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“They don’t know, do they?” He laughs again. I wish the sound wasn’t so enticing. At the moment, it’s kind of making me want him. More than a little bit too.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I refuse to meet his gaze again. I can’t. He’ll see the truth there whether I want him to or not.
He closes the gap between us, and grasps my chin between his fingers. His touch is firm, but not painful, and it’s clear he’s not trying to hurt me. Which is just confusing. He’s a vampire. Surely he should be trying to attack me and drink my human veins all dry. Except, no, he wouldn’t because I’m not hu...I’m not like that anymore.
“What power is it, Ashryn?”
“How do you know my name?” I demand. He’s been so careful not to use it. And in pushing me into telling him, I thought he genuinely didn’t know.
“I’ve known your name since the beginning. They knew you were coming.”
“Who did?”
“The men you attacked. Well, and woman. But Valerie was a bitch, she hardly counts.”
How am I supposed to respond to that? He’s talking about them as if they’re just normal people. Which wasn’t right. The last thing vampires are is people.
“How?” I ask instead.
“It was a trap, Ashryn.” This time when he uses my name, I listen to it properly, the main shock having worn off. Much to my dismay, I kind of like it. The way it rolls off his tongue, like a caress. I look him up and down. I don’t think I’d mind a caress from him.
Oh no. Why am I letting him affect me this way? Maybe it’s the va...new part of me. Maybe it’s taking over already and giving me thoughts I don’t really want or need. I need him though. No. I don’t.
“No, it wasn’t,” I insist, shaking my head so much it almost hurts. I refuse to believe it. A trap, particularly one co-ordinated with vampires, just isn’t possible. It goes against just about everything the guild stands for, and then some.
“Then how do you explain how they managed to catch you so off guard?”
“Bad luck,” I mutter. It’s the only explanation I can accept right now. Maybe in time I’ll change my mind. But it’ll take more than a vampire telling me for me to believe it. That wasn’t how I’ve been raised to think.
“Keep telling yourself that, Ashryn.”
Urgh. Why is he still using my name, it’s all kind of confusing. Actually, maybe I should be asking myself why I like him using my name. But there’s something about it that calls to me.
One of the hunter’s once tried to convince me that mates are real. But I still don’t believe him. Maybe for werewolves, but even then, I don’t think so. There are too many reports of lone creatures for any of that.
Plus, where’s free will if you’re fated to be with someone? It just doesn’t make any sense. At least not to me.
“I’ll leave you to think about thing,” Dimitri says. “But I don’t think it’s a coincidence you were sent into a trap, and you have some sort of power.”
“Surely you know what that is too?” I ask, bitterness creeping into my voice without me meaning it too.
“No, I don’t. What I do know, is that you’ll tell me in time, there’s no way you won’t.”
“Keep dreaming.” I glare at him, but deep down, I suspect he’s right.
“Oh, and its not working because you’ve just been turned. If you give it a week or two, whatever you have will come back,” he says, turning towards the door. “I’m just hoping it’s not being able to paralyse people,” he mutters to himself and I grin broadly. That would be a cool power. But that’s not why I’m grinning. I’m far too satisfied with how much I’ve managed to affect him to think about that.
“Goodbye, Dimitri.”
He jerks a little as my use of his name takes him by surprise. It takes me a little by surprise too. I think I like the way it sounds even more than I like how mine sounds when he says it.
No.
I really can’t afford to think like this.
“Goodbye, Ashryn.” He steps through the doorway, and I hear a firm click as it shuts. I wait for the telltale scrape of a key in the lock, but it doesn’t come. How odd. I’d think he’d want me to keep out of the way, particularly given I’m armed.
Then again, maybe there’s a guard outside the door. I’d check, but I suddenly feel rather sleepy. Possibly the blood loss. To be honest, everything hurts like a bitch.
