“I know you’ve been killing. Don’t even try to deny it. Bodies piling up, and it just so happens you moved in a month ago? I know what you are.”
“Okay.”
She cocks her head to the side. “Okay?”
I shrug. “If you’re going to slay me, get on with it. I’m so tired of this fucking remodel that I don’t even want to fight about it.”
She glances around, her eyes widening a little. “Wow. This place is ...”
Her cat walks over and rubs against my leg. “Well, hello, little kitty.”
“Buffy!” the woman—a very attractive woman, I might add—scolds her. “Get back here. We have him. I know you killed those two teenage boys, not to mention the man who lived here before you!”
“I did?”
“Of course you did! You’re a killer!”
She’s partly correct about that. But the thing is, I may be a killer, but she isn’t. The bolt she has racked in her crossbow would hurt, for sure. But it wouldn’t kill me. I’m old enough now that only a straight-up beheading will shuffle my ass off this mortal coil.
“See? You can’t even deny it.” She licks her lips.
Long-dead heat seems to return to my veins, all of it running straight to my cock. That thing hasn’t bothered me in centuries, but at the moment, I think it’s … getting hard? Well, fuck me. This is utterly surreal. What is happening to me? More warmth fizzes through me, and I could swear my heart seems to … move. Like someone thumped me right in the chest.
I run my tongue along my fangs. She follows the movement with her gaze, then shakes her head a little, as if to snap out of it. “You’re a murderer. This is what you deserve.”
I try to compose myself despite the electrical tingles running all over me, inside and out. “Would you believe me if I told you I didn’t kill the owner of this house or two teenage boys?” I wince. “Teenage boys. Do you have any idea how disgusting teenage boys are? I wouldn’t touch one if my life depended on it.” I glance at the sharp point of her arrow. “Which it, apparently, does.”
“You’re lying.” She becomes more beautiful the longer I look at her. Pale, though. Too pale. I wonder why.
“Why would I lie to you?” I swear I actually take a breath, my long-dead lungs filling with air. I’m drawn to this girl, so much so that I step toward her despite the weapon in her hand.
“All vampires are liars. You’ve been trying to lure your neighbor over here and kill her, too. Poor old woman.” Her hands shake.
“There’s something about you.” I should strike her, bury my fangs into her neck, and drain her dry. I don’t. For some reason, I don’t want to harm this young slayer, even though she came here expressly to kill me. But I can’t figure out why she seems to be going in and out of consciousness.
The dark circles under her eyes grow deeper as she narrows her gaze on me. “I’m going to kill you. You’re evil. Murderer.” Her hands shake harder, her finger flirting with the crossbow trigger.
“I don’t mean to interrupt your vengeance spiel or anything, but you seem to be suffering from some sort of—”
Her finger still on the trigger, she seems to get wobbly at the knees. I want to reach out and catch her. The warmth in my veins is very much in favor of this idea.
“Don’t move!” she yells weakly.
My heart is now thumping steadily. It’s as if … I’m alive again. Not all the way. Not a human, but not fully dead. Now this is something altogether new, and it’s been a long, long time since anything has surprised me. “What the fuck is going on?”
“I thought I’ve been clear about why I’m here.” She still hasn’t pulled the trigger. Does she feel something, too? Or is this some sort of witchcraft that’s sent warmth coursing through me?
Buffy the cat goes to her master and paws at her leg. The girl is trembling all over now.
Maybe I should take the crossbow from the girl before she hurts herself. I start to reach for it when I feel the bite of steel at my throat.
“Move an inch, and I’ll turn your neck into a fountain.”
2
Everly
“Everly!” Ian shouts my name.
My eyes meet Vincent’s cool blue ones.
Ian has a steel spike pressed to his throat. “Out of the house.”
I jerk my bow back up to be level with Vincent’s heart. He’s so calm even while having a bow trained on him and a spike to his neck. He’s also not even a little bit scary. In fact, he’s really handsome. I was not expecting him to be so attractive.
“Maybe she wants to stay.” Vincent smirks. I catch sight of one of his fangs. I run my tongue across my teeth.