Page 11 of Seph

Crow was staring at her with watchful eyes, but when she didn’t reveal her thoughts, he continued. “You can look back on every death you attribute to me. I can prove they all deserved it. Murderers. Rapists. I remember this one bloke who ran an orphan asylum in Cheapside. I could hear the kiddies screaming from inside— Ooh. I ripped out his intestines and tied them around his—”

“Stop. If I throw up, I might die.” She’d seen worse. It was probably the concussion making her feel abnormally delicate.

He nodded. “I didn’t kill Anna Wharton, just so you know. I killed John Heatherington and his wife. She was just as much of a bully as he was, even to Anna, though she never complained about it. Never a sentence directed toward her without a slight attached. Sometimes I wondered if she even noticed it. She wasn’t overburdened by deep thoughts, Anna, but she was kind. Ithoughtshe was kind. I was furious at her, but all I wanted to do was scare her. Lilith was the one who—”

Emily pressed the buttons on the bed rail, easing herself more upright. “Lilith?TheLilith? One of thefirstvampires?”

“The very same. Well, at least, I assume she’s the one. I was only with her for two days, but oh.” The lazy smile rippled with something decidedly sensual. “They were two glorious days. The things she taught me... I told her I would take the Heatheringtons myself, but no. She tagged along and snuck in. She’s the one who killed Anna. I killed her for that. She looked so shocked. I think she assumed I wouldn’t have it in me, but... Well. That was a silly thing to assume when she was the one who taught me the beauty of letting one’s rage out to play. After that, I only killed the ones that deserved it. I never turned anyone, not a single soul. You ought to know that.”

“Yes, we know that. You never turned anyone because you preferred the kill. You were vicious. Ruthless.” She scooted farther back into the pillows. Her father had trained her to fight—and one of his methods was to tell her to fight like Crow— to be utterly vicious, to have no fear of pain.

If she allowed herself to question her father’s orders (which was also very much against the Van Helsing Code), she would have to admit it wasn’t the smartest move. Crow was immortal. She wasn’t. She wouldn’t heal like him.

But letting go of endless rules and training, to simply lose herself in the fight and the blood rush, to unleash hell on some monster was... So satisfying.

Emily’s eyes fluttered shut. She prayed Crow wouldn’t see the tinge of longing under her injuries.

Her prayers were answered. If anything, Crow seemed to be nervous, ready to defend himself.

He squirmed for a moment. “Well, imagine growing up weak and starved, with your mother to look after and no father about, always sick, always some little swot being pinched and pantsed by the other boys...” He stretched out his arms and flexed his fingers. Muscles rippled under the tight black shirt he wore. “This new body was a paradise. I was healthier dead than alive, love.”

“Don’t call me love. And you talk too much.”

“That’s another thing! I used to have this horrible,horriblevoice, raspy and nasal at the same time. I sounded like a crow with consumption. Modern medicine would have popped out m’ tonsils and adenoids. They were probably the size of cricket balls from being sick so much as a kid. Death cleared that up, too!” He stared at her, and his voice turned soft and smokey, gliding over her skin like drops of perfume. “I’ve been told I have a very nice voice, nowadays.”

“Some vampires have the gift of thrall. You don’t.” She was firm and factual. No need to let Crow know that his voice was beyond nice. He could have narrated smutty books for a living.

Something jumped in her subconscious, and she jerked herself upright, ignoring the pain in her ribs. “Do you narrate books?”

“What? No! I... No. I don’t.”

“You do! You do narrate books!”

Crow slid back, shamefaced. “Shh! Bite your tongue.”

“You narrate that absolutely filthy romance series.”

“You listen to that?” Crow gripped the arms of his chair, face fixed in horror.

“I got a free audiobook sample, and I kept seeing ads for it.” Emily shrugged.And then I listened to the whole series while I was flying around Europe, trying to find this bastard.

“Well. I... I can do it from home during the day.” He swallowed hard and pushed himself out of the chair. “How much did you listen to?”

I listened to the scene where you had sex on top of a limo. Well, not you, but your character.

Do not think about Simeon Crow naked. Do not think about the way he read those scenes, the way he used his mouth, the dirty pillow talk...

She blinked and managed a weak shrug. “Not much. Like I said, there was a free sample.”

“Thank God. I don’t write those, you know. Just read them. I can do all sorts of accents. I’m good at languages.”

Mutual discomfort has been reached. Change subject.“So. You actually have a job? And a home in this town?”

“I’ve only been here a few months, so it’s not much of a home, yet. It’s a basement apartment. I soundproofed one room.”

Emily tensed. “Why?”

“To do the audiobook narration. You can’t have outside noises, or you’ll ruin the whole track!” He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Van Helsing.”

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