Page 13 of When Bones Whisper
“Except I do not want you dead.”
“You said, but that begs the question of why?” she asked, recalling the lie he’d been fed. Her ancestor had said he wouldn’t listen to reason, that vampires were savage creatures, yet this one appeared entirely in control of himself.
“I don’t want to become mortal yet,” he explained. “Not when my enemies are plotting my downfall.”
Yet.There it was. He was planning to murder her, just not right now. Well, not if she had anything to do with it.
“Killing me will not make you mortal,” she stated simply, holding his stare.
“Is that so?” he asked, his resonant, baritone voice vibrating in her ears.
“Yes. Absentmindedly, she dragged her fingers through her hair, trying to tame the wild mess cascading over her chest, suddenly aware that she looked as if she had been dragged through a hedge backward.
“What makes you say that?”
“The witches lied to you, so you would hunt down and murder the only ones who could break your curse.”
Her gaze dropped to his fingers flexing at his side. When she flicked her gaze back to his, his nostrils flared. “You prevaricate.”
“I do not,” she said, cheeks aching. “I am telling you the truth. I am last in my line so I am theonlyone left who can help you.”
“Why would I believe you? You have every motivation to lie to me,” he said, his eyes flicking to the door. “Do not move. Someone is coming.”
Heavy shoes clomped against the floorboards in the corridor outside. After years of differentiating between footsteps, she knew those belonged to Edith. If her housekeeper walked in there, she had no doubt the vampire would kill her.
“It’s my housekeeper,” she whispered when he stepped forward, fangs protruding over his lips, nicking his skin with a kiss of blood. “Don’t hurt her.”
Her heart stammered when the sound stopped outside her door, followed by three loud knocks. “Miss Lovett, there is a detective here to see you.”
The vampire watched her with a fixed stare, as if he was intrigued by what she would do next. Charlotte was certain he’d love nothing more than to be given an excuse to feast on her staff.
“Oh, I see,” she called back, coughing out the croak in her voice. “I will be right down.”
“Do you need help dressing?”
“No,” she said, a little too quickly and adjusted her tone. “Please tell our guest that I shall be down in just a moment.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Once she was certain Edith had gone, she let out a heavy breath and pursed her lips.
“You did not ask for her help,” the grave voice taunted from beside her. “Or try to use her to distract me so you might escape.”
“That would not have workedandyou would have killed her if I did.”
He tilted his head, his mouth slightly open as he lightly ran his tongue over a pair of sharp, glinting fangs. “In my experience, most people would have tried and you did not.”
“That cannot be true. No one wants to watch an innocent person get senselessly murdered.”
“Oh, but they do, Miss Lovett. People often relish violence and death. You are justkind.”
“Then your standards of kindness are extremely modest.”
“Because I have seen the world,” he added in a way that made her feel like a fool for believing otherwise. “Are you ready to go?” he asked, his expression shifting into a more formidable frown.
“Go where?”
“To my manor. I can protect you there.”
