Page 20 of The Vampire Debt

“You will end up dead sooner rather than later if you do not learn your place.” He speaks slowly, his face hovering over mine. I feel his threat down to the marrow of my bones.

His eyes drift lower, pausing on my mouth. I can practically feel his lips on mine causing something to coil in my gut at his nearness. Warmth blooms in my chest and races up my neck.

Then he releases me, stepping back. He’s looking at me as though I burned him. In a blink the expression is gone and I’m not sure I imagined it or not.

He looks at the shirt I slept in, folded on the chair, then picks it up, tossing it into the fireplace as he passes me.

Well, I suppose that makes his feelings toward me more than clear if he feels the need to burn something just because I wore it for a few hours. It’s fine with me if I disgust him—the feeling is mutual.

Glowing red flashes in his eyes, circling his irises. In a clipped tone that once again vibrates in my mind he says, “Come.”

My body moves forward stiff and awkward despite my attempts to fight his command.

“Let me go,” I grit through my teeth.

He pauses mid stride and glances over his shoulder to give me a doubtful look, then keeps walking.Bastard.

I stop fighting the force compelling me to move forward and my movements become slightly less stilted. It doesn’t lessen as we make our way downstairs and outside to the waiting carriage.

After climbing in after him, I expect the carriage to take off immediately, but a few minutes later a thump of something heavy being hoisted rattles the outside.

My body feels foreign, as though it doesn’t belong to me—it’s wrong.

“Let me go,” I say again, though this time my voice lacks the strength I tried to imbue my words with.

“So you can attempt to kill me again?” he asks.

“Yes,” I breathe.

Instead of responding further, he leans back against the seat across from me and closes his eyes.

“What did you do to me?” I whisper.

He doesn’t speak or move for a long moment, then he opens one eye and peers at me. “I compelled you.” My body shakes as I struggle against it. “Don’t even try to fight it… You can’t.”

Why do I get the feeling that he has more to say?

Gradually I feel his hold on me loosen. I can move my fingers, my toes, then my legs and arms, and finally even my spine is mine once more.

I stare at him.

Is he… is he asleep?

He might have removed all weapons from my reach, but he is a fool if he thinks he is safe around me for a second.

Hours pass and the carriage continues at the same pace, even over the worst of the roads—the wheels bouncing on the neglected ones, which are far more common than the ones that are maintained a few times a year.

I watch the angles of the shadows shorten then lengthen in the opposite direction as the sun begins to set.

His face has gone slack. He looks far younger right now than when he’s awake. A lock of hair has fallen over his brow.

“Don’t ever do that to me again,” I say eventually.

He blinks open his eyes and looks at me as though he had forgotten I was even here. Then his features harden into the unforgivable mask I am used to. I half expect the compulsion to return to grip me, but it doesn’t.

“What did you expect when you agreed to pay the debt? Did you think being beholden to a vampire would be romantic?” he asks mockingly.

“No.”