Page 62 of How to Entice a Fiend

“I don’t think you should forgive me for that so easily.”

“You saw my ass; I saw the way you cuddled me when I carried you.”

“None of that happened.”

“You saw my naked and unconscious body, and I saw the way you shielded me with your body during the explosion.”

“I tripped on you. None of it was on purpose.”

“You didn’t trip! You shielded me. If that’s not romance, I don’t know what is. Do you think Rylee will call me Papa? Or are you Papa? If so, I’m fine being Dad or Father.”

“I’m going back to playing dead,” I decide.

Mads just laughs as I close my eyes and pretend I’m asleep. Honestly, sleep is the very last thing I want. I would put up with his delusions before I’d ever go back to sleep, but I need some time to think. Maybe I can simply think this through and protect Rylee, kill Abel, and go about my day.

“Is Abel a true vampire?” Mads asks.

“I’m sleeping.”

“You want to kill him, right? Are you fast enough? If everyone fears you and not him, is it because they don’t know what or who he is? Or is it because you’re stronger than him? Or is it because tales spread, along with dramatized renditions of what really happened? Ender… are you a dramatized rendition?”

“I’m sleeping.”

“You’re really quite obviously not. I’m just saying that your new boyfriend is a mad scientist and would love to help you on your journey of assassinating a creepy vampire,” Mads says.

I glance over at him. “We are not dating.”

“Oh! Youwereawake. Did you hear that? How embarrassing. Just a little fantasy of mine.”

“You’re clearly just doing it to harass me,” I say, but the other nonsense he spoke about does snag my attention. For so much of my life, I’ve dreamed about killing Abel with my own hands, but he’s always had a hold on me. Thankfully, the hold has lessened as I’ve gotten older, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have other ways to take control of the situation.

I look over at the man who has his eyes on the road as he pushes the car as fast as it can take the turns out of this hell. He has the ability to possibly kill true vampires. He could destroy any vampire he ever wanted to. He could eradicate this whole world of vampires if he chose to.

“Abel deserves to suffer,” I say.

“Drawing out a death does nothing but give things more time to fuck up,” Mads counters. “The reason the drug works so well is because it’s quick and gives absolutely no time for the recovery that the vampire’s body is generally capable of.”

“I want to kill everyone he’s ever cared about. I want to drive him fucking mad. I want to tear him apart piece by fucking piece. I want to hear him beg and sob. And I want to watch him slowly die as he begs for it.”

Mads slows the car to take a turn. “Doing any of that won’t release you of what you’ve gone through?—”

“You know nothing about me,” I snarl.

“You have someone waiting at home for you. The sooner you finish this, the sooner you can restart and enjoy a life without this monster in it. It’s only been four years that my mind has been haunted by my monsters; I can’t fathom how long it’s been for you. Kill him quickly and end it.”

I close my eyes again.

“Pretending to go to sleep solves nothing,” Mads says, making me open them.

“Because when I’m awake you do nothing but spout nonsense.”

“Destroy my monster and I’ll destroy yours.”

They’re tantalizing words, but I shake my head. “I want to kill Abel with my own two hands.”

Mads is quiet for a moment before merely saying, “Okay.”

Fuck.

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