Blood Magic (After Dark Book 7) Sarah Bailey (pdf ebook reader TXT) 📖

know it. And neither of us can stop tumbling down this path.”

He kissed her cheek.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Then he was gone, folding himself back into the shadows leaving her panting and trembling from his touch and his words. Her heart fractured. What he said felt like a knife in her chest.

This is wrong.

Jamie had successfully managed to rip away the pleasure she felt from him fucking her so brutally. A single tear ran down her cheek.

“Why did you have to ruin it?” she whispered into the still, cold night air.

The silence only suffocated her further. There was nowhere left to hide. And facing the truth stripped her to the core.

Jamie and I can’t ever just be friends. We’re more than that. He’s someone I never want to lose and yet perhaps one day I will.

And that simple realisation terrified her.

§

Half an hour later when she’d managed to drag herself back inside and take a shower, she walked into Novus’ room. He was lounging on his bed with a book, but he looked up at her approach. She sat down on the edge, sickness coiling in her stomach. She still hadn’t managed to shake her conflicting feelings about the vampire.

“You took your time,” he said.

“What did you want to speak to me about?”

“I see the appeal of your vampire friend now.”

She frowned, unsure what he was getting at.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He’s rather attractive.”

Dani rolled her eyes, looking away.

“I hadn’t noticed.”

Jamie is more than attractive. He’s magnetic. I could literally drown in his molten silver eyes.

“No? I don’t believe you. No one can fail to notice that.”

“Of course you would, you’d sleep with anyone. Jamie isn’t into men so keep your dirty thoughts to yourself.”

Novus barked with laughter.

“A vampire would be a new one, even for me.”

“Really? The great sexual appeal of my brother hasn’t extended to the undead. What a surprise.”

“Well, at least I get action.”

“Screw you. If you’re going to start that, I’m leaving.”

She made to get up, but his expression of guilt stopped her.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t funny. I don’t agree with father’s solution to your problem any more than you do. Say, you haven’t replenished in a while, do you need to?”

She turned away, not wanting him to see her flush.

“No.”

“You’ve been using magic though.”

His questions waded into dangerous territory.

“I just need to do it with someone, doesn’t have to be Geul. Just know I’m managing it myself and don’t tell father that either.”

“Dani…”

“Drop it, Novy.”

“Since when did you keep secrets from me?”

Since I breathed a human and ended up fucking my best friend who happens to be a vampire and who I also have a really fucked up, complicated relationship with.

Those were things she couldn’t admit to Novus.

“Does it matter?”

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Novus had moved to sit next to her.

“Dani, what’s really going on? You’ve been different since I got home.”

It was true. Meeting Jamie had allowed her freedom from her cage. It’d opened her up to new things and she wasn’t about to try stick that side of her back in its box.

“Maybe I’m tired of being seen as a child by all of you. Maybe I want my own life.”

“You know he’s just protective because of what happened to Mum.”

She winced at the mention of their mother. The same thing could happen to her if she wasn’t careful. And there was rarely a night when she didn’t dream of that day. She didn’t want to think of it now.

“That doesn’t mean he can lock me up and throw away the key.”

“Is this why you’re hanging out with the vampire?”

“His name is Jamie and no, that’s not why. It might have been at first, but not anymore. Not now I know him. You might think he’s just a vampire, but he’s funny and easy to talk to. I don’t feel trapped or under any pressure to be something I’m not. He’s the first real friend I’ve made in a long time.”

She hadn’t meant to admit so much to Novus, but the words just spilt out. Looking up at her brother, she found his eyes full of understanding.

“You care about him.”

“Is that so wrong?”

“No. I’ve never heard you talk about anyone in that way before.”

“In what way?”

He squeezed her shoulder.

“Like they’re special.”

“That’s because he is.”

She fiddled with the hem of her t-shirt, knowing she’d probably gone too far.

“What’s really going on between the two of you? Don’t tell me you’re just friends, Dani. I don’t believe that.”

She didn’t answer him. What can I say? I don’t know how to explain it. Especially not after what he said this evening. Her heart felt tight. Why were her feelings so complicated? It should be simple. They’d made rules about not sleeping together all the time. And they’d broken those tonight. Something between them shifted. It might be miniscule, but it had still changed.

“I’m keeping you caged like father does, and it’s wrong. I’m sorry.”

She looked up into the eyes that mirrored her own. Novus seemed sincere, his expression regretful.

“It was never meant to be this way.”

“What way?”

“With me and Jamie. I did something stupid. We crossed a line and I don’t think either of us can ever go back.”

She let out a hum. It was filled with melancholy. He didn’t say anything, only waited for her to continue.

“The night I stayed out, we went to ObliVion. I thought I could handle myself, but I was wrong. He showed me there’s darkness in this world even I can’t hide from any longer.” Her eyes fell to her lap, eying the piece of lint on her pyjama bottoms.