Page 24 of The Vampire Debt

I walk in and my pulse picks up as he follows after, though he leaves the door open. He walks over to a desk up against the wall and sets the candelabra down.

“You will find everything you need in here. Be aware that the servants will not be around after dark.” He pauses then crosses the room in a few strides. “Should you need anything, you will have to wait until morning.”

“Why?” I ask breathlessly.

“There are far worse things than I that lurk in the night.”

His warning feels like a threat and sends a tremor down my spine. “There’s nothing scary about the dark.”

He hovers over me and I think he’s trying to intimidate or scare me, but I won’t cower.

“The demons that haunt this part of the world are not the weak, lesser demons you know but are the higher demons that will rip you apart.”

“Those demons are nothing more than old wives’ tales—a way to scare children into behaving. Nothing more than superstitious nonsense.”

He circles me, stopping at my back to whisper the words in my ear. “Oh, they are real, more so than your stories make them out to be.”

“But with you, I am safe from them?” I ask, remembering how none even came near the carriage on our journey here.

Standing so close behind me I can feel the warmth of his body. He reaches up and lifts a lock of my hair off my shoulder and lets it cascade through his fingers. “You are not safe with me, my dear Clara. Until you are marked, you willneverbe safe.” He lets his hand fall back to his side, then adds, “and I have no plans to ever mark you.”

Don’t react, don’t react.

Whatever sliver of kindness he had felt earlier is now gone. I spin to glare at him. I know he wants my fear. I agreed to pay Father’s debt to save Kitty from ending up in this monster’s clutches, I know it means I will most likely die at his hands, but he will not have my fear. I will not let him turn me into some frightened babe.

His words only serve to remind me that I must not forget what I need to do. I must end him.

I cannot allow myself to forget that he and his kind are the worst evil in this world.

Beautiful but deadly.

And the death of each vampire means more freedom for this world.

Whatever he’s looking for in my expression, he doesn’t find it. I can see that much in the way his face falls into an emotionless mask.

Apparently, he has nothing more to say tonight, no further threats, because he leaves me standing in this strange room—my room—and closes the door behind him with a soft click.

Outside the window, purple bruises smear across the sky as dawn slowly rises on the horizon.

I let out a breath, feeling my shoulders slump as the tension leaves my muscles.

Chapter Eleven

Clara

Three solid knockson the door have me sitting up, gasping. I scan the unfamiliar surroundings for a threat, and it takes a moment to remember where I am.

At some point, even though I had been made to sleep for forty-eight hours, I was still tired. Perhaps it hadn’t been a true sleep but some sort of trance. I could ask him, but I’m not sure he would give me a straight answer.

I can no longer see the sun from my window, but I know it’s setting by the reds and orange that streak across clouds, making it look as if the sky is on fire.

The loud knock comes again. I throw the blankets off me and slide out of bed, walking to the door.

I open the door only a crack, unsure who will be on the other side.

The young servant who lingered last night. She stands still patiently until she sees my face.

“Dinner will be ready in an hour,” she announces curtly and then leaves.