She watched him sympathetically. The streetlights danced across his face as he drove, highlighting the sad lines in his expression. “But you watched her.”
He slowed the car as he neared the next turn. “I worried about her. She had other brothers, but none of them would’ve ever checked on her. So, I did.”
“From the shadows,” Rose added.
“Yes,” Kallias agreed. “Always from the shadows.”
“Couldn’t you have just told her that you didn’t die?” she asked. “They never found your body. She couldn’t have known for sure that you were dead.”
He suddenly looked uncomfortable. “The evidence was pretty convincing. Based on what they found, I was either dead, or I…” he trailed off.
She nodded in understanding. “Or you had killed your wife.”
He turned to look at her, startled by her guess. “What?”
She shrugged sadly. “You already admitted that Theron killed your wife. And my guess is…he probably killed you, too. You just came back as a vampire, however that happens. So, if I’m right, and he killed you both at the same time, or on the same night, at least, then, they would’ve found her body but not yours.”
He stared at her, his eyes wide with shock. She was so perceptive for a human. She read into every little word and detail until she came to a conclusion, an accurate one. He’d never dealt with anyone like her before. “I’m finished talking about this,” he said as he pulled the car into a parking spot in front of Wal-Mart.
“Yeah. Of course. I’m sorry,” she sighed.
Kallias cut off the car and pulled the keys from the ignition, staring straight ahead at the store. He sighed. “I told you about my sister because I want you to realize that you shouldn’t blame yourself for feeling angry at your brother for leaving you alone. It’s natural. It means that you miss him and that you care.”
Rose blinked at him, stunned by the kind comment. “Thank you.”
He shrugged and cocked his head back, motioning toward the store. “Come on. Let’s get you inside so that you can get some clothes and some food.”
Rose opened her door and stepped out of the car. As the cold, night air chilled her skin, she crossed her arms, thankful for the warm leather jacket. She jumped as she felt Kallias come up behind her. He’d moved so quickly that she’d assumed he was still on the driver’s side of the car. She felt his breath on her ear.
“Did I scare you?” he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
She turned and looked up in surprise as she realized how close his body was to hers. She rolled her eyes. “It would take more than that to scare me.”
“Uh-huh,” he said skeptically, a smirk tugging at his lips. He pressed the button on his keys, locking the doors, and motioned toward the store. “I’m afraid this is all that’s open at this time of the night that sells clothes. I hope it’s okay.”
Rose rolled her eyes at him. “You hope it’s okay,” she snorted. “Do I look like the type that only wears clothes from some fancy boutique?” She raised an eyebrow and patted her thighs. “These jeans? Seven dollars at the thrift store.”
Kallias glanced down at the blue jeans that hugged her thighs and hips. “I have to admit, for a seven-dollar pair of jeans, they fit you very nicely.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Kallias.”
He smiled. “What? It was just an innocent observation.”
“Innocent?” she repeated in disbelief. She rolled her eyes and started walking toward the store, crossing the mostly empty parking lot.
Kallias fell into step beside her. He leaned closer to her, and with a mischievous grin, he whispered in her ear, “Now, if I’d said that your ass looks nice in those jeans, that would have been a little less innocent.”
She laughed, “Could you behave for a little bit?”
“Probably not,” he said playfully. He swept his gaze across the moonlit parking lot to be sure that he saw no vampires nearby and no suspicious humans watching them, even though he doubted anyone would’ve followed them this far.
As they stepped into the bright building, Rose noticed Kallias wince, as if the lights blinded him momentarily. “The lights hurt you?” she guessed.
“Yes,” he agreed, blinking a little more than normal. “Electric lights have not been the kindest to our vampire eyesight. But I’ve gotten used to the pain.”
“That sucks,” she commented as she stopped beside the shopping carts.
Kallias glanced questionably at the shopping carts and then grabbed one. He awkwardly pushed it forward ahead of them, as if he weren’t used to it.
As she followed him, she barely held back laughter as she noticed how strange he looked pushing a shopping cart. “You don’t do this often, do you?”
“More often than most vampires, I’m sure,” he muttered quietly.
“What?” she teased. “Vampires don’t go grocery shopping?”
“Not usually,” he said, frowning. “Grocery stores don’t sell humans.”
“Yeah, I know,” Rose muttered dryly. “What’s up with that?”
He snorted. He held back for a moment, allowing her to lead the way toward the clothes section. Rose heard the heavy thud of his boots and the clicking of the cart as he followed her. She didn’t see many people in the store, only a few workers and the occasional customer, but she frowned as she noticed that each time one of them would look up, they’d suddenly start staring at them.
“Should I just grab a pair of jeans and a T-shirt?” she asked.
“You’ll need more than that,” he said. He stopped behind her and leaned forward onto the cart’s handle. “Grab enough clothes for a week or so, at least.”
She spun toward him. “A week or so? Just how long are you expecting this arrangement to last? I have a life. I can’t just stay with you forever.”
“You won’t have a life for long if Theron gets his hands on you,” he reminded her. “Rose, you have my word. The moment that it is safe, I will take you home. You can go back to your normal life, and you’ll never see me again.”
Rose didn’t understand why, but it stung her a little to hear him say that. She cleared her throat and straightened, not wanting him to notice. “So, what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to just quit my job and drop my classes? And if so, then, what am I supposed to do when all of this is over? I have bills to pay.”
He rounded the shopping cart, coming to stand directly in front of her. With his forefinger, he tipped her chin back so that she could see the sincerity in his face and in his eyes. “Listen to me, Rose. You won’t be safe in your hometown until Theron is dead. But as soon as I can kill him, I will, and I promise that I will take you home, and I will make sure that you can return to your job and your classes. My telepathic abilities go a long way in smoothing things with people.”
She bristled. “I don’t need you to fight all my battles for me.”
“I know,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t help.”
Rose sighed, “Do you have a washing machine and dryer?”
Kallias frowned. “Yes. Why?”
“So, I can get seven pairs of clothes,” she said, shrugging, “and then, if I have to stay longer than a week, I can wash the clothes and wear them again.”
“Either that, or I can take you to get more,” he suggested.
She shook her head. “No. I’ll just wash them.”
He rolled his eyes. “Stop being stubborn…” he trailed off as Rose began to sift through a stack of T-shirts. “You realize this is the men’s section, right?”
She tossed an oversized navy blue T-shirt in the cart and continued her search. “Yeah, believe it or not, I can actually read,” she said without looking at him. “I know. Crazy, right? Who would’ve thought that a college student with a 4.0 GPA who happens to be at the top of her class would actually be able to read?”
He chuckled. “Okay, smartass. Then, why are we in the men’s section?”
“The T-shirts,” Rose expl
ained, spinning around to hold up a T-shirt with several superheroes pictured on the front. “They’re cheap and comfortable.”
He sighed, “Would you stop worrying about the cost?”
“Nope,” she said. She blinked in shock as she glanced across the aisle and saw a woman in pink sweats, standing completely still, her gray eyes wide and dark as she stared at Kallias. Rose turned toward Kallias, surprised to find him still looking at her, as if he didn’t even notice the woman staring. She glanced around, her brows furrowing, as she saw several workers staring as well. She didn’t understand how he managed to not notice all of the people staring at him.
“I notice,” Kallias told her. “It just doesn’t affect me.”
She frowned at him. “You were listening to my thoughts?”
“Yes,” he said simply, leaning against the shopping cart.
She glanced again at the woman. “How does that not affect you?”
“I’m used to it,” he sighed. “It’s always been this way.”
“People have always stared at you like that?” she asked.
“Since the night I awoke from the dead as a vampire,” he confirmed. He stepped closer to her so that he could speak quietly. “It’s human women, usually, and some human men. It’s that allure that we talked about. Humans are vulnerable to it. They find vampires incredibly attractive and seductive. They can’t help it.”
She frowned at that, sweeping her gaze back over his body. She couldn’t deny that he was incredibly attractive, but it certainly didn’t give her the sudden urge to stare at him like a brain-dead zombie. “All humans?” she asked skeptically.
“It usually follows the human’s sexual preferences,” he said, shrugging.
She nodded as she remembered the over-the-top way that Owen and Audrey reacted to his appearance. “So, a gay man would be affected by you.”
He nodded. “And straight women. And bisexual men and women.”
Rose quirked an eyebrow at that last part. “And a bisexual woman would also be affected by a female vampire, too, right? Like Sofia?” she assumed.
He smiled curiously. “You mean a bisexual woman like…you?”
“Wow. Nosy,” Rose said with a sassy smile. “But yes, if you must know.”
He chuckled. “Yes,” he confirmed, “I would assume so.”
“Then,” she said, suddenly worried, “why doesn’t it affect me like that?”
A strange look passed over his face, a look he didn’t hide quick enough, before he smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess you’re just too stubborn.”
“You’re lying,” she realized.
“We can’t waste too much time in here,” Kallias said uncomfortably, changing the subject. “I’ll go grab some snacks while you pick out your clothes.”
She frowned suspiciously at him. “What are you not telling me?”
He ignored her question. “I’ll listen for you. If anything happens, just say my name, and I will be by your side again in less than a second. Okay?”
She sighed, realizing that she wasn’t going to get an answer from him at that moment, and turned back toward the stack of T-shirts. She wasn’t done with the conversation, though. She knew he was hiding something from her, and she was determined to find out what it was. “I don’t understand how it doesn’t affect you,” she muttered under her breath. “I’d love for people to look at me like that.”
Kallias stopped behind her, the front of his body brushing against her back. His lips brushed her ear as he whispered, “Thanks for the permission.”
Rose straightened in shock, shivering a little at the sensation of his breath against her ear. By the time she recovered from her shock and turned around, planning on offering him some kind of snarky comeback, he was already gone.
“Seriously?” she said to the empty space. “I swear I will put a bell around your neck, if you keep doing that!” she yelled out. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
Rose blushed as she realized the woman in pink sweats was watching her. “Oh, great. Now, everyone thinks I’m insane,” she muttered under her breath.
She picked up another T-shirt and tossed it into the shopping cart.
“Can you introduce me to that man?” asked a soft female voice.
Rose squeaked, startled by the woman who had just snuck up on her. She spun toward the woman, surprised to find it was that same young woman who wore the matching pink sweats. Her blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail, the woman somehow managed to look much more stylish in sweats than Rose looked even in her nicest clothes. Her gray eyes studied Rose curiously.
“Uh, what?” Rose stammered awkwardly, her heart still racing.
The woman’s pushed her shopping cart next to the one Rose was using. Her shopping cart was empty, except for a bag of socks and a small box of diapers. She turned back toward Rose, giving her an intense, pleading look.
“He’s gorgeous, don’t you think?” the woman said excitedly. “I have never, ever, in my entire life, seen anyone that attractive! Is he your boyfriend?”
“Boyfriend?” Rose snorted. “No. Of course not.”
The woman glared at her, as if she considered Rose some kind of freak of nature. “What is wrong with you?” the woman snarled suddenly.
“Uh, what?” Rose sputtered in shock.
“Never mind,” the woman muttered. “Can you introduce me to him?”
“Well,” Rose said, frowning, “that would be difficult because I don’t know you. The basic introduction routine requires that I say your name, at least.”
The woman bristled. “You know what, lady? Screw you.”
Rose watched in confused shock as the woman grabbed her shopping cart and stormed off. “I have such great people skills,” Rose muttered sarcastically.
She sighed, shaking her head at the baffling conversation, and grabbed her shopping cart full of T-shirts. She headed toward the women’s clothing section to pick out several pairs of blue jeans and then to the underwear aisle.
As she pushed her cart onto the aisle, she heard something begin to buzz loudly. She stopped and glanced around, searching for the source of the sound. The aisles were empty, except for her. As she continued to listen to the buzzing, she realized that it sounded too close, as if the sound were coming from her own body. She reached into the large pockets of the leather jacket and noticed both a small bottle and Kallias’s phone, which happened to be vibrating. She pulled out the bottle and the phone, frowning as she realized it was a bottle of lighter fluid.
“Oh, for goodness sakes, who carries a bottle of lighter fluid around in their pocket?” she complained as she stuffed the bottle back down into the jacket pocket. She glanced down at the screen of the incessantly buzzing phone.
The name Erik flashed on the screen.
“Kallias, your phone is ringing,” she announced to the empty aisle.
When he didn’t somehow manifest himself in front of her to stop her from answering his phone, she shrugged and placed it against her ear. “Hello?”
Silence filled the line for a long time, so long that Rose assumed that there was no one on the other side of the line. Just as she started to hang up the phone, she heard an accented male voice say, “You’re a woman,” a hint of amusement in his voice. Rose frowned at his unfamiliar accent. It lilted like a European accent, but it didn’t sound like any accent she’d ever heard before.
“Oh. Thanks for telling me. I would’ve never known,” she said dryly. “No wonder they give me those weird looks when I go in the men’s bathrooms.”
He laughed loudly, the sound echoing through the phone line. Unlike his voice, which sounded smooth and melodic, his laugh sounded loud and short, like a bark. “Ooh, you are sassy. I like you,” he said in a flirty, amused tone.
She frowned worriedly. “Uh…thanks, I think?”
Wind crackled over the phone line. “Why do you have Kallias’s phone?”
“I’m wearing his jacket,” she said, “and the phone was in h
is pocket.”
“Oh?” he said in an interested tone. “Why are you wearing his jacket?”
“To cover the blood,” she blurted, “and my boobs.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I’m going to need you to elaborate, babe.”
Rose scowled at the pet name. “My shirt is torn and covered in blood.”
“Oh,” he said, disappointed. “I envisioned something totally different.”
“What?” she mumbled, frowning. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
He chuckled. “So… Why are you with Kallias right now?”
“Long story,” she mumbled as she grabbed a bra from the clothing rack.
Rose noticed the sound of sloshing water and a car buzzing past in the background of the line. She realized that Erik must have been outside, probably walking or standing on a sidewalk. “Well, babe,” Erik said into the phone line, “I’m not busy at the moment. I’d love to hear this long story of yours.”
She rolled her eyes. “Stop calling me ‘babe.’ You’ve never even met me.”
He laughed, “My apologies, babe.” Apparently, her irritation had only encouraged him. “But how can I call you by your name if I don’t know it?”
“It’s Rose,” she provided irritably.
“Rose,” he repeated. “That’s not a very sexy name, is it?”
She scowled. “Wow. Thanks,” she muttered sarcastically.
“It’s not sexy, but it is beautiful,” he amended. “It’s simple. Elegant.”
Her brows furrowed. “Umm…thanks?”
“Yep,” he said. “Well, Rose, my name is Erik Olafsson.”
“Yes, I can read the caller I.D., actually,” she muttered.
His short, barking laugh filled the line again. “This is fun,” he murmured. His voice took on a more excited, boyish sound, all of the sudden. “Hey, I can make a few sexual innuendos with your name. Would you like to hear them?”
Rose blinked. This conversation had gone south quickly. “No.”
“Aww, come on,” he whined. “Most women find it charming.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Are you sure they said charming? Maybe your big head just mistranslated the words inappropriate and immature to charming.”
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 34