Wicked Soul (Ancient Blood #1)(5)

“I do not miss them,” he said, pulling me out of my contemplations of his face with a start, even though his voice was quiet. “They were a part of another life.”

I frowned. “Does that mean vampires have no interest in their former life after they are turned?” It sounded so… harsh.

He considered me for a moment. “That’s something I can’t answer, Liv. It is not discussed in our society, so I do not know what it’s like for other vampires.”

I guess it made sense that something like that would be private.

“Why do you have ink smears on your arms?” he asked.

I twisted my arms out in front of me to have a better look. Sure enough, a few high-placed ink smudges had avoided my attention the last time I washed my hands. “Huh. I was doing an ink drawing earlier and apparently didn’t notice. I always have random spots and smudges in odd places after doing a drawing or a painting.” I popped my finger in my mouth to wet it so I could rub the offending smears off.

“You’re an artist?”

I snorted. “A girl can dream! No, it’s just a hobby. I work in a shop to pay the bills. Today was supposed to be my day off to relax. What about you? Do you have any hobbies?”

The vampire looked a little perplexed, as if he’d never pondered the concept of a hobby before. “I… read a lot, when I have the time. My work keeps me busy for most of my waking hours.”

I looked up from my smudges, fascinated. I’d never really thought about vampires holding down jobs. “What do you work with? Ooh, let me guess! Mortician?”

Warin shook his head once, smirking at my enthusiasm.

“Nightclub bouncer?”

Another head shake.

“…Bartender?” I frowned, trying to think of nighttime employment that’d suit the young-looking man in front of me. It was surprisingly hard. “College student who only takes night classes…?”

Warin huffed. I wasn’t sure of it was from amusement, or if I was starting to get insulting with my suggestions.

“Okay, fine, I give up. What do you do?”

“Hmm. I suppose humans would call it law enforcement,” he said after thinking for a moment.

I blinked. Repeatedly. “Humans would call it law enforcement? Do you not…? Is there some secret vampire agency we don’t know about? Like a…” Excitement bubbled through my veins as I recalled the romance book that’d landed me in here in the first place. “Oh, my goddess, are you a secret vampire agent saving humans from all the terrors we don’t know exist? Like… Like an undead superhero?”

This time, there was no mistaking the disdain in Warin’s snort, and I deflated a little.

“Vampires are not superheroes, Liv,” he said, and the sudden, dark glint in his eyes made something at the base of my skull—some primitive instinct in charge of keeping me alive—wake up with a shudder that traveled the full length of my body. “Never, ever make the mistake of thinking we are safe. We are not.”

“O-okay,” I stuttered, pressing my back up tighter against the bars. “Noted.”

“What did you do to make these people lock you in a cage with a vampire?” he asked, and it took me a moment to realize he’d gone back to our Q&A session without missing a beat. As if he hadn’t just looked at me all scary-eyed, warning me that vampires were not our friends. While apparently not getting the dark irony of me currently being locked in a cage with one—him.

“I read a book they didn’t approve of,” I said, still too startled to remember why I’d swerved that question before.

“Which book?” he asked with a frown, and I could have bitten my own tongue off.

“Er… just a… book. Fiction.” I fidgeted uncomfortably under his scrutinizing gaze.

“What book of fiction would lead them to capture a woman off the street?”

I couldn’t tell if he was mystified, or he thought I was lying.

“One about vampires,” I begrudgingly admitted.

“You read a fictional tale about vampires, and they thought you a threat?” Warin’s frown deepened.

Great. Just great. Why drop an embarrassing subject when we could just keep right on digging?

“It was a romance, okay? A vampire romance,” I snapped. I normally didn’t care what people thought of my trashy novel selection, but then I’d never really had to explain to a vampire that I loved reading about silly human girls falling for a sexy undead.

“Vampire romance?” The dark-haired young man arched both eyebrows at my confession. “What is a vampire ro—?” His voice died as he turned his head toward the door. “Someone’s coming.”





3





The vampire gracefully got to his feet in one faster than my eyes could track.

I got up too, though somewhat less elegantly, and waited with my hands wrapped around the bars. I couldn’t hear anything, but my heart thudded unevenly in my chest. If my kidnappers had expected me to be eaten by now, what were they going to do once they saw I was still alive? Even though I was very much hoping for “give up and let me go,” it wasn’t the option that kept tap dancing before my mind’s eye. More like “knife to the throat,” or “burned at the stake.”