Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
I gaped. “Excuse you! I was trying to be considerate!”
“Thank you for your consideration,” he mocked and stepped aside for me to walk past.
I made a face at him for that tone in his voice, but I let it be and walked on the rubble toward the cabin. “Is this really your home?”
“No, it belonged to a delightful old couple. I ate them and took it.”
I spun around so fast I nearly slipped on the rocks, but he caught hold of me, smiling, and at that moment, I knew he was teasing me! I pushed his chest away. “Not funny!”
“Your expression was slightly funny.” He chuckled as I stood on my own again. “You believed it for a moment. Good.”
“Why is that good? You want me to think you are a murderous, bloodthirsty vampire?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “For I am. There is no hope for us if you do not first accept that. I’ve already come to terms with the fact that you are a murderer as well.”
I gasped. “What? I am not!”
“Really? Do the vampires you slay not count as lives to you?” he asked casually, making my shoulders drop and my expression fall. He noticed and cupped my face. “Forgive me. I do not seek to blame or chastise you. I merely want us to feel free to be honest with one another. Come.”
He offered his hand, and I gave him mine. I noticed that he inhaled quickly before kissing the back of it and leading me closer to the cabin.
The first thing I noticed inside was the temperature. It was extremely warm, even though it wasn’t that cold of a day. The next was the bowl of fruit and some of my favorite snacks that sat on the table—in fact, the whole cabin had things I liked. From my favorite radio station playing in the background to the same large, fluffy pillows I had in my room and even a small area in the corner to paint. It should have been a little creepy because it was proof of how much he had watched me, how much he knew about me, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but be a little bit touched.
Dropping my bag at the door, I walked to the couch and sat down, running my hand over the fluffy, white pillow and smiling. “I’m trying to imagine you going to Target, pushing a cart and carefully picking out all the things I like.”
“It would be quite a sight. However, it did not come to pass. All I did was make a list and pass it along to a human,” he replied, still standing at the door and observing me.
“A human?”
“Yes, a human, an interior designer to be exact.”
“I didn’t realize you all worked with humans.”
He chuckled. “It would be quite silly not to when there are so many of them. It is not as if we can drink from them all at once.”
I didn’t like how he said that. It was like he was making fun of me for being ignorant about the way vampires lived. Rising back up, I walked to the door. “All my life, I’ve thought that vampires are evil, cruel, monstrous…cursed. Sworn enemies of witches and humans, even if they didn’t know it. That my job was to protect mortals from them—from you.”
“And yet here you are,” he said when I stopped directly in front of him.
“Here I am,” I whispered, feeling my eyes burn as I fought back the tears all of a sudden. “My coven calls me the daughter of Circe. It’s not true. But they expect so much of me. They have so much faith and hope in me. And here I am, betraying all of it. I’ve been betraying all of it. I don’t want to give up my family and my friends or magic, but I want to be here with you, too. What am I supposed to do, Theseus?”
He reached forward, cupping the side of my face with his hand. “Then choose both.”
“What?”
“Stay a witch, if you desire, but also stay with me when you can,” he whispered back as he pulled me closer to him.
“But you told me to—”
“I told you to return home and think if you wanted to be with me, too. I never asked you to choose me over them.”
“But don’t I have to be a vampire to be with you?”
“One day, you may have to make that choice, but not today or tomorrow. It could be years. And in the end, if you do not wish it, I shall remember these moments always…happily. So long as I can speak to you like this, touch you like this, I am content, Druella.”
Stepping into his embrace, I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his hard chest. “Then it has to be a secret,” I murmured.