Page 26 of Twilight Destiny

“It’s like an addiction.”

“Did you … do that … tonight?”

“Not yet.” He looked at her, a faint smile playing over his lips. “Do you want to come with me?”

Rosa stared at him. “Go with you? You mean … while you … you hunt?”

“Hey, if you’re thinking about becoming one of us, you might as well check it out and see how it’s done. It’s a big part of our existence, after all. What do you say?”

“I don’t know.”

“Chicken?”

“No!” To be honest, shewasa little curious. More than a little, actually. And as he’d said, it was a big part of being a nightwalker. “All right. You convinced me. Let’s go.”

After he paid the check, Kincaid transported her to another part of town, where the streets were dark and mostly deserted, and the only signs of life were the dim lights in the window of a seedy bar.

“What now?” she asked.

“We wait for someone to come out. If I was alone, I’d go inside.”

Rosa glanced around the dark parking lot. What was she doing here with a vampire? Did she really want to watch Kincaid feed on some helpless mortal? It seemed so … intimate. And what if he killed his prey? How could she be part of that and still live with herself?

She started when he laid a hand on her shoulder. “Relax. I’m not going to kill anybody.”

There were times, she thought, when she was glad he could read her mind. She frowned. Had he read her thoughts earlier today? she wondered. Was that why he’d called? Because she had been wishing he would?

They didn’t have to wait long. A middle-aged couple staggered out the saloon door, laughing as they stumbled their way across the gravel parking lot.

Kincaid fell into step behind them, silent as a shadow.

Rosa trailed after him.

When the couple reached their car, they both stopped suddenly and just stood there, unmoving.

Rosa watched as Kincaid pulled the woman into his arms. She didn’t struggle, didn’t cry out, just stood there immobile while he bit her. He fed for only a moment or two. When he finished, he ran his tongue over the woman’s neck, and the couple climbed into the car like nothing had happened.

Rosa stood beside Jake and watched them drive away. “What did you do?” she asked. “Why didn’t she resist? Why did he just stand there and do nothing?”

“I spoke to their minds.”

“Like hypnotism?”

“In a way. When I finished, I wiped the memory of what happened from their minds and sent them merrily on their way, none the wiser.”

It was nothing like in the horror movies, Rosa thought. There hadn’t been a struggle. There hadn’t been blood spurting everywhere. He hadn’t ripped out their throats. Still, it had been kind of repulsive, watching him, knowing what he was doing.

“You ready to go home?” he asked.

Looking pensive, she nodded.

As he transported them back to Morgan Creek, Kincaid couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made a mistake, if she would look at him differently now.

“Thanks for tonight,” Rosa said when they reached the front porch of Saintcrow’s house.

She opened the door, then stood there with her back to him. “Did you read my mind this morning? Is that why you called me?”

“Yes. And no.”