Page 53 of The HalloQueen

We waved goodbye and I headed to my Jeep, which was parked about two blocks down. I grabbed my phone to check it, only to see that Thomas hadn’t texted me back yet. That was really unlike him.

My shoulder slammed into a shorter man with cropped black hair and olive skin. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry.” I said, putting my hands on his shoulders to steady us, “They always say you shouldn’t walk around with your nose in your phone - I’m sorry.”

“Not a problem at all,” The man had a warm smile and dark eyes. Too dark of eyes, I noted when his hands came up to wrap around my wrists.

At the skin-to-skin contact I felt a tap at my mind, almost like someone knocking at a door, wanting to poke their head around inside. I instantly dropped my hands, severing the connection. “Have a good night,” I quickly hurried to my car, getting in and closing the door, still able to see the man that clearly wasn’tjusta man.

How many of these fucking things were there in Quaker's Wharf?

* * *

I walked into my house, leaning against the door in a sudden state of exhaustion after my nerves had been on high alert walking the four blocks from where I’d found parking to my place. “What a clusterfuck,” I muttered, dropping my bag and lifting my legs to unzip my boots.

“Tim?” I called for him, reminding myself to feed him - he tended to be a bastard if he got hungry and would try to step on my face while I slept.

I plopped my jacket up onto a hook and headed into the kitchen, making kissy noises for him. As I walked, I took off my accessories to place on the island and had just twisted to remove the chain from my skirt when, yet again, a fucking vampire made me jump out of my skin.

“Jesus Fucking Christ. Again?! What are you doing here? I thought you were coming over tomorrow?” I gasped, grabbing my heart.

Thomas moved to me at an alarming speed and I stepped back, pressing myself into the butcher block while his hands cradled my cheeks and he kissed me, “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

I blinked at him in confusion, “What? What are you talking about?”

He kissed me again and reached for my hand to place on his face, but his eyes widened and he dropped it suddenly, before grabbing it again and placing my wrist directly under his nose, inhaling deeply.

“What in the actual hell are you doing, Thomas?”

“Where were you?”

“Not that it matters,” I started, “but I went out for dinner with Trae and Shannon.”

“Non, ma chérie,after. After dinner where were you?”

“Uh…” I thought back, “I just walked to my car.”

He kissed me again before I pulled back to continue, “Hey, I bumped into a guy - do you know how many vamps there are here? Like, what is the vamp to mortal per diem in Quaker's Wharf? I swore I felt this dude try to harvest from me. It was so weird.”

“Where, Annabel?” His eyes were wide and he hadn’t released my wrist, slightly tightening his grip.

“Ouch, Tommy you’re hurting me, let go,” I grimaced.

He dropped my hand like it was covered in acid, “the man, Bels, did you get a good look at him? What did he look like?”

I shrugged and rubbed my wrist, “I dunno, short, tan, dark hair, and eyes. Creepy Other vibes.”

He clawed his hand over his face, swallowing, “I need you to text me if you see him again, okay, Bels?”

I pressed my hand over his, making him draw his brows together. “Hey, you’re freaking me out. What is going on?”

“You ran into Yusuf. I can smell him on you.”

Flinching, my nose scrunched, “You can smell people on me?”

“Oui.I know that tall boy had his hands on you tonight too, but we need to focus on one thing at a-”

“The tall boy? Trae? You mean how I hugged my friend goodbye?”

He pressed on, “You need to tell me-”

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