Night Kissed (Chosen Vampire Slayer #1) - Mila Young Page 0,17
a death threat. I had known him for all of two minutes, and it was already way too tempting to get drawn into the sheer power of his energy. A shiver zipped down my spine at how my body reacted to him because that distracted me from focusing on who stood before me.
“All right, fine, Orion.” I refused to give him the satisfaction of admitting how recently I’d arrived. “Let me just start out by saying, if you want to run me out of your town, you’re in for a hell of a fight. I don’t do anything quietly.”
The way his eyes roamed over me was both uncomfortable and mesmerizing. It was like he had the power to see directly through me, and for the first time in my career as a slayer, I wondered if I might be in over my head. Eight years ago, I’d gained a supernatural ability that gave me an advantage against these fiends, but there was also my heightened strength I never gave too much thought to. I always wondered if that came after the vampire attack as well. That terrifying day of the attack had left me changed forever. It made me something I didn’t understand. Someone stronger, more agile, and coupled with the energy to trace down death, I was a force to be reckoned with. Sure, all the research in the world gave me no insight into what I’d become after the attack, but it didn’t stop me from using what I’d gained.
Yet the vibes radiating from Orion seemed different and overpowering.
The thought only lingered for a second, but it was long enough to shake me. The stake at my belt that I carried everywhere weighed heavier as a reminder it was ready to be used.
Orion chuckled. “We’ll see about that.” When he moved, my whole body tensed automatically, a motion he seemed to appreciate. I was ready for him to come at me, to start a fight right there in the street. In Seattle, we would have been at each other’s throats already. But he surprised me by stepping backward rather than forward. “Don’t get too comfortable,” he warned. “I’m watching you.”
The tone of his voice made my spine tingle. I was so used to vamps being vile, repulsive creatures, and Orion still was, in a way. There was no mistaking the monster lurking just behind his smooth exterior. But he was also enticing, which was a thought I had never dared to think before. Disgusted with myself, I shoved it as far away as possible.
“Do whatever you want,” I said coolly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He nodded. “I know.”
Then he was gone, so suddenly it felt as though he could have been a mirage. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The drum of my heartbeat was just beginning to slow down, and my cheeks burned hot against the cold Alaska night.
“What the hell just happened?” I muttered, shaking my head. I’d meant to spend a while in the bar, but now I wanted to get out of there. The vampire’s appearance had thrown my whole night out of whack, and I couldn’t shake the feeling he was still close by. With the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, I turned around and retraced my steps back to the hotel.
“Back so soon?” The night clerk glanced up from her post behind the reception desk, first at me, and then out the window. “It gets pretty cold out there at night, even this late into the spring. You’ll get used to it.” She had seen me leave minutes earlier.
“Yeah.” I smiled sheepishly. “Thought I was ready for a night on the town, but…I decided I’d rather stay in and watch a movie.”
She laughed. “I won’t tell anyone.”
It didn’t hit me until I stood in my room three minutes later with the remote control in my hand that this jackass who called himself Orion had managed to make me into a joke without even trying. Instantly, my feelings shifted from muddled confusion to anger and resentment, as if a fog had lifted from my brain. If there was ever a time I realized how much I still had to learn, it was right in that moment.
“Shit,” I whispered. The reality of the situation was that he had chased me back into the corner without taking a single step forward. And he probably knew it, too. Sighing in frustration, I raked both hands through my hair, letting