Read Online Phoenix Dead (New Adult Dark Romance) (The Vampire Years) by Ann Vremont - Free Book Online

he fed, human and animal. I saw the man from the house with the tattooed hands. He was on his knees. Army was dead on the floor, his corpse caving in on itself.
    A second too late I realized we had already pulled into Danny's drive and the garage door was opening. I bolted upright and he wrapped a hand around my arm as I reached for the door handle.
    “Fuck, I'm sorry, Lee. I wasn't thinking.”
    He rubbed the spot on my arm where he'd grabbed it. “You sure you don't want to go to the hospital?”
    “Yeah - I'm sure.”
    He came around to my side and helped me out. Passing into the house, he said, “Then you're well enough to talk about this afternoon.”
    I kept my mouth shut and let him steer me to the living room and the couch. He switched a light on and then sat down next to me. Turning, he pulled a leg up on the cushion and leaned toward me, his face just as hard as it had been this afternoon when he'd pulled up in his cop car.
    “So the sketch - was that picture complete bullshit?”
    I shook my head.
    “But some of it was?”
    A nod. I scooted further down the couch, away from him. He followed after me until I had nowhere to retreat.
    “And this guy today, I know you can ID him. But you won't.”
    “No.”
    “Why, Lee? What do I have to do to make you feel safe enough to ID this bastard?”
    I reached up, put my palm against his cheek. “It's not me I'm worried about.”
    He had no idea what these things were like. I'd had whole kills running through my head on the drive back where Oscar had taken down three or four guys at once.
    At my touch, Danny turned into the one retreating down the couch. I bit back a laugh.
    “What did you think, Danny, that a week of cooling my heels would change the way I feel?”
    “You just don't want to answer my questions, Lee. Stop playing.”
    I tilted my head and studied his expression for a moment. “Or did you think a week would strengthen your resolve? That was it, wasn't it?”
    He tried to circumvent my question with one of his own. “How'd this guy know where all the security cameras were at in the school? His back was to them every single time.”
    Another skirmish. I wasn't going to lose this one with him. If Oscar was telling the truth, I was dead without blood soon. I needed Danny's and I wanted everything else that came with it.
    “You brought me back here knowing how I feel.”
    “I brought you here because it's the only safe place for you and I can't see that you've got anywhere else to go.” He got off the couch and began pacing.
    I stood up, blocking the path he'd been wearing across the room.
    “Move, Lee.”
    “Move me.” I smiled. He didn't know it yet, but his little command had lost him the battle, only his formal surrender remained.
    Danny's arms shot out and he grabbed me by the shoulders. Three weeks ago, he may have been able to push me to the side, but, even weakened, my strength matched his when I needed it to.
    I stood my ground and watched his gaze widen in surprise as he tried a second time to strong arm me - however carefully - out of the way. I stepped up close to him and reissued my challenge. “Move me.”
    He was still holding my shoulders, his arms bent now from my step forward. It was almost an embrace. I took another step into his space and his arms folded around me. Tilting my head back, he stared into my face.
    “You can't really think I need protected from these guys,” he said.
    I stretched up and tried to soften his mouth with a kiss before I answered. “Yes, I do.”
    “The only one I need protected from is you.” He ran his hand down my back and then pulled me tight to his body. His other hand knotted in my hair so that he kept me gazing up at him.
    Closing my eyes, I whispered, “Yeah, that, too.”
    Bending down, he scooped me up in his arms. His bedroom was at the end of the hall, the door still open from that morning. He placed me on the bed and then stripped his jacket, gun and holster off before he laid down