Page 36 of Bloodstained
Tears welled in her eyes as she buried her face in my neck. “I don’t want to think about that.”
I kissed her hair, holding her tighter against me. “Then don’t. That day is far away. All that matters is now.”
She shuddered against me, clinging tighter, and I held her until sleep dragged her under. I remained awake, watching the fire crumble to ash, every sharpened sense attuned to her—the cadence of her breath, the flutter of her pulse, the warmth of her skin against my cold. My sight pierced the dark as easily as daylight. My hearing caught the faint shifting of stones far below. Every instinct, every heightened sense, existed for one purpose: to protect her.
By dawn, I felt the sting of sunlight pricking beyond the shuttered windows. Clara stirred, a sweet smile tugging at her lips as she rose. Even that slight gesture stoked desire in me until it roared like a beast.
Later, dressed, I heard the murmur of her voice beyond the chamber. I followed and found her in the courtyard garden, seated on the familiar stone bench where she once fed birds, only now a phone was gripped in hand instead of seed.
“Yes,Buni. I’m safe,” Clara said softly, warmth in her voice that made me smile. “I can’t explain it all right now, but I will soon. Ivan is good to me. You don’t have to worry.”
My senses sharpened, honing like blades. Even at a distance, I heard her grandmother’s faint but steady voice.
“Be careful, Clara. Shadows can protect, but they can also consume.”
Clara’s reply was raw. “It’s not like before. Not like with Laszlo.”
The name pierced me like steel. I heard the catch in her throat, felt her fear as she confessed to her grandmother. Laszlo had come here searching for her. She’d broken from him, but he had touched her with cruelty, with aggression.
The world dimmed, narrowed to that name echoing through my skull. Laszlo.
A threat left breathing was a threat not ended. He still lived. Which meant he could still find her. Still crawl into her nightmares. Still lay claim to her fears.
I would not allow it. She had been hurt and torn from me once. Never again.
The beast in me woke, hungry and merciless. Laszlo still drew breath.
It was time to hunt.
CHAPTER TWENTY
IVAN
The bar smelled of Palinca, human male desperation, and rot. Cigarette smoke lingered in the air, and the warped floorboards creaked with every step.
Age soaked into the walls like mold. Men hunched over their glasses, eyes glazed, their laughter sharp enough to cut but empty of anything resembling life if you listened hard enough.
I didn’t belong here, and they knew it. They heard the rumors, the story of my kind, the fact Iwasdeath.
The moment I crossed the threshold, voices faltered. Smoke hung heavy as all gazes turned in my direction, shoulders stiffening. Instinctively, they knew a predator, knew they were nothing but prey.
The bartender stilled with a glass mid-polish, and a ripple went through the room as though the very air recoiled. But the one person I’d come for didn’t notice.
Laszlo.
I’d waited until nightfall to leave Clara sleeping safely and soundly in the castle. I went first to her house, where the man’s scent still clung to the threshold like a mark of trespass. Smoke,sweat, the bitter tang of fear. It was enough to set my bloodlust prowling.
And so, I’d followed the trail through the sleeping town as easily as a wolf on wounded prey. Clara slept unaware while I hunted in her name.
And here I was, staring at the man who, even all this time later, smelled of my wife.
Laszlo sprawled at the end of the bar, loud and bitter. His shirt was stained, collar open, the stink of liquor clinging to him. His laugh grated through the room, ugly and hollow. When the waitress set down another glass of liquor, his hand shot out too quickly, fingers curling around her wrist.
She froze, her smile brittle.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he slurred, dragging her closer. “Smile for me like she used to.”
A low growl spilled from me because I knew who he was referring to.
