Page 46 of Night of the Vampire
As I walked across the bedroom, she stirred beneath the sheets. "Killian? What are you doing here?" The fierce anger she'd shown me earlier was forgotten with sleep, replaced with curiosity.
Gods, I craved her. Every muscle in my body ached with the effort it took me to stay where I was.
Lizzy would be mine.
Chapter 17
Lizzy
Killian was standing in my room—his room—watching me as I'd slept. Though it was still dark, there was a tiny bit of light coming in off the street and I recognized the silhouette of his body right away. I wasn't scared, and I was too tired to be angry. I was just surprised to find him there. "How long have you been here?"
Briefly, he looked away toward the window before coming back to me. I had the feeling he wished he'd used that window as an escape route before I noticed him. "I was just leaving."
His tone was off. And not because he was angry. It was something more. I struggled to unwrap myself from the blankets and sit up. They felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. But then I realized it was the atmosphere in the room weighing me down, filled with such tension and agony the air practically pulsated with it. And there was a strange smell. One that hadn't been here before, so strong I tasted copper on my tongue. "What's wrong? What's happened?"
He didn't answer me for a long time, and when he did, there was a rawness to his tone that made me distinctly uneasy. "Nothing. Go back to sleep."
There was a small lamp beside the bed. Reaching over, I clicked it on just as Killian raised his hand. "Don't!"
I blinked against the light as I swung my bare legs over the bed. I was only wearing the T-shirt I'd pulled out of his drawer. Shivering, I grabbed the blanket off the back of the chair Wiggles had claimed, wrapped it around my shoulders and turned to face him. "Oh, my God!"
Killian's face and hands were covered in drying blood. And I could see large, dark spots on his clothes, that if I were to guess, was even more blood. "What the hell did you do? What happened?" I took three steps toward him before I realized he was standing absolutely still, staring at the shirt I was wearing with a strange look on his face.
"You're wearing my shirt." His gaze clashed with mine. Hunger, dark and desperate, reflected in his eyes. But for what, I didn't know. My understanding? My blood?
I pulled the blanket tighter around me. "I won't get my clothes back until tomorrow, if they didn't all go up in flames," I told him as explanation. "And I forgot to buy anything to sleep in." He didn't need to know that it comforted me to wear it. "Now, tell me what happened. Are you hurt?" I was amazingly calm through all of this. Maybe my body had had enough surprises for one day. Maybe I was just getting used to New Orleans and all of its supernatural surprises.
"It doesn't matter."
I realized his entire body was shaking. In spite of my better judgement, I was starting to get concerned. Was he hurt? "Killian..." I stepped closer to him.
"If I were you, I wouldn't come any closer."
The warning was clear. I stopped just out of arm's reach. "Are you hurt?"
His lips twitched. "No. Not like you think."
I had no idea what he meant by that. "You need a shower."
"Aye."
"You can take one here if you want."
His eyes traveled over my face, searching for something. "Thanks." There was the slightest bit of sarcasm in his tone.
"Just one question," I asked him as he walked over to his dresser and started pulling out some clothes. "Did any of them live?" There was so much blood, and if he hadn't been attacked, that left me with only one other possible conclusion.
I didn't think he was going to answer me, but at the bathroom door, he stopped.
"One of them did."
Then he shut the door. A few seconds later I heard the shower come on.
My hand flew to my mouth to hold back my gasp of shock. Oh, my God. I was right. He'd killed people tonight! Why? Was it because of me? Because I'd pushed him away? Or was this something he always did?
I shouldn't flatter myself. Of course, it was something he always did. He was a fucking vampire.
I heard the water shut off and looked around for something more to put on. I found Wiggles sleeping on my clothes where I'd laid them on the chair. There was blood on the arm where Killian must've rested his arm. The sight of it brought me up short. It was just a few seconds, but it was a few seconds too long.
