Page 60 of Sweet Nightmares
“Ah, so she is your sister.”
Well, fuck.
“You didn’t hear that.”
He made a zipper motion over his lips. “Hear what?”
“Stay away from her.”
“Why?” He shifted his weight onto one leg. “I have so much fun teasing her.”
“Which is precisely why you need to stay away,” Jane said. “You are going to hurt her.”
He shifted his weight again and let out a lazy, exaggerated shrug. “Maybe.”
“Touch her, and I will kill you.”
“I can’t die.”
Jane shook her head. “Oh, but you can. I can find your Blood Painting and light it on fire.”
Emrys held up his hands in surrender. “Gods, Jane, I was just joking. No need to threaten me so seriously.”
“Then stay away.”
“Fine, fine.” His eyebrows crinkled. “You know you can be quite terrifying.”
“I am Nightmare’s wife. What else would you expect?”
Chapter Twenty
Age 29.
It had been three hundred and ninety-five days since Jane had seen Nightmare. He was a ghost haunting his own mansion. Sometimes, she felt him on the wind and moving in the shadows. Lingering. Always lingering.
But anytime Jane got too close, the presence disappeared.
She wanted to ask for his help so badly. Jane needed him for many reasons. He was a heartless monster, but his presence was strangely calming, and now, in the absence of it, she felt empty. They were never ones for much talking, but they didn’t need to talk to communicate. They spoke in desperate glances, coiled muscles, and rare smiles.
Nightmare was her companion—an evil one, but hers. And for someone so wicked, he seldom hurt her—never intentionally. Jane didn’t believe he took dance from her to harm her—it was the result—he was trying to help her and trying to keep her from getting injured.
Andshe had lied to him.
The one thing he asked her not to do, without the compulsion.
But then, Jane hadn’t meant to hurt him either. The difference between them was the drama. Although that wasn’t fair either, she hadn’t spoken to him for a year after he’d hurt her.
Perhaps they were both wrong. Both were ridiculously stubborn—both self-sabotaging.
Jane sighed and flipped through the autopsy reports for the hundredth time. There was something in here. She knew it. Otherwise, why else would her magic tell her to take them? Random murders of teens, vagrants, and ladies of the night. They didn’t have anything in common. Not even the manner of death.
Some were drained of blood. Other victims had their throats ripped out like a dog had mauled them, and others still were stabbed or maimed in some other way. So what was the connection?
Could it be vampires?
Emrys had confirmed that none of his vampires had been attacking anyone. According to the Blood Accords, vampires were forbidden from making new vampires, at the pain of death. However, Emrys did believe that the person who killed Jane’s family was ignoring those laws.
And if Jane could find the vampires responsible for the attacks, then she might find the man responsible for killing her parents.
