Free Twilight Dreams by Amanda Ashley

purpose in life other than to feed? “Have you ever been in love?”
    Micah snorted. “You just learned vampires are real and you’re asking about my love life?”
    â€œHave you? Been in love?”
    â€œJust once,” he said quietly. He paused in front of the hearth, one hand braced against the mantel. “Her name was Shirley.” The memory of losing her knifed through him again, as fresh as if it had just happened. “She passed away a year ago.”
    â€œDid you . . . ?”
    Micah didn’t have to read her mind to know what she was asking. “Yes, I drank from her. And no, I didn’t kill her.” He spoke sharply, aggravated that she would even think such a thing. “What about you?” he asked, turning the tables on her. “Have you ever been in love?”
    â€œNot really.” Her gaze slid away from his. She had been falling in love with him, Holly thought. Thank goodness she had learned the truth before it was too late. Still, he seemed nice enough. For a vampire. But she didn’t trust him. And she still wanted to go home.
    Vampire . . . She gave herself a mental shake. In spite of all he had told her, all she had seen with her own eyes, it just didn’t seem possible such creatures actually existed.
    â€œCreatures? Really?”
    She blushed from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. She had to remember he could read her thoughts. “How long are you going to keep me here?”
    â€œAs long as necessary.”
    â€œAre you going to . . .” She lifted one hand to her throat. “Bite me?”
    â€œI already did, sunshine. I already did.”
    And with that bit of disturbing news, he vanished from her sight.
    * * *
    Micah stood in the shadows outside the house. His annoyance at Holly for thinking he had killed Shirley, combined with his resentment at Shirley for not letting him bring her across, filled him with impotent anger. And that anger, like so many strong emotions, sparked his hunger. He envied Saintcrow. The man was a rock, able to control his hunger and his emotions, to come and go as he pleased day or night, to spend eternity with the woman he loved. Dammit, it wasn’t fair!
    A thought took him to the nearest town. He prowled the night, searching for prey, but it was Holly who dominated his thoughts. The fact that he was drawn to her only made matters worse. He didn’t want to care for her. He had vowed if he fell in love again it would be with a vampire, someone who would understand him, someone to share the next couple of hundred years with, but he was afraid it was too late for that. Like it or not, he couldn’t get Holly Parrish out of his mind. He wanted her, for a lifetime or an eternity, it didn’t matter.
    He wanted her.
    And he would have her.
    One way or another.
    * * *
    He had bitten her. The thought made Holly sick to her stomach, and she thrust it aside. She tried to push all thoughts of Micah from her mind, as well, but it was impossible. Why, of all the men in the world, did Micah have to be a vampire? Sure, she hardly knew him, but she had been attracted to him from the night they’d met. She had been so certain that he was different from other men. Well, she had been dead right about that, she thought dryly. She just hadn’t known how different!
    Tomorrow, when he was sleeping in his coffin— no, his bed , she amended—she was leaving this place. There had to be a road nearby. Sooner or later, roads led to freeways, and freeways led to towns. She would hitchhike if she had to. Maybe she would get lucky and a nice, fatherly cop would pick her up and make sure she got safely home.
    She wondered where Micah had gone, then decided she didn’t want to know. There were times when ignorance was bliss, and she was certain this was one of those times.
    Moving to the window, she stared into the darkness. What was it like, to drink blood to survive? She couldn’t even