Her vision was partially obscured by dark fabric, but she could see across the floor. Through smoke and dust, she could just make out the shape of Yvanna, laying on her side.
Or what was left of her, which wasn’t much. Terror squeezed her throat.
Instinct clawed at her insides, compelling her to move, to crawl away from the carnage as fast as possible, but she couldn’t. Something was laying on top of her, pinning her there, and the pain of even the slightest movements made stars burst in her stinging eyes.
Cold fingers tapped her cheek. It wasn’t quite a slap, but it wasn’t exactly gentle, either. “Stop moving,” a hoarse voice growled above her. “You’ll kill us both if you keep that up.”
Her bleary eyes swung upward. Mr. Bowan stared down at her, his golden skin streaked with blood and dust. His eyes were a little wide around the edges, but otherwise he seemed perfectly composed as he informed her, “Miss McKnight, do me a favor and try not to panic, but I believe we’ve been impaled with a piece of that ugly table.”
A dying bird sort of sound escaped her throat.“We?”
He looked meaningfully down. Dahlia tried to turn her head to see what he was talking about, but her vision was obscured by a jagged piece of brushed stainless steel. It took her a long moment to understand why it was covered in blood.
Like a giant serrated knife, the metal had run right through Mr. Bowan and into her shoulder. His blood ran down the twisted surface in thick red rivulets to pool on her chest and around her wound.
Her vision went spotty again. “What— what do we do?”
“Fucking Amauris. I knew taking this meeting was a terrible idea.” The vampire’s lips pressed thin. “I’d like to get out of here before the authorities arrive, so we’re going to have to separate.My men are going to assist. Since you saved my life, I’m going to try very hard to not kill you in the process.”
He glanced up at someone she couldn’t see and nodded. Not a moment later there were people everywhere, each one of them moving like they knew exactly what to do.
Panic made her legs spasm uselessly as she clawed at Mr. Bowan’s expensive coat. “Wait, wait?—”
No one listened to her. They had more important things to do — like quickly and efficiently yanking the metal out of Mr. Bowan with one hard pull. She didn’t have time to wonder if it was the right thing to do because they’d ripped it out of her, too.
White-hot pain scoured every one of her nerve endings as a hot splash of blood covered her chest. A heavy hand pressed some fabric — a shirt, maybe — into her shoulder. She could barely feel her own fingers, but the faceless person dragged her hand up to hold pressure on the compress before they disappeared as quickly as they’d come.
Mr. Bowan grunted as he was pulled to his feet. She watched, her vision doubling, as two haggard-looking security guards pressed their coats into his front and back to stem the bleeding.
Looking pale but disconcertingly poised, he wheezed, “It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss McKnight. I sincerely hope you make it.”
A hysterical bubble of laughter escaped her. “L-likewise, Mr. Bowan.”
What will it take to make you leave me alone
Unknown Number
I see we’re at the negotiation stage
You keep changing your number so I can’t block you. When I ignore you, you send shit to my apartment (extremely creepy that you know where I live?????) and you obviously know where I work
Are we just listing facts now or what
I guess I’m just wondering why on Earth you think I’ll ever actually want to talk to you, a stalker
Does it count as stalking if I’m not physically following you around
if you have to ask???
This is just how things are done. I’ve been pretty restrained, actually
in what universe is anything you’ve done normal, let alone restrained??
You’re in the vampire world, pet. The rules are different
pretty sure laws still exist in Vampire World, boogeyman
That’s honestly really cute
