Free Innocently Evil (A Kitty Bloom Novel) by Felicity Beadsmoore

Max who was now standing next to the fountain. I’d expected him to be furious, irritated or at least upset. But he was none of those things.
    He smirked at me with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. “I guess we’ll be doing things the hard way from this point onwards,” he said.
    I c ouldn’t help but look surprised. For some stupid reason, I thought that it would be all over once the pendant was gone. I thought that Max would leave me alone. It looked like I was wrong.
    “You know, it’s a shame,” said Max as he began to pace around me. “I was really enjoying playing the caring, soul mate role. But now, you’re stuck with the real me.”
    Instantly, his eyes glowed hot amber and his face contorted into a gruesome snarl, baring long, sharp canines. After a moment, his face returned back to normal. “Pretty, isn’t it,” he said.
    For some reason, his true face didn’t scare me, even though I’d expected it to do so. If anything, it was his arrogance that was beginning to get to me. I turned on the spot, mirroring him as he circled me. “Well,” I said, finally feeling more like myself, “I don’t think that ‘pretty’ is quite the right word. I was thinking more along the lines of ‘hideous’, ‘repulsive’, and even ‘ugly’.”
    He glared at me and then grinned smugly. “You didn’t seem so repulsed a few moments ago,” he said.
    Now it was my turn to glare and cross my arms over my chest. “Oh, really,” I said. “And I’m sure your that little pendant had nothing to do with me wanting to be friendly with you.”
    He stopped where he was and his grin widened. “ Friendly ,” he said. “Is that what you call it? I would have called it trying to jump my bones.”
    I snarled back at him in disgust. “Trust me, Max,” I said. “When I’m trying to jump your bones, you’ll know about it.”
    Max just laughed at me and continued pacing around me. “There’s another thing you should know, little Miss Kitty, and you won’t like it,” Max began. He stopped pacing again and took a couple of small steps towards me, but I held my ground. “While the pendant aims to suppress your good side and all its desires, ensuring that anything evil inside you has a chance to excel, it doesn’t form new feelings for you and definitely doesn’t make you act on them.”
    I felt my face heat up at his words and I somehow knew he was right. Deep down inside me, in a place that I refused to acknowledge, I had feelings for him. Although I was certain that they were only obscure feelings at best.
    Max took another step towards me and leaned in, until his face was closer to mine. I glared at him and raised my upper lip at his closeness. Max just smiled at me and looked into my eyes. “Just you think about that, Kitty,” he whispered. “I know you. I know who you really are and what you can be. And I know what you really want. Don’t think that you can hide that side of you forever.” He straightened and grinned arrogantly at me. “Evil is in your blood, Kitty, deal with it.”
    As he repeated the words I’d said to him earlier, I had a massive urge to hit him. But, before I could even make a move, he sprinted away out into the rain. “I hope you like your room, Kitty Bloom,” he called back over his shoulder and he was gone.
    I looked outside into the white haze of heavy rain , in shock. Max had been the one to decorate my bedroom. There was no way, or was there? Surely, he was only joking. My mum had organized it for me, hadn’t she? How would I ever feel comfortable in there again?
    “I hope you get pneumonia and die,” I yelled into the empty rain. Of course, I knew Max wouldn’t get pneumonia. He was a vampire, after all and vampires couldn’t get sick.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Six: A Shower with Sam
     
    I was feeling pretty stupid about heading off into the rain. I’d managed to wait a couple of minutes under the shelter of the washhouse,