Page 5 of Midnight Whispers

“What. The. Fuck,” I hiss.

I was so naive, so desperate to be loved that I didn’t see what was happening right under my nose. Cedar turns to me and lowers his gaze; a snarl escapes his lips in challenge as he drives into her again.

My vision blurs to crimson; anger fills every part of my body and I just lunge. I know exactly what will happen to me if I were to kill another vampire, but there’s no longer a single rational thought in my mind.

“Finnian!” Asher’s voice sounds miles away.

Cedar dodges my advance, but it wasn’t him I was after anyway. Evelyn’s eyes stare back into mine, full of surprise and betrayal. I push my hand in her chest, through her sternum, and wrap it around her cold heart.

It doesn’t beat, of course. But I grip onto it tighter and rip it through her skin. A single tear slides down her cheek as she stares into my eyes, before her body goes limp and she falls to the ground at my feet. Cedar crawls to her lifeless body, sobbing as he wraps her into his arms.

Asher races to me and yanks me from the scene. “Go! Now!” he shouts. “You must leave. The Council will see this as an unforgivable act. You must go, Finnian,” he demands and wraps me into an embrace, just a goodbye for now.

The decision to leave was easy.

I no longer want to feel anything, and I know I’ll bring Asher down with me if I stay.

I passthrough my room and the walk-in closet to get to the bathroom. The walls are painted a sleet gray; it accents the white and black marble tile and the black subway tiles that line the walk-in shower. Water begins to flow from the rainfall shower head hanging from the middle of the ceiling. The taste of my victim’s blood still lingers in my mouth, so I quickly brush my teeth while the water heats. I take off the rest of my clothes, throwing them into a pile in the corner of the bathroom before stepping into the shower. The water rushes over me, washing the wine-colored dry blood off my skin. My hair is caked with remnants of my victim, so I take extra care when I wash it to make sure I get everything out.

After I cleanse my skin of the blood, I stand beneath the flow of the water. I’m reluctant to leave the warmth of the shower. Even though I don’t need the therapeutic properties of the heat for any muscle aches or pains, I still enjoy the slight increase of body temperature.

Regardless of it only being temporary.

I dress in dark jeans and a T-shirt, my typical attire. The sound of Asher’s voice carries itself from downstairs up toward my room. It only takes me a moment to realize he’s giving someone a tour of the downstairs. Not wanting to be bothered, I shut and lock my bedroom door and grab a book off the shelf.

My phone dings with an alert.

Asher: It’s just one of the contractors I’ve hired for the other room renovations.

Me: Renovations? Didn’t we just rebuild this house?

Asher: Yes, but there are some things I’m not satisfied with.

I let out a small chuckle and put my phone away. In the hundreds of years I’ve known Asher, he’s seldomly satisfied so I’m not in the least bit surprised. His voice echoes as he moves from room to room, showing the contractor what exactly he wants done.

To return to reading, I close my eyes and try to focus on quieting the sounds around me. It’s a skill I have yet to master, regardless of how hard I try. As a vampire, my hearing is extremely heightened and it’s overwhelming to say the least. Especially since I was someone who enjoyed the quietbeforegoing through the change.

Eventually the contractor leaves and Asher retires to his favorite room in the manor: the television room. I go back and forth with my choice before ultimately deciding to go and join him. The curtains are drawn, and the lights are all off, really setting the mood for the scary movie he’s turned on.

“Finnian. Join me!” Without turning in my direction, he pats the couch next to him.

I detest scary movies. I’ve never been one for horror in any form be it books, movies, or those ridiculous haunted house walk-throughs. It’s not that I’mscaredper se, but my fight or flight response wasn’t trustworthy when I was a human and it only got worse as a vampire.

“What are you watching?” I ask cautiously.

“Insidious.It’s not that scary.”

“I’m not scared.”

“Oh, of course not,” he replies mockingly.

In the moment I go to turn, there’s a damn jump scare with a red-faced demon popping out of fucking nowhere.

“God damn it, Ash!”

“You’re a vampire, you aren’t supposed to be scared.”

“I’m notscared. This shit just makes my skin crawl. Why do you like it?”