Caught in Darkness

by Rose Wulf

  Scowl transforming into a bitter grin, Seth nodded. “I’d be happy to.” I might hit him really hard a few times. And then maybe I’ll turn him over to Jasen.

  Setting the purse on the floor near her feet, Veronica leaned into the duffel again and sifted through the rest of what he’d brought for her. It was hard to miss the rise of heat to her cheeks as she discovered the bag’s contents, and he tried not to dwell too long on why she would be flushing. But not even the increased beating of her heart could distract him from the memory of going through her wardrobe. He’d thought he was too old to be embarrassed about simple things like seeing a woman’s underwear, but he’d been wrong. And the images those harmless garments had sent flying through his mind were still making his mouth water.

  Having her staying in his home for any length of time was going to be interesting.

  Resting her hands on the top of the duffel bag, Veronica lifted her head despite the blush still staining her cheeks and smiled. “Thank you, Seth. I would never have asked you to do this for me.”

  “It wasn’t a problem,” he assured her, fighting to keep his eyes on hers.

  He saw the moment something dawned on her and she nearly cringed as she asked, “Did you have to, uh, pick the lock? Or do I need a new window?”

  He was torn between grinning and frowning at her question, and he wasn’t sure what his face ended up doing as he replied, “I would have picked the lock, but your door was unlocked when I got there. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to lock it behind me.”

  Veronica sighed and nodded. “That makes sense. But I’ve never had any trouble before, so hopefully it’ll be all right overnight.”

  Arching one eyebrow, Seth asked, “Are you planning on going back tomorrow?”

  She stared at him for a long second, and he suspected she hadn’t really given it any thought yet. It was a minute before she said, “I…don’t know. But I won’t overstay my welcome, I promise. If I’m not comfortable going back when you get tired of me I’ll just rent a hotel room. I only meant that I’ll need to go back tomorrow anyway, if only because I need to call a locksmith sooner rather than later.”

  Inclining his head, Seth said, “That’s true. And don’t worry about exhausting your welcome. Your company doesn’t bother me.”

  Her lips twitched in a grin and she teased, “You haven’t lived with me yet.”

  As his lips lifted in a matching grin it occurred to him that the more accurate statement would be he hadn’t lived with anyone in a while, but she didn’t know that. He was sort of looking forward to the change. “I could say the same,” he returned instead.

  Something flickered behind her eyes and he heard her swallow, but she never broke from his gaze. He would have wondered if he made her nervous now, but the thing he’d seen in her eyes had definitely not been fear—he’d become very good at spotting fear over the years. This was something else, and he suspected he knew what that something else was. Or maybe that was just what he wanted to see. It was becoming hard to tell the difference, and it was becoming hard to be around her without touching her.

  He could still remember the feel of her soft, warm palm pressed against his. It had been a long time since he’d felt anything from someone else’s touch, especially anything like that. It was hard not to wonder if he’d get the same sensations if he touched her again—and maybe in other places.

  “I hate to be a buzz-killer,” Veronica said, dragging him from his dangerous thoughts, “but now that I have some clean clothes, I’d kind of like to take a shower if that’s all right?”

  “You don’t need to ask,” Seth said smoothly. “Help yourself to whatever you need.”

  Her smile was small but honest and grateful as she thanked him before gathering her purse and the duffel and standing. She didn’t ask where the bathroom was, so he figured she’d already found it, which meant she’d already found the single towel he tried to always keep on a shelf above the toilet, beside the shower.

  He watched her until she rounded the bend in the hall, and it wasn’t until she was out of sight that he released the breath he’d been holding. He’d clearly been celibate too long if the very idea of her in his shower was making him ache. Having her sleeping just across the hall really will be interesting.

  ****

  She really needed to make a list of all of the questions she wanted to ask him. Every time she added a new one to the list in her head she just knew she’d forgotten a different one. But, she supposed, sooner or later she’d probably know all of the things she really needed to, anyway. In the meanwhile, she needed to start focusing on her job.

  It was Monday morning, and Seth had been kind enough to drop her off in time for her shift. She couldn’t get away with a scarf at work (their uniforms weren’t that casual beneath the aprons), so she’d applied far too much makeup and opted to leave her hair down. It wasn’t too hard to talk Nikki into letting her have register duty for the day, so she was hopeful that she’d be all right. She just needed to remember not to toss her hair or rub at her neck.

  I hope he gets a hold of the locksmith, she thought absently as she handed an early-morning regular their receipt. She was still flattered that Seth had offered to contact a locksmith for her—that was one less phone call she’d have to make. And once her locks were changed she was going to have to think of a good story to tell her mother and Allison when she gave them new spare keys. She doubted ‘an angry vampire stole them after breaking into my house’ would go over too well.

  Sunlight. That has got to be near the top of the list. It was one of the things she was most curious about, seeing as how he clearly didn’t burst into flames during the daytime. But he did prefer to wear sunglasses, and he and the other three all wore very concealing clothing, which led her to believe that the sun did have at least some effect on them. Or did they just dress like that during the summer to hide the fact that they were super pale? Only, Seth’s not so super pale…he’s just a little pale. She was going to give herself a headache trying to figure it out on her own.

  “V,” Nikki whispered from the edge of the preparation counter, one hand wrapped around an ice-scooper.

  Veronica glanced over at her, in between customers, and asked, “Yeah?”

  Nikki was her favorite morning-shift coworker. They were the same height at five-six, but Nikki was three years her junior and fresh out of college. She always wore her brown hair in a side-braid with an oversized flower (violet today) clipped at the top of the braid, holding her bangs out of her eyes. She was sweet and confident, if not a little cautious toward strangers. And, at the moment, she was giving Veronica a concerned pout.

  “Is everything all right?” Nikki asked. “You’ve been really distracted all morning.”

  It was hard not to cringe at being called out on her odd behavior. So much for hoping I was hiding it. “Sorry,” Veronica offered guiltily. “I had an odd night and I guess I’ve just got a lot on my mind this morning. Everything’s fine.”

  Nikki looked less than convinced, and Veronica was beginning to wonder if she was as convincing a liar as she’d once believed. “You know,” Nikki began carefully, “if you need an extra day off, I could text Jake. He might be free.”

  Veronica shook her head with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “That’s not necessary, really. Don’t worry about it.”

  The bells over the door jingled, drawing both girls’ attention, and Veronica said a silent thank you. She wasn’t sure what else to say to put Nikki at ease and the last thing she needed was to have Nikki watching her closely with a ring of bruises barely concealed on her neck.

  Veronica hadn’t yet managed to look over to acknowledge the newest customer—as she was busy counting change—when Nikki moved next to her ear and murmured, “I was wondering where he was!”

  Her customer moved on, awaiting his drink, and Veronica opened her mouth to ask who Nikki was talking about when the answer stepped up to the register. It was Seth.

  A smile immediatel
y lifted her lips, though Veronica was honestly surprised to see him, and she couldn’t stop herself from greeting him with a light, “Hey, there.”

  His lips twitched in response to her greeting and he pulled something from his pocket as he said, “I’ve got a gift for you.” Turning his closed fist so that it was facing up, he opened his hand and revealed three shiny keys.

  Veronica sucked in a surprised breath, knowing immediately what those keys were, and turned a smile up to him, exclaiming, “You are amazing. When you said you’d call the locksmith it never even occurred to me that you’d just handle everything.” As she spoke she scooped the keys into her hands, relishing the smooth shine of their reflective gold metal.

  “You’re welcome,” Seth replied, the faintest of laughs lifting his voice.

  She deposited the keys into her jeans pocket, behind the apron, as the bells over the door signaled another customer and a tinge of disappointment shot through her. Work day’s not done yet, she reminded herself.

  “I suppose this is the part where I order my coffee,” Seth said, as if he were reading her mind.

  Hypnotism. That should probably pretty high on my list, too. It was official: there was something wrong with her. There was no time to dwell on that, however, so she released a soft laugh and asked, “Don’t suppose I could talk you into something to eat this time?”

  Seth shook his head as he handed over the cash, replying, “Don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I’m afraid. I’ll see you soon.” He waited only long enough to acknowledge her nod before turning and moving to the pickup counter to wait for his drink.

  Veronica bit back a sigh and turned her attention to the new customer, all the while wondering which was worse: the fact that there was a chance she was being brainwashed or the fact that she was aware of this possibility and yet she couldn’t bring herself to care. She really would have to remember to ask him about that later, though. Which should be easy enough, since he’s picking me up. And, in the meantime, she had one less weight hanging over her shoulders.

  “Why did you never tell me you knew him?” Nikki stage-whispered as she worked on making the drink after Seth’s a moment later. “And, more importantly, what was that he just gave you?”

  Desperately wishing for another customer to walk through the door, Veronica quietly replied, “I haven’t known him very long, it’s not like I was hiding something. And he gave me keys.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth she wished she had said something else. Even she realized that that would require further questions from anyone who was actually participating in a conversation.

  “Keys?” Nikki repeated, her hands stalling over the supplies for a beat as she turned surprised, confused eyes toward Veronica. “He gave you keys to his place?” The incredulity in her voice was tangible, and Veronica was amazed she hadn’t spoken louder.

  “No,” Veronica replied, feeling strangely like she’d been backed into a corner. “They’re keys to my place.” Okay, that definitely sounded worse. Oh, man. How was she supposed to talk her way out of this one?

  ****

  “He’s dead,” Robert stated mechanically, eyes glued to his desk and somber frown curving his lips. “I’ve got a man who works in the morgue, and he called me last night to let me know that the body turned up on the North side of town.”

  Seth scowled at the news, though he couldn’t honestly say he was surprised. Robert’s friend had been missing since sometime the previous Wednesday, which was nearly a week prior. And while Robert was grieving his friend, Seth was focused on what the man’s death meant. Things were escalating too quickly. It was possible that the friend had actually been slain a couple of days before, but either way the list was growing.

  Three vampires had banded together to turn on their Family, initially planning on robbing their Head and likely fleeing. Then another vampire disappeared, before winding up dead. And, sometime in between, at least one of the traitors had set his sights on a human and ended up revealing himself in the process. If they kept up this behavior, Seth was going to be forced to consider calling in reinforcements.

  ****

  Amazingly, Veronica was fairly sure she’d managed to convince Nikki that Seth had a friend who worked in a locksmith company and, since she’d lost her keys, he’d offered to arrange the replacement of her locks for her. Once she’d spun that story Nikki had reverted to focusing on how, why, and when she had become ‘such good friends’ with Tall, Dark, and Handsome. That had been simultaneously harder and easier to explain away, and then Veronica was returning her attention to the new customer and it took her a moment to gather herself.

  Oh no. Really, she could only think of one worse person to have to see on the other side of the register.

  Standing before her and smiling broadly was none other than Cliff (whose last name she still didn’t know). He looked so proud of himself that it made her want to roll her eyes. Instead, she managed a friendly smile and said, “Good morning. Cliff, right?”

  He chuckled and nodded, replying, “Right. Good morning, Veronica. I honestly didn’t realize you worked here, but what a coincidence!”

  “Coincidence?” Why couldn’t there be a line of customers when she needed one?

  “Yeah,” he began, “that new job I was telling you about is just around the corner. I’ll have to make this my new lunch-break stop.”

  Lucky me. Faking another smile, Veronica said, “That is a coincidence.”

  “It must be fate,” Cliff decided with a small grin. “Say, how late do you work today?”

  “Actually,” Veronica began, trying not to dwell on anything he’d just said, “my friend is picking me up in about twenty minutes.” Oh it was so hard not to add ‘boy’ in front of ‘friend.’ And how juvenile am I feeling this morning?

  “Ah, well, maybe next time, then,” Cliff replied with a shrug. “I heard my parents are thinking about throwing a ‘thank you’ dinner soon…any chance you’ll be there?”

  A pit was rapidly developing in her stomach and Veronica refused to answer that question honestly. Instead, she said, “Kind of hard to say, really. I work a lot of night shifts.” Complete and utter lie. She would need a fantastic excuse to get out of a neighborhood dinner, especially a ‘thank you’ dinner thrown by the family to the last dinner. Add to that the likelihood of Cliff, her mother’s latest matchmaking attempt, being there, and she was very nearly guaranteed to get sucked in. Although, if I could bring Seth….

  Shaking her head, Veronica tugged her smile back into place and said, “Anyway, what can I get you?”

  Cliff hummed thoughtfully, stepping back just slightly in order to study the menu listed overhead, and Veronica wasn’t at all surprised when he finally asked, “What would you recommend?”

  At least this was an answer she was generally prepared for, so she put on her professional smile and launched into a speech about two of their current seasonal specials. All the while she couldn’t help but hope that Seth would show up early and wait inside for her, even though she was sure he wouldn’t. She was just going to have to smile and hope that Cliff wouldn’t insist on chatting her up for the rest of her shift.

  Chapter Six

  “What’s to stop him from coming back?” Veronica asked skeptically as she stared up at the front of her house. The sun was just beginning to set, which meant Seth needed to be going back out and actively searching for Richards and the Wilson brothers. Veronica had felt funny asking to stay another night in his condo when he so obviously preferred to live alone and so she had requested he bring her home. Now that she was standing in her front yard, however, she was having second thoughts. She would probably be up all night, phone in one hand and pepper spray in the other, with her eyes glued to the front door and her ears peeled for the sounds of someone climbing in through a window.

  “I wish I could give you a solid answer on that,” Seth admitted, casting a frown toward the building before returning his attention to her. “You could always stay another couple of ni
ghts with me. I promise I won’t bite.”

  She offered him a small smile in acknowledgement of his attempt at humor. The vampire thing had become less scary and increasingly real the more she’d learned about it—and she had learned a fair amount that day, in her mind. Like: vampires didn’t burn up in the sun, though it did still weaken them, and the hypnotism stories were all bogus, thank goodness! Although that meant her attraction was genuine, which was both reassuring and concerning all at the same time. She had also learned that vampires didn’t need to drain a human every time they fed. That was the biggest relief of all.

  Forcing herself to stop reflecting on everything Seth had told her that day while they’d been running around, Veronica took a deep breath and shook her head. “No,” she insisted, “I need to stay here tonight, for my own sake. I’m not going to let that guy scare me out of my house.”

  Seth inclined his head, turning so that the house was behind him and he was entirely facing her, and said, “If you’re sure. But I still want you to call me if anything happens.”

  Veronica was grinning now as she said, “You’re officially on speed dial.”

  His lips twitched. “Good.”

  A moment passed, and it became clear to Veronica that her mind had made a decision without her input as she said, “I know you need to get going, but, before you do…let me say ‘thank you’.” As she spoke she was moving forward until she had definitely invaded his personal space, and she could see the confusion on his face despite the sunglasses shielding his eyes. But by now she had figured out what she was doing, and it sounded like a great idea to her.

  Before she could change her mind, Veronica leaned up and sealed her lips over his firmly. She didn’t care that she wasn’t dating him. She didn’t care that she would likely never get to date him. She didn’t care that he was a vampire or that for all she knew he could have a harem of women waiting for him back in wherever-it-was-that-he-came-from. She didn’t even care that he would be leaving town as soon as his job was done. She only cared that he was kissing her back.