“Fuck.” Understanding in the guttural word. He knew where this was going.
“They said my mom killed Dad and Sara, then she shoved a knife into her own throat.”
Bullshit. Not her mom. Not the woman who’d sacrificed her own life so Dee could get away. “No one would believe me.” The steady throb in her head was driving her crazy, but she’d deal.
She always did.
“What did you do? Where did you go?”
To the streets. “I took off on my own.” With the stupid idea of finding the vamps who’d attacked her family and killing them. But, at fifteen, she hadn’t known how to live on the streets. She’d been close to starving a week later, dirty, cold. Her jaw locked. “I managed to get by.” A shrug. Like she could shrug away those dark years. “Then I met Jason Pak.” No, he’d found her. Stalked her and found her in that roach-infested apartment she’d bleed to pay for.
“Pak.” He echoed the name. Most folks in Baton Rouge knew of Pak, even if they hadn’t personally met the guy. Bad reputations carried too easily.
“The first thing he told me…He said I wasn’t crazy.” But she’d thought he was.
“And the second?”
Her fingers fisted. “He said he’d teach me to kill the bastards.”
Pak had always been a man of his word.
“I haven’t found those vamps yet, but I will.” One day. Then maybe she’d stop hearing Sara’s screams late at night. Maybe. Or maybe she’d just hear them until she died.
His gaze roved over her face. Her neck. “They didn’t bite you that night?”
“No.” Adamant. A good thing, too, because most folks didn’t understand just how dangerous even a little nip from a vamp could be.
Once a vampire took a victim’s blood, he had a psychic link with his prey. If he was strong enough, he could steal thoughts, memories, and send seductive whispers in the hours of darkness.
Some of them—those ancient Born Masters—it was possible they could even control their prey. Get humans to follow their every twisted command. Like sick, freaking puppets.
Dee never wanted to be a puppet. Never.
Taking a deep breath, she shoved off the couch. Their thighs brushed and she fought to ignore the wave of heat from that quick touch.
Her knees shook a little when she stood. For just a second, black spots danced before her eyes and the nausea rolled in her stomach.
“Dee?” He was there, rising, too, and putting a bracing hand on her shoulder.
Careful. Don’t get used to him being there.
Alone. That was how she lived her life. How she’d keep on living it.
She stiffened her spine and lifted her chin. “I’m all right.” Not a total lie. Dee was pretty sure there was no immediate threat of death.
Slowly, she turned to face Simon. She looked up at him. “After what happened to my family, do you really think I’d ever take a human’s life? I couldn’t do that. I’d be the same as—”
Them.
The vampires. Stealing life, spilling blood.
“I don’t remember what happened in that room, but I know I wouldn’t have staked her.” The vampires. Had they made her watch and she couldn’t even remember it? Had the woman begged her for help?
Simon weighed her with icy eyes. Silence filled the room, heavy and thick, then he gave a grim nod. “If you’d wanted to kill her, she would have been dead on the ground last night.”
Not a ringing endorsement, but she’d take what she could get. “Thanks for that much, at least.”
Then it was her turn to pause because this part, yeah, it would be awkward. Well, hell, not like he hadn’t already had her naked. “I need a favor.” She’d bared her soul to him, a small favor really wasn’t so much to ask in return. “I played your game, told you the hell from my past, now I want one thing from you.”
“Fair enough.”
She thought so.
“What do you need?” He gave a shrug. “You know you can crash here until we find out what’s—uh, Dee?”
Her shirt hit the coffee table. The pounding in her head kicked up a notch. No help for it. She’d had to yank the shirt off. Blood had stained and hardened the fabric, and she never wanted to see the shirt again.
Dee toed out of her shoes. Jerked open her jeans and—
“Just what kind of favor do you need, babe?” His voice had thickened, darkened, and when she glanced up, Dee saw that those smoky eyes of his didn’t look so cold anymore. No, not cold at all.
She shoved down the jeans. “I don’t remember what happened—that means they could have done anything to me.” No, no, no. “I…need you to check me.” She licked her lips. It would have to be a full body check. No way could she take chances.