Page 42 of Night of the Vampire

"Why do you keep calling me that? What does it mean?"

"It's an Irish endearment. It translates loosely to 'my pulse'."

His pulse. His heart. The thing that keeps him alive. I took a breath. "Okay. I guess that's not so bad."

He shook his head.

"So, tell me why you suddenly think I belong to you."

He rubbed his thigh again, his expression thoughtful. "There's a story that's been passed down over the centuries. A story about us. It's said that vampires, if they're very lucky, will meet the one who is meant for them—our soulmate, if you will—that we will know it."

I was getting a very bad feeling about this. "And how do you know?"

"From the moment I tasted your blood."

We weren't speaking hypothetically anymore. "My blood told you this."

"It did."

This couldn't be true. "I don't believe you."

"It's true, Acushla. I knew it even from the tiny bit I tasted on my lips. My entire body, everything inside of me, felt it. Like a shockwave from a nuclear blast. You're mine, Lizzy. A gift from the fates." He searched my face. "And I am yours."

Mine?

"What if I don't want to be in this relationship?"

"That can't happen," Jamal said from behind me.

But Killian motioned for him to be quiet. "Then you don't have to be."

I tried really hard to wrap my head around this. "You're immortal."

"I am."

"And I'm not. What will you do when I die? Just find another mate? I mean, it's going to happen. Probably in about forty or fifty years if I'm lucky enough to live that long."

Jamal got up and squatted on his heels in front of me, careful not to get too close. "That's the cool part for you, Lizzy. You don't have to die."

"Of course, I do. Everyone dies. Well, every human, anyway. And that's what I am. And what I want to remain." I glared at Killian meaningfully.

"I don't want to turn you," he assured me. "I couldn't feed from you if I turned you."

He must've seen the flash of an idea in my face for he was suddenly there pulling me up off the couch. "Don't even think about it," he told me. "No one would dare touch you."

"Because you would kill them?"

"I would rip them limb from limb and throw their body parts to the gators without an ounce of remorse."

"You really get the better end of the deal in all of this," Jamal tried to reason with me.

They were both crazy. "The 'better end of the deal'? Is that what you call this? I get to be his feeding bag and that's supposed to be my life now?"

"Lizzy..."

"No." I threw my hands up as Killian came toward me. "Stay away from me."

"I'm sorry, Acushla. I can't do that."