Dinner With a Vampire (The Dark Heroine #1)(67)
Author: Abigail Gibbs

I couldn’t have anticipated what happened next. In an attempt to pull her just a little closer, my hand must have brushed her side because she jerked away from my touch, the whirling motion of the ride causing her neck to wrench back onto my shoulder and exposing her fleshy throat and a single throbbing, purple vein.

My eyes changed to red and my mouth widened as I snarled softly, baring my sharp fangs. Her scent made my nostrils flare and my mind spun like the ride. What I would give to just taste one innocent drop of her blood …

My jaw lowered to her exposed neck, the thought of her blood cooling the burning in my throat. I was not an inch away from her throat when my voice, quiet for so many days, interrupted sharply.

Don’t.

Her heart thumped, and I was gone.

FORTY-TWO

Violet

Gone. Again.

I straightened up from where I had collapsed onto the seat, drawing myself up on my elbows, waiting for the ride to slow down. My neck was stiff and ached and I most definitely felt very, very sick. I gagged a little, desperate for a drink. Closing my eyes and burying my head in my hands I waited for the ride to be over, regretting ever coming on.

Eventually the world slowed to a halt, and sucking in a deep breath I stood up, stepping out of the carriage as my head throbbed and my vision blurred for a split second. The low-cut collar of my T-shirt left me in full view, and I hastily buttoned it back up.

I scanned the darkness. The only people around were the ride attendants and the retreating backs of those that had just been on the waltzer. Convincing myself he couldn’t have gone that far, I started searching behind the caravans.

Eventually I thought I heard muffled whining, and rounding a trailer, went to investigate. Fading moans floated through the air, and a low slurping sound reached my ears. Slowing down I eased forward, making out a shape in the corner formed by two caravans, sheltered by piles of empty boxes. My eyes adjusted to the gloom and pushing a box aside with a quaking hand I felt bile rise in my throat.

There, clutched in the arms of Kaspar was a girl, clothes torn and her skin lacerated. She was tanned, but becoming grey, eyes losing lustre. The only part of her that still contained any hue was her neck, which was flushed bright red and oozing blood.

Dead.

He stood up, allowing her limp body to tumble out of the cradle of his arms to the churned, muddy ground. He gradually turned to face me. Blood dribbled down his chin and his neck and cheeks were smeared with peach lipstick – a mark to prove how he had caught her.

I swallowed back the bile, forcing myself to breathe … in and out, in and out …

‘W-why?’ I managed to choke out, not wanting to back away but not wanting to go near him either. His eyes were crimson, becoming scarlet, then pink and eventually a murky, swirling grey to match her skin as a single fang bit at his blood-stained lips.

He looked down at her for a brief moment. ‘She was called Joanne.’

‘You knew her name?’ I whispered, unable to tear my eyes away from the mangled body laying face down in the grass. He nodded, still biting at his lip with his fangs which were tinged pink, her blood crusting around the corners of his mouth. ‘And that makes it better, how?’

‘It just does.’ He reached down and rolled her body over like she was a slab of meat, her arms twisted behind her back. He yanked her dress back down to cover her thighs and placed a finger on each of her eyelids, rolling them down to shut off her unseeing pupils, which stared up at him in permanent horror. ‘Does that make it better?’

I cringed and looked away as the blood around his mouth continued to dry, turning an ugly brown colour against his ashen skin. ‘You can’t just go around killing people.’

I heard a growl from behind me. ‘I’m a vampire, Girly, I have to kill to feed and I’d rather it wasn’t you I was killing.’

I took a sharp breath and whipped back around. ‘What?’

He didn’t reply for a few seconds, his chest rising and falling. ‘On the ride I nearly attacked you. And if I had you would certainly be dead. It was you or her.’

My mouth fell open. ‘You should have just killed me!’

He took a step towards me and I took one back. My heart faltered as my senses shrieked that I should run. He snarled softly, his eyes pitch black. ‘Wake up and smell the coffee, Girly! Your life is the only thing stopping us from descending into war! The first and last chance I had to kill you was in Trafalgar Square.’

He pushed passed me, knocking me back a step. But I whipped around and grabbed his arm, digging my nails in and using every ounce of strength I had to pull him back.

‘Then why didn’t you?’

He didn’t meet my eyes, using the sleeve of his free arm to wipe his mouth. ‘We have to go before someone realizes she’s missing. C’mon.’

I tugged harder and repeated my question. ‘Why didn’t you?’

Instead of answering he prized my hand away and walked off, disappearing into the darkness. With one last glance back at the girl lying lifeless and blood-drained on the ground, I hurried after him, disgusted, but more sickened by the fact I couldn’t bring myself to be truly horrified.

‘I won’t tell if you don’t.’

‘But you can’t, that’s seriously cruel!’

‘Come on, it’s not as though you two get on any more, why should you care?’

‘But it won’t damage his car, will it?’

‘No,’ Kaspar chuckled. ‘Just delay him.’

He pulled the cables out and slammed the bonnet down. He moved around Fabian’s R8 and I cringed, thinking it a crime as he moved on to Charlie’s car.

‘You’re not going to do it to all of them, are you?’

He smirked wickedly, continuing to chuckle. ‘Of course. I would actually like to have the run of Varnley for once. And with father away and this lot stranded it’ll be peace and quiet at last. Besides, they’ll just run back eventually … tomorrow morning, I should think.’

I scowled. ‘Let me rephrase that. You mean I’m going to be stranded with you.’

‘Yes.’ He wrenched another set of cables out and slammed the bonnet down. ‘Lucky you!’

‘Lucky you,’ I imitated under my breath. ‘Won’t they just be able to fix them?’

He slammed the bonnet of his sister’s car down with so much force I thought the metal would buckle. Leaning across, his trademark half-smile, half-smirk appeared.

‘Rich kids can’t fix cars.’