Page 44 of Vampire so Virtuous
She stumbled, her limbs still sluggish.
The outcast caught her, his arm looping around her waist in a blur of movement. It was just enough to support her, no more, but she was pressed against him.
“Steady,” he said.
She’d already collected herself; she didn’t need his help. Her resolve had returned, and with it, her anger. With a sharp jerk, she tore away. “Getoffme!”
He released her immediately, offering no resistance—and she’d expected it. She staggered again, almost falling. This time, he didn’t reach for her but just watched, lips curling at the edges.
She glared at him, at his tousled dark hair, the sharp angles of his jaw, the gleam of amusement in his now-blue-again eyes. Broad shoulders, a well-defined chest, his T-shirt doing nothing to hide the lean strength beneath. Firm, solid, surprisingly warm in that brief touch.
Standing there, exuding charisma like he had no right to do.
The corners of his mouth curled further as he took in her indignation.
Was helaughingat her?
“Who the hell are you,Antoine?” she blurted.
Her brow furrowed as soon as the words left her mouth. That wasn’t what she’d meant to say. She’d been going for ‘fuck off and never come near me again.’
Hadn’t she?
He ignored her question. “Is there somewhere you can go?”
Cally looked past him, back toward the dojang—less than a hundred yards away, closer than home.
He noticed, and nodded his approval. “Anywhere is better than here, don’t you agree?” His accent slid over her like silk, caressing her skin.
What? ‘Like silk?’ Wake up, Cally!
She glared at him again. Only her anger kept her focused, and she clung to it like a lifeline.
Her demons were real, her nightmares tangible, and one of them stood before her, apparently amused by her existence.
And the other one? He’d simply vanished.
“Where… how… did he go?”That made sense, right?
“A good question,” the outcast replied, thoughtful. He barely moved, but abruptly he was holding her hand in his, his grip tender, his skin warm. “Ma chérie, I regret I must take my leave of you.” He bent over her hand,brushing it with his lips. “I have a friend I must check on.”
Then he turned away, and as Cally looked on in bewilderment, he vanished into the night. One moment he was standing beside her, kissing her hand with French gallantry of old, the next she was alone. He even managed the accent and didn’t leave slobber on her skin.
One vampire wanted to kill her. The other wanted to… what, exactly?
She stared at her hand, the faint sensation of his lips lingering on her skin.
“She’s already marked. See for yourself,”he’d said.
“You mark your food?” the other had replied, and Cally could easily recall his tone of derision.
She was marked. Nothing more than food. Like a sandwich in an office fridge:don’t eat this, it’s mine.
What the hell did that mean? She’d seen nothing on her, no tattoos or mystical vampiric symbols etched over her heart.Thank God.
“I’ve claimed this one, Minh.”
Was that what it meant?
