Free Something Wanton (Mystics & Mayhem) by AJ Myers Page A

.  Like the kind of exit that included a lot of blood-curdling screaming, adrenaline, and the lingering nightmares that accompanied any near-death experience. 
    “Yeah, I could do that,” he said with an adorable grin.
    Run!  Damn it, Ember, get your ass up and move! the lingering smidgen of my humanity screamed.  Only…I couldn’t remember why I should.  I couldn’t remember anything.  I just wanted to sit there and talk to my new friend.  I wanted to enjoy the warm night and the cool breeze and the scent of flowers and spices in the air.  Was that really so bad?
    Uh, yeah, it was.  Because that warm night was a sultry thirty degrees, at best, and that cool breeze was bringing that down to single digit range.  And that spicy-floral scent? 
    Yeah, two guesses what that was. 
    As pukey-drunk as he was , the new neighbor took a step back and used his hands to leverage himself over the fence between us.  Some semi-hysterical part of my mind gave his landing a solid four when he had to grab hold of the fence again so he wouldn’t fall.  Steadying himself, he gave me a triumphant grin and started staggering in my direction.
    With each step he took toward me, that funny humming sensation under my skin got worse.  He was practically in front of me when my blurry brain realized what that feeling was.  It was the same humming I’d felt the day I woke up from Oblivion.  It was the same feeling I’d had when I’d tried to feed on my boyfriend.
    I was hungry.
    No! my human side screamed even as my demon side smiled up at the young man who had unwittingly just put himself in life-sucking range.  Seriously, I wasn’t holding back on the ‘I’m beautiful so let me eat you’ vibes, and this poor, drunk idiot was eating it up.  I could almost see the less-than-pure thoughts going through his head.  My demon’s smile got even bigger when his aura started to glow brighter.   
    “Sit down,” I told him, my voice even huskier and more compelling than it had been when I invited him over to join me.  He sat, moving like he was in a trance, and my demon started jumping up and down with glee as it surveyed its intended prey.  “So, what’s your name?”
    “Clay,” he said, leaning toward me, wanting to get closer.  My demon growled in anticipation. 
    “Clay,” I purred with a seductive smile.  “I like that name.  I haven’t seen you around here before, Clay.  Are you new in town?”
    “Just here visiting my cousin, Cassie,” he said, waving a hand toward the house and the party still going full-force.  Grinning, he leaned even closer, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “She has a thing for the guy who lives here, by the way.  Thinks he’s hotter than fire.”
    The human side of me bristled jealously at that.  Hotter than fire, huh?  Apparently, she didn’t know just how hot that particular element could really be.  Of course, messing with my boyfriend was generally a good way to find out.
    Not anymore, that sad little voice that had kept me company since I woke up dead said in the back of my mind.  And you might want to ask yourself if Nathan is still your boyfriend before you go getting all territorial. 
    Would you shut up? I thought, not wanting to think about the fall of mine and Nathan’s relationship.  Really, who needed enemies when the voices in my own head were so sweet and full of light?
    Before I could listen to my conscience and get all depressed, though, my demon kicked back in with a vengeance.  Wanting to see just how bright his aura could get, I leaned toward Clay, a sly smile pulling at my lips.   
    “He’s cute,” I agreed in the same conspiratorial tone he’d used, nodding.  I felt a spasm of disgust when I realized I was the kind of monster who liked to play with her food before she ate it.  Laying my hand over his on the table, I smiled again flirtatiously.  “But you’re cute, too.”
    He stared at me, wide-eyed, for a second and then