At first, she thought the vampire hadn’t heard her.
The vampire didn’t speak or look at her. But as Rose watched the woman, she noticed how the woman’s mouth froze against Riley’s throat. The woman didn’t remove her mouth from the bite wound, but her lips stopped moving against Riley’s neck. A stream of crimson liquid streamed around the woman’s lips as she stopped swallowing the blood. The blood trailed down Riley’s neck and stained Riley’s white, dress shirt. Rose also noticed the way the blonde woman’s thin, delicate shoulders stiffened at the sound of Rose’s voice.
A soft, sweet-sounding giggle bubbled out of the woman’s lips.
Rose frowned, stunned by how cute and sweet the woman’s laugh sounded. It certainly was not the kind of sound that Rose had expected to hear from the dangerous vampire who happened to be trying to kill one of her friends.
The woman opened her thin, delicate arms and allowed Riley’s body to crumple to the ground. Riley’s head fell to the side, her eyes closed, her chest barely moving. She was unconscious, Rose realized, and she was dying quickly.
Then, the woman turned toward Rose, wiping the blood from her lips with long, thin fingers. “Hello,” she said, her voice lilting with a strange accent.
Rose froze…because she was positive that she’d heard that voice before.
The vampire began to cross the bridge, slowly approaching Rose.
Whatever brave or witty words Rose might have said to the woman evaporated before they even reached her lips. Her eyebrows lifted as she swept her gaze over the most beautiful vampire she’d ever seen…which was saying something because every vampire she’d ever seen had been beautiful. The vampire wore a silky, blue dress that clung to her petite figure, accenting the slight curves of her breasts and hips. Her skin looked soft and fair, as pale as snow, even paler than Rose’s fair, freckled skin. The vampire’s perfectly-straight, pale blonde hair brushed her bare, delicate shoulders. Her heels clicked against the bridge as she approached, and her plump, bloodstained lips curved into a seductive smile.
Rose felt her heart thundering against her chest. “I’ve seen you before.”
An amused smile curled at the woman’s lips. “Oh. Have you?”
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over Rose as she watched the woman approach her, the woman’s hips swaying seductively with each step. It was impossible, Rose thought, that she’d actually met this vampire before. Surely, she would remember it, if she had. And yet—that soft, breathy, accented voice, that pale blonde hair, those dark blue eyes, that seductive smile—it all felt so familiar.
“Cat got your tongue?” the woman murmured seductively.
“Hmm?” Rose sputtered. She recovered quickly. “I was just wondering how you managed to keep your dress clean while you tried to murder someone.”
The woman giggled and leaned in close to Rose. She smelled of human blood and soft, sensual, perfumed lotion. “It’s a skill of mine,” she whispered, her bloodstained lips near Rose’s ear. “I have many of those, by the way. Skills.”
Rose stepped back, distancing herself from the seductive vampire. “Let me guess,” she said dryly. “One of those skills is preying on innocent women.”
The woman smiled. “You’re angry that I tried to kill your friend.”
Rose frowned suspiciously. “How do you know she’s my friend?”
“Why do you think I wanted to kill her?” the woman whispered. Her thin fingers wrapped around Rose’s hip, dragging her closer, until the woman’s lips pressed against Rose’s ear again. “I have to admit: I underestimated you. I didn’t think you would find her until after she died. I had hoped for that, actually.”
Rose swallowed, fear tightening in her chest. “But…why?”
“Because she’s your friend,” the woman murmured. She stepped back, a smile curling slowly at her lips. “There are consequences to your actions, Rose.”
Rose stared at her. “How do you know me? Who are you?”
“I know a lot of things about you, Rose Foster,” the woman murmured.
A cold, icy wave of shock washed over Rose. This all seemed so familiar. She recognized it all from somewhere, but she couldn’t remember where. She’d seen this beautiful vampire somewhere before. She’d heard that soft, accented voice before. She’d heard that exact statement somewhere before. But where?
The woman glanced back at Riley’s unconscious body, a wicked smile curling at the edges of her lips. “She’s sweet, isn’t she?” she said, turning back toward Rose. Then, she leaned in close and whispered, “She tastes sweet, too.”
A spark of red flashed in Rose’s eyes. “How dare you?” she growled at the vampire. “Riley did nothing to deserve this. She did nothing to you.”
“Of course she didn’t,” the woman agreed. “Haven’t you been listening? This was never about her. It was about you. You leave a trail of corpses behind you everywhere you go, Rose. And if your friend dies, she’ll just be another one.”
Rose’s throat suddenly felt tight. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, couldn’t move… Fear and pain lashed through her mind, through her soul. It was as if the woman were voicing her nightmares, bringing them to life. She stared at the woman, her heart pounding against her chest. “Who are you?”
The woman’s smile widened, and then, she leaned closer to Rose, wrapping her hand around Rose’s hip and pressing her soft, warm lips against Rose’s ear. “I told you that you would regret turning me down,” she whispered.
Rose stumbled backward, out of the woman’s arms. Her bright blue eyes widened in shock as the terrifying realization slammed through her, as she remembered exactly where she’d seen the woman before. Her blood ran cold, and her racing heart seemed to suddenly stop. “You’re the woman from my dream.”
The Return of Alana
“Rose!” yelled a low, male voice.
Rose’s bright blue eyes widened in alarm as she heard the harsh, uneven footsteps pounding against the pavement. She spun around, watching as Owen and Audrey ran down the sidewalk, toward them. Her stomach twisted in fear as she tried to think of a way to make them leave before the vampire attacked them.
Owen grasped the railing of the bridge when he reached them, his entire body heaving as he tried to catch his breath. “Where the hell did you go?”
“Yeah. It was like you just…disappeared,” Audrey said, gasping for air.
“You brought friends,” the woman said from behind Rose. “How nice!”
Audrey—who had folded over, her head between her knees, as she tried to catch her breath—looked up suddenly, her amber eyes widening in horror as she saw the blonde woman behind Rose. “Oh my God,” she breathed. “It’s her.”
“Who?” Owen said worriedly, glancing at Audrey. “The vampire?”
Audrey nodded. “She’s the one who killed Riley.”
The woman smiled. “Not yet. The pretty little redhead interrupted.”
“You need to leave,” Rose managed to say, finally, even as her heart pounded painfully inside her chest. She stared at her friends. “Please. Just leave.”
“Without you?” Audrey asked incredulously. “Why would we do that?”
Owen narrowed his eyes at Rose. “Yeah, Rose. Why would we do that?”
The woman tilted her head to the side, studying Owen. “Interesting.”
Rose stepped forward, toward Owen and Audrey, careful to keep herself between the vampire and her friends. “Please. You have to leave. I’ll handle this.”
“What makes you think you can handle it?” Owen asked suspiciously. “Rose, what exactly happened to you during this last month to make you suddenly so sure that you can singlehandedly take on murderers and vampires?”
“Mmmm,” the woman murmured from behind Rose. “Good question.”
Rose stared at him, her breath coming out quickly and harshly as she tried to think of a response, as she tried to think of a way to make them leave without telling them the truth. A horrible sinking feeling settled
in her stomach as she realized that the others had been right. She shouldn’t have come here.
Owen’s hazel eyes softened. “You’re hiding something, Rose,” he said gently, “and you don’t have to. You can tell us. We can figure this out together.”
At that moment, Rose would have loved to have telepathic abilities, instead of telekinetic abilities, because she really needed to know what Owen was thinking. Because…the things he kept saying were so…strange. It seemed like he knew. She didn’t know how he could know, but she suspected that he did somehow. “Please. Just leave,” Rose breathed. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“What about you, Rose?” Audrey shrieked. Her amber eyes darted back and forth between the vampire and Rose. “If we leave you here, you will get hurt!”
“Aww,” the woman cooed in Rose’s ear. “They care about you.”
Rose straightened as the woman’s voice poured into her ear, startled by the vampire’s closeness. She turned and glared at the beautiful, murderous vampire. “There’s this thing called personal space. Have you heard of it?”
The woman smiled. “In my experience, people enjoy being close to me.”
“Did they enjoy it before or after you tried to kill their friend?” Rose asked.
“Rose?” Audrey called. “Why are you talking to the murderer?”
“Because Rose’s solution to everything is to sass people,” Owen said.
“I already told you both to run,” Rose called over her shoulder. She refused to take her eyes off of the murderous vampire until her friends were safe.
“And we already told you that we’re not leaving you,” Audrey stated.
Rose blew out an exasperated sigh. “I’ll be fine.”
“Why would you think that?” Owen asked suspiciously.
“Ah, that is a good question, too,” the vampire said, still wearing that seductive smile. “Why would you ever assume that you would be fine with me?”
Rose bit her lip nervously, trying to think of the quickest and most discreet way to retrieve the dagger from the sheath that was attached to her ankle.
The woman smiled. “Let me help you with that.”
Then, the vampire knelt gracefully in front of Rose, the bottom of her dress sweeping against the pavement. Rose watched her, her eyes widening in shock, as the woman pushed up the bottom of Rose’s jeans and pulled the silver dagger from the sheath. She returned to her feet and pressed the dagger against Rose’s chest, her fingers brushing against the front of Rose’s black T-shirt.
Rose absently wrapped her fingers around the dagger’s handle. “How did you know?” she whispered, speaking more to herself than to the vampire.
The vampire didn’t answer, nor did she make any attempt to move. She just remained directly in front of Rose, much too close for comfort, the front of her silky dress brushing against Rose’s T-shirt and jeans. That smile lingered on her lips, as if it had been etched into her skin. As if she weren’t close enough already, she leaned in closer, her pale blonde hair swinging forward, over her shoulders, as she sniffed Rose’s neck. “Wow,” the vampire breathed. She stepped back, her eyebrows lifting. “You smell wonderful. I knew that you were powerful, but I never expected you to smell like this. I bet you are delicious.”
Rose frowned suspiciously. “How? How did you know I was powerful?”
The woman’s dark blue eyes swept up and down Rose’s body. “And you’re kind of sexy, too,” she said approvingly. “Such nice, beautiful curves.”
“So…I know the proper etiquette is to say, ‘Thank you,’ when someone compliments you,” Rose muttered dryly, “but unfortunately, no one has ever mentioned what the proper etiquette is when a murderer compliments you.”
The woman sighed, obviously not pleased with Rose’s snarky response. “Now, I see why Erik is friends with you. You have the same mouth as he does.”
Rose grimaced. “I assure you: my mouth is much cleaner than Erik’s.”
The vampire giggled at that. “What a shame.”
Rose frowned at her. “How do you know Erik?”
The vampire just smiled. “His scent is all over you, you know.”
“Erik’s scent?” Rose asked incredulously. “Eww.”
“You’re obviously very close to him,” the woman commented. “Lucky for you, I already know that your relationship with him is purely platonic.”
“Of course it’s platonic,” Rose muttered, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
“Rose!” Audrey snapped. “Why are you talking to the murderer?!”
Rose looked at her friends, noticing their suspicious expressions. She chewed on her lip nervously as she tried to think of a way to make them leave.
The vampire watched Rose, tilting her head to the side, as if she were concentrating very deeply. “You want them to leave,” the vampire murmured, as if she were reading a book. “You’re stalling until they do. Because you don’t want to fight me in front of them. Because…you don’t want them to know what you are.” She giggled softly. “You’re so terrified of what they’ll think of you.”
Rose froze. Dread twisted at her gut, and for a moment, she forgot how to breathe. It couldn’t be, Rose thought. But…there was no other explanation. The vampire had just spoken Rose’s thoughts. She’d read them aloud, as if she were reading a book. She turned slowly toward the woman, several realizations dawning on her at once. “You’re a telepath,” she whispered, her heart racing.
“Rose!” Owen snapped impatiently. “What the hell is going on?”
Rose glanced back at Owen and Audrey, more terrified than ever about what might happen to them if they didn’t leave soon. She shivered as she felt the vampire’s warm breath fall against her ear, the vampire’s dress brushing her arm.
“Such a difficult decision for you,” the vampire murmured in Rose’s ear. “Do you let them keep thinking that you’re just a defenseless, little human and risk me killing them? Or…do you tell them the truth and lose them forever?”
Rose looked at the vampire, her breath coming in quick, nervous pants.
“They’ll hate you when they find out,” the woman whispered.
“What is she saying?” Audrey asked, too far away to hear the vampire.
“Mind games,” Rose mumbled thoughtfully. That pricked a memory.
The vampire disappeared, moving in a rapid blur of movement, until she stood behind Audrey, one arm wrapped around Audrey’s waist and the other hand clasped around Audrey’s throat. The vampire leaned forward, pressing her face against Audrey’s neck. She inhaled deeply. “You smell like him, too.”
Audrey’s scream pulled Rose out of her thoughts.
Rose spun toward them, her eyes narrowing. “Let her go!” she snarled.
The vampire didn’t seem to hear Rose. She spun Audrey around to face her. Then, she leaned in close and sniffed Audrey’s lips. “He kissed you.”
“I said: let her go,” Rose growled, watching the vampire, “Alana.”
The vampire froze as soon as Rose spoke that name. She looked at Rose, a surprised smile curling at the edges of her lips. “How did you know?” she asked.
“There are two telepaths known to exist, one of which supposedly died,” Rose answered. “The other is my boyfriend, and you’re not my boyfriend.”
Alana flashed a flirty smile at her. “A shame.”
Rose scowled. “Also, Erik said that you liked to play mind games.”
Alana giggled, “Ah, don’t let him fool you. He loves my games.”
“He also told me that you were blonde and beautiful,” Rose added. She waved her hand up and down at the blonde vampire’s gorgeous body.
Alana smiled, her dark blue eyes sparkling. “Aww. You’re so sweet.”
“Uh…it was an observation,” Rose said. “I’m not flirting or anything.”
Alana laughed. “A shame,” she said again.
“And your psychotic jealousy was a dead giveaway,” Rose added.
The smile faded from Alana
’s face. “Psychotic?” she snarled.
“And then, of course,” Rose paused, swallowing uneasily at the memory, “there was the dream. I should have known it was you. Dreams are illusions, which means telepaths can control dreams. You manipulated my dream.” Rose shook her head in disgust as she realized something. “Just like you’ve been manipulating Erik’s dreams. He thought he was losing his mind, but it was you.”
“You’re quite clever, aren’t you?” Alana said. “That could be…useful.”
Rose scowled at her. “Not to you.”
“Oh?” Alana challenged. “You don’t think I can persuade you?”
“You already tried that, remember?” Rose said irritably. “In my dream.”
“Yes, but I didn’t have any leverage then,” Alana told her.
Rose frowned worriedly. “Leverage?”
Before Rose could react, Alana snatched Audrey to her. Her fingers wrapped around Audrey’s messy, brown hair, and she jerked Audrey’s head to the side, exposing her neck so that she could sink her fangs into Audrey’s neck. Just as her razor-sharp fangs pressed against Audrey’s skin and Audrey began to scream, an invisible force suddenly jerked Alana away from Audrey and flung Alana’s body against the brick wall of the nearest building. Audrey and Owen stared at Alana in shock as she hit the wall and slid down. Her high-heeled shoes landed unsteadily on the pavement as she caught herself, just barely, before she hit the ground. Her dark blue eyes widened in shock as she looked up at Rose.
“What the hell just happened?” Audrey breathed, trembling in terror.
Alana began to laugh, almost manically. Her laugh sounded less soft and melodic than usual, more strained and breathless, as if she were in pain, but if she was in pain, she hid it well. “No wonder you smell so powerful!” she chimed.
A flash of crimson sparked in Rose’s blue eyes. “Don’t touch her again.”
Alana walked toward her, as graceful as ever, except…she seemed to favor one leg a little more than the other, confirming that she had indeed been hurt. She didn’t stop when she reached Rose. Instead, she began to circle Rose, just as she’d done in the dream. “So, that’s how you killed all of those vampires. Telekinesis,” she realized. She finally stopped in front of Rose, so close that their bodies nearly touched. She smiled. “Oh, the things I could do with you.”
The Tomb of Blood Page 14
