Dahlia has lived in our universe as an immortal for centuries. She has a soft spot for this universe - all the good and all the bad - and has made the best of an admittedly bad situation. Her universe? It...went through some things, but who cares, w...
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MERCIFULLY, SIMONE'S DEATH was quick.
"Just what is it with you and necks?" I sputtered in disbelief as he single-handedly hauled her into the backseat of his car. "Do you have a vampire kink, or something?"
"I don't think so," he muttered, motioning for me to get into the backseat.
I stared at Simone's prone body. Marcus hadn't even bothered to close her eyes.
"Absolutely not," I said to him.
The look in her eyes was accusatory. How could you let this happen? How could you do this to me? How could you? My heart was galloping, and I felt like I was going to be sick. Seeing her this way was bad enough, but being forced to cuddle her dead body was taking it too far. I couldn't explain the how or why, but there was a small part of me that was screaming, This is your child! Your child is in pain! You are in pain.
"Dahlia," Marcus began, sounding like he was on the verge of losing his patience, "we just don't have time for this. If she wakes up –"
"Fine. Whatever." I got in, carefully lifting Simone's head and laying it on my lap. Her neck was still gushing profusely, but what was a little blood? I used two fingers to close her eyes before looking up at Marcus. "Happy?"
He had the uncanny ability of making me sound and feel like a petulant child. It wasn't even so much about what he said; it was how he said it. I looked away from him. I was afraid that if I stared at him a minute longer, I would end up killing him.
"I don't actually think she'll be waking up anytime soon, but just in case she does, here."
It took me a second to realize that he was holding out the knife to me. It had been wiped clean.
I could feel my eyes widening. "Absolutely not! I am not stabbing her. What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Marcus swept a lock of hair out of his face. "Suit yourself." He slammed the door shut and got into the driver's seat. The car started.
I stared at the back of his head. He was crazy. Fucking disturbed. Veena would tell me that I was exaggerating, but she didn't know Marcus like I did. There was nothing normal about him because I was pretty sure that he didn't know what normal even was. All of these centuries on Earth and he still behaved as if he were a cyborg.
"So are we going to keep killing her until we get to the portal?" I couldn't help the sarcasm in my voice. "Keep her unconscious until we get to the other side and explain everything there?"
Silence.
"How do you expect to gain her trust if the first thing we do is murder her?" I wanted to know. "Unprovoked!"
Silence.
"You're telling me that there was no other way to get her to come with us?"
