Free The Dark Proposal (The Claire McCormick Trilogy) by Megan Cashman Page B

the wall. Still clutching her finger, she crept over to where he sat, stopped once she stood over him and continued to look at him.
    He was always pale, very pale. There were times when he appeared to have a healthier skin tone, but the next time she saw him he would be albino-white again.
    She only saw him at night, or in the late afternoon. He always insisted on not spending time with her in the mornings. He always had the windows heavily covered with Swedish curtains of his apartment in order to block any sunlight. But yet, he moved around in the late afternoon before daylight savings time. How could that explain anything?
    “The sun is weaker as sunset nears.” Claire shook, startled. He must have read her mind.
    Opening his eyes, he said, “I’m old enough to walk in the daylight, especially when it is cloudy or rainy out. But I can’t spend too much time in the light or it would hurt me. That’s why I go to Australia in the summer.”
    “You’ve always looked so much younger than you claim,” Claire said, partially to him, half to herself. “You say you are 30 years old even though you could pass for a 25 year old.”
    He nodded, staring straight ahead.
    She lifted her eyes to the painting above him, one of the works that were clearly old. “That is hundreds of years old, not a few decades. You probably did it yourself.”
    Daniel snickered.
    Claire’s already widened eyes then grew bigger. “Them! All your friends! Are they…?”
    “Say it, Claire. Better get used to it.”
    “All of you are vampires,” she caught her breath. More was dawning on her. Daniel’s friends all spoke with peculiar accents, similar to his, accents that could not be placed. Whenever she questioned that, they would shrug off her confusion. And like Daniel, she only saw them at night, never during the daytime. They were all wealthy, despite questionable backgrounds, and all looked young for their ages.
    Claire shook her head wildly. “No! This is impossible,” her voice grew stronger. “How can such a thing exist? You’re acting. You like to think you are a vampire, but you’re not. You’re one of those freaks who goes around believing that he is -”
    Within seconds, Claire found herself on the floor, Daniel kneeling over her with his hand on her throat. He was panting angrily. “What more do I have to do to make you believe me? I am not a fake. How dare you doubt me?”
    She coughed and struggled to breathe. She couldn’t yet put the man she loved together with the same man choking her. Everything was coming at her too fast. All she knew was that the world was spinning around her and confusion was overwhelming her.
    He held her down for a few more coughs before releasing her. As she gasped for air, he sat back against the base of the couch, watching her. “I don’t mean to hurt you, Claire. But you are leaving me with no choice. You’re going to have to believe what you are seeing.”
    “But,” she gasped. “But how is this possible? I’ve never heard of any vampire being found. I never saw you freak out when you saw a crucifix.”
    “That’s because crucifixes don’t bother us. That’s all myth. As for being caught, we’re just very good at keeping ourselves in deepest secrecy. That is why no one has ever found us. Besides, you said it yourself, no one believes we exist.”
    “This is insane. I can’t believe what’s happening here,” she said while still laying on the floor.
    “Yes, none of this is easy to hear,” he said. “But you’ll have to get used to it. There’s no going back and you’ll have no choice but accept what is happening here.”
    “No,” she murmured. Then she spoke louder. “No. There’s no way I am going along with this! I don’t care what you say you are! You’re not what I thought you were! I’m getting the fuck out of here!” She scrambled to her feet and was about to make a dash to the door when Daniel suddenly appeared in front of it.
    Arms over his chest, he