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.“When did the pain begin?”“After I screamed at you and you fell against the wall.”Again, Elijah approached her carefully.Taking her elbow, he helped her onto the bed.“I didn’t fall against the wall, Sadie.”She scowled, which stung her brain.But he backed off.“Okay.Tell me about the pain.Describe it for me.”“It’s like someone is knifing my brain with broken glass.”He leaned in, searching her eyes.“What else?”“My eyes are on fire.”“Try closing them.”She did but shook her head.“That’s worse.”He drew the blinds open.The sun’s warmth sent goosebumps of awareness over her skin.“Try opening them.”She did.“Better?”“Much, actually.” The stabbing rapidly receded to a dull thump.“Thank you.”“You’re welcome.May I?”She gave him her hands, the relief from pain leaving a strange euphoria behind.He turned her wrist up and set a thumb to each.He closed his eyes.Alarm shone in the mahogany depths when he opened them.“What? Just tell me what it is.”“I have a lot to explain in a short amount of time.What I’ll say will scare you.I’m not asking you to believe me, just to listen.The choice will be yours.Can you do that?”The intensity in his gaze gave her pause.What in the world had she gotten herself into? At last, she nodded.“Good.First, tell me, can you feel this?” His left wing came around, reaching close to her.Her breath caught.Feel his wings? Up close, in the brighter light, she could see through them.They were a deeper blue than the dream version, more substantial, yet….She reached her hand out, spellbound, but paused.Warmth emanated off of the wing.Her fingertips tingled.Her pulse quickened.Elijah stood very still.Was he nervous? Curious? The seconds seemed to hang in the air as her mind fired off fears.A breath away, a single soft touch to the dark sable wing.He took her hand and pulled it to the wing’s surface.The tingle permeated her hand as she touched the wing’s surface and passed slowly through it.Sadie gasped.“How?”“The drug that miserable fuck slipped you may have altered your transformation.” Elijah frowned.“Seeker wings are not perceptible to human senses.But your mind allows you to see them, yet you can’t touch them.Is this new?”She balked a little.“More than new.It’s weird.”“But you saw my wings before you were drugged?”Sadie rubbed the back of her neck, thinking.At the club.In dreams.“I don’t know.I can’t really be sure.” He quirked an eyebrow up, calling her bluff.“Okay, yes.I saw them before.”“When you screamed a moment ago, you unleashed an electric pulse.That is what knocked me into your wall.I don’t have to explain that this isn’t normal human behavior, correct? Good.Here comes the hard part.” He sat on the bed and faced her.“It isn’t.It is, however, immortal behavior.”“Whoa, whoa.Whoa.” Sadie moved to stand but her head sparked with pain, so she settled for two hands up and sarcasm.“Immortal means what? Like a vampire or werewolf or something? No thanks.”His wings shifted behind him.Sadie jerked.He opened them wider, his eyes intent on her face.Her mouth fell open.Each wing curved out, the blue-black expanses filled the background.“How in the world can they be so big?” Shit.Had she said that out loud?Elijah laughed.“Think of it like stretching.Your arms, your fingers.”“So, vampires?”Half a smile crooked his mouth but warning shone in his gaze.“Human blood is a drug for us, Sadie.Vampirism is nothing to laugh over.Witnessing the truth your myths are based on would make you wish for the reprieve of insanity.”A chill licked up Sadie’s spine.“Then what are you?”“A seeker.” He leaned in.“I hunt the bloodsuckers.I find them before it’s too late.”“Not an angel.”“If you liken it to angels, I understand, but that’s human myth.Demons, angels, faeries, all human attempts at defining the indefinable.”Her mouth went dry and, stupidly, all she could do was watch his.“Indefinable?”Had he drawn closer? Had she? “Some humans sense something else is there, just beyond a thin veil of energy, separated thousands of years ago to protect humankind.”“From what?”“From us.”“Vampires.”“Blood junkies.Humans farmed for blood.More than blood.Energy.The soul [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]