Page 40 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Thrall

"Let go?"

I hesitated but decided to just come clean with it. "You didn't survive the attack, Emerson. You can either live your new life as a vampire, with us, or you can die. The choice is yours. I'm sorry there wasn't time for me to save you properly."

Her mouth opened and closed before she settled on, "That's the man who attacked me?"

"Man is a bit of a strong word," I muttered, following her eyes to the vampire in question. "But yes."

"What happened to him?” she asked as the vampire groaned again.

"I killed him." Her head whipped back to mine as she scooched further away. "For killing you," I added and that eased some of the suspicion on her face. "I wish you had more time to process this, but you need to decide now, before bloodlust kicks in and you... well, you won't like the results and you'll die anyway."

"I want to live," she whispered and my shoulders eased, relief filling me. I wasn't sure why I cared so much, only that I did. Maybe I saw something of myself in her, in our shared trauma.

"Your heart won't beat," I said and she watched me speak with an intent look on her face. "But neither will his."

There. Flashing in her eyes. I smiled. Emerson was a fighter, she belonged here. WIth me.

With us,Hayes corrected and I shot him a scowl over my shoulder.

"One last question." I helped Emerson to her feet. "Do you want to kill him or shall I?"

Rowan stepped forward. "Leonora—" I ignored the alarm in his voice.

"He's yours if you want him. He won't come back this time. But if you're not sure then—"

Emerson was already shaking her head. "I'm-I'm not ready for that."

"Then will you allow me the honour?"

"Yes please," she whispered and my lips curved as I turned to the vampire I'd already killed once.

"I have a question." His eyes snapped open and there was fear on his face as he watched me move closer. He struggled in Hayes' arms but quickly stopped when he realised how weak he was. "I find it very interesting that there's now two girls who have been bitten and drained within the same month." He struggled harder and I stepped closer, blinking in surprise when Hayes seemed to pull a blade out of nowhere and hand it to me. "Decapitation is so messy," I said, sighing as I pretended to consider my options. "Tell me. Did you kill me?" I put as much power behind the command as I could, focusing on the living vampire with everything I had and his eyes widened even as he stopped struggling, perfectly held in thrall before he shook his head.

I gave a sharp nod of acknowledgement and relief filled his expression as I dropped the knife from where I'd held it to his throat, only for fear to find him again as I moved quickly, thrusting the blade into his chest.

"Found the heart on the first try," Hayes said and I was glad there was nothing but respect on his face. I knew if I turned to Rowan I wouldn't be able to say the same thing.

I let the vampire's corpse fall to the floor and stepped over him, leaving him there the same way he would have left Emerson. The way somebody like him had left me.

"Let's go to bed," I muttered, suddenly beyond tired. "Emerson, you can stay with me until we get a room sorted for you." I linked her arm securely in mine and didn't look back as we left the vampire who killed her on the floor in the middle of the corridor.

ChapterTwenty

"I'm notsure I know who I am anymore," I murmured to Hayes the next morning. Elowen had sent one of her lackeys over to collect Emerson about half-hour ago, and I'd been hesitant to let her go with them. After all, the last time she'd been alone with a living vampire she'd died.

In the end, it was Emerson who'd convinced me she'd be okay. Apparently Elowen needed to smooth things over with the authorities and anyone important in Emerson's life now that she was dead—which made sense really and only emphasised how much I still had to learn.

"You're Leonora Romilly," he said after a second, looking over at me from where he'd made himself comfortable on my side of the bed, his arms behind his head as he sprawled. "Pain in my arse. You're you," he said as I laughed quietly. "You're special."

"What if I don't want to be?"

He shrugged and rolled onto his side to face me. "Tough."

I snorted. "There seems to be more shit every day that I can do that I'm not supposed to be able to... What if something's wrong with me? What if something went wrong during the transformation and I'm some kind of... anomaly."

He smiled, just a small quirk of his lips but I caught it anyway. "There's nothing wrong with you. You’re just—"

"Yeah, yeah, special. I heard you before." I sighed and rolled onto my back, away from his knowing gaze until I couldn't take it anymore. "What?" I snapped and he chuckled.

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