Page 25 of Secret of the Vampire
When we got back out to the club, Alex was seated at a table with what appeared to be a glass of whiskey in his hand.
He took one look at Jamal and demanded, “Why is he still here?”
Chapter 9
Alex
The male vampire—Jamal—smirked, opening and closing his hands like he was just itching to put them around my throat. However, he was smart enough to do nothing else. I wasn’t talking out my ass before when I’d told Kenya he would never be able to get close enough to touch me, and they both knew it.
“He was just leaving,” Kenya said.
Her jaw clenched and she shoved her glasses up with a jerky movement when the male crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance, rooting himself to the spot. “I changed my mind,” he told her, although his eyes never left my face. “I think whatever the witch has to tell you can be said in front of me.”
“And if what I wanted to tell her was how badly I needed to fuck her right there on that bar?” I told him without missing a beat. “Do you still think that’s something that’s any of your fucking business, vampire?” The words came out without thought, but once they were said, I realized they weren’t far from the truth.
Jamal flashed his fangs but stayed where he was. I had to give him credit for his self-control.
Chancing a glance at Kenya, I found her staring at me with wide eyes. I expected her to be embarrassed, even angry, but she wasn’t. Instead, she looked…interested. Turned on, even, by the words I’d blurted out for the shock value, but which were not in the least bit false. “I’m sorry,” I told her anyway. “It just came out.”
After a moment, she gave me a nod. Then she cleared her throat, trying to be casual about the whole thing. She was wearing the same type of outfit she’d had on last time. Black slacks and heels, only this time she’d paired them with a light purple blouse. Her dark curls were pinned up on top of her head and her black-framed glasses were sliding down her nose.
She was fucking adorable.
And insanely sexy.
As though she suddenly remembered we weren’t alone, I watched as she visibly withdrew back into herself. The loss was even more painful than what I’d experienced with the djinn. “Is it back?” she asked. “Is that why you’re here?”
So calm. So distant. She was rejecting me before we’d even really gotten to know each other, and it made my chest ache. Was she was only acting this way because the other vampire was here? It was something I would have to find out. “In a way,” I told her. Then I laid my cards on the table. “I know who it was.”
“You know who tried to kill her?” Jamal asked. “Who was it?”
I got up from the table and went behind the bar, grabbing two more glasses. If he wasn’t going to leave, he might as well have a drink with us. “I just found out the other night.”
“And you’re waiting until now to tell me?” Kenya said, an accusation in her tone.
She was right, and I completely understood how she felt. I’d wanted to come and tell her everything right away, but I was afraid of how she would react. I was still afraid. I’d even contemplated not telling her at all. Except that wasn’t fair. She deserved to know the entire truth.
Plus, it gave me an excuse to come and see her.
Putting the whiskey back on the shelf, I slid the two glasses toward them. As though she could tell from my expression she was going to need it, Kenya walked over, took the glass, and downed it. A few seconds later, Jamal did the same, only at a more leisurely pace, taking a seat on a stool.
I raised one eyebrow at Kenya, and she slid her glass back to me. I poured three more glasses and left the bottle on the bar. “His name is Marcus. He’s a djinn.” That part over, I sipped my whiskey, gearing up for the rest of it.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
The eerie stillness that came over Jamal was not the reaction I was expecting, but a thousand times more terrifying, if vampires were something I was afraid of.
“A djinn,” he repeated in disbelief.
“Yup.”
“Why is he after Kenya?”
“I don’t know. We didn’t get around to the details of that.”
“Then how did you know it was this dude that put the curse on her.”
I looked him straight in the eye. “Because I know.”
