Raising Innocence: A Rylee Adamson Novel(62)

Standing, I locked my knees to keep from tumbling over. This was a bad injury, the zombie must have hit an artery because I was feeling rather faint. . . that was the last thought I had as the room swirled and the darkness claimed me.
Of course, it was just my luck it wasn’t a blissful, quiet darkness. No . . . I had to open my eyes to see Faris leaning over me.
“Zombies? Really, so cliché,” he said, smiling like it was a joke that I should get.
Whatever. “Tell that to the Necromancer,” I grunted, pushing him away, my hand flat against his chest. Instead, he put his hand over mine and yanked me to my feet, still hanging onto me.
It briefly crossed my mind that every time I ran into Faris, or more accurately, he ran into me, I was less afraid of him. That probably wasn’t a good thing, I was getting comfortable with the vampire. No, definitely not a good thing at all.
He continued to hold my hand, and softened his voice. “I need your help, Rylee. You saw my memory. You see what I’m up against. I want to keep the vampire nation as it is. Out of sight. As it should be.”
I pulled at my hand, but he only tightened his grip. “Yeah, I saw what you saw. But memories can be tricky. It’s all about perception.”
“And what is your perception of me?” One finger trailed along the top of my hand, down around to the underside of my wrist and back up again.
I refused to acknowledge the more than pleasant tingle it gave me. Fucking refused.
It took everything I had to keep my heart rate under control. “That you are a master manipulator. Like all vampires.”
His eyebrows went up. “All vampires? And how many of us have you met?”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, it’s the same thing as any other species in the supernatural world. We have our quirks, each of us. Vampires are manipulators, that’s a given. It’s how I’d Track them if I had to.”
Faris’ eyes narrowed. “How enlightening.”
Oh shit, I should never have opened my big fat mouth. Faris hadn’t known I could Track more than individuals. I shook my head in an effort to cover my big ass blunder. “Just pointing out the obvious.” But my heart betrayed me, thrumming like it was in a freaking rock band.#p#分页标题#e#
The vampire smiled at me. “I’m glad Jack Feen is teaching you. I need you at your best. Which, I suppose, must mean that I need to heal up that nasty bite for you.”
Before I could protest, his free hand slipped around my waist, covering my hip where the bite was on my physical body. That wasn’t too bad. But the moment his lips covered mine and the little groan of pleasure slipped out of my mouth, horror hit me.
I was willingly kissing a vampire when I was in love with Liam.
Faris jerked back as if I’d stung him. “You would think of him, while I kiss you?”
The rage was not expected. Nor was what he said next as he strode away into the darkness.
“She is mine, wolf. One way or another. Rylee is mine.”

20
I shot straight up, gasping for air as if I’d been—
Pamela grabbed me in a fierce hug. “You weren’t breathing, there was so much blood.”
Everything around me moved as if on high speed, people rushing, paper crinkling, all my senses were in overdrive. The scent of blood and rot overwhelmed my nose and I covered my face. I knew I had to get up and move, this was—
I was standing. How the hell had that happened? Chills swept through me and the taste of Faris’ kiss trickled through my mouth. Fuck, he’d imprinted me.
Pamela was talking to me, tugging on my arm, Alex stared at me, his eyes wide and worried. All I could hear was the beat of their respective hearts. Pamela’s was wild and erratic in her fear, Alex’s beat slow as his body continued to heal as best it could.
“Just give me a minute,” I said, waving them off. The zombie situation was more or less under control; however long I’d been out had been enough for the cops to get their asses in gear.
It took an effort to walk slowly, to make my legs move at a normal pace. From what I understood, this would last a short time—how short I didn’t know for sure. And then it would fade and I’d be back to my regular self, whenever the hell that was going to be.
The bathroom was empty but for one zombie who I promptly slid my sword through, removing its head with a slurping pop. I leaned against the sink and stared into the mirror, watching my breath fog it up. My eyes were still my own, a swirl of chocolate, emerald and gold.
Imprinting was how vampires bound their subjects to them. Blood on blood was how it was done, and it was the first step in making someone a vampire. Which meant the vampire’s bite was like a poison, something my Immunity blocked. As I stared into the mirror, my hearing settled down, the smells I shouldn’t have been able to smell faded.