Blood Like Poison For the Love of a Vampire - By M. Leighton Page 0,94

all-night company tonight."

He was grinning mischievously when I looked up at him. Warmth spread through me, radiating from my suddenly-steamy skin. I'd use any available excuse to get Bo to stay with me.

"I think you might be right."

My adrenaline was already sky high from the movie, so I was practically vibrating by the time we got to the car and headed for the marina.

Bo and I talked quietly in the back seat while Devon and Savannah occupied their own world in the front seat. For a second, my eyes were drawn to the gap between the seats where I could see that Devon held Savannah's hand on the console. He fiddled with her fingers in a casual, intimate way that made it seem like he'd been holding her hand his entire life.

As if by gravity, my attention was pulled back to Bo. His head was leaned back against the headrest and his eyes were closed as he told me about a dog he used to have. Listening to him, it was easy to see that he was an animal lover and I wondered at how hard it must've been for him, having to take the lives of so many to sustain himself for those first few weeks.

Bo was absently drawing circles on the inside of my wrist with his fingertips. His soothing touch coupled with the quiet timbre of his voice lulled my overwrought senses and I felt safer and more loved than I could ever remember feeling. I felt like I was as highly attuned to Bo as I was to my own body.

He stopped speaking and lifted his head, as if he could sense it as well. Reluctantly, I shifted my gaze from his mouth to his eyes. Without a word, he simply watched me. And I watched him back.

His shimmering eyes drew me in and held me. And in that moment, I knew - without a shadow of a doubt, I knew - that he loved me as much as I loved him, and that it wasn't a childish, fleeting crush. It was a real, true, deep love - the sacrificing kind that was excruciating; the transcendent kind that time and distance couldn't diminish; the eternal kind that even death couldn't weaken. It was ours and it was forever.

With a heartrending certainty, I knew that I would never love another person more than I loved Bo. Before long, he'd be taken from me and I'd live the rest of my life mourning the loss of the only person to ever walk the earth who could make me whole.

It was in that precious instant of perfect clarity that he found us.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Something heavy landed on the roof of the car with a loud and terrifying thump.

"What the - "

The car shook as if something was on top of it, wiggling it. But what was strong enough to move a car?

Alarm bells sounded in my head and I looked over at Bo. He was tight-lipped, his expression grave.

The car shuddered again and Devon swerved. The right front tire slid off into the gravel and we fish-tailed for a few nerve-racking seconds before he regained control of the car.

"Ohmigod, what is that?" Savannah had her feet braced against the dash and her knuckles were white where she gripped the handle above the door.

"Don't stop, Devon," Bo ordered sternly.

The engine whined as Devon pressed on the gas. We lurched forward and all four of us looked back, anxious to see if whatever had assailed us had fallen off in the road.

I was the first to turn back around.

"Devon, look out!"

Up ahead, shining brilliantly in the headlights, was a person standing in the middle of the road.

"Devon, don't stop," Bo said again.

"What? There's someone in the road. I can't just - "

"Devon, don't stop."

"Devon, you have to stop," Savannah screamed as we bore down on the figure in the road.

With a squeal of tires, Devon mashed on the brakes. We came to a screeching halt that threw all of us forward in the car.

When we were once more settled in our seats, our attention was drawn to the person standing in the center of the dark, country lane.

It was Trinity.

Dressed in a solid white baby doll dress and wearing no shoes, Trinity's hair was a tangled mess that hung wildly about her shoulders. Her skin was only