Ohshit he knows my NAME ohgod how… And he was mispronouncing it, too, adding an extra syllable as if he could taste every vowel.
Her lungs decided to work again, since it was either that or pass out, and she sucked gratefully at air that was not full of mildew. Someone vacuumed this room near-daily, wiped the surfaces down, changed the linens—there was a breath of commercial detergent simmering up from the bed, though the comforter no doubt held smeared traces of a thousand travelers.
A faint haze of outdoors night and summer heat surrounded the biter, both soothing and terrifying at once. He smelled like a clean adult male after a heavy workout, and it wasn’t right, it just wasnot rightfor a vampire to smell like a person.
“Good,” he continued, encouragingly, and that was awful as well. He had a nice, deep voice, almost restful. “Be tranquil, little Leila. You are safe.”
That is a goddamn lie. The dark blots threatened to come back, growing over her field of vision; she forced them desperately away, hoping only for one more breath, then another.
“H-h-how…” To top it all off, she was stuttering.Fucking useless question, Lay. Come on, do something. Punch him. Use all that self-defense the guys were laughing about teaching you.
But the fingers caging her upper arms were iron; even if he didn’t squeeze, she was miserably aware of the sheer strength humming through his hands. He balanced lightly in front of her, with absolute control, and now she knew how a mouse felt when a tiger placed a paw lightly upon its back, not pressing—but ready to, if she moved.
If she so much asbreathedwrong.
He lowered his chin slightly, peering at her face. The slight motion was also somehow too controlled to be precisely human, and a fresh wave of terror nailed her in place.
“I can explain.” The words were evenly spaced, slightly stilted. “Would you like that?”
She couldn’t quite place the accent, or maybe he’d just acquired his English from a textbook. How did vampires learn new languages, anyway? Did they attend night classes?
Oh, God. She was going to die as she’d lived, wondering about random, inconsequential bullshit. Layla held very still, wondering if she should pray.
What a time to wish I were Catholic, like Shawn and Mike and…
That was another horrible thought. “P-please d-d-don’t kill me,” she stammered. It was embarrassing, but she had just that instant found out that all things considered, she’d rather be deeply mortified than outright dead. “Please.”
“You are very safe, little Leila.” A flicker of eyelids—he couldn’t evenblinklike a normal person, for Godsake. “That is your name, is it not?”
Fucking hell, how do youknowthat?How had he found… had he followed her and Pete? Or Ben and Steve, considering they’d emptied entire clips at him and his henchmen?
Where was all his goon-squad backup now? Her own crew, well, she could guess.
Ben gone between one syllable and the next. Steve-o, just vanishing out of his chair. The tensor lamp rocking crazily, shadows dancing… “Are… m-my friends, they’re…”
“The one who ran before you—Pete?” He waited, patiently, until Layla managed a tiny flicker of a nod. “He left you to your fate.”
Now she remembered the door on that particular escape route was rigged to block itself with a pile of falling crap, cutting off pursuit. Pete probably hadn’t even realized she was behind him, too worried with bugging out.
Oh, God. “The… the others?”You’re being so stupid. What do you think happened?
“Gone,” he said, softly. Almost kindly. “You need not concern yourself with them.”
Which brought her brain-train to a crashing halt, because it was a statement full ofimplications, as dear old Suze would say, Suzy who had died one rainy spring evening up at Pleasant Point, her convertible’s top ripped open like a soda can and her throat, her poorneck…
Layla stared at the vampire, who studied her closely in return. Did he look at smooshed bugs on a windshield the same way? The terror was so huge it wrapped around its own axle and became bleakly, morbidly hilarious. What kind of bloodsucking monster put a girl in a hotel room and… what the hell did hewant?
“Le-i-la.” Drawing out her name as if it had three syllables instead of two, though there was no hint of the usual male mockery. “An old name, beautiful. It meansNight, always a blessing, and eyes like stars. You are no doubt much beloved; are your parents alive? Your clan, yourfamilia? Tell me.”
What the hell?God alone knew where Layla’s wild-child mother was at the moment, and she’d never known her father. Meemaw Catherine was safely in the ground, sure, but she didn’t feel like explaining her fucked-up family history to a biter. There was no point, and besides, that was private information.
“Are you going to k-kill me?” What a ridiculous question. Still, she had to know. The wordswill it hurttrembled at the very tip of her tongue; she snapped her teeth shut, keeping them trapped.
“Have I not said you are safe?” The faintest hint of irritation crossed the biter’s beaky face, his eyebrows drawing a few millimeters closer to each other, and now Layla was utterly certain she was going to pass out and wake up dead, no matter how ridiculous the notion sounded. “You will live long, little Leila; I will make certain of it.”
That was another statement full of implications, but her head—hell, her entirebody—was so overloaded she didn’t have the capacity to untangle a single one. Instead, since holding still wasn’t working, it chose the only other option on the table.
Get away.
