Page 46 of House of Crimson Kisses
But it’s silent. The type of silent that’s deafening.
“What?” I ask, my cheeks reddening as I wonder if they heard me masturbating in the shower.
The man sits up on the sofa; the colour has returned to his cheeks. Erin has removed the blood transfusion bag, and his stomach is bandaged and strapped up. He looks… basically fine.
“How the hell is he upright?” I say.
“He healed fast,” Erin says.
Amelia is giving me the side eye because she knows exactly why he’s better. Fuck. I wonder if that’s why I needed more blood. Did he drain me of… of what? A millennium of lost dhampir magic? Well, good. Maybe I’ll stop transitioning. Hopefully, I gave him everything and he can be the fucking dhampir.
I shake my head, pull my hand down over my face. I need to get a grip and confront the reality that what just happened means no matter how much I keep hoping, I’ve already started to transition, and I really don’t want to think about the consequences of that.
“Erin, will you give us a moment?” Amelia says, her eyes darkening as I think she’s come to the same conclusion I have, and this situation getting outside of this room isn’t good for anyone.
Erin nods her assent and leaves. Amelia turns to the man.
Her voice drops an octave as she rounds on him. “What happened to you?” she purrs, her voice like liquid silk.
I have to shake myself to stay fully conscious. Damn Amelia, you have changed.
“Stabbed, glass bottle got smashed. It was an accident to be fair, but my blood got spilled on the dancefloor, and several vampires weren’t expecting it and it sent them into a blood lust. It was bad until they got a grip of themselves and alerted Erin. That’s how I ended up in here.”
“And what do you remember of how you got fixed?” Amelia says.
His eyes glide across the room to me. “I… I don’t know how you did it, miss. But it was definitely you. I was unconscious, but it was like a sheet of golden energy coming out from a point near my belly. It was glistening and warm and like… I don’t know. What I imagine heaven to be, I guess.”
“I see,” Amelia says.
She glances over her shoulder at me, and I nod my head.
I am a hypocrite. I can’t believe I am furious with Octavia and yet, I’m agreeing to let Amelia compel him. But what choice do I have? If she doesn’t, then he’s going to know or at least work out who I am fairly quickly, and then word will get out. Until this whole situation is under control and the door is open, I can’t let anyone know who I…
I can’t bring myself to say the words. It doesn’t have to be me. I don’t want the power. Someone else needs to take it.
Amelia takes a step towards him. He hesitates, his eyebrows cinch together. “What’s going on?”
“Red? Tell me to do it…” Amelia starts.
“Do it.” I exhale, and a coil of bitter sickness climbs up my throat. Is it possible to hate yourself more than I do right now? I slump into a chair, wondering how I got this far from my moral compass.
Amelia stares into his eyes. “Forget what happened here tonight. Forget that you were stabbed. You fell onto something sharp on your way home, and the club doorman helped patch you up. You never saw me or Red. In fact, you don’t even know who we are.”
His eyes go hazy, distant and glazed, and then he snaps out of it.
“I need to go home,” he mutters, getting up off the sofa and walking out of the office.
I sag against the chair, and Amelia turns to me.
“You see now? You see what you could be capable of? How many people you could save? All you need to do is drink the fucking blood.”
Chapter15
OCTAVIA
Xavier and I stand in the club’s rear exit doorway waiting. Both of us nestle in the shadows of the porch.
One breath. Two.
