Page 30 of The Vampire Debt

But he’s drawing it out. The anticipation of the pain is almost worse. I know he can hear my pulse pounding wildly in my veins. I lift my hands and grip the material of his sleeves.

He drags his nose from the base of my neck to my jaw, to my earlobe.

“Alaric… please,” I say breathlessly. My heartbeat roars in my ears, nearly deafening me.

He freezes at that. And for a long moment, neither of us moves. Then slowly he draws back, guiding my chin so I have no choice but to meet his gaze. Just as I expected, crimson circles ring his sapphire irises.

“How do you know my name?” he asks quietly.

I lick my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. His gaze follows the movement.

“Th-the letter. I saw the letter.”

The hand that had guided my head still lingers on the side of my neck. He is going to kill me this time. I know he will, and I don’t even have the leverage to grab the dagger and unsheathe it to defend myself.

“Do you alw—” he starts, but I don’t let him finish.

I jerk my head forward, slamming my forehead into the bridge of his nose. He takes several steps back and grabs his face where I made contact.

While he’s stunned, I bolt from the room, knowing he’ll be on my heels in seconds. I leap down the stairs, taking as many at a time as I can without tripping over my skirt.

By some miracle I make it to my room and slam the door closed. Backing up to the center of the room, I snatch the dagger from my pocket and pull it from its sheath, clutching it in my hand as tightly as I can.

And then I wait.

I listen in the spaces between my breaths and wait for him to pound at the door, for him to break it down and force his way in and finally end me. But as my breathing and heart rate slow, I realize he won’t.

Chapter Fourteen

Clara

Dawn is breakingand the gray light of morning leaks in through the window. I am alive but I don’t for the life of me understand how.

I sit at the head of the bed with my back against the cool wall, my knees pulled up to my chest, still clutching the dagger. Waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting for the vampire to burst in my room and attack me while I sleep.

So I didn’t allow myself to sleep and now my eyes are heavy and dry.

I hadn’t even come close to killing him at dinner last night. It was as if that insufferable man knew what I was going to do before I even moved. I must learn to be stealthy.

What have Idone? What haveIdone?Whathave I done? The question repeats over and over and over until it drowns out all other thoughts. What had possessed me to agree to go off to live with a vampire and leave Kitty and Xander? It was the most foolish thing I’ve ever done…

And yet, I would do it again to save my sister from this fate. Though somewhere along the line over the past few days, I have let my arrogance—and my promise to Kitty—cloud my mind. That vampire I killed in the forest… that had been nothing more than ideal timing and plenty of luck. It hadn’t seen my arrow coming, hadn’t realized I was even there.

Mr. Devereaux must know by now that I have every intention of fighting him when he does come for me.

But now that I am here… who will take care of poor Kitty? My decision to take her place was too hasty, leaving her in Father’s incapable hands.

Somehow, I need to find my way back to my life.

Uncurling myself, I drop my feet off the edge of the bed and, eyeing the door, I reluctantly set the dagger down on the table next to the bed. I run into the bathroom and look for my discarded clothes from yesterday. Gone. One of the housekeepers must have taken them while I was at dinner last night.

Turning around, I return to the main room. I might as well check the armoire to see if there is anything I can possibly use.

Nothing but an assortment of dresses and corsets.

Forgoing the corsets all together, I unlace my dress. It falls to the floor in a heap of silk and lace. I pick out another, attempting to find the least cumbersome one.

I smooth my hands down the sides of the dress. These clothes cannot last, they are far too nice for someone who is a meal.