Taming the Vampire: A Paranormal Romance Novella by Chloe Hart Page B

with
her.
    “Hey, man, you okay?”
    He opened his eyes to see a teenager standing
in front of him, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.
    “Yeah, I’m okay. Had one too many I
guess.”
    The boy shifted his feet. “Then I guess you
can give me your wallet, and your watch if you’ve got one.”
    Jack stared at him in disbelief. “Kid, you
should move on. Now.”
    A glint of silver, and it wasn’t so funny
anymore. Jack reminded himself he was under the weather, to put it
mildly, and anyway he didn’t fight humans—even when they richly
deserved it.
    He held out his hands. “I don’t carry a
wallet, and I don’t wear a watch, but—”
    There was a snarl of rage, a blur of golden
light, and Liz had her hands around the kid’s throat.
    “Liz! He’s human. Not a shining example of
the species, but human.”
    Jack felt a rush of sensation. He turned his
head towards the harbor, and saw that the eastern sky was turning
pink.
    The sun was coming up. The spell was
ending.
    He looked back at Liz, and saw the glow
around her fading slowly, until she looked like an ordinary woman
again.
    Not that Liz Marlowe could ever look
ordinary.
    “Lady, chill out!”
    “Chill out yourself, you little scum bag,”
Liz spat at him, her hands still around his throat. “If you laid a
hand on him I’ll knock your teeth down your throat. Did you?”
    “Jesus, lady, what’s it to you? Do you even
know this guy?”
    “He’s mine,” Liz said between her teeth.
    Jack reeled back, and if he hadn’t bumped
into the building behind him he would have fallen to the ground.
She’d used the words of the claiming ritual, the words no vampire
used to anyone but an intended mate. Earlier that night they’d been
pretending, but this?
    Even if she meant it, she didn’t understand.
She didn’t know what those words meant to his kind.
    But that didn’t matter to his demon. The
beast in him was straining at its bonds, and Jack was petrified.
His strength had returned, but not his control.
    Liz brought the kid’s face close to her. “Did
you hurt him?” she asked, almost wishing the answer was yes so she
could punch him into next week.
    “No!”
    She let him go abruptly. “It’s your lucky
day, then. Get the hell out of here.”
    The boy ran, and Liz turned to Jack, who was
leaning against the building as though he could barely stand. He
seemed dazed. She could tell the spell had ended, so why wasn’t
Jack back to normal?
    “He hurt you. Did he hurt you? Or is it the
spell? Why aren’t you—”
    “I’m fine.” His voice sounded strained. “Liz,
you need to get out of here.”
    “What? I’m not going anywhere. Tell me
what—”
    “Damn it, Liz!” His eyes turned yellow, his
expression feral. Fangs burst from his gums. “I’m not playing here,
warrior. Get the hell away from me.”
    Liz had seen Jack in vamp face before, but
this time something strange ran down her spine. “Jack, what’s going
on? Are you mad at me?”
    He was gripping the brick building with one
hand, and suddenly a piece of it crumbled beneath his fingers. He
stumbled backwards, and when she went to follow he held up a
hand.
    “Go. Now. Liz, I can’t—”
    What the hell was going on? “Is it the spell?
Please, Jack, just tell me what’s going on. Why are you trying to
send me away?”
    “Liz, please!” He looked desperate, and words
came tumbling out of him. “You laid claim to me. You didn’t mean
to, but...if you don’t run right now, I’ll lay claim to you. I’ll
make you mine. I can feel the demon, feel it inside me...but it’s
not just the demon...Christ, it’s all of me. You’ll try to stop me,
and the only way—Liz, I won’t stop until you kill me. Please—I
can’t—oh, God, I can’t—”
    Liz stood frozen. Staring at Jack’s face, the
torment there, she knew they were at the brink of something
irrevocable. If she went tumbling off there was no coming back.
    She was terrified. To the roots of her soul,
she was