. She was out there somewhere in the night, and a monster who wanted nothing more than revenge against Slade was stalking her.

D’Angelo.

It could be no other.

The name rose before Slade like a black wave of evil. Deep inside, he’d always known that he and D’Angelo would meet again, that the final outcome of their destiny had not yet been determined. He had
always known that there would have to be a final resolution to the conflict.

But this time, there would be no mistakes. This time, one of them would have to die.

Slade turned and walked out the door without looking back.

* * *

Erin slid down the wall and sat on the floor, her eyes glued to the shadows moving outside the window. She could see the moon crowning the treetops, and for just a moment, something blocked the lunar light. It looked like the silhouette of a huge, winged creature—a bat, perhaps. Then the shadow swooped down toward the window. Erin’s hand flew to her face as if for protection. When she dared look again, the silhouette of a woman was standing just outside the window.

“I’m cold, Erin. So cold. Open the window and let me come in.”

Erin blinked, trying to dissolve the image in front of her that had spoken in her sister’s voice. “No,” she cried. “You’re not real.”

“Help me, sissy.” The figure lifted one arm and beckoned to Erin, a supplication so powerful that Erin found herself rising against her will. Slowly she walked toward the window.

“I’m dreaming,” she said out loud, refusing to believe what was happening.

The figure shook her head, and the dark hair rippled
with moonlight. “I’ve come back for you, sissy. Now we can be together. Open the window and let me come in.”

“Megan.” Erin whispered the name as tears rolled down her cheeks. She was scared, terrified beyond anything she’d ever experienced before, but beneath the fear was a hope so powerful it threatened to engulf her. To see Megan one more time. To have the chance to tell her sister how much she loved her. To beg Megan’s forgiveness for leaving her… “How?” she asked, moving even closer to the window. “How can it be you?”

“I’ll show you,” Megan said, her voice flowing through the glass like the darkest of winds. “I’ll show you everything. We can be together forever, Erin. Just open the window and let me come inside.”

“And whatever you do, don’t invite anyone inside.”

Nick’s warning reverberated through her soul. Erin shivered, holding back. “I…can’t,” she said. “It’s too high. I can’t reach it.”

“Then come out here to me,” Megan said. “Please hurry. I’m so scared. Help me, sissy. Please help me.” Suddenly the figure before her was not the Megan who had died a few days ago, but the little girl who had begged Erin to save her from the monsters years and years ago. And she was crying, pleading with Erin to help her. “They’re coming for me, Erin. Please come get me.”

“I can’t,” she whispered, her voice broken, her heart thundering in confusion and fear. “The doors are locked. I’m trapped, Megan.”

“Try them again,” the voice pleaded, an iron thread running through it. “Hurry!”

Erin ran across the room, but before she could even try the knob, the door opened before her. Erin’s steps faltered. Alarm pounded inside her. She looked back at the window.

“Hurry!” Megan urged again. Then a shadow appeared behind her, a looming silhouette that made her scream. “Hurry, sissy. He’s here. He’s come to get me.”

Without thinking, Erin ran out the door and up the basement steps. She had to find Megan. She had to save her. She had to prove to her sister that she hadn’t deserted her.

Erin dragged open the back door. A cold, damp wind whipped her hair against her cheek. As if from a distance, she heard Megan calling, “Don’t leave me, Erin. Never again.”

“I won’t,” Erin promised breathlessly. She hurried out into the backyard, where she had found Megan’s body just a few nights ago. It was cold outside. So very cold, Erin thought as she peered through the night. “Megan?”

“Over here.” Then Erin saw her. She was wearing a flowing white gown that shimmered with moonlight as her arms reached out to Erin in supplication. Her
hair, as dark as night, flowed down her back. She smiled. “I’ve been waiting for you, Erin.”

The voice sounded a little different now. Erin took a step toward her. “Megan? Is that you?”

The figure moved closer. She stepped from the shadows into the moonlight, and then Erin saw that the woman who stood before her wasn’t Megan. It was Racine.

“You,” Erin whispered. “It’s been you all along. You made me believe Megan had come back, that she still needed me.”

“I made you believe what you wanted to believe,” Racine said, smiling.

“Why?”

“Because he wanted me to. Because he commanded it,” she said. “Because he wanted you to come to him.”

“Who? Are you saying that Nick—”

Racine’s gaze lifted skyward. She was staring at the moon. A shadow drifted over her face, and she closed her eyes, shuddering in ecstasy. “He’s here,” she whispered.

Erin whirled, searching the darkness. A fierce wind rushed over her, tearing at her hair and clothes now in earnest, almost knocking her off her feet. She heard a laugh, a low, triumphant sound that vibrated with evil.

Slowly she turned toward the voice. A man stood in front of her, looking directly at her with eyes that
glowed silver in the darkness. With eyes that were ringed with fire. Erin caught her breath, and he smiled. His fangs glistened in the moonlight. How had she ever thought him handsome? Erin wondered. He looked like a beast. The very embodiment of evil. He was dressed completely in black, his dark hair pulled back from his face.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Erin,” said Roman Gerard.

“You’re a monster,” she said. “You killed my sister.”

Gerard laughed. The fire in his eyes grew more brilliant. Erin tried to look away but found she couldn’t. She was mesmerized—trapped by the power of his gaze. “Detective Slade killed your sister, Erin.”