Page 32 of Evil Hearts

“W-w-what do you w-w-want?” Cassi whispered, pulling her attention from Reed to Silas.

“You,” Silas answered succinctly.

Cassi wasn’t sure she understood what he was asking. “M-m-me?”

“For an entire twenty-four hours,” Silas explained. “You’ll come home with us tonight. Spend a full night and day at our home. If you agree, I’ll get your sister away from the cult. She can come stay with me—”

“My p-p-parents house!” she said. The last thing she wanted was for Andi to trade one prison for another.

Silas didn’t blink. “Very well. I’ll have her taken to your parents’ home. At the end of it, you’ll be free to leave.”

Oh, now she understood. They wanted a girl for the night. There was no need to think about her answer. What was her virtue compared to her sister’s safety?

“Y-y-yes,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “I agree.”

Chapter 2

She didn’t knowwhat to expect after she accepted Silas’s offer, but it wasn’t for Idris to wrap his massive arms around her and give her a gentle hug. The vampire pulled out his phone and started tapping on it quickly while Reed kept his head on her lap and let out a purring sigh.

“You’ll like the house. It’s well fortified with wards.” Idris’s gravelly voice sounded surprisingly happy.

“We’ve got an amazing kitchen,” Reed said from her lap. “Have you eaten dinner? I can make you something. If you tell me what you like, I can have the ingredients delivered to the house by the time we get there.”

“It’s after ten at night,” Idris grumbled. “She should’ve eaten dinner hours ago.”

Reed wasn’t deterred. “If she already had dinner, then I can make us all a late-night snack.” He lifted his head to give Silas a salacious grin. “And I can be part of the snack.”

Silas snorted but didn’t look up from his phone. “You’re my most favorite snack, Reed. If you’re a good pup, I’ll make you scream later.”

“I’m always good,” Reed purred, sliding his gaze to Cassi.

“When are we leaving?” Idris asked, looking at Silas. “Cassi’s human. She’s probably tired and needs rest.”

Silas didn’t look up from his phone. “Ask Reed to get the car, and he can call us when he’s out front.”

With fluid grace, Reed stood up and touched the brim of an imaginary hat. “I’ll go fetch the car, gov’ner!” he declared in a very bad, but jaunty, British accent. Then he leaned over to look her in the face. “Please don’t worry about your sister, okay? Silas will take care of everything. He’s good at that.”

Before she could think of an answer, Reed was gone. No sooner had Reed disappeared through the door than Silas’s phone rang.

“The reception in here is horrible, and I need to take this,” he said. “I’ll meet you out front.”

Answering the phone he walked out of the room. Now it was only her and Idris.

Idris was searching the floor. “It’s got to be here somewhere. I hope I didn’t step on it—there it is!”

She looked over to see what he’d found. It was a cell phone sitting among pieces of shredded jeans. As she watched, a long tail curled around the phone and lifted it up to deposit it into Idris’s clawed hand.

She was transfixed by that tail. Without thinking, she reached out to touch it. The appendage went perfectly still as she ran her fingers over the blunt end.

Slowly, the tail slid over the back of her hand and wrapped around her wrist and palm. It was incredibly warm, and she could feel the ropes of hard muscles under the soft skin.

“Unlike my claws and horns, my tail isn’t a weapon,” he murmured. “It’s for balance and acts as an extra hand when I need it.”

She started stroking the tail with her other hand. “I bet you n-n-never t-t-take more than one t-t-trip to carry in groceries.”

He laughed. “Never. But honestly, Reed does most of the grocery shopping. He loves cooking and feeding me. With you, he’ll have even more people to shop and cook for.”

The conversation was strangely normal considering she was currently sitting on a gargoyle’s lap and petting his tail.

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