“I will stay the night. I will not leave you alone until Ethan has let me know the threat’s gone.”
“The threat?” That news surprised me. “Did you find out who killed the dog?”
He wiped another trickle of rain off his forehead and nodded. “One of the vampires that threatened to hurt you was missing when we found them. They said she’d left town, fled before we got there. Monique found out it was a lie and that she’s still in town, she never left. She killed the dog. They have gone to find her.”
Monique found out—seemed very convenient. Alarm bells jingled in my head. “Do you believe Monique, really?”
“I have no reason to disbelieve her.” He sent a firm stare in my direction. I didn’t push it, I wasn’t sure what their history was, how good of a friend she was, how much he trusted her. I knew they would kill the woman and it was a tragedy to my mind, but I also knew I would have no hope against a vampire if what Monique said was true and she sought revenge. I soughtrefuge out the window, watching the shadowy tree outlines covered by sleeting rain whizz by, trying to distract myself.
“We can’t have vampires with a vengeance left alive, we can only keep you locked up and safe for so long,” he said.
I didn’t speak, what could I say? Instead I kept my eyes trained to the side window.
“Amelia,” he spoke my name like he’d asked a question he awaited an answer for.
I drew in a deep breath in a failed attempt to calm my mind. “Can’t you just lock her up?”
“No, if I show her mercy, I will be thought of as weak. I will be hunted, as well as anyone I care about. You control vampires through fear, to keep them in line.”
“Rubbish! Ethan, you, Michael, you don’t treat each other well out of fear, you care for each other.”
He rubbed his hand on his head in frustration. “You do not understand our world.”
“Well explain it then,” I said with heat.
“You do not want to know, just leave it, Amelia.” His tone dictated the conversation was over.
I kept my eyes straight ahead. “But I do, it’s you who doesn’t want to tell me,” I muttered.
He blew out a breath heavily, his jawline clamped shut. I’d gotten under his skin; again.
We didn’t speak the rest of the way home.
Chapter 56
It’s Not A Date
It was silly to be nervous as if this was some kind of date, but I was. A flutter filled my stomach, my chest, and apparently my hands. I’d foraged through the pantry looking for pain relief, as I reached forward, I knocked the spaghetti over, it rolled off the shelf and landed on the floor with thud. Then, after consuming a full glass of wine, and a couple of pieces of pizza, I reached for my recently filled glass and nearly knocked that over too. Red wine sloshed up the side and wove through the grains of the coffee table like a bloodied stream.
Now, after two glasses of wine, a relaxing allure swum in my head and I felt the nerves dull and the tension ease from my shoulders, neck, and back. We ate in silence on the couch. Karson seemed content to nibble at his food and drink wine. For a moment everything seemed so domestically normal that I forced the day’s events to the back of my mind. I could think about it all tomorrow.
I twisted the spaghetti on my fork and shoved a mouthful in, a long thin tomato based strand wiggled free and dropped onto my white top, and bled into the fabric like a demonic eye. Internally, I groaned.
“Need a bib?” Karson turned with one of those smirks I hated.
“I think I’ll manage,” I muttered, announcing I needed to shower. I took the bowl to the kitchen, and headed up the stairs, to the sound of his infuriating chuckles behind me.
He was staying for the night, or at least until Ethan let him know I was safe. The house had six bedrooms. Still, Karson sleeping under the same roof was nerve-racking. Not in the ‘was he was going to tear his teeth into my neck’ kind of nerve racking. More the jittery kind of nerves from the first time I planned to have sex with Tom, who was my one and only partner.
I’d decided earlier that week that Friday night would be the night. I’d sprinkled rose petals across the bed. I’d brought new black lingerie which rode up the crack of my ass all night. I cooked dinner, lit a few candles, poured wine and played a long list of 1980s love songs. I was so nervous I knocked a candle over and set the tablecloth alight. Tom rushed to put it out and then we’d both laughed so hard we ended up on the floor. One thing led to another, and I lost my virginity on the floor in the living room.
I smiled at the memory and shook my head, as if shaking it away. Not that Karson would be interested in me. Not only was I an average looking girl, but I was a witch.A witch.
I showered quickly and went to brush my teeth. I reached for the toothbrush, and hesitated short of physically picking it up. I took a step back, held out my hand and imagined it gliding to me. It trembled and then froze.
I’d thrown that man without even thinking about it. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I thought about it, I was desperate to get him away from Karson’s back. I’d felt a power surge inside like an explosion of fire, whipping through my veins. There was no logical thought, no empathy. There was only fear andfury. I’d thrown a two hundred pound man. But now, a simple toothbrush wouldn’t budge. Annoyed, I tried again, urging it to me. My fingers buzzed like static, traveling up my arm in a warm pleasant vibration. The toothbrush wobbled. I gasped in a breath and it stopped. Refocusing my thoughts I urged it to come to me. As if on a string in the hands of a puppeteer, it lifted and floated to my waiting fingers.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, both amazed and mystified.
