Chapter 92: Closer

Daphne watched John enter and refrained from wincing at the spike of pain that went through her mind. She tried to ignore it, but it only grew the longer she looked at him. John smiled at her. Part of her thought he was almost handsome, but there was a glint of duplicity in his eyes that corrupted his features, turning them just short of nauseating. The pain he caused her made her look away from him before looking at the duchess. The woman was beautiful and regal sitting in her seat with all the air of class and aristocracy, but her eyes were cold despite her warm greetings. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes as if she was incapable of feeling anything.
Daphne took a shallow breath. Her nose tingled with the scent of blood barely hanging in the air. It seemed to be coming from everywhere, which made sense since they were all vampires, but there was something different about the scent of blood barely drifting through the room.
She didn’t know where it was coming from, but it was disturbing and poking at the back of her mind. She’d smelled blood like that before, but when? Nicole said she was only half-vampire. Should she be able to smell blood like this, let alone tell that there were differences?