Blood's Fury (Deadly Beauties 1)

I nod, as if she can see me, and then I hang up the phone before she has time to reprimand me more. I'm the only person in the world who gets in trouble for saving a life.

Sheesh.

"Thanks for staying late again, Alyssa," Mary, another waitress murmurs as she strips off her apron.

"It's fine. It's dead in here anyway. I should be able to handle it by myself."

I have one customer who is simply here for the Wifi. He's about my age with black hair, tattoos peeking up from his shirt collar, and a piercing on his right eyebrow. I've studied him too much, since it's a little dull in here tonight.

I've barely seen his face though. He's kept his back to us since he arrived an hour ago.

Mary smiles, offering me a farewell-wave, and heads out to throw her arms around a beefed up guy who is leaning against his car. I smirk as they entangle in a rather showy kiss, and then I flip on my phone to pick up reading my book where I left off.

"Need anything?" I ask the guy who has no interest in spending a dime in the diner.

"No, still fine," he chirps.

I hear the door open, and I look up to see a tan guy with onyx, glistening hair, as he walks in. His eerie smile sends shivers down my spine, and I glance over to see the human in the corner shiver too.

Looking back, I see his glowing blue eyes spark and flicker before dying back down to a deep brown.

Shit. Vampire.

Swallowing hard, I murmur, "Can I help you?"

He smiles bigger, malice burning in his eyes as he sits down at the bar directly in front of me.

"What time do you close?"

"Um, an hour."

"Ah. Then I'll take some coffee while I wait."

I get sick as he stares at me, and I slowly back up, refusing to pull my eyes away. He knows who I am, and I know who he is. He's the night stalker from last night.

"You shouldn't be in here right now. You know what I am," I almost whisper.

"You shouldn't have meddled in my meal and then sent the council after me," he growls.

I narrow my eyes as I place the cup of coffee in front of him, and then I do my best to act composed and in control.

"You shouldn't have been in the open. You risk us all when you kill like that," I murmur in a nearly muted tone.

The sparks in his eyes ignite more fiercely as he smirks all the more - the devil's air in his breath.

"Well, I was famished, and there she was - drunk and alone."

"That's not how things work and you know it."

"Neither is interrupting one's kill. You're just lucky no one wants a damn war."

I laugh a little louder than I meant to, and he glares at me.

"No one would start a war over this shit," I daringly release through my mocking laughter. "You're a speck in a world far larger than you. Interrupting your brazen, open kill was nothing but warranted in the eyes of everyone's councils. I pray someone caught it on tape, and then they'll exterminate you."

He shakes his head, smiling more. "If they saw me, they saw you. You might want to recant that last little bit."

My feigned confidence doesn't waver, and I keep the conversation below the register a human can hear. "The force I used was invisible. You had a girl bent backwards with your fangs dug in. All they'll see is you mysteriously flying backwards and me screaming for help as I rush to her body. Believe me, I've ran through it a time or two."