Page 14 of Incandescence

He scraped a hand over his face. “Only that we’re on the run from the most powerful being on Earth and you’re preoccupied by paying the driver out there his fare.”

I shrugged, before I pushed past him back into my bedroom. “He probably has a family to feed, bills to pay. I’m not going to deny him what’s rightfully his.”

I grabbed an overnight bag and tossed in the things I thought I might need. Two T-shirts, two pairs of jeans and shorts, a jumper, shoes and socks, and lots of underwear. I was stripping off the dress and shoes Alexander had given me, when I looked up to find his burning stare still on me.

I swallowed. How long had it been since he’d been with a woman? He looked like a predator, ready to take me down and have his wicked way with me. I grimaced. I’d been foolish enough to imagine myself in love with my ex, Jeremy. I’d almost given away my precious virginity to him. But I’d soon discovered he was a player, his love of pussy exceeded only by his drug habits.

Yet never once had Jeremy’s stare made me feel all hot and cold at once, like Alexander’s did. My womb clenched with need even as I cleared my throat. “Second bedroom down the hallway on the right is Pete’s. Grab what you need. I’m sure, under the circumstances, he’d be okay with you taking some things.”

Alexander nodded and I stared after him, trying to clarify my emotions. I was drawn to him as much as he was to me because of circumstance, nothing else. I had to remember that was our one and only connection. If only my body realized it too.

I dressed in jeans, a dark, long-sleeved cotton T-shirt and runners, before I grabbed my little cosmetic bag and jammed it full with soap, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, a hairbrush and some painkillers. I threw it into a backpack, along with a little pen flashlight.

I stuffed the remaining notes into my bra and slung the overnight bag over a shoulder, at about the same time as Alexander returned. I looked up at him. Damn. Those jeans and that checkered shirt hadn’t looked half as good on Pete.

I managed a smile. “That was quick.”

He shrugged, gesturing at his much smaller backpack. “I don’t need much. And I saved enough room in the bag for food and water.”

I nodded, relieved not to be alone in all this, even more relieved that Alexander was first and foremost a survivor. “Good thinking.”

Ten minutes later, after raiding the fridge for bottled water, some energy bars and a few apples, I scribbled a note to my housemates asking them to find a new tenant to share their living costs. They wouldn’t question my leaving or be concerned for my welfare. I’d always been a loner and had never conformed to society’s expectations.

As for the rest of my meager possessions, I wouldn’t miss them. My housemates’ girlfriends could take what they wanted of my personal effects.

We left the house behind. I didn’t own a car. I save money using public transport. For that reason, Alexander and I had to leg it.

It could have been a beautiful autumn day, with gold and red leaves scattered across the pathway from deciduous trees, the loamy scent of fresh-turned earth and a fried chicken smell filling the air. But all I could focus on was evading the monster we’d escaped. The monster who I had no doubt would pursue us both.

I glanced up at Alexander. “Please tell me you have some kind of grand master plan?”

He turned my way. “Get as far away from the nest as we can, and keep on getting as far away from it as we can.”

I stopped and twisted to face him. “That’syour plan?”

He cocked his head to the side, his dark eyes searching mine. “I lived with the vampire long enough to know I don’t want to be captured ever again.”

“Just how long ago were you captured?”

He blew out a slow breath. “Forty-six years...five weeks...three days.”

I gaped. “This is no time for jokes.”

He didn’t waiver. “I’m not joking.”

“You’re human.”

“Yes, sustained by vampire blood.”

I pressed a hand to my mouth, barely able to face the truth. “The blood kept you young?”

He frowned. “Of course.”

When he spun around and strode down the sidewalk, I hurried to catch up. “You don’t get to tell me something like that and walk away!”

“Why not?” he growled, as though already wishing he hadn’t said so much.

“Because you should be—”

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