Holiday with a Vampire: Christmas Cravings. Caridad Pineiro

directly into her eyes, he used the full force of his legendary power to direct her to do exactly as he ordered. “Go to the bookcase,” he said, his voice tight against the pain still lancing through him. His fangs retracted slightly, reacting to the agony sweeping through him. Hissing in a breath, he swallowed back the pain. “There’s a latch. Halfway down the first shelf. Pull it.”

      She did, taking one small step after another, as if she were a marionette and someone else—he—was pulling her strings. She found the latch, gave it a hard yank and the bookcase pulled away from the wall with a loud creak from the hidden hinges. Tessa only stood there, watching him, and Grayson couldn’t allow himself to think about what she was feeling.

      The only way to safety lay through the slanting rays of golden light. More pain. But then, pain had become a way of life for him. Pain and hunger. Both of which jolted through his system, leaving him both ultra-alert and exhausted. Gathering what little of his strength remained, he braced himself for the dash through sunlight into the promised sanctuary of the hidden room—hopefully without bursting into flame.

      He bolted quickly and in four long steps, he was safely in shadow again. His skin buzzing, his hair smoking, Grayson took a breath and bit down hard on the agony holding him in a tight fist. He stood in the room he’d created for his family’s safety so long ago and thought it ironic that this room hadn’t served its purpose until he was dead.

      Then Tessa, free of his influence, came around the edge of the bookcase and gave him a hard look.

      Her breath was coming in short, sharp gasps, her eyes still shone with the shock of a truth she could barely believe and the scent of fear wafted from her like a heady perfume. But there was more. There was also anger.

      “You lied to me.”

      He hadn’t expected that to be the first thing she said to him. “I didn’t lie.”

      “You let me believe you were a man. But you’re not.”

      “No.”

      “You’re…” Tessa broke off, unable to say the word her mind kept screaming.

      “A vampire,” he finished for her. “Yes.”

      “That’s impossible.” Tessa fought against the wild panic clutching at her heart, squeezing her throat tight until she felt as though she’d never draw another breath.

      But even as she tried to deny it, she knew it was true. She’d seen his…fangs. God. Her head felt as if it were going to explode. She couldn’t believe this was happening. There had to be some other explanation. Trick of the light. Her eyes went weird on her, that was all. She’d seen something that wasn’t there.

      Vampires only existed in television shows. Really gorgeous vamps, with souls who didn’t bite people. Well, she told herself with another shocked look at him. He had the gorgeous part down pat. Who knew about the biting. Oh, God. A vampire.

      This was so not happening. Clearly, the years on the run had pushed her over the edge. Her brain had finally snapped and who could blame her?

      “Impossible,” she repeated firmly, determined to not go believing in imaginary creatures—no matter how gorgeous they were.

      “Is it?” He lifted both hands and she saw the burns marking his skin. Brain whirling, she remembered the same scorch marks she’d seen on his skin earlier, when she’d found him lying in the dawn.

      Sunlight.

      “No way,” she said, fingers tightening on the bookshelf until she wouldn’t have been surprised to see indentations from her grip smashed into the heavy wood.

      He blew out a breath, scraped one hand through his thick hair and slowly stalked the confines of a hidden room she’d been completely unaware of. She kept her gaze on him, and still managed to give the small room a quick once-over. There was a square table and four chairs. A single bed pushed against one wall and several empty shelves along another. It was a safe room of some kind, she thought as he spoke again.

      “Believe me or don’t. That’s your business.”

      He sounded tired. And she could understand that. Nearly going up in flames was bound to take a toll. Even from across this distance, she saw the scorched, burned flesh on the backs of his hands and on his face. He had to be in terrible pain, but he showed no sign of it.

      And despite the evidence in front of her, Tessa argued with the only possible conclusion. She fixed her gaze on him and found the tattered threads of her courage. “Vampires don’t exist.”

      “Not if you don’t want them to.” He leaned against the empty shelving and blew out a breath.

      “If you are one, and I’m not saying you are,” Tessa hedged, “why didn’t you bite me before?”

      He gave her a long, thoughtful stare. “Thought about it.” His gaze lowered to the base of her neck. “Still thinking about it.”

      Her stomach turned over and fear quickened within only to dissipate a moment later. He’d had ample opportunity to kill her, but he hadn’t. Instead, he’d warned her off. Tried to make her leave him alone. And right now, he was trying to scare her into backing away.

      “You’re lying again.” She shook her head. “If you’d thought about biting me, you would have.”

      “No,” he said with a smile that curled her toes. “I’m not lying. I wanted to drink you.”

      She sucked in air like a drowning person and felt the world tilt at a weird angle. As he stared at her, she could almost feel his mouth at her throat and a part of her wondered desperately what that would feel like.

      Was he making her feel like this?

      “Why didn’t you then?”

      Wincing, he rubbed one hand with the other and shrugged. “You were trying to help. Seemed ungrateful.”

      “A polite vampire?” Why did that sound so much weirder?

      He laughed shortly, used the toe of his boot to pull out one of the ancient chairs and dropped onto it as if he didn’t have the strength to stand any longer. Bracing one arm on the table, he leaned back, kicked his feet out in front of him and crossed them at the ankles. “Let’s say old habits are hard to break. Good manners being one of them.”

      “I can’t believe this is happening.”

      “I told you to leave me alone.”

      “You didn’t tell me this though.”

      “You wouldn’t have believed me anyway,” he pointed out.

      “True.” She wouldn’t have. If he’d been honest with her, she’d have thought he was crazy. She could hardly believe his truth now, and she’d seen the evidence with her own eyes. He had fangs, for Pete’s sake. Sunlight had burned him. Another moment or two and he would have died. But, could someone already dead actually die again?

      Who would ever have guessed she’d need the answer to that question?

      “So now what?” she asked. “I mean, now that I do know, what’re you going to do to me?”

      “Nothing,” he muttered and slapped one hand against the table.

      “Why should I believe that you’re not planning to bite me?”

      “Because I give you my word.”

      “Uh-huh…” Her disbelief colored her voice. She’d heard promises before. And in her experience, promises weren’t worth the breath used to make them.

      “Stay in the sunlight,” he told her. “Then you won’t have anything to worry about.”

      “Until night.”

      He speared her with a look. “Look. I’m tired. I’m hungry.”

      She flinched.

      He