Sucked In

by Charissa Dufour

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  We didn't stop until we were safely enclosed in his bedroom. With his free hand, Nik slammed the door shut while propelling me toward the couch. I slammed into the side and nearly flipped over the arm rest. Once back on my feet, I turned to gaze upon a furious Nik. His hands were tightened back into fists—his tendons showing through his translucent skin—his shoulders tense and his brows wrinkled into a glare.

  “What. Were. You. Thinking?” he asked, intoning each word as if I might miss one. Or maybe he was worried his anger would bring forth his accent.

  I took two involuntary steps backward, which was a mistake. He rushed to me at top speed and grabbed me by the shoulders, making sure I could not put any more distance between us. In a voice more like a growl, he asked me again, “What were you doing?”

  “I woke up,” I whispered. “And didn't know where you were.”

  “So naturally you went looking for me in Samuel's room?” he asked. “Tell me the truth!”

  “I woke up and knew you would be in the main room. So I went looking for Josh's room… ” I trailed off, realizing I had no excuse for my wandering. “What's the big deal?” I asked in a last ditch effort to save myself from his wrath. Mistake number two!

  “Big deal?” he barked, pushing me back into the couch. “Do you have any idea who Samuel is?”

  I shook my head. How could I? I just met the guy. Nik sighed and sank to the couch pulling me down with him.

  “Like any organization, the seethe is built based on rank. Mikhail is our primus, his position is fairly firm. It is difficult to displace a primus. Beyond him, though, our ranks are based on our age and ability to fight. To climb in the ranks beyond what your age dictates, you have to fight and kill those above you. Samuel is just below me in the hierarchy. He has been looking for an opportunity to convince Mikhail that I am dangerous to the seethe or something like that, to get Mikhail to eliminate me for him because he can't manage it himself.”

  “What does this have to do with me?” I asked in a quiet voice. It all suddenly felt very serious.

  Nik climbed to his feet in big huff—more out of frustration, I thought, than anger. “Mikhail put you in my charge. Until you become a part of the seethe, officially, you are under my protection and guidance. Meaning, if you get in trouble I reap the… benefits… the results. And your stunt today was exactly what could get me in trouble. Privacy is very important to most vampires.”

  “So just because I went into his room, he could get Mikhail to kill you?” I asked in disbelief.

  “I doubt Mikhail would kill due to that alone, but understand, Samuel has been working against me for decades. He's been gathering dirt on me for as long as he's been in this seethe and realized he couldn't take me in a fair fight.”

  “Wow! He sounds like a douche!” Nik glared at me. I was starting to realize Nik didn't like any foul language, especially from a girl. “Jerk… what a jerk!” He rolled his eyes, obviously not appeased by my sudden change of heart. “Why don't you just kill him?” I asked.

  “Samuel may be a… a jerk, but he has his uses. Besides, I try not to kill those in my seethe if it's not necessary. It is not a strategy I want others emulating. The point is I need you to stay next to me—not getting into trouble.”

  “You weren't here when I woke up,” I pointed out.

  Nik glared at me. “Then wait for me. Or do I need to stay at your side all the time?”

  I balked at the thought of him never leaving. “All right, all right, no more running away,” I lied.

  I wasn't sure he sensed my lie or not. Either way, he let the subject drop.

  “C’mon,” he began again. “I need to check your wounds.”

  “They're fine,” I insisted without getting up. Nik looked down at me.

  “Then it won't take me long to check them,” he responded, as though it should have been obvious to me.

  I stood up with a put-upon sigh, which he ignored, and followed him into the bathroom. Once there, I began stripping out of my top. I climbed up onto his counter and waited while he pulled out the first aid kit. Nik produced a pair of slim, sharp scissors and began removing the bandaging from my arm, leg, and shoulder. As I expected, the wounds were completely healed.

  “So what do you do when you're not stuck with a babysitting gig?” I asked.

  Nik glanced at me and quickly glanced away when he realized I was replacing the T-shirt. “What?” he asked, being sure to keep his eyes focused on the floor. I quickly pulled my borrowed pair of sweatpants on.

  “What do you do in your spare time… you know… for fun.”

  Nik frowned at me. “Why do you want to know?”

  I heaved a sigh of annoyance and headed for the bedroom. “Oh, never mind.”

  Before I could say anything else, a knock echoed off his door.

  “Come in,” Nik called.

  A man I didn't recognize entered with a basket full of my clean clothing and my empty duffel bag hung from his shoulder. He placed the items on the floor near the couch and backed out of the room. Before he closed the door he smiled and winked at me.

  I glanced up at Nik before going to the basket. His face had transformed into hard lines. I couldn't figure out what had happened to make him angry again. He turned around and secluded himself in the bathroom. I heard the water of his enormous shower and assumed the conversation was over. While Nik showered, I transferred my clothing from the neat piles in the basket back to my duffel bag. I didn’t want to feel like I was moving in. In a few days, I’d be back in my own apartment, I told myself. Hopefully, I hadn’t missed my rent payment.

  Nik returned as I was cramming the last of my clothing into my duffel bag, not worrying about being able to find my underwear the next time I needed to change; I could always dump it back out onto the floor. He eyed my activity while drying his hair with a towel. I turned back to the bag, determined not to look at him while he wore nothing but a damp towel. The problem was I wanted to look. I'm only human, or at least I used to be, and vampires apparently had the same desires. Nik was a handsome man. Crazy, but handsome—like the hot guys on TV you want to watch but never meet in person.

  I fiddled with the draw-string on my bag before grabbing a pair of Nik's sweatpants from the nearby dresser and tossing them in his general direction. I heard him chuckle, pick them up off the floor, and slip them on.

  “So… totally random question,” I began. “How do you kill a vampire? Other than a stake to the heart.”

  “Are you wondering because of your recent wounds? Or because you're uncomfortable with me being naked?” he asked, reading my mind—it was a tie between the two. I wanted to tell him to get out of my head but decided to keep us on topic. I just nodded in a vague sort of way. After a moment's hesitation, I heard the bed creak under his weight. “Well, sunlight obviously isn't healthy. You can behead them or tear their heart out. Okay, well not you… but a strong vampire could.”

  I spun around and threw something at him. I didn't really know what I'd grabbed off the dresser until it was resting safely in his palm. It was a large, round candle. Evidently, he'd caught it, though I hadn't seen the movement.

  “Someone's a little touchy today. I was just teasing.”

  I tried to ignore him as I continued to fidget with my clothing. “So. How else do you kill a vampire?”

  “Well, you can always light them on fire, but you have to burn them completely into ash or they will heal. Though silver isn't deadly, wounds caused by silver take longer to heal.”

  “I thought that was werewolves,” I responded in surprise. I'd been thinking of adding werewolves into my book.

  “Silver hurts them too. It's a pretty good weapon against mystical creatures in general. Now, any more questions, or can we get some sleep?”

  “I just woke up.”

  “True, but you only slept for two hours, and the sun is well into the sky now.”

  “Oh.”

  �
�So any more questions?” he sighed. He looked tired.

  “Just one more. Can a vampire bleed out?”

  I was glad he didn't tease me. I knew he knew what I was thinking about—the blood stains I'd left on my bed, my clothing, and his bathtub. I'd bled more than any human could have managed. “Yes,” Nik replied in a subdued voice, “If they haven't drunk enough human blood, or if they are cut badly enough and often enough. To manage it, you have to injure them repeatedly for a very long time—torture them. It’s not very likely to happen. Now can we sleep?” he asked again after a long, uncomfortable pause.

  He didn't wait for my response and by the time I was settled under the blankets, he was sound asleep on the couch, despite the king size bed. Always the gentleman.