Kallias studied them for a moment. “No. They’re not here for you.”
Rose frowned in surprise. “Then why are they here?”
He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples wearily. “For blood.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “They are going to kill someone here?”
“Not someone,” he said as he listened to their thoughts. “Everyone.”
Rose gaped at him. “What?” she gasped.
“This happens sometimes when vampires consume too much blood, especially if any of the humans they fed from were drunk or high,” he sighed. “The last thing in this world that you want to happen is for a powerful monster with bloodlust and an insatiable hunger to have lowered inhibitions. They start to feed on and kill every human they can just because they want to, and the hunger never fades. So, they never stop. Not until sunrise forces them to stop. By then, they’ve killed countless humans. Intoxicated vampires are very bad news.”
Her throat suddenly felt tight. “So they came here to kill everyone?”
He looked at her, his eyes softening. “You leave. I will deal with them.”
“Leave? What am I supposed to do? Just walk out the door?” she scoffed.
“Once you get outside, run straight to the car and wait for me,” he said.
She jumped when she felt his hand on her thigh. “What are you doing?”
He paused in the middle of his instructions, his lips twitching into a smirk as he realized what she’d assumed. “Relax, moro mou. I wouldn’t touch you there in the middle of a restaurant,” he said playfully, his voice in her ear.
She blushed again at the way his accented voice half-purred-half-growled the Greek pet name. She was sure now that he was doing this on purpose. He knew that it affected her. She grabbed his hand, understanding as she felt the car keys in his palm. But then, as she realized what he’d said, she glared at him. “No. No. No. The correct way to say that is: I wouldn’t touch you there at all.”
His eyes glittered mischievously. “Of course. That’s what I meant to say.”
Rose continued to glare at him. “There’s no way I am leaving you here.”
His gaze hardened again. “Yes, you are. If they realize what you are…”
“What I am?” she repeated suspiciously. “A geeky college student?”
He froze, his eyes suddenly guarded. “A human that Theron wants.”
Her eyes narrowed. She knew there was more to it than that. He knew something, or believed something, about her that he refused to tell her. But she didn’t have time to press the issue. “How exactly do you expect me to leave?”
“Go to the bathroom, and crawl through the window,” he explained.
“Oh. So, you want me to pull the oh-crap-I’m-not-doing-well-on-this-date-and-I’m-too-awkward-to-explain-so-I’ll-just-crawl-out-the-bathroom-window move,” Rose said, cramming almost every word into one breath.
He frowned at her for a moment as he processed the long name she’d given it. His lips twitched as he suppressed a laugh. “You’ve done that?”
She flushed, heat creeping up her neck. “Only a few times.”
He chuckled, “Right. Well, then, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”
Rose inhaled sharply, far too aware that his hand was still on her thigh, his finger tracing lazy circles over her jeans. She grasped his hand to stop him, ignoring the smirk that curved at his lips in response. “I’m still not leaving you.”
Kallias pulled away from her, his eyes darkening angrily. “Yes, you are.”
She rolled her eyes. “You can stop telling me what to do because you already know I’m not going to listen. Okay, so, you said people might die, right?”
He scowled at her. “Yes. I doubt I’ll be able to save everyone.”
“Then, the first thing we need to do is evacuate the restaurant,” she said.
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Well, yes. Is that possible?”
She glanced at the vampires again, watching as they continued to act obnoxiously, now harassing the hostess. Unlike the other women, the hostess seemed frustrated with their behavior, rather than being irrationally attracted to them like the other women. Starr said something to them, gesturing toward the tables and booths, and the shorter one grasped her arm and stroked it seductively. She pulled away from him. “You said she’s a lesbian, right?” Rose asked him.
Kallias followed her gaze toward the hostess. “Yes. That’s why she’s not falling for their allure like the other human women,” he confirmed. “Why?”
She turned toward him. “If she’s homosexual, then who is the cook?”
He frowned, confused. “The cook? What cook?”
“The one that brought us our food earlier,” she explained. “He was affectionate toward her, and she seemed comfortable with it. But since she’s a lesbian, he can’t be a boyfriend. So, who is he? You can read his mind, can’t you?”
He shrugged regretfully. “It doesn’t work that way. I need to be fairly close to hear someone’s thoughts, at least in the same room, and I can’t just…” He froze, as if he’d suddenly thought of something. He sniffed, once, then twice, and then he looked back at her. “His blood smells similar to hers. He’s most likely a family member, and if I had to guess, I would say he is probably her brother.”
Rose smiled. She pushed back her chair and stood. “I know what to do.”
He frowned worriedly. “What? What are you doing?”
“I am going to the bathroom,” she announced.
Kallias continued to frown because, after she said that, she turned and marched straight into…not the bathroom, but the kitchen.
—
Peter stopped slicing about midway through the tomato, looking up as the steel kitchen doors slowly opened. He frowned, his knife still frozen above the tomato as he stared at the strange woman standing in his kitchen. Her dusty, dirt-stained jeans hung loosely on her hips as if nothing really held them there, and a black, leather jacket draped over her body, hanging to the middle of her thighs. Her fiery auburn hair hung past her breasts and looked tangled and messy.
“I know you. I just brought you food,” he said. “You’re a customer.”
She stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. “Yep.”
He frowned at the young woman. She seemed to be looking past him, studying the wall. “This is the kitchen. You’re not supposed to be in here.”
Rose finally looked at him, smiling as she noticed the obvious similarities between him and the hostess. He had the same big, green eyes and the same bright smile. The only noticeable difference between him and his sister was the hair. His was short and black while hers was long and dyed bright purple.
She shrugged apologetically. “I was just looking for the bathroom.”
He stared at her blankly. “In the kitchen?”
“Right. What was I thinking? They don’t put toilets in the kitchen. That would be weird…and gross…and unsanitary,” she rambled, shifting anxiously.
Peter continued to scowl at her, seriously doubting her mental state. “If you were looking for the bathroom, why didn’t you just ask Leslie or Stephanie?”
She frowned worriedly. “Stephanie?”
“Sorry, I mean Starr,” he said. “She goes by Starr with everyone else.”
Rose nodded. “Oh. Starr. The hostess that seated us?”
“Yeah. Why didn’t you ask her?” Peter asked suspiciously.
Rose mentally chided her racing heart, reminding herself that she shouldn’t be nervous. True, she was a terrible liar and had never successfully deceived anyone, but technically, she would not be lying this time. “Uh…well, I would have. It’s just that I didn’t see the waitress, and I didn’t want to bother Starr,” she explained. “She already had her hands full with those guys.”
He straightened. “What guys?” he asked, his jaw clenching.
“Just these jerks that came in,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant.
His grip
tightened around the knife. “What are they doing to her?”
“Well, they’re just kind of handsy and obnoxious,” she muttered, cringing.
“They touched her?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Well, yeah, but…maybe she is okay with that?” she suggested hesitantly.
“My baby sister is not okay with strange men touching her,” he snarled.
Rose tried to hide her excitement as he confirmed their suspicion. “Oh.”
“She’s a lesbian. She doesn’t want men touching her at all,” he continued.
“Oh, well, in that case, I guess it is unwanted,” she amended.
The cook stared at her for one more brief moment before he suddenly tossed the knife onto the counter, metal clanging against metal as it skidded across the surface of the steel counter. He stormed out of the kitchen.
For a moment after the doors swung closed behind him, Rose stood there, frozen in the middle of the small, empty kitchen, stunned that it had actually worked. She laughed in disbelief and then walked toward the other side of the kitchen, stopping in front of the back wall, between the deep, steel sinks and the back exit. She silently reminded herself that she shouldn’t be proud of herself. On the list of achievements in her life, trickery should definitely be at the bottom of the list, but she just couldn’t believe it had actually worked. She studied the small, clear box that enclosed a red fire alarm, scowling at the lock along the side.
She glanced around nervously, even though she already knew the kitchen was empty, and then, she pulled at the box, hoping someone had left it unlocked. Unfortunately, it didn’t budge. She sighed and walked over to the counter, grabbing the cook’s forgotten knife, and returned to the box. She slammed the handle of the knife into the glass with all of her strength, breaking the case. Then, she reached in and pulled the alarm. She winced as a shard of glass cut her hand.
Then, suddenly, shrill alarms began to screech through the diner, and icy water drenched her as the sprinklers began to spray water from the ceiling. Rose ran as fast as she could toward the door, praying she didn’t slip on the wet floor.
“Stop! I have a gun!” warned a female voice, screaming over the alarms.
Rose froze immediately. She turned slowly toward the woman’s voice. Standing just outside of a plain wooden door in the corner, which Rose now realized was probably an office, a middle-aged woman stood, her gray eyes wide with fright. Rose glanced at the ceiling, squinting through the water that pelted her face, and sighed as she saw the black lens, “Cameras. Of course.”
The woman moved toward her, slowly, as if she were afraid of Rose, which seemed completely absurd to Rose since this woman had just announced she had a gun and Rose was probably one of the least scary people in the world. Rose hesitantly wiped the water from her face as she tried to see the woman. From what she could see, a messy bun held the woman’s gray hair out of her eyes, and the woman wore normal clothing, a loose-fitting pink flowery blouse with loose khakis. Rose figured the woman was probably the owner or manager.
The woman found a phone on the wall and pulled it to her ear. “Now don’t you move, lady! I’m calling the police, but I will get my gun if I need it.”
“I think you’re overreacting. I just pulled the fire alarm,” Rose muttered.
“What?” the woman asked loudly, unable to hear her over the alarm.
Before the woman could press the buttons on the phone, the doors swung open, crashing against the wall, and Rose felt something fly past her. She didn’t see anything. She just felt the shift of air. The woman gasped, and Rose turned to find Kallias standing in front of the woman, gripping her wrists.
“Drop the phone. Now,” he demanded, his voice no more than a growl.
The woman looked terrified. She dropped the phone immediately.
He jerked the woman closer to him. “Look at me. Look at me!”
The woman looked at him, trembling in fear. “Please,” she cried.
“Kallias, you’re frightening her!” Rose yelled at him. She moved closer to them, squinting as she tried to see Kallias through the downpour of water that obscured her vision. She froze as she noticed the blood pouring from his ears.
“Relax,” Kallias said to the woman, his voice hoarse. It was impossible for Rose to hear him over the alarms. With what little strength he had left, he took control of the woman’s mind. “Everything is all right. No one will hurt you.”
The woman instantly relaxed. “Okay,” she said emotionlessly.
Rose watched in shock, stunned that the woman had calmed so easily.
“Cut off the alarms, Rose,” Kallias demanded breathlessly.
She stared at him worriedly. “Are you okay?”
“Rose. Alarms. Now,” he growled, still not looking at her.
“Okay! Okay!” she snapped. She ran over to the alarm box, hoping that it would be as simple as flipping the lever. Luckily, it wasn’t a complicated alarm system. The alarms and sprinklers ceased immediately when she flipped the lever.
Rose wiped her hand across her face, wiping the water from her eyes, relieved that she could finally hear and see. As she returned to the corner of the kitchen, she realized that Kallias looked even worse than she thought. His skin seemed pale, and a long, dark stream of blood poured steadily from his ears.
Kallias continued to stare at the woman, fighting to retain control of her mind, despite his weakened state. “You will not remember seeing either of us. You will only remember becoming worried that there was a problem with the electrical wiring and evacuating the restaurant out of fear that a fire might start. Everything is fine now. There is no need for police or firemen. You just wanted to be sure. You were doing what was best for your customers.”
The woman’s gray eyes were blank, as if all of her personality and will had been hidden away for a moment. “Yes,” she agreed impassively.
“Good,” Kallias said. “Now leave, and do not return to the restaurant until tomorrow. You won’t remember any of this after you leave this room.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice monotonous and robotic.
He released the woman’s wrists so that she could flee the room. As soon as the woman was gone, he fell back against the metal counter behind him, nearly collapsing in the floor. His eyes fluttered closed, and he panted wearily.
Rose moved closer to him. “Kallias, what is wrong with you? Why are your ears bleeding?” she asked worriedly. Her bright blue eyes widened as she noticed blood, as thin as water, beginning to pour from his nose as well. “And you nose, too? What’s happening to you? Why are you bleeding? Are you hurt?”
Kallias opened his eyes and wiped the back of his hand across his nose, scowling at his hand as he saw the blood that coated it. He looked at her, trying to ignore the overwhelming hunger and tiredness he felt. “It’s always a bad idea to use your psychic abilities when you’re injured, but I didn’t have a choice.”
Rose stepped closer to him, instinctively reaching out to wipe the blood from his face, but before she could touch him, his hand wrapped around her wrist. She gasped at how tightly he held her wrist and started to say something to him about it. But she froze as she noticed the ravenous look in his eyes. He stared at the open cuts in her hand, his fangs bared like an animal. “Kallias?” she asked.
He looked at her, then, his eyes widening as he realized what he was doing. He dropped her hand immediately and turned away, panting heavily as he tried to regain control of his hunger. He growled at her, “Are you insane?”
Rose pulled her hand back to herself and glared at him. “Me? I’m not the one who was just staring at someone’s hand like it was my next meal.”
Kallias looked over at her again, and his eyes darkened hungrily. “Skata. Get away, you hazo koritsi,” he snarled, blending English and Greek together as if they were one language, instead of two. “Do you want me to lose control?”
Her eyes narrowed at the Greek words that meant stupid girl. “Okay, I am not stupid,” she complai
ned, apparently only noticing that part.
He stepped toward her, rising to his full height. “You are bleeding, and I’m injured. Do you have any idea how close I was to biting you just now?”
Rose swallowed uneasily. “How did you get injured?”
Kallias eyed her pointedly. “Next time you decide to set off some loud-ass alarms, give me a warning first, okay?” he said, wiping the blood from his ears.
She froze, her mouth falling open as she realized why he was bleeding. “Oh, no, I didn’t realize. Kallias, I am so, so sorry. It was a stupid idea.”
He scowled at her. “Stupid?” he scoffed. He looked down at the blood coating his hands. “It wasn’t stupid, Rose. It was brilliant. It worked perfectly.”
She gaped at the compliment, but he seemed to be too distracted by the blood to notice. He probably didn’t even realize what he’d said. “It worked?”
Kallias nodded. “Everyone left, except for the vampires,” he said. He studied her, his lips curving. “How did you get the cook to leave the kitchen?”
“I told him his sister was being manhandled by some creeps,” she said.
To her surprise, he threw his head back and laughed loudly. “Brilliant.”
She smiled shyly and shrugged one shoulder. “Nah. I just happen to have an overprotective older brother myself. I know how they think.”
He chuckled. Then, he suddenly straightened and glanced at the doors, as if he’d heard something. “Rose, I need you to do something else for me.”
She nodded. “Okay. What do I need to do?”
“I need you to turn off the cameras,” he answered. “The last thing I need is for humans to have documented footage of what I am about to do.”
She scowled at him. “You do realize there is a difference between a computer nerd and a book nerd, right? I am the latter. I don’t know everything.”
“Oh, really? I could’ve sworn that you thought you did,” Kallias teased.
Rose glared at him. “Oh, you’re so funny,” she said sarcastically.
His smile faded, and he suddenly looked intensely serious. “Look, I just need you to try. Those vampires are recovering as we speak. One or both of those vampires will be in here to kill us within a minute or two. I will take care of them, but I need you to take care of the cameras. You have cameras at your café, right?”
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 38