Page 77 of The Vampire's Seduction

Relief swept through him at the reminder. He hadn’t come here to argue with her or to discuss their future. Nor was he ready to answer her question.

“Now’s not the time for this,” he said. “I came by to tell you I’m leaving.”

“Leaving? Where?”

“Denver. Some vampires had gone missing, and we just located them.”

He caught the moment everything clicked. Her eyes widened into saucers. Her heart beat faster, and he had to stop his heart from trying to match hers.

“Is it like Zylotech all over again?” She swallowed, her fear an invisible wall between them. “Are you going to kill more humans?”

Marek settled into the cold, empty space inside during battle, or he’d give in to the urge to stride over and embrace her.

“Yes.” Unfeeling. Detached. “Or would you prefer they kill us?”

“Of course not!” She paced in a small circle. “You…you’re going to kill people. People who have friends! Family! Kids!”

Down. Deeper and deeper into the darkness. Into the frigid void. Where her light, her humanity couldn’t touch him. Drowning out his vampire’s shrieks.

“So that should absolve them of their sins? I should let them kill us? Because obviously vampires don’t have friends or family!”

“That’s not what I mean,” she said, her voice small.Want to hold her. Kiss away her sadness. Can’t.“There has to be a better way.”

“There isn’t,” he snarled. No weaknesses. “It’s been this way for as long as vampires and humans have existed. This discussion is pointless. I have to go.”

“Wait!” She stretched out her arm as if to stop him before dropping it. “Must you go?”

Olivia. Waiting for him. Home.

His brothers dead. His father’s hatred.

“I have to go,” he repeated, spun on his heel, and left, slamming the door behind him.

Chapter Seventeen

Bang!

Olivia jumped, hit the stool, and caught the counter to stop her fall.

What just happened?

Her heart jackhammered against her ribs, sweat coated her palms, and her eyes registered nothing as she tried to process the rollercoaster of events from the last few minutes.

Her interview. Marek storming in. Her heart swelling with happiness. Guilt. His anger. Hurt at his refusal to understand.

Him leaving. Dead guards at Zylotech.

Olivia squeezed her eyes shut and leaned harder against the counter, breathing deep with her mouth.

She was suddenly back, stuffed under the desk. The sound of gunfire amplified in her memory. But instead of fearing for her life, her worries centered around Marek. Instead of the guard’s body, she saw Marek slumped on the ground, his eyes open, blood coating his chest.

Stop being stupid. Marek will be fine.

He was seven-hundred years old. He’d survived the Riots fifty years ago, when murderous mobs had descended on Vegas and burned down half the city. Yep, she’d done a little digging on him too.

Or was she freaking out because Marek was going to kill people? Olivia straightened and poured herself a glass of water with shaky hands. Death wasn’t foreign to her, but violence was. Murder, for that was Marek’s path. In his quest to save vampires, he would be slaughtering humans.

Olivia had dedicated her life to helping people, to finding a way to use VB to cure diseases without the risk of addiction.