Cora scooted away from him but thankfully didn’t attempt another pointless escape. “Sorry, but I can’t exactly be all chill about this when you said earlier that you’re some kind of enforcer,” she pointed out. “You told me your job is to hunt down and kill people.”
“Vampires,” he bit out, annoyed. “I hunt down and kill roguevampires. I’m not a monster, Cora.”
She scoffed. “You’re joking, right? They literally make monster movies about you people.”
“You people?” he repeated, glaring at her. “For someone who was so excited to meet a real vampire minutes ago you turned racist pretty fast.”
“What?” Cora sputtered. “I’m not racist, you rude jerk. Besides, vampire isn’t even a race, it’s a species.” She gave him a derisive little huff then slumped onto the hood, all the fight draining from her body. “So what are you going to do if you can’t compel me?”
“I’m still trying to figure that out and your prattling isn’t super helpful, so can I get a little quiet please?” Even though he was initially enchanted by it, her lilting songbird voice tended to take on a screechy tone when she was scared or upset.
To his immense relief, she listened to him for once and kept quiet.
For about thirty seconds.
Her ring and pinky fingers drummed rapidly on the car’s hood, and the sound grated against his last nerve like nails on a chalkboard.
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” she snapped defensively.
His head swiveled to look at her. “Well, I mind. So could you stop that?”
“No.”
“No?”
Cora tilted her head. “I'm sorry, was there confusion the first time? I thought I was clear when I said no.”
“And why in Lilith’s name not?” Anger overtook him, and his words came out harsher than he intended.
She flinched away, and he forced his breathing to slow. He couldn’t do anything about his resting murder face, but he could at least controlhis posture and tone.
“I don’t always have control over my muscles,” she muttered. Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment, and a sense of uneasiness dropped into his stomach.
As if on cue, the evening breeze wafted that medicinal smell to him once more, reminding him of her unknown illness. He hadn’t encountered many sick humans before, but maybe…
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, far more bluntly than he should have.
She straightened up, her body going rigid as she tucked her hands behind herself. “None of your business.”
He glowered at her. He couldn’t tell if she was being antagonistic on principle, or if she genuinely didn’t want to talk about it. Either way, he didn’t care about her personal preferences at that point. “I was just trying to help the situation, so would you please tell me what’s wrong with you?”
The scathing look she gave him might have been worrisome if he wasn’t an immortal vampire. “Nothing is wrong with me, you asshole!” she shouted. “And if I happen to have a medical condition, then it’s none of your goddamned business!”
Clenching his fists, he slid off the car and let out a frustrated roar. Why did females have to be so problematic? He swore she was acting like a petulant child just to annoy him.
Maybe you need to simmer down, he told himself.See things from her point of view.What was it Tressa always said? Teddy bears have more friends than grizzly bears? Okay, he could try that approach.
“I apologize,” he said, reducing his voice to a more subdued tone. “I phrased my words poorly. Of course there is nothingwrongwith you, and it is your right to keep your medical situation private. I should not have intruded.”
The wary look Cora gave him spoke volumes about his lack of achieving teddy bear status, but it was an improvement at least. She now looked at him as something more like a Koala with a butter knife. Not entirely dangerous but not exactly adorably innocent either.
He could work with that.
“The only reason I asked,” he continued, “is that perhaps your condition is something that is impacting my abilities. You don’t need to divulge more than you feel comfortable with, but can you tell me if I might be on the right track?”
Cora picked at a stray thread on the hem of her oversized sweater. “I guess it’s possible,” she mumbled. “The nerve cells in my brain…” she trailed off, and he decided pushing her for more details was a bad idea.
