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The hand.

They are unmistakably his.

And now they are mine.

But what the fuck do I do with them?

Chapter 2

Luna

Iam still staring at the tongue on the floor when the bell above the door jingles and a rush of cold air sweeps into the room. The papers on the desk flutter. But only a little. They are weighed down by the box and the blood.

I look up in a panic and reach for the box.

But the person in the doorway isn’t moving. They are stock still, wearing a large grey hoodie, a black leather jacket, and torn jeans. I look at their feet. They are bare. Red toenails.

Bare feet?

Bare feet.

Shit. It’s freezing outside, so the only reason someone would be wandering around with no shoes on is if they can’t feel the cold.

And there’s only one type of creature who can’t feel the extremes of hot and cold the way humans do.

I move quickly to the other side of the desk, shielding the box from view.

I’m staring at a vampire. I have a box full of bloody body parts in my shop, and a tongue lying on the floor, and a vampire is standing in the doorway.

“I’m sorry, we’re about to close.”

I should have locked the goddamn door.

“I’m not here for the books,” says a raspy female voice that sounds like it should smell of cigarettes.

The box. It’s the fucking box. The smell of the blood brought her here.

She is breathing heavily. I can see her chest rising and falling. She tilts her head. The motion is jerky and not quite natural. I try to look into the shadows of her face and catch sight of her features, but there is nothing there.

Until… a flash of red.

She pushes her hood away from her face.

Her eyes are sparkling with small red dots.

Again, the lights overhead flicker, and I feel like the ice in my veins is melting, slowing down, turning to sludge.

I try to move but my feet are planted flat on the floor and my legs are not cooperating.

Shadows shift and swell in the corners of my vision as if I’m dangerously close to passing out.

The way they did in the accident.

Fear crawls down my limbs. Sharp fingernails of dread, clawing the underside of my skin and making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

She is a vampire.

The way she moves, the red freckles in her eyes. She looks like an apex predator assessing her prey.