8
Deep in thought, Oliver stepped into the library across the hall. Why was the girl lying? Why didn’t she admit what had happened? Was she too embarrassed about her wanton behavior that she’d decided to pretend it had never happened? As if she were afraid that he would collect on her promise of a night of sex if she admitted that she’d made it. Was that why she pretended to not remember a thing? It was the only thing that made sense. Maybe he could somehow explain to her that he wouldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t wanted to do, if only she would tell the truth.
When Maya entered the room behind him, he knew she was pissed. If the glare on her face weren’t an indication for it, then the way she now stood, her legs in a wide stance, her hands placed at her hips, left no doubt.
“Of all the despicable things you could do, you had to attack a young girl and leave her at death’s door?” The words spewed from her mouth like a fountain of poison. “You really think I’m stupid?”
Oliver took a step toward her, squaring his shoulders. “That’s not true! I didn’t do it!”
“Bullshit! Your handwriting is all over it.”
He narrowed his eyes, getting angrier by the second. He’d done awful things in the two months since he’d been a vampire, but he hadn’t done anything to that girl. “I never touched her! I saved her from another vampire!”
“Give it up, Oliver! Why do you continue lying when we both know what the truth is? You nearly drained her and then you wiped her memory so she wouldn’t remember you.”
“I didn’t wipe her memory! She’s lying. She remembers what happened!”
Maya shook her head, disbelief in her gaze. “She doesn’t remember anything! You made sure of it to cover your tracks!”
He balled his hands into fists. “If I really wanted to cover my tracks, why the hell would I bring her here then? Tell me that, huh, why? And why would I call you for help?”
She contemplated his question only for a split-second. “Because you felt remorse afterwards. It’s always like that with you. Haven’t you noticed that? You go on a binge, and afterwards you feel like crap because of what you’ve done. It’s not any different now.”
“You have no idea how I feel! You’ve never been through what I’m going through.”
Maya narrowed her eyes and went toe-to-toe with him. “What are you insinuating?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“No, tell me,” she challenged.
“You never craved human blood. You have no idea what it’s like. All you wanted was Gabriel’s blood.”
“And that makes you think I never went through what you’re going through now? That I never had those cravings? Grow up! We all have the same cravings, no matter whose blood it is we want. Your cravings aren’t any worse than anybody else’s. But you choose to act on them. You choose to show no restraint!”
At the accusation, Oliver pressed his lips together. His chest heaved, and he felt the cords in his neck bulge. “How dare you accuse me of willfully acting the way I do?”
“Oh, I dare a lot more!” She pointed her finger toward the door. “I also dare accuse you of attacking this girl and leaving her half dead! Is that how you want to live? Always a step away from killing an innocent?”
Her words chilled him to the bone. Often enough he’d been close to doing just that, but tonight, Maya was wrong. Tonight, he’d rescued an innocent. “I didn’t bite her! Do you want to know what happened? Do you? Or will that shake your preconceived opinion of me?”
“Go ahead! Dish up some more lies if it makes you feel better.”
“They’re not lies! I don’t know why the girl isn’t telling you what happened, but I can venture a guess. She hasn’t lost her memory. She just doesn’t want to admit what happened.”
Maya raised her eyebrows, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Admit what?”
He had to say it, as much as he wanted to keep this piece of information to himself. “That she offered me sex in exchange for helping her. She—”
Maya’s laughter interrupted him. “Oh my god! I can’t believe you couldn’t come up with a better excuse. What is it? Has the blood gone to your head and made you dizzy? No girl like her would offer you sex in exchange for help. She’s not a prostitute. Have you lost your mind?”
“She did! She offered me sex if I helped her and then she kissed me. And when she collapsed in my arms, I saw the bite marks of the other vampire. That’s when I brought her here.”
“She kissed you? Stop Oliver, you’re just digging yourself deeper and deeper into a hole.”
“But it’s true! You must believe me! She was running from somebody. She begged me to help her.”
Maya let out a sigh, seemingly exhausted. “It’s me, Maya. You don’t have to continue making stuff up. Just tell me what really happened and I’ll try to put a good word in with Gabriel and Samson.”
“I’m not lying! It’s the truth. I didn’t bite her!”
She scowled at him. “Fine. Play it your way. Continue lying, but it’ll make it only worse. If you at least showed remorse for your actions, I could convince Gabriel and Samson to be lenient with you, but since you’ve decided to be a hard-ass about it, don’t expect to be treated with kid gloves.”
In disbelief Oliver shook his head. This couldn’t be happening. He would be taken to task for something he hadn’t done. “That’s not fair! I’m innocent!”
Maya rolled her eyes. “Innocent? There’s nothing innocent about you. The only innocent in this house is that girl in the next room. And you’ve robbed her of that innocence. You should at least have the decency to admit your guilt like a man.”
Oliver closed his eyes. He knew it had been a mistake to help the girl. He should have followed his first instinct and turned around the minute she’d approached him. But no, knight in shining armor that he fancied himself, he’d wanted to help her.
Liar.
He cringed. Okay, so he’d only decided to help her after she’d made her outrageous offer of sex. Not that he would have ever held her to it anyway! It didn’t matter: he’d gotten involved, and now he was in a hell lot of trouble and as long as the girl didn’t admit the truth, it was his word against hers.
The evidence was damning: bite marks on the girl’s neck and massive blood loss. Maybe if he could talk to the girl and assure her that he wouldn’t collect on her promise, maybe then she would tell Maya what really happened.
He had to try it.
“I’ll talk to her again. Alone.” He made a step toward the door.
“Not a chance,” Maya objected instantly and blocked the door. “Do you think I don’t know what you’re trying to do?”
“Do what?” he ground out and ran his hand through his hair.
“You’re going to try and influence her, using mind control.”
Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Maybe you wanna get your facts straight for a change: as Thomas will be able to confirm, I haven’t quite mastered the art of mind control yet.”
In fact, he was having problems with it and assumed that his problems with being able to control his hunger for blood had something to do with it. They robbed him of the energy necessary to exercise mind control and being able to plant fake memories into his victims’ minds. He was, however, fully capable of erasing a person’s memory. It was a skill that required less finesse and was more instinctual than the art of mind control, even though the two skills were related.
Thomas, Scanguards’ IT genius and master of mind control, was tutoring him to help him over his issues. He was making progress, but he was nowhere near mastering the skill. At best, he succeeded only fifty percent of the time.
“Still, you’re not—”
“Damn it, Maya!” he flared up. “What do you want from me? You’ve already made up your mind about my guilt, and now you won’t even allow me to talk to the only witness who can confirm my innocence. Even in a court of law I’d have a better chance than with you!”
And he’d seen the inside of more than one courtroom. In his days as a human, before Samson, the owner of Scanguards, had taken him under his wing, he’d been in and out of jail for possession of drugs and other offenses. He’d never committed any violent crimes, but he knew if Samson hadn’t come along and taken pity on him, he would have gone down that road. The crowd he was running with was on that path already.
“We have our own rules,” Maya insisted.
Before he could reply, he heard the front door opening. Was the girl leaving? Panicked, Oliver fairly jumped at the door and ripped it open, peering out into the hallway.
Relief and dread collided instantly. The person who’d opened the entrance door was Blake, and behind him, Cain entered. Their gazes immediately landed on him.
“We’ve been looking for you,” Blake said, his tone accusatory.
“F*ck you!” Oliver replied. He wasn’t in the mood to have another confrontation. The one with Maya was enough for one night. He turned away.
A moment later, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He swiveled and faced Blake, shaking off his hand in the process.
“I’m not done talking. Cain and I searched the entire city for you.”
“You’ve found me. Now leave me alone.”
“Not so fast, little brother. I wanna know where you went tonight.”
“I don’t owe you any explanations.” And if Blake annoyed him any longer, he’d instead get a beating.
Cain suddenly looked past his shoulder. “Hey Maya, what are you doing here?”
Oliver turned quickly, tossing her a warning look. “It’s none of their business.”
“What’s none of our business?” It figured that Blake wouldn’t let go. Once he had gotten something into his head, he held onto it like a dog to a bone.
“Nothing!” Oliver bit out. “Now get out of my house, all of you and leave me alone!”
“Not gonna happen,” Maya insisted.
“I live here, so you have no right to throw me out!” Blake interrupted.
“Guess, I’m not wanted here,” Cain added and turned toward the door.
But Maya stopped him. “Don’t leave, Cain, we might need you.”
By now, Oliver was fuming. “The f*ck we do! I’ll handle this! There’s no need for all of Scanguards to get involved.”
Cain stopped in his tracks, his eyes suddenly narrowing as if he perceived a threat. “What happened?”
Oliver thrust his chin up. “Nothing happened! Would you all stop meddling in my affairs and leave me alone!”
He caught Cain exchanging a glance with Maya.
“I want you to keep an eye on Oliver while I confer with Gabriel and Samson,” she said to Cain.
Disgusted at her treachery, Oliver glared at her. “I can’t believe you’re doing this! I trusted you. That’s why I called you!”
“It’s for your own good.”
He raised his voice. “The f*ck it is! I’m telling the truth! But you don’t want to see that. You don’t believe there’s any good left in me. You’ve given up on me, just like everybody else!”
Maya put her hand on his forearm, but he shook it off. “That’s not true. You’ll see that when you’ve calmed down.”
“I am calm!” But the tightness in his jaw belied his words. His gums itched, and he could feel the tips of his fangs extending.
“Yeah, I can see that!” Blake mocked.
Oliver pounced on Blake, before his last word had even left his lips.
“Stop it now!” Maya warned, but Oliver ignored her.
Instead, he slammed Blake against the wall and held him there, his body suspended in the air. “You little jerk! You wanna know what it’s like to be a vampire, do you? Maybe I should just turn you and see how you cope with it, huh? Is that what you want? Is that why you’re constantly provoking me?”
“Get off me, you f*cking bastard!” Blake ordered, aiming his fists at him.
“You want a fight?” Oliver challenged.
“Damn it, Oliver!” Maya cursed and grabbed his arm. “Cain!”
A moment later, Cain attacked him from the other side. Furious, Oliver let go of Blake and spun on his heels. He felt his fangs extend to full length and caught sight of his hands: they had turned into claws. Yes, he was spoiling for a fight.
Raising his head, he looked at his two attackers, whose fangs had also extended, when he caught a movement in the corner of his eye. His head whipped in its direction.
Shit!
Ursula, the girl he’d rescued from an unknown vampire, stood in the door to the living room, her eyes wide in shock, her hands gripping the door frame for support.
“Oh God,” she said breathlessly. “You’re one of them. You’re all like them!”