She approached the couch. Were all these empty beer bottles his way of drowning the pain? The labels on the videotapes caught her eye. Local Four/Darcy Newhart. What on earth? She grabbed one and inserted it into the VCR. She located the remote control on the couch, then turned on the television. The volume was fairly low, but she punched the mute button just in case.
The tape started. Her knees gave out, and she plopped onto the couch. Oh, God, she remembered this. It was the opening of the dog park in the Bronx. She was there, alive, walking in the sunlight.
She pressed a hand against her mouth. Her eyes stung with tears. Dammit. She wasn't going to cry.
That life was over.
She turned off the television and examined the videos. A dozen in all, they covered her entire career and beyond. The last one's label read Darcy's Disappearance/Death? With a gasp, she dropped it on the table. Good God. She squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on taking deep breaths.
A calmness settled over her when she realized Austin Erickson had been watching those tapes. He'd studied her like a test subject in order to manipulate her. The lying scumbag.
She picked up a computer disk and read the label. DVN/employee records. That bastard. She picked up two more. DVN/subscribers. DVN/advertisers. Good God, he must have downloaded everything from DVN. Is this what he'd done in her office? He'd come pretending that he wanted to see her, but all along he'd been seeking a way to destroy her workplace, her acquaintances, her entire world.
She glimpsed something yellow beneath the disks and pushed them to the side. She lifted the yellow legal pad to make out the writing in the dim light. Her name was scrawled on the bottom of a list.
And in the top margin, he'd written Vampires Must Die.
With a strangled cry, she dropped the pad on the table. A shudder coursed through her body. Die? He meant to kill her? She clenched her hands together and looked at the list once more. Gregori, Vanda, Maggie, the list went on naming all the people she cared about. Panic flooded her, threatening to drown her with the full extent of Adam's betrayal.
She leapt to her feet. She would not be victimized like this. Her life had been stolen from her before, but never again. That bastard, she should march in there and knock his head off. But first, she needed to protect her vampire friends. No more pretending she wasn't one of them. She was, and this was war.
She ripped the first few pages off the legal pad and tore them up into tiny pieces. She eyed his laptop. It was probably full of information. She'd take it with her when she left. As for the disks, they needed to go.
She gathered them up and strode into the kitchen. She opened the microwave and tossed them inside. Three minutes should be enough. She pushed the start button and stood back, smiling grimly as the sparks began to sizzle inside. Maybe the whole damned thing would blow up.
"Hold it right there," a deep voice spoke quietly. "Put your hands up where I can see them." Darcy turned slowly and saw Austin move from the doorway of his bedroom. Moonlight glinted off the metal revolver in his hand.
As he advanced, he pivoted from side to side, aiming his gun at the shadows. "Did you come alone?" He couldn't see well, Darcy realized. "I'm alone." He froze at the sound of her voice.
"Darcy?" She flipped on the kitchen light and enjoyed the shocked look on his face. "Surprised to see me, Austin?" She motioned to his revolver. "If you're planning to kill me now, you'll have to do better than that."
CHAPTER 18
She knew who he was.
In a moment of crisis, Austin's training usually kicked in, allowing him to shove all emotion into storage and react with cool logic and precision. That was how it was supposed to work. But one look at Darcy's face, and his emotions were screaming to be let out. She knew who he was. Crap.
He scanned the room to make sure she was alone. The locks on his door were secure. The control panel was still blinking, so the alarm was still on. She must have teleported in.
A videotape was partially ejected from the VCR. She must have watched some of the tape. The computer disks were missing from the coffee table. Bits of yellow paper littered the table and floor.
The list he'd made with the title Vampires Must Die. She'd seen it. With her name on it. The emotional door cracked open. "Shit."
"If you're referring to yourself, I agree." Darcy stood in the kitchen, her arms crossed, her expression harsh with anger.
A blade of emotion stabbed at his heart. Not now. He pushed the pain aside and strode toward her.
"I can explain."
"Don't bother. I already know everything, Austin." She wielded his name like a weapon, and each time she said it, it slashed at him, marking him as a liar.
A series of loud pops erupted from the microwave.
"What are you doing?" He ran to the kitchen and punched the button to open the microwave door.
All the computer disks lay in a melted heap of plastic. Thank God he'd already downloaded everything onto his laptop and a memory stick. Still, it looked like the carousel plate in his microwave was ruined.
He gave her an irritated look. "Cute."
She glanced at his boxers. "I could say the same thing."
Sheesh. Of all the nights to be wearing these stupid SpongeBob briefs. Splashed across his groin was SpongeBob proudly claiming to be boss of his pineapple. "My little sister gave these to me for Christmas."
Darcy arched her eyebrows. "You have a family? I thought something like you slithered out from under a rock. Or maybe, you were hatched in a green, slimy pond."
"I know you're angry."
"Oh, wow. You really do have psychic powers."
"Not psychic enough." He wasn't thrilled with how things had turned out, either. He'd found the perfect woman only to lose her. "I actually thought you were human until a few days ago."
She stiffened. "I am human."
"I meant alive." He set his gun down on the counter within his reach. "I thought you were an innocent mortal trapped in the vampire world. I wanted to save you."
She tilted her head, studying him. "You thought I was a mortal? You couldn't tell the difference?"
"No! You had a pulse, dammit. How can a vampire have a pulse? And you were drinking cold chocolate. And whenever I read your mind, you were thinking about beaches and the sun and your family. What kind of vampire longs for the sun?"
She gritted her teeth. "I do."
"You had me completely fooled. I thought you were in terrible danger. I thought you needed rescuing."
"And you were going to be the hero and save me?" She stepped closer, her eyes glimmering with pain. "You're too late."
He flinched. He was too late. She could never be his.
"I saw the title on your handy little list. 'Vampires Must Die. So now, instead of saving me, you want to kill me?"
The pang dug deeper at his heart. "I could never hurt you."
"You're lying again! You have hurt me."
"I didn't mean to. I thought you were alive when I—but when I discovered you were dead—"
"Do I look dead to you?" She jabbed a finger at his chest. "Did I feel dead when you were touching me? Did I taste dead to you in the hot tub?"
"I thought you were alive, dammit!" He shoved her poking finger aside. "But when we got out of the hot tub, I could see my shadow. And you didn't have one. That's when I realized the truth."
Her eyes narrowed. "And that's when you dumped me."