Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
She was pregnant.
And even though it was a dream—and it wasn’t purple or hazy, so I know it really was just a fucking dream—I find myself feeling jealous of some unknown someone. Because that child in her belly is not mine. None of those children were mine. I am sterile. This is what it means to be a scion. I am something in between. Something impure. Something never meant to procreate.
I simply exist for the pleasure of Paul.
I finish the last lap on the track and head back to the locker room. There are more people here now, maybe two dozen, and the locker room is packed. I enter the private shower suite that only Paul and I can use and kick off my shoes and step out of my sweats as I walk.
There’s a really nice shower in here. And even though I’m kinda planning a sexy shower with Syrsee, the thought of going outside in that freezing January weather when I’m already in a cold state isn’t appealing.
I want heat.
I turn the hot water on and step back from the steam just as my phone buzzes on a nearby shelf. I walk over, study the screen, roll my eyes, and accept his call. “What?”
“How are you feeling?”
“What?” I snap at Paul. He just annoys me. I can’t help it.
“How. Are you. Feeling.”
“Fine. Why?”
“Why?” He’s chuckling.
“What do you want?”
“Did you sleep well?”
“What the fuck is this?”
“Why are these simple questions so hard for you this morning?”
“Why are you calling me so early?”
“Are you at the gym?”
“How did you know?”
“I know everything, Ryet. We’ve been over this.”
“Is there anything else? Because I’ve got a shower going.”
He hangs up on me. I just stare at the phone as the call blanks out, shaking my head and scoffing. What the fuck? Why do I have to get stuck with the only vampire on the planet who’s needy?
I walk back over to the shower, slip past the glass partition, and walk under the water, closing my eyes and letting out a long breath as the steam wraps around me like a blanket. When I open them, everything is lavender and Paul is sitting on the marble bench on the far end of the shower, naked.
I don’t say anything. I just watch him watch me. I could yell at him for this. I could tell him to leave. I could threaten him. But why bother?
He’s gonna do what he’s gonna do.
Finally, after so many seconds pass the silence starts to become awkward, he says what’s on his mind. “You like this woman.”
It’s not a question. “Her name is Syrsee.”
“Lovely. But you didn’t answer the question.”
“I like her.”
“How did you meet?”
I sigh, unsure if I should have this conversation with him or not. But there’s something different about him right now. He’s all naked, and beautiful, and somber. Almost… vulnerable. Which is laughable. And a lie, if that’s what he’s projecting.
He is dangerous. Maybe even the most dangerous creature on this planet. Though, admittedly, my experience with vampires numbers two and a half. There’s Paul, Lucia, and Josep, but Josep is the half because I’ve never actually interacted with him. So it’s possible that the vampires on the other side of the world are more than what Paul is. And if that’s the case, I don’t ever want to meet them.
But I somehow doubt it. I think they are afraid of Paul and that’s why he was banished here. So far away they don’t have to think about him anymore.
“I found her in a parking lot. Crying.”
“What was she crying about?”
“She was hungry and the diner was closed.”
“So you saved her.” He smiles at me.
I shrug one shoulder, still enjoying the hot water and steam, even if Paul did crash in on it. “I took her back to the cabin—”
Paul winces. “Oh, that place.”
“I know.” And now I’m smiling. “She refused to take her boots off.” Now I’m laughing. “She refused to take her clothes off. She said, ‘I’m having trouble reconciling my naked body in this room.’”
“She didn’t.” Paul is amused.
“She did. And, well…” I shrug again. “I like her. So you’re probably gonna kill her or something, right?”
“Why would I do that?”
“You’re kind of a jealous asshole.”
He smiles and doesn’t deny it. “I’d like to meet her.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s mine. And I don’t want to share.”
“Who says I want to share?”
I just shoot him a look.
“Fine. I was entertaining the thought. But why not share? We have such fun that way, Ryet.”
“We really don’t.”
“Why do you lie like that? You know you love me. Maybe even more than I love you. Why do you refuse to accept that we are special together?”
“Because… you wiped my memory and turned me into your bitch?”
“You asked me to do both of those things, Ryet.”
I take a breath, then turn away and put my head under the hot water, letting it slide down the front of my body like one of the little waterfalls outside.