Free Fire Nectar 2 by Faleena Hopkins Page B

on the other side of the room with a soft thud. Swiveling around, he stared at her and saw something he did not understand. “Your eyes!” Her eyes were blacker than the darkest night with no whites at all to ease his mind. Sinister was her smile as she stared at him from where she hunched on all fours, naked and primitive. The blood that had smeared her face vanished as he watched. And to his horror, she hissed at him with a voice much lower than the one he’d known, “Give me more!”
    Joshua stood on the bed with his hand held out in a command for her to stay. “Marion. We must go see Ludovico immediately. There is a step I must have missed.” He looked to the window and groaned. “No. How could I have been so irresponsible as to not check the clock? The sun is coming. I can feel its pull.”
    She very slowly shook her head. A guttural laugh shook her torso. “You are trying to trick me.”
    Joshua fought to control the confusion and alarm that threatened to drown him. “Hear me! Do you want to survive?”
    Her head tilted curiously. He’d said the right words. “Lies!”
    He spoke slowly as he put on his clothes–watching her as closely as she watched him. He did not know what he had done wrong, but he believed it could be fixed. Perhaps his blood was too young. Perhaps she needed to drink from William’s instead and that would bring back her beauty, her kindness and soft demeanor. At no moment did he blame her for the primal beast she was. He blamed himself and vowed to right the wrong if only he could make Ludovico understand! “No, I promise you. The sun is coming and we must be hidden from it. You will die if it finds you, Marion.”
    Defensively, she adjusted her position to face him as he moved. “Liar!”
    He picked up her gown and tossed it to her, standing fully clothed now, shoving his neckcloth into the pocket of his pantaloons. There was no time for frivolities. “I swear to you, I tell the truth.” He held out his hands as one does to a scared child. “Remember I said fire is the death of me. The Sun is fire, Marion. Does it not burn the skin to sit beneath it for too long?”
    She thought a moment, her black eyes looking to the window. Her head turned back and she sneered. “If you are lying …”
    “I love you! I would not hurt you. You know this. Trust me. I can fix you.”
    “I am not to be fixed! I feel free for the first time in my entire life! You do not own me. I do not need your permission now!”
    Joshua fought hard not to be hurt by the biting words. A feeling of doom threatened him. “My apologies. I misspoke. But I tell you the truth when I say we must hide before the dawn comes. She is on her way. Do you not feel tired?!” He hoped she did, for to remove her from this place without her consent or without raising eyebrows of the others living here – would be impossible. She would have to leave with him willingly, and now.
    Marion’s hand reached for the dress, but her sickening black tar-like eyes stayed set on him. “I feel heavy.”
    Joshua jumped on this bit of hope. “Yes! That is it. We must hurry.”
    She blinked once–an old human habit. Rising, she pulled on her gown but declined the shoes he offered her. “I want to run free,” she hissed in a low, frightening voice.
    “So be it. I know of a place not far from here.”
    The bloodlust ran through her veins hard and fast as they raced through the streets together. It was only her rabid wish for survival that pushed her on. She had not yet tasted human blood. Had she, she would never have followed him and would have run askance at the first scent of human flesh. She was so enamored with the speed of her legs that she thought nothing of following him into a cemetery. He did not explain it to her, but he did expect that she have would wanted him to. But she never asked and this disturbed him as one more thing on a list of wrongs. Looking at her face–so changed–sickened him. He must get her to safety until