by Mara Leigh
I draw a long breath, trying to decide what to do. I could deny it. I could try to convince Colton that he’s confused. But if I want my relationship with Colton to continue, he’ll have to learn the truth eventually, even if it might end the relationship I want to preserve.
Even if the truth might kill our relationship, keeping it alive with lies is wrong. And the sooner I confess the better.
I take a sip of tea for courage, wishing I’d poured myself a whiskey instead. Not that either caffeine or alcohol last more than a few minutes in my system, but a little booze might help me articulate what I need to say now.
“I already know.” My voice comes out softly, almost inaudible.
“You know what?” Colton asks. “That you need to move out?” He reaches for me. “Let’s get your things.”
I shake my head. “I know that he’s a vampire.”
Inhaling sharply through his nose, Colton recoils from me, dropping my hands. “No. What? You knew?”
I nod, slowly.
“How long have you known? Is he forcing you to stay here? Is that why you can’t leave? Is it some kind of mind control or spell that keeps you trapped here?”
My mouth has gone dry, so I take another sip of tea, and the mug clatters when I sit it down at an awkward angle.
“I’ve known Gray is a vampire since I met him, and no, he is not forcing me to stay here. I moved in of my own free will, and I come and go as I please.”
Colton’s face has turned bright red and the confusion and hurt in his eyes make my stomach twist. This is it. This is the moment when I lose Colton.
“Is he in the building?” Colton reaches into his jacket and pulls out a stake. “Is his coffin in the basement?”
I reach out and grab his lower arm, sliding my hand down to his wrist. If he tries to move the arm holding the stake, my strength will overpower him, but I hope it won’t come to that. “Colton, vampires don’t sleep in coffins.”
“But they burn in sunlight.”
“Yes, that much is true.”
He nods, looking dazed like he can’t quite process what’s going on. “You know what’s funny?” He shakes his head. “When I came over here today, I still thought there was a small chance that you…” He laughs. “Never mind.”
“Colton, I’ve been trying to tell you. Most of what you know about vampires isn’t true. Vampires and humans coexisted peacefully for millennia before humans got proof of our existence and freaked out. Humans and vampires have more similarities than differences.”
His wrist twitches under my hand, and he frowns. “Selina, vampires kill.”
“Humans kill too. You admitted to me that there are more murders by humans than vampires.”
“That we have proof of.”
I sigh. How am I ever going to get through to him? And what am I going to do if I can’t? Gray’s in prison so he’s not in immediate danger from Colton or his vampire task force, but the police will seize this house, all of Gray’s property, plus I gave Colton enough hints that he’ll figure out where Gray works, so everyone at FJS could be in danger because of Colton, because of me.
I should call Astrid, but she’ll have the CEO take Colton’s memory and he probably won’t remember ever meeting me. I know it’s selfish, but I don’t want to risk that. I don’t want that for him or for me. And who knows what could happen if they mess with his memory. What it could do to his mind. What if the CEO gives him so much of her venom that Colton forgets his sister is dead?
“What can I do to convince you that vampires aren’t what you think?”
“What can I do to convince you they’re dangerous!”
“How about I start by showing you that there aren’t any coffins in the basement.” I head toward the stairs, still holding his wrist and he follows me.
“Is that where he tortures you? Feeds from you?” Colton sounds horrified, but when I turn back toward him, he’s got a fierce look on his face, like he thinks he’s about to uncover evidence of everything he believes. Evidence to prove I’m the one who’s wrong.
I’m not sure what he expects to find in the basement, but I’m glad he hasn’t asked for a tour of the whole house. Seeing all the kinky toys and furniture in Gray’s bedroom wouldn’t help matters.
At the top of the stairs, he moves ahead of me, and tries to raise the hand carrying the stake, blocked by my grip on his wrist.
Reluctantly, I let go, and he heads down the stairs, stake raised, muscles tense, like he expects to find Gray at the bottom of the stairs, like he thinks that if he did find him there, he could kill him with that stake. Fat chance.
“Wow,” he says, when we hit the first landing on the way down. “This basement is so deep. But I guess that makes sense. Vampires are more comfortable far underground.”
I grit my teeth at his humansplaining of vampires. I love so much about Colton, but that is one thing I hate. Gray’s basement is extra deep—but it’s so he can have a great gym.
I flip on the lights.
Colton strikes an attack pose, stake up, and it’s almost comical, like an overly earnest male character in a satiric film or a kid’s superhero cartoon. I care about Colton so much, my feelings for him haven’t changed, and I actually love how he’s so ardently good, so steadfast in doing what he thinks is right. Even if right now he’s so wrong.
Once I get him to see the truth, I have no doubt he’ll be as staunch a supporter of vampire rights as he was a vampire killer. I hope. I’ll help him understand.
“See?” I gesture around the room.
He holds his arm out as if to block me from danger, but I brush past him.
“It’s a gymnasium, not a room full of coffins.”
“Careful.” Colton grabs my hand and stops me. “He could be lurking in a dark corner. Or one of his minions—”
“Minions?” I cock my head to the side. “Are you expecting Renfield or something?” I smile, trying to make a joke, but he doesn’t seem to think it’s funny.
“Vampires aren’t like they are in the movies, or in the scary stories written to make humans hate them. Vampires are indistinguishable from humans, with a few small exceptions.”
“Small exceptions?” Colton lets his stake arm drop to his side, but he’s still in high alert mode, walking along the edges of the room, touching the wall as if expecting to find the entrance to a secret passageway or compartment. “Small exceptions like drinking blood?”
“Yes.” I walk backwards ahead of him. “Vegetarians think it’s disgusting that omnivores eat meat, and you think it’s disgusting that vampires drink blood.” I shrug hoping he sees the parallel.
“It’s not the same.” He reaches the corner of the gym, and stops there, looking out over the room, clearly disappointed to find everything down here so normal.
“You’re right.” I take his hand. “It’s not the same. To eat meat you have to kill the animal, and vampires don’t need to kill to drink blood. In fact, humans feel pleasure when vampires drink, and when it’s over they’re fine. Most don’t remember a thing.”
“Except when they discover that their throat has puncture wounds.”
I shake my head. “Not if the vampire has fed correctly. A vampire bite heals almost instantly. Doesn’t even leave a pin prick, or a bruise.”
He makes an expression that clearly tells me he thinks it’s me who’s bought into fairy tales and myths.
“Let’s sit.” I walk over to a leather sofa and plop down in the corner. The unmistakable scent of Gray, of sex between us, rises from the hide, but if Colton notices when he sits down, he doesn’t show it. For this moment, I’m glad humans don’t share vampires’ heightened senses.
He stretches an arm across the back of the sofa and turns toward me. “You need to get out of here,” he says. “Please. You’ve got to trust me. It’s clear you’ve been brainwashed, but I can find you the help that you need.”
“I’m not brainwashed.”
“Selina.” He shifts toward me, leaving the
stake resting on his thigh against the back of the sofa. He takes my hand. “I care about you. So much.” He closes his eyes for a moment. “In fact, in spite of all this I’m falling in love with you. No, I’m already in love with you. And to hear you talk about vampires like this. It terrifies me.”
My heart swells as he expresses his feelings, but I need to focus on the more urgent matter between us. The thing that divides us.
“I’m falling in love with you too, Colton. But if we’re going to be together, you need to accept the truth about vampires. You need to put aside all your prejudice and hate.”
“Baby.” He pulls our hands toward his chest. “It kills me that you’re being misled and used by one of these monsters. A monster like the one who killed my sister.”
“That particular monster is dead.”
He nods.
“And Gray killed her.”
He tips back his head like he’s about to nod again, but instead, his shoulders and neck stiffen, aborting the gesture midway.
“Gray killed her because she was a murderer,” I tell him. “That vampire, she was crazy. And even so, Gray is facing the consequences of taking her life.”
“What consequences?”
“He’s in custody. In jail, I guess. Vampires have laws too, you know. Laws that date back far longer than human ones.”
Colton looks at me askance. “I thought you said Gray was at work.”
“I did. And that wasn’t a complete lie. He’s being interrogated at the same place where he works. The local court is there.” I express it in terms Colton will understand, that I understand.
Colton leans away from me and puts his head in his hands. When he looks back at me, I nearly cringe. It’s not hate I see in his eyes, but it’s far from love. “I knew you were misinformed, but I never thought you were a liar.”
“I’m not.”
“Selina.” He drops his hands to his thighs, and one of them lands near the stake. “You just admitted you lied to me!”
“But...” He’s right though. And the lies have to stop here. I love him. He’s misinformed, but I can’t turn my feelings off, and because of those feelings I need to tell him the truth, no matter the cost.
“Okay.” I clear my throat. “No more lies. I’ll tell you everything, the whole truth, but you’re not going to like it.”
“Go ahead.” He looks at me intently, with such hope. Like he thinks whatever I’m going to say might clear things up between us instead of making them worse. I wish I shared that hope.
“Colton, you know me. Right?”
He nods.
“You know I’m a good person. You know my heart.”
He smiles softly as he nods.
“And I know your heart. I know that you’re full of goodness. And that you’re open minded enough to learn something new, admit when you’re wrong if presented with facts.”
His head tips to the side. “Where are you going with this?”
“Let me finish. Please.” I touch his knee and see his body’s reaction. He’s apprehensive, but he still cares about me, still wants me, and I hope that makes him open enough to absorb the truth.
“Colton, the reason I know so much about vampire culture, it’s not because I know Gray. Well, some of it is because I know Gray, but mostly it’s because—” I swallow to wet my throat “—it’s because I’m a vampire.”
He laughs. “No you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
He leans back. “Has he hypnotized you or something? Made you think you’re like him? Is that how he keeps you in his thrall?”
“You’re not listening to me.”
“But I’ve touched you, kissed you, and I saw you—” Colton frowns “—in the sunlight.”
“The windows in this house are all treated. They filter out the parts of the spectrum that’s dangerous to vampires.”
“Baby.” He takes my hand. “He’s tricked you. It’s even worse than I thought, and we need to get out of here before he comes back.” He starts to stand.
“I’ll prove it.” I leap off the sofa and cross the room in a split second. Then I jump up to the twenty-foot high ceiling and spring across it, almost taking flight.
When I land, I grab a barbell weighing over four hundred pounds and throw it the length of the room. It lands with a loud thud and bounces on the several layers of rubber flooring, the pairs of hundred pound plates clanging together at each end.
In the blink of an eye, I rush back to the sofa—and I did all this before he could fully stand.
Colton’s eyes fill with terror and he raises his stake.
It’s the most frightening thing I’ve ever seen. Not because I’m afraid of dying, but because I know that I’ve lost him.
Panicking, I grab the stake, push it aside, and then dig my fangs into his neck.
Chapter 11
Colton
Groggy but happy, I stretch as I slowly wake. I have no idea where I am, but I’ve had the most restful sleep I’ve had since I was a kid. Lying on a leather sofa, I’m covered by a soft fleece blanket, my head on a plush pillow, but as my eyes adjust to the dim lighting, the peace induced by my satisfying sleep vanishes in a flash of bad memories, or dreams?
I lift my hand to my throat, but feel nothing. Not physically. But my heart fills with so much pain I’m shocked it can still pump. Throwing off the blanket, I sit, head in my hands. What kind of evil trickery made me sleep? I woke happy, but what led up to it was a nightmare.
Shaking my head, I wish it had been a dream. Instead I’m living in my worst nightmare.
Selina. The woman I love. The woman I hope—or hoped—to spend the rest of my life with—claimed to be a vampire. A monster. One of the creatures I’ve sworn to wipe from the face of the Earth. She admitted it, and the way she leaped around this room at the speed of light. But I can’t remember anything after that.
None of this makes sense. I scan through my memories since I met her, trying to find evidence to refute what she told me, but instead I make myself wonder why I didn’t see it sooner. All her liberal attitudes toward vampire rights. How she tried to convince me I was wrong. How I’ve never seen her during the day—until yesterday. Or is it still today?
I have no idea how long I slept.
I pace, hoping some movement will bring clarity. Or better yet, wake me from this nightmare. My motion seems to turn on more lights, and I spin, looking for cameras. Then shake my head. These days cameras are so tiny and can be hidden so well.
Are they up there? Selina and Grayson? Evil vampires watching me and laughing at their captured prey?
I cross the room a few more times, trying to banish my fears. My jacket is lying over the arm of the large sofa where I slept. Rushing over, I discover my phone and all of my stakes are gone. Every single one, including the one I was holding before—
I tried to stake Selina but— I feel my neck again. Nothing. Maybe this was a bad dream.
Spotting the weightlifting bar and plates, I vividly remember Selina throwing it across the room. I check it out and try to lift it, expecting that it’s made of foam or rubber, not hundred pound plates, but I can’t budge it.
Fuck. I drop to the rubber-covered gym floor. There is no denying the truth. Not one part of this was a dream. I remember what she told me, but after that it’s hazy. Hazy and confusing. Confusing because my overall sense of what happened next is pleasure, joy and an intense feeling of love for Selina. Feelings I still had when I first woke. Did she use her mind control on me?
I don’t remember removing my jacket or lying on the sofa. Obviously someone gave me a pillow and covered me with a blanket. She must have done this, but why?
I spot a row of mirrors across along part of the wall and laugh at that irony. Why would a vampire pack install a mirror in their gym? The mirror might not show their reflections, but it will work for me. I check out my throat. Turning to capture the light on the skin there, I can’t spot a trace of what I suspect happened—what must have happ
ened.
A shudder vibrates through me.
Will I become one of them now?
Drawing a few long breaths, I study my reflection. I’m the same man I’ve always been. No obvious damage from Selina’s—her assault.
She really messed with my mind because I have to struggle to even think the word assault. But that’s what it was. Assault at a minimum. Attempted murder, perhaps.
Not that she’d ever be charged with those crimes. As Selina’s pointed out to me so many times—for her and her kind, existing is a capital crime.
I need to get out of here. I have no idea what might be waiting for me at the top of those stairs, but I will not remain trapped down here to be fed from, tortured and eventually killed or turned into one of them—not without putting up a good fight.
Chapter 12
Selina
Sitting on the kitchen floor, leaning against the island, I remain in the same position for what feels like hours, staring at the basement door. What have I done?
Not only have I fed from Colton without his consent—again—I’ve locked him in Gray’s basement. I’ve done to Colton what Xavier did to me.
But so much worse than that, I’m turned on. Even the horror of having to hold him captive hasn’t dampened my desire. It was all I could do to keep my hands off Colton while I was feeding, not to mention after he was asleep. Taking advantage of someone while they’re unconscious is beyond wrong—with anyone—but especially with Colton, given his virginity and boundaries. Taking his blood without consent was crime enough.
It’s finally dark, but I don’t want to leave the house with Colton locked in the basement. Still, I have to do something. I find my phone and call Rock.
“You okay?” he asks the second he picks up.
“I’m in trouble.”
“Where are you?” His tone is urgent. “I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
“I’m at home.” I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to figure out where to start. “Can you come?”