Free The Pursuit by A. E. Jones Page B

it in the stairwell where she found Annie was a mystery to her.
    “How are you feeling, Annie?”
    “Okay.”
    “I don’t know if you remember me from earlier today?”
    Annie nodded and looked away. “I’m so…I don’t know what happened…I never meant to hurt you.”
    “It’s okay”
    “How can you say that?” She blinked, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “After what I did to you? I’m a monster.”
    “No. You’re a vampire.”
    She gasped. “That’s crazy. They’re not real.”
    “How else can you explain what happened?”
    “I can’t. Maybe I have some virus. Or maybe I’m just crazy.”
    “We want to help you. What do you remember from this morning? Before I found you.”
    “I was at the hotel bar last night.” She looked down at her hands. “I was trying to pick someone up. My friends told me if I was looking for a one-night stand, I should go to a nice hotel and sit in the bar.”
    “And did you meet someone?”
    “Yes.”
    “Do you remember his name or what he looks like?”
    She frowned. “No, it’s blurry. Why would he be blurry?”
    “He made you forget.”
    “He can do that?”
    “What about his voice—did he have an accent?”
    “No. He sounded normal. Like you and me. He…” She stopped and rubbed her temples.
    “What is it, Annie?”
    “He called me something.”
    “Can you remember?”
    “Yes. He called me his beautiful girl .” Tears rolled down her face. “He told me if I was a good girl he wouldn’t kill me like the other one.”
    Talia’s throat closed, and she struggled for air. Chris. It was Chris. All of it. Melanie and Annie. Talia was going to kill him. Damn. She should have killed him before. And now Annie had to suffer because of her.
    “Are you okay, Talia?”
    God, Annie was trying to comfort her? “Yes. I’m fine. Why don’t you rest for a while? I’ll come check on you later.”
    She stepped out of the room and locked the door. It would be dark soon. She would hunt him then and kill him for what he had done to Melanie and Annie. What he had done to her.
    Talia ran down the corridor to her room. Someone had left her bag in the room and she pulled out fresh clothes. Before she could take off the hospital scrubs, tingling ran down her spine. Not now! Jean Luc was back. He would stop her. She couldn’t tell him the truth. He would go after Chris and die because of that damn blood oath.
    “What are you doing, Talia?”
    She turned to him and smiled. “I was going to take a shower and then change into something else.”
    “You are feeling stronger?”
    “I feel great. Have you found Renato yet?”
    “No. I spoke with Leo. Renato is meeting with Jia Li.”
    She stopped herself from gasping at his name. She had to keep Chris away from Jean Luc.
    She stared at his face, into his dark eyes. She loved him. Had never stopped, but now she had to leave him again. Had to protect him from her mistakes. From her stupidity in trusting Chris and then not telling Jean Luc the truth.
    He stepped forward and laid his hand on her cheek. “When this is over, Talia, let us renew our discussion, this time with honesty.”
    And for once, the emotions on his face, in his eyes, were front and center. He wanted her. If she were noble, she would walk away now. But she couldn’t do that, either. She wanted to hold him and be with him one last time. She was selfish, but she was already damned, so she had nothing left to lose.
    “Talia. Are you okay?”
    She placed her fingers over his lips. “Please. I don’t want to talk. I need you. Can you do that? Can you be with me?” One last time.
    He froze for a moment, staring hard at her. Was he going to back away? He opened his mouth, and she started to lift her fingers away, but he grabbed her wrist and held it to his lips. She gasped when he ran his tongue along her fingertips and sucked them into his mouth.
    Warmth shot up her arm and filled her chest. His eyes flashed red, and when he finally opened his mouth to