“She does need to know!” Victor growls. “She can’t even defend herself against idiots in college.”
I shouldn’t have come home. I should have stayed away. After answering a thousand questions from the police, I was sick of sitting in that tainted apartment where… where something came too close to happening.
“Fighting isn’t her natural response. It didn’t take, Victor. Stop trying to force it. I will NOT allow you to do what you did to her.”
Who is her?
Doesn’t matter. They never answer me when I ask questions. They brush it off and sweep it under the proverbial rug.
I drink down another sip of my soda, tasting the hint of whiskey in it. This place never felt safe, but it feels safer than my new home right now. I need to find somewhere else to move. It’s like I’m a magnet for all the bad shit in the world.
The freak.
The freak people want to hurt.
Maybe Victor is right. I should learn to fight. Then I could stop being a victim.
My eyes fall over Kimber as she and her boyfriend do some hand-to-hand combat training. It’s actually pretty intense. And sexy.
Gage smirks at her when she misses a punch, but she spins and kicks him hard in the side, catching him off guard. He stumbles and falls forward, but he dodges her next kick, grabbing her leg and spinning her into his arms just before his lips crash down on hers.
I look away when I start feeling like a pervert spying on them instead of watching a fight. For the past two weeks, Zee has been quiet and careful. He only stays in a room with me when other people are around. I’m still trying to process everything that has happened.
I’ve learned a lot about him. He eats a lot of pie, for one. And he loves my blood, but he won’t ask for it. I have to offer it after pouring it into a glass.
I heal quickly, which is something else I’ve learned just from making the cuts for my blood to pour.
He’s actually pretty serious most of the time. Sometimes he seems shy and quiet, as though it’s his nature. He’s different from the rest, because they’re all loud and outspoken.
Zee is the kind who just sits back and soaks everything in. When he speaks, it’s because he has something important to say. For some reason, it makes him even sexier, because his words are special instead of freely given.
Something else I’ve noticed, he doesn’t screw around. Or at least he hasn’t since I’ve been here. From what I can tell, he’s never been in any relationship with someone other than his sire, and that was against his will.
He still wants me to be his—completely. He’s struggling. I’ve learned enough about his kind to know he has a lot of freaking control to deny himself. He doesn’t want me to be like him.
And I still don’t want to be a vampire.
I also don’t want to be a damsel in distress again, so I need to learn how to be badass.
Heading down the stairs, I pass Chaz, but I stagger and sway on my feet when I see his eyes. Red and black eyes. Just like the red jinn. My entire body pales, and he cocks a confused eyebrow.
“What?” he asks, glancing in the mirror. It’s like he doesn’t even see it.
“Dusters… Dusters…”
“What about my kind?” he asks with a shrug.
“They have flaky gold in their eyes…”
He tilts his head, looking back at his eyes in the mirror again, then back at me. “Yeah. That’s the way mine are right now. What about it?”
I stumble back on the steps, and his gaze narrows.
“Fuck,” he hisses, acting like he’s going to reach for me, but a saving voice reaches us.
“What’s going on here?” Zee asks.
I practically launch myself past Chaz and into Zee’s arms. Zee grabs me, pulling me against his body as I quake in his embrace. He looks between me and Chaz, and his grip tightens.