How did he explain to her the blood he’d seen drenching his hands? How did he explain he was losing his mind and he suspected it was because he hadn’t killed anyone recently? They’d always known Savages maintained their intelligence and didn’t become mindless animals once they gave in to their bloodlust, but did they go insane if they tried to resist their compulsion to kill?
If that was true, then there were only two options left to him—give in to the darkness lurking beneath his surface for centuries or death. Out of those two, he knew which one he’d prefer.
He had to get Simone away from him and somewhere safe before he lost himself to whatever madness this was.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” he said.
Simone didn’t believe him, but she didn’t see any good in pushing him on it when he was so unstable. “What happened outside? Why did you burn like that? I’ve seen you in the sun before.” She didn’t like bringing up their encounter on the beach, but Killean had stood in the sun’s rays then.
“I’ve killed enough that the sun affects me like it does other Savages now,” he said bluntly. “Maybe not as bad as some, but bad enough that I cannot walk freely in it again.”
Simone gulped. Beneath his natural, woodsy scent, she detected the rot of a Savage on him, but it was nowhere near as bad as the monsters who held her prisoner, and his outdoorsy scent masked the odor unless she was searching for it. There was no masking the scent seeping from Joseph and his followers.
“You really did kill innocents to get in there,” she murmured as the reality of what he’d done sank in.
She didn’t know why it had taken her this long to realize it. Maybe it was because most of their time together had been spent running for their lives, or because he was so different from Joseph and the others that she hadn’t believed it. Or maybe it was because, even with knowing what he’d done, she still wanted to draw him close and kiss him while she held and comforted him.
“What do you think I did to get in there,hugpeople?” he spat.
Simone didn’t back away from his fury. He wouldn’t hurt her; he may kill anyone else, but he wouldn’t harm her. He’d given up and risked too much to rescue her only to hurt her now. Besides, if he wanted her dead or a monster, he could have killed her or left her with Joseph.
Nausea twisted in her belly as a new thought occurred to her. “Those people you killed are dead because of me.”
“No,” Killean said. He loathed the idea of her carrying any guilt for his actions. “They are dead because ofme. I chose to murder them, and I did it forme. Don’t feel sorry for them; they were all pieces of shit and some of the worst of the human race. Each of them was either a rapist or child molester. Their deaths mean someone else won’t suffer at their hands.”
“I don’t understand why you did it though,” she whispered around the lump in her throat. “Why give up what you knew and everything you were, forme?”
Killean turned off the water and grabbed the hand towel from the rack. He patted the blisters on his hands before shoving past her and into the bedroom.
“Killean?” she inquired.
“Because I couldn’t let you stay there,” he said as he lifted the phone from the nightstand beside the bed. He dialed the front desk.
“Why not?” Simone demanded.
“Hello,” a voice on the other end of the line said.
“We need towels in room twelve, send someone,” Killean commanded.
“Right away,” the voice replied and disconnected.
“What are you doing?” Simone asked.
“If I can’t go out for breakfast, then I’ll order in,” Killean replied as he hung up the phone.
Simone looked from him to the phone and back again. “You plan to feed on whoever comes here?”
“Vamps require blood to survive, dolly.”
Simone fisted her hands as he called her that again. He’d also called her a dolly on the beach; she hadn’t liked it then, but she hated it now! After everything she’d endured, she was as far from a dolly, or the Simone who’d stood on that beach, as she could get. Then, before she lost her temper with him, she realized he was baiting her into an argument so she wouldn’t pursue her line of questioning.
“Why did you come for me?” she asked.
Killean lifted his head to stare at her. “Because I did.”
For the first time in her life, Simone stomped her foot as her temper frayed. “That’s not an answer!”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
