Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“What are you?” he whispered.
Chapter Three
Kierse blinked. He was asking her what she was? On what plane of existence did that even make sense? He was the one who had moved across the room at lightning speed. She’d jumped out a window, and he’d hauled her back through it with one hand. He’d incapacitated her with ease.
“Tell me,” he snarled.
“Name’s Kierse McKenna,” she said with lifted chin. “And I don’t want to be fed off of. Now, get your hand off me.”
He released her in a rush as if she’d burned him. She adjusted her stance, bending at the knees just in time to prevent herself from sprawling backward. She stood her ground, watching and waiting for some kind of explanation.
“You think me a vampire?” he asked with disgust, a flash of confusion on his lips.
Well, if he wasn’t, then what the hell was he?
“You only gave me your name,” he continued. “Explain the rest. Explain what you are.”
“You haven’t explained what you are,” she shot back.
“We’re talking in circles. It would be much easier if you’d give me a straight answer.” He looked down at his hand, the one that had encircled her neck, as if he couldn’t understand what had happened. “But you’re not giving me a straight answer.”
“I’ve answered all your questions. Just like you said. Are you going to let me go now?”
“No,” he said at once. “I have more questions.”
“Then ask them.”
“How did you take the wards down?”
“Wards?” she asked slowly.
He ground his teeth. “Did the people you’re working for take them down for you? Did they help you get inside?”
“I have literally no idea what you’re talking about. I let myself in.”
He assessed her again, as if looking for something—guile or malice, most likely—but there was none. She really had no idea what he was talking about. She’d heard the word “ward” in fairy tales before, but that couldn’t be what he was referring to. Monsters not magic was the motto of the entire monster movement. Wards seemed to fit very clearly in the magic section. So, there had to be some other definition.
She was a thief—a very good thief—but just a thief, nonetheless. She knew how to take down security systems. She’d been taught how to break into any number of buildings. She could crack a six-pin lock in a matter of seconds. She’d even broken into a bank vault for Jason just to prove that she could do it and not get caught. She was damn good at her job, but she had no clue what kind of lock a ward was.
“You have no idea what I’m talking about,” he said finally.
“You’re quick on the uptake.”
He took another step back, contemplative. “You truly believe you were sent here by Gregory Amberdash.”
“He’s paying me.”
“And you know nothing else?”
“I know that you have the thing I’m supposed to bring him so that I can be paid.”
He held his hand out then. “Give it here.”
“You have it,” she reminded him.
“Take it out of your pocket and give it to me.” She hesitated, and he snapped, “Now.”
She huffed and removed the giant ring from where she’d concealed it. She’d pilfered it off of him when he’d gotten close to her. She thought he’d been distracted with examining her neck like a crazed vampire, and she’d gotten to work.
Thieving rules numbers three and four: distraction and sleight of hand.
She dropped it back into his palm. “Worth a try.”
He shook his head. “You’re just a common thief. They insult me.”
She straightened to her full height. “Excuse me?”
“I can’t believe this is the level they’re stooping to.” He stuffed the ring away again. She barely caught a glimpse of where it disappeared this time. “I’ll have to test it. Something they weren’t prepared for.”
“What are you testing?”
He turned away without answering. “Here we are.”
He set a small, intricately carved wooden box down on the table. She recognized some of the whorls on it. The same holly design around the library doors. A language that buzzed just at her periphery shimmered in the vines but disappeared on closer inspection.
“Open it,” he commanded.
She raised a brow. “Is this interrogation to go on much longer?”
He narrowed his eyes in warning. She sighed, tipping the lid of the box open. There was nothing inside. Even less interesting than the two-pin lock she’d picked earlier.
“Wow,” she drawled. “I can open boxes.”
Despite her nonchalance, he did seem impressed . . . and quickly it was replaced with what looked like scheming. “You appear to have interesting talents, Miss McKenna. The real question is . . . how have you been left unaware of them?”
“I am not unaware,” she told him, tilting her chin up.
But there was something in his eyes. Something swirling and depthless that caught her interest. Something trancelike that spoke deep into her soul. That said . . . maybe he was right. Maybe there was more to her. Maybe she’d always known. It shuddered through her for an instant and then was gone.