The Guest & The Change - By M. D. Bowden Page 0,42

her back. She leant over the sink and wiped condensation off the undersized mirror, and peered at herself through the steam.

She smiled, pleased at what she saw - her skin looked clear, pristine, all imperfections gone. She also looked as though she had lost a little weight, her stomach was flatter and more toned - after all, she hadn’t eaten for two days and had lost a lot of blood. Yet she didn’t look sickly - her eyes were bright, with no tired shadows.

She wondered at the healing power of vampire blood - that must be why she felt different, right? All her ills and aches had been cured along with her wounds. That would explain why she felt great, why she was brimming with energy. It would also explain why she hadn’t practically died with thirst, why she wasn’t collapsing with hunger. Maybe the blood had helped her mental state too - she was coping well, managing to push the pain aside. Maybe if it wasn’t for its healing power she would be crumpled on the floor, not coping at all.

She thought of Megan and Bea, hopefully they weren’t too worried. They were probably having so much fun at her parents’ that they had hardly noticed her absence. She smiled wryly. It was hard not to be a little bit jealous of how much they loved her parents, Alice and Keith. They at least would have been wracked with worry at her absence. Her Mom had been mightily understanding on the phone. It wouldn’t surprise her if the police had been called in yesterday - she and Daniel may have some damage control to do.

Daniel. He was waiting in the other room for her. She felt her heart speed up and her cheeks warm at the thought of seeing him again. She had been in his arms, asleep for two days, but before that how long had she known him for? She had spent one day with him and met him a couple of days before that. How could he love her this quickly? Did she love him? She was certainly attracted to him, more than she ever had been to anyone, even Jo. But could she love someone so fast? She felt a pang of guilt for being with Daniel when she should be grieving for Jo. But he had cheated on her when Bea was a new-born baby, she thought bitterly - why shouldn’t she be with Daniel?

She fastened her towel tightly around her body and picked up her dirty clothes. She opened the bathroom door, feeling shy as she stepped through - wondering if Daniel had noticed the changes in her appearance.

Daniel quickly sat up.

‘My turn,’ he said with a grin.

As he walked past he stopped and lifted her chin. Her heart positively raced as he leant in and kissed her softly on the lips. She wanted more - wanted to grab him - but he pulled away before she could, and closed the bathroom door behind him.

Sarah rolled her eyes at herself - where were these reactions coming from? Her lips were burning where he had kissed her, her face flushed.

She took a deep breath, willing her heart rate to slow, and focused on the immediate issue. What was she going to wear? She picked up her jeans and brushed off as much dirt as possible. They didn’t appear to have any blood on them, but were lightly stained with dirt from falling in the alley, when Jo had attacked her.

Urgh - that had been horrible, seeing him acting feral, wanting her blood. An image of his snarling face leapt to the forefront of her mind - she quickly pushed it aside. It was too horrible, too painful to contemplate.

Her jeans were also tinged with green, like grass stains, probably from moss in the tree - where Sebastian had tied her so she couldn’t escape, where he had bitten her and painfully drank her blood against her will. That was another memory she couldn’t bear to think about, couldn’t deal with.

Well, her jeans were probably passable - she didn’t suppose Daniel would have any woman’s trousers lying about, so they would have to do. She didn’t fancy wearing the same underwear she’d had on, for what, three days now? Quite unappealing. So she pulled her jeans on, with nothing underneath.

It wasn’t even worth inspecting her tops, she tossed those on the floor - they were covered in too much blood. Her bra was ok and