Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 52247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
“What game?”
“Have you heard of take-down play? No? No matter, pet. It’s very simple. You run, and I catch you, and when I catch you, I win. Are you ready?”
Her head twitches back and forth. Wide-eyed, she backs away.
“Too bad. It’s time,” I tell her, and when she pauses, I hiss, “Run.”
Face blank, she darts to the door. I give her a head start, waiting until she hits the door to stalk behind her. Her pale legs flash down the hall and skid into the living room. I put on a burst of vampire speed and watch her race through the house. By the time she reaches the french double doors she’s almost on all fours. A white wolf sails across the patio and bounds into the desert. A pale flash of fur, she’s heading towards the mountain range. I follow, alternately walking and blurring with supernatural speed. She runs and runs, but never increases the distance between us.
I can tell the moment she realizes she can’t outrun me. She slows her bounds and points her muzzle my way, her common sense taking over.
I flash ahead of her. Shifters are fast, but vampires faster. I run so fast I blur, but she’s expecting it. At the last second she dodges out of the way, ducking under a cactus. I miss her, but an aggrieved yelp tells me she’s learned hiding under a spiny plant isn’t the smartest move.
I stalk around the saguaro and find her whimpering on the ground, spines in her side where she brushed too close a barrel cactus.
Seeing her hurt, my anger drops away.
“Poor pet,” I croon. She struggles when I crouch beside her, but after I snap my fingers, she holds still. I pull the long cactus needles out of her. I search through her thick pelt to find each one while she lies docile as a golden retriever.
“Shift,” I order and she does, back to human form. Her skin is already healing. She moves into a crouch and yelps, arching off the ground.
“Oops,” I lean down and remove the needle from her hip. “Missed one. Are you hurt?”
“Just a flesh wound,” she mutters.
Even when I’m angry with her, she makes me laugh. I run a hand down her flank, checking for more spines.
“Stop.” She scoots out of reach.
“Excuse me?” My voice is dangerously soft.
“Just stop.” Her head is bowed. She knows she’s been naughty. “Stop being so nice to me.”
Ah. My actions confuse her. Good.
“You disappointed me, pet.” I wipe my hands clean. “And you’re going to pay.”
Her eyes flash. She’s not cowed, not by a long shot. “What will you do to me?”
I cup her chin. “Don’t worry, pet. I’m not going to kill you. You’re too much fun.”
Her face twists and she tries to jerk her head away. I cup both hands around her head and she snaps, “Do your worst.”
“Oh I will,” I promise. “But I don’t want to hurt you beyond what you can take. You know why?”
“Because you’re a sick fuck,” she mutters, her eyes sliding away.
“Perhaps. But you, Selene, you intrigue me. You don’t want to submit, yet you do.”
“That’s not true. It’s an act.”
“It’s not. It’s who you are.”
“You don’t know me. You don’t know who I am. What I am.”
“All the more reason to keep you alive. You’ll tell me your secrets, one by one.”
“You could mind wipe me. Make me love you. Then it would be over.”
“I told you I’d never mind wipe you. I keep my promises, pet.”
She closes her eyes. She looks as tired as I feel. Someone must have put her up to this plan, and that someone should pay. “You’re so young. Too young to be so jaded. Innocent…”
“I’ll never love you,” she blurts.
My eyes widen. “Love, pet? I never said anything about love. I’ve lived two thousand years on this earth, most as a creature of darkness. Everyone I’ve ever loved has died. Love is nothing. Fleeting. Emotion. In the end, everything crumbles to dust. Everything.”
“Except you,” she says, struggling upright. “You live on and on and on.”
I should correct her cheekiness, but she’s right.
“You should let me kill you. It’d be a mercy.”
She so sincere, I burst out laughing. “You are refreshing, pet. The first to convince me to end my life because of my...what’s the word...Ennui?”
“You’re not happy.” she insists. “You are sick of living. Anyone can see it. After a while, what is the point?”
“Living. Living is the point.”
“A life without love,” she says. “Is it worth it?”
“No. No it’s not. But love is nothing. A color in the sky before the dawn. Beautiful, fleeting. Dissipates as quickly as it comes.”
“Like humans. Like us shifters.” Her eyes are closed again, pain creasing her face. She’s so young, to be so aware of death. To be fearless in the face of it.