mother captive for centuries, torturing them for his depraved pleasure.
The same bastard who’d made Sean into what he was.
Half-breed.
Not even his mother knew exactly how he’d been turned. She’d been pregnant when turned by a vampire. Somehow, it made him vampire as well.
The demon captured her right after the attack, and decided to experiment on them both.
When Sean had been born, he’d been other. His soul split.
He knew a lot more about vampires. Now he wished he’d found someone to teach him about demons.
Mayah’s words from the forest drifted to him. He did deny half of who he was, didn’t even want to think about it. He sure as hell didn’t think it would be his peril to continue ignoring it. Yet…
The door opened and Mayah strode outside.
He glanced up, then froze in shock.
She’d washed off the thick layers of make-up and now looked like a fresh faced twenty-year-old. Her multi-colored hair had been unbraided and fell around her shoulders, down her back, to her knees. Shades of whites, blondes, and reds mixed in a riot of hues.
Her eyes, a blue-green surrounded by a thin band of black, seemed lighter without all the kohl. And his imagination took off once more.
She caught him staring and her cheeks darkened with pink as she nibbled her lush lower lip. “What?”
“You look so different,” he said, slightly awestruck.
If he hadn’t seen her fight earlier, didn’t know she was a demon, he’d think her an innocent young mortal. Someone who needed to be kept safe, protected.
She scowled. “Well, I’m not putting more face paint on. I didn’t wear it by choice in the first place.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that as he struggled to rein in his thoughts.
She went inside, clasping the shiny necklace around her throat, then laid down on the bed. She stared at him for a long moment, her face full of distrust before finally saying, “I’m ready.”
Sean refused to allow his mind to follow that one down the gutter. “I’ll ensure your safety.”
Her lips twisted in disbelief. After a few even longer moments, her eyes finally fluttered closed. She remained tense, though, her fear and mistrust clear.
Sean locked the door, then glanced out the window as he made sure the curtains were closed tight. He waited a good twenty minutes before he heard her relax on the bed. He didn’t move for fear of startling her.
When he turned around a while later, he studied Mayah. So still, she could have been a corpse.
He wasn’t here to fantasize over her beauty, her rebellious spirit that for some reason called to him. He was here to get her to his clan, gain her help in figuring out this war everyone was worrying about. Instead, he was going to go off to who in the hells knew where, on a futile mission to save someone who, for all they knew, was already dead.
For a long moment, he struggled with the urge to do as she feared. Tie her up and cart her home. Where she’d be safe. But he’d never treated anyone, certainly not a woman, thusly.
And for some reason, he found himself wanting to gain her trust, to prove to her that not everyone out in the world was like the evil ones she’d encountered. A small part of him whispered the desire to keep her to himself for a little while longer as well. To try to figure her out, if such a thing would ever be possible.
With a deep sigh, he turned back to the window. What in the hells was wrong with him lately? His thoughts bouncing here and there, to places they shouldn’t touch with a twenty-foot stick. And yet, all his senses were attuned to the woman laying just a few yards away. He smelled her flowery scent, felt sparks of energy over his skin from her presence. He inhaled deeply, taking it all in, his mind a mass of swirling confusion she seemed to light inside him.
* * *
Mayah drifted in darkness, feeling caught in that place between waking and asleep.
Light flashed. Something tugged at her soul. Then the world exploded in colors
The same bastard who’d made Sean into what he was.
Half-breed.
Not even his mother knew exactly how he’d been turned. She’d been pregnant when turned by a vampire. Somehow, it made him vampire as well.
The demon captured her right after the attack, and decided to experiment on them both.
When Sean had been born, he’d been other. His soul split.
He knew a lot more about vampires. Now he wished he’d found someone to teach him about demons.
Mayah’s words from the forest drifted to him. He did deny half of who he was, didn’t even want to think about it. He sure as hell didn’t think it would be his peril to continue ignoring it. Yet…
The door opened and Mayah strode outside.
He glanced up, then froze in shock.
She’d washed off the thick layers of make-up and now looked like a fresh faced twenty-year-old. Her multi-colored hair had been unbraided and fell around her shoulders, down her back, to her knees. Shades of whites, blondes, and reds mixed in a riot of hues.
Her eyes, a blue-green surrounded by a thin band of black, seemed lighter without all the kohl. And his imagination took off once more.
She caught him staring and her cheeks darkened with pink as she nibbled her lush lower lip. “What?”
“You look so different,” he said, slightly awestruck.
If he hadn’t seen her fight earlier, didn’t know she was a demon, he’d think her an innocent young mortal. Someone who needed to be kept safe, protected.
She scowled. “Well, I’m not putting more face paint on. I didn’t wear it by choice in the first place.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that as he struggled to rein in his thoughts.
She went inside, clasping the shiny necklace around her throat, then laid down on the bed. She stared at him for a long moment, her face full of distrust before finally saying, “I’m ready.”
Sean refused to allow his mind to follow that one down the gutter. “I’ll ensure your safety.”
Her lips twisted in disbelief. After a few even longer moments, her eyes finally fluttered closed. She remained tense, though, her fear and mistrust clear.
Sean locked the door, then glanced out the window as he made sure the curtains were closed tight. He waited a good twenty minutes before he heard her relax on the bed. He didn’t move for fear of startling her.
When he turned around a while later, he studied Mayah. So still, she could have been a corpse.
He wasn’t here to fantasize over her beauty, her rebellious spirit that for some reason called to him. He was here to get her to his clan, gain her help in figuring out this war everyone was worrying about. Instead, he was going to go off to who in the hells knew where, on a futile mission to save someone who, for all they knew, was already dead.
For a long moment, he struggled with the urge to do as she feared. Tie her up and cart her home. Where she’d be safe. But he’d never treated anyone, certainly not a woman, thusly.
And for some reason, he found himself wanting to gain her trust, to prove to her that not everyone out in the world was like the evil ones she’d encountered. A small part of him whispered the desire to keep her to himself for a little while longer as well. To try to figure her out, if such a thing would ever be possible.
With a deep sigh, he turned back to the window. What in the hells was wrong with him lately? His thoughts bouncing here and there, to places they shouldn’t touch with a twenty-foot stick. And yet, all his senses were attuned to the woman laying just a few yards away. He smelled her flowery scent, felt sparks of energy over his skin from her presence. He inhaled deeply, taking it all in, his mind a mass of swirling confusion she seemed to light inside him.
* * *
Mayah drifted in darkness, feeling caught in that place between waking and asleep.
Light flashed. Something tugged at her soul. Then the world exploded in colors
Similar Books
