Tempt by Claire Farrell

Author:Claire Farrell
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Vampires, speculative fiction, paranormal, nephilim, paranormal fantasy, angels, urban fantasy
Publisher: Claire Farrell
Published: 2011-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

I wandered the city for a couple of hours, not wanting to go home and feed a succubus with my pain. I had no place of my own, nowhere that I really fit in, but the more I learned about myself, the more comfortable I was in my own skin. The important thing wasn’t what they said about me, it was the choices I made. Foolish or not, I cared about people other than myself, and I did my best with the little experience I had. I’d tried to close myself off, but it never worked. I wasn’t meant to grow up hating. That realisation was powerful.

I didn’t feel particularly inclined to kill anyone, except maybe a certain succubus, and my thirst was pretty much controllable for the most part. Until that certain succubus ramped up the feelings between Peter and me. Empathy didn’t come in handy on those occasions. But I hadn’t hurt him. I hadn’t even bitten him. I could control myself, even when I wasn’t so sure.

I found myself heading towards Peter’s home. I had no one else I wanted to turn to, and he was always the first person I wanted, no matter what the circumstance. In some ways, he was exceptionally unreliable and cold, but I felt as though he would back me up if I needed him, and that made me feel safe around him. I couldn’t remember the last time he had looked disgusted at the mention of my more vampiric side.

He wasn’t home, so I sat on his doorstep and watched his neighbours go about their business. So normal and ordinary. Children playing like there were no bad guys. Parents feeling safe enough to let their little ones out on their own, despite murders and a kidnapping happening right in their neighbour’s home. If they knew, they no longer cared. People got over the past so easily, why couldn’t I?

Peter pulled up and didn’t notice me until he was a couple of feet away. He stopped and stared at me for a couple of seconds. I gave a little shrug, and he nodded. He opened the weirdly-secure front door and hauled me to my feet.

“In, before I lose my antisocial recluse reputation,” he said.

I laughed, but by the time I sat down in his living room, tears rolled down my cheeks. He didn’t say a word, just handed me a tissue and sat next to me. He stayed quiet, and I just sat there crushing tissues in my fists.

“Okay, I’m done being a girl,” I said after a while.

“Nothing wrong with girls. Need a coffee or something?”

“If you’re having one.”

He patted my shoulder and left me alone. I often wondered how he could live in that house. Knowing he had lost everyone who meant anything to him within those very walls was strange to me. I always felt as if there were ghosts in the room, watching my every move.

Peter seemed to do okay, despite suffering through the kind of heartbreak I couldn’t even imagine.

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