I stared at a pulsating vein in her neck and the way the skin lifted with each beat.
She said something, but her voice seemed to come from a distance. I couldn’t avert my gaze from her supple neck, thinking about quenching the thirst with one bite. I wanted to sink my teeth into her flesh…
A raspy noise, halfway between a growl and a shout, tore out of me. I should be disgusted at the thought of drinking her blood, but I wasn’t. The more I thought about biting her neck and puncturing her thick vein, the more my gums hurt.
“Alex?” Her face came into focus, and her voice sounded clear. “I don’t understand what is happening to you.”
That made two of us.
“You’re angry and in pain.” She breathed hard, too.
My pain was affecting her. She was about to throw up.
The urge to bite her neck was so strong I barely contained it.
“Alex.”
I was a breath away from biting her. Her gold cross appeared from her pocket when she moved. Sunlight glinted off it and slapped my face as if to ward me off. I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t want to bite Miss Harlowe or drink her blood. I was many things but not a monster.
She reached out, and if she touched me, I wouldn’t be able to control myself. I would bite her.
I ran as fast as my quivering legs allowed.
Whatever sickness was hurting me, I doubted the salicin crystals would fix it.
9
DEBT COLLECTOR
Alex
When I walked back home, my muscles ached and burnt, my eyelids weighed a tonne each, and my hands were shaking.
I’d become a criminal out of necessity and done things I wasn’t proud of, like stealing from a nun, a child, and a group of ladies collecting money for charity. Although in the last case, the money had really gone to someone in need.
But I’d never understood how deep my depravity was.
I wanted to…drink Miss Harlowe’s blood. Acknowledging that, in my own thoughts, disgusted me. I couldn’t linger on it for more than a second.
I didn’t necessarily want to drink from her. Anyone with a pulse would do just fine. Although her scent promised rich, flavoured blood. If I asked her nicely, she would say, “Yes,” since she’d been so kind to me.
Idiot.
What sane person would agree to let me drink their blood?
Those thoughts worried me, but at the same time, they didn’t because a part of me kept repeating those urges were right and natural.
My arse.
When I came home, I was glad Darius hadn’t arrived yet. I hadn’t seen much of him. He was taking his job at the docks seriously.
My deranged instincts might get ideas if he’d been here with me. Sometimes solitude was a blessing.
I opened the box with the sovereigns I’d set aside so far and stared at them. I had to endure the pain. It would go away, and I would keep my job.
The sound of footsteps thundered from outside, and I groaned at the loud noise drumming in my temples. With the footfalls came a strong, steady heartbeat. Since when did I hear heartbeats as if they were war drums? Since when did I find the sound enticing?
“Alex.” Darius appeared on the threshold, thin and pale as usual, jet-black hair sticking out in every direction.
