Page 20 of Haunted Nightmares
“Bugger off, you insignificant piece of shite.” I snap my teeth as my gaze narrows on his face, scanning every detail while myhunger roars to life again. “I could end your miserable existence with a flick of my wrist if I?—“
“Nate, please,” the female whispers, tugging on the hem of his shirt, and bringing my attention fully back to her.
Unable to stop myself, I breathe deeply and try to take in her scent, raking my stare from the top of her head down to her high heeled feet, picking apart every inch of her slim appearance, trying in vain to find any trace of what I saw before.
But there’s nothing.
Not one single thing about her that has even an echo of what I can only assume was a hallucination, and I refuse to acknowledge the way it both crushes and angers me.
I know what I saw.
And yet… I see nothing like that now.
“Excuse me.” I bow my head slightly at the female, my eyes locked and searching hers. “I… I must have mistaken you for someone else.”
A tear slips down her cheek as she nods and in that moment something stranger than this entire scenario happens.
The female appears toglitch.
Her body almost disappears and reappears, the action taking up no more than a nanosecond to complete, but it’s almost as if her physical form is a hologram losing its strength. A projected image losing its signal but only for a moment and if I wasn’t a Descendant I’m not sure even I would have caught it in my crazed stupor.
Andthatis enough for me to leave them now.
“My apologies for frightening you.” I bow my head again and take a step back, fully intent on abandoning my plans for the evening and waiting on the roof above for them to exit so I may follow.
The female nods again and just as I open my mouth to speak more lies—because I am not the slightest bit sorry—a large hand lands on my shoulder and gives it a firm squeeze.
“Wraith,” Declan grunts as I quickly turn on him, ready to tear out his throat over the way he was able to startle me. “We need to go, my king.”
His ability to read the room is unmatched, I’ll give him that because I’m sure he’d rather read me the riot act before he threatened me again. It’s clear my friend was chasing me based on his elevated pulse and quick breathing but he knows this isn’t the time or place.
This shop is vampire owned and I’ve drawn quite a crowd, the patrons all staring at theirnewly crowned High Elderwho’s been MIA for months and only now resurfaces looking the way I do and causing quite the scene.
If he were to address me in any other way it would make a terrible mess of my first real appearance, and if he spoke any of the words I can now hear running through his head it would surely give the wrong impression. One that says I’m an unhinged bastard who shouldn’t be let out of the house let alone among the masses, regardless of how true that really is.
So, I straighten my posture against the turmoil in my stomach, and tug my jacket back into place before smoothing back my hair. “Right then, let’s go. I’ll order what I need on the interweb later.”
“Okay…” Declan arches a brow as I motion toward the door. “Yeah, we can do that.”
“Good.”
“Great,” he says slowly as he turns.
“Smashing,” I grunt as I follow. “I do love a good in-line shopping sesh.”
We walk through the shop and out the door quickly and the moment we’re outside, I dematerialize to the roof then double over in pain as my friend does the same.
“What the hell was that?” Declan asks as I begin to wretch. “First I had to chase you through the streets of New Orleans like a goddamn maniac only to find you scaring the absolute shit out of some female right before her male tore you to pieces. Which is ballsy as fuck by the way, since you looked like you were one more word away from exploding.”
“Bah.” I wave him off from my hunched over position, my body curling as I heave hard and loud. “I had it under control.”
“Definitely.”
I glance up to find my friend watching me with a sarcastic expression, his thick arms folded against his chest and ready to bust the seams of his suit coat. “It was fine.”
“And what was thatinterwebandin-linebullshit? You sounded like a moron.”
In lieu of a response, I vomit all over the rooftop, the darkness I could barely contain nowexplodingout of me since I didn’t feed it the way it wanted me to. I toss my diseased cookies for a good five minutes, narrowly missing my Italian loafers, then slowly right myself before producing a handkerchief to wipe my mouth.
