She was clearly off-limits given the simple fact that the blonde was obviously Toni’s friend. But Torr could no sooner resist a beautiful woman than a vampire could survive without blood, and so he’d approached their table against his better judgment.
“Torr,” Alessandra greeted him coolly, not that he’d expected anything different. Torr didn’t attempt to hide the fact that he despised Kenton. Always had, always would. He was usually able to get along with the ladies fairly easily, but Alessandra had never warmed to him. Apparently, she took his dislike of Morley personally. No matter.
“Alessandra,” he replied. “Toni.”
He was about to walk around the table to meet their beautiful blonde friend when Alessandra caught his eye with a fierce look that reminded him, as she’d no doubt intended, that she was one of the few humans capable of slaying a vampire. Her meaning could not be clearer.
Stay away.
Which of course made him keen to do just the opposite.
“So what are we toasting to?” he repeated.
He moved toward Toni, who was at least incapable of killing him, deliberately avoiding the blonde woman’s gaze.
“Charlotte, actually,” Toni said, her smile pure and genuine.
“I see.”
He lifted his own glass then and let himself look at their blonde friend for the first time since he’d made his approach.
Bloody hell.
Dark brows framed huge hazel eyes in a perfect face shaped like a heart. Two pins pulled her long blonde hair away from her cheeks.
Prim and proper.
A perfect gentlewoman, just like the ladies he remembered from his human life in medieval Scotland.
Which meant she was even more off-limits.
“Hi,” she said softly.
It was the simplest of greetings, but Torr had no response.
He swallowed.
It felt like someone had taken a war hammer to his chest. And Torr would know what that felt like. He’d taken more than his share of blows with all manner of weapons throughout the years.
“To Charlotte then,” he finally managed.
The angel smiled, and the unusual sensation in his chest intensified. As each of them took a sip of their drinks, Torr was brought back to another time when women had less freedom than they did today. Coiffed, trussed with layers upon layers of material. He’d never cared for it and wasn’t sure why the memory popped into his mind.
“Charlotte, this is Torr. Lawrence’s younger brother.”
“His more handsome and refined younger brother,” he corrected.
Alessandra nearly spat out her wine.
“Careful, my dear,” he simpered. “You don’t want to choke.”
She looked as if she would love to choke him, however.
Torr had nothing against her, per se. But her fiancé was another matter.
“So, Torr,” Alessandra said, setting her glass on the table. “You never did tell us how long you plan to stay here in Stone Haven.” Every word had teeth, and before he could answer or even smirk at her, she continued. “But I don’t imagine it will be very long. After all”—she glanced around the bar—“it’s a quiet little town. And from what I’ve heard, ‘quiet’ isn’t really your thing.”
In his peripheral vision, he saw Charlotte’s eyes widen.
“You know,” he said, swirling the amber liquid in his glass, “I hadn’t planned to stay long at all. But I think I’m beginning to see the appeal.”
He made eye contact with the blonde then, his meaning clear.
To her credit, Charlotte met his gaze and did not look away.
Perhaps not so delicate as he’d thought? The notion intrigued him.
“Torr and Laria have talked about staying for the opening of the bar,” Toni said. It didn’t surprise him that she was trying to play peacemaker—Laria would have done the same thing, and the two often reminded him of one another. So be it. He’d drop his combativeness if the Cheld did the same.
“If possible, yes,” he said, looking at Toni. “I would be honored to help get it ready for the opening. Are you still thinking Halloween weekend?”
His brother had mentioned a masquerade party as the soft opening, although it seemed there was a lot of work to be done in less than a month.
Luckily, Lawrence and Toni had unlimited resources at their disposal to make it happen.
“Yep,” she said. “That’s the plan, anyway.”
He glanced back at Charlotte, who was watching their exchange with barely hidden curiosity. No, there was more to it than simple curiosity.
Torr recognized that look—he’d seen it too many times in his seven hundred plus years to mistake it for anything else.
She desired him, perhaps as much as he desired her.
“Will you be there?” he asked her directly. “To help open the bar?”
She held his gaze. “I will. Alessandra and Toni are dear friends.”
Each word was enunciated perfectly. Her posture, ramrod straight.
“Are they?”
Aware he goaded her with his tone, Torr wasn’t surprised when she bristled at his intended meaning. Why had they not met before?
“Indeed.”
They’d not gotten off to a spectacular start. Though undeniably beautiful, she spoke too primly. Sat too stiffly. The prospect of finding out why was too intriguing to ignore.
“I’ll take your word for it.”
This time, she didn’t hide her annoyance with him at all. So there was a spark inside somewhere?
Interesting.
There was no new Cheld to protect, no arousals that demanded he and Laria leave Stone Haven to find, and cloak, their brother’s descendant before he or she could be slaughtered by one of Kenton’s murderous brothers or swooped into the fold of the Sect. Nothing to take him away from Stone Haven at the moment.
Before today, he had dreaded the prospect. Aside from helping his brother, there really wasn’t much to recommend the quiet, peaceful town. Boredom did not become him. He had spent his long life traveling by choice.
He gave his attention to Toni. “I look forward to working with you and Lawrence. And to seeing your friends again.”
There was only one friend he cared to see, and all three women knew it.
“Well, it was good to see you,” Alessandra said, clearly meaning the exact opposite.
“And you,” he said, breaking eye contact with Charlotte. “Do tell Kenton I said hello.”
Alessandra glared at him like a mother bear protecting her cubs. He couldn’t help but laugh.
“He is a lucky man,” he said, knowing she would think he meant the opposite. In truth, he’d meant it. She was a singular woman—tough and beautiful and loyal to a fault. Torr could understand why Kenton Morley had forsaken his lifelong vow and his own brothers to protect the very woman he’d come to Stone Haven to kill.
According to Lawrence, she was developing into one of the most powerful Cheld he’d ever seen.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice strained.
“Ladies.” With one last glance at the gentlewoman—no, not a gentlewoman, a princess—he strolled back to the bar. He’d known several princesses in his day, and that’s what she looked like in her perfectly coordinated outfit, not a hair out of place.
He knew the type well.
And though he still couldn’t sit thanks to an ill-timed tightening of his pants, Torr decided then and there to abandon his plans to play with the princess of Stone Haven. He didn’t need that kind of aggravation, and besides, if he messed with her, Alessandra wasn’t the only one who’d kill him. His brother would likely beat her to it.
Or attempt to, at least.
Torr, like his siblings and the Morley brothers, couldn’t easily be killed. As members of the first vampire families, they were also the fastest and strongest, and only a very skilled Cheld or vampire taking them completely unaware could have a chance at ending their exceedingly long lives.
Shoving h
is glass toward the bartender, Torr smiled.
It was good to be a Derrickson.
It was good to be untouchable.
* * *
“Torr, you’re going to kill yourself.”
Placing the beam on the floor in front of him, he looked back to Toni and tried to be serious, for her sake.
“You think so?”
A red flush crept up her cheeks. His brother had insisted on exposed beams that weren’t native to the bank, and he’d thought to help the process along by moving the wood himself. But apparently Toni preferred he leave that work to the professionals.
“I forget sometimes,” she said, handing him a bottle of water. “Silly, I know.”
He took the water and opened it. “Not silly at all. We’ve spent many years acclimating. It’s a compliment, actually. You’re saying I fit in.”
Toni reached down to the cooler to grab her own water bottle.
“Well, don’t tell your brother I complimented you. According to him, it’s the last thing you need.”
He considered her words and agreed. “He’s right.”
Toni rolled her eyes. “But you’re perfectly normal sometimes.”
His laugh echoed through the open space. “I’d thank you if I thought being called normal were a compliment. Lawrence, on the other hand, would . . .”
He let his words drift away. They didn’t need to be said. Toni knew his brother well enough now to know the truth. As much as Torr relished the special abilities they’d been given, Lawrence had never wanted anything but to be human again. To be “normal.”
This bar, Stone Haven, was his dream.
Living in one place, working for himself . . .
“What is it?” Toni asked.
Because he liked and respected her, he met her gaze—after ensuring Lawrence was on the other side of the room, of course. “He can’t stay forever,” Torr said, watching as his brother spoke to one of the workers. “However much he might like to. This isn’t an open town—”
“But could it be?”
Torr shivered. “No,” he said automatically. “The last time he tried to force that—”
“I know,” she said, taking a drink. “Lawrence told me you were forced to leave a town you all loved because the wrong person learned of your existence.”
Worse, nearly every vampire slaughter in history had begun with that same idea—turn a town into one of the very few places considered “open.” A place where the residents knew of, and accepted, their kind. Until the wrong people learned of them and word spread guaranteeing the Sect’s arrival.
“I’m afraid intolerance is at an all-time high, and social media has made our position even more precarious.”
“But why couldn’t it be done?” she pressed. “My aunt and uncle know about you guys, and they’re not completely freaked out—”
“A rarity, as I’m sure you know.”
Toni shrugged, not wanting to agree with him. “I’m just saying, anything is possible.”
Anything but that.
“Toni, the Sect’s more dangerous than ever. They’re employing new tactics, killing brazenly . . . ”
He drifted to a stop. Torr wasn’t accustomed to speaking so openly with a human, and Toni’s expression told him she’d heard enough. A few months back, he and Laria had set out to protect what they’d thought to be a new Cheld coming into his powers. It had proven to be a trap. The Sect had lured them in and attempted to kill them. They’d survived the attack, but one of their own, an over-two-hundred-year-old vampire, had been slain. Unfortunately, the Cheld murderer had cloaked himself again, and they’d lost him somewhere in Amsterdam. There’d been no sign of him since. But between their ongoing issues with the Sect and Kenton’s brothers, who knew Alessandra and her brother were both Cheld, the last thing they needed was to draw more attention to Stone Haven. An open town? Not going to happen.
“So,” Toni hedged, “are you really planning to hang out in our humble little town all month?”
Torr leaned against a giant column that supported the vaulted ceiling.
“Unless we’re needed.”
With Lawrence out of commission, Torr and Laria were now responsible for finding and protecting any Cheld who came into their abilities, or aroused, as they called it. That had been one of Torr’s prouder moments, the word originating as a joke. Surprisingly, it stuck.
“So . . . how often does that happen, anyway?”
Toni had begun to learn of their world when Alessandra aroused after Kenton and his brother came to town in June. But because her father had been adopted and apparently ignorant of his bloodline before his death, she’d known nothing of her special heritage as a descendant of his brother Alec.
It was Alec’s wife who’d been the architect of their fate.
Lady Isobel had been a powerful healer. Today, she’d likely be labeled a witch. Her words, uttered in grief for the husband who’d been killed in the conflict between the Derricksons and the Morleys, had cursed both families. They’d become the first vampires. Horrified by what she’d unwittingly done, she’d attempted to reverse the curse, but her efforts had instead given rise to the Cheld. Her own descendants had developed the power to control or, if necessary, overpower vampires.
So Lawrence and Torr and Laria had set out to protect the Cheld, their descendants, and the Morleys set out to kill them.
“It could be tomorrow. Or six months from now. As you can imagine, there is really no way to predict it.”
Toni cocked her head to the side. “Do you think Lawrence will have a difficult time hanging back when that happens?”
Torr knew he would. He had, after all, been their chief, a position he’d taken seriously. Although Lawrence wanted to be normal, he would have a hard time stepping down after centuries of protecting his siblings and the Cheld. He may never have asked, or expected, to become chief, but he’d filled the role for too long to shake it off easily.
Still, even Torr knew when it was best not to say something.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this happy before.”
Lawrence shot him a glance. He could hear every word even though he was clear across the room. A fact Toni had likely forgotten before initiating this heart-to-heart.
“Oh geez. I’ll never get used to that.”
Lawrence winked at her.
“You know, you’re not half as bad as your siblings make you out to be,” Toni said, changing topics.
His brother laughed, the sound echoing over the sounds of construction.
“Neither are you,” he teased.
Toni’s mouth dropped open. “Oh, but you are a cad.”
He couldn’t disagree.
“And we’ll have to talk about your dislike for my best friend—”
“I do not dislike Alessandra,” he said honestly. “Just her fiancé.”
Toni finished her water and walked to a recycling bin in the center of the room. As she came back toward him, he could tell she was still considering his words. Torr would have thought she’d jump to Kenton’s defense.
Well done, Lawrence.
“I can imagine it’s difficult to see someone differently after feuding for so long—”
“Feud?” he scoffed. It was a small word for the enmity that lay between them. “I don’t understand how Lawrence can forgive—”
“He hasn’t. At least, not completely.”
Torr watched Toni, waiting.
“There’s simply too much history, I think, no matter how he tries. But you know what they say about carrying hot coals and expecting them to burn your enemies.”
Torr had no idea what they said about coals, but he opted not to ask for clarification.
“Of the two of us, he’s always been the better man,” he said, finishing his own water and wanting to change the subject. “Any news on the Walsh front?”
Zach Walsh had broken into Ye Old Curiosities back in August. Torr had taken it upon himself to question him, against Lawrence’s
wishes, and the human had admitted he’d been sent to find a family heirloom, a journal, that his grandmother suspected was hidden in the shop.
The problem?
Back when Alessandra was first coming into her Cheld abilities, she and Toni had asked Toni’s aunt for information about the Cheld. Birdie had, in turn, queried Annabel Walsh, a customer she knew to be interested in the supernatural. The attempted burglary had happened soon afterward. Zach didn’t know why his grandmother wanted the journal, but he’d mentioned “Cheld” in conjunction with it. Hence their worry. It was a tangled web.
“Nothing,” Toni said. “But apparently your threats must have worked. He and his grandmother haven’t been seen around town for a while.”
Torr chuckled. He’d warned Zach not to breathe a word of the incident to anyone, including his own grandmother. Unfortunately, that hadn’t helped them figure out what was in the missing journal or why Annabel wanted it so badly.
“Look who’s here!”
Torr looked toward the front door.
It was her.
Chapter 4
Ah, hell. Charlotte didn’t need this today. Weekends were supposed to be about rest and relaxation.
Six plus feet of pure, unadulterated man stood in front of her. Slightly darker hair than his brother’s, but not so black as that of the Morley brother, Torr’s appeal came not just from his good looks, but from the expression he wore even now. Confidence oozed from him.
She only realized she’d been staring when Alessandra cleared her throat next to her. They’d arranged last night to grab coffee at The Witch’s Brew as they did many Saturdays, and she hadn’t thought twice when her friend had mentioned stopping by the construction site first to see if Toni wished to join them. If she’d known he would be here, Charlotte would have insisted on meeting them at the coffee shop.
This man was the exact opposite of what she needed right now. Ever.
After the debacle with her family, Charlotte had finally picked up all the pieces. She’d obtained her degree in education, a job she excelled at, and now she was on track to become the next English Department chair.
At Stone Haven High School, she’d gained something she’d never thought to have again: the respect of her peers.
The Hunter's Affection (Bloodwite Book 3) Page 2
