Page 115 of Bitten By Desire
He stopped and stared at me after he finished unbuttoning it.
“Take it off.”
He sighed and shrugged his shirt off his shoulders. He tossed it to me like this was some kind of playful striptease. It wasn’t. I was trying to figure out if he’d been burned by a pen that sought out demon spawn.
I stared at his elbow. The light flickered again. And for a second I thought there was nothing there. That Bennett was just lying about this too. But when the light flickered back on I could see the scar. A small circle. Right above Callum’s left elbow.
I looked back up at him. “You said the pen didn’t burn you.”
“Well, I lied.”
My heart started racing. “What happened to last night? Our fresh start? It was just like you said…we were on the same page.”
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
I just stared at him.
“Ask me why I lied about the pen.”
“Wh…why?” My voice trembled.
“Because I don’t want you to look at me like that. Like you’re scared of me. Like I’m a monster.”
“But you are one.”
“No. I’m not.”
“Stop lying! I know you’re a vampire! Or a werecat! Or something awful.”
He winced. Like my words truly bothered him. But how could they? They were the truth.
I turned to look down the tracks when I heard a train honking in the distance. I could see it’s lights on the tracks. My way out.
“Emma.” He closed the distance between us again. “I didn’t lie. You asked me if I was a monster and I told you I wasn’t. Because I’m not.”
“So you’re not a vampire?”
He pressed his lips together.
“Just answer me, Callum.”
“I told you I was a bad man. That the night we were together changed me. I wanted to be better for you…”
“That’s not answering my question!”
The train was drawing closer. The squeal of brakes filled the silence as it approached the terminal.
“I was a monster when we met,” Callum said. “But I’m not now. Because of you. I told you that last night.”
He still wasn’t answering my question. He was trying to twist everything in my head by being romantic and charming. But I wouldn’t let him fool me so easily. He couldn’t just turn off being a monster. “What are you, Callum?”
“Unlike Bennett and his friends, I know how to control my temptations. I won’t hurt you. I’m controlling myself right now. You’re bleeding. And I’m just talking to you. Isn’t that proof enough that I’m not a monster?”
It was. And yet…it also wasn’t. “So youarea vampire?”
The train pulled to a stop. The cold night air was suddenly filled with the warmth from the tracks. I wanted to run toward the train and out of this town. But I was frozen. “Callum.”
He pressed his lips together.
