“He was still conscious when I last saw him,and the humans were with him when we left. I think he’ll survivewhat happened to him.”
She glanced longingly at the end of theroad. “Let me go.”
Knowing that it would be a small step towardgaining her trust, Aiden reluctantly released her. “If you’re notMaggie May then you are?” he prodded when her attention remainedelsewhere.
“Magdalene Doe,” she murmured absently, morefocused on her concern for Roger than Aiden.
“As in Mary Magdalene?” he asked as hepulled the last electrode off his chest and tossed it aside.
Her eyes shot toward him. “It was neverproven she was a prostitute. Just because someone writes it down orstates it at some point in history doesn’t make it true!”
It surprised her how easily she slipped backinto a defensive stance about her name. Some of the numerousschools she’d attended had been far less fun once the kids learnedwho Mary Magdalene was in history. Many of those kids chose toforget Mary Magdalene was also a saint and focused on her possiblesordid past when it came time to tormenting Maggie.
She’d spent most of middle school denyingshe was a prostitute, and part of high school throwing dollar billsback at asshole teen boys who asked her for lap dances. Then,during her junior year and at her final school, she’d realized shewas throwing back perfectly good money and pocketed it.
They’d stopped throwing the bills afterwardand started waving them in her face. One day, having had enough,she’d knocked Ray Jessup on his ass with a roundhouse punch to theface. She’d bashed out two of his teeth and taken the ten he’d beenwaving at her.
Afterward, there had been no more catcalls,and the boys in that school had given her a wide berth when theysaw her in the halls. She’d never had a lot of friends, but afterthat incident, almost everyone avoided her. She may have been asickly baby and child, but she’d outgrown that period of her lifeto become strong and unruly enough, so the kids in most of theschools she attended became scared of her.
Aiden grinned at her, pleased to see thefire back in her eyes instead of uneasiness as Magdalene gloweredat him. “I never said anything about her being a prostitute, and Ilike the name Magdalene,” he told her.
“I don’t care,” she retorted.
His eyes shot beyond her when somethingcracked behind them. He stepped forward to clasp her elbow and drawher closer. “We have to keep moving,” he said briskly.
Maggie tugged at her arm, and he releasedher as he stalked deeper into the shadows. He searched around themas he scented the air, but all he detected was the briny smell ofthe ocean and the feral aroma of nearby rats.
“Are you a vampire?” Maggie blurted as shewalked beside him.
“What do you think?”
“I think you bit me! And it was a dickheadmove!”
Aiden winced. That never should have beenthe way he first tasted her blood. He could take the memory fromher, but the idea of messing with her mind in such a way made hisgut clench. He would have to make it up to her, somehow, once hegot them out of this mess.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But I was weakened bytheir first attack on me, and I needed blood to fight them again.Without it, we’d be dead.”
Maggie frowned at him before leaning back onher heels to inspect his injury. Her breath hissed in through herteeth. His flesh was still raw and bloody, but where a human wouldhave been on the ground, unable to move, and crying, he stroderelentlessly forward. Not only would a human be in the fetalposition, but their spine would also still be visible. However,Aiden’s muscle had already knitted closed to cover the bone.
“How is that possible?” she whispered.
Aiden didn’t have to ask what she wastalking about; he knew what she meant. “I heal fast, and your bloodhelped speed up the process.”
Maggie tore her gaze away from his back. Thehair on her neck rose as some of her mother’s rambling wordsfloated back across her mind.Monsters. Red eyes. Vampires.Monsters! Monsters! Monsters! Take your blood, take your body!VAMPIRE!!!!
Maggie gulped as she recalled that last wordbeing screamed at her while she’d hurried from the institute whereher mother resided.
CHAPTER 12
“Vampire,” she whispered.
Aiden became alarmed by the sudden pallor ofher skin. She’d been apprehensive earlier, but she looked ready topass out now. “Are you okay?” he inquired.
Shaking her head, Maggie took a deep breathand focused on the now. She could sort out the mess with her motherlater. She was walking with a vampire while being stalked by other,killer vampires. Those things took precedence over her mother’sinsanity… or lack thereof.
“I'm all right,” she said.
“Can you tell me what happened before I wokein the ambulance?” he asked Maggie. “I thought they were going tokill me; how did I survive?”
