Nightshade (1) by Michelle Rowen

Author:Michelle Rowen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Paranormal, Fiction
ISBN: 9780425239827
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2011-02-01T17:38:29.950000+00:00

15

DECLAN GRABBED THE MONSTER BEFORE IT HAD A chance to sink its teeth or talons into me and pulled it backward. It seemed frail, but in reality it was fast and strong. It screeched, an earsplitting sound, as I scrambled crablike back from them.

I was worried Declan might be hurt by it, that it might get the upper hand, but it only took a moment before I saw the arc of silver move through the air and Declan pierced the blade through the dhampyr’s chest. The creature screamed, a sharp, horrific sound like nails on a chalkboard, and then it was silent. It didn’t burst into fiery ash as a vampire did, but there was no doubt in my mind that it was dead.

Other people suddenly approached us, accompanied by Carson.

“Well done,” he told Declan in a frustratingly calm voice. His gaze flicked to me for a moment. “Take her back inside. We’ll clean this up.”

Declan nodded and stood up from where he was crouched over the dhampyr. He left his knife where it was in the creature’s chest. Then, taking me by my arm, he directed me back into the house, along the hallway, and up the stairs toward my room.

“Are you okay?” I asked him shakily.

He didn’t answer me, but his breathing was labored as if he’d run a marathon. Considering how in shape he was, I found it difficult to believe he’d been winded by killing the dhampyr. I pulled him around so I could see his face. His eye was focused on the ground.

“I need to go,” he said. There was pain in his voice.

“Declan, what is it?”

His brow wrinkled and he raised his gaze to mine. “I don’t like feeling like this.”

“Like what?”

“That thing. I killed it. I killed it without a second thought, even though it was a dhampyr like me.”

“You said yourself it was nothing like you.”

“A few degrees of difference. Human mother, vampire father. Same as me. Only that creature ended up on the end of my blade, and it wasn’t the first time I had to do something like that. And I hate that I’m doubting myself now.”

“It had to be done.”

“A mindless creature that only wanted to feed, driven by its dangerous hungers. Sounds exactly like what I’m turning into.” He shook his head. “Carson warned me. I never should have stopped taking my serum. If it makes me feel like this, I have to agree with him.”

“You mean, makes you feel guilty for killing something like that dhampyr?”

“That’s only part of it.”

“You prefer to feel like a robot programmed to kill and not feel any remorse?”

“Yeah, I think I do.”

“Only because you’re used to it. But that doesn’t make it right.”

“Carson wouldn’t have given me a drug that wasn’t necessary.”

“Carson reacted to what you are by medication overkill. It’s good that you’re off the serum. It gives you a chance to actually live instead of only existing.”

He shook his head. “You’re wrong. I have to fix this while I still have the chance.

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