“This thing between us ends. Right now.” She looks away, her skin so pale it’s almost translucent in the moonlight streaming in from the open window. “I just received word that my mother is on her way. She’ll be here soon.”
Suddenly, I’m not worried about my hangover. Lizzie might have a soft spot for me, but her mother has an even more fearsome reputation than she does. If she finds out her daughter has been sleeping with a lowly witch, she’s liable to yank every drop of blood from my body.
Damn it, Bunny was right. I never should have messed with vampires.
I happen to like my blood right where it is, so I jump up. My stomach sloshes in a worrying way, but I don’t have time to be sick right now. I start throwing my clothes on. “How long do I have?”
“Not long.” She sounds almost bored. Like I’ve been a fun toy she’s amused herself with, and now it’s time for that toy to be discarded.
No reason for that to sting. I knew what this was when I let her seduce me in that club all those months ago. Silly me for getting sentimental. But last night felt … different. Or maybe that was the tequila making me silly and sentimental. Lizzie brought me back here because I was making a fool of myself—not because she actually cares.
If she cared, she wouldn’t be standing idly by while my death approaches.
Gods, but I’m a fool. I actually started to fall for her. I yank on my boots and tie them quickly. “If you’d just let me go home, this wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Just another mistake in a long line of them.”
Well, fuck, that definitely stings. I drag in a breath, trying to think past all the emotions swirling with leftover tequila in my system. I can focus on my bruised heart later. If I don’t get away, Lizzie’s mother might rip it right out of my chest. “You have to get me out.” Lizzie has the same powers as her mother—as the rest of her family. She can protect me long enough for me to run for my life.
“I don’t have time. I have to meet her when she arrives.” She drags off her clothes from last night—from earlier tonight?—and sets about dressing in a clean outfit. Fool that I am, I can’t stop myself from mourning each inch of skin covered by her plain button-up dress. I’ve never had a lover quite as physically perfect as Lizzie, and what she can do with blood heightens every sexual encounter we’ve had.
And she … took care of me last night? Even though I know better, I can’t help thinking about that soft moment in the car. I didn’t imagine it. I swear I didn’t. I hesitate, my heart pounding. Maybe I was wrong about this being nothing. Maybe … “Come with me,” I blurt.
Lizzie lifts a brow. “Evelyn.”
I know better than to fight a losing battle, but my foolish heart has run away with my mouth. “Please, Lizzie. You’re more than the weapon they use you for. You could be so much more.” I don’t want to change her. Never that. But what could she be if she was actually free of her family’s shackles? I never would have dared ask if I wasn’t scared for my life.
She crosses to me and catches my chin lightly. Her dark eyes are fathomless. “I honestly can’t tell if you’re trying to manipulate me or if you actually believe that.” She shakes her head slowly. “Either way, it won’t work. I have no need to be more than a weapon. I enjoy being a weapon.” Her grip goes tight and for several beats I think she might do something truly shocking, like kiss me. Even though I know better, I go a little soft in response.
Then she pushes me away. “Get out.”
I don’t have a heart left to break. Life is cruel and merciless at the best of times, and people even more so. I know that. Of course I know that. It doesn’t change the fact that it hurts to have the woman I’ve spent six months sleeping with basically admit that she doesn’t care if I live or die.
On the heels of the emotional turmoil from last night, there’s a part of me that wants to curl up and just let what will happen happen.
The impulse doesn’t last long, but it shames me nonetheless.
I watch Lizzie walk out of the room, her stride long and predatory. She’s not even going to stick around to ensure I make it to an exit before her mother comes calling. That’s all I’m worth to her. Less than nothing.
The thought is at least a little bit a lie, but somehow that just makes it hurt worse. She does care about me, but not enough to stand between me and her family. Not enough to save my life. “You are such a bitch sometimes, Lizzie.”
I’m not going down like this.
I go to my knees and reach under the bed to pull out the pack I stashed there the second time Lizzie brought me to her house. As Bunny used to say, always have an exit route or six planned. It pays to be prepared for any eventuality in normal life, and sleeping with a vampire makes that doubly true. You never know when you’ll run into your not-girlfriend’s murderous mother.
I sling the backpack on and turn to the window. We’re on the second floor facing the front of the house, so that exit is out of the question. No reason to present a target. There’s a staircase used by the human servants near the back of the house; a door there will get me out. It means hiking through the forest that surrounds the estate, but it’s a small price to pay.
I start for the door, but pause in front of the dresser with the big antique mirror attached to it. Lizzie doesn’t wear jewelry as a general rule, but there’s a bowl of it just sitting there for the taking. Bracelets, necklaces, rings, and brooches, all studded with jewels. Many of the pieces look like they’re hundreds of years old. This kind of haul could set me up for years … or at least a few months of lavish living.
I don’t make a habit of stealing from friends or lovers, but Lizzie’s just proven that she’s neither. That makes this jewelry fair game. I cast one furious look at the door and then shrug out of my backpack to dump the jewelry into it. The satisfaction I feel at the thought of her rage when she finds it gone …
I’m being petty and I don’t give a fuck.
The hallway is blessedly empty and I don’t bother to be quiet as I sprint toward the stairs. It’s not like I can effectively hide from a vampire of Lizzie’s family. Their magic is even more blood-based than normal bloodline vampires. In addition to a whole host of tricks, they can sense any creature with blood in their bodies within a certain range.
Makes for a quick game of hide-and-seek, I imagine.
I take the staircase down, moving so fast, I almost trip. I’d love to say all the sex with Lizzie has improved my cardio, but the truth is that I only run when jobs go bad, and my jobs rarely go bad. If you have to run, you’re already fucked.
Each breath feels like a knife in my lungs, but I can’t afford to slow down. Not a single person appears as I burst out of the doorway at the bottom of the stairs. Where’s the door? I clocked it when I explored the house, but adrenaline and my hangover make my head buzz and muddy my memory. There are dozens of doors dotting this hallway. Servants’ quarters? Was the exit four doors down or five?
A shiver shoots down my spine as my sensing ward around the house pings the presence of … Five. Ten. Twenty-five. Oh fuck, that’s a lot of vampires. What is this, a family reunion?