A Midsummer Night's Demon(14)

She cleared her throat. “I figured we could use me for bait."

His hand dropped to his lap. “Never going to happen.” His voice carried a low menace at the thought of her in danger. “I don’t want you anywhere near that monster again.”

She laced her fingers in his. “Ky, think about it. I could call him, or email him requesting that we meet up again then you could be there to catch him when he showed.”

He brought her fingers to his mouth, running his teeth over her knuckles as he thought. He had already considered using her to lure the vampire out and dismissed it immediately. It did not surprise him that she could have contemplated the same plan. She’d told him she wanted to do something to help get her life back, take control, and put the nightmares to rest, but she had no idea what she would be getting into. She didn’t realize she’d be facing a vampire with preternatural speed and strength.

She deserved his complete honesty. Once he destroyed the debauchee, he would explain about vampires, make her understand that while becoming one might change a person physically by changing your organs and making your body require extra blood, your personality stayed the same. He’d help her to understand that just like people, some vampires were good and some were sick, sadistic bastards who deserved to die.

“I don’t want you contacting him, Lyn. He is a dangerous man. It is too risky.”

“I already did,” she stated softly, her eyes downcast. She had the decency to look contrite.

Anger flared to life, running through his veins like molten lava to heat his blood. He must have heard her wrong. She could not have gone behind his back, put herself in grave danger. He worked hard to keep his tone normal when he spoke. “What did you say?”

Their eyes met, and his icy stare held her captive. She swallowed, taking a deep fortifying breath before she spoke. Her words flowed from her lips in a rush, like the mighty Mississippi. “Please don’t be mad. I couldn’t think of anything else to do. He texted me. On my phone. Asking me to email him. I logged on tonight to my email account using your laptop. I emailed him, and pretended I didn’t remember the attack. He sent me back a reply. He wants to meet me again. I have the email. You can read it. Please don’t be mad.”

He brought her hand over his heart. Fear for her safety made it beat harder in his chest. He needed a minute to calm down, needed a second to think things through. “Go get the laptop. Show me the email.” His voice sounded surprisingly even despite the emotions churning inside him.

Ky watched her disappear inside. He pushed his hands under his thighs to keep from punching a hole through the wall. How could she be so reckless? If she gave the vampire the slightest hint of where he could find her, she would no longer be safe here, and he would have to find a new place for her to hide. The fingers of his right hand bunched around the empty blood bag. He shoved it in the pocket of his jeans when Lyn emerged from the house carrying his laptop.

She balanced it precariously on one hand while her fingers punched the keys.

“Come here.” He reached out to gather her into his lap as he had done most every night since they’d met.

She went willingly and cuddled into the warmth of his body. It felt right having her in his arms, like coming home to change into your favorite pair of sweats after a long day at work. Her figure molded to his. Her soft curves fit perfectly against the hard planes of his muscles. His arms enveloped her like a shield of strength.

With the computer in her lap, both her hands were free to work the keys. In no time, she brought her email up and read it aloud to Ky.

“Dear Juan. I used ‘dear’ because I was trying to play like I didn’t remember what happened. Anyway, Dear Juan, I hope you are all right. I’m sorry I didn’t write sooner, but I have been in the hospital. I don’t remember exactly what happened. One minute we were enjoying drinks and the next I woke up in a hospital bed. The doctors didn’t know what had happened; only that I came in with a wound on my neck, and I was bleeding badly. Please write back when you get this so I’ll know you are fine. Love, Lyn.”

“Love?” Ky questioned with a raised brow.

“Well, I wanted him to believe that I didn’t remember anything about the attack. Don’t you think that if I remembered he attacked me the last thing I would have said was ‘love, Lyn’?”

What he thought was that she was a very clever woman. The email she composed sounded sincere. She explained why she had not been in touch sooner, given the impression that she did not remember the attack, not given away where she was staying, and seemed genuinely concerned about the monster’s safety, which would play to his narcissism. Ky had to admit, maybe she could handle herself better than he’d thought.