Read Online Follow Me When the Sun Goes Down by Lisa Olsen - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lisa Olsen
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in real danger, not from that lot. And a spot of exercise is good for you.”
“Exercise,” I said with a broken laugh. Was that all that was? It still bothered me more than I liked to admit how easily I’d embraced violence, for all the pretensions I had on retaining my humanity. Taking a deep breath, I squatted down in front of the guy, slapping him lightly until the pain brought him around. My compulsion brought him under my control before he could utter a single word.
“You won’t remember any of this. You won’t ever attack another woman again for as long as you live. Do you understand? You won’t carry a knife, you won’t so much as want to touch one to cut up your steak. You’ll live your life as scared and alone as the people you’ve bullied. Now get the hell out of here before I decide that’s too good for you and kill you anyway.”
He scuttled off, stumbling over his feet until he made it onto the street and disappeared from view. Maybe he wouldn’t make it home without passing out again, but I didn’t care.
His friend watched us with wide eyes, still trapped by my compulsion to be still and I stood to compel him to forget me as well. Maybe the other guy who’d gone back into the bar would remember me, but all he’d know was I was the center of a bar fight. As long as nothing screamed vampire, I didn’t care if they remembered me. I didn’t intend to ever return there again.
I didn’t go back into the bar, and I didn’t say anything to Rob as I strode past him back onto the street. I didn’t do anything but walk until the violence simmering under my skin started to fade and I felt more like myself again. Gradually, my steps slowed, and I was glad to find Rob trailing along behind me, giving me the space I needed. Waiting for him to catch up to me, we reversed directions, ambling slowly back to the car.
“I don’t want to ever do that again,” I said once we got inside the plush, leather interior.
“Be a bit hard for you not to, you being a vamp and all.”
“I don’t mean feeding, I mean what happened tonight. You were there, weren’t you?”
“Too right, I was there.”
“I didn’t think… I didn’t know I had that level of violence inside me.”
“You’re a vampire, it’s your nature,” he shrugged, unconcerned.
“I didn’t like it.”
“It ain’t for you to like, it’s for you to do. It doesn’t have to define you if you don’t want it to.”
“Yes, but you saw me back there… I hurt him, on purpose, and I enjoyed it.” What kind of a monster did that make me?
Rob seemed largely untroubled by my bloodthirsty technique. “Bloke like that needs hurting every now and again. You didn’t kill him.”
“But I wanted to.”
“But you didn’t,” he said stonily, starting up the car. He was upset though, I could see it now that I’d worked my way through the worst of my self-recrimination. It was in the way he gripped the steering wheel and the set of his jaw.
“What’s wrong then?”
“Nothing a bottle of whiskey won’t cure.” That was all I’d get out of him, I saw that as plain as the nose on his face.
“Make it a double,” I muttered under my breath.
Only he didn’t join me for a drink when we got home. Instead Rob holed himself up in his room listening to Nina Simone, the unfamiliar whiff of cigarette smoke seeping out from under his bedroom door. No matter how I strained my ears to hear what he was doing in there, the music covered his movements.
Unused to being shut out like that, I turned to a bottle of aquavit, pouring myself a drink that turned into four . I grew more and more melancholy as Nina sang about loss with such depth of feeling, I wanted to seep through the cracks in the floor to bury myself in darkness. Somewhere around the seventh or eighth drink, I found it.
Chapter Seven
The next night, I awoke to Maggie shaking my
“Exercise,” I said with a broken laugh. Was that all that was? It still bothered me more than I liked to admit how easily I’d embraced violence, for all the pretensions I had on retaining my humanity. Taking a deep breath, I squatted down in front of the guy, slapping him lightly until the pain brought him around. My compulsion brought him under my control before he could utter a single word.
“You won’t remember any of this. You won’t ever attack another woman again for as long as you live. Do you understand? You won’t carry a knife, you won’t so much as want to touch one to cut up your steak. You’ll live your life as scared and alone as the people you’ve bullied. Now get the hell out of here before I decide that’s too good for you and kill you anyway.”
He scuttled off, stumbling over his feet until he made it onto the street and disappeared from view. Maybe he wouldn’t make it home without passing out again, but I didn’t care.
His friend watched us with wide eyes, still trapped by my compulsion to be still and I stood to compel him to forget me as well. Maybe the other guy who’d gone back into the bar would remember me, but all he’d know was I was the center of a bar fight. As long as nothing screamed vampire, I didn’t care if they remembered me. I didn’t intend to ever return there again.
I didn’t go back into the bar, and I didn’t say anything to Rob as I strode past him back onto the street. I didn’t do anything but walk until the violence simmering under my skin started to fade and I felt more like myself again. Gradually, my steps slowed, and I was glad to find Rob trailing along behind me, giving me the space I needed. Waiting for him to catch up to me, we reversed directions, ambling slowly back to the car.
“I don’t want to ever do that again,” I said once we got inside the plush, leather interior.
“Be a bit hard for you not to, you being a vamp and all.”
“I don’t mean feeding, I mean what happened tonight. You were there, weren’t you?”
“Too right, I was there.”
“I didn’t think… I didn’t know I had that level of violence inside me.”
“You’re a vampire, it’s your nature,” he shrugged, unconcerned.
“I didn’t like it.”
“It ain’t for you to like, it’s for you to do. It doesn’t have to define you if you don’t want it to.”
“Yes, but you saw me back there… I hurt him, on purpose, and I enjoyed it.” What kind of a monster did that make me?
Rob seemed largely untroubled by my bloodthirsty technique. “Bloke like that needs hurting every now and again. You didn’t kill him.”
“But I wanted to.”
“But you didn’t,” he said stonily, starting up the car. He was upset though, I could see it now that I’d worked my way through the worst of my self-recrimination. It was in the way he gripped the steering wheel and the set of his jaw.
“What’s wrong then?”
“Nothing a bottle of whiskey won’t cure.” That was all I’d get out of him, I saw that as plain as the nose on his face.
“Make it a double,” I muttered under my breath.
Only he didn’t join me for a drink when we got home. Instead Rob holed himself up in his room listening to Nina Simone, the unfamiliar whiff of cigarette smoke seeping out from under his bedroom door. No matter how I strained my ears to hear what he was doing in there, the music covered his movements.
Unused to being shut out like that, I turned to a bottle of aquavit, pouring myself a drink that turned into four . I grew more and more melancholy as Nina sang about loss with such depth of feeling, I wanted to seep through the cracks in the floor to bury myself in darkness. Somewhere around the seventh or eighth drink, I found it.
Chapter Seven
The next night, I awoke to Maggie shaking my
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