“Unless he’s soulless.” She finally sat down beside him and seemed to really listen to what he had to say.
Thank God!
“Here’s what we’re going to do. Since we were going hunting tonight anyway, I say we capture him and put a few questions to him.”
She shook her head. “Oh no, I don’t think so.”
“Why? This is perfect and we can also find out why he’s trying to date you.” As soon as he saw the hurt look on her face, he knew he said the absolute wrong thing.
Her next words confirmed he was such an idiot. “Of course no man in their right mind would want to date someone like me.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“Whatever. Doesn’t matter, you aren’t going to capture Michael. You are not going to ask him his motives. This is between Michael and me.”
“You can’t be serious. He’s a soulless.”
“And I’m telling you, it doesn’t matter. How many times do I have to repeat, not all soulless are bloodsucking killers. They too, have a chance at redemption and deserve the right to find it. Michael is maybe seeking his. He’s done nothing to indicate he means me any harm. Who knows, I might be his redemption.”
Those words had his nostrils flaring. “Like hell.” Devlin pulled her to him and captured her mouth with his. At first, she didn’t respond but then he felt her open her mouth to let his tongue inside and her arms wrapped around his neck. He would not be denied.
A wild current of sensation flooded his senses. Drenching him in her essence and damned if he ever wanted to come up for air. Eventually he eased back, but didn’t quite release her entirely. He placed his hands on the sides of her face. “Eva,” he whispered. It was all he seemed capable of. His eyes traveled over each of her precious features.
Devlin began to kiss her eyes, her nose, each cheek until finally, he returned to her sweet lips. Wanting to devour her again. A shrill chirp broke his haze. A cell phone, hers. She pulled away from him, and reluctantly he released her.
She picked her purse off the floor where she’d dropped it and answered the phone, “Okay, yes. That’s fine. I’ll see you then, and I have to leave a little early, I have a meeting first thing in the morning and I still have to prepare for it. Great.” She hung up and straightened.
He reached for her hand but she pulled away from him.
“It was Michael wasn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes.”
A knife buried in his chest wouldn’t hurt as much. “You’re still going to meet this asshole, after…after.”
She finally swung her gaze to his. “Yes. So we kissed. So we have chemistry. I’ve always known that. But sooner or later, we’re going to disappoint the other. I can’t give you what you want. Besides, I don’t do casual, I can’t.”
He gritted his teeth, unwilling to give up. “It doesn’t have to be casual between us.”
She snorted. “Really. You do you know I’m the lead Chronicler for the next generation and will always be in the thick of things? My role in this new age with what we now know has changed. Chroniclers can no longer be strictly neutral. Thalya and Samuel changed everything.”
He sighed and spread his arms along the top of the couch. “Yes, I get that. Listen, I’m not talking about forever here, but we have something between us. Let’s just enjoy it for now.”
She shook her head. “You just don’t get it, do you?”
“Why don’t you explain it to me?”
“What’s the point? You better go, I have to get ready. I’m meet you back here about eleven.”
He stood up to tower over her, angry at her, at himself for handling her all wrong. For his inability to get her to act on the attraction that flowed potently between them. All they needed to do was get it out of both of their systems, so they could go on with their lives. She was right about one thing: he didn’t want her dealing with soulless directly or indirectly. He was wired to protect. But she was wrong, he did understand what she was trying to tell him. At least he thought he did, was she a virgin? Didn’t matter, but clearly, she needed an emotional connect. And goddamnit, they had that. He’d be damned if he let this Michael have her. She was his. At least for now. But in some deepest part of him a word echoed…forever. He shook that shit off.
She raised one eyebrow at him expecting him to leave.
But he wasn’t ready to give in gracefully. “Eva, you can’t be serious. He’s a fucking soulless.”
“So was Thalya and she found her redemption. So was one of your own grandparents.”
He had no easy argument for that one and she knew it.
“Now, please leave. I’d ask you not to follow me anymore but I know that would be pointless.”
“You’re damned right.” He got up and walked out of the house. Every step away from her caused his chest to tighten and his stomach to clench in pain. She was going out with another man, a soulless one, and it was his job to watch over her. His job to watch her fall in love with another man. A fucking soulless being. He knew the bastard was a soulless and so did she, and she didn’t care.
When he got in his car, he almost called Jason to come meet him to take over watching her. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. If anything happened to her and this soulless turned out to be using her, to be some kind of bloodsucker he’d never forgive himself for not being there if she needed him.
He didn’t bother to try to hide the fact he’d followed her. He knew she saw him sitting in his car when she came out of her house.
If Eva was gorgeous before in jeans and a t-shirt, in her black halter dress that stopped at her thighs, showing off those long, long toned legs, capped off in her fuck me red heels, she was lethal now.
Devlin groaned and shut his eyes. By the time he opened them again, her car was already halfway down the block.
Chapter Seven
The valet helped Eva out of the car and gave her an appreciative wink.
She smiled at him. Pleased she’d decided to make the extra effort and take herself outside of her normal safe zone. A pair of jeans and a t-shirt, or maybe blousy top and she was good to go. Tonight seemed to call for more. Judging from the reactions of the males around her, mission accomplished, she felt good, she looked good.
The outfit wasn’t something she normally wore, and in truth, she’d bought it almost a year ago with the intention of wearing it on what would have been her first date with Devlin. A date, after she’d found out he was a hunter, which never happened. So much for spending all that time shopping, but perhaps it would be worth it. She got her hair done, while the shoes and purse were new. She’d also bought a red dress today. The one she wore tonight was the black one, not quite as daring as the red sitting in the garment bag in her closet. Maybe she’d wear that on her next date with Michael. Assuming they had one.
Evangeline wasn’t kidding when she told Devlin she didn’t care if Michael was soulless. She already knew he was and she didn’t care. Nor was she ready to reveal that to Devlin, given his prejudice where soulless were concerned. Not all soulless were driven to kill.
There was a draw between her and Michael, definitely attraction, not the kind she felt for Devlin, but something else. Different, but there, yet it could also just be the allure of the soulless. She owed it to herself to find out if Michael could be her destiny, at the very least if he could be redeemed. Even the Chroniclers were being judged, so she wasn’t so quick to assume Michael was in the bloodsucker category, and even those could change.
The maître d’ took her past the tables of patrons to an area in the back, beyond the wine crates piled chest high, and through an archway. Michael sat in the center of the cozy private room at a table for two. No electric lights were on in there. Instead, there were candles on the table and the wall scones in the room were all candlelight. It was a beautiful room, one set for seduction. While the area was large enough for two or more other tables, theirs was the only one in there.
Michael rose to his feet
as soon as he saw her, a single red rose in his hand, and came toward her as he looked her over from her feet to her hair. “Wow!” he said. His voice had gone husky like he couldn’t find the words.
Just the kind of reaction she was going for. She smiled.
He handed her the rose, then guided her to the chair across from the one where he sat.
As soon as they were both seated, the maître d’ opened the bottle of wine already at the table and poured a glass first for Michael, who tasted it and nodded to the man. After the guy finished pouring for them both, he discretely backed out leaving them alone.
Michael took her hands and raised them to his lips, kissing the back of each one. His lips were cool against her flushed skin. While he lowered her hands, he continued to hold onto them. “You look beautiful, Evangeline. I’m so glad you agreed to have dinner with me. And if I’m a lucky man, the first of many.”
Evangeline inhaled the fragrance from the rose. Such a beautiful gesture from a highly attractive man. As he sat across from her, she studied him, this time armed with the information Devlin had given her and her own knowledge. Her senses were wide open and she couldn’t read him.
As the one chosen to lead the Chroniclers, her senses were more acute than the others, but he was really blocking her probes quite well. Which was what had clued her into the fact that he might be something more than he appeared. As she sat there staring into his eyes, even in the candlelight enhancing his already ethereal features she could tell he wore contacts. Colored contacts to block his dead eyes, she wondered if the dark blue eyes he sported would have been the color of his eyes, if he had a soul. She’d asked Devlin what color Michael’s eyes were, it was just a test because she didn’t know. He’d worn glasses both other times she’d been with him. She also took notice when he looked into her eyes he made no effort to enthrall her, not that it would work on her.
Michael took her hand again and raised it to his lips. This time he kissed her palm.
She felt a slight flutter in her stomach. Not anywhere near the heat she’d felt earlier from Devlin but still something. Yet, she wondered if it came from her or if he was manipulating her emotions. Some soulless could do that with a touch.
There was only one way to deal with this, she was glad for the privacy so they could speak frankly. Just because she told Devlin to leave him be didn’t mean she would. Regardless of what Devlin thought, she had every intention of confronting Michael, and she also didn’t come unarmed. She wasn’t stupid.
She’d give Michael the chance to explain what exactly he had planned. She knew there were soulless out there whose chosen meal was love. The emotion they craved, perhaps that’s what Michael searched for. Whatever it was, she aimed to find out. If he was a bloodsucker, she needed to know that too. She would not be the type of prey he’d crave, so she had no fear, she’d been well trained and was well armed. She carried a special custom-made blade in her purse. With the push of a button, it would become three times the length of her purse, and she also carried a small pistol strapped to her thigh.
A bullet wouldn’t kill him but it would slow him down enough for her to get away, if she had to. Besides, she knew Devlin would be nearby. She pushed him out of her thoughts, she couldn’t allow herself to think about him.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Michael said, drawing her attention. “But the chef is a friend of mine and I asked him to prepare something special for us tonight.”
“Interesting.” And it was considering soulless didn’t eat, that and he had someone he claimed as friend. “What’s he going to fix?”
“She, and I’m not sure. I just need to know if you’ve got any dietary restrictions or things you don’t like so I can let the waiter know.”
She smiled, she liked his consideration, and the fact the chef was female also explained why he’d know her and they would be ‘friends.’ Something told her the chef was probably very attractive. “Thank you for that, but no,” she said. “None whatsoever. Well, that’s not true, I’ll eat almost anything except snails. I don’t care how you pretty up their names or what kind of sauce you have them swimming in.”
He laughed and the corners of his eyes crinkled but there was no inner shine within the depths of his glass-covered gaze. “Excuse me,” he said as he pushed a button she hadn’t noticed before at the side of the table. “I just need to get the waiter in here.”
The waiter came over in moments.
“Tell Sonnie no snails, but everything else is fair game.”
The waiter nodded and left them alone.
Michael waved his hand toward the glasses in front of them. There was both a white and red wine already in the glasses on the table near his place setting. However, only the glass of white the maître d’ had poured sat in front of her. “I prefer a Cab Sav, but I thought you’d prefer their Chardonnay. It’s award winning, but if you’d prefer the red I can have them bring the bottle.”
She picked up the Chardonnay and took a sip. “Mmm, good. Crisp but not too sweet. This is very good. Thank you.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He picked up his glass of red wine and held it up. “Here’s to us, and may this meal be the start of many we share.”
She raised her glass to touch his, and they both took sips before setting the glasses down on the table. As soon as they did, another waiter came into the room. He had a basket of artisan bread in interesting geometrical shapes and a small square plate with seasoned olive oil for dipping; he placed everything on the table and withdrew.
“Wow, this place has great service,” she stated.
“Have you been here before?” he asked.
“This is my first time.”
“Yes, but not your first time in LA?”
“That’s true, but when I was here I was a poor college student. I couldn’t afford to eat in places like this. I had to live in the dorms and then in an apartment with four other girls where noodles and peanut butter sandwiches were standard fare.” Her family had money but they wanted her to live among regular humans to be able to better understand the privileges she’d inherit.
“I know you told me you recently moved here from New York. How long did you live there?” he asked.
“I’d lived in New York most of my life.” The first few years, when her parents were alive, she and her sisters lived with them in Texas, in a quiet out of the way little town. After they died, she’d lived with her aunt in New York.
“So what made you move to LA?”
“I’ve always liked California, and when I was offered a chance to open my own business here, I took it.”
“Ah yes, the bookstore. A family business you said.”
“Yes. I love books. I collect a lot of out of print hard to find publications.”
“Aren’t print books becoming a dying species?” He chuckled.
His laugh didn’t seem natural to her. “Maybe but I love digital books too. Makes it a lot more convenient to carry one e-reader the size of one book that contains hundreds of books as opposed to carrying around hundreds of books.” She grinned. “But there will still always be people out there, myself included, who might still have a need to hold a print book in their hands every now and then. And of course, there are some people who like hard copies of original editions. Some of which are not digitalized.”
He nodded. “I too, prefer my books bound but I understand completely. It’s like my business. Yes, you can go buy a cheap copy of almost any great work of art, but there’s something special about owning original artwork. Something created by someone extraordinary.”
“Exactly.” She smiled at him. He did understand.
He leaned forward as if to say something but there was a noise to her left and she turned to see the waiter and his helper entering the room. They both held large trays in their hands piled with various dishes.
“Oh my,” she said when they began to place the offerings on the table. “This is a lot of food.”
“Yes, I’m not sure I can really d
o it justice either. We’ll just have to take a carry out bag.” He smiled at her.
Her heart did a little double beat. The man truly was devastatingly handsome. But when she gazed into his eyes again, there was no light there. No heat like she felt with Devlin.
After the waiters left, she picked up her fork. The waiters had prepared both plates for them and if they wanted more they could just serve themselves. She spared the perfectly sautéed white asparagus in an olive and white wine sauce. The minute the flavor hit her palate she groaned. “Oh my God, this is delicious!”
“I’m glad you like it.” He took a sip of his wine but he hadn’t touched his fork.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“The truth is I’m not very hungry. I had a late business lunch and I’m still a little full.”
She put the fork down and stared at him. Soulless didn’t consume human food. Some could tolerate alcohol but not food. Truth time. One way or the other, she wanted to know why he sought her out. “I know what you are.” She leaned back relaxed in her chair, her hands folded in front of her, her gazed pinned onto his.
He grinned. “Excuse me?”
“It’s okay. I know what you are.”
“I’m…I’m not sure I understand what you’re talking about.”
“You’re going to make this hard for me aren’t you?”
He raised one perfectly aligned eyebrow. “Seriously, I’m not trying to make anything hard for you. At least not yet. What are you talking about?”
She didn’t miss his sexual innuendo, but ignored it. His control over his thoughts slipped slightly enough for her to read that his projected emotions had changed. And he had been projecting an emotion with her. A fake one, he was powerful. She sighed. “You’re soulless.”
He was no longer grinning. Instead, he stood up and stared at her. “Is this a trap?”
She put her hand out to stop him before he could move past her. “Michael wait. No. Please, sit down.”
He hesitated but returned to his seat. “I don’t understand. How—how could you know? Who are you?” This time his voice seemed to take on a note of suspicion.
Angel Hunter- Redemption Book 2 Page 7