Page 81 of Night of the Vampire
“I can see everything you’re thinking flash across your pretty face,” he said. Stepping closer, he took a curl of my hair between his fingers, feeling the texture as he searched my expression. “I’m not here to hurt you, Kenya. I just wanted to make sure I’d removed it all.”
“How did you know?” I asked him.
One dark eyebrow rose, but he didn’t answer my inquiry. Instead, he released my hair and held his palm over my chest without touching me.
“May I?”
I hesitated, not sure what he was asking.
“I just want to check that it’s all gone,” he told me. “That’s all.”
With a quick nod, I gave him permission.
He pressed his hand against my chest, right between my breasts above my heart.
The moment he touched me, I sucked in a quick breath. His touch was like fire, branding my skin through the material of my shirt and bra as his fingers splayed wide. My heart began to pound, not from fear, but from something else entirely.
He had been looking at his hand, but now his eyes flashed up to mine, and I saw the same fire I felt reflected there before he dropped them again.
Slowly, I felt a tingly warmth warm my ribcage, spreading from his palm. It crept through my body, traveling to the furthest reaches of my fingertips and toes before it slowly withdrew back to his hand over my heart.
As soon as he removed his hand, I took a step back, breathing in some much needed oxygen. I had to clear my throat twice before I was able to speak.
“Well?” I asked him.
He was frowning slightly, and I began to worry until he spoke and I realized that look had nothing to do with what he was about to say. “I think you're okay. But I need to tell you something, Kenya. And I need you to listen to me.”
“Tell me what?”
He pressed his lips together, drawing my attention to his mouth. I’d never noticed before how perfect his lips were.
“This magic that was inside of you, Judy was right when she said it was like nothing we’d ever dealt with before.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means...I don't really know. But it's dark. And it’s evil. And whoever cast that spell on you won't be happy to know that you lived through it. So I’m asking you, please, be careful. I don’t like you being alone like this at night.”
There was a light in his eyes. Possessive. Intense. It made the hair rise up on the back of my neck and sent chills down my arms.
I tried to smile to break the tension and failed miserably. “I’ll be fine,” I told him. After all, I was a vampire. I had senses above and beyond the normal human. Even a witch. “But if it makes you feel better, I'll ask one of the guys to hang back with me when I’m closing.”
“It would,” he said carefully, although somehow, I had the feeling my answer didn’t satisfy him at all.
He stared at me for so long I had to suppress the urge to make a face. Or tell a joke. Or do some other awkward thing my nerdy self resorted to whenever I didn’t know what else to do. But then he touched my face, trailing his fingertips along my jaw before he stopped and ran his thumb over my bottom lip.
“Please heed what I told you.”
I nodded.
With one last, longing look. He was gone.
Chapter 27
Killian
I found out Lizzy had gotten the part when my friend called me to thank me for sending her. Apparently, she was perfect for the role, and he'd been searching for weeks for the right person to play it. Rehearsals were starting that week in Austin, and he'd already helped her make arrangements for her and her dog to move out there. She was on her way. He didn't know what I was, or what Lizzy meant to me, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, I ended the call.
Agony flared inside of me. The pain raw. Uncontrollable. Turning around, I smashed my fist through the piece of shite wall in the living room of the swamp house. But it wasn't enough. Screaming the hurt inside of me to the heavens, I vented my pain on this house where I'd been staying since I told her about the audition. Even after I'd torn apart the kitchen, ripping the appliances out and throwing them through the walls to splash into the swamp, it wasn't enough. Sunlight streamed into the house, so I moved to a different room, chucking out the old furniture. If it wasn't still daylight, I would've torn the place down around me.
