Page 39 of Top Secret Vampire

I did not stop. The intruder had rushed from the room, and I would not allow them to escape. I gave chase, my every instinct screaming at me to catch them, to protect Reese from whatever threat they posed.

When I burst into the foyer, it echoed with silence. The figure was gone, vanished as if they’d never been here. The quiet mocked me, a reminder of my failure to apprehend them. Ipaused, my senses straining for any hint of their presence. The house remained still, the only sound was the clock and slam of my pulse in my ears.

I tested the front door. Locked, just as we had left it.

A yelp pierced the night, the sound coming from the seaward side of the house. My heart lurched up into my throat, and I sprinted down the hallway, my bare feet slapping the hardwood floors. I flung myself into the kitchen, my reflexes bringing everything into sharp focus.

The back door stood wide open, and briny wind rushed in, making the curtains above the sink billow. Why hadn’t they triggered my tripwires? I’d look at the cameras later and maybe I’d find an answer.

I ran to the door, my mind racing. When I stepped out onto the small deck, the cool night air lifted goosebumps on my skin. The woods bordering the building on either side loomed, their dense foliage full of shadows, the leaves chittering in the wind.

I scanned the area, my night vision thrusting through the darkness. Then I saw them, descending the stairs cut into the cliff face, their movements frantic. They reached the bottom and glanced up, though the moonlight didn’t reveal anything about their hooded identity. Whirling, they raced down the path to the sea.

I mistified, reappearing on the beach.

But though I scanned the area, my senses seeking in all directions, I found no one.

Chapter 19

Reese

Iwoke to find Wolf gone from the bed and his side cool.

“Wolfie?” I called out in a sultry voice. I wouldn’t mind another round if he was up for it, and I suspected he would be.

He didn’t reply.

Sliding from the bed, I stuffed my feet into my fuzzy slippers and slipped on my robe. I slunk to the bathroom, but didn’t find him there. But then, vampires didn’t pee as far as I knew. This wasn’t something we’d taken time to discuss, but he’d mentioned that his internal organs didn’t function in the same way as a human’s.

I slipped into the hall, but he wasn’t there either.

I remained in place, straining to hear any hint of sound in the quiet house. The fresh scent of the sea drifted through the air on a cool breeze coming from somewhere below. My heart thumped at a furious pace, my mind suddenly spinning with worry. I didn't call out Wolf's name again; something told me to stay silent, to move carefully.

With my robe wrapped tighter around me, I padded down the stairs, the wood creaking under my weight. Each step jerked through my senses, and my teeth chattered. I scanned theshadowy corners of the foyer below, struggling to pick up the faintest whispers of my vampire lover.

Sweat coiled down my spine as I made my way to the kitchen where moonlight streamed in through the windows, sending long, eerie shadows across the floor. The back door was closed, the room appearing as I'd left it. I moved on, my fear a living thing inside me, but my determination to find out what was going on stronger. I had to find Wolf, to discover what had pulled him away from our warm bed.

He wasn’t in the living room or dining room either.

Everything remained undisturbed in the foyer, the silence pressing in around me. That left only my office on the first floor. With a jagged swallow, I crept toward the open doorway, my pulse a furious thud in my ears.

After stepping into the room, I flicked on the light, the sudden brightness making me squint. Wolf stood naked in the middle of the room, his fangs and claws extended and his body rigid. His gaze was locked on the floor by his feet, his expression unreadable.

Following his gaze, my breath snagged in my throat. A toddler-sized china doll lay askew on the floor, its glassy eyes staring blankly at the floor, a bit of the frilly pink hem of her dress gouging up toward the ceiling. Her porcelain skin was eerily smooth, her pink lips parted as if in mid-speech. An antique, the doll was the kind of thing you'd find in a collector's shop, not the sort of possession I'd ever owned. Since the prior owner cleaned out the place, the doll hadn't been left behind.

“Wolf?” I whispered, my eyes darting between him and the doll. “What's going on?”

He didn't answer right away, his gaze still fixed on the doll. When he finally spoke, his voice came out low and strained. “I heard a noise. When I came to investigate, I found someone inside your house. They got away.” He lifted stark eyes my way.“I followed them out the back door, but they got ahead on the stairs. By the time I mistified to where they'd stepped out onto the beach, they were gone.”

“Magic again?”

“A witch, since they found a way to escape, they didn’t touch my wires, and there’s nothing on my cameras.”

“And the doll?”

“I tripped over something inside your office while chasing them, and it felt wrong, so I came back after making sure your home was secure to find it lying here on the floor.”

I stepped closer, my gaze on the toy. “It's just an antique plaything, right?” Though there was something about it that made my skin crawl. “Something a little girl from long ago may have cherished. Or a collector.” I'd never understood the lure. “Where did it come from?”

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