by Nora Ash
He looked up at me, mild surprise at my offer evident on his still-dirty face. “That’s not necessary.”
“You sure? I kind of wrecked them good.” I made a vague gesture at one of the bigger splotches.
“Yes.” He touched a cleaner part of the sheets. “Come, please. Sit. I wish to talk with you for a moment.”
“Sure.” With what he’d done for me this night, he could talk at me as much as he pleased.
I sat down on the bed, careful not to plant his silk boxers in any of the grime. “What’s up?”
“In the basement… you stepped in front of the man with the stake. Why?”
I frowned, trying to remember what he was referring to. The entire night was blurring into one long horror story, so it took me a little while to remember what he meant. “Oh. I dunno. Isn’t that a pretty normal reaction to seeing someone attempt to torture a person?”
Warin stared at me for a long moment before he softly said, “No, Liv. It’s not a normal reaction for a human to try to shield a vampire from harm with her own body.”
I shrugged, the unwavering attention from his blue gaze making me fidget on the bed. “I guess I’ve never liked seeing people pick on someone weak. I didn’t really think about it.”
Warin blinked three times in rapid succession, then narrowed his eyes at me. “You think I’m incapable of protecting myself?”
Oh, lovely. Had I managed to hurt his male pride?
“I’m sure you’re very capable, under normal circumstances. But, I mean, they had you tied up in a cage.”
His full lips twitched. “They had us both in a cage.” He placed a single, cool fingertip underneath my chin. “Never, ever put yourself in danger for a vampire again.”
I wasn’t exactly used to near-strangers touching me like that—and especially not near-strangers with features like Adonis himself, with blazing blue eyes that made made my heart speed up and the rest of the world seem to fade. I blamed my lack of experience with such situations for why it took me nearly five full seconds before I realized I, instead of answering the man, was staring dreamily at Warin with a dumb smile on my face.
“Ugh-um,” I coughed as I swiftly pulled back from his light touch, face hot and undoubtedly bright red. “Yeah, I mean, it’s not like I’ve got any set-in-stone plans about throwing myself in harm’s way, or anything, but I’m pretty sure that in the unlikely event I find myself in a similar situation, I’d do the same again. Sorry.”
I don’t know why I tacked the “sorry” on—maybe it was because Warin looked absolutely dumbfounded, sensual mouth agape and eyes wide, and I felt kinda guilty about making a man that hot lose his composure.
Apparently unaware of my inappropriate thoughts, Warin wrapped his hand around my jaw, squishing my cheeks and trapping my gaze with his once more. “Liv. I am far stronger than you—far faster, and far more durable. You are too fragile to get between a vampire and a wooden steak, and you will never again defend one of my kind with your own life. Do you understand?”
It felt as if magnets deep in his sparkling blue eyes pulled on me, making me woozy and my thoughts foggy. I blinked, trying to clear my head before I gently reached up to free my face from his grasp.
“Look, I appreciate the sentiment and all, but let’s be honest here. Yeah, I don’t have super speed, and while I’ve never tried, I’m pretty sure I can’t kick a door in. But. I can lift a silver bracelet, and I don’t have any wood allergies, so please calm your tits with all your macho bullshit, a’ight?”
Warin stared at me for another drawn-out moment. Then his eyes crinkled at the corners and his deep laughter rumbled through the room.
It was such an unexpected sound from the otherwise stoic vampire, I narrowly caught my rampant hormones before they galloped off on a tangent about his gorgeous face again. He might have been sexy as sin, and I might have felt feel inexplicably calm in his company, now that I was relatively sure he wasn’t gonna eat me, but I so wasn’t going there.
Plus, at twenty-seven, I was way too old to crush on a guy who’d inevitably get carded every time he went out to a bar—undead or not.
“Can vampires drink alcohol?” I asked, frowning at the idea of Warin in a bar. My paranormal romance novels had plenty of broody nightwalkers hanging out at college bars, sipping whiskey and trawling for dinner.
Warin hummed, but didn’t answer. He peered into my eyes, his own alight with curiosity as if he was looking for something—like I was some intricate puzzle, and if he just searched long enough, he’d find the missing piece.
I bit my lip and tried to return his gaze, but my hormones were harder to control while maintaining eye contact. It didn’t take long before I began to fidget on the bed, wishing he’d get bored soon.
“My apologies—you must be tired,” Warin said, finally breaking his one-sided staring contest with a soft sigh. “I have a guest room made up, if you would like to sleep here. I’ll have someone drive you home when you wake up.”
Sleep in a house filled with vampires? Uh, thanks but no thanks.
“I think I’d better get home.” I got up from the bed and stretched.
“Of course.” He followed me up, but kept a more socially acceptable distance than when he’d stared into my eyes. “I’ll have Edward take you.”
“Uh, is he… human?” I grimaced. “No offense.”
“Yes. You will be in safe hands—I promise.”
I smiled at his earnest tone. “Thank you, Warin—for everything.” I flashed him a grin. “And for not eating me.”
“Meeting you was a pleasure, Liv.” He took my hand between both of his, squeezing it briefly before he released his grip and walked to the door, opening it. “Be safe.”
6
Three months later
“The thing about witches is that there’re so many colors in the world. What’s so great about black? Black candles, black clothes, black nail polish… black, black, black! How about you try summoning spirits with a nice pink candle? Might attracts a less sour disposition!”
I snorted into my rum and Coke at my colleague’s animated rant across the table from me. The four of us—me, Skye, Raven, and our boss, Dennis—had captured a booth in one of the more popular alternative bars for our delayed annual “company party.” It was supposed to have been on Halloween, but working in a popular New Age shop meant October had been too busy.
Instead, Dennis had taken his three employees out the first Friday of November, and we were definitely on our way to becoming well and truly sloshed—which was typically when the bitching about our somewhat eccentric clientele began. I’d only been with Dark Dreams for about four months, but it was my favorite job by far, in large part due to my colleagues. They were the closest thing I’d had to friends in a very long time.
“Aw, come on, Skye—if it wasn’t for moody teenagers and their love of all things black, Dennis wouldn’t have been able to mark up the last shipment of alter cloth, and then we’d have had to pay for our own drinks tonight. We’re practically drinking the tears of rebellious teenagers.” I grinned at the blonde. “Very thematic.”
She stuck her tongue out at me before downing the last of her vodka-Redbull. “I don’t remember you being this cheerful about it when he had us drape the entire window display in the stuff. Go on—why don’t you tell Dennis how his Samhain display wrecked your day?”
I sighed dramatically and began my—if I may say so myself—hilarious parody of the customer who’d come by the shop looking like she’d stepped straight out of a Harry Potter novel, claiming the alter cloth spread decoratively across the window display ruined her ability to see the future from her apartment a couple of floors up.
It was only when Skye and Raven both uttered a weird sort of whimper—some five minutes of animated storytelling later—that I realized I’d lost two thirds of my captive audience. They were both staring at something—or, judging by the glazed look on both women, someone—behind me and Dennis.
“That’s
just great. Way to make a girl feel important,” I huffed as I turned around to check out what’d made their ovaries start tangoing on the table. “What are you—?”
My irritated question died in a surprised croak of recognition as I spotted the object of their attention.
Blazing blue eyes met mine as the young man who’d just entered the bar looked up. His dark brown hair was tousled from the cold November weather, and his gray woolen coat did nothing to hide the wide set of his shoulders or trim waistline.
Soft lips, dark eyebrows, and high cheekbones completed his perfect physique—this time without so much as a speck of dirt to hide how drop-dead gorgeous he was. Pun intended.
“Warin!” My face cracked into a huge smile at the sight of the vampire I’d met over the summer.
Perhaps if I hadn’t been two hairs past tipsy, I would have remembered the many disturbing sex dreams I’d had of him since we parted ways. Instead I scrambled up from the booth to throw myself across the bar and around his neck as if he was my long-lost brother. Sadly for me, it was only when I collided with his solid chest that a vivid memory of waking up with a soaked pillow between my legs the day after we’d said goodbye came back in ultra-sharp high-definition.
“I, uh… hey!” I fought back a hefty blush and detached myself from my one-sided hug—he’d stopped dead the moment my arms went around his neck—and gave him what I hoped was a slightly less insane smile. “I did not expect to see you again—especially not here, of all places.” I looked at the drunk, black-clad bar patrons with a raised eyebrow.
“No?” he asked, and even though his velvety voice was soft, it carried easily over the music and loud chatter.
“Well, I didn’t exactly take you for the type to trawl bars for—“ I was about to say “women,” but then realized what, exactly, a vampire was likely looking for in a crowded bar filled with drunk humans.
Sex probably wasn’t it.
“Uh,” I said, smart as ever. “Company.”
The corner of his full lips curled up in the faintest echo of a smile at my lame ending.
“So… you pub-crawl, huh?” I said, looking around at the drunk people, arms crossed. I caught Raven and Skye making wild gestures of encouragement out the corner of my eye and hurriedly refocused on Warin.
Warin’s lips hiked up a bit higher. “I wouldn’t go that far. And yourself? Are you here with friends?”
It was such a normal question to ask, it took me a moment to remember my already lacking social etiquette. “Oh, yes. Work night out. You should join us.”
His gaze flickered over my shoulder to where I’d left my colleagues. “I don’t wish to interrupt your night.”
“Nonsense, you won’t.” I flashed him a happy smile, feeling a lot less awkward now that I was no longer plastered across his chest. “Besides, Skye and Raven are dying to meet you. Just don’t eat any of them. Even though they’d probably let you.” I grabbed his arm and began to pull him toward our table.
“Guys, this is Warin—Warin, this is Skye, Dennis and Raven,” I said as we arrived at the booth. I let go of Warin’s arm to let him slide in next to Dennis, but I needn’t have bothered.
“Oh, wow, it’s so good to meet one of Liv’s friends!” Skye chirped as she shot out of her seat and pulled the vampire into a hug, one that had her ample chest smooshed up against him tight enough for her bra to nearly lose its grip on her breasts. Warin froze at the unexpected touch, every muscle in his body tensing even harder than when I’d force-hugged him, but Skye didn’t seem to notice.
“Come, sit!” she said, beaming smile still in place. She practically pushed him into the bench next to Raven and hurriedly scooted in after, effectively trapping him between them both.
Raven mouthed an enthusiastic “thank you” at me before she focused her attention on the newcomer too. Her top wasn’t as low cut as Skye’s, but when she purred, “Yes, what a pleasure,” at the vampire, an impressive amount of her tits suddenly appeared right underneath his nose.
I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly got lost in the back of my skull. “Smooth, girls.”
Dennis managed a decent attempt at disguising his laugh in his pint of beer.
“So, Warin… How do you know Liv?” he asked once he’d downed a swig. “You one of her friends from back in Denver?”
“No, we only met recently,” I quickly stepped in. I hadn’t told any of them about my little kidnapping adventure, partly because it seemed somehow inappropriate to answer, “So, what did you do on your day off?” with “Was kidnapped and stabbed by fanatics, but oh, I made a vampire friend!”—and partly because I wasn’t exactly keen on getting linked back to the two dead men Warin had left behind when we made our escape. “We met at, uh, a book club a little while ago.”
“Oh, you like to read? Who’s your favorite author?” Raven lit up, and I recalled her grumbling about how hard it was to find a well-read man the last time she came into work after a disappointing date.
“I’ve enjoyed many over the years. Kierkegaard is always thought-provoking, but I often find myself revisiting Dante,” Warin said, as if throwing that level of literary references on the table was no big deal. “Do you have favorite authors?” He directed the question to the table at large, but Raven was not about to let his attention waver. She looked like Christmas had come early as she casually let a finger travel up the back of Warin’s hand to regain his focus.
It didn’t surprise me when Warin froze at the uninvited touch this time—but Raven’s wide eyes as she quickly snapped her finger away did. Huh.
I shrugged it off, assuming she was just sober enough to catch social cues somewhat better than both Skye and I.
“What about favorite movies?” I asked, not feeling a need to divulge how much further down the social capital ladder my taste in books hung out.
“Movies? Didn’t you two meet at a book club? I’d have thought you’d be all about discussing Tolstoy and Dostoevsky,” Dennis teased.
I narrowed my eyes at him, all too aware he’d caught me hanging out in the back room with a wide variety of smutty romance novels over the months I’d worked for him, and a distinct lack of Russian philosophers. But two could play this game. “Sure, who wouldn’t be—especially five rum and Cokes in. Tell me, Dennis, darling, if you were stranded on a desert island, which highbrow book would you pick over a cell phone with an Internet connection?”
My boss laughed and held up both hands in defeat. “All right, point well made. So, movies, then?”
* * *
For the next couple of hours, Warin fielded less-than-subtle flirting from Skye like a pro, intermixed with general banter and drunken human humor. But I guess he was a pro—at blending in with humans, that is. When he hadn’t been locked up and starved for goddess knew how long, at least.
I was pretty amazed with his transformation from when I’d first met him—especially when he not so much as glanced at Skye’s cleavage or neck. I recalled the darkness in his eyes when he’d stared at my bleeding collarbone and suppressed a shudder. Vampires were clearly better company when they’d been fed.
Skye, however, was less than impressed with his lack of interest in her booby offerings. When Warin ignored her batting eyelashes for probably the tenth time since his arrival at our booth, she’d clearly had enough of playing it subtle and deemed it time for a more direct approach. I was pretty sure, judging from Warin’s involuntary jerk, that when she reached under the table, she wasn’t grabbing at his leg.
“How about we all take it to a nightclub? I want to dance! Don’t you feel like a bit of grinding, Warin?” She shot the vampire at flirtatious smile.
“Actually, I’m beat,” I said, stretching for emphasis. “I should head on home. Warin, would you walk me, please? You never know what lurks out there.” I winked at the vampire and got a soft chuckle in return.
“Of course.” He very firmly moved Skye’s hand—which was, indeed, placed on his crotch, I noted as I got to my feet—and made to s
tand up.
“See you later, guys,” I said as Skye blew a raspberry at me behind Warin’s back.
We exited the bar and weaved our way past clusters of drunk people on the pavement. I led the vampire about a block away before I turned to him with a teasing smile.
“All right, the girls aren’t following, so you should be safe. You don’t actually have to walk me all the way home—it’s pretty far.”
“I would nevertheless like to,” he said
“Okay, then, but don’t complain if you get tired,” I teased as we began walking.
His hoarse laughter made my already present smile bigger. There was something about the sound of his mild amusement that warmed me from the inside out, almost as effectively as the several rum and Cokes I presently had in my system.
“You’ve seen firsthand how much stronger vampires are, and yet you worry a walk will make me tired? You are a funny human.”
I snorted. “Sorry, didn’t mean to put your entire race in a bad light with my concern for your comfort.
“Hardly. I find you rather intriguing.”
The way he said it so absolutely casually, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to say to a girl, made my already alcohol-fueled hormones spike.
Way too young, Liv. And a vampire, I mentally scolded my ovaries. Not that he seemed to be really flirting. He was casually strolling next to me with both hands in the pockets of his wool coat without so much as looking at me.
Yeah, I so wasn’t going there. A shudder rose up through my spine at the thought of mixing the kind of bedroom antics vampires were infamous for with what my lady bits currently seemed focused on. I was way too vanilla to ever want to try out blood play, that’s for damn sure.
“Are you cold?” my vampire companion asked at my shiver.
“Yeah,” I said. It was fucking freezing, and I hadn’t wrapped up as thoroughly as I should have when I got dressed for the night out. Foolishly, I’d chosen vanity over a healthy respect for Chicago’s November temperatures once the sun set.