“I think, I love—”
“What is the meaning of this?”
Her stomach dropped as though the floor had vanished, all of the blood rushing to her head causing her to dizzy as she looked at her bedroom door, because standing there was her father.
His face was red and contorted with rage as he stared at the pair of them, Elias’ hand still on her thigh.
“F-father,” she stammered, rushing to stand on her unstable legs. It felt as though time had been suspended as she crossed the room, placing her hands on his chest. “Father, please, I can explain! I-I—” But no—no. The words couldn’t come out. They wouldn’t come out. Her breaths caught in her throat, choking her all while she fought to keep up with her own heart.
“Vampire!” her father roared, seizing Penelope by the arm with enough force to make her yelp as he dragged her behind him. “Penelope, get Henry. He will save you!”
At the sound of her pain, Elias shot to his feet, every motion fluid and predatory. He towered over her father, keeping deliberate space between them. “Release her,” he ordered.
“In the name of god—I compel you! Begone!”
Elias chuckled—dark and misshapen as he stepped closer. “God?” he asked, stepping closer and closer, removing that dreaded space between them.
“Father, please—”
“Silence!” he ordered her. “In the morning we will cleanse you at the church.”
“Cleanse?” Elias clicked his tongue, amused. “Is my touch so filthy? If you wish to cleanse me from her… I’m afraid it is far too late. The only time your daughter calls to God is when I am with her at night.”
“Elias!” Penelope gasped, heart thrumming, caught between shame and fear.
Elias’ gaze met hers and a flash of… hurt? Yes, pain crossed his feature. But he held his hand out to her. An offer.
“Elias… please. Go,” she whispered, voice trembling. “Please.”
His brows pinched together as he backed away slowly, his face contorting as his shoulders fell as though she had struck him. And then—he laughed.
“Perhaps it does little to help our cause,” Elias murmured, the barest curl of a smile tugging at his lips, “to confess that your daughter tastes… exquisite.”
“Elias!” Penelope exclaimed, but it was too late. He was gone, out the window and onto the streets below. Penelope did not think as she rushed towards the window.
“Penelope! We must fetch Henry!” her father roared behind her, voice ragged with disbelief and fury.
But she did not hear him—not truly. Not as her feet found their own will, perhaps for the very first time, carrying her down the stairs, through the door, and out into the street.
And there he was—in broad daylight, exposed, standing in the street watching her.
“You’re behaving like a—”
Elias closed the space between them, moving faster than her mind could comprehend until he was towering over her, his breath caressing her.
“A what? Go on. Say it.”
“I—I was not going to—”
“Say it!” His voice cut through her. “I was acting like what? Amonster? Avampire? Tell me, whatshouldI act like then? Like you? Like them? All prim smiles and practiced false kindness? Shall I pretend not to smell the blood in their churches or hear the screams behind the silence of their women? Would that make me more palatable? Moreacceptable? To your father? Toyou? If I did all of this, would you call me as yours or even then would you be ashamed of me?” Her chest tightened as his gaze bore into her. “I hear your heart when I call you mine,” he whispered. “The fear. Theshame. It surrounds me, suffocates me. And yet… I endure it. Because I… I don’t have a choice.”
Penelope’s eyes searched his and she trembled beneath the weight of her own cowardice. Her lips parted, closed. Opened again. Nothing. Nothing but the silence.
Elias drew in a breath he did not require, his voice softening into something wounded and ruinous.
“Of course you wouldn’t accept me. How could you? I am a vampire. A murderer, by nature. My veins run cold. My breath lingers only out of habit. When you kiss me, I do not breathe. When you enter a room, my heart does not race.”
He paused, and the ache between them deepened into something almost holy.
