by Melody Raven
“What does that mean?”
“Your kind isn’t settling down. It’s making the elite get nervous. They’re talking about other ways to force cooperation.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “Force cooperation? As opposed to how nicely they’ve been asking in the first place?”
“It’s not the alternative I’d choose,” he said, his face emotionless, as though he didn’t care one way or another.
But he was here asking her to go to dinner with him. So that meant he had to care on some level, right?
She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to think about her options. “Will I be in danger if I go?”
“You’re never in danger with me,” he said quickly, without a trace of doubt.
She frowned. “There will be other vampires there. What if they decide I’d make a good dessert?”
“You’re never in danger,” he repeated once more.
It was damn hard to argue with someone on repeat. “What about Dani? I’ll be leaving her alone. You know I hate that.” Did he know that? She assumed he did, but it was hardly as though they’d had any long, drawn-out conversations about her. Or about anything, for that matter.
Did he have any family he cared about like she cared about Dani? He’d been a slave. She had a feeling John wasn’t used to anyone trying to protect him.
No. She wasn’t going to feel sorry for him. Whatever his past, it didn’t excuse his present. He was essentially her captor, and she couldn’t let her guard down around him.
“As long as Dani stays in, she should be safe. You know the rules.”
She bit the inside of her lip. She wanted to say no. As much as she wanted to believe him about being able to keep her safe, she’d lost so much faith the past few months. Faith in the government. Faith in good winning over evil. And after seeing how some of the humans had reacted under the dire circumstances, she’d lost some faith in humanity as well.
So it was especially hard to have faith in a vampire, no matter how many good experiences they shared. She was scared. She was scared all the time. What if vampires found a way to get inside her apartment? What if they found out how to survive the sun? They used magic to block off the city. It wasn’t crazy to think they could use magic to break even more rules of their species.
“Why are you asking me? Get some other blood donor to go with you.”
“You know you’re the only blood donor I use.”
She shrugged. “I’m sure there are plenty of fish in the sea.”
“There aren’t. You’re my only fish.”
Her eyes met his and for a moment she found herself entranced. He did everything with such intensity.... It scared her and drew her in at the same time, and she had no idea how he held her under such a spell.
“There will be some very good food, from what I understand. Also, we’ll have to find you a dress. I’ve heard human women like to get new clothes.”
Okay, that one caught her by surprise. “Who told you that?”
“TV. I watch a lot during the day.”
She blinked a few times. For some reason, it was impossible to imagine John lounging on that expensive couch and watching television all day. “And what exactly do you watch?”
He shrugged. “Everything. It helps me get a better grasp of the language and culture. The funny shows are more relaxing.”
“Funny shows? You spend all day watching sitcoms?”
He frowned. She had a feeling her amusement was insulting him, but she couldn’t help it. The whole thing was so surreal. “I sleep too.”
“Of course.”
“Do you want to come with me or not?” he snapped, finally showing she’d pushed him too far.
“Fine, I’ll go. But only if you promise that me and my sister will be safe.”
“Good. Let’s get you a dress then.”
“Right now?”
“The dinner is in four hours. If you get a dress now, then you should have a few hours to prepare. I hope you won’t need more time.”
“I didn’t know it was tonight! Usually dinners are in the evening, not in the middle of the night.” He gave her a look and she let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the rules are different now. But you can’t blame me for not knowing those rules. I don’t exactly have TV shows to watch to bring me up to date on your culture.”
“You can ask me any questions you’d like.”
“I can’t....” She stopped herself. Why couldn’t she? If he was offering, she’d be stupid not to take him up on it. She had so many questions about where they’d come from and why they’d needed to come over here. What had been so much better about Earth that they’d been willing to turn her entire existence upside down.
“Right now, we have to rush. Let’s go to the mall, shall we?”
Lord help her, what had she gotten herself into? “I suppose we shall.”
John couldn’t take his eyes off Tela. As they walked deeper into the mall, her wide eyes kept on scanning all the different stores in wonder. “I can’t believe this place is even open.”
“Well, humans are not the only ones who desire nice clothing.” He smiled at her amazement.
“Yeah, but right now they’re the only ones who can afford it. I thought all the retail stores shut down.”
She wasn’t wrong. A lot of the stores that just sold non-necessity items like clothing or electronic gadgets had shut down or been looted to only the bare minimum structure.
“I didn’t realize you had this whole underground operation.”
“It’s not really underground,” he pointed out. “Anyone could shop here too if they wanted.”
“I think we both know it’s not about want,” she pointed out.
“We’re not going to come to any happy agreement about the situation, so I suggest we avoid the topic.”
“No problem. I’m sure it will be a very easy thing to avoid,” she said sarcastically.
She might want to make fun of his enjoyment of the funny shows, but at least they gave him the ability to understand sarcasm. It was more than he could say for a few of his peers. “I believe the department store would have the most options. Should we start there?”
“Sure. Let’s start there.”
He could have led the way, but he enjoyed walking behind her and watching her various expressions as she passed by all the stores. That mixture of amazement, wonder, and the occasional disgust, for the most part, was just fascinating. He almost felt as if he were experiencing all these things with her. Ever since he came to this world, even with his newfound freedom, he hadn’t taken any time to appreciate the change in status, or the new world he was in. He’d been going through the motions. Keeping his head down and trying not to piss anybody off. As easily as he’d been granted freedom, it could be ripped away at any moment. But being with Tela was the first time he felt as though he were actually free.
“I can’t believe they still have this many clothes,” she said as they entered the brightly lit department store.
“We have a few new shipments every month,” said John as they reached the dress section. He immediately pictured Tela in all the various gowns and outfits on the racks. In his imagination, she looked damn edible in all of them.
“How does that work, anyway? The shipments?”
Tension crept back into his body. “Why do you want to know?”
She moved around one of the displays and ran her fingers over the various options. “Please. It’s not as if I’m gonna make a run for it. I know that humans who try to run through the wall are immediately zapped to their death. Which begs the question, how does anything get through? There must be a way to open and close it, right?”
“There’s a key,” he admitted. “The royal here maintains possession of the key at all times except for during a delivery, in which case he hands it down to a second-in-command and they’ll open up a small, temporary opening.”
Tela raised a brow. “So the big bad royal doesn’t go himself?”
> “A royal wouldn’t take the risk. The chance of attack is highest by the wall, and Mikel knows that.”
“So... this Mikel guy. Do you like him?”
“He’s my superior. I follow all of his commands.”
“So you don’t like him then.”
“Like isn’t an option. I don’t want to talk about Mikel any longer. What do you want to wear?”
She frowned but didn’t push the issue. “How formal is this middle-of-the-night dinner?”
He thought about what little he knew about human culture and came up blank. “I don’t know how to answer that.”
“Okay then. Should I be looking for a floor-length gown?”
“Short,” he said quickly. He could still remember the feel of her toned legs in his grip as she writhed on top of him. What he wouldn’t give to see those legs in all their glory.
“All right. So like a cocktail dress. Now we’re getting somewhere. We should stick with black because that’s a classic. How does that sound?”
John was already picturing her in a skintight black dress. He was going to have to be diligent all night. He was certain another Vopura would try to take her away from him if he wasn’t careful.
Not that she’d want to go. She made her feelings about his kind very clear. Parasite. That’s what she called him. Hardly a compliment.
But if it kept her away from others, maybe it was a blessing. Back at Vora, females were rare and highly prized. Someone as low ranking as him rarely, if ever, got a chance to interact with one. One of the benefits of living here was the sudden influx of women. Sure, a lot, like Tela, were reluctant to get close to any of his kind, but plenty had proved more than willing to risk safety in order to afford themselves the comforts of associating with his kind.
However, that didn’t mean Tela wouldn’t change her mind once she met others. Once she realized how low he was on the—what did they call it? Social ladder.
“That sounds great,” he said, making sure his excitement at the thought of her in a little black dress didn’t show. He knew he was kidding himself. Tela was only around him to help her sister. Nothing about this was to help herself. The only way he was able to get close to her was to take advantage of the oppression she abhorred.
He would just have to appreciate the time they had together before it would inevitably end.
Tela started to quickly grab dresses from the rack. They were all black so it was hard to tell what she was taking, but he wasn’t about to question her. It wasn’t as though he’d be able to help her much with this.
She picked up one and then frowned before putting it back.
“What’s wrong with that one?”
“It was like five hundred dollars. I don’t think I need to dress that nice for this thing.”
John plucked the dress back up and handed it back to her. “Try it on.”
“I’m not going to waste all your money on a dress I’ll only wear one time.”
“You said yourself that it’s a little black dress. Those go with everything.”
“How do you know that?”
“Someone said it in a show.”
She pursed her lips as she took the dress from him. “You know, there’s such a thing as too much TV.”
But as she walked to a fitting room, all he could think was how he’d much rather be watching her.
Tela expected this fancy dinner to be held at the Sorenson Building. So far, the only place she’d ever seen John, except for the streets, was in that building. From what she knew, most of the vampires lived there, and that’s where most of the business went down. So when her driver stopped in front of Morton’s, she was a little taken aback. Morton’s was a high-end steak restaurant that she would have never been able to afford in her old life. It couldn’t possibly still be open and running, could it?
She once again thanked her good judgment for eating before she came. It wasn’t a lot, but the granola bar she’d scarfed down at her apartment kept her stomach from rumbling loud enough to bother all the vampires in the room. Even if they were serving food, there was no guarantee it would be good. It wasn’t as if they knew what humans liked to eat. Sure, it was easy to find out what, but she was betting they just didn’t care.
Tela looked around anxiously as the driver left. Even though she’d been expressly invited, she didn’t know how she was supposed to proceed. Was she expected to just walk inside as if she belonged? It wasn’t as though she had a physical invitation to show anybody. What if John wasn’t there? Then she’d have to have conversation with strangers. She didn’t like doing that when all the strangers were human, let alone a predatory species that could kill her in a heartbeat.
Her pulse skyrocketed, and she started kicking herself for ever agreeing to this. She could’ve said no. John might’ve been disappointed, but he seemed like the sort to understand.
But now she was kind of stuck. She made sure to bring enough cash with her to get home if she needed to, but that would be half of the money she had for the rest of the month. Money that would be better spent on important things—like food.
Why the hell had she ever agreed to this? She shook her head and rubbed the back of her neck. Silly question. It wasn’t just because John said she was needed, or because of the intense way his eyes could go from terrifying to sad puppy. It was because on some level, she’d wanted to. The way that book had taken her out of her dreary daily existence, that’s what John was to her. With him, she could go outside her tiny little apartment and have adventures, no matter how small. And whereas the book kept her safe in the confines of her mind, John was there to be her protection.
Something she was becoming drastically more comfortable with: the idea that John was safety and not danger. And her thinking that might be the stupidest thing she’d ever done.
“You came,” said John.
Tela whipped around and really wished her heartbeat didn’t give away her shock. “How long have you been there?”
“I came when I....” He seemed to think about his words carefully. “Sensed you.”
She didn’t want to think about which sense he’d used. “Of course I came,” she said, as if there had been any other choice. “I was kind of surprised you didn’t pick me up yourself.”
“Was the driver bad? Did he do anything to upset you?”
Tela shook her head. “The driver was fine. It’s just.... You’ve spent so much money on me already tonight.”
“I considered picking you up myself, but I didn’t want the travel to make you nauseous before we got here.”
Well, that was considerate of him. Being carried at vampire speed was hardly relaxing.
“And I didn’t think you’d want to be intimate with me again so soon after our last encounter.”
The blood rushed from her face. He had to go there, didn’t he?
He obviously noticed her discomfort. “Why don’t we go in?”
She took a nervous gulp. “Are you sure nobody will mind me being here?”
“You’re a beautiful woman. They’ll be glad to have you.”
She felt an extra weight to his words. Like he wasn’t talking about the vampires inside. Like he was saying it. She was a beautiful woman, and he was glad to have her.
Subconsciously, her hands ran down the front of her dress, smoothing nonexistent wrinkles. Compared to all the other dresses she tried on, it seemed decent enough. The hemline stopped just a few inches above the knee, the neckline didn’t show too much cleavage, and the long sleeves made her feel as if she were wearing extra material as protection.
But now the skirt seemed too short, the V seemed too deep, and she felt as if she should’ve worn a scarf or turtleneck to protect her where she needed it most.
“You chose well,” said John softly as they walked inside. As though he knew exactly what she was thinking.
“I hope so. It’s hard to pick a dress when I know so little about what I’m getting into.”
“Trust me. You’d look delectable in
anything you wore.”
She had no idea what to say to that, but luckily she didn’t have to come up with anything. He pushed open the door to the seating area, and she realized this wasn’t exactly a small dinner party. There were probably about fifty or sixty beautiful people surrounding her. Most of them were men, all wearing polished black suits, but there were a few women as well. Tela immediately tried to spot the humans. She was pretty sure that the few men she saw in brown or blue sports coats were all of the earthly variety. And as far as she could tell, all of the women were locals. Obviously she shouldn’t have worried so much about what to wear. The styles ranged from barely there clubbing dresses to floor-length gowns that would be better suited for the Oscars than a dinner party.
“I’m going to introduce you to somebody,” said John in her ear. “After that, we can relax.”
She knew she was tense, but knowing that John was also on edge made it all that much worse.
The normal sit-down tables she was sure Morton's used were now replaced with standup cocktail tables.
“He’s free.” John set a hand at the small of her back to lead her toward the back corner of the room.
“So who is this guy?” she asked as they got closer.
But John didn’t answer. Probably because they were so close that this mystery man would’ve heard anything he said anyway.
It wasn’t hard to spot the man in control. He was seated at one of the few sit-down tables, obviously a display of power. There were two women on either side of him, and two stoic-looking men stood guard next to the table.
Tela felt her nerves pick up. John had promised to protect her, but he couldn’t exactly keep her safe from his boss, could he?
John stopped a foot from the table and knelt, his head in a small bow. “Mikel, I’d like to introduce you to Tela Beckford. She’s a blood donor helping our cause.”
Helping their cause? Hardly, but this wasn’t the time to say that out loud.
She forced a little smile and copied the bow thing that John had done. “Hello, Mikel.” She thought about saying nice to meet you, but figured she didn’t need to outright lie.
