Page 2 of Wanted 3

A smile crooked the corner of his mouth. "Yes."

"So that's a thing. A real thing?" I’d seen his fangs. And they weren’t the kind you could fake. But still, I had to ask.

"Yes."

"And Leonard?"

"Is not a vampire."

"But he's not human, is he?"

"No, not human, strictly speaking."

"So… you've killed people?"

He didn’t hesitate. "Yes."

That was it. Just yes. No justification or apology. No trying to convince me he sparkled in the sun and only killed bad people. Just ‘yes.’

"Are you going to hurt me or Jeremy?" I asked, biting my lower lip.

Again, he didn’t hesitate. "I would kill to protect either of you."

"You say that now, but will you swear it? No matter what I tell you, do you swear you won't harm me or my brother?” I asked. Because I had to tell him everything. There could be no more lies between us.

He narrowed his eyes at me but nodded sharply. "I swear it."

I exhaled a breath I didn't realize I was holding in. "Then sit. I have a story to tell you."

He pulled me with him to the velvet tufted loveseat in front of the fire. If only I could just sit there with him. If only I didn’t have to confess what I’d been up to. I knew by telling him the truth I was going to lose him. I just prayed I would survive it.

It took every shred of strength I possessed to face him, to begin. "I wasn't honest with you when I took this job," I confessed.

He raised an eyebrow but said nothing, waiting for me to continue.

"I was sent here to rob you." The words came out of my mouth like barbed explosives, landing between us and destroying anything that might have been growing there.

But I didn't hold back.

Didn't sugar coat it.

Didn't try to make myself look better than I am to him, just like I’m not making myself look better than I am to you.

He was as still as death while I spoke. Only when I got to the part about what Don did to me did he stiffen, his body tensed and readied itself like a panther on the prowl.

"Oh, and Don had a bog troll trapped in the house with me. I nearly forgot about all that with everything else that's happened," I added as an afterthought, and then I clamped my mouth shut to prevent myself from rambling any further. I was on the verge of babbling now, waiting for him to say something. Anything.

He remained silent for a very long time. The only sound in the room coming from the fire as the logs burned themselves down. I held my breath, worry and fear gnawing at me.

Then the Count stood abruptly and strode to a nearby chair to grab his black cloak draped over the back. When he reached the door, he turned to face me. "Don't leave the mansion."

And then he was gone.

I ran out of the room to stop him, to ask him what he was doing, to find out where we stood after all this, but he wasn’t there. Just like before, he seemed to simply vanish and reappear out of thin air.

I ground my teeth in frustration, then dashed up the stairs to find Jeremy. I needed to see with my own two eyes that he was safe.

The door to our bedroom stood ajar, and I nudged it open.

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