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She could only watch in horrified and stunned confusion as the man she was in love with used his fangs - his own fangs - to tear his attacker's throat open...before moving on to the next one.
Chapter Four
"HOW ARE YOU FEELING?" Her boss' tone was calm and cool, his voice the first thing to break the silence that had taken over ever since the E.R. doctor had left. It was just the two of them now inside the emergency room, and she had a feeling it would stay that way even if a natural disaster were to occur.
Hirsche Enterprises owned the hospital after all, and so if the boss wanted privacy, he would have it...never mind if it put the actual patient in an awkward and unsettling disadvantage.
Spencer lifted her chin. "How do you think I'm feeling?" Under normal circumstances, this would have Mr. H threatening to fire her if she persisted in disrespecting him.
But he didn't.
Instead, she saw his arms cross over his too broad chest, and she found herself wondering if, perhaps, like that other party, Etienne Hirsche would also have chest hair. It would be sexy if he did, she thought. She had never had a thing for chest hair, but she really liked it now and—-
Oh my God, why am I thinking about that now of all times?
Etienne observed the unusual play of expressions on Spencer's face. "You're still in shock."
"I'm not," she denied automatically. Or at least not for what he was thinking. She was in shock, but more because her lust-love-whatever-feeling-it-was she had for him was still making her think of horny stuff despite the life-and-death gravity of their situation.
You gotta focus, Spencer.
Think with your brains and not with your pussy!
And the reality was—-
A single memory flashed in her mind: it was that split-second moment where she had locked gazes with one of the red-eyed creatures, its fangs glistening in the darkness.
Cold sweat immediately broke over the skin, and she suddenly felt appallingly and mortifiyingly weak.
"I hate this," she muttered under her breath.
"There's no point getting bothered by it." A part of him had feared she would go into hysterics, but he should've known better. As expected, the brat saw her shock as a sign of weakness rather than a temporary medical condition that would eventually fade.
"Easy for you to say."
"I suppose it is."
Her teeth gnashed. "I don't like it when you're being this condescending—-"
"I'm not." And because she had never known him to be a liar, she could only accept his words for the truth. "It is easy for me to say these things, but it doesn't make the words any less true." There was a second's pause, and then Mr. H. said gently, "You are not the first human to know about us."
Oh. She could only stare at him, at a loss of what to say or what to even think about that. So how many knew about them then? And if he called her human like that, then it made him sound like he wasn't...that.
"Are you a vampire?"
"No." It was not like him to speak so plainly about his real nature, but Etienne felt compelled to do so with the way Spencer seemed so stubbonrly determined to confront the truth head on. "But the other men were."
"But I saw you—-" Her voice faltered.
"You saw I had fangs?"
Spencer nodded.
"Because I'm Caro," Etienne clarified calmly. "We are what vampires used to be, and like them, we need human blood to survive. But unlike them, we do not kill for blood, and there are lines we don't cross to retain our souls."
He saw the way her eyes lit up at the mention of souls, and he remembered belatedly that the brat, despite her bitchy ways, also happened to be raised Catholic, and his lips twitched. "If it means anything," he said dryly, "I can go to church without burning alive."
Spencer didn't even bother hiding her relief. "It means a lot." She still liked him, was still in love with him, but him without a soul was just another complication she'd be happy to do without.
