Page 35 of The Vampire Debt

Taking me from my family. Threatening to kill me. Being a vampire.I open my mouth to say as much, only to snap it shut when he continues.

“I don’t care about possessions and I don’t care what my father owes you. Take the debt he owes you from him.” I drop my gaze down and to the side, unable to look him in the eye.

“My dear, Clara…” He lifts a hand and strokes my hair. “Do you think I give a shit about your father’s debt to me? That man could have won a hundred times that amount for me and it wouldn’t have made a dent in my coffers. This was never about him… it was always about you.”

“I’ve done nothing. I am innocent.” I try to give my words strength, to keep my fear and confusion from surfacing, to dare him… but they come out soft and weak.

Alaric’s eyes darken as I speak. “Is that what you think you are?” He now stands only a breath away. “Innocent?” he spits out the word.

“Yes,” I breathe.

He chuckles darkly but there is no humor in it. “We both know that is not true. I think it is time you tell me what you’ve done.”

“I haven’t done anything,” I insist again and I almost believe it myself. “Iaminnocent.”

“Don’t lie to me,” he snarls.

I narrow my eyes. I refuse to give in to him.

His lip curls. “I gave you a chance, but it seems you would rather have me force it from your lips.”

I back up until I am pressed up against the table.

His hand lashes out, grabbing the back of my head, his hold forcing my face closer to his. For a second I can’t tell if he’s going to kiss me or bite me.

But he does neither. His eyes flash then darken.

“Tell me,” he whispers deadly sweet. The words echo through my mind and my body becomes numb and pliant in his hands. “What you did that day in the forest.”

My eyes grow wide. Black fills the edges of my vision until his face is all I can see.

I feel his power slide over my skin like a caress. It slips past my lips and down my throat. I fight with everything I have against it. But the words form on my tongue as if I want to say them.

“I killed a vampire.” The confession is ripped from my mouth.

“Tell me about the vampire.”

“It was a vampire. Just some weak, low power vampire.”

“Was it self defense?” he demands, as if he already knows the answer.

I whimper. Trying to fight. But it’s useless. My body is not my own. A single hot tear rolls down my cheek.

I fight against the pull of his compulsion but it’s not use. “No.”

“No…what?”

“No, it wasn’t self defense. She was eating a… rabbit.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Please…” I choke out.

“Why did you do it, Clara?” he purrs my name.

“Because there are too many of you. You hunt us. Steal us.Murderus…”

He releases me and I feel his power slip from me like water sloughing off. I fall to my knees.