Unless… unless he gave her a damn good reason for leaving.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I couldn’t stay away.”
That wasn’t a reason she could count on.
“I’m sorry, Rose,” Briar said. “I’m not good at talking to other people.”
“You are, too!” Sylvain said angrily. “She’s just grumpy! You should have heard her in the car.”
Next to her, Seti stiffened. His hand dropped away from her as he turned. “Take that back.”
“I won’t,” Sylvain said, crossing his arms. “Rose doesn’t get to take her feelings out on Briar.”
“She’s not taking anything out on Briar,” Seti said, voice quiet. “She’s asking her to explain things more clearly.”
“Her explanation was perfectly clear.”
“Really?” Seti asked. “So you explain it, then.”
Sylvain sputtered.
“Guys,” Briar interrupted. “I’m not offended.”
Rose sort of was. She hadn’t been grumpy in the car. She’d been cold and wet, and Sylvain had yelled at her.
Briar stared at her, widening her eyes like, do something.
“I’m offended for you,” Sylvain said, and Rose rolled her eyes. “There! Right there! Did you see what she did? She rolled her eyes. Grumpy.”
“At no point did Rose insult Briar,” Seti said. “But now you’re calling her names. Calm down.”
Sylvain bristled and dropped his arms. Seti moved in front of her, but she peered around him. The other man approached him while his brothers ushered Briar into the kitchen.
“Don’t tell me. To. Calm. Down.” Each word was followed by a step closer to Seti.
All right. That was enough. She did what Seti had done to her earlier. She placed her hands on his back. “Seti. It’s fine.”
His muscles were tense and jumped beneath her palms. “He insulted you.”
“No one insulted anyone,” she said. “Sylvain, I’m sorry if I was grumpy with you in the car. And I’m sorry if I took out my confusion on Briar.”
The wild-haired man met her gaze and frowned, deflating like she’d just taken his toys and left the sandbox. “Fine.”
“At least be gracious,” Seti said, and Sylvain smiled. “Make me.”
19
Seti
Seti and Sylvain had gouged Marcus’s precious mahogany floor, but they’d released some of the tension that had been building inside them. Now, they were back to normal. He no longer wanted to slam his fist into his friend’s face, because his blood was still on his knuckles.
And the wall.
They’d worked it out.
“You’re lucky Rose wasn’t hurt,” Valen said to him, clearing pieces of furniture and hefting them out the window into the yard. “You can’t fight like that around humans.”
He hadn’t thought of that. But… “Rose isn’t human.”
“She can be hurt,” Valen said. “The vampire bit her. You think the marble end table you embedded in the wall wouldn’t have hurt her? Even if she heals, she’s still breakable. And getting broken hurts.”
Seti was an ass. “You’re right.” She’d tried to stop them from fighting, but when the first punch was thrown, she’d gotten out of the way. Smart girl. All it took was one mistimed throw or hit, and she would have gone down.
Briar and Rose had left with Marcus to pick Lindy up from her friend’s house. Rose had wanted to stay and clean. “I’m responsible,” she’d said. Like the fight was her fault.
Mentally, he snorted. He and Sylvain had fought before, and they’d fight again. They were both too hot-tempered.
“Where are your brothers?” Sylvain asked from the yard. He caught the pieces of wood Seti chucked toward him but waited for his answer before he brought them to a pile Hudson was chopping into manageable pieces. “Are they going to try to defend your honor?”
Stepping away, Seti surveyed the room and shrugged.
“What did he do?” Sylvain called to Valen. “I couldn’t see.”
“He shrugged,” Valen answered and shut the window.
Gathering an armload of debris, Seti avoided the Viking’s gaze.
“Seti, where are your brothers?”
“New Hampshire,” he answered, acting like it didn’t bother him that he’d left his brothers for the first time in his entire life. Even though it was the right thing to do—the only thing to do—it didn’t feel right. They were a unit, he and Horus and Ra. “They wouldn’t come back.”
Valen was silent for so long, Seti lifted his gaze. The other man was staring out the window, but like he felt him watching, he turned back to Seti. “I was without my brothers for centuries. I followed Sylvain around when he didn’t want me. It is very difficult to be without family.”
“I left them,” he said.
“Doesn’t make it easier,” Valen said.
That was the truth. Being without his brothers was like being without limbs. It was a struggle to function in the simplest of ways.
“Will they follow?”
Seti didn’t know.
Ra. Ra would fight any attachment to a human tooth and nail.
Horus. Maybe Horus would come. They were as close as two brothers could be.
“When I first met Briar,” Valen said. “I didn’t know why I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I followed her, then ran away, then followed her again.”
“How do you know?” Seti asked. “What if this is just curiosity?” He heard a car and went back to the window to see if it was Rose. No. Sylvain threw the leg of a chair like a javelin so it stuck into the ground directly in front of Hudson. The other man didn’t even glance up.
Valen moved to stand next to him. “So what if it is? Curiosity leads to knowledge. What if the things you learn about Rose answer all the questions you have? Allays any doubt? You owe it to yourself to…” He sighed. “You owe it to yourself to give her a chance. Give it a try, Seti. What do you have to lose?”
20
Rose
Rose was freezing again. And she hurt. Something was going on with her internal temperature. It fluctuated like crazy, and she wondered if her pain was related to it.
Briar and Marcus sat in the front seat, and Lindy was next to her. She could feel the girl watching her, and she glanced over.
“You smell.”
“Lindy!” Briar chided.
Hoping she was being sneaky, Rose bent her head toward her armpit. She didn’t smell anything except laundry detergent on the clothes, so she sniffed again. And again. Lindy giggled next to her.
“Whoops.” Rose could feel her face heating. “Caught me.”
“It’s not bad,” Lindy said. “Kind of like dust. It itches my nose.”
“I guess the vampire I met today was really old. Makes sense he’d smell like dust,” she said without thinking that the vampire currently driving might also be really old.
“Hey…” Marcus said, but Lindy just laughed and rolled her eyes.
“You don’t smell, Dad. You smell like…”
“Pizza?” Marcus joked.
She giggled. “No. Like soap.” Ignoring her father, she turned her attention back to Rose. “Are you staying with us?” she asked. “Like the brothers did?”
“No,” she replied. “I’ll go home in a bit.” It was getting dark. “Before dinner.”
“You should stay with us.” She was suddenly serious and pinned Rose with a dark look. “Something’s looking for you.”
Rose’s stomach clenched and anxiety blossomed in her chest. There was something extra creepy about a threat when it came out of the mouth of a child. In the front seat, Marcus and Briar exchanged a look, but neither commented on their girl’s pronouncement.
Lindy went back to staring out the window, and Rose stared down at her hands before crossing her arms to ward off the chill. It wasn’t until they turned onto Marcus’s street that it disappeared, replaced with the warmth that had to signify Seti’s presence.
Marcus pulled into their driveway and into a below-ground garage. She got out and followed the family to their home. The inside was much sparser than it had been. Rose had been the cause of a lot of redecorating this week.
“You’re back.” Seti jogged down the stairs. He’d changed in the time they were gone and looked mouthwateringly handsome. His jeans fit him like a second skin, and the Henley he’d put on revealed every muscle in his arms and chest. “I was afraid you’d force Marcus to take you home.”
Rose slapped her forehead with her palm. Why hadn’t she done that?
“I’ll take you home,” he said. “If you won’t stay here.”
She shook her head. “I’ve imposed too much. And I’ve destroyed a shit-ton of their furniture.”
“Language!” Valen yelled from another room and she wanted to curl in a ball. She shouldn’t be allowed around kids.
“Here.” Seti took Liam’s coat from the newel post and handed it to her. “You should have worn this when you left.”
She pushed her arms through the sleeves and wrapped her arms across her chest. “Yeah. I was freezing all during the ride to pick up Lindy. It wasn’t until we got closer to here, and you, I assume, that I warmed up.”
Seti had had his hand on the doorknob, but at her words he slowly spun to face her. A smile creased his face and crinkled the sides of his eyes. “That’s a nice compliment.”
She almost announced that she hadn’t meant it as a compliment, but a statement of fact, but his smile stopped her. His entire demeanor was light: shoulders pushed back, posture straight, arms loose at his sides.
“You’re leaving?” Briar came into the room from the kitchen. “Without saying goodbye?”
“Of course I would say goodbye.” Quickly, she crossed the room and embraced the small-boned woman. “Thank you for everything.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to explain everything better,” Briar said.
“It’s okay.” Rose shrugged. Even if she was smarter, she probably still wouldn’t understand what Briar was telling her. That didn’t mean she was letting herself off the hook. She’d go home and read up about genes and chromosomes and CX-whatever. “Maybe we can try again?”
“Yes.” The other woman smiled, and it transformed her face from pretty to breathtaking. Briar’s internal happiness beamed out of her and it filled Rose with longing. She wanted to be that content in her life. “Visit any time but expect a call from me soon. I want you to come back to the lab so I can show you what we found.”
Rose winced. “SparkNotes version.”
Briar burst out laughing. “Right. SparkNotes version.” Her gaze fell on Seti who lingered by the door. “You’re bringing her home and coming back?”
“If you don’t mind,” he replied.
“Your brothers will be here soon!” Lindy called from the kitchen.
“Doubt it,” Seti mumbled.
She wondered if Lindy was right, and how she felt about that. Would they be returning only to drag Seti away? Not that there was anything wrong with that.
Rose was silent too long, lost in her thoughts. Embarrassed, she said the first thing that popped into her mind. “Your daughter has incredible hearing.”
“She does,” Briar said, but she didn’t elaborate. This had to be one of those characteristics that people like Horus, Seti, and Ra had. A characteristic of vampires.
“My hearing is pretty average, I think,” Rose noted. “If that was something you’d check for on my DNA.”
Briar’s smile was wide and a little wicked. “See? You’re getting the hang of this science stuff.”
“We should go,” Seti interjected softly. He rocked forward and back anxiously, so she hurried to him.
“I’ll get your clothes to you somehow,” she said as she went outside.
“Don’t worry about it!” Briar waved and shut the door behind them, leaving Seti and Rose on the stoop.
Seti took her hand, wrapping his strong fingers around hers, and she shivered. “Cold?” he asked.
“No,” she replied. Since she’d returned to the house and his presence, she hadn’t felt the chill. Or the pain. “Do you feel the warmth in your chest still?” she asked him. “Or was that a onetime thing?”
He tugged her gently, urging her down the stairs and onto the street. She let him guide her away from the Charles River and Back Bay. It wasn’t until they were a block or so from the house that he answered her. “Yes, I do. From your question, I’m guessing you do, too.”
She nodded. “The warmth gets rid of the pain. Or covers it up. Or distracts me from it. I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s amazing.”
It was dark now, but the street lights illuminated most of the sidewalk. He had his head lowered, his gaze on the street, and the shadows made his dark features seem even darker.
“Did I upset you?”
Like earlier, he didn’t answer right away. She watched him, trying to figure out what he was feeling, but his features were stony. For the first time, she saw the resemblance between him and Ra.
“I’m not sure,” he answered. “I don’t know what this means. I don’t know why I feel drawn to you. Or why my brothers were drawn to you.”
She snorted and shook her head. “I don’t think they’re drawn to me.”
Seti cut her a look and raised one eyebrow. “They feel the same warmth I do. I found Horus staring after you that day in the hospital. And Ra saved your life. What do you call that?”
He had a point. Fine.
“What made you come back?” she asked.
The T station was right ahead, down a set of stairs covered in leaves. “Careful,” he said. “It’s slippery. Curiosity partly. Not a lot makes me curious anymore.” He gestured toward a ticket machine.
Ouch. But two can play this game. “So you’re very old.”
Seti glanced over at her as he fed his credit card into the machine.
“Do you know how to work this machine?” she asked. “I know technology can be really overwhelming for older folks.”
His profile was all she saw, but his cheek creased with a smile. “So judgmental,” he said. “And ageist.”
“You’re right,” she said. “Do you have a cell phone?”
He took the tickets that spit out of the machine and handed her one. He lifted his eyebrows, blue eyes twinkling as he waited.
“No? Was it because the numbers were too small? Did you keep forgetting your code and get locked out?”
A laugh bellowed out of him, the sound bouncing around the concrete and metal platform. “I have a cell phone,” he said, then leaned closer and lowered his voice to a whisper, “but I don’t need one, because I could run to someone in the time it took me to connect the call.” With that, he turned and walked to a turnstile. “Are you coming?”
Cartoon characters made this sound sometimes when something was really crazy, and they shook their heads like— I can’t believe what I’m seeing-slash-hearing. And right then, that was her. He really was some otherworldly creature.
“You handle these things pretty well,” Seti said. “Most of my experiences with humans have been them running and screaming.”
“For torches?” she asked, teasing just a little.
“Oh, torches for sure,” he agreed. “Or crosses.”
They went down another set of stairs and ambled toward their platform. “Did that ever really happen?” she asked. “You don’t look old enough for that.”
He didn’t look at her but stared at the wall across the tracks. “Let’s just say, I’m older than I look.”
Her curiosity was piqued, kind of like he’d hinted that his curiosity had been about her. That wiped the smile off her face. She stared at her muddy shoes, all good humor gone. Down the track, the train squealed and screeched, metal wheels against the metal rails. Leaning forward, she stared down the track.
“I’ve never left my family before,” Seti said, his voice so low she could barely hear it over the incoming train. “I know I said th
at before, but you have to understand, for me to leave my brothers… It’s just—I can’t explain it.”
The train roared into the station before she could reply. It would mask anything she’d say, so she stayed silent until it stopped and the passengers unloaded. And then, because Rose still wasn’t sure of how to respond, she kept her mouth shut as they rolled away.
“I’m more than just a curiosity,” she said. “I know I’m different, but the things that are different about me aren’t the only thing that make me me.”
His gaze was on her, she knew it, but she didn’t lift hers from her sneakers. “So if you’re hoping to be wowed, because you’ve lived so long you’re bored, then you should just go. I’m not going to remain entertaining for long, and I’d rather not get attached.”
He didn’t answer, but after a moment, his long-fingered, tanned hand gripped her knee. He squeezed. “I’m sorry, Rose. I shouldn’t have—” The rest of his sentence was cut off when the train came to a sudden, jarring halt.
Rose flew sideways but was lucky. Seti caught her. The rest of the passengers didn’t have a quick-reflex vampire at their side. Their bodies were tossed like boats on the ocean. They tumbled off seats and slid down the aisle into each other, the poles, and the doors.
An automated voice came over the intercom as the lights went out and the red emergency lights came on.
“Are you all right?” Seti asked over the groans and cries of the other passengers.
He hadn’t moved when everyone else flew around the car, and he’d kept her from being hurt. “I’m fine,” she answered, but the same couldn’t be said of the other passengers.
In the red light, Seti’s eyes were black, the pupils wide. “Don’t move.”
She wasn’t sure she could, but then someone nearby cried out and she forgot his direction. She went to an older woman who’d hit her head on the metal pole when they’d stopped. Dazed and bleeding, she held her hand to her head.
Rose helped her sit with her back against the seats and took off her coat to throw over the now shaking woman’s shoulders.
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