The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

brow lowered. When he looked up at her she realized that his eyes were black. Like, black. Not darker, not shaded because it was low light in the club. But black, even the whites. “I didn’t mean to taste you so soon.”
    She touched her tongue to realize that she’d cut it on something and was now bleeding. “What’s wrong with your eyes?” she asked.
    “It happened when I tasted your blood.” He looked away. “I can control myself. You don’t have to worry about your safety, I assure you.”
    She pushed at his upper lip, drawing it back from his teeth.
    “You have fangs,” she stated.
    “Yes. You may not have noticed them before. They are very small unless my hungers are triggered.”
    Her eyes widened as the slow, sick realization began to spread over her. “You’re a vampire.”
    He nodded. “I don’t normally share my secret for fear of attracting the wrong sort of attention - especially in a public area such as this. But I knew you had to know as soon as possible.”
    She just gawked at him.
    His eyes slowly returned to their normal shade of blue. “So you see, I’m telling you the truth. You’ve witnessed it with your own eyes. I am immortal. You are my soulmate and we are finally reunited.”
    Julia slipped off the stool to stand in front of him on her high heels, which didn’t even bring her close to looking directly into the tall man’s eyes. He looked pretty happy actually. The long sharp fangs receded to become slightly pointy canines.
    She put her hands on his chest and felt the warmth of his body, the muscles of his chest and abdomen beneath the thin black dress shirt he wore. His heart did beat, but she realized that it didn’t beat very fast. Half as fast as hers did. Maybe less.
    “Do you believe?” he asked.
    She nodded. “I believe.”
    His pleased expression shattered as she kneed him in the groin, pushed away from him, and ran screaming out of the club.
    Julia made a beeline for the subway entrance a block away, the gaping mouth in the sidewalk beckoning her back to normal life. But a moment before she reached it she found herself grabbed from behind in an iron vice of a grip. A hand clamped down over her mouth. She struggled but knew it was not going to be any use. Fear and panic fought for first place in her brain. It was a close race.
    What was Evan Frost going to do now? Had she made him mad by running away? Obviously. Somebody didn’t get grabbed and dragged into a dark alley if everything was peachy keen.
    Fury then mixed with her other emotions. As soon as his hand left her mouth she was going to scream bloody murder. Her throat muscles tensed painfully in preparation.
    She felt the brick wall slam against her back, knocking the breath out of her and suddenly there was a knife at her throat. A big one.
    “Say one word and I’ll remove your head,” was the hard-edged threat that made her nod emphatically in agreement. The knife was sharp and she was very fond of her head exactly where it was.
    Also, the guy who said it wasn’t Evan. It was somebody else. Somebody she didn’t recognize. He was tall, with shaggy dark brown hair. One eye was covered with a black patch. The other was dark blue, almost black and it glared at her. He wasn’t smiling.
    He slowly took his hand off her mouth.
    The guy definitely didn’t look happy. In fact, he looked pissed off beyond words.
    “What’s your name?” he growled.
    Julia blinked, now confused. “I ... I agreed not to t-talk, remember?”
    “I’ll only hurt you if you scream. Got it? I need some answers and I need them now.”
    “O-OK.”
    “Name.”
    “J-Julia.” She bit her lip. She didn’t want to give him her last name if she could avoid it. He didn’t press for it, so that was one good thing. She clutched her purse against her chest.
    He was eyeing her very intensely. “So you’re Evan’s soulmate, huh? How sweet is that?”
    “He’s c-crazy.”
    “Tell me something I don’t know.”
    “He . . . He’s a v-vampire.”
    The man smiled at that, but it wasn’t remotely friendly. Since she was now paying attention she saw the fangs immediately. The thought that this guy was also a vampire did nothing to help the panic situation. “I smell blood. You bleeding right now?”
    She swallowed hard. “Evan bit my tongue.”
    “Such a charmer, isn’t he? Can’t even keep his fangs to himself during a good old-fashioned grope.” He came closer to her and squeezed her chin enough to prompt her to open