The smell of the blood suddenly wafted up to fillIsabelle’snostrils. A wave of dizziness,so fierce itnearlyknocked her off her feet, slammedpainfullyintoIsabelle. She stumbled back as her veins seemed to burst into flames, and her body was consumed by a raging inferno of hunger and pain. Her stomach cramped agonizingly. She gasped as she doubled over, her arm wrappedaround her stomach as the beast within burst forth. Panting with pain, her vision blurred as she spun to get as quickly out of the room as she could.
She slammed right into a massive chestandstumbledback from the impact of it. Hands seized hold of her arms, quickly righting her and dragging her against the massive wall. Soft mewls of pain issued from her as the strong hands wrapped around her head, pressing her face firmly against the solid mass of warmth and comfort.
“Jess, it’s all right, everything is fine.There is no problem. You saw nothing this morning, not me,or Isabelle. Now, make some pancakes for breakfast.”
Shudders wrackedIsabelleas Stefan’s voice washed over her, his hands gently soothedher hair. The amount of power that flowed from him, and into her,easedthe fire burning through her veins. Iteased the trembling in her body as the demon slowly receded. The amount of powers theypossessedtruly could not compare to his. They had to touch people in order to change their memories, but Jess was on the other side of the kitchen, and Isabelle couldalreadyhear her opening and closing cabinets as if nothing had happened.
Holding her firmly against his side,Stefanhurried her from the room. He could feel the weakness in her body, the tremors that shook her as he led her swiftly down the basement stairs. Gritting his teeth, he fought back the anger, and worry, that were growing in him as he crossed through the weight room to the door in the wall. He thrust the door open and was immediately enveloped with Isabelle’s fresh scent. He inhaled deeply, savoring in the wonderful smellas he closed the door behind him and led her over to the bed. She slumped gratefully onto it, the pathetic bag of blood clutched in her trembling hands.
“Eat,” he commanded.
She looked up at him, her eyes flashing rapidlybetweenvioletandred. “Could you please go away?” she asked tremulously.
Scowling down at her, he planted his hands on his hips and refused to move. She looked absolutely miserable as she gazed back at him. For a moment he was almost swayed by the pleading look in her eyes, but he was determined to show her that he was the dominate one, and he wasn’t about to back down. It was the only thing he had managed to sort out through the long, aggravating night. He would have her, and the sooner she realized that, the happier they would both be.
“Now is not the time to fight,” he told her coldly.
“I’m not fighting!” she snapped. “I don’t want you to watch me!”
“I’m not going anywhere!” he hissed.
His eyes widened in surprise as tears suddenly filledhers. She blinked them angrily back as her eyes flashed a violent red. “If you don’t leave, then I won’t feed!” she spat. “I don’t do it in front of anyone!”
“Not even your family?” heretortedsardonically.
“Especiallynot my family!”she cried, her lower lip trembling slightly as she fought back tears.
For a moment he was about to argue with her, but the distress and agony in her eyes was enough to sway him from his stand. Arguing with her was pointless, especially when she was wildly unstable, and in desperate need of sustenance. He couldn’t say what he had to say to her when she was obviously in pain, and determined not to ease it as long he was standing there. “Fine,” he grated reluctantly.
He turned and walked back out the door. Standing impatiently on the other side, he angrily tapped his foot as he waited for a few minutes. When he was sure that enough time had passed, he walked back into the room. She was still sitting on her bed, her head in her hands so that her long hair cascaded forward to shield her face. “I knew it was too much to hope that you had left,” she muttered bitterly.
“Yes, it was. When was the last time you fed?”
She lifted her head to glare at him through dark violet eyes. “Why the hell do you care?”
She was the most infuriating woman he had ever met! Why did she constantly have to fight with him?Stefan took a deep breath as he struggled to control his temper.“I care because there is a human living in this house. I don’t need you losing control, and killing her,” he replied coldly, deliberately being just as nasty to her as she was with him.
The color drained from her face as she gaped at him. “Get out of my room!” she hissed.
“I am not leaving until you tell me.”
She leapt to her feet, fury radiating from every inch of her body. “I’ve never fed off of a human, so you can trust me not to lose control and kill your precious girlfriend!”
She was nearly screeching like a banshee by the time she was finished speaking, but he was so damn infuriating, so damn arrogant and condescending that she couldn’t take it anymore. The fact that he would even remotely think that she would hurt someone, was more than she could stand. She was tired, and overworked, and the hunger that had wracked her had taken a big toll on her body. She’d had enough.
Stefan’s jaw clenched as he stared back at her, a muscle twitchedrapidly in his cheek from the force of his locked jaw. This conversation was not going at all the way that he had planned. He never should have baited her, never should have been deliberately cruel to her, but she brought it so easily out of him with her maddening attitude.Shepricked his temper just as easily as she brought out his arousal, and earlier in the kitchen, a fierce surge of protection. He had needed to get her to safety, needed to make sure that she was shielded from Jess’s horror, and her own pain. A pain that had radiated from her,andshookhim fiercely.
He took a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke again, determined to try and keep a hold on his temper. “That was not what I asked you.”
Isabelle folded her arms over her chest as she inhaled a shuddery breath. “And I told you that it was none of your concern,” she replied more calmly.
She never even saw him move, never even saw the blur that her father, mother, Ethan, the stooges, and herself made. She never even had time to blink before he had hold of her arms. She gasped sharply as his onyx eyes filled her vision with black fury. “And I told you that it was!”
Isabelle gaped at him, her eyes wide in amazement before she snapped her mouth closed, tilted her chin up, and stared defiantly back at him. “Let me go.”
He didn’t release her as he stood,towering above her, dark and dangerous. His hands burned into her flesh, and his chest brushed lightly against hers, warming her from the inside out. She wanted to shudder from the force of the heat that wracked through her. The new feelings that he had managed to awaken in her flared to the forefront, melting away some of her anger. But she forced herself to remain still, and not to let him know how he affected her.
“When was the last time that you fed?” he grated.
