“How handy are you with a shovel?” Gwen asked suddenly.
“Why?”
“Because if you’re going to kill, then you get to bury the body.”
Luckily, I didn’t have to dig. One, we didn’t have a shovel, and two, the frozen ground would have made it difficult and noticeable if I’d dug a grave. Instead, I got to learn how to properly douse a corpse in fuel and set it on fire.
By the time we’d finished getting rid of the body, we were only an hour out from dawn. Once we got home, I had barely enough time for a shower to rinse the smell of smoke—and burned human flesh—from my skin and hair before the sun rose and I fell face-first into bed.
Chapter Eight
Guess Gwen ratted me out, because I no sooner woke at sunset and guzzled my mug of warm blood than Cillian walked into my bedroom.
No knock. No warning. Just suddenly there, looking stern and handsome, whereas I had bedhead and a pillow imprint on my face.
“Did you seriously kill someone in public?” he barked immediately launching into a harangue.
“Hardly public. It happened in an alley.”
“Where you could have been seen,” Cillian growled.
“It wasn’t intentional. When the guy broke my nose?—”
“He did what?” Cillian stalked for me and grasped my chin to look at my face. He turned it left and right.
“It’s fine now. It healed before we torched the body.”
“You shouldn’t have been close enough for him to touch you in the first place,” Cillian snapped—and yeah, he might be chastising, but holy moly the man oozed sexy.
“Yeah well, at the time all I could think was I had to stop him from hurting his ex-girlfriend.”
“So you decided to be a hero.” Cillian sighed and his tight grip on my chin eased. His fingers lightly brushed my chuck. “Bravery is commendable but not when you take unnecessary risks.”
“What risk? He didn’t stand a chance against me,” I scoffed.
“Few humans would, but you could have been seen, which would have been bad. If it were to be known vampires existed, we’d harken back to the days when villagers hunted and culled our kind.”
“I’m sorry. I saw him smack his ex and lost control.”
“At least you had a reason and didn’t just kill him for fun.” He stood back and eyed me. “You seem to be thriving since I last saw you.”
I tossed my hair. “If by that you mean getting young again, then yes. You forgot to mention that was one of the perks.”
“Because it doesn’t happen to everyone. Some fledglings take years or even decades to reverse the effects of time. Some never have it happen at all and remain the age they were when changed.”
“How young, appearance-wise, will I get?”
He shrugged. “No idea. As mentioned, it differs from person to person.”
“I won’t turn into a child, will I?” Because that would suck.
His laughter emerged low, and sexy. “No. Early twenties is usually the most anyone regresses.”
“Thank fuck.” I eyed him. “Anything else I should know? Like, am I going to get special powers?”
“That, like the age reversal, differs from vampire to vampire.”
“Wait, so I might get some kind of ability, like turning into mist or a bat, hypnotizing people, super speed?” I couldn’t stem my excitement.
