by Ким Харрисон
Seeing me unmoving by the sink, her brown eyes flicked from my steaming mug of coffee to the empty pot. I shrugged and flicked the switch to get it brewing. What could I say?
Ivy pushed herself into motion, setting an empty mug on the counter. She smoothed her severely straight black hair, bringing herself back to at least looking calm and collected. "You're upset," she said, her anger at Kisten making her voice rough. "What's up?"
I pulled my backstage passes out and clipped them to the fridge with a tomato magnet. My thought went to Nick, then to rolling on the floor evading pixy snowballs. And mustn't forget the joy of hearing her threaten Kisten over my blood that she wasn't ever going to taste. Golly, so much to choose from. "Nothing," I said softly.
Long and sleek in her blue jeans and shirt, she crossed her arms and leaned against the counter beside the coffeemaker to wait for it to finish. Her thin lips pressed together and she breathed deeply. "You've been crying. What is it?"
Surprise stopped me cold. She knew I had been crying? Damn. It had only been three tears. At the stoplight. And I had wiped them away before they even dribbled out. I glanced at the empty hallway, not wanting Kisten to know. "I'll tell you later, okay?"
Ivy followed my gaze to the archway. Puzzlement crinkled the skin about her brown eyes. Then understanding crashed over her; she knew I'd been dumped. She blinked, and I watched her, relieved when the first flicker of blood lust at my new, available status quickly died.
Living vampires didn't need blood to remain sane, as undead vampires did. They still craved it, though, choosing whom they took it from with care, usually following their sexual preferences on the happy chance that sex might be included in the mix. But the taking of blood could range in importance from confirming a deep platonic friendship to the shallowness of a one-night stand. Like most living vamps, Ivy said she didn't equate blood with sex, but I did. The sensations a vampire could pull from me were too close to sexual ecstasy to think otherwise.
After twice being slammed into the wall by ley line energy, Ivy got the message that though I was her friend, I would never, ever, say yes to her. It had been easier after she resumed practicing, too, with her slacking her needs somewhere else and coming home satiated, relaxed, and quietly self-loathing for having given in again.
Over the summer she seemed to have turned her energies from trying to convince me that her biting me wasn't sex to ensuring that no other vampire would hit on me. If she couldn't have my blood, then no one could, and she had devoted herself in a disturbing, yet flattering, drive to keep other vampires from taking advantage of my demon scar and luring me into becoming their shadow. Living with her gave me protection from them—protection I wasn't ashamed to accept—and in return I was her unconditional friend. And whereas that might seem one-sided, it wasn't.
Ivy was a high-maintenance friend, jealous of anyone who attracted my attention, though she hid it well. She barely tolerated Nick. Kisten, though, seemed exempt, which made me oh-so-warm and fuzzy inside. And as I took up my coffee, I found myself hoping she would go out tonight and satisfy that damned blood lust of hers so she wouldn't be looking at me like a hungry panther the rest of the week.
Feeling the tension shift from anger to speculation, I looked at the unfinished pot brewing, thinking only of escaping the room. "You want mine?" I said. "I haven't drunk any."
My head turned at Kisten's masculine chuckle. He had appeared without warning in the doorway. "I haven't drunk any either," he said suggestively. "I'd like some if you're offering."
A flush of memory took me, of Kisten and me in that elevator: my fingers playing with the silky strands of his blond-dyed hair at the nape of his neck, the day-old stubble he cultivated to give his delicate features a rugged cast harsh against my skin, his lips both soft and aggressive as he tasted the salt on me, the feel of his hands at the small of my back pressing me into him. Damn.
I pulled my eyes from him, forcing my hand down from my neck where I had been unconsciously touching my demon scar to feel it tingle, stimulated by the vamp pheromones he was unconsciously putting out. Double damn.
Pleased with himself, he sat in Ivy's chair, clearly guessing where my thoughts were. But looking at his well-put-together body, it was hard to think of anything else.
Kisten was a living vamp, too, his bloodline going back as far as Ivy's. He had once been Piscary's scion, and the glow of sharing blood with the undead vampire showed in him still. Though he often acted the playboy by dressing in biker leather and affecting a bad British accent, he used it to hide his business savvy. He was smart. And fast. And while not as powerful as an undead vampire, he was stronger than his compact build and slim waistline suggested.
Today he was dressed conservatively in a silk shirt tucked into dark slacks, clearly trying to be the professional as he took on more of Piscary's business interests now that the vampire languished in prison. The only hints to Kisten's bad-boy side were the gunmetal gray chain he wore about his neck—twin to the pair Ivy wore about her ankle—and the two diamond studs he had in each ear. At least there were supposed to be two in each ear. Someone had torn one out to leave a nasty tear.
Kisten lounged in Ivy's chair with his immaculate shoes provocatively spread, leaning back as he took in the moods drifting about the room. I found my hand creeping up to my neck again, and I scowled. He was trying to bespell me, get in my head and shift my thoughts and decisions. It wouldn't work. Only the undead could bespell the unwilling, and he couldn't lean on Piscary's strength any longer to give him the increased abilities of an undead vampire.
Ivy pulled the brewed coffee out from under the funnel. "Leave Rachel alone," she said, clearly the dominant of the two. "Nick just dumped her."
My breath caught and I stared at her, aghast. I hadn't wanted him to know!
"Well…"Kistenmurmured, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. "He was no good for you anyway, love."
Bothered, I put the island counter between us. "It's Rachel. Not love."
"Rachel," he said softly, and my heart pounded at the compulsion he put in it. I glanced out the window to the snowy gray garden and the tombstones beyond. What the Turn was I doing standing in my kitchen with two hungry vamps when the sun was going down? Didn't they have somewhere to go? People to bite, that weren't me?
"He didn't dump me," I said as I grabbed the fish food and fed Mr. Fish. I could see Kisten's reflection watching me in the dark window. "He's out of town for a few days. Gave me his key to check on everything and pick up his mail."
"Oh." Kisten glanced sidelong at Ivy. "A long excursion?"
Flustered, I set the fish food down and turned. "He said he was coming back," I protested, my face tightening as I heard the ugly truth behind my words. Why would Nick say he'd be coming back unless it had occurred to him not to?
As the two vamps exchanged more silent looks, I pulled a mundane cookbook out from my spell library and set it thumping onto the island counter. I'd promised Jenks the oven tonight. "Don't even try to pick me up on the rebound, Kisten," I warned.
"I wouldn't dream of it." The slow, soft tone of his voice said otherwise.
" 'Cause you're not capable of being half the man Nick is," I stupidly said.
"High standards, eh?" Kisten mocked.
Ivy perched herself on the counter by my ten-gallon dissolution vat of saltwater, wrapping her arms about her knees yet still managing to look predatory while she sipped her coffee and watched Kisten play with my emotions.
Kisten glanced at her as if for permission, and I frowned. Then he stood in a sliding sound of fabric, coming to lean on the island counter across from me. His necklace swung, pulling my attention to his neck, marked with soft, almost unseen, scars. "I like action movies," he said, and my breath came fast. I could smell the lingering aroma of leather on him under the dry scent of silk.
"So?" I said belligerently, peeved that Ivy had probably told him about Nick's and my weekend-long stints in front of the Adrenaline channel
I flipped to the most tattered, stain-splattered recipe in the book I'd swiped from my mom, knowing it was for sugar cookies. "So does Bozo the Clown, but I wouldn't date him."
Ivy licked her finger and made a tally mark in the air.
Kisten smiled to show the barest hint of fang, leaning back and clearly feeling the hit. "Let me take you out," he said. "A platonic first date to prove Nick wasn't anything special."
"Oh, please," I simpered, not believing he was stooping this low.
Grinning, Kisten turned himself into a spoiled rich boy. "If you enjoy yourself, then you admit to me that Nick was nothing special."
I crouched to get the flour. "No," I said when I rose to set it thumping on top of the counter.
A hurt look creased his stubbled face, put-on but still effective. "Why not?"
I glanced behind me at Ivy, silently watching. "You have money," I said. "Anyone can show a girl a good time with enough money."
Ivy made another tally mark. "That's two," she said, and he frowned.
"Nick was a cheap ass, huh," Kisten offered, trying to hide his ire.
"Watch your mouth," I shot back.
"Yes, Ms. Morgan."
The sultry submissiveness in his voice yanked my thoughts back to the elevator. Ivy once told me Kisten got off on playing the submissive. What I had found out was that a submissive vampire was still more aggressive than most people could handle. But I wasn't most people. I was a witch.
I put my eyes on his, seeing that they were a nice steady blue. Unlike Ivy, Kisten freely indulged his blood lust until it wasn't the overriding factor governing his life. "One hundred seventy-five dollars?" he offered, and I bent to get the sugar.
The man thought a cheap date was almost two hundred dollars?
"One hundred?" he said, and I looked at him, reading his genuine surprise.
"Our average date was sixty," I said.
"Damn!" he swore, then hesitated. "I can say damn, can't I?"
"Hell, yes."
From her perch on the counter, Ivy snickered. Kisten's brow pinched in what looked like real worry. "Okay," he said, deep in thought. "A sixty-dollar date."
I gave him a telling look. "I haven't said yes yet."
He inhaled long and slow, tasting my mood on the air. "You haven't said no, either."
"No."
He slumped dramatically, pulling a smile from me despite myself. "I won't bite you," he protested, his blue eyes roguishly innocent.
From under the island counter I pulled out my largest copper spell pot to use as a mixing bowl. It wasn't reliable any longer for spelling, as it had a dent from hitting Ivy's head. The palm-sized paint ball gun I stored in it made a comforting sound against the metal as I took it out to put back under the counter at ankle height. "And I should believe you because…"
Kisten's eyes flicked to Ivy. "She'll kill me twice if I do."
I went to get the eggs, milk, and butter out of the fridge, hoping neither of them sensed my pulse quickening. But I knew my temptation didn't stem from the subliminal pheromones they were unconsciously emitting. I missed feeling desired, needed. And Kisten had a Ph.D. in wooing women, even if his motives were one-sided and false. From the looks of it, he indulged in casual blood taking like some men indulged in casual sex. And I didn't want to become one of his shadows that he strung along, caught by the binding saliva in his bite to crave his touch, to feel his teeth sinking into me to fill me with euphoria. Crap, I was doing it again.
"Why should I?" I said, feeling myself warm. "I don't even like you."
Kisten leaned over the counter as I returned. The faultless blue of his eyes caught and held mine. It was obvious by his rakish grin that he knew I was weakening. "All the better reason to go out with me," he said. "If I can show you a good time for a lousy sixty bucks, think what someone you like could do. All I need is one promise."
The egg was cold in my hands, and I set it down. "What?" I asked, and Ivy stirred.
His smile widened. "No shirking."
"Beg pardon?"
He opened the tub of butter and dipped his finger into it, licking it slowly clean. "I can't make you feel attractive if you stiffen up every time I touch you."
"I didn't before," I said, my thoughts returning to the elevator. God help me, I had almost done him right there against the wall.
"This is different," he said. "It's a date, and I would give my eyeteeth to know why women expect men to behave differently on a date than any other time."
"Because you do," I said.
He gave a raised-eyebrow look to Ivy. Straightening, he reached across the counter to cup my jaw. I jerked back, brow furrowed.
"Nope," he said as he drew away. "I won't ruin my reputation by taking you out on a sixty-dollar date for nothing. If I can't touch you, it's a no-go."
I stared at him, feeling my heart pound. "Good."
Shocked, Kisten blinked. "Good?" he questioned as Ivy smirked.
"Yeah," I said, pulling the butter to me and scooping out about a half cup with a wooden spoon. "I didn't want to go out with you anyway. You're too full of yourself. Think you can manipulate anyone into doing anything. Your egotesticle attitude makes me sick."
Ivy laughed as she unfolded herself and jumped lightly to the floor without a sound. "I told you," she said. "Pay up."
Shoulders shifting in a sigh, he twisted to reach his wallet in a back pocket, pulling out a fifty and shoving it into her hand. She raised a thin eyebrow and made another tally mark in the air. An unusual smile was on her as she stretched to drop it into the cookie jar atop the fridge.
"Typical," Kisten said, his eyes dramatically sad. "Try to do something nice for a person, cheer her up, and what do I get? Abused and robbed."
Ivy took three long steps to come up behind him. Curling an arm across his chest, she leaned close and whispered in his torn ear, "Poor baby." They looked good together, her silky sultriness and his confident masculinity.
He didn't react at all as her fingers slipped between the buttons of his shirt. "You would have enjoyed yourself," he said to me.
Feeling as if I'd passed some test, I pushed the butter off the spoon and licked my finger clean. "How would you know?"
"Because you enjoyed yourself just now," he answered. "You forgot all about that shallow, self-centered human who doesn't know a good thing when she bites him on his—" He looked at Ivy. "Where did you say she bit him, Ivy love?"
"His wrist." Ivy straightened and turned her back on me to retrieve her coffee.
"Who doesn't know a good thing when she bites him on his…wrist," Kisten finished.
My face was burning. "That's the last time I tell you anything!" I exclaimed to Ivy. And it wasn't as if I had drawn blood. Good God!
"Admit it," Kisten said. "You enjoyed talking with me, pitting your will against mine. It would have been fun," he said as he looked at me through his bangs. "You look like you could use some fun. Cooped up in this church for God knows how long. When was the last time you got dressed up? Felt pretty? Felt desirable?"
I stood very still, feeling my breath move in and out of me, balanced. My thoughts went to Nick leaving to go out of town without telling me, our cuddling and closeness that had ended with a shocking abruptness. It had been so long. I missed his touch making me feel wanted, stirring my passions and bringing me alive. I wanted that feeling back—even if it was a lie. Just for a night, so I wouldn't forget how it felt until I found it again.
"No biting," I said, thinking I was making a mistake.
Ivy jerked her head up, her face expressionless.
Kisten didn't seem surprised. A heady understanding was in his gaze. "No shirking," he said softly, his eyes alive and glinting. I was like glass to him.
"Sixty-dollar maximum," I countered.
Kisten stood, taking his coat from the back of the chair. "I'll pick you up at one A.M., night after tomorrow. Wear something nice."
"No playing on my scar,
" I said breathlessly, unable to find enough air for some reason. What in hell was I doing?
With a predatory grace, he shrugged into his coat. He hesitated, thinking. "Not one breath on it," he agreed. His thoughtful expression shifted to sly anticipation as he stood in the archway to the hall and held out his hand to Ivy.
Motions stiff, Ivy pulled the fifty back out of the cookie jar and gave it to him. He stood and waited, and she took another and slapped it into his hand.
"Thanks, Ivy love," he said. "Now I have enough for my date and a haircut, too." He met my eyes, holding them until I couldn't breathe. "See you later, Rachel."
The sound of his dress shoes seemed loud in the darkening church. I heard him say something to Jenks followed by the faint boom of the front door closing.
Ivy wasn't pleased. "That was a stupid thing to do," she said.
"I know." I wouldn't look at her, mixing the sugar and butter with a rough quickness.
"Then why did you do it?"
I kept stirring. "Maybe because unlike you, I like being touched," I said wearily. "Maybe because I miss Nick. Maybe because he's been gone the last three months and I've been too stupid to notice. Back off, Ivy. I'm not your shadow."
"No," she agreed, less angry than I expected. "I'm your roommate, and Kist is more dangerous than he lets on. I've seen him do this before. He wants to hunt you. Hunt you slow."
I stilled my motions and looked at her. "Slower than you?" I questioned bitterly.
She stared at me. "I'm not hunting you," she said, sounding hurt. "You won't let me."
Letting go of the spoon, I put my hands to either side of the bowl and bowed my head over it. We were the pair. One too afraid to feel anything lest she lose control of her iron-clad hold on her emotions, and the other so hungry to feel anything that she'd risk her free will for one night of fun. How I had kept from being a vampire's flunky this long was a miracle.
"He's waiting for you," I said as I heard Kisten's car revving through the insulated walls of the church. "Go satiate yourself. I don't like it when you don't."
Ivy swung into motion. Not saying a word, she stiffly walked out, boots thumping on the hardwood floor. The sound of the church's door shutting was quiet. Slowly the ticking of the clock above the sink became obvious. Taking a slow breath, I pulled my head up, wondering how in hell I had become her keeper.