Rose blushed. She cleared her throat, trying to remember the question. “Uh…it’s not too bad. The crime rate is pretty low, even in this part of town.”
Kallias raised his eyebrow as she continued to search her pockets. “Do you need some help with that?” he teased as she fished in her front pockets again.
She shot an irritated glare at him. “No. I just misplaced my key, I think.”
Rose gave up on finding the missing key and knocked twice on the door. The lock clicked as Audrey unlocked the door, and then the door swung open to reveal Audrey in the doorway. Her frizzy brown hair looked as wild and messy as ever, and there was a smudge of blue paint smudged across her cheek. The same blue paint had left splatters of blue on her short, purple shorts and the lacy white camisole that she unknowingly wore inside-out. Audrey’s hazel eyes narrowed.
“Rose Melanie Foster, I am going to skin you alive!” Audrey shrieked.
Kallias winced as the woman’s loud, high-pitched voice burned his ears.
“I’m not sure you have the tools to do that,” Rose commented dryly.
“You hung up on me! I called you back three times, and you never answered! I thought you were dead! I was going to call the police! See?” Audrey snapped, holding her phone up to show Rose that she had already pressed 9-1-1.
Rose shrugged. “You’re right. It was inconsiderate of me. Next time I’ll tell the murderer to wait a moment while I answer the phone and assure you that I’m still alive. Of course, then, he’ll kill me, which means that I lied to you, so…”
Audrey’s hazel eyes widened. “Murderer? Then…the dream came true?”
“You know, I think you should consider going into meteorology, instead of art,” Rose said. “Then the news might actually get the weather report right.”
“Oh, Rose!” Audrey cried.
Suddenly, without warning, she threw herself at Rose, latching both arms around her neck. The force of the hug sent them backward and would have probably sent them over the railing had Kallias not been there to catch them.
Rose patted Audrey’s back awkwardly. “I’m all right, Audrey. I promise.”
“I’m so glad you’re alive, but how?” Audrey asked, finally pulling back.
Rose pointed her thumb behind her. “The…uh…arrogant jerk.”
Audrey frowned, and then her gaze shifted in the direction of Rose’s thumb. Her eyes widened as she saw Kallias, apparently only just now noticing him standing there. “Oh, my, my,” she breathed. “Can I get attacked next?”
Rose gaped at her friend. “Audrey!” she scolded.
Audrey blinked innocently. “What?”
Rose turned toward Kallias, finding him right behind her, watching them curiously. She spread out her arms. “As you can see, I’m safe. You can go now.”
Audrey slapped Rose’s arm. “Rose! Don’t be rude! Invite him inside!”
Rose scowled at her in disbelief. “Invite him inside? Really?”
She blinked as she realized that Audrey was staring at Kallias with a strange, dazed, adoring look, much in the same way that Owen and Eleanor had.
“He saved your life, and he’s hot. It’s the least we can do,” Audrey said.
Rose stared blankly at her friend.
“Actually, I need to find Theron before sunrise,” Kallias said reluctantly.
Audrey smiled excitedly. “Dude! Is that an accent? Say something else!”
“See? He’s busy,” Rose said, ignoring Audrey’s fascination with his voice.
Kallias scowled at Rose’s eagerness to get rid of him. He cast a quick glance behind the women, into the tiny apartment, suddenly curious about where this strange woman lived. He wondered if he might find a clue somewhere inside about why Theron would be so fixated on her. “On second thought, maybe…”
“No. No second thoughts,” Rose said worriedly.
“Rose can make you a cup of coffee. She’s good at that,” Audrey offered. “She’s terrible at cooking, though, so I wouldn’t suggest asking for food, not unless you like the taste of burnt food. I can’t cook either, but that’s irrelevant.”
Rose glared at Audrey. “I am not making him coffee!”
Audrey patted her shoulder. “Yes, you will. He saved your life, and we both know that deep down, underneath a thick layer of sarcasm and stubbornness, you’re like the nicest person ever,” she said in a patronizing tone. Then, she glanced past Rose and smiled at the tall, blindingly attractive man that leaned against the metal railing and asked, “Would you like to come inside?”
Flashing a wry smile at Rose, he said, “A cup of coffee does sound nice.”
Rose glared at him. “You said you have things to do tonight.”
He seemed amused. “I changed my mind. Those things can wait.”
“Yay!” Audrey sang. She smiled at the man who, unbeknownst to them, happened to be a vampire and said, “What are you waiting for? Come inside!”
Kallias smirked smugly at Rose as he brushed past her and stepped inside her apartment. Her eyes narrowed, and she glared daggers at the back of his head as she followed him inside. Kallias circled the small apartment as Audrey and Rose both headed toward the kitchen area. The tiny studio apartment basically consisted of just a bathroom and closet along the right wall and a kitchen area along the left wall. The center of the room was filled with a desk, several bookshelves, and one queen-sized bed. Despite the fact that the apartment was nearly spotless, Kallias could barely move because of its small, cramped size.
“You both live here?” Kallias asked in disbelief.
“No, we live outside,” Rose muttered sarcastically as she grabbed a pot.
Audrey hopped on top of the counter and crossed her legs. “Yep, we’ve lived here for four years. We moved in here during our first semester of college.”
Kallias frowned at the one bed. “Where do you sleep?”
“In the bathtub,” Rose muttered grumpily. “The bed is just decoration.”
Kallias chuckled at her continuous sarcastic remarks. “Both of you?”
Rose glanced up at him and shrugged. “It’s a big bathtub.”
Audrey scowled at Rose. “Actually, it’s a tiny bathtub like everything else in this apartment, but we don’t sleep in it either. We sleep in the bed.”
Kallias glanced up at the two women. “Oh. Are you two…”
Before he could finish, Audrey objected, “No! No. No.”
“It’s not like that is any of his business anyway,” Rose grumbled.
Audrey smiled at Kallias. “I’m straight. And Rose is…well…” she paused, casting a curious look at Rose. She shrugged. “Well, she’s single anyway.”
Rose turned and glared at Audrey. “Really, Audrey?”
Audrey gave her an innocent look. “But you are single.”
Rose rolled her eyes and turned back toward the sink, filling the pot with water. She grumbled under her breath as she continued to make the coffee.
Kallias made a slow circle around the apartment, studying each thing he passed, searching for some clue as to what would make this woman catch Theron’s interest. He noticed textbooks and notebooks littering the black desk against the back wall but nothing out of the ordinary. A worn, black backpack set beside the bed, leaning against a nightstand that matched the oak bedframe. He absently scanned the bookshelves for anything peculiar, but he only noticed a large collection of fiction novels and history books. A few pieces of unfamiliar artwork depicting sunsets and oceans decorated the walls. He stared a while at a painting of a sunset, unable to remember how the last sunset he’d seen looked.
“Audrey painted that. She’s an art major,” Rose said from beside him.
Kallias glanced down at her, suddenly very aware of her closeness. “Oh.”
Rose held out a cup of dark liquid. “Coffee?”
The scent of coffee and hazelnut soothed his senses, dulling the powerful scent of the woman’s blood. Kallias blinked at the proffered coffee mug, surprised that she’d ac
tually made him coffee. “Thank you,” he murmured.
Rose felt hypnotized by his melodic voice. She shook herself out of it as she watched him lift the coffee mug to his lips. “You’re not afraid I poisoned it?”
Kallias chuckled at her. “You underestimate me, sweetheart. It would take more than a little poison to kill me,” he teased with a playful grin. He sipped the hot liquid, his eyebrows lifting at the smooth, bold taste.
“Well?” Rose asked. She held her own cup in her hand, still full.
“It’s good,” he admitted. “Maybe you are competent at something.”
“Maybe?” she repeated in disbelief.
Audrey still sat on the counter, watching their banter with amusement. “Rose, you didn’t do him justice in your description! Sexy is an understatement!”
Kallias raised his eyebrow at Rose. “You called me sexy?”
“No!” she scoffed. She glared at Audrey and snapped, “I did not call him sexy, and you know it! Your hospital friend called him sexy. Not me!”
Audrey held her hands up in surrender. “I plead the fifth.”
“So, you don’t think I’m sexy?” Kallias asked in an amused tone.
Rose blinked. “I… I… What kind of question is that?” she stammered.
Kallias shrugged as he sipped his coffee. “I thought it was a simple one.”
“Are you wearing his jacket?” Audrey asked suddenly, grinning excitedly.
Rose glanced down at the oversized leather jacket. “It’s a long story.”
Deciding that his chances of finding any significant information in her apartment were slim to none, he set his coffee cup on the counter. “I should go.”
“No! Wait!” Rose called as she saw him heading toward the door. She set her coffee cup on her nightstand and rushed after him, determined to stop him before he disappeared again. “I need to talk to you.”
Kallias paused at the doorway and looked down at her. “Alone?”
Rose blushed and glanced at Audrey who was watching them with some sick kind of satisfaction. “Yeah,” she said, “but we’re just going to talk.”
One corner of his lips curved into a smile. “Of course.”
“Bye, Mr. Tall-Hunky-Scary-Guy!” Audrey called as they headed outside.
Rose sighed as she closed the door, shutting them outside. “I would say she’s not always like this, but that would be a lie,” she said with a nervous laugh.
Kallias chuckled and leaned against the railing. “You wanted to talk?”
Rose blushed and stared at her feet, as if her shoes were the most interesting things in the world. “I just wanted to thank you for saving me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Wow, you’re actually grateful for something?”
She glared at him. “You know what? I take it back!”
“It’s too late now. You already said it,” Kallias laughed.
Rose crossed her arms. “I really don’t like you,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Your friend doesn’t seem convinced of that,” Kallias teased, glancing back toward the apartment, still hearing the peculiar brunette woman’s thoughts.
“Audrey is a hopeless romantic. She probably thinks I’ve found my knight-in-shining-armor, and you’re obviously nothing of the sort,” Rose scoffed.
Kallias grinned. “I agree. My armor is pretty shitty, and I never had the etiquette to be a knight,” he joked. He watched as she laughed softly at him, amazed by how much her smile brightened her already luminous azure eyes.
She sighed, “So, uh…do you think Theron will come after me again?”
“Probably,” he said. “You seem to have piqued his interest somehow.”
“Which is weird because I’m not a very interesting person,” she laughed.
“I find you very interesting,” Kallias said before he could stop himself. Then he cleared his throat and added, “And by interesting, I mean annoying.”
Rose watched him curiously. “Kallias, why did you save me?”
He just stared at her for a moment. “I don’t like to see people die.”
She smiled. “Maybe you’re not as terrible as you think you are.”
Kallias looked away. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew my secrets.”
Rose frowned curiously at that, wishing that he would go on, that he’d divulge those secrets to her. She wasn’t sure why she even cared, but then, she supposed it was just her insatiable curiosity, nothing more than that. She hoped it was nothing more than that anyway. As a tense silence spread between them, Rose found herself wishing she could forget the whole night, not because she wanted to forget about what happened to her, but because she wanted to forget what had happened to her teacher. She was sure the image of Dr. Parker’s lifeless body would haunt her nightmares, just as the memory of her mother already did.
“Why didn’t you save her, instead of me?” she asked, her voice breaking.
Kallias hated the sight of tears swimming in her blue eyes. “I was too late. She was already dead when I got there. There was nothing I could do.”
Rose stared down at her hands, her fingers trembling. “She had kids, a husband, people who will miss her. If anyone had to die, it should have been me.”
“Don’t say that,” Kallias snarled, stunned by her statement.
Rose shrugged. “Why not? It’s not like I would have been missed,” she stated, as if it were a simple fact that held no meaning. “For whatever reason, Theron wants to kill me. If he had just killed me, then Dr. Parker might still…”
“Shut up,” Kallias snapped, placing his finger against her lips to stop her. Both of them froze, surprised that he’d reacted like that. Their eyes met. Almost involuntarily, his finger traced her lips, and his mouth watered at the softness.
For a moment, Rose thought he might kiss her, and for some reason, a reason she didn’t understand, she wanted him to kiss her. This man angered her and irritated her more than anyone, but he also evoked strange feelings in her that she’d never felt before, feelings that delighted at the thought of being kissed by him. But instead, he pulled away, scowling at his hand as if confused by its action. He cleared his throat and started to leave, but she grabbed his arm to stop him.
When he turned back toward her, she blurted nervously, “Your jacket.”
She shrugged off the jacket and handed it to him. He reluctantly took it from her and pulled it on, leaving it hanging open over his black button-down shirt. She crossed her arms to hide her torn shirt and smiled nervously at him.
“Thanks,” she mumbled, blushing.
“Stay home tomorrow night. Don’t leave for any reason,” Kallias said.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Okay, first, I don’t know what kind of lifestyle you live, but some of us actually have to work and attend classes,” she sassed. She pointed threateningly at him. “And, second, don’t tell me what to do.”
He raised an eyebrow at her finger, his lips twitching as he tried not to laugh. “What good will your job and classes do if Theron kills you?” he asked.
Rose pursed her lips. “I can’t just stay home forever.”
Kallias sighed in exasperation. “I didn’t tell you to stay home forever. I told you to stay home tomorrow. I just need time to deal with Theron first.”
“Fine,” she said begrudgingly. “I’ll think about it.”
He stared at her, reluctant to leave. “Goodbye, Rose Foster.”
As he started to leave, Rose grabbed his arm to stop him again. “I…” she stammered. She bit her lip nervously and mumbled, “Just… Thanks again.”
Kallias swallowed uncomfortably. “Try to stay safe tomorrow night.”
“Should I expect to see you again?” Rose asked curiously.
“No,” Kallias answered. Then, he turned and walked away.
Questions
As soon as Rose opened the door of the apartment to slip back inside, Audrey fell out onto the ground. Rose rolled her eyes as she realized that her friend had been listen
ing at the door. Rose sighed and walked past her. Audrey pulled herself back to her feet and straightened her clothes, as if nothing had happened, and followed Rose inside, grinning as if she’d found a treasure chest.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Rose muttered as she grabbed her coffee.
“You like him,” Audrey said in a sing-songy voice.
Rose crawled into bed with her coffee cup and leaned wearily against the headboard as she sipped the warm coffee. “I don’t know where you and Owen are getting these ideas, but you couldn’t be more wrong. I do not like him.”
Audrey smiled. “Owen thinks you like him, too?”
Rose scowled at Audrey’s triumphant smile. “That is not confirmation.”
Audrey suddenly tilted her head to the side. “Your boobs are showing.”
Rose grimaced at her torn shirt and set her coffee cup on the nightstand. She hopped out of bed to change clothes. “Why do you think I was wearing his jacket?” she grumbled as she rummaged through the dresser for a pair of pajamas.
She pulled out a pair of red and black flannel pajamas and headed to the bathroom to change into her pajamas and brush her teeth. She unbuttoned what was left of her shirt and tossed the torn shirt into the small garbage can beside the sink. Then, as she stepped out of her blue jeans, she heard a loud gasp.
Audrey stood in the doorway of the bathroom, a glass of sweet tea in her hand, her amber eyes wide with shock. “Rose! Look at your arms!”
Rose frowned and glanced at her reflection in the mirror that set above the sink, blinking as she saw the many purple and yellow bruises that scattered her arms and shoulders. She ran her finger across the deep, red marks on her forearms where Theron’s fingernails had dug into her skin. She found it strange to see evidence of the attacks all over her body, and yet, no marks on her neck.
“Maybe you should go to the hospital,” Audrey suggested, “just in case.”
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 18