Page 56 of Heartbeat Girl
His hand felt like a live wire against me, making the hairs on my body rise.
“In a sense, you have all the control.”
I didn’t look at him as we walked. My heart already gave enough away without showing him my expression. I bit my lip and let my mind drift to all the things I wanted to learn, specifically...
As the elevator door closed, I asked, “Who’s Marilyn?”
“My sire.”
I gawked at Liam. He clenched his jaw so hard I could make out the muscularity through his skin. “Does that mean she’s the one who turned you?”
Liam nodded. His hand slid around my waist, and he pulled me toward him. A swarm of butterflies took off in my stomach. For goodness’ sake, after learning he was a vampire, my attraction should have vanished.But knowing something the rest of the world didn’t was oddly enticing. It was intoxicating to be close to someone like Liam. Instead of stealing my memories and twisting them around, he let me in.
I could be his steak for all I knew, and I drew closer like a dumb cow.
My fingers patted my hair, checking for fly-aways. “I’m guessing you don’t like her?”
There was no uncertainty in his voice, just a harsh furrow in his brows. “She’s evil incarnate.”
Well, that wasnotreassuring. “Then why were those other vampires looking for her? They seemed to believe you knew where she was.”
“Because we do know where she is,” Liam stated.
I studied the way Liam’s demeanor sharpened. His hold on me tightened enough that I drew in a sharp breath.Oh, no.Did the band do something to their sire?
The elevator pinged. We walked out in silence. Liam’s hand was still on my hip, hugging me into him. We didn’t stop moving until we reached the bus.
When he spoke again, I wasn’t prepared for what he told me. “She’s six feet under thanks to a sleeping spell we performed.”
Gasping, I pulled away and paused at the bottom of the bus steps. Liam nudged me slightly. When I didn’t move, he scooped me up and carried me inside. “There’s something you should understand about vampires.”
“Immortality comes with a price,” Steve joined in as Liam set me on my feet.
“There’s two distinct classifications of vampires,” Pete started. “Sires and their subjects. This isn’t decided. It’s not won either. Something within us decides what we become when we’re turning. Maybe it’s our soul that withers away when we become vampires. Our dying soul’slastchoice in what happens to us after we’re damned. Regardless, fate decided the three of us were to be Marilyn’s underlings.”
“We can’t refuse her whims. We can’t deny her if she tells us to kill someone.” Steve’s unrelenting stare landed on me. It was unnerving, just like what he said. “We’ll never be someone’s sire, Jayne. Any we turn will belong to Marilynunlessthey became a sire themselves, which is extremely rare.”
That sounded unpleasant. Their words were pretty damn terrifying!
“We can’t even say what we would do to her if we could,” said Pete, his eyes turning black.
My mouth went bone dry.
He continued, “Marilyn forbade us to say the words out loud.”
By the intensity rolling off the band, I might guess what they would do to the woman if theycould.
“To be free of her, we would do anything,” Liam said, touching my back again. “We’re good by choice. It’s something she’d never allow if she wasn’t sleeping. You’ve always been afraid of us. That fear is nothing compared to what you would feel if you encountered us with Marilyn awake.”
Chills ran down my spine.
“Liam…” Pete sighed. “She just found out last night. You’re pushing too much by speaking like—”
“No,” Steve interrupted. “Since Jayne is close to us, she deserves to know.”
He watched me so intensely I fidgeted. He noticed and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Jayne, what happened last night will happen again. Marilyn has over one hundred underlings. What we did enraged all those that stood by her. Do you get what I’m saying?” Steve’s gaze continued boring into me.