Page 16 of Cinderella and Her Vampires (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 5)

His eyes took me in as I did the same.

I was growing dizzy, and I needed to keep my head on straight. I was here for a reason, and that was to find that crazy man and make sure I didn’t lead him to his demise on accident. Finding him was my number one priority. I couldn’t allow myself to fall victim to these gorgeous men. Er… vampires… whatever they were. No matter how tempting it was.

But man, oh man, the struggle was real. My hormones flared and a strange sense of familiarity with both of them had pressed against my senses. Though none of my body’s reactions made any sense to me, it was almost the only thing I could think of. I fought against the urge to fall into the sensations burning through my body. I had to keep my focus on what I came here for.

“Look,” I said, “I really don’t want any trouble. If you would bring him to me, we could both leave here, and you would never have to deal with us again.”

The blondie snorted. “I do like you.”

The second one took another step forward. I held up a hand, stopping him. His eyes widened and narrowed. But he stopped. Not only did I find that weird, but interesting as well.

“I’m not playing games. Nor am I one to be trifled with,” I said. “I’m tired of being toyed with. I came here for a man, and I refuse to leave without confirmation he isn’t here.”

“That’s a tall order for someone who just broke into our home,” the darkhaired one said.

The blondie smirked and chuckled under his breath. He continued to play everything off in his seemingly relaxed way. I didn’t understand what he was doing, but I knew it was an act, so I didn’t care to pay any more attention to him. Once I settled my attention on the second one, he spoke.

“Relax,” he said, holding up his hands. His voice was deep and rough but was warm like a wool blanket. “I simply want to defuse this situation before it gets any more out of hand and you wake the dead. Literally.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, cute. Monsters have jokes.”

He smiled, but there was a flash of shadow that crossed over his eyes. It hinted to me he didn’t like being called a monster so much. But then he seemed to shrug it off and said, “You were being excruciatingly loud.”

“Duh, this one is deaf apparently,” I said.

He settled his gaze briefly on his comrade before taking another step closer to me, despite me still holding up my hand. He clasped his hands in front of him as he stared at me. “You’re drawing too much attention to yourself. Not everyone here would approach you in the way we had.”

“Is that a threat?” I asked.

He huffed, closing his eyes for a second as though he was trying to conjure patience. “It’s a fact. You obviously came here with a purpose and reason, but I’m afraid you were misguided. You’ll only find misery here. Especially with your rudeness.”

I shook my head. “Well, if your buddy here would have given me what I had wanted, I wouldn’t have resorted to being so loud. He doesn’t like to listen very well, so I wasn’t sure if he was deaf or just plain stupid.”

“He can be a little bit of both,” he said.

The blond one growled. “Careful.”

“Regardless,” the dark haired one said. “I’m afraid you came here by mistake.”

“I doubt that,” I said. “Unless you have proof he’s not here. And I don’t see how you’re going to prove that to me without giving me a tour.”

The dark-haired one barely cast another glance toward his comrade. There was a level of accusation in his glance that I wasn’t supposed to see, but only helped to further my determination. “Perhaps you could tell me who it is you are convinced is being held here against their will?”

I groaned. “Do I have to go over this again? If I was so loud, how come you didn’t already hear it all?”

“I’m afraid I wasn’t privileged to the whole conversation, despite your volume. So, yes. Please, if you wouldn’t mind…” His eyes were focused on mine, pulling me into them. If I wasn’t careful, I might never be able to escape them, much less want to.

With every second that passed, everything around me faded into the darkness. I knew if I didn’t pull away, whatever was happening wouldn’t stop until I was as good as dead.

I planted my feet and forced myself to close my eyes. “No more dirty tricks!”

“Apologies,” he said. “I can’t help it.”

I glared at him. “Figure it out, for crying out loud. I’m not on the menu.”

Blondie chuckled.

“Please,” the dark haired one added.

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