Page 20 of When Bones Whisper
Do not feel guilty. You can be with her now. Alice is waiting for you. She misses you.
Her nails cut into the floorboards, splintering wood as she dragged them, bleeding, trying to fight against the invisible tether pulling her.
Help!The words formed in her mind, even danced on her tongue, but she could not form them into a sound.
“No!”
The plead came out in a choked cough. The weight in her chest turned to air, and she flopped onto the floor. A gas lampflickered into her room, scaring away the creeping blackness around her.
“Help,” she croaked in a half-cry.
She turned, expecting to see Nathaniel, but spotted a willowy man with refined facial features, high cheekbones, golden-blond hair and forest-green eyes.
“Why are you on the floor?” he asked, in a smooth, vibrant voice.
“Something was here. It was trying to get me to jump out the window.” She placed several feet between the glass and her, her heart palpitating when she noticed it was closed.
Her brows deepened the line on the bridge of her nose. “It was open.”
“Perhaps you were dreaming.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Are you certain?”
She shook her head. “Yes. If I was, then why am I on the floor?”
“That was my question.”
She didn’t like the amused edge in his tone. “Are you human?”
His eyes flashed brighter. “Once upon a time.”
She ran cold. There was more of them. “Oh, God.”
“I’m afraid not, but it’s an easy mistake to make. We are both beings intent on causing pain and suffering.”
While she no longer knew where she stood with religion, she didn’t appreciate his words. “You compare yourself to God?”
A boyish smile deepened his dimples. “No, no. I am far kinder.”
She knew he was only teasing her, but she grimaced all the same. “I highly doubt that.”
He smirked as if he was enjoying the interaction. These vampires were insane. “Who are you?”
“Alexander Young,” he announced as if he was entertaining an audience. “I am Nathaniel's close friend. My aim is to make you feel comfortable here.”
She scoffed. “An arduous task.”
He took a step closer, his demeanor suggesting he enjoyed making her nervous despite stating otherwise. “One I am intent upon. We need you, so you need not be afraid. I am not going to hurt you.”
“I am not scared,” she lied, only to see his reaction, but there was not an ounce of anger etched into his soft features. Only curiosity.
“Then you have the heart of a hummingbird.”
“I was just attacked,” she said, surprised at how easily her remarks were spilling from her lips.
“By a nightmare,” he taunted, the words rolling off his tongue.
