I thought of Sam and me in the elevator, but I was having a difficult time not focusing on the reason I was there. “You know my sisters and I were at the club to capture Sam. You probably know Rianne used you as a way to threaten him. And I would go out on a limb and say your father already told you a guy by the name of Dowell hired us.” I told her all that to keep my mind from conjuring up any other thoughts I didn’t want her to know.
She studied me as if I was an expensive piece of artwork. “I also know you’re into my brother. Seems odd to me, given your profession.”
It was official. She would know my deepest, most intimate thoughts on vampires, and I would die of embarrassment.
She smiled. “I don’t want to dive into your most intimate thoughts. I hate reading minds, by the way. But I want to be frank with you, Layla. My brother’s heart isn’t something to mess around with.”
I laughed through a snort. “I am not into him.”Liar.“I only just met him.”
She bobbed her head in a patronizing gesture. “You are. You’re just fighting it because you hate vampires. And love can happen instantly. Who says there’s a timeline on how you feel about someone?”
She was so wrong about my feelings for Sam, yet she was so right about how someone could fall hard and fast. My dad had known the minute he’d laid eyes on my mom that he would marry her someday. He’d known he didn’t want to be with anyone else. But what I was feeling for Sam was lust, nothing more.
“Why is your father so against a vampire and a human being together?” I asked wondering if it was me her father hated. After all, a vampire hunter and a vampire weren’t exactly marriage material. Regardless, I wanted her thoughts on the topic. “Isn’t that how you were born? Your mom was human?”
“It takes a special human female with a certain blood type, but let’s face it, your family has been hunting and killing vampires for centuries. So, you and Sam are not exactly a match made in heaven. Plus, he doesn’t want a war with humans. We have enough enemies among our kind.”
My phone rang and startled me.
“I need to get a band to wrap around your arm, which I can’t find in here.” She zipped out as I fumbled to get my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans.
The caller ID showed the same number that Dowell had called me from. “I told you we were through.”
“I’m worried about you.” If not for the concern in his tone, I wouldn’t have believed him.
The room spun.What is happening? One minute I’m fine, and the next I’m passing out.“I can’t talk.” I swung my legs over the bed.
“Get out of th—”
As soon as my feet touched the floor, the phone dropped from my hands. Claws of panic clutched at my neck and gripped my chest.
A tall figure came in.
“Sam?” I wasn’t one to cry, but tears shot out. I closed my eyes, breathing in. I winced as I stood then keeled over.
Large hands landed on my arms. “Layla.” Sam’s baritone voice was soothing.
I puffed out my cheeks, blowing out a breath. “Something is wrong.”
He swiped a hand over my hair. “Doc is on his way.”
I felt like I was on some powerful drug like mushrooms, or maybe I was becoming the very creature I hated. But that was impossible. Humans who weren’t born with the vampire gene couldn’t become a vampire. Unless… no way. My family was not descended from vampires. Besides, it was impossible for me to turn into one. If my vampire history was correct, and if I had the vampire gene, then the only way for me to lose my humanity was by drinking my father’s blood. Since he was dead that was out, and he was no vampire, anyway.
Sam helped me into bed. “Why are you being nice to me?” He didn’t strike me as the type to coddle anyone.
“I’ll take it from here,” a voice I didn’t recognize said.
A man came into view. He was the same man with light-brown hair, the doctor, who I’d had a vision of while Sam had been carrying me down the hall earlier. Panic stole the air from my lungs. No freaking way.How was it possible for me to see the future?
My breathing became labored, the room spun, and as the man drew closer, blackness overtook the light.
15
SAM
My sister looked at me like I was a stranger, angling her head one way then another. “Are you okay?”
I combed my fingers through my hair as I moved to the foot of the bed to get out of Dr. Vieira’s way. “Of course. Why?” But I wasn’t really.In the span of ten hours since I’d met Layla, my head was one big confusing mess.
