by Cara Villar
"I'm leaving." I replied insipidly, reaching for the door handle.
"Sorry, pet," his breath whispered past my ear, and I flinched just before arms, like bands of steel, wrapped around my torso, trapping my own arms to my body. How the hell? I hadn't even heard him move! My feet were hauled off the floor before I could even squeak a protest.
"I can't let you leave."
He smelled like coffee, fresh laundry and...something clean and spicy. Ice and anise.
Focus, dammit!
"Let me go!" I snapped, finally getting the initiative to kick and struggle.
"Sorry," he said again, his British twang rumbling against my back as he carried me over to a loveseat.
"I don't want to hurt you!" I yelled then, putting so much effort into my arms and legs, kicking, bucking and scratching, that he couldn't set me down. He just laughed at my comment, and my vision glazed red.
He didn't think I could hurt him. Had he learned nothing?
Silly rabbit.
I slammed my head back into his face, the impact like running head-first into a concrete wall. Felix yelped and dropped me, and promptly fell on his ass with a hand over his bloody face. I landed on my feet, but only just. Staggering, stars dancing in my vision, I headed straight—kinda—for the window, thinking we couldn’t be that far up.
"Wah!" My fingers skimmed the sill as I fell flat on my face, Felix's hand gripping my ankle like a vice. Jeez, this guy is strong. I glanced down as I twisted and kicked, his face a mask of angry male Vampire.
Shit.
I struggled harder, ramming my heel at his face to distract him from getting my other foot. He dodged my blows, but didn't manage to keep his grip on me. Although, he did get my sock, pulling it right off my leg as I wriggled away, much to my displeasure. Scrambling to my feet, I went for the window again.
"Hey!" A yank at the side of my top, a brief brush of cool fingers on hot skin, and then...shhhrrrrpp!
I froze. So did he. Then I looked down to see my low-cut top gaping open. Ripped right down the middle until it resembled grandmother's cardigans, exposing my breasts crammed into my one and only lacy black bra, and scars no one else had ever seen. Yanking the pieces closed to cover myself, I looked up at him, fury mingled with humiliation burning my gaze with golden hues.
He quickly glanced away, saying, "I didn't mean to do that."
"Mother F." First my shoes, then my sock, and now my top. Sonofabitch! I spun for the window in a storm of wild feminine fury. "Eep!"
He grabbed my mussed-up ponytail and yanked me back! He actually pulled my hair! I didn't know whether to slap him or applaud his foul play. My 'wild feminine fury' turned indignant, and God forgive me, admiring as I struggled to stay upright. Damn Vampires!
With a grunt, my back slammed into his chest, and I was off again, struggling, kicking, screeching like a banshee and scratching the living hell out of his arms as he grabbed me around the waist. His blood wafted warm and spicy around us, and to keep from licking my fingers, I elbowed his skull, but not very efficiently since he kept it tucked in close to my spine.
He tossed me on the bed, and I rushed for the end of it. An inch between my toe and the floor and a hand slid against my back, grabbed me by the bra clasp, and yanked me back.
I sucked in an outraged breath when I heard and felt the lace along the side tear. "What the hell, Vampire?" I screeched at him as he loomed over me, trying to get his hands past mine to pin me down. "Stop trying to undress me!"
His mouth quirked up into a wicked grin on one side, revealing fangs and that dimple again as he snagged a wrist. "Then stop trying to get away."
Scowling at him, I yanked my wrist away, but instead of letting go, he just fell with it.
"Get off!" I snapped my own teeth at him, fangs and all.
"I'll let go when you calm down."
"You pinning me isn't gonna make me calm!"
"I'll give you that, but just so you know, I do enjoy the squirming."
I froze.
"Aww." He stuck his bottom lip out in mock sulk.
I growled low, "Pervy Vampire."
He grinned. "Indeed."
I tugged my wrists in his grasp. "Let go."
"You can't leave, pet."
"Stop calling me pet!"
"Well, I don't have anything else to call you."
"Don't call me anything!"
Click! "I don't know what—"
Both our heads jerked back at the voice cutting off at the door. Porcia stood there, Frost just behind her, both frozen and staring. I could see what they were seeing. Every mortifying inch was seared into my over-imaginative mind like high-def on sixty-seven inch plasma. Felix and I on the bed, him on top and his hands basically holding mine, my top split wide, nearly baring all, my hair free of its ponytail, my hair-tie lost somewhere in the melee. Our legs were intertwined, the visible one of mine bare of its sock and bent at the knee as if to cradle him, and our faces—well, mine anyway— flushed.
Utter mortification? Check!
Porcia kicked out a hip and rolled her eyes. "For goodness sake, Felix, you could have at least put a sock on the door handle!"
My eyes bugged as she shut the door.
Kill me. Kill me now, I thought as I scowled up at Felix with renewed vigor. Then I thought, I've become uber-suicidal in less than half of an hour.
"Get off me!" I shoved him hard as he frowned at the door, taking advantage of his distraction. He rolled lazily to the side, wiping at the drying blood on his face from where I'd head-butted him. His nose, however, was already perfectly healed.
I lay there breathing heavy, trying to slow the racing of my blood and bring down my adrenaline high as I once again pulled my top together to hide myself. I silently assessed myself for any damage the Vampire might have done, but all I could sense was a little dented pride. Okay, severely dented pride. Well, that and my head hurt a little, but I think that was my own fault. I should know better than to use my skull against a Vampire, unless I was fond of concussions.
Fact was; Felix was trying to not hurt me, while I had had no regard for the damage I did, as evidence of his bloodied face and arms. I tried to tell myself that I had only caused so much damage because I was trying to escape, and because he was a Vampire and healed almost instantly, but I knew that wasn't true. Even as his power hummed against the side of my body, I knew it wasn't true.
I had meant to hurt him. And, boy, didn't that make me feel just swell.
I sighed, "Why can't I leave?"
He dropped his hand to the bed. "Because we know about you."
I frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Tell me about it. It's all political. You are a Vampire, though only half, in Osiris's district—"
"My territory." I scowled.
"—and therefore, you fall under his jurisdiction. If, for any reason, you were to cause issue among other Vampire clans, he would take the brunt of it. To avoid fallout with other district rulers, Osiris has a duty to inform them of your existence. However, because of your unique DNA make-up, we need to verify, and then take action to keep you protected." He waved a hand negligently, but I saw the shifting shadow of worry in his expression before he swiped it away. I suddenly pondered the delicacy of my ambiguity. "I'm sure it will be sorted soon. The sooner you're off breaking someone else's nose the better."
I snickered, pleased that the new bump on my noggin wasn't for nothing. "You knocked me out twice. You had it coming." Out the corner of my eye I saw him turn his head and stare at me in shock. I turned my head and blinked back at him.
"I was being a gentleman, and you hit me with a silver baton!" he exclaimed, and I watched how his indignation made his eyes a more intense green, like fresh spring grass with swirls of a darker, almost a deep moss-like shade spreading out from the pupil like ink bleeding into cotton. There was a ring around his irises of a similar shade, but the color was so dark that it could have almost passed for black. The contrast in colors was stark, and
looked all the brighter with his frame of dark lashes against pale skin—stunning and hypnotic.
I blinked, suddenly realizing that he'd fallen silent, and I was just staring at him. His mouth, with his slightly fuller lower lip, tugged up at one side, hinting at his dimples. I flushed right to my hairline and looked away, breaking the spell.
"My instincts tell me you're Vampire, but that blushing?" He snorted. "Vampires don't blush."
"I don't blush often. Feel privileged." I tugged my top again.
After a moment of quiet, he softly asked, "Those scars—"
"Are not a conversation I will have with a stranger," I interrupted.
He nodded, as if understanding. How could he understand? From what I've learned over my long life, Immortals never retained their turning scars. They always healed, becoming perfect in their frozen form. Yet, mine stayed. The wolf mauling and Vampire bite, permanently reminding me of how foolish a girl I had once been. So foolish.
"You could've just asked me," he said then.
I looked at him. "Asked what?"
"Asked what I was doing there."
I made a very unfeminine sound at that. "In my experience, male Immortals don't tell little girls shit." Then I added, "What were you doing there?"
He went up on his elbows. "That's incredibly stereotypical, little girl, and I can't tell you yet." His eyes sparkled like bright, bright emeralds, and his tone was almost... condescending in its amusement. Growl.
I blinked once, slow and cool. "How old do you think I am, old man?"
He arched a dark brow, and it drew my gaze before I could stop the flicker. His lip curled on one side, and my insides turned to putty. "Why do I feel like I'm being drawn into a trap?"
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I'll go first." He dropped back onto the bed, and for a moment, I was struck by the oddly intimate nature of our conversation. "Purely speculating," I began, tugging my top even tighter around me, "but I'd say you were most definitely in your fourth century, maybe on the down slope into your fifth."
His eyes bloomed from a deep sparkly jade to an incandescent emerald shot through with lime. All I could do was stare, transfixed by the show of color, so engulfed I almost missed the flicker of surprise in those fascinating depths.
"Clever little thing, ain't ya, pet?" he murmured, eyeing me with renewed intent.
I grinned. "Now, if I had a penny."
"There's nothing about you that would tell me you're anything but mortal. Only…" He turned suddenly towards me, so quick I could only hiss in a breath as he pressed his face into my neck.
I utterly stilled as cool breath whispered against my skin, his lips and nose brushing over the sensitive area just below the ear. My breath eased out of me as my heart started dancing so hard in my chest. I was pretty sure he could feel it where he hovered over me, his hand braced on the bed at my side, his arm coming over me in the most intimate position I'd been in with a guy in a very long time.
Then he murmured softly, "Only you smell like a different time."
My hands gripped tightly to my top, tingling with the urge to grip him. "Then hazard a guess, Vampire."
He lifted his head, dark waves of hair falling over his forehead. "I don't think there's enough pay in the world for that kind of hazard."
Despite myself, I laughed. "Go on. I promise, I won't be insulted."
He eyed me suspiciously for a moment, and then tilted his head in thought. "Maybe...maybe a half-century or so."
My mouth dropped open in mock-horror. "Seriously?" If I went by his expression alone, I am pretty sure that, were he mortal, he'd have been glowing bright red right then. "Tell me; are you this suave with every woman? Or am I special?"
Felix frowned and rolled back to the side. "You are not like normal women," he mumbled.
"So I am special!" I gasped. "I know a few people who totally owe me money right now." A bark of laughter, and when I looked, a confused sense of surprise flashed across his perfect features. I couldn't help it; I grinned. "I'm just shocking the crap out of you today, ain't I?"
He arched a brow at me, all cool arrogance and dark promise. "Indeed," he purred, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel it right down to my toes. "So how old are you?" he asked.
I snorted, all indignant femininity. "Like I'm gonna tell you." I glanced at him. "Suffice, as you say, I'm not a new bloom."
More quiet moments, and I glanced at him, only to find he was watching me with that predatory intense focus from before. He barely moved, like the perfect granite statue, beautiful and deadly, and something in my chest tightened. Oh, to possess a man with such potent energy, to have it curled around you with that same dangerous rapture as if you're the only thing in his world right then. I knew this male could kill me, and not just in the physical sense.
Foolish girl...
Suddenly, he held his hand out to me. "Felix Grant."
I looked at his hand, and then at him, trying to ignore the flush creeping up my neck at his slow, wicked grin. If I shook his hand, I was pretty sure I was effectively throwing my lot in with this coven, getting myself into a situation I didn't fully understand, and in actual fact, agreeing to being held prisoner. I had a feeling that, my life, my fate, wasn't going to be entirely my own anymore, and, really... was that so bad?
If only for a moment...
For years, decades even, I'd hunted, acquired, emailed, killed, handed over and taken money. Then at the end of it all, I had gone home, locked all my doors, closed all my curtains, and curled up in bed. Alone. Always alone. I'd been alone for so long, I'd forgotten what it was to be around people —not just floating through them looking for my next pay check. I had friends, but they were in the bounty hunter business like I was, and our down time was literally used to recover. Few and far between wasn't enough for me, and not thinking about it anymore was, if I admitted it only to myself, eating away at me.
I was sick of this existence of just me, the freaky hybrid. I wanted more, and a part of me wondered if Felix was offering that.
Only for a moment...
I chewed my lip, pretty sure there were more ramifications to the decision than I could think of, but as I stared at his hand and his eyes, at the patient, playful way he waited and watched, him the predator and I his prey, I knew right then that there really was only one outcome to the decision he was placing before me.
"Red Riding Hood." I shook his hand, and grinned at the startled expression on his face. "Surprise." So much for anonymity.
4
Sunrise was an hour away. The Vampire in me could feel its glow above the trees surrounding the house as I stood on the balcony of Porcia’s room. I held the pieces of my ripped top in my hands and the collar of a fluffy cotton robe close about me against the cold dawn Porcia’s rambling voice inside her room a faint background hum. After arguing—and, okay, bargaining too—with Felix to get my phone back, I’d finally conceded that I wouldn’t be getting it back before ‘things settled down’, as he put it. I had no idea when that would be, but in the name of peace I had let it go, for the time being.
Apparently, ‘settled down’ wouldn’t be until this Vince bloke arrived. So, I’d taken a shower, standing under the hot spray longer than necessary, but unable to leave it, lost in thoughts of Vampire politics and how drastically they will affect my life. Already, I felt lost in the big house in the middle of nowhere, amidst people so familiar with each other. I had only two real friends in the whole world and saw them rarely enough as it was. What did I know of Vampire politics?
Because of a chance encounter with two immortals some three hundred years ago, my life was suddenly not mine. I’d wrestled it back over decades, only to have another Immortal unravel it again. I wouldn’t be going home to my bed. I wouldn’t be checking my emails or informing clients. I wouldn’t even have to worry about the sun breaking into my room through my too-short drapes.
No. I would be sleeping in a bed that wasn’t mine, in a room in someone else’s home, in clothes that were
someone else’s. I would eat food that I hadn’t earned and drink juice I hadn’t bought myself. I felt kept, like a pet, and the feeling made me, God forbid, resentful.
Either that or I was in borderline freak-out territory.
It had only been an hour since I’d shaken Felix’s hand, and already, I was longing for the solitude of my previous existence. These people were kind, talkative, engaging me in conversation because, I think, they still saw how wary I was. Porcia, in particular, had a keen aspiration to talk my ears off, and continually brought up how I had socked Felix with a silver baton.
I cringed every time.
I felt bad for having attacked him unprovoked, despite the natural urge to remove all trespassers on my territory. Scowling, I briefly wondered if some rogue whatever had wondered into Summerville and decided to stick because I wasn’t there to kick them off my patch. I wondered if Osiris would let me use his phone, or even give me back mine, and let me make some calls.
Who am I kidding?
Felix seemed to notice my discomfort every time Porcia brought up the unprovoked attack and tried to lighten up the subject with comments like, “You could have just asked me,” and “I should have known not to trust the least suspecting,” and “You punch like a girl.”
The last one I found particularly offensive, and had aptly responded, “So do you!”
Porcia had burst out laughing so hard, Frost had had to hold her up.
However, both males had promptly been dismissed at the threshold of Porcia’s room with a door slammed in their faces. I’d only had a moment to feel smug before Porcia had started talking. After staring at her mutely for all of thirty seconds, I’d made a beeline for the large French doors on the far side of the room. The cold was eating away at my bare feet and wet hair, my scalp tingling with the chill.
“Red, darling?” Porcia called me, taking a break from her constant stream of gossip about the missing Immortals—a Vampire-Made Naiad this time taken in Europe. “I think I have something that will fit you.”
Sighing, I turned away from the brightening sky, and headed inside. “Can’t I just go get some of my own clothes?”