Page 34 of Shadow Hunter

“I didn’t say anything.” Though he couldn’t help himself from tugging back the skin with a little more…vigor than usual.

“Ugh.” She gagged. “Do you have to do it so...forcefully?”

“Yes,” he lied, smirking at her devilishly.

“You’retryingto scare me off. You’re just as bad of a liar as my brother.”

“Trust me when I say I amnothinglike your brother, Tiffany.” Not with the things he was thinking about her.

And as for being a bad liar? Well, he wasn’t sure he’d agree with her there. Not considering the massive invisible elephant in the room: the truth of his identity. Fuck, he really was an ass, keeping it from her.

But what other choice did he have really?

If she knew the truth, she’d never be standing here with him as she was now.

Safe. Protected. Far safer than she could ever be with Caius.

She turned away then and walked to the other side of the apartment, his eyes locking onto the sway of her hips, though he forced himself to look away quickly. He couldn’t allow himself to get distracted. Not when he was standing over a dead body at least.

She’d need to get used to dealing with gore if she was going to stick around for long. Damon paused.

Shit. No. No, no, no, no. no.

He could not allow his thoughts to go there.

She wouldnotbe sticking around for long. That was a given.

Only long enough for him to ensure she wasn’t chasing vamps anymore, that she was safe.

He’d already done enough to Tiffany. If she stuck around, things would only end with him ruining her life even more.

He glanced in her direction, watching as she stared out the window at the city lights. Her lips had tasted like sugar when they’d kissed, an addictive, tantalizing treat. His gaze lowered to her behind, and the thought of cupping her ass in his hands before he trailed kisses over the smooth skin of her neck nearly did him in.

Damn it. He ripped his eyes away from her. He wouldnotthink about her, no matter how deliciously round her ass was or how perfect her smile, or how much he wanted to run his tongue over her nipples until they were taut and needy like little blush cherries.

His own personal shortcake.

He shook himself, trying to rid himself of the thought.

Dead body. Dead body. Dead body.

He looked at the corpse lying on his counter. Yeah, that was enough to act as a cold bucket of water for anyone. Him, especially.

Pushing Tiffany from his mind, he stared down at the dead man’s insides. What was it about the latest victims that caused vampires to act like zombies, going for flesh and not just blood? Why were they eating these people? And the way the new vampire in the alley had guarded this man’s body screamed of a predator protecting its prey.

Something about that wasn’t right.

Leeches were leeches. Once a human was drained, they moved on. Wham, bam, thank you, human. Aside from Hosts, bloodsuckers didn’t stick around to play with their food. As much as he hated the relationship, at least Hosts served a purpose. Better a couple pints low than dead, though most Hosts ended up dead anyway.

But in all his years of hunting, he’d never seen a single vampire interested in anything but blood—until now.

From the look of the man’s insides, there was nothing unusual about his blood or his organs. Damon pulled a pair of latex gloves from one of the kitchen drawers, slipping them over his hands. He reached inside the open cavity of the man’s midsection and moved around several organs, searching for anything even remotely unusual that would cause a vampire to behave uncharacteristically.

Nothing. No tumors or anything out of the ordinary.

Damon removed his hands from the chest cavity. He pulled at the edge of his glove, ready to be done with his examination, then paused. Something in his gut told him it was worth checking inside the man’s organs as well.

He reached deep into the man’s body and began to palpate the organs. He bit his lip as his hands squished against the soft tissue. How the hell did morticians and coroners manage to dothis for a living every day? Then again, how did he manage to kill for his?

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