Page 10 of Midnight Kiss
“You’re the best person I know. Seriously.” And then she left, and it was just Emily seated at her desk, steadily working away, occasionally typing on the computer or getting up to fetch and shelve books.
But none of them was the book I needed, and my frustration grew thicker by the second. Not only was the book not here, but another vampire had beat me to the library. I’d smelled a hint of whoever they were when I’d arrived, a faint citrus scent, but I’d dismissed it as them scouting.
The fact that they’d already made an attempt on Emily’s life was … annoying.
Not only had they beaten me to the book, but they likely knew its whereabouts. And if that was the case, they might be stealing the tome as I stood here, impotently watching her.
Leave. To check the apartment, of course. I shifted, stepping silently between the bookcases, and Emily’s head snapped up, her gaze darting toward me, even though I wasn’t visible to her eyes.
A coldness swept over me.
How?
It was impossible that she could hear or see me. And sense me? Mortals had somewhat of a sixth sense, but not to this degree.
I waited, and a sense of curiosity nearly overtook me. Would she keep staring? Would she get up and approach?
But no, Emily looked down at her computer screen again, twisting a few strands of auburn hair behind one delicate ear. If I concentrated hard enough, I could smell her blood and something else—an essence that was purely her.
I took another step.
Again, her head lifted and her gaze focused on the spot where I’d moved.
It was enough to make me glance down at my body, even though it wasn’t visible to me.
Emily. The name in my mind again.
This time, I moved again, and her heart rate lifted. She moved in her chair, turning around, searching for what had spooked her, and I couldn’t help the smirk that twisted my lips. I stepped toward her with a predatory grace, every movement bringing me closer to the back of her chair.
She kept searching for me and found nothing.
Finally, I positioned myself behind her chair, the urge to touch her growing stronger by the moment. She was pure. That was the entirety of the problem. A person who gave to other people, willingly, when she should keep to herself. Pure and sweet, but there was something hidden underneath it all. A darkness. The fear in her eyes when she searched for what had spooked her told me everything I needed to know.
She was prey. She had been prey before. And she could sense when a predator was near, like the deer sensed the wolf.
Emily’s tapered, pale fingers touched the back of her fine neck. She massaged a sore spot there, and I watched, fascinated, by the manner in which she moved.
Slowly, against my better judgment, I bent forward and inhaled the scent of her. Like jasmine and honey, an intoxicating sweetness tainted only by the metallic tang of her blood.
Goosebumps spread down the back of her neck, and she stiffened.
She turned around in her chair, her nose inches from mine, and stared through me, searching again, terror clawing through her gaze.
I could snap her neck now and be done with it. I wasn’t gifted at probing human minds for information nor at willing them to do what I wanted, unlike Cassia, but I could bite her now unaware, feed off her, discard her body.
I could break her and find the book later.
She let out the tiniest huff of breath, and I tasted it on my lips.
The sensation was a curse.
Her name was caught behind my fangs. I straightened and stepped back.
Emily stared for a second longer before returning to her work, and I remained. Watching.
She finished her work with the setting sun, and exited the library alone, into the busy streets. I followed, speeding along behind the cab she had hailed until it pulled up, in the darkness, outside her apartment building.
Emily opened the door for herself, and I held it, still invisible, and was tempted to hold out a hand to help her onto the sidewalk.