Page 26 of The Firebrand
“Can you enter a house uninvited?”
He chuckled.
Braelyn pulled from the Buffy series. “Crosses?”
“I used to visit a priest at St. Peter’s Basilica.”
“Silver? Wooden stakes through the heart?”
“Silver is bad. Wood not so much.”
“Hmm.” Braelyn rummaged through her brain for more vampire lore. “Fire?”
“I try to avoid it.”
“Can you fly?” She remembered Bela Lugosi did inDracula,but he also turned into a bat.
“In a plane.”
“What does bother vampires?”
“Females who talk too much.”
They turned a corner, entering another hallway with wall sconces that added buttery soft lighting.
Hmph. “Are you dead?” She hoped he wasn’t.
Rein spun around, nose-planting Braelyn into his chest. One arm circled her waist, imprisoning her against his sizzling-hot body. Tangling fingers in her spiky hair, he jerked her head, flattening her ear against a solid pec. “You tell me.”
Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom.
Okay. He’s very much alive.
Her own heart played drums when he cupped her ass, hauling her against his very large erection. With a moan caught in her throat, she considered grinding against him, but then he was on the move, dragging her behind.
Nice save.
“Damn,” he muttered. “Damn. Human. Female.”
Braelyn recovered her good sense along with her steady breathing. “Do you turn people into vampires by biting them?”
“Fuck no. Now be quiet. Walk.”
“How can you be killed?”
“With great difficulty. Shut the fuck up.”
“What about other cre … breeds?”
“That’s it. No more questions.”
“But I want to know.”
“No, you don’t. You’ll forget everything anyway.”
His snappish answer did a number on her stomach. A punch to the gut. She planted both feet, jerking him to a halt. “What if I don’t want to forget?”
Rein’s iceberg irises warmed to cobalt blue. His throat bobbed when he swallowed. “You have to.” He resumed the pace.
