Lover Beware

will,” she said. The words carried clearly to Damon although her voice was very low. “Put the gun down and kick it away from you.” Damon hurried up the porch steps. He could see that Sarah’s hand was rock steady. “Donna, don’t try to move, an ambulance is on the way.” Her gaze hadn’t shifted from the man standing over Donna’s body.
    Damon could see the lump on Donna’s head, the blood spilling onto the thick carpet. His fingers tightened around his cane until his knuckles turned white. He transferred his hold to a two-handed grip. Fury shook him at the sight of the woman on the floor and the man he recognized standing over her.
    “Damon.” Sarah’s voice was gentle but commanding. “Don’t.”
    He hadn’t realized he had taken an aggressive step forward. Sarah hadn’t turned her head, hadn’t taken her alert gaze from Donna’s attacker, but she somehow knew his intention. He forced himself back under control.
    “Why would you attack a helpless woman?” Damon asked. He was shaking with anger, with the need to retaliate.
    “Don’t engage with him,” Sarah counseled. “I hear a siren. Will you please see if it’s the sheriff?”
    Damon turned and nearly ran over Inez. He caught her as she tried to rush to Donna’s side. “You can’t get between Sarah and the man who attacked Donna,” he said. Inez felt light and fragile in his hands. She never seemed old, yet now he could see age lined her face. She looked so anxious he was afraid for her. Very gently he drew her away from the entrance, pulling her to one side.
    The wind whipped through the room, sent loose papers once more into the air. Inez shivered and reached to close the door on the chilling sea breeze.
    “No!” Sarah’s voice was sharp this time, unlike her.
    It was enough to stimulate Damon into action. He held the door open to the elements. It was only then that he felt the subtle flow of power entering with the wind. Faintly he could hear, or imagined that he heard, the chanting carried from the direction of the ocean…or the cliff house.
    He studied Donna’s assailant, one of the men who had tortured him. The man who had pressed a gun to Dan’s head and pulled the trigger. Why was he simply standing there motionless? Was it really the threat of Sarah’s gun?
    Damon had no doubt that she would shoot, but would that be enough to intimidate a man like this one? He doubted it. There was something else in the room, something holding the killer.
    A sense of rightness stole into his heart, carried with it a sense of peace. Sarah was a woman of silk and steel. She was magnificent.
    “Jonas is coming,” Inez whispered to Damon. “Sarah’s going to have a problem. She’ll be weak and sick after this. She won’t want anyone to see her like that.”
    Damon could see the acceptance of his relationship with Sarah in Inez’s expression. It made him feel as if he truly belonged. Inez’s approval meant more to him than it should have, made him feel a part of the close-knit community instead of the outsider he always seemed to be wherever he went.
    He nodded his head, pretending to understand, determined to be there for Sarah the way she seemed to be for everyone else.
    Jonas Harrington came through the door first, his eyes hard and unflinching. He had Donna’s assailant in handcuffs immediately. Sarah sank back on her haunches, her head bowed. She wiped sweat from her brow with the back of a trembling hand. Damon went to her immediately, helping her up, forcing her to lean on him when she didn’t want to, when she was worried about his hip and leg.
    Sarah went down the hall with Damon’s help, found a chair in the kitchen where she could sit. She looked up at him and smiled her appreciation. That was all. And it was everything. He got her a glass of water, helped her steady her hands enough to drink it. She recovered fairly quickly, but she remained pale.
    “Are your sisters feeling the same effects?” he asked.
    Sarah nodded. “It isn’t the same as casting. It takes a tremendous amount of our energy to hold someone against his or her will. It wasn’t in his nature to be passive.” She held out her hand. “I’m doing better. I need to eat something and sleep for a little while.” She sighed. “I promised Irene I’d go visit Drew tonight but I don’t have any strength left after this, not the kind I’d need to help them.” She pressed her fingertips to her temples. “I can’t really do anything for Drew