Page 9 of To Kill a Vampire
With a sigh, I shift away from them as well.
I’ve. Got. To. Get. Off. This. Ship.
Like a cat creeping through the shadows, I make my way downstairs. Steeling my spine with every step I take, I hear their voices in the dark. The cool breeze of the sea disappears as I take the steps two at a time.
“You should try. I’ll help you, love,” Declan says with the most disgustingly gentle voice.
My heart thunders in my ears when I finally see them. Fallon sits with her legs crossed atop her blankets facing Declan who sits in an identical position.
Fallon pops a kernel sized bone into her mouth and chews carefully as she shakes her head at him. She looks slightly irritated, a look that mirrors my own every time I speak with the hybrid.
“Help with what?” I ask, trying to push the uneasy tone from my voice.
Sparkling red eyes meet mine; her lips part just slightly as she stares up at me. The air meets my lungs in erratic, uneven, and useless breaths.
“Declan was telling me I should try to compel him. That it might be useful around the mortals.”
I’m sure he’d love for her to compel him. It’s what he’s used to, after all. She says the word mortal in a disengaged voice. As if she never was one.
I lean a heavy and tired shoulder against the broken door frame, my eyes lingering on the door lying at an angle against the wall. I wish it was easier to speak to her. My chest shouldn’t feel so tight and anxious every time I talk to her.
How did we get here?
“He’s right. You’re risking a lot going into the Capitol. You should be prepared.”
I can’t bring myself to look at her beautiful face. My stomach sinks lower and lower the longer I stand here before her empty expression.
“I can handle myself,” she says with so much anger that I physically flinch.
Maybe she isn’t empty inside. Maybe she’s filled with hate now.
A heaviness fills my breath and falls tiresomely from my lips, impatient to find some normalcy around the woman I love. “Since you’ve been turned I’ve snuck up on you at least three times. If I can catch you off guard, then the resources the mortals have will, too.”
The images of the thrashing veil claw through my memory as I stare into her reckless and gleaming eyes. The small lamp at her bedside throws the room into a yellowing hue, casting the angles of her face in a shadowing but aggressive light.
“Declan, can you give us a minute?” Fallon says with a sharp and dangerous tone.
The hybrid shifts on the mattress, clearly enjoying the emotions that are being flung carelessly through the room. After several moments, he finally stands from his comfortable spot on the bed and walks the short distance across the room. I give him plenty of space to exit her compartment.
Folding my arms across my chest, my white shirt bunches around my biceps as I stare down at the infuriatingly beautiful woman before me.
She takes a slow breath, her eyes closing before she shoves another jagged bone over her lips. I cringe from the crunching sound. Every move she makes is cataloged in my mind. Because I thought I knew her. I once knew her.
And now I don’t.
“Compel me.”
Her eyes narrow on me until they’re just slits of glaring flames.
“I can’t,” she finally admits.
“You just need practice.”
“I’ve tried. I can’t.”
She’s tried?Who would she want to compel?My brows rise, her lips pursing as she stares up at me. I take a hesitant seat at the edge of the mattress, taking Declan’s spot on my wife’s bed.
“Try again.” Before I can stop myself I lean into her, closing the distance between us and leaving my lips just inches from hers. Her fiery gaze blazes into mine, sending a mixture of fear and lust right through me. “Tell me what comes to mind.” I lick my lips as I consider what she might order me to do. My heart comes to life from our closeness and the way her breath catches against her parted lips.
