The Den of Shadows Quartet - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [21]
“Jealous?” someone said over my shoulder, and I swung around toward Aubrey, knowing that my eyes were narrowed with hatred. “If she bothers you that much, kill her.”
“I am sure you would appreciate that,” I hissed.
He laughed. “You have too many morals.”
“And you have none,” I snapped back, trying to keep myself from hitting him. I refused to leave while he was here, his attention on my father and this innocent woman.
Innocent woman … strange, how my opinion changed so quickly. As soon as Aubrey suggested I kill her, I felt the need to protect her.
“I have some morals, I suppose,” he argued, though his voice was light. He had taken no offense at the accusation. “But none that interfere with the way I survive. Look at yourself, Risika — you can hardly preach the benefits of morality.”
Though I did not hate myself for killing to survive, I feared that I would one day become as indifferent to murder as Aubrey was.
“If you came here to convince me to abandon my morals, you are wasting your time,” I snapped.
“You are hardly my only motive for being here,” he answered lazily.
My father and his wife had decided to get some air and were now sitting on the back porch, quietly discussing how the farm was doing, Lynette’s suitors, and everything else except for the reason my father had been crying.
As if he could sense my gaze on him, my father turned toward me, but this time his eyes went wide, as if he could see me despite my efforts.
Standing, he took a step in my direction before his wife put a hand on his arm. “There’s no one there, Peter,” she insisted, and my father sighed.
“I could have sworn I saw her….” He shook his head, taking a raspy breath.
“You could have sworn you saw her a few days ago, but she was not there. You thought you saw your son the week before that, but he was not there. They never are, Peter, and they never will be. Let them go.”
My father turned about and went inside the house. Katherine closed her eyes for a moment and whispered a prayer.
Why did she not help him herself? Was she so blind that she could not see how much her words had hurt him?
Aubrey laughed beside me. “You are jealous.”
I spun toward him again, losing my temper. “Could you go somewhere else?”
“I could,” he said. “But this is more fun.”
“Damn you.”
He shrugged, then looked past me to my father’s wife, who had just stood and moved toward the house.
She hesitated, then turned slowly, sensing eyes on her back.
“Leave her alone, Aubrey,” I commanded.
“Why?”
Katherine looked up as if she had heard a sound, and then walked toward us, though I could tell that she did not really see Aubrey or me.
I clenched my fists, knowing that he was baiting me and knowing equally well that if he had set his mind on killing this woman, there was no way I could stop him.
Katherine gasped as Aubrey stopped hiding himself from her. She froze, eyes wide.
“Fine, Aubrey — you have made your point,” I snapped, stepping between him and his prey “Now leave.”
“And what point would that be?” he inquired. “I do not share your reservations, Risika. I hunt when I wish, as I always have.”
“Hunt somewhere else,” I said. His eyes narrowed.
“Who … Wh-What do you want?” Katherine stammered, backing away from us. She was breathing quickly, and her heart was beating fast from fear.
Aubrey disappeared from where he stood and reappeared behind her. Katharine stumbled into him and let out a gasp.
Aubrey whispered into her ear and she relaxed. Then he reached up and gently pulled her head back, exposing her throat….
CHAPTER 16
NOW
I SNAP AWAKE, instantly alert.
There is someone in the house, in the room.
I rise from my bed. “Why do you hide, Aubrey?” I ask the shadows. “Do you finally fear me? Are you afraid that if you challenge me again you will lose?” I know this is not Aubrey’s fear, but I am in the mood to taunt, just as I know he is.
There is one taunt that almost guarantees a vampire’s response: accusing him of being afraid.
“I will never fear you, Risika,” Aubrey answers as his form coalesces from the shadows of the room.
“You