Page 39 of Cursed
I swept a finger along her jawline. Nothing compared to the sweet rush of a pure spirit entering my veins.
I really don’t know why I felt such a need to ensure today’s prey warranted death.Shaking off the unsettling thought, I narrowed my attention on the task at hand, letting my excitement show.
“You have an amazing body.” Amy licked her too-plump lips and smiled, dragging her hand out of my lap to slide it under my shirt and into my waistband.
The warmth of her fingers on my bare skin made me suck in a breath. How good it felt to be touched by another, even if it was only for a moment.
Yet I had to act fast if I wanted to funnel her soul and send it onward to Lucian. I used the last bit of my power and froze her in place as she began to rise. Terror widened her pupils until only a tiny ring of color surrounded the blackness.
She could breathe and move her gaze, but that was it. I couldn’t risk her bringing attention before I finished.
Slowly, I reached up to slip off my sunglasses, exposing my mark.
She squeezed her eyes shut, but I nudged my face closer, our lips an inch apart. “Look at me.” To anyone staring in our direction, we’d appear as a happy couple enjoying a little romance between classes. “The eyes are the windows to the soul, Amy, and I’m in desperate need of yours.”
Her eyelids fluttered open, stark terror in her horrified gaze.
“I’m afraid this will hurt.” I smiled, unable to hide my giddiness of an impending rush of power. “But it’s the price humanity pays for freedom.” I could mask the pain with pleasure if I’d been feeling generous, but the only other thought I had was of cornering Phoebe to let her know last night meant nothing to me, to prove I didn’t normally go around saving damsels in distress, even if they were intriguing and quirky with pink hair and wide-set, chocolate eyes.
A low, throaty noise growled from Amy’s throat, and she tried to shake her head.
“Oh, come now. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Lucian will find a use for you, something befitting a cheating friend.” With a scowl, I forced her hand from my skin and placed my mouth over hers, inhaling deeply as I pulled back a few inches.
A feathery, gray aura floated between her lips as if she exhaled steam.
I pushed closer, pulling her essence into my body and sighed.
Sparks danced in my blood, and a dark channel of power blazed to life, filling my body with energy and strength. Pleasure came with the taking—not as much as a truly innocent soul would provide—but more than enough to shudder through my limbs and sharpen my senses.
Her cloying, sweet fragrance turned even more intolerable, and the filtered sun landing on the back of my neck felt warmer. Birdsong, where before had been a distant hum, turned into a full-blown orchestra of tweets and trills piercing the air.
Ten seconds later, after absorbing every last glimmer of her soul, I pulled away, sated and content.
Amy’s eyes no longer shone. Her head slumped forward, and her shoulders sagged as she tipped toward me.
But oh, how she fueled me from the inside.Immediately after a kill, I always felt I could take on the world. It was a high that could never be replicated with anything else.
Though the way I felt when kissing Phoebe came close. This thought disturbed me greatly, and I shoved it out of my head to focus on my next move.
A quick glance around the park showed no one paying any attention.
Gently, I lowered her onto the bench and lifted her legs to rest on the metal, positioning her body so it looked as if she slept.
Without a backward glance, I turned toward the building where Phoebe sat inside, taking notes. The tenuous delve from our first meeting tethered her to me so, no matter where she went, I’d always be able to zero in on her location. If she ever ran, I’d find her in any part of the world.
With my replenished ether, I made myself invisible and marched across the quad.
As I approached the double doors of the Mably Sciences Center for Human Studies, the hairs on the back of my neck prickled.
I slowed my trot to a stroll and surveyed the area. Power thrummed inside my chest, my muscles, begging me to ignore my human instincts, to barge ahead and find her, yet I fought the urge.
Another like me is here. I can almost smell the black power emanating from where he hides.
This thought sent my heart into overdrive, and I stopped to lounge under the building’s awning, scanning the area to determine who’d caused the tingling alarm creeping along my flesh, yelling in my brain.
Beside me, students streamed in and out of the building, their murmuring voices echoing against the white pillars supporting the outer area and brown brick walls.
A white marble statue a few feet away, near the main pathway, graced the sloped lawn. A plaque indicated the image to be Dr. John Mably, a Barkley University Alumni, but the statue appeared dark for such a sunny day.
