Read Online Dance with Darkness by Melissa Darnell - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Melissa Darnell
Tags: Romance
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true.
It just wasn’t the whole truth.
“Were you previously aware of his health issues?”
No need to lie here either, or even fake her emotions. She was genuinely shocked and let it show now. “No, not at all. He seemed fine. Never missed a day of business, never mentioned going to a doctor or feeling bad.” In fact, he’d seemed the last person on earth to need to be turned by a vamp, which was why his attempt to blackmail her had come as such a surprise. The old cuss had given the impression that he was mean enough to live forever out of sheer spite.
But he must have known he had a bad heart. Why else would he be so determined to gain immortality from her?
The detective made a note on his notepad then stared at her for a long moment, and she wondered what he saw. Probably a scared little girl, at least on the outside. But did he also see the darkness deep inside her just waiting for her to lose control over it? Could some ancient human instinct within him sense how dangerous she really was to any human who came too close to her at the wrong time?
She focused on taking slow, even breaths as he continued to stare.
Finally he made a few last notes then flipped his notepad shut. “Okay, that’s all for now, Miss Cochoran. We’ve got your home address and phone number if we need to ask any more questions. Unless there’s anything else you want to tell us now?”
You mean like how this is all because John caught me vamping out while taking care of that would-be rapist in the saloon’s parking lot a few weeks ago? that hysterical part of her wanted to say.
She had thought John would turn out to be the secretly kind old man type who would accept what she was and then help her get rid of the rapist’s body. Instead, her boss had become an even bigger problem for her by demanding she turn him into a vamp too or else he’d tell everyone what she’d done to her so-called “victim”.
She could have been just as bad as John and simply killed him to shut him up, or at least threatened to. But no, she just had to try and be the bigger person in the situation by countering his demands with an offer of her own... keep your lips zipped, sell the Midnight Saloon to me at a price I can afford, and I’ll give you all the immortality you could ever want.
And then John had gone and died on her anyway, even after weeks of all their careful preparations, right before she was about to give him what he wanted.
She realized the detective was still staring at her, waiting for an answer.
Did she want to tell him anything else?
Oh mister. If you only knew the real story...
She pressed her lips together to hold in the wild laughter trying its best to bubble up inside and shook her head.
“Okay, we’ll let you know if we have any further questions down the road.”
She nodded, holding in her sigh of relief until after he had walked away. Once he was gone, she dropped her head into her hands.
Holy crap, that was a close one.
Her story shouldn’t blow up in her face later, though. She’d stayed close to the truth, only leaving out the few details no cop would have believed anyway. Let them dig into the paperwork all they wanted. The Midnight Saloon was legally and rightfully hers now, and had been even before John’s heart gave out tonight. The notarized title transfer said so. And though John’s death had scared her nearly senseless and the timing of it wasn’t great, it could have been worse...his heart could have given out after she bit him and left fang marks that would raise a lot of questions.
Right now, all anyone should see was an older man who should have taken better care of his health.
She went home and took a long shower, trying to wash off the invisible filth she felt coating her skin. But she couldn’t seem to get clean no matter how hard she tried. And afterwards when she stared at her reflection in the mirror, she didn’t recognize the person—make that monster—staring back at her.
She thought
It just wasn’t the whole truth.
“Were you previously aware of his health issues?”
No need to lie here either, or even fake her emotions. She was genuinely shocked and let it show now. “No, not at all. He seemed fine. Never missed a day of business, never mentioned going to a doctor or feeling bad.” In fact, he’d seemed the last person on earth to need to be turned by a vamp, which was why his attempt to blackmail her had come as such a surprise. The old cuss had given the impression that he was mean enough to live forever out of sheer spite.
But he must have known he had a bad heart. Why else would he be so determined to gain immortality from her?
The detective made a note on his notepad then stared at her for a long moment, and she wondered what he saw. Probably a scared little girl, at least on the outside. But did he also see the darkness deep inside her just waiting for her to lose control over it? Could some ancient human instinct within him sense how dangerous she really was to any human who came too close to her at the wrong time?
She focused on taking slow, even breaths as he continued to stare.
Finally he made a few last notes then flipped his notepad shut. “Okay, that’s all for now, Miss Cochoran. We’ve got your home address and phone number if we need to ask any more questions. Unless there’s anything else you want to tell us now?”
You mean like how this is all because John caught me vamping out while taking care of that would-be rapist in the saloon’s parking lot a few weeks ago? that hysterical part of her wanted to say.
She had thought John would turn out to be the secretly kind old man type who would accept what she was and then help her get rid of the rapist’s body. Instead, her boss had become an even bigger problem for her by demanding she turn him into a vamp too or else he’d tell everyone what she’d done to her so-called “victim”.
She could have been just as bad as John and simply killed him to shut him up, or at least threatened to. But no, she just had to try and be the bigger person in the situation by countering his demands with an offer of her own... keep your lips zipped, sell the Midnight Saloon to me at a price I can afford, and I’ll give you all the immortality you could ever want.
And then John had gone and died on her anyway, even after weeks of all their careful preparations, right before she was about to give him what he wanted.
She realized the detective was still staring at her, waiting for an answer.
Did she want to tell him anything else?
Oh mister. If you only knew the real story...
She pressed her lips together to hold in the wild laughter trying its best to bubble up inside and shook her head.
“Okay, we’ll let you know if we have any further questions down the road.”
She nodded, holding in her sigh of relief until after he had walked away. Once he was gone, she dropped her head into her hands.
Holy crap, that was a close one.
Her story shouldn’t blow up in her face later, though. She’d stayed close to the truth, only leaving out the few details no cop would have believed anyway. Let them dig into the paperwork all they wanted. The Midnight Saloon was legally and rightfully hers now, and had been even before John’s heart gave out tonight. The notarized title transfer said so. And though John’s death had scared her nearly senseless and the timing of it wasn’t great, it could have been worse...his heart could have given out after she bit him and left fang marks that would raise a lot of questions.
Right now, all anyone should see was an older man who should have taken better care of his health.
She went home and took a long shower, trying to wash off the invisible filth she felt coating her skin. But she couldn’t seem to get clean no matter how hard she tried. And afterwards when she stared at her reflection in the mirror, she didn’t recognize the person—make that monster—staring back at her.
She thought
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