Something that only existed in fairytales and movies.
Cold skin. A deep sleeper. No pulse. Fangs.
“Is this a joke?”
He shook his head. “If only.”
Had the whole night been an elaborate setup? Why would he go to such lengths to scare her? Even as her mind posed the questions, she couldn’t quite buy into her own suspicions. Intuition wouldn’t let her. Did that make her a crazy person or an idiot?
Both. Definitely both.
“You’re trying to make me believe you’re a vampire?”
“I am a vampire, Ginny.” His dark brows drew together. “I’ve never been sorrier about that.”
Ginny turned and threw herself at the door, fumbling her keys while trying to insert the right one into the lock. “Why would you do this?” she asked, her voice wavering.
“Don’t run from me,” he begged thickly.
“Why?” Her vision blurred. “You need to erase my memories?”
“I’m required to.” She finally got the door open but he easily pushed in after her, bringing them both to a breathless stop in the dark lobby. “But that’s not why I’m asking you not to run. I…God.” He pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “I’ve officially lost it. I can’t bear to have you scared of me even though you’re going to forget I exist in a moment.” He stormed in her direction. “Believe in what I am or don’t. Just know this. If I could, I would come back tomorrow in the daylight and ring your doorbell. The way it should be done. Flowers and a promise to have you home before curfew.”
“I’m twenty-four. I don’t have a curfew,” she said without thinking. “At least, I don’t think so. Besides tonight, I don’t go out much after dark.”
“Good.”
If this man had really been pranking her, hadn’t he gotten his payoff? Why was he still standing there? Why did she still want him to stay?
“Can you prove you’re a-a…vampire?”
A muscle popped in his cheek and once again, the jewel green in his eyes flared to life, bright and luminous like something from another world.
“The answer is right in front of you,” he rasped.
Could be actually be telling the truth?
Ginny’s heart raced so fast, she blinked to keep focus and not give in to a dizzy spell. This man had fangs and glowing eyes. No pulse, lest we forget.
Those weren’t things that could be faked. Was she simply being human and rejecting what her mind deemed abnormal?
The truth was right in front of her.
“You’re a vampire.”
“Yes.”
She blew out a long, shaky breath. “Oh Lord.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks. Her body trembled violently, but she didn’t run—and couldn’t explain why. Maybe it was the way he was looking at her. Like he would keel over out of sheer misery if she took off again. “A dangerous one?”
“Not to you. Never to you.” He said those words with his fist crammed to the center of his chest. “Either way, I’m afraid you won’t have to worry about any of this for long.”
She couldn’t recall fictional vampires having the ability to erase memories, but if vampires existed, nothing would be far fetched anymore. “No. Please don’t make me forget you.”
“I have no choice. I’m sorry.”
“We can’t even be…friends?”
“God no.”
Ginny flinched.
Jonas cursed. He closed the distance between them, slipping his fingers into her hair, cradling her skull, bringing her close until their foreheads almost touched. “You don’t understand. I can’t be anything to you. And you can’t be anything to me. It would put you in danger.”
Memories were sacred to Ginny. Memories were her stock and trade. Every day of her life she’d witnessed the value and importance of them. They were all people had during the toughest times of their lives. Stealing memories struck her as the worst kind of violation. And not only that, a sin. She would protect them at all costs.
But how?
How?
The answer came to her in an almost meandering, obvious way. Tell the truth.
“You would put me in danger, Jonas?” She shook her head. “I’m already in danger.”
Her words visibly wounded him. “I said I’m not going to harm you.”
“You misunderstand. I’m not in danger from you. It’s someone else.” She wet her lips. “I’m in serious danger from someone else.”
The rotating green in his eyes pulsed and fizzled out, her muscles loosening at the quick loss of invisible support. His hands, however, caught her by the upper arms, holding her steady. “Who? Tell me immediately.”
“No.”
“No?” His confusion was as obvious as his frustration. “Why not?”
Ginny shrugged. “Come back tomorrow night and maybe I’ll tell you.” She snapped her fingers between them. “Although if you erase my memory, I won’t know you from Adam. So I definitely won’t trust you enough to tell you my life has been threatened. But maybe…over time you’ll earn my trust? I’d need my memory for that, though, wouldn’t I?”
When had she become the kind of woman who played head games with a vampire?