“No, you are not,” he agreed, and she fidgeted under the intensity of his stare.
“Soooo… Getting back to my movie,” she began.
“And people say I have a one-track mind,” he muttered, standing up straight. “I’m afraid that is never going to happen for a multitudeof reasons.”
“Damn,” Cora exhaled, her entire body going slack with defeat. She knew it was a long shot, but a girl could dream. “I guess this is the part where you wipe my mind, and I forget all about you? Any chance you can just erase your face but leave the rest? That whole knife and chair thing was a whole new level of badass. I want to put it in my script.”
Saiden scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “While I do appreciate the compliment, that’s not going to be possible either. I need to make you forget about more than just my visit here, but don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
Cora didnotlike the sound of that. He needed to work on his soothing voice because she was pretty sure he was lying through his very pointy teeth. Not to mention she refused to believe it whenever someone said ‘everything will be fine.’ Life had taught her that was rarely the case.
A thought crashed into her brain, and she recalled the litany of questions he asked earlier.
“Wait… This doesn’t have anything to do with my script, does it?” Horror spread through Cora when she saw his subtle flinch. “No,” she cried, backing away from this man who suddenly posed a very different threat to her. “You can’t. My film is everything to me.”
“I am so sorry,” Saiden said, and the look of pain in his eyes told her that he really did regret it. “There are some things in your film that we can’t have getting out to the public. We’ve stayed hidden by playing it safe and containing certain aspects of our existence. I’m going to have to compel you to destroy your script and any notes.”
Anger gripped her in a chokehold. Who the hell did he think he was to show up here and ruin her entire life?
“Why can’t you just compel me to change whatever it is that you don’t like about my story?” she argued.
The pitying look he gave her was almost too much. She didn’t want pity. She wanted to keep her damned movie and possibly knee him in the groin again for tormenting her.
“Because,” he began slowly, as if speaking to a toddler who just got told they can’t have ice cream before dinner. “The constant exposure to the modified script would eventually trigger a memory. Having you destroy the entire thing and move on is the only way to be sure. I really am sorry, Cora.”
Anger faded to despair, and her eyes ached from the pressure of holding back tears as the reality of the situation hit her. He was a vampire, and there was literally nothing she could do to stop him.
“Please,” she begged him softly. “Anything but that. I won’t tell anyone about you, I swear. Just please don’t do this.”
“I have to,” Saiden replied gently, stepping back into her space. He lifted a hand, and for a second she thought he might caress her cheek. He must have changed his mind because he dropped his hand to her shoulder instead, the other one following suit to lock her in his grasp. Claiming the entirety of her focus with nothing but his presence, he captured her amber eyes with his and whispered a single word.
“Forget.”
Chapter nine
Saiden
Saiden would have rather she regained a bit more composure first, but he was officially done waiting. Every time she started breathing easier, he stupidly said something to ramp her back up. He just wasn’t any good at being calming and never would be. Her current state of depressed acceptance was about the best he could hope for at that point.
Saiden watched her for any evidence that his compulsion had taken root. As soon as he saw her eyes go cloudy, he would know he had her under his control and could compel her to forget everything.
It really did break his heart a little. There had been so much pain in her eyes when she begged him to let her keep the film. He didn’t quite understand it. Why did she care so much about a single horror movie? He’d read the script, or more specifically his text-to-speech app had read it to him while he sped down I-5. He wasn’t much of a movie buff but could tell it was decent. She had talent as a writer, so why couldn’t she just come up with something else? Make a different movie. Why was this one so important?
Whatever the reason, there was nothing he could do about it.Protocol was protocol, and no traces could be left behind. Tapping his foot impatiently, he waited for the fog to roll across her eyes.
And waited.
And waited.
They both blinked a few times.
Well, this was getting embarrassing.
Cora cleared her throat. “While I do enjoy staring deeply into your eyes, which are quite gorgeous b-t-dubs, is something supposed to be happening?”
Saiden dropped his hands and stepped back, staring at her in awe. He knew she was still somewhat upset, and compulsion was not his strongest gift, but still… He hadn’t been able to latch onto her mind at all. Not even a hint of a connection.
“Fuck,” he grumbled and shook himself like a wet dog. He was just tired, that was all. And perhaps part of his subconscious felt guilty about killing Cora’s dreams. He couldn’t deny that she was incredibly attractive, and he hadn’t been with a woman in far too long. Under different circumstances he might have even asked her out despite her human status. That was probably why he was struggling so much.
