by Keri Arthur
"Look, tell me what you want or go away and flash at someone else. "
"You're a guardian for the Directorate of Other Races, are you not?"
"Nope. That's my flatmate. "
"Is your flatmate here?"
I sighed. Why did all the pretty ones want to see Rhoan? "I don't expect him back until sometime tomorrow. " Or later, if the feeling of wrongness in the pit of my stomach was anything to go by
"Then I shall wait. "
I raised an eyebrow. "Really? Where?"
"Here. " He indicated the floor with an elegant gesture
"You can't stay here. " Mrs. Russel, the owner of this ramshackle ex-factory they now had the cheek to call an apartment block, would have a fit. The only reason she'd rented us a room in the first place was because it was against the law to discriminate against nonhumans - and because having werewolves in the building had the fortunate side effect of keeping vermin away. Rats, it seemed, didn't like us
But finding a vampire sitting in her hall would tip the old cow over the edge and us out of the apartment. Mrs. Russel had a long-standing hatred of vamps - even though she celebrated every day the fact that her husband had become the meal of one
"Especially when you're naked," I added. "It's against the law to loiter naked in public. "
A fact I knew after having been arrested for doing the same thing a couple of months ago - though I'd been in a park rather than a hallway. I'd escaped with only a small fine, but then, I had the full moon as an excuse. The silk dress I'd been wearing had fared no better against the change than my lacy shirt. Not that either event would stop me from wearing inappropriate clothing. The law might have problems with people running around naked, but werewolves didn't
"The light is broken," he said, his voice so soft, so warm, that I again felt that shiver up my spine. "There are no windows, and the hall lies in shadows. No one will see me. "
I'd seen him, but then, though he must have heard me coming up the stairs, he hadn't bothered shadowing. And that fact stirred uneasiness. As did the fact he was naked. It was no secret that I was a werewolf, and no secret that the full moon was only seven days away. And it was a very well-known fact that a werewolf's sexual urges rose dramatically in the seven days before the moon reached fullness. He might be bait
Though why would someone want to bait me? Other than having a guardian brother, I was a nothing, a nobody. Maybe my apprehension for Rhoan was making me paranoid
"If you're in trouble, why not go to the Directorate? There are plenty of guardians there to help. "
"I cannot. "
"Why not?"
Confusion flicked through the midnight depths of his eyes. "I can't remember. "
Yeah, I was really believing that. "Would you mind stepping away from my door?"
He did so. I grabbed the keys from my bag and approached the door cautiously. He raised his hands, his expression a little amused as I unlocked the door and thrust it open. Once I'd stepped through, I relaxed. While many of the legends concerning vampires weren't true, the one about thresholds certainly was
I tossed my handbag onto the nearby green sofa, then met his night-dark gaze. "Don't bite any of my neighbors, or I'll drag you down to the Directorate myself. "
He gave me a smile that had my hormones doing excited little cartwheels. "I have perused the contents of this building. You are the only one here worth biting. "
I couldn't help a grin. He might have been naked, he might have been covered in mud and up to no good, but he looked gorgeous and he smelled positively sweet compared to most of the vamps I worked with. Another time, another place, I might have been tempted to take his mud-covered bait, and to hell with the consequences. "Compliments won't get you through my door. "
He shrugged, a small, somehow graceful gesture. "I speak only the truth. "
"Ah huh. " I half closed the door, then hesitated. "You really can't remember why you're naked?"
"At this moment, no. "
Didn't remember, or was too embarrassed to say? I suspected the latter, though I didn't really know why, especially considering embarrassment was not an emotion any of the vamps I worked with ever felt
"Fine. I'll see you later, then. "
I closed the door, then headed into the bathroom for a shower. After that, I crawled into my rumpled bed and tried to catch some sleep. But the certainty that my brother was in some sort of trouble, combined with the fact that I had a hunky naked vampire sitting outside my door, up to God knew what, pretty much ensured that sleep was the one thing I couldn't find
After an hour of tossing and turning, I gave up and got up. I pulled on my favorite Marvin the Martian T-shirt to ward off the slight chill in the night, then headed into the kitchen and grabbed a large glass of milk and the jar filled with chocolate chip cookies. Then, from the well-padded comfort of my favorite armchair, I ate, drank, and watched the night give way to a brilliant red dawn. When the sky show was over, I typed up my report on Rhoan's laptop, then e-mailed it to Jack. The phone rang a second later
I leaned back in the chair and grabbed the receiver off the wall. "Hi, Kel. "
Husky laughter drifted down the line. Kelly had one of those voices that would have made her an instant hit on the phone-sex lines. "And how did you know it was me?"
"Because I left a message on your phone, and because everyone else knows better than to ring me at this unholy hour of the morning. "
"And yet you are up, which means you have a problem. " She hesitated. "Is it just a desperate need for sane feminine conversation? Or is it something more serious, like needing that all-dick, no-brain of a mate taken off your hands?"
I grinned. Kelly didn't like Talon any more than Rhoan did, but at least she could see the benefits of keeping him around. Men as well hung as Talon weren't all that common. "Actually, I just had a question. "
"Well, damn. I wouldn't have minded a bit of well-endowed werewolf action right now. But ask away. "
"Did you talk to Rhoan before he left? Have you any idea where he was headed?"
"No, and no. Why?"
"I've just got a feeling he's in some sort of trouble. "
"Not the sort that has taken ten of our number already, I hope?"
"No. Not yet, anyway. "
"Good. " She paused. In the background was the soft ticking of a clock, meaning she was in her quarters at the Directorate. The only clock in her own home was the mother of all grandfather clocks. It was so large - and so loud - that I was forced to leave the room when it chimed. "I'm due to go out again tomorrow night. I'll see what I can find if he's not back by then. "
"Thanks. I owe you one. "
"Get me into a club during the moon fever, and we'll call it quits. "
I grinned. "Done deal. See you later. "
"Arrivederci, bella. "
I replaced the receiver, then rose and headed back to the kitchen
I wasn't the world's greatest cook, and most days I tended to burn whatever it was I was cooking. But I could usually manage muffins, eggs, and bacon without too much damage. Luckily for my stomach, it was one of those days. As I dished it all up, I glanced toward the door and wondered if my naked vamp wanted anything to eat. Not that I intended offering myself. Rhoan always kept a good supply of synth blood in the fridge, simply because he needed it. We might be twins but I was more werewolf, my brother more vampire. He didn't have the extendable teeth, ate and drank normally, and could walk in sunlight as well as I, but when the full moon began to rise, so too did his need to consume blood
I grabbed a synth pack from the fridge, then picked up my plate and walked across to the door
My grubby but sexy vampire was sitting where I'd left him, in the shadows to the right of my door
"Have you eaten?" I asked
Surprise flickered through his eyes. "Are you offering?"
I grinned and tossed the plastic pack to him. "Hardly. But my flatmate always keeps a stock of synth blood. You're we
lcome to that. "
He caught the pack deftly in one hand. "Thank you. It's most considerate. "
"In other words," I said dryly, "the offer sucks, but you'll make do. "
Humor touched his luscious lips. "You are very adept at reading people, aren't you?"
Only nonhuman races, and only because of what I was. I shrugged, and sat, cross-legged, on the safe side of the doorway. Even though he was a stranger, and probably up to no good, he was at least someone to talk to. While the lone wolf image wasn't one that fitted most wolves, it did apply to both Rhoan and me. We'd grown up in an environment that was hostile to our presence - to our very existence - and had become used to