For a long moment, neither of us moved.I could hear her heart hammering, could smell the spike of fear and adrenaline flooding her system.But underneath it, there was something else.Something that should have made her run but didn’t.
Curiosity.Interest.That dangerous, electric pull that had been building between us for months.
“The funny thing is, I was going to tell you.You’re the first woman in a long time who’s caught my attention.”
Her lip curled into a half-smile.“You were going to tell me you’re a, a freak?”
The word wounded me.“I’m not like Ranger.”
“What are you then?”
Silence stretched between us, and I held up a finger, hoping to make this as easy as possible.
“I promise not to hurt you.And please try not to scream.”
It was then I revealed myself, my fangs at their full length, my eyes completely white, the monster who lives inside me.
She stood so quickly, the chair she was sitting on fell to the floor, her hands flew to her mouth and she stumbled backward as her face went pale.
Tessa, smart, brave Tessa, screamed.Not out of fear for herself, I realized later, but out of shock, out of the fundamental wrongness of seeing someone you thought you knew transform into a monster.
“V-vampire?”she whispered.
“Yeah.And I don’t glitter in the sunlight.”
Prophet drove her home.Tessa promised to keep our secrets.Blade asked me to keep an eye on her.With my hearing and senses, I did as he asked, at a distance.I didn’t approach her.Didn’t explain.I’d shown her what I was, and that was that.
Over time, I came back to the café.Took my usual booth.Ordered my usual coffee.
And she served me, hands only slightly shaking, her heart rate elevated but not panicked.
We never spoke about it.We never acknowledged it.But she knew.And I knew she knew.
And somehow, that made everything worse.Because now when I looked at her, I didn’t have to hide what I was.She’d already seen the monster, and she was still here.
The door chimes, pullingme back to the present.Old Walt shuffles in for his breakfast special, and Tessa greets him with the warm smile she gives everyone.Everyone except me.For me, she reserves something different, something more wary, more aware.
I take another drink of coffee and force my attention back to the newspaper.But the words blur together because something is wrong.Has been wrong for days now, and it’s getting worse.
There’s a smell in the air.It has a taste that sets my teeth on edge.Whatever it is, it’s cold, very ancient and feels wrong.
And it’s clinging to Tessa like a second skin.
I noticed it three days ago, a subtle shift in her aura, a distortion in the natural warmth that usually surrounds her.At first, I thought I was imagining it, that my obsession with her was making me paranoid.But it’s grown stronger each day, this sense of something brushing against her, marking her.
My fingers tighten on the mug.
The café door opens, and I’m already cataloguing the newcomer before they fully step inside.Not a threat.Just a local, someone I recognize from around town.But he’s nervous, his movements jerky, his scent sour with anxiety.
He orders coffee to go, and while Tessa prepares it, he shifts from foot to foot, glancing around like he expects something to jump out at him.
“Everything okay, Mike?”Tessa asks, handing him the cup.
“Yeah, just...”He trails off, then lowers his voice.“Did you hear about what John found out by his place?”
Tessa frowns.“The elk?”
Mike nods, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows hard.“Frozen solid.Not just dead, but...wrong.My dog won’t even go near the woods anymore.Somethin’s out there, Tessa.Somethin’ that ain’t natural.”
