Page 14 of Sunshine and the Vamp

One of his pretty blonde curls had fallen over his eye and I had the urge to brush it back. It was soft and silky between the pads of my fingers, and I didn’t want to let it go.

He whimpered again, and damn, that sound was delicious.

“It will all be over soon.” I carded my fingers through his hair, revelling in the feel of it beneath my hand. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this fascinated by anyone. This close, I could see golden flecks in his irises. They reminded me of a meadow caught in the sun. So bright. So full of life.

I tugged on his hair, pulling his head to one side to expose his throat.

He whimpered again and started to struggle against my hold. Fighting until the end. How noble. How deliciously defiant.

“Hush now,” I soothed, but I don’t think it had the desired effect. If anything, his efforts to escape doubled. But it didn’t matter.

My skin hummed as my darker side rose to the surface. My canines lengthened, and I lunged, sinking them into his carotid artery and getting my first taste of him.

It was beautiful.

Breathtaking.

Exquisite.

And a huge fucking mistake.

***

I stared at the man I’d stolen through the one-way window. Something uncomfortable stirred in my gut the longer that I stared at him. I didn’t understand my reaction to him. It was disconcerting, to say the least. The mouthful of blood I’d taken from the man I’d stolen was enough to quench my hunger and help heal my wound. I was also thinking more clearly, but I still didn’t understand it.

I looked down at the driver’s licence I’d pulled from his wallet. Benjamin Barrett. That was his name. The man sat unconscious in my basement, with his head bowed, sandy blonde curls tumbling forwards, was Benjamin Barrett. A med student with a sizeable chunk of debt, who lived on his own with a cat, in an apartment paid for with an inheritance he received from the death of his grandmother. So how did this normal human end up embroiled with Charlie Kent?

“Boss,” Byron said in a clipped tone as he came to stand next to me.

I’d been so focussed on my human that I didn’t even hear him come in.

“Either you’re getting better at hiding your nature, or I’m not as sharp as I used to be,” I mused.

Byron tucked his hands into his trouser pockets. “Perhaps you’re just distracted.”

Perhaps indeed. “Have you found the erstwhile Mr Kent yet?”

“No. Vlad is reaching out to a few contacts, but no one has come back with anything positive.”

Well, that was frustrating. “How is it possible that this guy can hide so well? I mean, he’s an accountant, for fuck's sake.”

“An accountant who has worked for you for the past decade,” Byron pointed out, a dark brow raised in a mocking arc.

“If you’ve not got anything helpful to say, you can fuck off.”

“Yes, sir,” he said with a wide grin. It was unsettling. I was so used to Byron having little to no expressions, that when something took over his face, I was unsure as to whether it was real or not. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to understand Byron. He was a mystery wrapped in a dense shadow. Impossible to see through and even harder to figure out.

The man could interact socially, but it was like a cloak. Superficial and unreal. The only time I knew he was feeling anything was when he killed someone. Or when he looked at his phone to stare at the live feed of his twin. I had a feeling he’d be asking for time off again soon. He was getting twitchy, and I noticed that always coincided with his need to be near his twin. I didn’t know the whole story between those two, I doubted I ever would. All I knew, was that the length of time between visits to his twin were getting shorter. Which meant it wouldn’t be long before Byron left on his own and came back with a plus one. But would it be a willing plus one?

“Huh,” Byron said thoughtfully.

“What?”

“Let me see his picture.”

“Why?”

“He looks familiar.” Byron took the ID and peered at it intently. “Well, hello, little bird.”

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