Page 59 of Once Bitten, Twice Mine

“I don’t know how you want me to react when you say such things.”

“Just as you are now.” Valeria edged closer, placing a finger beneath Caroline’s chin and tilting her head up. “I like watching your blush move from the apples of your cheeks up to your temples and then across your nose. Sometimes your forehead gets red, and it’s the cutest thing. Though I know I’ve really got you when the flush moves down your face to your chest.”

She moved away from Valeria’s touch, mourning it, but also needing the space so she could breathe again.

“You just like it when I blush because you can see my blood.”

The corners of her mouth curled into a smile. “Yes, blushing does use a tremendous amount of blood, and it’s a marvel to witness, but listening to your heartbeat is even better. I love when it’s strong and steady, but also when it races. When it skips a beat. The living create such beautiful music.”

“You can hear my heartbeat?” Memories of dozens of moments where she looked at Valeria—or even thought of her—and her heart went wild flashed through her head, and she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

“It’s my favorite sound. I even hear it in my dreams, when nothing else can permeate my consciousness, I can still pick out your heartbeat in a house full of people.”

“Are you not supposed to be able to perceive anything when you sleep?”

When Valeria’s face shuttered, she knew she was on the verge of some important vampire lore.

“Do you know what’s happening around you as you sleep?”

“No, but I’m not a vampire.”

“Ah, so you’re just trying to get vampire information out of me to take back to Dr. Murnau so he can destroy me?”

“No one wants to destroy you,” Caroline huffed. Valeria raised her brow, and she continued. “We want the deaths to stop. The people of this town have suffered enough; they don’t need to be your food source.”

“I’m sure the cows have meetings where they say the same things about you.”

“It’s different, and you know it.”

They were silent as they scowled at one another. She didn’t want to turn Valeria over to Dr. Murnau, but she also couldn’t let her kill the people of her town without prejudice.

“Is this about the bricklayer? Because I can assure you I did everyone a favor. He does shoddy work and cuts corners both so he can keep coming back and charging more for repairs. He was going to keep charging you more and more, and when you couldn’t pay it, he planned to allow you a special payment plan to work it off. Frankly, an easy death was more than he deserved.”

Caroline shivered. “That doesn’t sound pleasant, but it still doesn’t mean he should die for it.”

“Am I really supposed to starve when there’s scum like that walking these streets?”

“So you only drink from the bad people who deserve it?”

Valeria shrugged. “I don’t keep track.”

“How often do you need to eat?”

“Fishing for more information?”

“It’s a fair question,” she said, throwing her hands up. “You have to give me some kind of information. I want to trust you, but I need to know the people in my household are safe.”

“They are. They have been for a while.”

But not always. Nelly was dead and her father—her own father—had nearly been a victim of Valeria’s bloodlust. And still, Caroline couldn’t turn her away.

“I can’t tell you much. The strictest rule we have is to never reveal ourselves to humans under penalty of death.”

“Is some vampire executioner really going to come after you if you tell me how often you eat?”

Valeria lifted her hand and tucked a loose strand of Caroline’s hair behind her ear. When her breath caught and her heart raced, she saw Valeria’s nostrils flare.

“It’s not me they would go after, cara,” she said in a low voice before sighing, “I could go a few days, but my control isn’t always good because I’m young. I’m told it will get better with time.”