Charmed by Koko Brown

she’d slept with his brother! Chloe wished she were trifling enough to do something like that. It would serve his ass right for his deceit.
    Without answering his question, she moved to shut her door. But before she could press her full weight against it, he’d broken the security chain and pushed her out of the way like a useless rag doll.
    Righting herself, Chloe followed him down the hallway. “I’m calling the police!” she yelled.
    “Go ahead, love. What can they do to me? I’m a vampire, remember,” Tristan shouted over his shoulder.
    With Chloe sputtering angrily at his heels, Tristan stalked through her condo like a man possessed. He went through every single room. Not finding what he was looking for, he retraced his steps back into the living room where he began to pace fretfully in front of the fireplace.
    “Are you satisfied?” Chloe shouted. “Are you sure you don’t want to check the closets? Under the bed? How about the wastebasket as well?”
    “I’m sorry, I don’t know what comes over me when it comes to you but I—” Tristan suddenly stilled. He cocked his head to the side as if listening to something.
    “What’s wrong? I guess now you think I have him hidden in the walls.”
    “Sh…do you hear that? It sounds like a wounded animal.”
    Chloe ceased her tirade and listened as well. Was that a woman crying? It was but it wasn’t the ordinary tears of the brokenhearted, instead they were tears of anguish and torment. Instantly Chloe knew who it was.
    She made a move to steer him to the door. “It’s none of your business.”
    Tristan raised an eyebrow at her. Then he looked past her toward the far wall in the kitchen. “But she sounds tortured!”
    Chloe sighed. “Her husband beats her.”
    “He beats his wife?” he asked, his voice tight and restrained.
    She nodded her head. “I-I tried to help her by calling the police but she didn’t press charges. She’s afraid of him.”
    “Well, I’ll give that bastard something to be afraid of!” Tristan bellowed and he was out of her apartment in a flash. By the time Chloe made it out in the hall, he was already shouldering his way into the Rominovs’ apartment.
    Chloe quickly followed him. When she entered her neighbors’ apartment, the living room was empty. Hearing a noise, she ran down the hallway to the back bedrooms. Upon entering the master bedroom, she saw that Tristan had Mr. Rominov dangling in the air, his hand wrapped around the man’s throat.
    “Tristan! What the hell are you doing?”
    “I’m teaching this bastard to pick on someone his own size!”
    “Where’s Mrs. Rominov?” Chloe asked, looking around the room.
    “She’s over there on the floor by the window. She passed out when I came in. The filthy pig was beating the poor woman with a belt.”
    “Let me go!” Mr. Rominov cried, struggling ineffectually in Tristan’s powerful grip. Chloe looked up at the man and was reminded of a bug caught in a spider’s web.
    “Not until you learn your lesson,” Tristan drawled. He tightened his hand on the man’s throat, causing Mr. Rominov to gag.
    “W-w-who the fuck are you?”
    “I’m your worst nightmare come true!” Tristan parted his lips and grinned, giving him a clear view of his elongated canines. Mr. Rominov’s round face paled and he began to cry.
    Tristan looked at Chloe and rolled his eyes in disgust. He then turned back to Mr. Rominov. “Good God, man! Have a little more pride about yourself. I know that a man who beats a woman is a coward, but you’re a crybaby as well?”
    “What do you want from me?” Mr. Rominov sputtered, snot spilling out of his nose and onto his upper lip.
    “You’re going to stop beating your wife.”
    “You can’t come in here and tell me what do within my own home!” the older man retorted, obviously forgetting his precarious position.
    Tristan’s angry roar filled the room as he dropped Mr. Rominov down to eye level. “I can and you will. Or I will gut you