“You can’t be with me every minute of every day,” she said with a frown.
“Can’t I?” he asked.
Then he took her chin in his hand and leaned forward. His lips touched hers and she jerked back a little, her heart racing. The touch had been electric, like a static charge. He followed her withdrawal and took her mouth again. This time her whole face seemed to bloom with static energy. But this time she did not pull away. Instead she let him kiss her, feeling the warmth and forbidden excitement on a visceral level.
She felt his electric touch as it glided over her jaw, around her ear and down the side of her neck. The sensations were overwhelming and like nothing she had ever experienced before—save the kiss of the night before. But this kiss seemed somehow stronger than that one. It was more open and honest with no secrets between them.
His tongue touched her lips and she opened her mouth for him, gave him ready entry. Her breath quickened as he stroked that exciting electric sensation against her tongue. He kissed her deeply, their mouths becoming more and more heated. Her hands went to his chest. She felt dizzy and off balance, but he was there, pulling her in tight to his body, supporting her weakened knees. His strength radiated into her. He was so very fit beneath his clothes. Not overly muscular, but strong and solid. She felt the play of muscle beneath her fingertips. His body was hard and male, everything that would attract her had he been a normal man.
But he wasn’t normal.
The thought brought her out of the mesmerizing heat of the kiss and she pulled away from him. He stepped forward as if to follow her, but her hand on his chest held him at bay. Her other hand came up to press a warm finger to his damp lips.
“Please,” was all she said. She implored him with her eyes, begging him to understand. She wasn’t ready for the way he overwhelmed her. She didn’t know if she ever would be. She wasn’t the type of woman who flung herself into out-of-control relationships. She was very thoughtful about whom she was with.
Still, her body was singing with the craving to get closer to him again. She missed the contact with him almost instantly, feeling as though she were depriving herself of something.
“Of course,” he said then, taking a step back. “You have experienced a great deal tonight. I didn’t mean to compound your feelings of—”
“No. It’s all right. I…I enjoy kissing you very much. I would love to lose myself in it. But I can’t do that. I can’t afford to jump into this willy-nilly. There’s too much at stake.” At the dejected look in his eyes she stroked her fingers from his lips to his jaw. “I’m not saying that I will ignore the way you make me feel. I-I just need time.”
“Yes. I understand,” he said. But she could tell he wasn’t satisfied with having to put distance between them. “Still you should know I’ll try to kiss you again…and often.”
She smiled at that. “All right,” she said.
He then, quite suddenly, put an arm around her waist and jerked her forward into his body. Their breastbones clashed and his mouth swept down onto hers. He kissed her breath away, sweeping her up into the maelstrom of his emotions and desires, picking her up like a tornado and shaking her loose. Her entire spine seemed to disappear from her body, making her limp in his hands. So it was with some difficulty that she found her feet and balance just as he suddenly thrust her away. She was clinging to his arm, panting for breath when he said, “All I ask is that you do not deny there is something hot and irresistible between us. I won’t let you lie to yourself about that.”
“I…I won’t lie to myself or to you about that,” she promised him. She brushed a shaking hand through her still damp hair. She was aware of just how hot her body was, her temperature having risen by a couple of degrees.
Or at least that was how it felt. And it was like nothing she had ever experienced before.
“I am going to stay close to you. I am going to protect you. I promise you that.”
“That isn’t necessary. I just need to remain in the presence of others. Surely they won’t attack me in a room full of people.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. But you will not always be in a roomful of people.”
“I will be safe at the precinct. I will be surrounded by cops. No one can get to me there.”
“And when you are in the field?”
“I won’t go anywhere alone. I will have my partner with me at all times.”
“That isn’t good enough. He has no idea what to expect or that you are even in any danger. No. There is a better way and I will find it. As for tonight, I will stay here.”
“That isn’t neces—”
“It is necessary,” he cut her off firmly. “I refuse to leave you alone.”
“And it doesn’t matter what I want?” she asked, her temper irked.
“Renee,” he said on a sigh, “I’m not trying to curb your wants, desires, or freedoms. I am trying to keep you safe and alive.”
His words cooled her temper, leaving her touched by how much he obviously cared about what happened to her. She supposed he could have easily left her out in the cold. All of his choices, even those that went against the tenets of his people, had been for her benefit. Had been an effort to protect her. He was willing to face whatever sanctions there might be just to allow her to keep her memories and her awareness. She should be thanking him, not giving him a hard time about it.
“All right. You can stay. In the guest bedroom,” she said firmly.
“Of course,” he said with a chuckle.
“I just have to clear away some boxes so we can get to the bed.”
“That’s not necessary. I can just as easily sleep on the couch.”
“No. It’s no trouble. It’s just a few boxes. I’ll get some clean sheets.”
She went into the hall closet and fished around for clean sheets. She was aware of him following her closely as she went into the bedroom. He helped her stack boxes out of the way of the bed, then helped her make the bed. It was such a normal domestic thing to do, as if he wasn’t a vampire and she wasn’t just a human living a normal human life.
But she would no longer be living that normal human life, she realized. Her life had changed on a fundamental level. It would never be the same again. All because of this one man. This vampire.
And yet she felt no hostility about it. She did not feel as though he had wrecked her life or cheated her out of a normal existence. As she had said, she was glad she knew about him and his people. She was glad to no longer be in the dark. But being in the light came with a price, she knew. Not only for her, but for him as well.
“When will you inform the committee that you’ve told me about you?”
“I’ll take the matter up with my queen first. She is a logical and reasonable woman. I’ll get her on my side and we’ll approach the committee together.”
“What about you? What will they do to you?”
“I hope they see the logic in what I’ve done. I hope they find you worthy of knowing the truth.”
“I don’t know that I like the idea of being judged. Especially when it is so critical to me that I be judged well.”
“They will look into your life. They will want to interview you. It’s a little like closing the barn door after the horses have already run out, but it makes them feel better. They have to know you can be trusted not to tell anyone about us. Something you might find very difficult. Especially when it comes to hiding things from a justice standpoint. But hopefully you will learn what our methods of justice are like and you will be satisfied that it’s enough to make up for what you must conceal from others.”
“I hope so. I don’t think I can let a murderer go free, no matter who or what he is. It’s not in me to do that.”
“Renee, you must promise me to be careful. If you stumble across a sycophant in your investigation it may feel cornered and attack violently. Please, leave it to us to find him.”
“I can help,” she said stubbornly. “I can at least locate him. Then you can do the rest.”
“No. Absolutely not. I forbid you to put yourself in harm’s way!”
“You what?” she demanded dangerously. “You forbid me? Who the hell do you think you are?” She was exploding with outrage. “You do not and cannot tell me what to do!”
“Aren’t you telling me what not to do just by that very sentence?” he argued back. “Forgive me if I seem overbearing, but you do not appreciate how critical and deadly this is!”
“I think I can appreciate it well enough,” she said, still seething. “I get the picture, okay? You want me to throw my investigation into idle. But I don’t know if I can do that. If a tip comes in I have to chase down the lead. It will look suspicious otherwise. People I work with know how dogged I am. They know how much I want to catch the bad guy and that I’ll do just about anything to get them. Anything within the legal system anyway.”
“I’m sure you’re clever enough to find ways of slowing down the investigation.”
“I already have a lead I’m chasing. I have to follow through on it.”
“Tell me what it is.”
“A bar. There’s a possibility our man frequents a bar not far from the murder scene.”
“Give me the name.”
She did. And she gave him the description of the man who had been witnessed at the crime scene.
Rafe frowned. “Just one vampire was there?”
“That’s all the witness saw.”
“That’s odd,” he said.
“How is it odd?”
“Because a single vampire would find it nearly impossible to kill a human like that. It would glut him, make it impossible to continue feeding. Usually when sycophants kill it’s in groups of three or more. They share the energy out that way; killing the victim by draining him of every last electrical impulse including the ones that send impulses from the brain to the vital organs. In effect, they are paralyzing them, then shutting down their brains. For a single vampire to do this…” He shook his head. “It’s not right.”
“Well, maybe there were others but the witness didn’t see them. Maybe they fled the scene before she put eyes on the attack.”
“Maybe,” he said slowly. Then more strongly, “Yes, that must be it.”
But there was a lot about the attack that didn’t make sense to Rafe. Like…why in daylight? Vampires—even sycophants—hunted under cover of darkness. And why on a busy street corner? Had the sycophant been starving and desperate? Those were the only reasons he could think of for why he would attack in daylight with witnesses about. But even starving there had to be dozens of better ways, better places to take a meal. He had been on that street corner. He could pick out half a dozen places close by where he could have gotten a more secluded meal.
But perhaps it was that the sycophant didn’t care if it was caught. Maybe it had a death wish of some kind. Either way it would have to be stopped. Otherwise it would continue to kill with impunity.
“I’m going to go to bed,” Renee said. “Going to try to wind down.”
“I could help you with that,” he said softly, reaching to brush her hair back from her cheek.
She laughed. “I’ll bet you could.”
He chuckled. “I meant I could give you a foot rub or something.”
“Oh. Well…” She flushed as she thought about his hands rubbing pleasure into her feet, the electric sensation of his touch radiating up her legs. It was far too tempting. Too tempting to pass up. She smiled and nodded. “I think my feet would like that after being in heels in the freezing cold tonight.”
He smiled and she felt an answering response. There was something about that handsome smile that did her insides in. She turned and led him into her bedroom by his hand, pausing a moment on the threshold. He was directly at her back and must have felt her hesitation because he put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them warmly. He bent his head and whispered in her ear. “I promise I’ll behave.”
“It isn’t that. It’s just been a while since I invited anyone into my bedroom for any reason. Come in,” she said, stepping in and turning as she did to pull him in.
He followed her and she led him to her bed. She sat down and slid in and he took a seat on the edge of the bed by her feet. His hand closed around one of her bare feet and he picked it up and put it in his lap. She could feel the muscles of his thigh beneath her heel, then she felt the strength of his fingers wrapping around her tired foot. It was immediate invigoration.
As he firmly massaged away the aches of the day, she found herself sighing in contentment. When was the last time someone had done this for her? Had anyone ever done this for her? Not that she could remember. Very often she had been the one catering to the needs of others. He added her other foot into his lap and she began to feel drowsy. It was a combination of coming down from the adrenaline-pumping attack and the relaxation of the moment. He began to include her calves in the massage and she just about soared to heaven. She definitely began to float away.
She was drowsily aware of him finishing and she reached out to stop him from leaving.
“Stay,” she said. “Just…for a little while.”
So he stayed, kicking off his shoes and sliding in beside her. He gathered her up in his arms and hushed her softly, kissing her forehead, her cheek, her lips in gentle unassuming ways. She closed her eyes and began to fall asleep.
“I’m here for you,” he whispered against her temple.
“I’m here for you too,” she whispered back.
Then she fell asleep.
Chapter 11
Renee woke up to the smell of coffee brewing. Oh yes. The elixir of the gods awaited her. She had her coffeepot set to auto brew, but she had forgotten to refill the tub with fresh grounds after making coffee last night.
Last night!
She sat up sharply in bed as memories of the night before hit her full force. She launched out of bed, stumbling a little as her legs got tangled up in her comforter. She grabbed her robe up and hurried into the hall. A glance into the open door of the guest bedroom confirmed that Rafe was up, even if the smell of coffee hadn’t already told her so. The pot could easily have just re-brewed the old grinds. Wait, had he even slept in the guest room? Last she knew he had been in bed with her.
She entered her living room and saw him sitting on a barstool at the kitchen peninsula. He was looking at a laptop; he must’ve returned to his car while she was sleeping to fetch it. She groaned inwardly as she thought of Emily hearing him come and go. She knew exactly what her friend would be thinking.
Well, that was the least of her worries, Renee told herself. She had much more pressing concerns. Not the least of which was her own safety.
“Good morning,” he said when she came close enough for him to notice her. “Did you sleep well?”
“Surprisingly. I didn’t even hear you walking about the apartment which troubles me. I didn’t know I was that heavy a sleeper.”
“It’s the crash after an adrenaline rush. I always sleep like a rock afterward.”
“So you sleep? I mean, of course you sleep. But I mean…Oh, I don’t know what I mean!”
“Don’t worry. I understand. You’re still trying to wrap your head around the whole vampire business. I get it.”
“I wish I did,” she said with a sigh. Then she beelined to the coffeemaker and poured herself a much needed cup. He already had one sitting on the counter in front of him. “Whatchya doing?”
“Some work. Smoothing out details of this treaty.”
“Tell me more about this treaty.” He hesitated so she followed up her request with a quick, “If you’re allowed to, that is.”
“I don’t see why not,” he said after a moment of thinking about it. “The cat’s already out of the bag, you might as well be allowed to watch it play.”
“Nice,” she said with a laugh.
“The treaty brings together all of the vampire nations, unifying them on a level not seen since long, long ago. You see, the vampire nation is run by princi
palities. There are princes in each country and in various sections of the United States, each prince responsible for his own region. The queen presides over all of these princes, holding veto power over them if they come to clash over territory or some other issue. Now, notoriously there have been principalities at war with one another for various reasons—some of the same reasons humans go to war. Land. Resources. Religious beliefs.”
“You believe in God?” she asked, surprised for some reason.
“Well, it’s different for each individual, as it is in your society. Me personally, yes, I believe in God. I believe there is a creator in this universe. I don’t know that I believe in the Christian God, but I am spiritual. What about you?”
“I…it’s hard for me to believe in a benevolent God when the word is so rife with violence and bad things. If God exists, why let so many bad things happen to good people? Like that man the sycophant killed. He had a family. Now they don’t have him any longer all because some animal wanted a meal.”
She could tell her words stung him, but she could not retract them once they were said.
“Not that you’re like that,” she added quickly.
“Renee, I appreciate your efforts to soothe me, but I am well aware that I am very different than a sycophant. Phants have no moral code, whereas I do. It’s as simple as that. But that is all that separates us. I could just as easily betray my moral code tomorrow and become a phant. It is a choice. I choose to be law-abiding. I have the free will to do that. But still, my laws are not your laws. Although part of our laws is to blend into the human environment as seamlessly as possible, there are things like our capital punishment that humans may not agree with. The fact that any law-abiding vampire may take out any sycophant he comes across, for instance. Your people would never allow an individual to take the law into his own hands.”
“This is true. So you have no court proceedings?”
“We have tribunals for those who break vampire law—aside from the sycophants. For example, I might have to face a tribunal for exposing you to our culture without being given leave to do so by the committee.”
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