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Elijah had stilled before me, his dark eyes hidden under furrowed brows. “How very perceptive of you. Humans are such simple, stupid creatures. But you’ve surprised me, Miss Vincent.”
Cold fear gripped my chest, stealing the breath from my lungs as I stood frozen in place.
“Who are you really?” I whispered the words, dreading the answer. An answer that deep down I already knew. I might have known all along, if I had only listened to that quiet voice of warning.
Elijah began to morph before my eyes, his decrepit form billowing outwards like a silkscreen, revealing the monster hidden beneath. His dark eyes took on a scarlet hue, his lips pulling back to reveal yellow pointed teeth. My mind struggled to comprehend the change taking place before my eyes. This transformation wasn’t the same as the shifter’s or Jordan’s. Those changes had been physical.
But this change was internal, happening in my own head like a switch had been flicked, and suddenly I was able to see what had been right in front of me all along. All this time, I had not been conversing with Elijah, I had not been standing in the presence of a helpless old man.
I stood, trembling, my heart pounding in my chest as the man revealed his true nature.
My eyes had merely been tricked into thinking that I had, like a magician performing miracles while his assistant worked the real magic behind the curtain. My subconscious, however, had known that something was wrong, something didn’t sit right about the picture that had been painted in my mind.
“Jeremy.”
The wicked man smiled at me, a cruel curve on cracked lips. His blond hair fell in stringy tendrils, framing a face twisted with malicious intent. “The mind is an easy thing to tamper with. You humans rely far too heavily on your pathetic, unrefined senses.”
My legs screamed for me to run, but I couldn’t move at all. It was as if something invisible held me in place, similar to Sigrid’s insidious ability. I recognized the sensation, realized that this, too, was only in my head.
“What are you doing here?” I spat, mentally scrambling for some sort of plan.
Jordan was miles away, Sigrid unreachable back at the house. Dylan and River had both accompanied Jordan on her mission. I was alone. Completely, utterly alone with the most dangerous man in Manhattan.
I couldn’t run for the house. I couldn’t risk endangering the twins. Licking my lips, I balled my fists, bracing for an attack I knew was coming.
My chances were slim, the odds of survival in the negatives even, but I had no choice but to fight.
“You are not welcome here.” My voice shook as I spoke but my words were fierce nonetheless, “If you hurt me, Jordan will have your head.”
Jeremy raised a brow, a look of sick amusement on his face. His stance was casual, his hands in his pockets, but his eyes were that of a predator, keenly aware of his prey. “Ah, you might be right.” He grinned at me, a sly smile revealing rows of dirty teeth and pointed canines. “But Jordan is not here, is she?”
My last shred of confidence left me when he called my bluff, and the glee on his face told me he knew the truth. Nobody was coming to save me.
“Ah, so you are alone out here. How does it feel to be abandoned by the one you love?”
“She didn’t abandon me,” I hissed, bristling under his hungry gaze. “She’s hunting you down as we speak. I would run while you still can.”
Jeremy only snickered, waving my words away with a flick of his wrist. “Jordan is chasing empty trails. Your darling mate has played her part beautifully, leaving me alone with her most prized possession.”
My heart sank at his words. We had played right into this evil man’s hands.
“Unfortunately, you’ve messed with my plans,” Jeremy lamented, inspecting his lengthening claws. “I hadn’t expected you to catch on so quickly. But now that the cat’s out of the bag, I’m going to have to kill you.”
He moved before he’d even finished his sentence, his claws poised to strike.
In the split second before he could slash me into bloody ribbons, I dropped and rolled, narrowly avoiding those gleaming talons.
Jeremy seemed surprised at my dodge, most likely expecting his hold on my mind to have kept me in place. But he had made the mistake of revealing his power, and I understood exactly how it worked. It was my mind that he used against me, so long as I kept a strong hold of myself and tapped into my unconscious brain, he had no power over me.
Mental clarity would not be enough to save me though, Jeremy still had speed and strength on his side. Not to mention fangs and claws and a roaring bloodlust.
His eyes bored into my very soul, emanating a predatory hunger. My breath caught in my throat as I stumbled backward, my mind racing for a way to escape. But the vampire was swift, moving with inhuman speed. He lunged toward me again, teeth bared in malevolent fury.
Spurred on by a pulsing terror, I glanced around me for any kind of defense. In a desperate bid to end things quickly, I reached out and grasped the nearest object—a rusted garden rake leaning against the shed. With all my strength and my own unbridled fury, I swung it upward, the sharp spikes finding their mark in the vampire’s chest.
A guttural scream erupted from Jeremy’s throat, his unearthly features contorting with agony. Blood dripped from his wound, sizzling as it contacted the ground. He fastened his blood-red eyes on me, gripping the handle against his chest. “I’ll kill you, you bitch!”
His high-pitched shriek pierced my ears, setting my nerves on edge and igniting a primal fear in my chest.
