before
.
7. His body is freezing
.
8. He moves incredibly quickly
.
9. He didn’t come into my house until I invited him to … holy crap, I invited him in!
10. His eyes turn white
.
11. He has fangs
.
12. And most important, he grabbed me when there was blood spurting from my finger and it wasn’t to try to stop the blood flow. He had the look of a starved man
.
Any way I looked at it, I couldn’t escape the inevitable. Sinjin was concealing something—a huge secret.
And that secret was that he was not what he appeared to be. No, he was something far more sinister.
I felt like a zombie over the next few days, because I just couldn’t seem to sleep. I mean, how could I sleep when all I could think about was Sinjin? I knew in my heart of hearts that he wasn’t what he appeared to be. Nope, as much as my logical mind still refused to accept it, I was convinced he was a vampire. After replaying our every moment together, what else could I think? And his claim that he had Raynaud’s disease? It didn’t match up—Sinjin possessed too many vampiric traits that had nothing to do with Raynaud’s. Nope, Raynaud’s was just a handy little way to explain why he was so cold. It was an excuse and nothing more.
“Okay, what’s going on with you?” Christa asked as she leaned against the front counter in our store, busily texting one of her many boyfriends. It was a wonder that anything ever got done around here.
I hadn’t exactly decided whether or not I should tell her about my little hunch about Sinjin, but I figured I’d really lose it if I didn’t tell someone soon. Aside from my cat, who already knew that Sinjin was otherworldly, the only other person in my small circle was Christa. And if you couldn’t tell your best friend your innermost secrets, what good was having a best friend?
Sitting on a stool next to Christa, I stared at the cursor as it relentlessly blinked on my laptop screen. I couldn’teven remember what I’d been doing. I eyed Christa, debating over whether or not I should tell her about Sinjin. I mean, she usually didn’t react well in times of panic. ’Course, this wasn’t really an instance of panic, but I also didn’t expect her to be rational about it. On the other hand, what was there to be rational about? We were talking about vampires!
She placed her phone on the counter and faced me with an expression that read:
Spill the beans, pronto
. There was something inside me that desperately wanted to tell her while urgently hoping that she wouldn’t think I’d completely lost my mind. I just needed some kind of validation that I wasn’t headed for the loony bin.
“Okay, Chris, if I tell you something, you have to promise me to have an open mind about it,” I started, already regretting it.
“You finally had sex with him?” she asked as a slow smile spread across her face. “I know you probably feel like you shouldn’t have, but this was a long time coming, Jules. So was it good? Did he totally rock your world?”
I shook my head and couldn’t help but feel irritated. God, if only my problem was as simple as feeling like a floozy ’cause I’d had sex with Sinjin too soon. “No, that isn’t it at all,” I answered and then shushed her when she started to say something else. I took a deep breath and faced her again, wondering where I should even start. “What I’m about to tell you is going to make you seriously question my sanity.”
She frowned, puffing out her lower lip. “Jules, I would never question your sanity.”
I laughed, but there wasn’t anything happy about the sound because I’d been questioning my own judgment for the past three days—three days, I might add, during which I’d completely ignored all of Sinjin’s phone callsand messages on my answering machine. “Remind yourself of that in a few minutes.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, what do you have to tell me that could possibly be so bad?” Her eyes
.
7. His body is freezing
.
8. He moves incredibly quickly
.
9. He didn’t come into my house until I invited him to … holy crap, I invited him in!
10. His eyes turn white
.
11. He has fangs
.
12. And most important, he grabbed me when there was blood spurting from my finger and it wasn’t to try to stop the blood flow. He had the look of a starved man
.
Any way I looked at it, I couldn’t escape the inevitable. Sinjin was concealing something—a huge secret.
And that secret was that he was not what he appeared to be. No, he was something far more sinister.
I felt like a zombie over the next few days, because I just couldn’t seem to sleep. I mean, how could I sleep when all I could think about was Sinjin? I knew in my heart of hearts that he wasn’t what he appeared to be. Nope, as much as my logical mind still refused to accept it, I was convinced he was a vampire. After replaying our every moment together, what else could I think? And his claim that he had Raynaud’s disease? It didn’t match up—Sinjin possessed too many vampiric traits that had nothing to do with Raynaud’s. Nope, Raynaud’s was just a handy little way to explain why he was so cold. It was an excuse and nothing more.
“Okay, what’s going on with you?” Christa asked as she leaned against the front counter in our store, busily texting one of her many boyfriends. It was a wonder that anything ever got done around here.
I hadn’t exactly decided whether or not I should tell her about my little hunch about Sinjin, but I figured I’d really lose it if I didn’t tell someone soon. Aside from my cat, who already knew that Sinjin was otherworldly, the only other person in my small circle was Christa. And if you couldn’t tell your best friend your innermost secrets, what good was having a best friend?
Sitting on a stool next to Christa, I stared at the cursor as it relentlessly blinked on my laptop screen. I couldn’teven remember what I’d been doing. I eyed Christa, debating over whether or not I should tell her about Sinjin. I mean, she usually didn’t react well in times of panic. ’Course, this wasn’t really an instance of panic, but I also didn’t expect her to be rational about it. On the other hand, what was there to be rational about? We were talking about vampires!
She placed her phone on the counter and faced me with an expression that read:
Spill the beans, pronto
. There was something inside me that desperately wanted to tell her while urgently hoping that she wouldn’t think I’d completely lost my mind. I just needed some kind of validation that I wasn’t headed for the loony bin.
“Okay, Chris, if I tell you something, you have to promise me to have an open mind about it,” I started, already regretting it.
“You finally had sex with him?” she asked as a slow smile spread across her face. “I know you probably feel like you shouldn’t have, but this was a long time coming, Jules. So was it good? Did he totally rock your world?”
I shook my head and couldn’t help but feel irritated. God, if only my problem was as simple as feeling like a floozy ’cause I’d had sex with Sinjin too soon. “No, that isn’t it at all,” I answered and then shushed her when she started to say something else. I took a deep breath and faced her again, wondering where I should even start. “What I’m about to tell you is going to make you seriously question my sanity.”
She frowned, puffing out her lower lip. “Jules, I would never question your sanity.”
I laughed, but there wasn’t anything happy about the sound because I’d been questioning my own judgment for the past three days—three days, I might add, during which I’d completely ignored all of Sinjin’s phone callsand messages on my answering machine. “Remind yourself of that in a few minutes.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, what do you have to tell me that could possibly be so bad?” Her eyes
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