Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I grabbed hold of his statement with both hands.
“Why? What are you going to do to me?”
“I’m still deciding. I’ll let your body guide me on that, but I do have a penchant for the chase. There is a great thrill to blood being taken that way, in chase and submission, even if it’s only playacting. As I said earlier, a lot of blood players like consensual non-consent. It’s quite a staple fantasy. I know you have it too, Katherine, as do I.” He smiled. “It’s you I want to play the games with now though, little one. You and only you. You drive me so wild I can barely stand it. I could get up and pin you on this table right now or chase you right out of this restaurant. Luckily, I have slightly more restraint than that. I don’t want to end up in a jail cell tonight.”
I nearly dropped my cutlery at the heat in his eyes. My heart was thumping even louder than the quartet. It was the stare he gave me, like the creature in the dark and not the gentleman opposite me. My thighs clenched. My bites throbbed sore. He was speaking to a part of me below the surface.
The part with my feet pounding the cobblestones.
It was the way he was so confident with it, too. The power in his smirk of I know what you need.
“Go with it,” he told me. “Feed your fantasies.”
I was there again… with my back against the door… caught in the stare of a vampire. And wanting him. Needing him. Begging him for his teeth in my throat.
“Don’t worry,” Hans said, just loud enough to be heard over violin and cello. “There is no sin in the pleasure of the chase. There is such a mortal pleasure in the freedom of running free for a lot of people, even if you know it will end in capture. So many years of your life you’ve been constricted, forced to behave and think what you’re supposed to think. But that’s all done now. You can run free.”
“And you’ll chase me…”
“Always.” His tone was so primal. “You liked that, didn’t you? You ran with such spirit. It was beautiful.”
I remembered the panting. My heaving chest. His hand between my legs.
And that’s what I wanted now. I wanted to run, away from here, and the images of the past, and the tight reins of my mind. I wanted the fear of the vampire opposite me in the most beautiful of ways, and the certainty of knowing that no matter how fast I ran, he would catch me.
I was his now.
Under the spell of a vampire named Hans.
The strangest urge possessed me. A flash of rebellion so strong it was straight from the core of my soul, fighting against the do as you’re told orders of my past, hissed by my mother and grandmother like I was just a stupid little girl.
Hans tipped his head, reading my thoughts.
“Run now, if you want to.”
But did I want to? Did I want to leave this plush restaurant and dash away into the London streets on a mission to outrun him? My body answered for me – my spirit ready to flee.
Yes, I did.
I shot him a smile before I stood up from my chair and walked away. I flashed him a backwards glance over my shoulder once I reached the doorway, and then I rushed away.
My stilettos were awkward and clacky on the pavement but that just served to make it more dramatic. My heart was already pounding before I’d even crossed the street.
I heard a thought in my mind as I reached the corner, giving one final look to the restaurant behind.
Run, little one. I’ll give you a reasonable head start.
My chest flushed hot and my skin prickled with tingles so beautifully it made me grin.
Grin like a fool in the night. This was crazy. CRAZY, but I did it.
Run, little one, his thoughts came again.
And, oh, how I ran!
Chapter Fourteen
I had no idea where I was heading, but that only made the rush more exciting. My instincts were running free as I threw myself down the nearest steps to the London underground, two at a time, fearing for my life – or broken legs – as I somehow managed to stay on my heels.
There was no way I’d last more than two minutes in a cat and mouse game with Hans if I was reliant on my feet alone. I needed transport.
I took a one-stop journey, switching lines from District to Northern at the Embankment. I was hanging on to one of the carriage poles, my veins pulsing and my feet aching as the train pulled away from the station. I was still so new to London that I didn’t have a clue where I was going.