His smile widened. “Like what?” he asked huskily.
“I need to shower,” Rose announced as she crawled out of bed, trying to ignore what that seductive stare did to her. “And pee. But not in that order.”
Kallias laughed at her nervous rambling. “The towels are in the closet.”
“Right. Okay. See you downstairs,” Rose stammered.
“Yeah,” Kallias agreed, stealing one last glance at her as she left.
20
Training
Rose froze at the bottom of the stairs, casting a puzzled glance around the foyer. She frowned at each of the four doors, wondering which one led to the kitchen. She remembered that the door at the end led to the hallway, but she had no clue where the other doors led. “Note to self: Next time you stay in a mansion with vampires while other vampires are trying to kill you, ask for a better tour, so that you at least know where the freaking kitchen is,” she muttered to herself.
“Or…you could just follow the scent of bacon,” said a voice behind her.
Startled, she jumped at the sudden voice and spun around to find Erik standing in a doorway along the left wall. He watched her with a smirk as he chewed on a slice of bacon. Her eyes narrowed. “Why did you sneak up on me?”
He stuffed the rest of the bacon into his mouth. “I’m a creature of darkness, babe. Sneaking is kind of our thing,” he mumbled with his mouth full of bacon. “Follow me. I will show you how to find the kitchen in this mansion.”
She scowled at his mocking tone. “It feels like a mansion,” she muttered as she walked over to him. “Also, I’m not your babe. Quit calling me that.”
He grinned. “Do you want me to call you a dirtier name?”
She stared blankly at him. “I want you to call me Rose.”
“That’s not very creative,” he complained.
“Neither is calling everyone with female genitalia by the same pet name,” she countered, “but you don’t seem to have a problem with that.”
Erik grimaced. “Female genitalia? Who the hell calls it that?”
“Um…lots of people,” she muttered. “Science books, for one.”
He scratched his head. “I’m starting to understand why you’re a virgin.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Kitchen. Please.”
Erik chuckled and motioned for her to follow him with the tilt of his head. She followed him into a kitchen that was easily larger than her entire apartment. Like the rest of the home, the floors were hardwood, and the walls were made up of large, gray stones. The kitchen looked strange because some of the appliances, such as the stainless steel appliances, looked modern and possibly even brand-new, but other contents of the kitchen, such as the chimney stove that probably hadn’t been used in decades, appeared to be at least a century old.
“Wow,” she mumbled. She glanced over at the long dining room table that spanned across half the room. “Is every room in this house massive?”
Erik made his way over to the long counter in the center of the room and snatched another piece of bacon off of the wooden platter. “You think this kitchen is massive?” he scoffed as he bit off a piece of the bacon. “You should’ve seen the kitchens in the Norse mead halls. This is a little small, if you ask me.”
Rose turned to frown at him. “Norse? You lived during the Viking age?”
He seemed offended by the question. “Lived during? I am a Viking.”
She gaped at him, her eyes bright with excitement. “Seriously?”
He smiled smugly, clearly pleased by her reaction. “Not just any Viking either,” he bragged. “I was a powerful Norse warrior and the son of a chieftain. If I had not died when I did, I would have become the leader of my village.”
Rose scowled at the immature vampire. “That’s a scary thought.”
Erik nodded. “Yeah, I probably would have gotten everyone killed.”
“Erik Olafsson,” she repeated. “Of course. That is a Norse name.”
“Say it again,” he teased, smirking. “I like it when you say my name.”
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ugh. Do you ever stop?”
He tossed another piece of bacon into his mouth. “Not really. No.”
Rose suddenly glanced around, panicking, as she scanned the counters.
Erik frowned as he sensed her anxiety. “What is it? What do you need?”
“Coffee,” she said, her face pale. “I need coffee.”
Without turning around, he lifted his hand and flipped open a cabinet above his head. A coffee can and a box of herbal tea set next to an old coffee pot.
Her bright blue eyes lightened with pure bliss. “Yes! Oh my word, yes! You’re my best friend now!” she squealed excitedly as she shoved him out of the way so that she could grab the coffee from the cabinet. “Well, not really. I already have a best friend. And also, I kind of can’t stand you. No offense.”
He shrugged, munching on another piece of bacon. “None taken.”
Rose opened the coffee can. “Where is Kallias? Has he come down yet?”
Erik glanced up toward the ceiling as he listened to the sounds coming from upstairs. “Unless he left the water running, I think he’s still in the shower.”
“You can hear the water?” she asked. “From all the way down here?”
“Yep,” he said, nodding easily, as he grabbed yet another piece of bacon.
She grimaced as something occurred to her. “You don’t have sex while Kallias is in the house, do you? Because it seems like that would be awkward.”
He snorted, “You make a big deal about strangest things. Kallias isn’t a prude. He was Ancient Greek, for Odin’s sake. His people were perverts. They had sex in the middle of the streets, and they had sex twenty-four hours a day.”
Rose scowled at him. “That isn’t even remotely accurate.”
Erik continued, as if he hadn’t heard her, lost in whatever fantasy story he’d come up with in his head. “I heard that their women would have sex in public so that any onlooker could watch. I would’ve loved to be alive for that.”
She blinked in shock. “Can you hand me two knives, please?”
“Sure,” he said. He pulled open a drawer beside him and pulled out two knifes. He held them out with the handles facing her. “Why do you need them?”
Without missing a beat, she said, “Because I need to shove both of them into my ears so that I never have to hear you say anything like that ever again.”
He stared at her for several moments, obviously stunned. He tossed the knives back in the drawer. “You know what your problem is? You’re a prude.”
“I am not a prude!” Rose objected. Her long red hair fell over her shoulder as she leaned over the coffee can to scoop out her coffee. “It only seems that way to you because you are a crude, pigheaded, barbaric pervert.”
Erik smiled as if she’d just handed him an award. “Thank you.”
She rolled her eyes at him as she prepared her coffee.
“For a vampire, you’re moving awfully slow tonight,” Erik muttered.
Realizing that Erik must have been talking to Kallias, Rose turned to look toward the doorway. Kallias stood in the doorway, dressed in a black T-shirt and a pair of black jeans. His drenched hair hung around his face, dripping water onto his clothes. Even his skin still looked wet, as if he’d just hopped out of the shower.
Kallias crossed the room and slumped tiredly onto one of the bar stools. “I didn’t fall asleep until three in the afternoon. You’re lucky I even got up.”
“Damn, it doesn’t take that long to have sex,” Erik joked, grabbing another piece of bacon. “Foreplay and all, I’d say maybe an hour, at the longest.”
Rose spun around, almost spilling the water. “We didn’t have sex!”
“He knows that,” Kallias sighed. “He’s trying to get a reaction from you.”
Erik grinned at her and amended, “Trying and succeeding.”
She rolled her eyes at him and then poured the wa
ter in the coffeemaker.
“Hypothetically speaking, though, as vampires, we have limitless stamina,” Kallias said conversationally. “If we didn’t want to stop after an hour…”
Her eyes widened. She spun back toward them. “Don’t you two ever have normal conversations?! Don’t you ever just talk about the weather, or new discoveries in science and archeology, or the possibility of extraterrestrial life?”
Kallias stopped and looked at her, his lips curving into an amused smile. “Sometimes we discuss efficient ways to behead an enemy. Does that count?”
“No,” Rose said, frowning. “No, it doesn’t count.”
“How is it normal to discuss aliens and whatever else you said?” Erik said.
“Science and archeology?” she asked. “Those are interesting topics.”
“Maybe for a virgin,” Erik muttered under his breath.
Kallias rolled his eyes. “Erik. Behave.”
“I’m not a child,” Erik muttered grumpily.
“Are you sure?” Rose asked. “Because you could’ve fooled me.”
Erik turned around and looked at her. He lifted an eyebrow, his lips curving. He suddenly started laughing and glanced at Kallias. “Can we keep her?”
Rose glared at the back of his head. “I’m a human, not a puppy.”
Kallias finished chewing a bite of food and then looked down at the scrambled eggs on his plate, his lips drawn down in a pouty frown. “It needs salt.”
“Well, next time, wake up earlier, and make them yourself,” Erik said, but as he said that, he stood up and grabbed the saltshaker from the stove.
Erik placed the saltshaker on the bar counter, but when Kallias reached for it, Erik covered it with his hand. “No. Wait,” he told Kallias. He turned toward Rose, his lips curving into a scheming smile. “I want you to give it to him.”
Still standing in front of the coffeemaker, waiting for her coffee to finish, Rose just frowned at him. She stepped forward apprehensively and started to grab the saltshaker from the counter, but Erik grasped her wrist before she could.
She glared at the hand wrapped around her wrist. “What the heck?”
“Don’t use your hand,” Erik said. “Use your mind.”
Rose glanced up at him, her eyes widening. “What?”
Kallias leaned across the counter and snatched up the saltshaker so forcefully that the sound drew their attention. “Stop being an ass, Erik,” he snarled as he slumped back down onto the stool. “She’s a person, not a weapon.”
Erik flashed an unapologetic smile at her and released her wrist. He leaned toward Kallias, resting his arms on the surface of the counter. “Just think about it. If she really can move things with her mind, she could be useful. She could be the advantage we need. And if we do wind up in a battle with Theron and who-knows-how-many other vampires, we will definitely need that advantage.”
Kallias looked up at Erik for the first time since he’d sat down, and even Erik straightened nervously as he saw the dark fury in Kallias’s eyes. “Useful?” he growled. “She is here so that we can protect her, not so that we can use her.”
“I know,” Erik said in a careful tone. “I agreed to help you protect her. I won’t break my word. I just think that we should explore this…opportunity.”
“Might I remind you again that she is a person,” Kallias growled, “not an opportunity. And we have no idea what would happen if she used her abilities.”
“Would you two quit talking about me like I’m not here?” Rose snapped.
They both turned to look at her, their expressions blank.
“Sorry,” Kallias mumbled. He returned his attention to his food.
She turned toward Erik who looked significantly less remorseful than Kallias did. She crossed her arms. “What was the thing with the saltshaker?”
Erik shrugged. “I want to see you do it. Telekinesis.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Yeah, there’s two problems with that. First, I’m not a circus monkey. And second,” she sighed, losing a little of her resolve, “I can’t.”
Erik frowned. “Why not?”
She shrugged. “Because I don’t know how. And because…I’m not even sure if I believe that I have an ability. It still sounds too unbelievable to me.”
“You wouldn’t smell so powerful if you didn’t,” Erik stated simply.
“I just can’t accept that I have some kind of superpower,” she laughed.
Erik sighed, “Well, maybe if you tried and actually…”
“Leave her alone, Erik,” Kallias said again.
Erik suddenly looked at him, his brows furrowing. His head tilted slightly to the side, and his lips twitched as he stared at Kallias, as if he’d suddenly realized something interesting. Then, the strange expression disappeared, replaced by his usual cocky smirk. “Ah. Now, I get it,” he said with an amused smile. He turned toward Rose and whispered, “Let me know if you change your mind.”
Then, he strolled out of the room, whistling an unfamiliar, happy tune.
Rose frowned in the direction he’d gone. “What was that about?”
“Nothing,” Kallias grunted as he continued to wolf down his food. He seemed to be stabbing his fork into the food harder than necessary, so hard that Rose feared for the plate. When he looked up and noticed that she was still stubbornly waiting for an answer, he sighed, “Erik reads too much into things.”
“What does that mean?” Rose asked.
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that he’s wrong.”
She opened her mouth to argue and insist that he tell her, but then, it occurred to her that she would probably have more luck if she asked Erik, instead. She poured her coffee and then hopped onto the barstool across from him.
Kallias gestured toward the food. “Do you like bacon and eggs?”
Rose started to tell him that she usually skipped breakfast, but as she looked at the food, her stomach rumbled hungrily. She nodded. She reached out for the plate, but instead of giving it to her, he started scooping food into the plate for her. Too much food, she quickly realized. “Okay, okay! That’s enough!” she squeaked, snatching the plate from his hand before the food overflowed from the sides. “What are you trying to do? Fatten me up before you eat me?”
His brows furrowed. “That’s…not how it works.”
She giggled at his seriousness as she picked up a fork and began to eat.
He watched her for a moment. “Rose, I have to go out tonight.”
She looked at him, her fork still in her mouth. “Out?”
“It’s what I always do,” he explained, shrugging. “I go out and try to stop a few vampires from making meals out of humans. There are a lot of vampires in big cities like this one. But I have a more immediate reason to go out tonight.”
“Theron?” Rose guessed as she took a sip of her coffee.
“Yeah,” Kallias sighed. “I’m the only one who knows his scent. I don’t know if he followed us, but if he did, I need to find him before he finds you.”
Rose set her coffee cup down. “Okay. I’ll get that dagger you loaned me.”
He reached across the counter and grabbed her hand before she could stand up. “Rose, you misunderstand. I am leaving. You are staying here.”
She stared at him. “Excuse me?”
“I can’t take you out there around vampires that will try to kill you,” he sighed. His fingers rubbed her wrist affectionately. “This is where you are safest.”
“What about you?” she asked harshly. “Where are you safest?”
His brows furrowed, as if the question confused him. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me!” she said. She froze, shocked that she’d said that.
His jaw tightened. “It shouldn’t matter to you,” he stated. He looked away and sighed, “I am safest when you’re not around to distract me.”
She stared at him, her eyes narrowing. “Oh,” she said sharply. She jerked her hand out of his and stood
up. She flashed a sarcastic smile at him and calmly stated, “Well, in that case, let’s just hope that Theron finds me here tonight and kills me. Then, I won’t be around to distract you anymore. Problem solved.”
Rose turned to leave the kitchen with every intention of locking herself in the library for the rest of the night, but before she could take even the first step, she gasped as she found Kallias suddenly standing in front of her.
Kallias placed his hands on the counter, trapping her between the countertop and his body. Rather than finding anger in those deep brown eyes of his, Rose found sadness, instead, sadness that pulled at every feature of his face. He leaned closer to her, his lips brushing hers. “Don’t say shit like that.”
Rose didn’t know how to react to the pain in his voice. She wasn’t used to seeing this vulnerability in him. “You’re the one who said I was a distraction.”
“You do distract me,” he confessed quietly, “because…I don’t want anything to happen to you. I need to know that you’re safe, that you’re here.”
She stared up at him, stunned by his honesty. “But how do you know I’ll be safe here?” she asked after a few moments. “If there is anything that I’ve learned from reading hundreds of horror novels, it’s that being alone usually ends badly. And you’re suggesting that you go out alone and that I stay here alone.”
“I never said that you would be alone,” Kallias corrected.
Rose scowled. “What?”
“Erik will stay here with you,” he told her.
“Um…no. Absolutely not,” she said quickly, shaking her head.
“Erik will do what?” asked the voice of aforementioned person.
Kallias and Rose both glanced toward the doorway. Erik stood there with an incredibly huge mixing bowl cradled in one arm and a spoon in his other hand.
Kallias stepped away from Rose and turned toward Erik. “I’m the only one who can track Theron by scent, so I have to go out there and find him.”
Erik shoved a spoonful of something pink into his mouth. “Yeah.”
“So, I need you to stay here with Rose,” Kallias added.
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 57