Pretty When She Dies (Pretty When She Dies #1)(47)

The two vampires remained just as they were as he entered the room and tossed the bag at Amaliya's feet.

“I will retrieve your car now. I thought you may want this to freshen up,” he said in an annoyed tone, then his voice grew soft. “I see.”

Cian turned and looked at Roberto sharply.



Roberto looked amused and looked pointedly at Amaliya, then at Cian. “Did I return too quickly?”

“Go get her car,” Cian said firmly.

Roberto bowed briefly, with a smirk on his face, and walked out with a much lighter step.

As the door shut, Amaliya said, “He's a total bitch.”

Cian nodded and looked at her again. She was really pretty with her exotic features and long dark hair. He could see with his keen eyesight that her hair was really blond and that she dyed it, but the black hair contrasted nicely with her skin. She had taken off her shoes and stood barefoot on the hardwood floor. She looked unsure of herself and a little afraid.

“I just don't sleep with anyone,” she said at last, but her tone wasn't exactly truthful.

“Unless they are attractive to you,” he added.

“Well, yeah.” She blushed and sat on the floor. “I got carried away.

I'm sorry.” She curled her legs under her and sat Indian style. “Do you hate me now?”

“I don't know you well enough to hate you or like you,” Cian answered honestly. His body was slowly calming down, but he knew it would not take much to arouse him again. He looked away from her and played idly with a framed picture of Samantha.

“You're not going to throw me out, are you?”

“No. No. Of course not. I invited you here.”

“You kidnapped me,” she reminded him.

He smiled lightly. “Same thing. Plus, I am the one who offered you my throat. I'm responsible for what happened.”

“I'm sure I didn't help,” she mumbled.

Glancing toward her, Cian took in her pensive expression. He said softly, “No, but again, I invited you here.”

Those enormous eyes turned up at him and he once more thought her features were quite intriguing. With blond hair they may have faded to bland, but with black, they were intense and lovely With a sigh, he realized he had to stop thinking like this and looked over at the picture of Samantha. She had such a cute turned up nose and glorious smile. She was everything good and light in his life. He had to remember that.

“Are you going to tell her?” Amaliya asked after a long beat.

“No. No. She wouldn't understand. She doesn't see this side of me,”

Cian admitted.

“But she knows you're a vampire.”

“Yes, she does. She found out unexpectedly one night, but it didn't phase her.” He smiled and laughed a little. “She said, 'Oh, wow. So sunscreen doesn't help, huh?' That's Sam for you.”

Amaliya smiled at that and looked at her hand. “If only sunscreen did work...”

“Sam has a tendency to try to see everything in a positive light. I think that is why I love her. She didn't run screaming from the room.

She just stood there, staring at me, and then told me she knew I was a good man.”

“Are you?” Amaliya asked.

He frowned slightly, then shrugged. “When I'm with Sam I believe I am.”

“But tonight I f*cked that up,” she said with a sigh.

“I f*cked it up,” Cian answered.



“You're trying to live a normal life with Sam. You don't me need screwing it up for you.”

“When I was turned no one helped me,” Cian said in a soft voice. “I floundered. I struggled. I destroyed people I loved. I was mad with the hunger and I barely survived. You're doing much better than I did, but I want to make sure you truly understand what is going on, what you are, before you do something that will get you killed by The Summoner or-” He cut off his sentence and pondered what he was going to say.

“You?”

“Yes.”

“I want to live. I don't want to die. I did it once and it sucked. My whole life I've been trying to find out who I was, what I was about, what I wanted to do. And now, I know who I am. I understand what I am.”

Cian turned his attention back to the young woman sitting on his floor and took in her sincere expression. “And what is that.”

“I want to live. I want to be what I am. What happened between us...that was amazing! Beyond anything in my life. I never felt so alive! That was like...” She shook her head. “I can't even define it. But I felt alive. And honestly, these last few days, though my brain has felt kinda off and weird, I actually feel motivated to do something other than coast through life.”

Sliding from his chair, he walked over to her and squatted down.

“Then you're going to live, Amaliya. You're not a self-loathing, hateful fledgling or an insane one. You're already accepting what is going on and that puts you far ahead of most.”

“Why do you hate it?” She tilted her head up to look at him curiously.



He reached out and ran his fingers over her soft cheek, then across her jawline. The desire to kiss her and push her down on the floor rose. His teeth grew sharp at the thought of driving them into her throat or more erotic places.