Page 34 of Killer of the Bells
Brains and hearts are weird, people. They rarely get along, and they both tell you to do the opposite thing with equal amounts of insistence and fervor.
Fuck if I know how to deal with it. If you figure it out, please let me know.
I realized Vale was talking to the door itself when it responded, “Emergency override code, please,” in the cutest, sassiest voice ever.
“Close the door, or I’ll rip your circuits out of the wall and melt them in the fire pit.” Vale’s voice had an edge to it that left me with no doubt that he meant it.
The door slid shut with assssss,and we were alone once more.
“We have at least five minutes before Gareth overrides the lock again,” Vale informed me, rubbing his face tiredly.
“That’s plenty of time,” I said, sitting down primly and offering Vale my neck. “Is this okay, or do you want the other side?”
Vale rolled his eyes and shoved me off the bed, leaving me in an undignified sprawl on the floor.
“I’m not killing you,” Vale said bluntly.
“Why does Lyle warrant the vampire treatment, and I don’t?”
“Because the world is better off without Lyle,” Vale snapped.
I snorted. “Please. Like you care about that fluffy bunny bullshit. Why won’t you kill me? You know you want to.”
“You’re quite chatty this morning,” Vale observed.
“If you think you can just change the subject like that, then…”
I stopped, suddenly smacked in the face by the truth of Vale’s words.
Iwasbeing very chatty for me. What the hell?
“What did you do to me?” I asked, grabbing my neck. “Did you suck the words out of me? Into me? Is that a thing? A not-a-vampire thing?”
Vale let out a laugh. And when he saw me patting my throat frantically, he broke into deep, hearty chuckles.
“I liked you before your words were unlocked, but I clearly didn’t know what I was missing. Tell me more.” Vale was on the floor in a flash, kneeling on the blanket and keeping me pinned. “Tell me everything.”
“I’m not telling you shit until you tell me why I’m not good enough for you to kill.”
Vale’s eyes narrowed, and then the ghost of a playful smile played around his lips. “Then I suppose we’ll both be frustrated together.”
He got off the blanket, plucked me off the floor, and placed me back on the bed. It didn’t escape my notice that he was much more careful when he put me down than he was when he’d chucked me off the bed.
“Will you at least tell me what you are?” I was dying to know. If even his friends didn’t know, it had to be something good.
“Maybe later,” Vale said vaguely. “We should shower. I hate going to jobs without a shower.”
“It’s the middle of the night… isn’t it?” I didn’t actually know what time it was, but if it was twelve hours after Vale brought me to his lair like Gareth said, it had to be late. Or really early.
At a certain point, they really end up being the same thing, don’t they?
“Crime waits for no one,” Vale said, and that ghost smile? Yeah, it was becoming a lot less ghostly. In fact, I was pretty sure he was teasing me.
“So, you’re a criminal?”
“Does that bother you?”
“I don’t know. Do you kill puppies and kids and shit?”
