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piece together under
her skin, and it wasn’t pleasant.
    “Why are you working with that monster?”
Amelia asked, her voice coming out as a growl.  She just couldn’t wrap her head
around the idea of vampire hunters working with a vampire, especially a
psychotic one like Tristan.  But what she really wanted to know was why.  What
was he getting out of this little alliance?
    She hadn’t expected a response; it wasn’t
the first time she had asked the question, but this time Josh shocked her when
he grunted, “Common goal.”
    That really hadn’t been the answer she had
wanted, and she laughed bitterly.  “Yeah, you both want to make sure my life is
ruined.”  Josh put more pressure on her leg, and Amelia let a whimper slip out
from the pain.  She bit her lip hard, trying to hold in a scream.
     “Tristan is helping us find a way to break
the bond,” he said hesitantly.  He cut her a look as if he was trying to figure
out if she was going to freak or not, and when she didn’t, he smiled.  “Not
just for you, but for everyone.  We’re going to break the curse.”
    “Why are you letting him screw with your
mind?” Amelia spat.  He couldn’t really believe that, could he?  “Tristan
killed my family out of revenge.  Can’t you see how psychotic he is?”  Tears
bit at her eyes as the memory of her parents’ savage death surfaced.  She
blinked fast, fighting against the brutal images that crowded her mind and the
tears that tried to slip from her eyelids.
    Josh’s skin rippled and red flushed to his
cheeks.  “Don’t try and put this on him,” he snarled.  He took his hand off of
her leg and sat back in the chair.  Anger contorted his striking face, his
chiseled jaw twitched, and he yelled, “You created us!  You’re the one who
wanted the curse to end!  You chose this, Amelia, so stop trying to put it on
someone else.”
    “Are you stupid?”  The words fell from her
mouth before she could stop them.  Created them?  As in created a bunch of
vampire hunters?  Maybe he was just as insane as Tristan.  She rolled her eyes
and laid the sarcasm on thick.  “I’m sorry, but I think I’d remember creating a
bunch of vampire hunters.”
    “Dammit, why can’t you remember!”  Josh
stood up, knocking the chair over with a clatter.
    What was Tristan doing to him? Amelia couldn’t understand how he had such a hold on Josh.  She
knew this was probably not the best time to provoke him.   She was tied to a
bed.  She still had a few broken bones, and she had no magic, but she couldn’t
stop her snarky retort, figuring that if he was going to kill her, he would
have already.  “You’re delusional.”
    Maybe she should have tried just a little
bit harder.  In a flash, he was leaning over her; a skull with florescent eyes
took the place of his normally tanned skin, sexy jaw, and amazing sterling
silver eyes.  “I can see what you’re thinking,” he said, his voice deep and
gravelly.  “It is a curse.  At one point, you knew that.  You believed it.” 
Boney fingers encased her shoulders, and he shook her forcefully.  “Wake up,
Amelia.  Mitchell is manipulating you.  He’s the monster, not me.”
    “Josh, you have no skin,” Amelia whispered,
in a scared and small voice.  She tried not to shudder, but she couldn’t stop
it.  It raced through her body and with it, goose bumps formed on her skin.
    Almost instantaneously, his skin
materialized, and he released her.  Disgust etched onto his face, and he
breathed, “Sorry,” before turning his back to her.
    She watched his shoulders rise and fall
with deep, regulated breaths as he tried to get himself together.  When she
noticed that his balled hands had relaxed and the color had returned to his
knuckles, she said, “They are not monsters.  Eric … Angelle … Erin … they’re my
friends, my family.”
    “Funny how you didn’t mention him in
your little list.”  Josh walked over to the chair and sat it