Blood Promise Page 0,111

pacing. "What's wrong with you two? Why can't either of you see there's something the matter?"

"Maybe it's not us," I said. "Maybe it's you imagining things."

Adrian turned back toward me and looked me over again. "No. It's not me."

I didn't like any of this-not his tone, expression, or words. I'd been excited to see him, but now I resented him ruining my good mood. I didn't want to think about any of this. It was too hard.

"Look," I said. "I was happy to see you tonight but not anymore, not if you're going to sit and accuse me and make demands."

"I'm not trying to do that." His voice was gentle-the anger was gone. "The last thing I want is to make you unhappy. I care about you. I care about Lissa, too. I want you both to be happy and live your lives like you want... but not when you're both heading down destructive paths."

He almost made sense. Almost seemed reasonable and sincere. I shook my head.

"Stay out of it. I'm where I want to be, and I'm not coming back. Lissa's on her own." I jumped off the rail. The world swirled a little, and I stumbled. Adrian caught my hand, and I jerked away. "I'm fine."

"You are not. Jesus Christ. I'd swear you're drunk, except... the aura's still not right for that. What is it?" He ran his hands through his dark hair.

It was his typical sign of agitation.

"I'm done here," I said, trying to be as polite as possible. Why on earth had I wanted to see him again? It had seemed so important when I first arrived. "Send me back, please."

He opened his mouth to say something, then froze a few moments. "What's on your neck?"

He reached forward, and addled or no, I managed to dodge pretty efficiently. I had no idea what he saw on my neck, and I had no interest in finding out. "Don't touch me."

"Rose, that looks like-"

"Send me back, Adrian!" So much for my politeness.

"Rose, let me help-"

"Send. Me. Back!"

I shouted the words, and then, for the first time, I managed to pull myself out of Adrian's dream. I left sleep altogether and woke up on the couch.

The room was still and silent, the only sound my rapid breathing. I felt all tangled up inside. Usually, so fresh from a bite, I would be floating and gleeful. Yet, the encounter with Adrian had left part of me troubled and sad.

Standing up, I managed to make my way to the bathroom. I flicked on the light and winced. It hadn't been very bright in the other room. Once my eyes adjusted, I leaned toward the mirror and pushed my hair out of the way. I gasped at what I saw. There were bruises all over my neck, as well as signs of fresher wounds. Around where Dimitri had just bitten me, I could see dried blood.

I looked... like a blood whore.

How had I never noticed this before? I wet a washcloth and scrubbed at my neck, trying to get the blood off. I rubbed and rubbed until the skin turned pink. Was that it? Were there more? That looked like the worst of it. I wondered how much Adrian had seen. My hair had been down, and I was pretty sure most of it had covered my neck.

A rebellious thought came to my head. What did it matter if Adrian saw or not? He didn't understand. There was no way he could even come close.

I was with Dimitri. Yeah, he was different... but not that much different. And I was sure I could find a way to make this work without becoming a Strigoi. I just didn't know how yet.

I tried to reassure myself over and over, but those bruises kept staring back at me.

I left the bathroom and returned to the couch. I turned on the TV without really watching, and after a while, the happy fog rolled over me again. I soon tuned out the TV and returned to sleep. This time, my dreams were my own.

It took a while for Dimitri to come again. And by "a while," I mean almost an entire day. I was getting twitchy by that point, both because I missed him and because I missed the bite. He usually visited twice a day, so this was the longest I'd gone without the endorphins. Needing something to do, I preoccupied myself with making myself as beautiful as possible.

I sorted through the dresses in my closet,