Page 79 of A Bond with the Dark

“So, like casting a spell on someone with your voice?”

“Exactly.”

“Wouldn’t everyone within earshot be hexed then?” I ask, wrinkling my brows.

“Not exactly,” he responds, leaning in closer to me. His eyes bore into mine and again I feel calm, like I’m falling into them. I want to do anything this man wants me to do. Anything. “We pull you in real close like this. Then unlock our magick, like clicking a lock open. Because of our eye contact, you feel drawn to me when I whisper to you. Like you would do anything I asked of you. I would then say, ‘Raise your arms,’”—my arms shoot up above my head of their own accord—“and voila. You are veilweaved.”

“That’s fascinating,” I reply, looking up at my arms chilling in the air.

“You can put them down now,” he says, releasing me from my compulsion.

“What other powers do you have?”

“Like all vamps,” he smirks, leaning back into the couch cushions and propping his arm over the one between us, “I can heal fast. I’m strong; I have a wicked sense of smell and hearing. I can veilweave people and manipulate memories.” His eyes pinch as though he’s trying to remember everything. “We all have that way of making you feel completely at ease, not scared. Making you easy prey.”

The way his gaze turns sinister toward me is sexy.

Come eat me up, Mr. Vampire Man.

Frigid feathery kisses dance along my spine as I scoot closer to him. “What’s the difference between the blood?”

The green of his irises retracts and compounds into a vertical shape as he tracks something across the room. “Human blood is more sustainable. I can go twice as long without blood when I drink it. It’s because of a person’s life force. Their memories. Sometimes, I see them when I drink their blood. And if I drain them completely, I can take on their traits.”

The memory of him being utterly different in Vegas after he killed those guys shoots through me. Even his walk was different. “Is that what happened in Vegas? After. . . ?”

His expression turns sad and discouraged. “Partly,” he replies softly. “And also partly because I don’t like taking human lives. I detest it.”

“So you veilweaved the people at the party to tell you who the guys were? And then again to forget you were there?”

He nods.

“How could you veilweave so many people at once then?”

He shifts a bit, cocking his head to the side. “With larger groups, we can expand our magick. Directing it to a larger crowd is harder since it’s both the eye contact and the voice. I turned the music off, stood on a chair, and projected my veilweave outward. It, like, covers them like a net. Then I said to forget I was here and that a fight broke out, and the dudes turned on each other.”

“So you could totally rob banks if you wanted?”

He laughs, the features of his face softening. “I could. Definitely.”

“Well,” I say, leaning into him more. “If you ever need a partner in crime, I’m your girl.”

Pulling me into him, he kisses the top of my head. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Laying my head on his chest, I can hear his heartbeat. His skin is warm. He smells delicious. I want to kiss more answers out of him. I unbutton his shirt and kiss his chest. “Have you ever veilweaved me?” I ask in between my kisses.

I feel his heart rate pick up. When he doesn’t answer, I look up at him.

The nod he gives me is riddled with shame.

My own heart drops. “When?”

“The night of our first date,” he confesses, his voice shaky. “There had been an attack. Grimspawn. They were eating a woman. I was able to save her and divert them, but you saw things you shouldn’t have. So I veilweaved you to forget the altercation.”

I lean back from him, scratching my head and swirling my hair into a messy bun. Having someone you are falling for being able to fuck with your mind whenever they want is disarming. Having that power over someone is unsettling. And the fact that he altered my memory to think that I had fainted bristles me.

“Can you give memories back?” I ask, trying to hide the hurt in my voice.

“I can,” he replies.

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