Raz

by J. S. Striker

  Finally, he had enough and decided to just confront it. But he did it poorly. What came out of his mouth was not ideal.

  “Are you afraid you’ll jump me if you stay in the same room with me?”

  She was wiping the kitchen sink while he was standing just near the kitchen counters when he said that, and he watched in amusement when her head snapped up and her hand stopped moving instantly. She shot him a look, one so shocked that he had to consciously stop his mouth from quirking.

  “Pardon?” she asked.

  “And I meant jump sexually,” he clarified for the hell of it.

  This time, she whirled to face him, her cheeks turning redder than the brightest red apple. It was quite charming, and he found himself watching her face as she opened her mouth and closed it, like she was flailing around for words. Her dark green eyes snapped and sizzled, and her body vibrated as she worked herself up over his comment.

  Surprisingly enough, it was when she was revved up like this that he found her very, very pretty.

  The thought was so sudden, almost like an assault to the mind as realizing she was pretty when she was revved up also made him realize other things—like how she bit her lip when she was nervous and made it plumper, and how she had the softest looking skin he’d ever seen on any vampire or human…or any other creature, really. And he’d seen a lot. There was also her height, which used to be such a turn-off, but he suddenly found appealing now as he imagined she’d have to reach up to whisper a single kiss.

  Someone such as him.

  Immediately, he inwardly shook the thoughts off and tried to make his mind go blank. Then he focused on her words, said in an almost prim tone that it was almost like it was forced.

  “I will never, ever jump a vampire,” she shot back at his earlier comment.

  “Hmm.”

  “Sexually,” she blurted out, then colored again.

  “Then why are you so tense around me? Do I scare you?”

  That made Eva scoff. “No.”

  He tilted his head. “So it’s sexual, then?”

  Her green eyes fired again, mesmerizing him. Then she was moving forward and pointing a finger at him, inches from practically jabbing it at his chest.

  “I don’t find anything sexually appealing about you,” she rushed.

  Their gazes met, and they watched each other for a long time. He knew he was being unfair because he was a vampire and was currently using his magnetism on her with that gaze alone, but he didn’t care. He was frozen in place, and so was she. They were standing only inches away, and he could have sworn he felt her heart stop. He was absolutely sure her warmth was seeping into his skin, creating an intoxicating blanket.

  The urge to kiss her was strong. And unwelcome.

  “I’m baking,” she finally blurted out into the silence.

  The spell was broken, and it was she who was backing out first and hurrying to the kitchen. He watched her get the ingredients ready, then backed off too and went to the swing with his predictable cup of coffee. He listened to her mixing, kneading, and humming to herself, and oddly enough, found peace in the motions that weren’t his.

  Soon, the smell of bread baking permeated the air, making his mouth water and filling his nostrils with bliss. He really did love bread, and the sound of the oven timer pinging was like music to his ears. Curiosity got the best of him, along with his empty coffee cup, and soon he found himself wandering inside and heading towards the kitchen, intending to just take a peek and maybe cajole her to share a piece or two with him. He went for the coffee brewer first, glancing in her direction.

  He froze.

  Eva had her back turned towards him, and she was mixing more stuff that included chocolate chips—from the looks of it, she was going to bake cookies next. But that wasn’t what caught his attention.

  It was her neck.

  She’d tied her hair up in a loose bun, which meant that somewhere along the way, strands fell down. Some of those wisps fell gently at her neck, drawing his gaze to it until all he could see was the creaminess of it. It wasn’t even the blood he was looking at, but rather the slenderness of her lines, and the almost gentle curvature. She tilted her head to the side like she was stretching her muscles as she kept mixing. Then she moved her feet, which had his gaze going down there and his eyes widening slightly.

  Eva was barefooted, her slippers at the side of the kitchen sink. She switched from one ball of her foot to the other, a silent dance. Then she lifted one foot up and used it to scratch her graceful-looking calf—a slow, almost erotic motion.

  Heat sparked in his stomach, so intense and sudden that he staggered back silently. She repeated the motion, and he felt his body going hard on its own accord as he discovered one kink that he never realized he had. Blood rushed through his system, and he was almost on the verge of crossing the distance between them and touching what his hands were itching to.

  Her spatula clunked on the bowl, and her elbow knocked the salt shaker, making it spill on the floor and a soft curse to come out of her mouth.

  In an instant, he was out of the kitchen as fast as his vampire speed could carry him. He didn’t stop even when he was already on the porch, walking away and thinking he needed fresh air more than anything now—anything, really, to forget about the image he saw and what he felt over it.

  What the hell just happened?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Eva didn’t know what to make of Raz, who insisted he had no last name.

  On one hand, he was the picture-perfect example of a vampire who was good at stealth. Sometimes, she couldn’t even tell that he was in the same room she was in, which meant he had to make an effort to announce his presence if need be and could do whatever he wanted without her knowledge. That was dangerous in itself, along with the idea that he was the one guiding the kids to the forest now practically every night, and she couldn’t be sure if he would be manipulating their minds in the process. A quick interrogation of the kids determined that hadn’t happened yet, but she never knew when the wheel would turn.

  On the other hand, it was almost three weeks, and all three of them—her, Ana, and Peter—were still alive. He’d have been a lousy killer if killing them was his purpose, and Eva was sure Raz was far from lousy. All of his moves spoke of calculation and purpose, and he never wasted energy unless absolutely necessary.

  Which was why it also puzzled her why he was being so adamant about protecting the kids when she couldn’t see how it would benefit him in the long run.

  It didn’t help that he was handsome—too handsome for his own good and using that to get in her good graces, along with his innate charm. She imagined he would have made a good politician had he been human, or some television figure or businessman. He had all the makings of those, and she was pretty sure that honeyed mouth of his caught more flies than it ought to. It should have turned her off, knowing he had the experience and would use it to his advantage with no qualms. But for some reason, it made something in her stir, a hot and heavy feeling that singed her bones and made her squirm more times than she wanted.

  It was attraction. It had to be attraction. But obviously it was one-sided, and she’d been attracted to enough troublesome guys to know when to pursue it and when to take a step back—and when it came to Raz, the best bet was to take a step back. A very long step back.

  Despite that earlier vampire attack and this vampire’s intrusion in her life, her work routine remained the same: go to the bakery early, create and recreate pastries, help out Jenny when she was done with baking, go home right away. The only significant change was that she no longer needed to go to the hospital as much for the blood bags, and had to explain to her witch friend that she was switching to other methods to help the kids out. On Friday, however, she decided to drop by just after work and get some stock for the weekend, just in case the kids needed a change.

  At first, the sight of Malena looking at her worriedly had Eva thinking that maybe her friend was worried she was getting in ove
r her head. Eva couldn’t exactly tell the other about Raz’s presence, but she spoke ahead the moment she was within hearing distance, wanting to ease the worry off.

  “I’m fine, the kids are fine,” she assured firmly. “They haven’t consumed human blood in more than three weeks, and they aren’t acting violently at all.”

  Malena stared at her as she got some blood bags prepared. Wordlessly, she put them to the side and walked to the nearest dresser, taking out some local newspapers. She then handed them to Eva, who read the headlines Malena specifically highlighted.

  They dated back to the day she got sick and ran on until yesterday—reports of missing teens, as well as some adults whose bodies were found butchered with missing parts and drained of blood. It was speculated that a serial killer was on the loose, one so violent that the town was planning to involve the other towns to keep a watch out for the culprit. Eva covered her mouth as bile rose in her throat again, remembering what Raz had shown her in the forest weeks ago.

  She was wrong, and he was right. Ana was unstable.

  And Eva had to do something about it fast.

  She stared at Malena, who stared back at her.

  “I was waiting for you to come back,” Malena said. “I knew you were alive, but when you didn’t come back…I was very afraid.”

  “I’ll take care of this,” Eva found herself saying.

  If anything, that only made Malena look more worried. “But I can help you with spells—”

  Eva’s hand clamped on Malena’s wrist firmly. “I don’t want her tracing it back to you. She knows me, and she’ll listen to me. Let me handle this.”

  There was tense silence between them for a long time. Finally, the witch nodded her head.

  “Stay safe, Eva.”

  Eva nodded her head in return, hugging the other. Then she was taking the bags and walking as fast as she could back to the house.

  *****

  “You need my help to what?”

  The slight incredulity in Raz’s tone indicated that he didn’t quite expect her to ask for help in the first place, something that spoke a lot about her pride more than anything else. She swallowed that pride now and faced him squarely, knowing now was her only chance to ask him while Ana and Peter were still roaming about in the forest.

  “I need your help to catch Ana in the act,” she said, repeating her earlier words. Before he could state another question, she made it easier for him by placing the papers Malena gave her right in front of him, then stepping back to let him see to them.

  Raz read quickly, his expression never changing. They were both sitting on opposite ends of the couch, her body tense while his was ever so relaxed. Finally, he looked up, blue eyes meeting hers.

  “And what will you do once you catch her in the act?” he asked.

  It was a question she expected, and one she didn’t have an answer to yet. “That’s why I’m asking for your help.”

  “And if I end up killing her?”

  “You won’t,” she insisted. “You’ve been with them for weeks and know her violent tendencies, but you never did anything to harm her. So you won’t.”

  “I’ve never caught her in the act,” he said softly. “Innocent until proven guilty, as they say.”

  Eva tilted her head. He said it with conviction, but instinct told her that wasn’t the only reason he hadn’t harmed the kids.

  It was because he didn’t want to.

  She leaned forward. “You’re full of bull, you know that?” she whispered, making his lips quirk. It made her gaze stray towards his mouth, but she quickly shot her gaze back up before he could catch on.

  “And you’re too trusting,” he said.

  “I don’t fully trust you,” she admitted. “But I’m learning to. And I know you’ll do the right thing for Ana if we do catch her in the act.”

  “Stop trusting me,” Raz warned.

  “All the more reason for me to,” she shot back. Eva held out her hand, waiting. His gaze zoned in on it, then went back to her. A spark of heat entered his eyes, turning them a deeper blue that made her unable to look away. She thought he would reject her request because he looked like he was on the verge of doing so.

  Instead, he raised his own hand and took hers. She was shocked again at how warm he felt when they shook on it. Electricity flew. Then she was snatching her hand back, afraid of getting scalded.

  Not the least bit affected, Raz nodded.

  “We’ll wait tonight,” he instructed. “Act as normal as possible and do the normal dinner routine. We’ll know the answer soon after dinner.”

  Dinner came and went, surprising Eva with the easiness of it. Considering how tense she felt, it was a miracle she was able to act normal. It took her some effort to keep her tone modulated as she asked to speak with Raz just as they were about to leave, giving him the leeway to shoo them off to roam on their own. The kids didn’t look the least bit suspicious, though Ana shot them both a look of curiosity before she followed her brother out the backyard.

  Eva washed the dishes, and Raz helped her wipe them. No word was said between them as they waited for the time and felt each other’s presence side by side.

  Finally, after what had to be ages, Raz took the last dish from her, wiped it dry, and placed it quietly on the rack.

  “It’s time,” he said.

  She took a deep breath to calm herself, hoping against hope that there was actually some serial killer lurking out there rather than her niece causing havoc. Eva nodded.

  “Alright.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Eva was decidedly nervous beside him as they walked down the road away from her house that her body practically vibrated from it. Still, she managed to contain it, never once letting those nerves dictate her as she tried to act as calm as she possibly could. He knew it mostly had to do with her worry about what they would find and the responsibility that she carried on her shoulders on how to handle it.

  Raz hadn’t really cared about anyone for so long, and he could barely remember the family he had and abandoned ages ago. But now, what Eva was feeling seemed all too familiar, reverberating inside him as well. It was what had him agreeing in the first place, even though he knew doing so would crush her hopes completely that Ana was innocent.

  He was pretty sure of what they would find, but he was also pretty sure that Eva was still partly in denial and thinking there really was some serial killer on the loose. It was time to get that notion out of her head because if she kept it up, it was bound to destroy her.

  And for some reason, he didn’t want that.

  Irritation flickered that his first thought was her and how it would affect her. He shook it off, knowing it had no place here in his mission. Raz forced himself to focus on the road as they kept walking, following the trail of the kids’ presence with ease. Eva had a good sense—better than most shifters, and certainly better than a few vampires. It was survival instincts at its finest, and probably some kind of add-on given to her by nature when it was determined she couldn’t shift.

  They kept walking until they reached the scent of blood, along with the sounds of a scuffle. There was some kind of muffled scream, and before he knew it, Eva was running in that direction. He inwardly cursed and followed her until she stopped dead in her tracks and froze in place just as the scent of blood became the forefront to hit his senses.

  They were in an alley—a dim-lighted one, but not too dark that their kind wouldn’t be able to see completely. He stood just a few inches behind Eva, and the sight that greeted him pretty much guaranteed there was no escaping from this moment.

  There were two bodies lying on top of each other beside the garbage bin, nearly drained of blood. From the looks of it, they were teenagers, just as the news reported of the previous attacks. They were obviously dead, but that wasn’t what had Eva stilling in the first place.

  It was the sight of Ana and Peter standing just a few meters away from them, covered from head to toe with streaks of blood.
>
  Their arrival had the two kids tensing almost instantly, their fangs coming out. But the sight of Eva staring at them in shock had Peter paling and Ana moving in front of him.

  “We can explain,” Ana spoke out, almost defiantly.

  “We didn’t mean it,” Peter blurted out behind her, head peeking out. “They were there, and they were already dead.”

  “Already dead?” Raz repeated. There was something in Peter’s tone that was off. He glanced at the girl, who nodded her head.

  “They were. Not that you’d believe us,” she said. There was that defensive tone again.

  He could have shaken the truth out of them, but something else stirred in the air—a dark presence he couldn’t see but feel the faint energy of. It took all of Raz’s effort not to appear like he noticed it, stepping forward and kneeling in front of the kids.

  “We need to get you out of here before you get in trouble,” he said. “Will you come with us? We can talk about it at home.”

  Peter nodded, while Ana glanced in Eva’s direction uncertainly.

  “We need to talk about it,” Eva said softly.

  Finally, Ana turned to Raz and nodded.

  “Okay.”

  *****

  They were being followed.

  It wasn’t noticeable at first, and Raz almost convinced himself that whatever he felt earlier was some part of his imagination.

  Almost.

  But as they approached the house, the presence grew steadily stronger—or maybe it was already strong to begin with and was just hidden well before. It was insistent now, like a tick in the brain that one got before the onset of a very intense headache.

  Raz didn’t hurry the kids, but Eva noticeably walked faster as she led the way and they followed. They kept to the side streets and dark areas, not wanting to draw attention just in case someone was still out at this time of the night. The kids were quiet, holding hands and drawing on each other for support.