Free Vampire Dating Agency by Rosette Bolter Page A

yard.
    “Fresh
humans?” Avril’s partner Magnus interrupted, leaning in between them. “Edmond
you shouldn’t have.”
    “They’re not
for drinking fool,” Edmond said walking towards the girls. “Don’t get any
ideas.”
    “Spoken for
then, eh?” Magnus muttered. “Such a shame. I thought I heard you Rances like to
share.”
    Avril elbowed
him.
    “My gracious
Melanie,” Edmond said taking her hand. “How I didn’t spot you in the crowd
before, I’ll never know.”
    Haley looked
anxiously from her friend towards Cyrus.
    “Sorry if I
scared you in the bathroom before,” Cyrus said quietly.
    “That’s …
okay.”
    “So – shall
we go again then, Cy?” Edmond challenged. “I’m sure you’ll want a chance to
restore your pride.”
    “Hey aren’t
you going to introduce, Avril and I?” Magnus demanded.
    “The less
they see of you, the better,” Edmond muttered. “Come on, Cyrus. En-garde .”
    “Some other
time,” Cyrus said. He turned to Haley. “Will you accompany me for a walk then?”
    Haley looked
to Melanie.
    “Oh it will
be alright,” Melanie said breezily. “You lay a finger on her and I’ll have you
for breakfast.”
    Cyrus stepped
in the space between them, heading towards the gate.
    Once there he
undid the latch and pulled the gate back, urging Haley to step through.
    “Like she
said, if I lay a finger on you, she’ll have me for breakfast,” he advised.
    Haley looked
at him glumly. “Don’t worry. I’m not afraid of you.”
    Cyrus didn’t
believe a word of it.

 
    CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
     
     
    Haley walked with Cyrus in a dreaded
silence. His approach towards her had moved him high up on the suspect list,
higher than Brock. Where Brock had put on a forced air of confidence and charm,
clearly capable of deception and perhaps even violence, Cyrus’s aura and
mannerisms weighted her into the ground. She had yet to see anything appealing
in him, only that his warped mind was wrapped around something incomprehensibly
gloom-ridden. His eyes glared. His cheekbones stiffened. The wind fell into his
face and he felt nothing.
    “You don’t
like her, do you?” he said suddenly.
    “Like who?”
Haley replied.
    “Melanie.”
    Haley
shrugged. “She’s alright.”
    “I know what
she sees in you,” Cyrus went on. “She thinks you’re going to be her sidekick or
something. She’ll find you a seat front row centre when you’re not on stage
with her. She’ll have you cheering her on every step of the way.”
    “Whatever.”
    “But she is
blind to what’s going on in your head. She thinks she’s using you … But I think
it’s closer to being the other way around…”
    Haley
stopped. Behind her, the cottage was now blocked by the trees.
    She could
only just make out the lights of the VDA House in the distance.
    “This place
is really big, isn’t it?” she murmured.
    Cyrus stood
close beside her. He moved in behind.
    “Don’t move,”
he whispered in her ear.
    She felt his
arm extended upward. He was reaching round towards her forehead.
    His fingers
brushed just over her right eye.
    “I have
selected you,” he whispered. “You have been chosen.”
    He placed a
dark object in her hands.
    “Later
tonight, I want you to call me. We’ll go somewhere we can be alone together.
Somewhere … you won’t be safe.”
    Haley kept
still, waiting to see if there was anymore.
    After a few
moments, she turned slowly to find that he had vanished.
    “Cyrus?” she
mumbled.
    She took a
few steps in the direction of the cottage, before retreating back out into the
open. Once she reached the lawn she could see that what he’d handed her was a
dark green phone.
    She knelt
down on the ground and opened up her handbag, placing it inside.
    “I think we
know who our killer is,” she said out loud.
    “I don’t
think we can make that determination yet, Haley,” Maurice said. “There’s still the first vampire who asked you for a date.”
    “Yeah well,
that guy seems like a