“Slim to none if I didn’t want you to,” he told her, and smiled, making her press herself back against the rock as he leaned forward, catching again her scent of wildflowers. “And at this moment, I don’t want you to leave. What woman?”
Her mouth dropped open a smidgen. He couldn’t resist rubbing his thumb over her lower lip, gently pushing it upward until she glared at him, brushing away his hand.
“You mean you’ve killed so many you don’t know which one?”
He shrugged. “I’ve killed a couple of reapers when it was them or me, yes. Are you with the Brotherhood?”
“No, I’m a lapsed Catholic,” she answered, her gaze moving over him. You look better. Your color is back, and you look even more handsome than I imagined. You’re downright simmering with sensuality, as a matter of fact. Just being close to you makes me dizzy with all sorts of emotions that I really do not want to have.
His eyebrows rose a little at the candor of her inner monologue. I didn’t think I was particularly simmering, but I will admit that despite your actions, you intrigue me sexually.
Her eyes got huge again as she blushed. “Oh my god, you could hear that?”
“Of course.”
“Even the bit about me being dizzy?”
“Even that.” He frowned. “You appear embarrassed. Why would you project to me if you did not wish me to hear your thoughts?”
“I didn’t project! My brain just thought those things up without my permission.”
He gave a mental headshake. Surely she didn’t expect him to fall for that?
“I think I’d better leave.” She got to her feet, immediately staggering into him, her legs buckling beneath her.
“You’re too weak yet,” Alec said, catching her before she toppled over. He could feel her head swim with lack of blood. “You lost too much blood. Why didn’t you stop me before I took too much?”
She let him push her back down onto the ground, gently guiding her head down between her knees. “I didn’t know you didn’t have an auto stop when you were full up.”
“I do, but replenishing all the blood I lost would have killed you. What is your name?”
“Cora. Corazon Ferreira. Do you know my sister?”
“Corazon,” he said, rolling the word around his mouth. It meant “heart,” a fitting name for a woman who was so determined to stab him in his. “Spanish?”
“Hispanic. Mom and Dad came from Chihuahua. The place, not the dogs, of course. What . . . er . . . what is your name? Patsy never told me.”
“Patsy? Ah, my former neighbor. I’m Alec. How did you know I was a Dark One?”
“Dammit!” she snapped, looking irritated.
“Pardon? ”
“‘Alec’ is one of my favorite men’s names! Now you’ve gone and ruined it for me.”
What a very strange woman she was, not at all like a tormentor. Those big eyes, and that delicate face, and a mouth that was starting to hold an unholy fascination for him . . . and then there was the rest of her. He grew hard thinking about the rest of her. With an effort, he focused his attention on the maddening, desirable woman before him. “You’re deranged, aren’t you?”
“Not quite yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you pushed me over the edge,” she answered darkly, adding, “Alec what?” Dear god, you’re sexy. You’re a vampire, but you’re so incredibly sexy. I just want to ... what on earth am I thinking? You’re evil!
Not particularly, no.
You’re undead!
Not since you fed me.
You’re a murderer! A vampire murderer! A seductive, sensual vampire murderer with gorgeous eyes and perfect hair and oh, holy mother, you can hear me, can’t you?
Yes.
Grah! Stop reading my mind!
“Darwin,” he said.
She looked like she was the one who was being driven insane. “What?”
“My name. It’s Alec Darwin. I do hope I haven’t ruined Darwin for you, as well.”
She just looked at him as if he were speaking in tongues.
“How do you know me, Corazon?”
She blinked a couple of times, and he had the oddest feeling she was withdrawing mentally. “Darwin doesn’t sound like a German name. You sound German. Do you happen to know a Scottish vampire named Avery?”
“Sins of the saints, woman!” His temper snapped, in no little part due to her scent, which was driving him wild with need. “Answer my question!”
“Don’t you touch me, you murdering bloodsucker!” she screamed, clawing her way up the rock until she stood clutching it to keep from keeling over.
Alec felt no real fear in her, just a sense of wariness, and something that he knew instinctively she was hiding from him. No doubt it was her connection with whoever had sent her to torment him. “What have I ever done to you? I don’t even know you, and you act like I’m some sort of leper. I said I was sorry about taking too much of your blood, but I believe the extenuating circumstances have been explained.”
“What did you do?” she asked him, plainly agog. “What did you do?”
“That’s what I asked, several times now, as a matter of fact.” His irritation at her faded with the knowledge that he was enjoying himself. Talking with her might be frustrating, but it was also stimulating, serving to eliminate the boredom that hung so heavily over him while he was being completely and utterly miserable.
She stomped over the three steps to where he stood, poking him on the shoulder. “You killed a woman!”
“So you said. Which one?” He wondered whether if he kissed her right then, she would kiss him back, or slap him. Perhaps she’d do both.
She poked him again. “Who knows? She was driving an oxcart.”
“A what?” Those lips were meant for kissing, even when they were tightened into a line, as they were now. He felt himself grow harder as her scent wrapped itself around him. He wished her legs would do the same.
“Oxcart. You know, a cart . . . with oxen. And she ran over me and cut off my head, and then you came along, and—”
“What the hell are you talking about? ” he interrupted, distracted almost to madness by the hot need that swelled inside him. It was tied to the hunger, part of it, yet separate. He stood watching her as she spoke, her hands waving in the air, her mouth—oh, that mouth—singing a sweet siren lure.
What was this strange sense of want? he wondered to himself. He had felt hunger for blood before, of course. He’d felt the need for sex, as well. He’d even indulged himself with human relationships whenever the loneliness got to be too much to bear. But this strange sense of possession tied to her was all wrong. He didn’t want her, not really. He wanted her blood, nothing more.
She poked him again and he took her hand, the touch swamping him with the knowledge that he was lying to himself.
“It was a long time ago, all right? Like . . . at least a couple of hundred years ago. The ox lady was dressed in some sort of a brown skirt and leather bodice. And there was a town, and some sort of a castle on a hill, and you were wearing . . .” Cora bit her lower lip, hiding her thoughts from him.
I like your Adam’s apple.
Well, not hiding those thoughts. You truly are the strangest woman I ever met.
I know. Why do I want so badly to kiss you even knowing you killed that woman right there in front of me?
Instantly, his gaze dropped to that sweet mouth. I have an even better question. Who the hell are you?
“My name is Corazon Esmeralda Ferreira, and I am a secretary with my ex-husband’s real estate agency. I am thirty-two, have a sister who’s married to a vampire, and I saw you kill a woman.”