There were hands around my wrists, around my ankles. I couldn’t breathe, I tried to scream, but it was muffled. I couldn’t see but I could feel them, circling, hungry like sharks about to feed.
“Hold her down,” a voice snapped.
No, no …
Someone calling my name.
A hand on my arm. I jerked back.
“Amelia, Amelia, open your eyes,” a voice pounded through the rain—Karson. I blinked into sudden brightness. The blindfold was gone. The stick was still clenched tight in my sweaty hand.
Karson was in front of me, blocking Kenneth from my sight. I saw a mixture of compassion and confusion in his eyes. “You’re safe.”
“What happened?” Kenneth asked, his voice soft. “What is scaring you so much, Amy?”
I couldn’t tell him I was afraid of the dark. It seemed weak, stupid. Even as another wiser voice whispered,Terrible things always happen in the dark.
“She doesn’t know you, Kenneth, she struggles to trust vampires she doesn’t know.” Karson spoke to him but didn’t take his eyes off me. “Perhaps we should save the blindfold for another time. I can practice that move with her in the bedroom.” Karson stepped away, and when he faced Kenneth gone was any trace of concern, and in its place was arrogance and amusement.
I knew what he was doing, he was trying to make me smile and trying to distract Kenneth from the truth.
“Oh please. It’s bad enough hearing her cries, letting alone knowing what you get up to.” Monique scrunched up her face.
“Coming from the girl who not an hour ago made it sound like an earthquake had hit the house,” Karson answered.
“Are we like five years of age in this household?” Kenneth said, bemused. “I’m not sure how you put up with them, Amy.”
“Neither am I, Kenneth,” I muttered, my face burning with embarrassment.
“Let’s try again. Turn around.”
When I hesitated, he said, “Karson’s ally is my ally. No harm will come to you.”
I took a breath and turned to look at the water.
“Close your eyes and I want you to swing back when you feel me close.”
I squeezed them shut. My heart rate spiraled up.Shit.
Breathe, breathe, breathe.
“Dead,” he said into my ear.
My eyes sprang open. I could feel his presence, rich and surprisingly pleasant, press in all around me.
“Concentrate, Amy, and feel me.”
Oh, I was.
Kenneth moved away to a point somewhere behind me. “Close them,” he ordered, like he could see my eyes were open.
Reluctantly, I closed my eyes and waited.
“Relax. If you tense up, I know you know I am here. It’s about catching me off guard.”
I felt the pressure grow against my skin, light tingles increasing as he neared. I swung around, the stick whipping through thin air in front of him.
“Too soon.” He stopped abruptly. “Let’s try again.”
