Pretty When She Dies (Pretty When She Dies #1)(42)

Unknown to her, her eyes flamed red at the memory. She limply sank back in her chair. “I didn't mean to kill all those people.”



Cian was stoic as he listened to her. “I know.”

“I just did what...what...”

“Felt natural.”

“Yeah.”

“I did the same thing. Half a plantation of slaves and their masters. I couldn't stop killing. I only stopped when the priest arrived and drove me back into the night.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and rubbed his hands together. “I do understand.”

Blood tears started creeping down her face. “I don't feel bad though.

But I should, right? I mean, I know what I did was wrong, but there is a part of me that is fine with it. What I did.”

“You were surviving. The first hunt is the most important. If you don't drink enough blood, you can go permanently mad.” His gaze leveled with hers and he seemed slightly less terrifying. “It is hard.

The first nights. My hunger remained unquenched for four nights. By then I had most of Barbados hunting me. Since you killed at the college, how many times have you fed?”

Amaliya rubbed her brow and sighed. “Well, this guy named Pete. I didn't kill him though. He's a friend from my childhood. My cousin told me he's in the hospital.”

“Your cousin? You've had contact with your family?” Cian looked shocked.

“Yeah. I saw my grandma and my cousin last night. I saw my Dad and stepmom the night before along with my crazy Aunt Mae and my * brother, Damon.”

Cian looked completely startled by this. “And you didn't kill them?”

“Hell no! Well, I was tempted with my stupid Aunt, but no.”

“So you haven't been as famished as you were the first night?”



Shaking her head, Amaliya fiddled with her nose piercing again. “No.

I did get really weak and hungry after I burned my fingers and healed them. That is why I bit Pete.”

“You woke up during the day?”

“Yeah. So?”

Cian's eyes narrowed. “That is rare. We usually cannot rise during the day at all. Only when we feel threatened and often we're not completely conscious.”

“Well, I woke up that second day. I was scared of the sunlight.”

“I see. And when did you feed again?”

“Um, that night.”

“The second night after you woke up?”

“Yeah. I drained that crazy ass woman who wanted to kill her ex and take the kids. And I felt okay for the rest of the night. I hitched a ride to Dallas with that guy Rob.” Her face clouded at the memory.

“Everything was fine until he got into my hotel room and started trying to...” She swept her hair back from her face. Her gaze grew distant as she remembered the horrible feel of his hands on her. “So I beat the shit out of him. And drank his blood. Then....” She looked at her longer nails. She had already chipped the polish on them. “I kinda tore him up. I was pissed.”

Cian blinked slowly, then said, “Okay.”

“Look, I didn't know these rules you're talking about, okay! He put his hand down into my panties and was trying to make me suck him off! There was no way I was doing that! And he had no trouble hitting me or kicking me!” The thought of the short-lived battle made her skin flush and her eyes began to glow again. “He had it coming to him.”

“I agree,” Cian answered calmly.

“Oh,” Amaliya felt her defensiveness fade away slowly. “Oh. Well, yeah; he did.”

“And last night. Where did you feed?”

Fiddling with her skull ring this time, she answered softly, “I didn't. I went home and saw my Grandmama and my cousin Sergio. That's where I got the Lincoln to come here.”

“And they didn't freak out because you're supposed to be dead?”

Cian's voice was sounding dangerous again.

“They think I'm on the run from the Satanists. That I escaped.”

Somehow she knew that he could not know that her cousin and grandmother knew exactly what she was. It was dangerous for her and for them.

Cian rubbed his chin, then nodded. “That makes sense. Did they ask you why you hadn't gone to the police?”

“Yeah, but I told them I couldn't. I think...” she hesitated. “I told them cops were in the cult.”

“That was smart of you,” Cian said with a bemused smile.

“Hey, I'm not always stupid. Just sometimes.” And she thought bitterly of Professor Sumner's offer for coffee. Why on earth would a man like him be interested in a tattooed girl who was into metalheads?

“So you have not fed since the trucker?”

She shook her head, then rubbed her stomach. “I am getting hungry though. I should go, right?”

“No,” he answered coolly. “You shouldn't.”

Looking down at her hands, she felt tears swell up. She hadn't cried this much in years and it was pissing her off to no end. “Look, I know I f*cked up, but I didn't mean to. Please, don't kill me. I want to learn how to be...this.” She waved her hand distractedly at her tears and her mouth. Her fangs were still pressing down. She could feel them with her tongue now. She was growing hungrier.