Read Online Night World 1 by L.J. Smith - Free Book Online

because I was scared,” she said. She didn’t even try to explain why James had been cradling her head to his arm. But she glanced at James’s arm surreptitiously and saw that the wound there was already closed, the mark fading.
    â€œEverything’s all right, you know,” James said, standing to fix a mesmerizing silver gaze on Phillip. But Phil hardly gave him a glance. He was staring at Poppy.
    It’s not working, Poppy thought. Maybe Phil’s too mad to be hypnotized. Or too stubborn.
    She looked a question at James, which he answered with a barely discernable shake of his head. He didn’t know what the problem was, either.
    But they both knew what it meant. James was going to have to leave. Poppy felt cheated and frustrated. All she wanted was to talk with James, to revel in their new discovery of each other—and she couldn’t. Not with Phil here.
    â€œHow come you’re here, anyway?” she asked him irritably.
    â€œI drove Mom here. You know she doesn’t like driving at night. And I brought this.” He swung her boom box up onto the bedside table. “And these.” He put a black CD case beside it. “All your favorite music.”
    Poppy felt her anger draining away. “That was sweet,” she said. She was touched, especially since Phil hadn’t said “All your favorite weird music,” which was usually how he referred to it. “Thank you.”
    Phil shrugged, shooting a glare at James.
    Poor Phil, Poppy thought. Her brother actually looked disheveled. And his eyes were swollen.
    â€œWhere’s Mom?” she was starting to say, when her mother walked in.
    â€œI’m back, sweetie,” her mother said, with a very creditable cheery smile. Then she looked surprised. “James—it was nice of you to come.”
    â€œYeah, but he was just leaving,” Phil said significantly. “I’ll show him the way out.”
    James didn’t waste energy on a fight he couldn’t win. He turned to Poppy and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    There was a look in his gray eyes—gray, not silver now—that was just for her. A look that had never been there before in all the years she’d known him.
    â€œGoodbye, James,” she said softly. “And—thank you.” She knew he understood what she meant.
    It wasn’t until he was out the door, with Phillip on his heels like a bouncer after a rowdy customer, that a thought occurred to her.
    James had said that she would be in danger if she didn’t get enough of his blood. But they’d gotten interrupted almost immediately after that. Had Poppy gotten enough? And what would happen if she hadn’t ?
    She herself had no idea, and there was no way to ask James.

    Phil stayed right behind James all the way out of the hospital.
    Not tonight, James thought. He just couldn’t deal with Phillip North tonight. His patience was gone, and his mind was occupied in calculating whether Poppy had taken enough of his blood to be safe. He thought she had—but the sooner she got more, the better.
    â€œYou’ll ‘see her tomorrow’—well, you’re not going to see her tomorrow,” Phil said abruptly as they walked into the garage.
    â€œPhil, give me a break.”
    Instead, Phillip stepped in front of him and stopped dead, forcing James to stop, too. Phillip was breathing quickly, his green eyes burning.
    â€œOkay, bud, ” he said. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing with Poppy—but it’s all over now. From now on you stay away from her. Understand ?”
    Visions of breaking Phillip’s neck like a new pencil danced in James’s head. But Phil was Poppy’s brother, and his green eyes were surprisingly like hers.
    â€œI would never hurt Poppy,” he said wearily.
    â€œGive me a break. Are you going to stand there and tell me you don’t want to move in on