“Oh good,” she said sarcastically, folding her arms and staring straight ahead. “For a moment there I thought you were acting like everything was normal.”
“Jesus.” Cole pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was just trying to move past it so that we could focus on the mission and get this whole thing over with so your partner is safe and sound again. But it’s clear to me that we can’t keep tiptoeing around the elephant in the room if we’re going to work together, especially since we’re heading straight into a den of vampires. The last thing we need is for us to be at odds instead of at each other’s backs when facing down a houseful of thirsty blood suckers.”
Angela scowled, but she turned her body in her seat to face him. “Fine then. Say what you need to say, so we can ‘move past it’.”
Cole bit back the retort bubbling up in his throat, knowing he had no right to be angry with her. He’d wounded her deeply, he could see that now, and it was his time to eat crow and try to repair things. Swallowing his pride, he dropped his gaze and took one of her hands in both of his.
“I’ve never experienced anything like what happened to us last night,” he said quietly, stroking his thumbs over the back of her hand. He felt her pulse jump in her wrist, and tried not to lose himself in the silky smoothness of her skin against the pads of his thumbs. “Or at least, not to the point that I’ve ever followed through with anything. This connection that we have… it scares the shit out of me because it could undo us both, and I reacted badly. I’m sorry for taking it out on you.”
Angela drew in a slow breath, and he looked up to see her staring at him. There was such a myriad of emotions in her eyes that he couldn’t figure out what she was feeling, but he had a feeling that confusion was probably predominant. “I’ve never felt the mating pull in my entire life before this, and though I may be a spring chicken compared to you I’ve been around long enough. Are you saying this has happened to you before?”
Cole nodded slowly. “It was just shy of my three hundredth birthday,” he said softly, staring out at the parking lot through the windshield but not really seeing it. “I was staying in a small village in Scotland, and I came across a shifter named Laura. She was young and beautiful, all golden curls and rosy cheeks, and she came from a small bear clan that lived nearby and came into town once a week to sell their wares.” He could see her in his mind’s eye, so very clearly even seventeen hundred years later. “The pull was instant, impossible to deny, and I was too young to know better about not giving into it, so I pursued her.”
“What happened?” Angela’s voice was barely above a whisper, her eyes widened as her body unconsciously leaned in closer.
Cole clenched his jaw so tightly, his mandibular joints actually started to ache. “She tried to kill me once she found out what I was, in order to break the tie between us. And when that didn’t work, she killed herself.” Grief swelled in his throat, and he struggled for several seconds, trying to get the rest of the words out, but they wouldn’t come.
“Oh Cole.” Angela’s gem-like eyes were brimming with sympathy, and she reached for him. “I’m so sorry – ”
“Don’t!” He slapped her away, then sucked in a sharp breath at the hurt that flared in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly. “I just can’t help myself. You can’t get close to me. If I had left town, if I had run far, far away from Laura that day instead of trying to seal the bond, eventually the pull would have faded, and she would have had a chance at happiness with someone else, with a full-blooded shifter who could give her the life and family that she wanted. But because of my selfishness, I took all that away from her.” His throat ached from the unshed tears, tears he thought had already been shed hundreds of years ago. “That’s why I keep pushing you away. That’s why I can’t have you.”
Chapter Seven
Angela didn’t know a heart could ache so fiercely, but when she looked into Cole’s grief-stricken eyes, she was surprised hers didn’t just completely shatter into a million pieces inside her chest. She couldn’t possibly imagine what it must have been like for Cole to watch the woman he love kill herself in order to be rid of him, because it had to be a million times worse than the pain she was feeling now – and that was just completely unfathomable to her.
No wonder he has intimacy issues. She mentally shook her head in amazement. She was astounded he’d even let her touch him at all last night.
As the seconds stretched by in silence, Cole let out a bitter laugh and looked away. “I’ve struck you speechless, have I?” His lip curled in disgust. “Then again, I can’t really be surprised that you’re horrified at me.”
“Horrified?” Angela echoed.
“That I drove the woman I loved to her death.”
“No.” Angela reached out and touched his arm. “That wasn’t your fault. She was the one who decided to end her life, and that was after she tried to end yours. You have no blame in this.”
“I do.” He clenched his hands so hard she heard several of his knuckles pop. “I should have stayed away from her. I knew better. I knew that hybrids like me don’t have a place amongst shifters, and that my only place amongst mages is as an amusement at best, or a science experiment at worst.”
Rage choked Angela on behalf of him, and she tightened her grip on his arm without thinking about it. “That’s total bullshit,” she hissed.
He snapped his head up, his eyes glowing blue again. “I speak nothing but the truth.”
“I know. And that’s bullshit!”
Before she knew what she was doing, Angela yanked Cole against her chest and captured his mouth in a bruising kiss. Instantly his massive arms banded around her, crushing their bodies together as he battled with her for control, their tongues clashing, teeth nipping, fingernails digging into taut muscle and curves. But what began as a punishing battle of wills soon melted into something more passionate, their harsh grips turning into smooth caresses, their teeth gently nipping rather than biting, their tongues gliding instead of tangling.
“I’m not saying none of that stuff happened to you,” Angela murmured against his lips, taking a moment to catch her breath. “I’m just saying it’s wrong. I’m not so blinded by prejudice and irrational fear that I would rather kill myself than give into what’s clearly the most natural thing in the world.” She ran her fingers through his chestnut curls, enjoying loving the dense, yet silky texture of his hair against her skin. “In case you haven’t noticed, I chose to be a Protector instead of sticking with my clan. I’m standing a little ways outside the box, too.”
His glowing eyes faded slowly back to violet as he searched her face. “You really, really don’t care that I’m a hybrid?”
She shook her head. “Your reputation made me a little nervous, I have to admit, but now that you’re here in the flesh…” she ran her hands down his chest and gave him a tiny, but wicked grin, “I find I don’t care in the slightest.”
He groaned when her palms scraped across his nipples. “If you keep doing that I’m going to strip off your clothes and fuck you right here in the parking lot.”
Her panties grew damp at the very idea, but she checked her watch with a sigh. “As much as I’d love to try that, we’ve got a vampire to track down.” She settled back in her seat and strapped herself in, then looked up at him. “I’m not saying that we have to go through with the mating pull,” she said quietly. “Ultimately we’re in control of our own lives, regardless of how our bodies feel about it. But I’m not going to rule out the possibility just because society says I should hate you.”
Nodding, Cole shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the spot, then put the car in gear and pulled onto the road. Angela relaxed with a sigh against the seat, relieved that most of the tension seemed to be gone. “You know where you’re going?”
“I will as soon as you punch in the directions.”
Smiling a little, she leaned forward and entered the directions to the coterie into the Camaro’s GPS. She had a feeling that ju
st a few minutes ago, Cole wouldn’t have let her near the controls of his car, not even the radio, and took the sign of trust as a step in the right direction. Her emotions more settled now, she took out her phone and pulled up the profile she had on Dimitri, which the Order’s database had provided.
“Dimitri Devine, seventy-two years old, hails from Richmond, Virginia.” She pursed her lips. “It says here that he’s a member of the Devereaux Coterie, but that’s in Baton Rouge so that’s clearly not updated. Good thing our friend gave us his current location.”
“He’s young for a vampire.”
“True.” She considered that for a moment. “Generally vampires don’t leave their sires until at least one hundred years of age, so it says something that he’s on his third coterie right now.” Her expression darkened. “Either he’s got really bad luck with roommates, or he likes to stir up trouble a bit too much.”
Cole grunted. “I think we can guess which one it is.”
He parked two blocks away from the house, then motioned Angela around to the trunk and popped it. “I’ve got some holy water in here,” he said, handing her two glasses that were small enough to tuck into her boots.
“Thanks.” Angela checked her gun to make sure it was still charged. It wouldn’t work as well against vampires as it did against shifters, but it would still stun them long enough to make a getaway. She pursed her lips when Cole handed her a short sword – a non-regulation weapon that she would surely get cited for if a report got filed on the incident – but took it and strapped it to her side anyway. You could never be too careful when it came to vampires, and decapitation was one of the only ways to kill them.
They walked the two blocks in silence, trying to remain inconspicuous as possible – not an easy task with a sword swinging from her belt, and the aura of pure danger that seemed to emanate so effortlessly from Cole. A movement to the right caught her attention, and she turned her head just in time to catch an elderly lady peeking through lacy curtains at her. The curtains instantly fell back, but not in time for Angela to miss the look of fear on her face.
Great. Nosy neighbors. That was just what she needed. Whose idea was it to set up a coterie in a neighborhood full of gossiping grannies anyway? When this was over she was going to have a serious talk with her Captain and see if she could bring it up to the Vampire representative of the Order. Having a coterie in this kind of location was not good for human-supernatural relations.
Cole checked the address on the scrap of paper in his hand, then looked up and stopped. “This is it.”
As Angela took a moment to study the house, she understood exactly why the vampires had chosen it. It was a sprawling Victorian Gothic Revival home, with a tower jutting out from the left side and a gazebo-style patio on the right. Dark reddish-purple siding and golden accents made it look majestic and foreboding all at once, and navy-colored shutters were drawn over all the windows, which were of various shapes and sizes and likely also had blackout curtains hung inside of them to protect from the light.
“I bet all the kids on this block whisper to each other that vampires live here,” Angela said dryly. “Considering that every single house on the street except this one, and the one at the corner, are Spanish Colonia Revivals.”
“They’re not exactly doing a great job of blending in,” Cole agreed, stepping up to the door. Angela followed him up the wooden steps to the front door, which, along with the patio railing, had been painted the same dark navy as the shutters, and allowed him to ring the doorbell.
Actual, bonafide organ music resonated throughout the house.
Oh my God, Angela groaned mentally as she and Cole exchanged a look. She hadn’t even met them, and she could already tell these were going to be the cheesiest vampires she’d ever seen.
The door opened to reveal a pale young man with silvery blonde hair, and a faraway look in his powder blue eyes. He was decently dressed in a plum-colored V-neck sweater and navy pants, no doubt chosen to match the exterior of the house. “Welcome to the Devine residence. How can I help you?”
Angela held up her shield. “We’re here to speak to Mr. Devine regarding an incident at the Crazy Horse last night which he was involved in. May we come in?” She suppressed the shiver that always went through her whenever she had to deal with sycophants – humans that acted as both food and servants for their vampire masters. They weren’t banned by supernatural law as it was a much safer alternative to having vampires hunting the streets for food, but it still all felt so wrong to her.
The young man’s eyes flickered briefly, but he nodded. “My Master will receive you in the parlor. Please give him a few minutes.”
Angela and Cole followed the sycophant into the foyer, which was lit by wall sconces that leant a muted yellow glow to the space. Black and grey carpets covered the wooden floors, matching the elegant grey wallpaper. They passed beneath an ornate silver chandelier, which was unlit, and into a parlor decorated completely in black and grey and silver.
Angela took a look at the black and silver Queen Anne-style furniture and chose one of the chairs so that Cole wouldn’t have to test his weight against them. He seated himself on the low couch in front of the wrought-iron coffee table, upon which the sycophant placed a dainty plate filled with bite-sized cakes and cookies as well as two cups of tea and all the fixings.
“Please, help yourself.” The sycophant inclined his head. “The Master will be down in a few moments.
They waited in complete silence, not daring to speak lest someone be listening to private observations best not shared. Angela’s stomach growled, and Cole shot her a warning look as she eyed the cakes. She knew better than to take food in a place like this, but damn, she was hungry. They really should have taken the time to grab some food before making their way over here.
“It’s not poisoned, you know. You can have a bite.”
Angela and Cole jerked their heads toward the door as a pale brunette wearing a white gossamer dress glided in through the doorway. The faint scent of graveyard dirt, stone and blood would have been enough to mark her as a vampire, but she did them the favor of flashing them a fanged smile to identify herself.
“Who are you?”
The vampiress perched herself on the edge of one of the chairs, and lifted one of the untouched cups of tea to her lips. Her long lashed eyes fluttered closed for a moment. “Mmm, earl grey. My favorite.” Her eyes snapped back open, the irises rimmed with glowing red circles now. “Won’t you care to join me?”
Angela forced her body to relax back into the chair, knowing that showing any sign that she felt threatened was an enormous mistake. “No, thank you.”
The vampiress arched a dark brow. “The idea that you would refuse food and drink offered when you are hungry is insulting,” she hissed. “Are you saying you won’t partake of our hospitality even though I’ve just taste-tested your drink for you?”
Angela leaned forward now, pinning the vampire woman with a cold stare. “I’m a Protector,” she said evenly. “It’s against protocol for me to accept food or drink or any gifts at all while I’m on duty.” She didn’t mention that they could have easily put something in the food that would harm her or Cole – as the undead, there were many poisons vampires could ingest without harm that the living could not. “Also, I would rather not drink from that cup now that your lips have touched it, in any case.”
“Now, now, Millicent,” an amused male voice drawled just as the vampiress bared her fangs. “Let’s not scare the guests, shall we?” Dimitri glided into the room as if on wheels, dressed impeccably in a white linen shirt, black pants, and a smoky grey jacket with a swirling black pattern. His chestnut brown hair hung loosely around a sculpted face that was nearly as handsome as Cole’s, and his eyes were warm and brown – at least until they caught sight of Cole.
“You,” he hissed, the muscles in his face tightening. He pointed a shaking finger at Cole. “You nearly ashed me last night!”
Cole rose fluidly to his fee
t when the vampiress jumped in front of Dimitri, who was clearly her lover. Her eyes turned fully red as she elongated her fangs. “I’d hate to have to ash a pretty thing like you,” he said dryly. “Why don’t you both sit down so we can have a civilized discussion?”
“There is no point in having a civilized discussion with loyalists like you – ”
“Millicent!” Dimitri grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back, silencing her with a glare. Her face pinched with fear, but the damage had already been done.
“Loyalists?” Angela said slowly as she rose as well, resting her hand on the butt of her gun. “Are you saying that you two are rebels?”
“What’s going on in here?” A huge vampire, dressed all in black with dark hair buzzed close to his square head, entered the room. A huge scar bisected his left cheek, and he wore an angry scowl on his face. “How can anyone get some sleep in all this ruckus?”
Cole sized the newcomer up. “We’re here on behalf of the Order, questioning Dimitri here about an incident he was involved in at the Crazy Horse last night.”
The man’s eyes widened angrily as he turned on Dimitri. “Are you kidding me? The Order has already found out about your involvement? I told you that if they found you out I wouldn’t tolerate you here – ”
Several other vampires filed into the room as Dimitri and the other man launched into a heated argument, and Angela drew closer to Cole, a deep unease settling into her stomach. “I need to call for back up. I have a bad feeling that we just stumbled onto a nest of rebels.”
“As if a nest of vampires wasn’t bad enough,” Cole grumbled under his breath, eyeing the vampires. “These vamps all seem to be pretty young, though. I think we can take them.”
“Ten against two?” she hissed, wide-eyed. “Are you crazy?”
“What the fuck are you two whispering about over there?”
Angela and Cole turned back to see the hulking vampire glaring at them. His dark eyes glowered so fiercely she was surprised they hadn’t turned red like Millicent’s had earlier. “We’re just wondering who’s in charge around here.”
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