Limerence II by Claire C Riley Read Free Book Online Page B

offers me calmness and comfort, because even in this state, she is still fighting. She is free, even though she is trapped, and I know that she would and will do anything to kill us all and get away.
    “It’s funny how we forget things that we love so easily, yet once we remember, it’s almost impossible to let them go again.” I cock my head to the side as I pick up my brush and smooth over some of the redhead’s hair. “Do you know what I mean?”
    “I do indeed. Sometimes the heart and mind try to forget that which makes us happy if we cannot have it. It’s for our own protection, I believe.”
    I stop dabbing and turn to him. “Do you really believe that?”
    “I do.”
    “I can’t imagine not painting. But then I only remembered the joy of it today.” I flush embarrassed by my childish words.
    Evan strokes a hand against my cheek, brushing against the warmest part where the blush has risen. “Because your body protected you from your emotions—from your pain, from your joys. It is all as one when you are a vampire, just one large bundle of emotions and feelings, and if you can’t handle one, then perhaps you can’t handle any.” He lowers his hand as if burned. “This shows good progress.”
    “That I remembered how to paint?” I laugh.
    “No, that you remembered you loved to paint. You are beginning to remember feelings from previous. That’s a good sign that you are winning.”
    I roll my eyes again and drop my brush into the now dirty glass of water. “And what, oh master of mine, do I win exactly? A lifetime of servitude? Fantastic, just let me put my good shoes on for that.” I cock an irritated eyebrow and plant a hand firmly on my hip.
    “Do you have some?”
    “Some what?” I frown.
    “Good shoes?” He says it with so much seriousness it takes me a moment to hear his joke. I look down at my paint-splashed feet, and then look up with a smile, knowing I can’t be annoyed anymore. He smiles his wonky smile and laughs loudly.
     

Five.
     
Evan.
     
    Avon, the tall male vampire with crudely chopped hair, comes into my training room, letting the door slam loudly against the wall. The man likes to make an entrance whenever possible. He stands in the doorway letting both me and the new vampire I’m training view him. He’s an extremely handsome vampire, with high cheekbones, deep blue eyes, and a slender body carved with the perfect amount of subtly hard muscles. Like an athlete’s, his body is tall and lean. He’s used to getting the attention wherever he goes, bathes in the response from others, and milks it for everything he can, but other than being arrogant, he’s harmless. Unless he’s trying to seduce you; then anyone is his victim. However, the fact that he is interrupting my sparring session with a relatively new vampire—who at the moment lies in a crumpled heap at my feet and is grunting in pain—does little to appease my irritation with him.
    “Get up, David,” I snap at the young vampire in irritation, and crack my knuckles as I glare down at him.
    I’ve been hard on him all day; not through any fault of his own—this is my own frustrations being taken on out on him, and that is wrong of me, but I feel strangely off-balance after spending time with Mia yesterday. Her painting was mystifying, and it is all I have been able to think about since seeing it—that and how she had looked while painting it: her arms working in quick flurries of brush strokes, a smile playing on her lips the entire time. I had watched her for some time without her knowing, unable to leave her alone.
    Avon strides over without a care in the world, passing the various fighting equipment situated throughout the room. A handsome smile is planted firmly on his face and irritating me all the more. He slows as he passes the younger vampire, looking him up and down with an appeasing eye and no doubt approving of David’s boyish good looks—as so many have done since his arrival.
    David stands on