Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Excuse you!” I squawk on Kyla’s behalf.
“You’re soulless.”
“Ohmygod, you have to have the worst people skills in existence, Mr. Draak!”
“Even so,” he half-heatedly admits on a shrug, turning his gaze back to me, “she’s still the smell. She’s still soulless.”
“Stop saying that!”
“Eh,” Kyla casually comments and clears her throat. “I’ve been called worse.” My mouth twitches to argue when she adds, “Fuck, this week alone if we’re being real.”
“She’s a vampire,” Ptur announces at the same time he inches closer to me in a protective nature. “They’re soulless beings. The lack of a soul is the reason they have that decaying odor.”
An eye roll is attached to a headshake of disbelief. “She’s not a vampire, Beanstalk.”
“She is.”
“She is not.”
“She is.”
“She is not! Don’t you think I’d know if my best friend were Dracula?!”
“Okay, first off, I think Louis de Pointe du Lac was way hotter—and not just because I basically got turned by a guy who looked exactly like Brad Pitt in his prime—and second of all, a more appropriate comparison would be Akasha, the queen of all vampires, because once upon a time I was set to be the queen of a country.” Kyla casually swings one leg over the other. “And please don’t ask me about that time in my life. I’ve worked really hard at pretending it doesn’t exist. It’s taken copious amounts of alcohol and a little hypnotherapy, but whatever. I’ve made progress.”
Consternation causes me to shoot to the edge of my chair on a croaked, “What!?”
“I know what you’re thinking, but hypnotherapy really does work for some of us.”
“Not that!” I shout, hands thrown up in the air in aggravation. “How could you not tell me you were a vampire!?”
“I still think the hypnotherapy is a bigger thing.”
“Kyla!”
“Vamps have mercy, would you calm down?” Kyla nonchalantly commands, fingers fixing the bent collar to her blouse. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s a huge fucking deal!”
“What’s a huge fucking deal is that you’re fucking Godzilla and didn’t think to mention it!”
“Godzilla?” Ptur unhappily huffs. “What’s a Godzilla? Is that a Sleeper term I should be more familiar with? Why do I feel as though it’s not a compliment?”
“Because it’s not,” I curtly state his direction before returning my attention to hers. “And he is not Godzilla, who isn’t even real!” The small niggling in my brain forces me to pause for verification. “Wait, is he? Is Godzilla real? Is there an actual real other worldly species that thing is based off of?”
“Not to my knowledge, but that’s not saying much,” Kyla replies and tosses a curious grin at the creature who signs my paycheck. “What exactly are you? All I know is you’re some sort of shifter.”
“How do you know that?” I promptly inquire.
“Vamps really are more than just blood sucking parasites—although most of my exes would disagree with that statement when it comes to me.” Amusement doesn’t leave my best friend’s expression in spite of my increased disbelief. “Bloodwatching is an actual power that we possess. While we don’t have x-ray vision so to speak, our eyes—when properly trained—can see the blood pumping through your system. Every type of beings’ blood has various shades and rhythms and flows. Shifters have an additional color to theirs that always pumps very differently than anything else, so you can identify them, but you can’t identify them. Get it?”
Questions prepare to boil out of my mouth when Ptur asks, “You can daywalk like a Sleeper and bloodwatch at that high of a level? You’re far from a fresh turn then.”
Her tiny, pointed nose scrunches upward. “I’m not loving the way you phrased that.”
“Why didn’t you tell Cami that she’s a half-orc?”
“You’re a half-orc?!” It’s Kyla’s turn to sit up completely straight. “When were you gonna tell me?!”
“When were you gonna tell me about being a member of Twilight?!”
Her mouth opens to snap back yet freezes as though she can’t fathom a comeback.
“Could you not see it?” Ptur reclaims the conversation that was beginning to spiral again.
To my surprise, Kyla slowly shakes her head. “No. I’ve always only seen the Sleeper blood in her veins.” Confusion finally captures my best friend the way it has me. “Which shouldn’t be possible if you’re anything else. I should’ve been able to see it all. Why couldn’t I see it all?!”
“Witch-Haze,” my other half answers for me.
“Son of a Vamp, why were you taking witch-haze?!”
“Prescription,” I quietly murmur.
Her dark brows deliver the faintest twitch. “Is that what’s in your anti-psych meds?”
There’s no hesitation to nod.
“Your mom’s an orc then? Because I’ve met your dad. And don’t get me wrong. Great guy for a pencil pushing accountant with an insane ragweed allergy and an amazing collection of the original X-Men comics but member of an ancient great warrior species he is not.”
I don’t bother swallowing my chuckle. “Yeah, evidently, my mom is a full-blown orc, and no one bothered to tell me.” Sympathy starting to settle in her smile pushes me to remind, “Sort of like my best friend being a fucking vampire and failing to mention it.”