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J ayden began to tense as the footsteps grew closer. While spells hid him and his ‘victim’, they would be useless against someone skilled with magic. Jayden supposed he could always control whoever it was. Though, now that he thought about it, their minds should have touched by now.

Covered in rust, the metal door creaked and scraped against the floor as it was pushed open. A small man stood in the doorway—at least, he thought it was a man. The individual was cute enough to be a girl.

As the person walked into the room, Jayden inhaled. The scent tickling his nose was sweet, but there was an underlying musk—born male at the very least.

The man was about his height, standing only a couple inches over five feet. He was wearing a loose, fuzzy pink sweater, tight white jeans, and black ankle boots. From what Jayden could see, the stranger was a bit on the thin side. Of course, considering how underweight he was, Jayden really shouldn’t judge .

Haloing his face, and pulled into a low ponytail that flowed down to the small of his back, was a mass of thick white-blond curls. As it was tied loosely, a few curly strands had managed to break away from the rest.

Barely visible under his hair were short pointed ears, which told him the blond was an elf, or possibly a pixie…or any of the other species that had pointed ears.

Jayden should have been able to smell what the man was—most would have been able to. However, as he hadn’t a clue how each of the other species smelled, unless it was obvious, it was harder for him to differentiate between them. Throw in those who were of mixed species—which was extremely common—and his chance of telling them apart dropped to zero.

As Jayden was one, he could, however, identify when someone was a vampire. Though, the fact that it was very rare for his species to be born as more than a vampire, helped.

The man's facial features were dainty and soft; a heart-shaped face, a slimmer top lip and plush bottom, a cute button nose, and eyes the color of lilacs, which were large and framed by thick light-brown lashes that faded to white. Those eyes were currently examining the decrepit room, before he suddenly wrinkled his little nose, no doubt smelling the magical residue—well, shit…

The man’s thick locks shifted as he slowly tilted his head in confusion. “Hello? Is someone there?”

Focusing his energy, Jayden tried to slip inside the blond’s mind. Nothing happened. He sighed—of course, he would run into someone who was hard to read. ’Cause that’s how shitty his luck was .

Jayden’s gaze roamed over him. The blond appeared harmless. The possible elf’s eyes seemed kind. Overall, Jayden was having a hard time imagining that the man in front of him was a monster.

Not saying he wasn’t hiding something. Everyone was hiding something , he thought scornfully.

The man called out once more. “Hello? I know you’re here. You don’t have to hide. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Jayden snorted. Hurt me? Not likely , he thought as he looked down at himself. Blood stained both his clothes and skin. The man would probably run if he saw him, or faint.

Jayden sauntered over, reaching out when only a foot away.

His eyes widened in shock when one of the man’s hands shot out and latched onto his wrist. The brief surge of magic that followed sent his spells crumbling down.

Large lilac eyes peered into his. Then his gaze traveled over the rest of him. “Are you hurt?”

Jayden blinked and yanked his wrist free as he stumbled back. “No.”

Did he not see the knife in Jayden’s hand? Not to mention the captured man behind him. Apparently not , he thought when the blond’s gaze drifted past him moments later. The elf shifted his head the other way as he eyed Richard.

“Does he deserve this?”

“What…?” Jayden trailed off dumbly.

Gaze sliding back to him, the man clarified, “What you’re doing to him, does he deserve it?”

How was he supposed to act in this situation? Did he have any reason to lie? “Yes. ”

A deafening silence formed between them. The only voice was the one in his head—Richard’s voice. Now that he wasn’t actually hurting the man, Jayden found the constant begging and whining annoying—it was giving him a headache.

With a simple thought, he shut Richard’s mind down, knocking him out. Ah, much better…

Again Jayden tried to enter the blond’s mind. Unfortunately, he failed, just as he had the first time. It appeared that if Jayden wanted inside, he’d have to actually touch the man.

Oddly, none of what the individual was seeing seemed to affect him. Jayden would have preferred him freaking out. It was what he was used to.

It did support Jayden’s belief that everyone had secrets. Jayden rolled his eyes—what an uplifting and joyful thing to be right about.

And blondie must have some pretty nasty ones—he hadn’t blinked twice at the bleeding vampire.

“My name is Stephan,” the man said at last.

“Uh…”

Were they really going to have a conversation? Jayden may not spend much time with other people—by choice—but even he knew this wasn’t normal.

Seriously, there was a man bleeding in a chair behind him. Was a little fear too much to ask for?

“What did he do?”

Lost in his own thoughts, he absently murmured, “He murdered a lot of children.”

Jayden blinked. He hadn’t meant to say that. Under his breath, he snidely muttered, “Why don’t you just tell him your whole life story? ”

“What?” Stephan asked, his gaze returning to focus on Jayden. No doubt the man had heard him and was just being polite. At times like this, Jayden wished he were surrounded by humans. As annoying as they were, at least their senses sucked.

“Nothing.”

“Are you going to kill him?”

Blinking, he replied, “Yes.”

“Don’t.”

Jayden’s eyebrows rose. He’d never heard a single word sound so insistent. Careful not to stab himself, he crossed his arms and asked, “And why not?”

“There are other ways. Don’t let him make you a monster.”

Jayden laughed darkly. “I’m already one.”

“I don’t believe that. You would have killed me.”

The man sounded pretty confident. Stephan was either stupid or insane—being mentally unstable himself, he was leaning toward insane.

“And how do you know I’m not going to?”

“You’re not a monster.”

“Well, Stephan, I hate to break this to you, but he’s not the first. The others are already dead and buried. It’s a little late to be stopping now,” Jayden stated flatly. “You should leave.”

Turning to go back to his ‘victim’, he was only able to take a few steps before Stephan grasped his hand, forcing him to a stop.

Having had enough of whatever this was, Jayden reached out for Stephan’s mind.

His eyes widened when instead of slipping in, he found himself banging against a giant mental wall. While all immortals had walls of some kind, Jayden had never run into one he couldn’t breach. That he had now, when his night had already gone to hell, was beyond aggravating.

Perfect, just perfect. Jayden couldn’t wait to find out what else would go wrong. Of course, he had just confessed to multiple murders, so who knows?! Jail maybe?

“There are other ways to make him pay, ones that don’t involve murder. You don’t have to do this. Let me help you. I know it’s hard to fight the anger, but you have to. The monsters win if you don’t. All they do is take. Don’t willingly give them more.”

“You don’t know anything about me. How could you ever help?” Glaring, he snapped, “Leave while you still can!”

Stephan’s walls suddenly dropped, and the man’s current thoughts became his. Images of violence and blood flashed in his head. Ones of a younger Stephan, ones of agony and loss, the loss of his innocence and all that he loved. The last memory was of bloody bodies falling—a vision of death.

He blinked, a shiver running through him as the images cleared away. “You killed them all.” Jayden wrinkled his brow. “Then you should understand why he needs to die.”

Stephan’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “My rage killed them. But it didn’t change anything. It didn’t make me feel better. It didn’t tell me why they had taken so much from me. It didn’t bring my parents back. None of what you’re doing will bring anyone back.”

“Wow, I’m relieved. For a minute there I thought I was in trouble,” Jayden sneered. “I’m not here to bring anyone back, Stephan. I’m here to make sure he doesn’t come back. Not to mention, release a little built-up tension.” He tugged his arm free and turned away .

Jayden sighed heavily when Stephan grabbed on to his arm once again.

Clutching tightly, the man pulled him back around. “Let me help!” His voice was rushed, higher than before, and slightly panicked. “We can turn him over to the authorities—the Zaytari. Evidence! We can find evidence and turn it in. You’ve been in his head, haven’t you?”

Jayden scowled at the hand on his arm—he wasn’t a fan of being grabbed, and Stephan seemed to be doing it a lot. “I have.” He shook his arm in an attempt to free himself once more.

“Then we’ll know where to find proof,” he insisted, completely ignoring Jayden’s irritation and attempt at freedom.

“Stephan, if you haven’t noticed, poor Richard here is a little banged up. A bit hard to play it off as nothing, don’t you think?” Jayden nodded toward the bloody man.

Nose wrinkling, Stephan hesitantly said, “I can fix that…the only issue would be his memories. We would need someone to get rid of them.” He nibbled on his bottom lip. “I may be able to hire someone. I just need time.”

“I can do it.”

“You can?” Stephan sounded surprised.

Running his fingers through his hair, Jayden grimaced. Apparently, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut tonight.

What was wrong with him? Jayden had no intention of letting Richard leave here alive. Ugh, his whole night of murderous fun had been shot to hell.

Who was Stephan anyway? Not to mention, why the hell had he believed everything Jayden said? Was the man really that na?ve? It didn’t make sense. He shouldn’t be, not with what he had experienced. Was this a trap ?

It would have been nice if Jayden had a way to find out. Unfortunately, the man’s mental walls were solidly back in place.

Eyeing him suspiciously, he asked, “Who are you?”

“What?”

Jayden stalked closer and invaded the man’s personal space, brushing up against him. “Who are you, Stephan? What are you doing here?”

Stephan released his arm and staggered a few steps back. “I own this building. A construction crew is coming to tear it down in a few days. I wanted to make sure no one was living here. As for who I am? I’m not sure how to answer that.”

Stephan’s words were a mixture of truth and deception. “I don’t like being lied to, Stephan. I would suggest…” Jayden trailed off when something clicked into place.

He hissed, jerking as the walls and floors of the warehouse were suddenly drenched in blood, with bodies scattered on the floor all around him.

It wasn’t real, just a phantom hiding what was actually there. A vision brought on by a memory—one that faded away moments later.

Jayden hated having these visions. They left him defenseless and unaware of his surroundings. While this one had been short, others had lasted hours. When he was locked in a memory, someone could stab him, and he wouldn’t even notice—until he pulled free, that was. And he knew that for a fact, as it had happened.

God, why couldn’t Jayden have been born just a little bit more normal? He was almost positive that the average vampire didn’t have to deal with shit like that. At least, he didn’t think they did—Jayden didn’t really have any friends .

“This is where it happened, where they hurt you, where you killed them…”

“Yes…”

“How could you afford to buy it?”

The man laughed bitterly. “My parents were rich.”

“I see.” He struggled to find something else to say.

Stephan’s shoulders slumped and his bottom lip began to tremble. The man seemed so sad, and for some reason, that angered him.

Jayden glared down at the ground. Why was he angry? He shouldn’t be feeling anything. Was it the man’s past? Jayden rubbed his chest at the uncomfortable feelings running through him. He had the strongest urge to run away.

Maybe if he humored the man, he would leave—no harm in that, right?

Jayden gave Stephan a tight smile. “Let’s try it your way… However, if it doesn’t work, I will kill him. Though with how much blood Richard has lost, it’s probably too late anyway.”

“I can do it.”

Jayden stepped back and gave a mocking bow. “If you say so.”

Arms hanging loose, Stephan closed his eyes. He tilted his head back and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, his pupils had been replaced by solid pools of lilac.

Jayden gasped, a cold shiver running through him as power swirled around the room. There was so much of it, and all of it was coming from Stephan. The very air was shifting—he had never felt anything like it .

Hair standing on end, Jayden had the urge to run away—to not trust the force around him.

Suddenly, the air settled. The power hadn’t vanished, though. It was still thickening the air. His lungs stuttered as he struggled to draw in a full breath under its weight. Whoever Stephan was, he was dangerous.

God, how had Jayden missed it? The man’s memories should have told him that.

No…no, the only memories Jayden had seen were of what happened to Stephan five years ago. He only knew what Stephan had known at the time. And back then, Stephan hadn’t known what he’d done. He hadn’t understood.

Jayden shuddered as Stephan’s power slid over him—it felt odd, as if something was buzzing against his skin. He looked down and his eyes widened. The blood staining his skin was fusing together and starting to drift into the air. What had once soaked into his clothes and dried, began to liquefy and form into large drops.

His gaze darted from one droplet to the next—Jayden was surrounded. Blobs of blood floated all around him, moving as if suspended in water. No, not water. It looked as if he were in a lava lamp—except the lamp part was missing.

With a trembling hand, Jayden slowly reached out to touch one. But before he could make contact, it shot away.

Spinning around, Jayden watched in amazement as all the blood converged on Richard. With one last jolt, it surged into the man. His body convulsed, and Richard cried out as every injury Jayden had inflicted began to heal. Wounds stitched together and bones snapped into place, until the only evidence of what had happened was the man’s tattered clothing. When no blood remained, Stephan’s power dissipated.

Breathing heavily, Jayden turned and stared wide-eyed at the man. “What are you?” he asked in awe.

Stephan flinched at his words.