While Gloria looked straight up smitten with my fake neighbor, Jamie was looking between him and I with thinly veiled suspicion. She wasn’t buying it. Fuck.
“You should sit down, Clara,” Jamie interrupted. “You’re sick. Let us handle it.” Before I could argue, Jamie took my shoulders in hand, spun me around and gave me a little shove towards the kitchen table.
I didn’t want to argue and make Jamie even more suspicious, so with a dramatic sigh, I sat. “Yes, mom,” I joked.
Jamie gave me a playful glare before she went through my cupboards, finding the sugar and an empty Tupperware container with ease.
“How long have you two known each other?” Gloria asked, leaning her hip against the counter and crossing her arms.
“We just met today,” I said quickly.
“How sweet.” Gloria smiled. “You’re welcome to stay for some lunch, Zane.”
I blanched. “Lunch?”
Gloria shrugged her narrow shoulders, her thick curly hair bouncing around her pretty face. “Yep. We’re making you soup and sandwiches. The quickest way to recovery is through your stomach!”
I recognized the saying from Gloria’s grandmother. “MiMa doesn’t really believe that, Gloria. She just says it because she thinks we’re all too skinny.”
Gloria barked a laugh. “You’re not wrong.” She winked at me before turning her attention back to Zane. “So, how about it? Jamie makes a killer toasted tomato sandwich.”
My heartbeat sped as I stared at the side of Zane’s head, willing him to get up and go like we’d planned.
Zane smiled and nodded. “I’d be happy to.”
Fuck you, Zane! That’s not the plan!
“Awesome!” Gloria clapped her hands together before hefting her tote bag onto the counter. “I brought some of MiMa’s famous chicken noodle soup! You’re in for a real treat.”
I bit my tongue on a groan. This was so not the plan. I wanted to get these girls in and out of here as quickly as possible, but it seemed my devious best friends had other plans.
“Sounds good,” Zane said.
Jamie had finished filling a container for Zane by now, and placed it aside for him to grab later. She went about preparing sandwiches, plugging in the toaster and pulling ingredients out of her bag. “How’re you feeling, C? Your mom said you sounded stuffed up on the phone, but you sound fine now.”
I chuckled awkwardly. “That was a couple of days ago. I think the nasal sprays I bought worked.”
Dammit mom. She was really making me work at this lie.
“That’s good,” Jamie said. “So you’ll be able to taste my gourmet cuisine.”
I smiled. Jamie always joked she only knew how to cook one thing and that was toasted tomato sandwiches. “Definitely.”
While Gloria heated up the soup on the stove and Jamie made sandwiches, I looked at Zane, glaring until he turned to face me with a raised eyebrow that said what?
My eyes narrowed further. He knew exactly what. He wasn’t following my orders, and he was going to get me in trouble with my friends. Then again, having him here did make me feel safer… or at least a little less worried over my friends.
“Ah, shit!” Jamie hissed.
I inhaled sharply, the crisp scent of lifeblood and pine trees all around me. My whole body stiffened, and I gripped the edge of my seat hard.
“Are you okay?” Gloria asked. “That’s a nasty cut.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and willed myself to forget about the blood in the air. My mouth watered and my fingers went numb as the metal edge of my chair squealed.
“Clara,” Zane whispered harshly.
These are your friends, Clara! I reminded myself. You don’t want to hurt them. Control your damn self and get out of here. I tried to take deep, even breaths, but every mouthful of air brought on the scent of blood, flooding my senses with desperate need.
Zane’s boot nudged my foot and my eyes shot open. His dark gaze was serious, and distracting enough to make me forget about the blood for a second.
“Maybe you should get your friend a band aid,” he suggested, his voice strangely soothing for the callous Reaper.
My racing heart slowed slightly, and I gulped. I nodded, holding my breath and leapt up. “Be right back!” I called behind me. I don’t think I’d ever run so fast to the bathroom. As soon as I was inside, white tiled floor and walls surrounding me. I slammed the door shut and gasped for breath.
Air rushed into my lungs—air not stained by blood. I closed my eyes and braced my hands on the bathroom counter. The cold porcelain was enough to calm the heat boiling through me. I knew that meant Demon Bitch was close, but with each breath of clean air, she faded further and further away.
Thank fuck. I couldn’t believe I’d been so close to losing everything.
A minute later, there was a soft knock on the door.
“Clara? Are you all right?” Zane asked from the other side.
Relief washed through me. It’d look weird if I didn’t come back with a band aid soon, but I couldn’t go back out there unless the smell was gone. I rushed to the door and threw it open before grabbing Zane by the arm and yanking him inside. Once the door was closed behind him, I could breathe again.
I sighed, leaning my back against the door as I calmed my nerves. “I need you to cover up the smell so I can go back out there.”
Zane arched an eyebrow. “How am I supposed to do that?”
Standing in my tiny bathroom, I was all too aware of the tall, impressive Reaper hovering awkwardly in the middle of the room. He looked so out of place I wanted to laugh. I probably would have too if panic wasn’t still clenching my lungs.
“I don’t know. Brew tea or something, and clean it up as much as you can,” I suggested.
Zane nodded slowly. “I can do that.”
I stepped away from the door, ready to let Zane out before my best friends got any wrong ideas. “Oh, wait a second.” Squishing my way around the reaper, I opened the medicine cabinet and plucked a band aid out of its box before handing it to him. “Give this to Jamie.”
Zane took it. “I will.”
I held my breath again as Zane opened the door and returned to the kitchen. Now that my heart wasn’t beating in my ears, I could hear their soft words—my friends asking after my wellbeing and Zane giving them whatever excuses he could come up with.
Guilt gripped me. I hated lying to them. Normally, I told them everything. But this? I’m not sure I could tell anyone about my new secret.
“There, all cleaned up,” I heard Zane say, a little too loudly to be casual.
Okay. You can do this, Clara.
Using Zane’s techniques to center myself, I calmed my racing heart and slowed my breathing. I could do this. I just had to go back out there, tell them I was tired, and then they’d leave.
With assurances running on a loop through my head, I finally left the bathroom. Returning to the kitchen, I braced myself for the smell of blood. But when I stepped inside, all I could smell was dish soap, the lemon cleaning solution I used, and strawberry rhubarb tea—my favorite.
“Hey, are you feeling okay?” Gloria asked the second I stepped inside. “You look a little pale.”
I nodded stiffly. “Yeah, just not feeling well. I’m exhausted.”
Gloria frowned. “Maybe we should go then.”
Jamie cradled her bandaged hand close to her body. “Sorry, C. I didn’t know you had a problem with blood.”
I barely held back a derisive snort. “Ironic, I know. My mom would have a fit.”
My best friends smiled as they packed up. “I really hope you feel better soon,” Gloria said. She gave my arm a quick squeeze as she hiked up her bag onto her shoulder.
“Me too,” Jamie agreed. “We miss you.”
My heart panged. “I miss you guys too.” Tears sprang at the back of my eyes. Today was just a rollercoaster of emotion.
Gloria and Jamie each gave me watery smiles and said their goodbyes. They left the
soup and the two sandwiches Jamie had constructed before hurting herself along with some cold medicine and bottled water. I gave them hugs by the door and watched them walk down the hallway.
“I should get going too,” Zane said, loud enough for my friends to hear. He held his sugar awkwardly in hand. “Thanks again.”
I cleared my throat. “No problem.”
Zane followed my friends to the stairs, and they all disappeared from view.
As soon as I had the front door closed behind me, I leaned against it and slid to the floor. Tears burned the back of my eyes, but I refused to shed them.
I hated this. I hated lying to my best friends. I hated not being able to control myself. I hated the fact that the second I smelled Jamie’s blood, I’d wanted to consume it. She had been one of my closest friends since high school, and I’d wanted to drink her blood like some kind of psychopath. I buried my face in my hands.
This was all such a fucking mess.
Chapter 9
I hit send on what had to be my seventh whiny “Are you okay?” message to Ryker. It had been nearly a week since I’d last seen the vampire, and I was definitely starting to worry. Despite the fact I’d only known him for a few weeks, and didn’t know if this was normal behavior for him, my gut told me it wasn’t. Something big had to be going on for him to stay out of contact. He was too responsible to go MIA for this long.
My mind raced with a thousand possibilities, my pulse spiking. Had he been taken by some big bad supernatural like Elizabeth? Had the vampires decided to kill him?
Or is he finally tired of you?
I winced. I’d had anxiety my whole life, and found ways to cope with it through therapy. But still, that nagging little voice at the back of my mind could skewer me with my worst fears at the worst of times.
“Whatcha doin’ Master?”
I jumped, my phone clattering to the floor as I spun to face Ky. “What the hell, Ky?” I huffed. My racing heart slowed. “You scared the shit out of me.”
Ky’s smile turned wicked. He leaned close, his hand propped on the back of my chair. I sat at the kitchen table with a cup of cold tea, taking a break before Zane returned and demanded I get back to training. “Sorry about that.”
I narrowed my eyes. He wasn’t sorry at all.
Ky plucked my phone from the floor before I could reach it. His smile faltered as he scrolled through my text conversation with Ryker. “Still playing hard to get, is he?”
I sighed and shook my head. “I guess you could say that.”
“I’m sure he’ll be back soon,” Ky said. He leaned even closer, his hot breath fanning my cheeks. “It can’t be easy staying away from you.”
The smoldering look in his eyes made my heart skip and my cheeks heat. He was close—way too close. “U-Um,” I stammered brilliantly.
The front door swung open suddenly, and I nearly leapt out of my skin. Ky stepped away before I could do something embarrassing like smash my head against his, giving me room as I climbed to my feet.
Zane walked inside with a bag in hand, and his usual scowl plastered to his face. He paused in the entryway, taking in Ky and me. His eyebrows knit. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” I said, far too quickly.
Zane raised an eyebrow. If he hadn’t thought something was going on before, he definitely did now. “Right.”
I cleared my throat and grabbed my phone from Ky before facing Zane again. “Did you get your things?”
Zane grunted a reply as he stomped into the living room, leaving the front door wide open, a set of keys dangling from the lock.
Wait a fucking minute. “Hey, what the hell!” I snapped. “I didn’t give you a key!”
“So?” Zane asked, his voice muffled.
I tore the keys from the lock and slammed the door shut before storming after Zane. “You can’t just make a copy of my apartment key.” I froze in the doorway.
Zane stood in the middle of the room, his shirt half-pulled over his head, and a dangerous look in his narrowed eyes. “I needed a way to let myself in, didn’t I?”
I glanced down—I couldn’t help it—at his chiseled abs and pronounced V. My entire body felt hot, and my lungs constricted like the air had been sucked from the room. Could these insanely hot men stop with the nudity? It was making me feel like an inexperienced schoolgirl all over again. “Sorry,” I mumbled, turning back around.
Zane snorted under his breath. “This was your idea,” he reminded—meaning the change in clothes.
“I-I know,” I said.
“I would have been fine in my normal gear.”
“And you’d look very conspicuous in it,” I said sarcastically. Truth is, Zane looked good in his usual black, fitted get up. Even the knives had a certain deadly appeal. But there was no way in hell he could go out in public dressed like that. He’d get the cops called on him.
Ky chuckled as he leaned against the doorframe. He took one look at my frazzled appearance and red cheeks, and his grin widened. “Half-naked men don’t appeal to you, Mistress?”
I narrowed my eyes at the cat shifter. “I’m just giving him some privacy.”
Ky glanced over my shoulder, and when his eyes returned to me, his grin had grown, making me curious as to what kind of look Zane had given him. “He’s just changing his shirt.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was barely noon and my patience was running thin. “Anyway,” I said loudly, making it clear that I was changing the subject whether they liked it or not. “This is going to be difficult enough as is. I won’t have you making it harder because you don’t respect the human dress code.”
“I’m decent,” Zane deadpanned.
Was that a joke? I turned around, but Zane wasn’t smiling. Hm. Maybe not. “There. See, now you look almost human.”
When Zane went out to the store that morning in order to grab ‘human clothes’, I hadn’t expected him to wind up looking like a model. Even dressed in a tight-fitting black t-shirt and low-slung dark wash jeans, he looked supernatural. No human looked this good.
“Almost?” Zane raised an eyebrow.
Crap. My cheeks flushed. “It’ll have to do.”
“Then you’re finally ready to go?” Zane asked. He went through the black canvas bag he’d dropped on the couch, retrieving a few holstered knives from within.
My body went cold. The whole reason I’d sent Zane out wasn’t really so he’d look normal in public—I was stalling. My week was up, and today was the day. If I didn’t deliver a soul to Elizabeth, she’d go after my loved ones.
But I wasn’t ready. Even after a week of training, I was no closer to being in control of my demoness. And yet, she wanted me to kill someone.
“Don’t worry, Mistress,” Ky said, way too peppy for the current situation. “We’ll find a bad guy. Someone who really deserves it.” He wrapped an arm around me, squeezing my shoulder tightly.
Normally, I’d brush off his touch. We didn’t know each other well enough for him to be touching me quite so often. But his body was warm, and his hold firm. He made me feel safe, like maybe I could do this after all.
“Okay,” I said.
Zane watched us with dark eyes, his brow knit thoughtfully. “That would be good practice for your aura reading.”
“So we’re all on the same page then. We find a bad guy.” Still, my heart hammered against my sternum and cold sweat slipped down my spine. I really had to do this. I had to kill a person. And the one person I’d been relying on to help me wasn’t even here to keep me sane through it.
My gut clenched. I hated how much I relied on Ryker. Mom had taught me to be independent, to never rely on anyone but myself, and her. And here I was obsessing over the disappearance of some guy I’d just met.
Ryker isn’t just ‘some guy’, I chastised myself.
“Then, that means you’re ready to go?” Zane reiterated. My patience might be wearing thin, but his was ready to snap.
I bit my lip. Every fib
er of my being screamed an emphatic no. I wasn’t ready, and I didn’t think I ever would be. But I didn’t have a choice. “I guess so,” I said.
Ky squeezed my shoulder again. “I’ll come with. You won’t be able to hear me, but I’ll be cheering you on.”
“Cat form?” I guessed.
He nodded, his smirk dropping. “Yeah, cat form.”
Not for the first time, I wanted to ask why Ky wouldn’t leave my apartment in human form. Since we’d met, he’d stayed human, but then again, I’d never asked him to come outside with me. What or who was he so afraid of? I wanted to ask—I felt like I had the right to know given I was housing him—but something in the haunted look on his face stopped me.
I sighed. “Okay. I guess I’m ready then.”
“Finally,” Zane muttered. He pocketed a few knives, and hid a few others beneath his clothes. When he was done, he headed for the door. “Let’s go.”
“Wait a second,” I said. I ran to my bedroom, yanking on a pair of ankle-high black boots and grabbed a sweater before I returned. By the time I came back, a longhaired orange tabby cat sat in a pile of clothes Ky had been wearing. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Zane shook his head and led the way out of my apartment. I followed suit, locking up before I stopped to blink at Ky. I’m sure he could keep up with us, but it felt strange towering over him like this.
Ky must have sensed my hesitation, or maybe he just understood my anxiety better than I did, because before I could open my mouth, Ky leapt into my arms before bounding up onto my shoulder. He wrapped himself around my neck, his intense purr vibrating against my skin. Relief settled inside of me, and I pet his head tentatively.
“Thanks, Ky,” I whispered.
He rubbed against my hand in reply, and I followed Zane downstairs.
Apparently, Zane had a car. Or at least he’d returned with one from wherever he had disappeared to that morning. I eyed him suspiciously from the corner of my eye, watching his driving carefully.
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