“I’ve never killed a person,” Ian gratedfrom between his teeth. He had killed a few vampires, but he had afeeling the murder of vampires wouldn’t matter to this woman andmight actually be something she’d appreciate.
Paige snorted, “Liar.”
Stepping away from the bedside, he grabbedhold of the curtain next to the bed and jerked it open. Earlyafternoon sunlight spilled into the room and over him. “Since youthink you know so much about our kind, then you should know Iwouldn’t be able to stand in the sunlightifI was amurderer of humans.”
Her eyes narrowed; her gaze ran over thesunlight filtering over him. “That’s not possible, no vampire canstand the sun. I saw you, in the alley, I saw yourtrueface.”
“I am a vampire, I amnota murderer.You’d do better to learn the difference.”
Ian jerked the curtain closed again. Thisgirl was going to be a lot tougher to get to trust him than he’drealized. His gaze traveled to the scars on her neck. Her handfluttered toward the same spot. Her fingers froze for a minutebefore moving over the two scars there, the only marks left uponher flesh.
“I gave you some of my blood to heal thewounds before you bled out,” he explained.
Her eyes widened in horror. “I’m not… Iwon’t…”
“You won’t become a vampire,” he assuredher.
Her shoulders slumped, her head bowed as sheinhaled a shuddery breath. He could feel the relief washing out ofher and over him. “You shouldn’t have.”
“You would have died.”
Her eyes slid toward him, her chin juttedout. “There are fates worse than death.”
Ian shook his head. “I don’t know whatyou’ve been told, or what you’ve experienced, but it’s not true.Only the worst of our kind, the brutal murderers amongst us, areunable to tolerate the sunlight. The rest of us are perfectlycapable of walking about in the day, crossing large bodies ofwater, tolerating holy water and crucifixes. We are essentially thesame as you, only stronger and we feed on blood.”
Paige glanced at the curtain and the sunpeaking around its edges. Her mind spun as she tried to comprehendwhat he’d just told her. Had Nabel and the other survivors she’dmet been wrong? Wereallvampires capable of walking aboutin the day, or was he telling her the truth and only those whodidn’t kill were. But what vampire didn’t kill? They had to inorder to survive, didn’t they?
They all lied, she reminded herself. Theirentire existence was built on lies.
But she’d seen him leave the bar with threedifferent women and each one of those women had been alive the nextnight. She’d seen them. All the vampires she’d come across wouldnever have allowed those women to live, after covering theirtracks, they would have left them battered and lifeless in a ditchsomewhere.
“It could be a trick, you’re lying to me,”she muttered.
“It’s no trick,” he told her. “There arethose of us who kill, and those of us who don’t. Apparently, youdon’t know as much as you think you do about us. Now, let Mandytake a look at you.”
“Do you mind?” Mandy asked and gestured atPaige’s wrist.
Paige hesitated for a minute before shakingher head. She couldn’t argue with allowing a human to look at her,and though the idea of his blood pulsing through her body causedher stomach to turn, she was glad to be alive. It could have endedso much worse. She shuddered; her hand fluttered back to the twoscars on her neck. She’d been living on borrowed time for fouryears now; it was only a matter of time before the sand ran throughher hourglass. Last night was a close call, but she would not failat her mission before her time was up.
Mandy took hold of her wrist. She held it inher hand as she stared at her watch and counted the beats. Nodding,Mandy released her wrist and rested her hand on the needle embeddedin her arm. “This is going to hurt a little.”
Paige braced herself and turned herattention away as Mandy gently removed the needle from her arm.Mandy placed a cotton ball against her arm. “Hold this,” sheinstructed.
Holding the ball in place, she watched asMandy pushed away the IV stand. “Can you put this outside?” sheinquired.
The vampire from the bar nodded and wheeledthe stand out the door as Mandy returned to her side. Mandy tookthe cotton ball away, she placed a bandage on her before grabbingthe blood pressure cuff. Paige remained mute as the cuff compressedaround her, pinching her skin before Mandy released the valve.
“Much better,” Mandy said and pulled thestethoscope from her ears. “You’ll make a full recovery.”
And then what will become of me? Shebit back the question; she wasn’t ready for the answer, and she hada feeling she would find out soon enough.
“I’m Ian, what’s your name?” heinquired.
The woman’s turquoise eyes were asinflexible as stone when they met his again. “What are you going todo with me? What am I doing here?”
“You’re here so we could keep you alive,”Ian replied. “And you’re welcome for that.”
Her jaw clenched and unclenched. “Thankyou.”
