Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1)

by Jocelynn Drake

  I stopped in the act of getting out of bed as a sudden realization struck me. I remembered. I remembered it all. Stefan had said that I wouldn’t remember any of it and yet I remembered it all. Why he’d changed his mind? While I was sure that I didn’t want to repeat the experience with another vampire, I was glad that I’d met Stefan briefly. It was just a shame that I hadn’t had the chance to ask him more questions.

  Of course, that was probably why he’d gotten down to business relatively quickly last night. He hadn’t wanted to be badgered by my silly questions when he had probably been starving.

  When I walked out into the living room, I stopped beside the sofa. Something was off. I was sad that there was no evidence that Stefan had ever been in there, not that I could have said what the evidence was. His clothes were gone and the chairs had been placed under the table again. The oven was closed and turned off, as he’d promised. He’d even emptied the water buckets and stacked them by the sink. It had stopped raining before he left.

  And then it hit me. The apartment was warm. I walked over to the radiator that Stefan had tried to use and even before I touched the cast iron, I could feel heat pouring off of it. Was this Stefan’s doing? Or was my luck finally changing? I was whistling as I made my first cup of coffee and carried it to the shower. I was outright singing by the time I finished my shower, because I had hot water too!

  My mood was vastly improved when I left the apartment that morning. The air was crisp and cool, but I started the day toasty warm so I didn’t care. Rather than taking the ferry over to the piazza, I chose to walk, allowing me to savor the bright sun overhead. Venice wasn’t particularly large and could be walked from one end to the other in a couple hours. The only problem was that it was extremely easy to get lost in the city with its narrow canals and winding paths. More than once I had to backtrack to find a bridge as I slowly headed north.

  What should have taken less than forty-five minutes turned into an all-day walk to Piazza San Marco because I located San Travaso church and Santa Maria della Salute church along my way. Setting up my tiny folding chair, I pulled out my sketch pad from my bag and made several sketches of the ancient buildings before moving on. A couple bridges and colorful buildings lining the canals caught my attention as I walked, forcing me to stop again. At lunch, I hit a place overflowing with locals and stumbled through ordering. While I ate, I cleaned up a few of the sketches I’d already created, and then it was finally onto the piazza.

  After lunch, I completed a few business phone calls as I walked. When I reached my destination, I found a spot that allowed me a view of the church, the campanile, and the Doge’s Palace. The only thing that was blocked was the Museo Archeologico behind me, but I was content to save it for another day. The flood waters, or acqua alta as the Italians referred to it, had receded. Both the pigeons and the tourists had returned, but I could block both of them out as I worked. I just needed the buildings and my imagination.

  The hours flew by without my notice. For the first time since arriving in Venice, I was getting some work done. There were no distractions about where I was staying or new orders coming in from my employer. There were just the old structures rising up before me and the blank page in my lap.

  Sadly, my total focus on work resulted in my completely losing track of time. I was finishing up my third drawing of the Campanile when I got the feeling that someone was standing very close to me.

  “You are very talented,” Stefan said, eliciting a surprised little scream of me.

  My head popped up and my mouth dropped open at the sight of him. My first thought was shock at seeing him. My second thought was that he didn’t look particularly pleased to see me. But it was my third that I finally commented on. “It’s dark,” I murmured in wonder, only now noticing that I’d managed to position myself beneath a lamp without realizing it.

  “Yes, and you need to come with me now,” Stefan fairly snarled at me as he extended his hand. I flashed him a mutinous look, deciding whether I should let him know what I thought about his commands. “Do not,” he added in a deadly low voice that practically vibrated with menace.

  Something was going on that I didn’t quite understand and I was trusting that the vampire would explain things as soon as we were in a more private location. With a curt nod, I packed up my things and took his hand. I expected him to briskly walk with me to the nearest ferry back to Dorsoduro. A little scream of surprised escaped me a second time when Stefan wrapped one arm around my waist and took to the air.

  “You fly!” I said, wrapping my arms around him neck and clung to him with all my strength.

  “Yes.”

  “You could have warned me.”

  “Why? You’ve decided not to heed my warnings,” he said bitterly, anger flashing in his gray eyes like a thunderstorm.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Did you not read the letter I left you?”

  “Oh, yeah. It was sweet, but I didn’t dream about you,” I said with a little smile.

  Stefan’s mood didn’t lighten with my attempt at humor. “I cautioned you not to travel at night. I cautioned you that this city was extremely dangerous. I hadn’t realized that you had a death wish. You had led me to believe otherwise when you requested last night that I not kill you.”

  “I don’t have a death wish.”

  “Then you are simply foolish.”

  I shoved away from Stefan the second my feet touched the ground in front of my apartment. “Listen here, buster. I didn’t mean to stay out past sunset. I even set an alarm on my phone so I would know when to head back to the apartment.” As I spoke, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone, only to find that the battery had died. Yeah, alarms don’t work too well if the battery doesn’t last. It must have been from the phone calls I’d made earlier in the day. I hadn’t realized how much they had drained the battery.

  Making a sound of disgust at myself, I shoved my dead phone back into my pocket and proceeded to unlock the door. Maybe Stefan was right. I was incredibly foolish.

  “I’m sorry,” I murmured as I trudged up the stairs with Stefan following as silently as a ghost behind me. “I had intended to leave well before sunset so I’d be safely back here, but I got caught up in work and my reminder alarm never went off.”

  “You need to be more cautious,” Stefan said. It sounded as if some of the edge had left his voice, but he still wasn’t happy. I had imagined during my long walk today what it would be like to see him again. Arguing over my stupidity had never entered my mind and wasn’t exactly the most pleasing conversation we could have had.

  “You’re right. I will.” I put the key in the door to my apartment and unlocked it. Stepping aside to let him in, I shut the door behind him. “I just don’t understand what’s got you so worked up. No one bothered me while I was in the piazza. If there are vampires hunting in Venice, they weren’t in my part of town.”

  Stefan paced away from me, shoving one hand through his hair. The movement stretched his shirt so that it molded to the hard muscles of his arms and chest. Now that I wasn’t being surprised or growled at by him, I noticed how good he looked in his light gray button-down shirt that matched his eyes. It was open at the throat, revealing the neck that I had kissed the night before. His dark slacks hinted at strong, powerful legs. The man looked good, really damn good. It took some effort to draw my attention back to his agitated state.

  “There were four,” Stefan bit out.

  “Four what?”

  “There were four nightwalkers watching you when I arrived. And I am sure more noticed you since I’d heard whispers that a woman was sitting in the middle of the piazza flaunting my protection,” he snarled.

  “Whoa! Hold on just a minute.” I stomped into my apartment and loudly dropped my things beside the sofa. “You’re going to have to explain what they hell you’re talking about because none of that last sentence made any sense.”

  Stefan seemed to lose a bit of steam at that
comment, dropping his hand back down to his side. He sighed softly and it was only then that I noticed that it was the first time I’d actually seen him draw in a breath and release it. Did vampires truly not need to breathe? Well, I guess if you’re dead, then breathing is a bit superfluous.

  “Please, sit and I will explain.”

  “Sit? This is a sitting conversation? I don’t think we know each other well enough that we should need to have a sitting conversation.”

  Stefan’s eyes narrowed on me and he closed the distance separating us in a heartbeat. I tried to jump backward, but his hands were already firmly on my waist and I wasn’t going anywhere. “After last night, I feel as if I should know you very well,” he said in a low, husky whisper that I could feel down to my toes.

  “Nothing happened last night,” I said, trying to sound unmoved by his tone, but it really didn’t come out that way. I focused on the buttons on his shirt so that he couldn’t see how his words affected me.

  “Do you truly believe that?”

  “It’s like that every time you feed, right?”

  Stefan gently placed a hand under my chin and forced me to look up at him. “No. My prey is usually unconscious the moment I feed. My prey also remembers nothing of me.”

  “Oh,” I whispered. Clearly the understatement of the night. Obviously things were different with me, and that significant difference was potentially causing problems. Exactly who those problems were affecting I still needed to find out, but it was becoming apparent that this was a sitting conversation.

  Stefan released me and stepped back so that I could walk over to the sofa. Kicking off my running shoes under the battered coffee table, I sat down with my legs folded under me. Sure, it wasn’t exactly lady-like, but I had a feeling that I needed to be comfortable for this. The vampire certainly didn’t seem to mind as he resumed his slow pacing in front of the sofa, his expression becoming grim as he focused on the problem at hand … which was potentially me.

  “You said a woman was flaunting your protection,” I said, trying to give him a starting point. “Since I didn’t notice anyone else in the piazza, I’ll take it that you were talking about me.”

  “Si,” Stefan said stiffly, drawing his gaze back to me. I was a little surprised that he had slipped into Italian. The only other language he’d used with me besides English was French, but he also seemed more than a little frustrated.

  “Fine,” I said, matching his clipped tone. “Then how is it that I have your protection? Also, how could anyone else know I have it when I wasn’t even aware of it?”

  The vampire’s anger started to fizzle here and I realized this was where he got himself into trouble, though it was highly likely that I made matters worse.

  “I marked you,” he admitted after a lengthy pause.

  My left hand immediately snapped up to the left side of my neck where he’d bitten me. “What do you mean? Where? What I saw in the mirror this morning was small. My shirt covered it up so no one would be able to see it.”

  “It isn’t a mark you can see.” Stefan sat on the edge of the table in front of me and gently captured the hand pressed to my neck with both of his. “It is a scent and a kind of aura that only other nightwalkers and some shifters can pick up. It is a warning that if they should harm you, they will incur my wrath.”

  “You marked your territory?” I demanded, my voice rising in anger as I jerked my hand from his. Jumping to my feet, I glared down at him, though I wasn’t tall enough to really effectively tower over him. “What the hell! What am I to you? Some piece of choice meat? Were you expecting to come back around for another serving?”

  “After your response last night, I didn’t think you’d be opposed to me returning to doorstep,” he said with a sneer.

  My mouth hung open on a gasp as I tried to think of a good way that would allow me to deny such accusations that weren’t an outright lie and save face a bit. I really wasn’t coming up with anything.

  Stefan rose so that he could easily tower over me. “Please sit. And I’d close your mouth or I will find a better use for it.”

  My mouth with a click of my teeth and I flopped back on the sofa, my cheeks feeling as if they were on fire. Yeah, I was handling all of this real well. With my arms folded across my chest, I scowled at the vampire as he returned to his seat on the edge of the table. We sat glaring at each other for several seconds, waiting for calm, rational thought to return.

  “My mark was meant as protection. It was meant as a gift of gratitude,” Stefan said stiffly, still glaring down his aquiline nose at me. “Last night, you offered me shelter from the storm and gave me sustenance. You were also… different.” Stefan paused and his glare became a frown, but it wasn’t at me. I think he was frowning at himself as he carefully chose his words. “I’ve lived a very long time and it has not been often in my lifetime that I’ve encountered different. I counted that as I gift and I wanted to show my appreciation.”

  All the heat and anger had left my fame and I stared at him in surprise. It wasn’t every day that a very old creature told you that you were unique. “Why didn’t you tell me in the note?”

  “Because I didn’t think it was necessary. If you had heeded my warning and stayed indoors after sunset, it would have been highly unlikely that any nightwalker noticed you and the mark.”

  I groaned and closed my eyes, cursing myself. I should have been paying more attention to the time rather than getting consumed with my work. Seven years had passed since the announcement that vampires really did exist. I had spent most of my life running around at night and felt totally safe with it. Seven years wasn’t enough time to adjust to the knowledge that I couldn’t leave my home after dark, even with all the horror stories filling the news each day.

  “And my carelessness has created problems for you,” I murmured.

  “I am sure it wasn’t intentional.”

  “It wasn’t,” I said, lifting my gaze back to his face. “But I don’t understand why other vampires think I was flaunting your protection? And why would they care?”

  Stefan’s brow furrowed as his gaze darted about the apartment, searching for something. When an idea finally came to him, he grinned at me, looking quite pleased with himself. “If you are hungry and you see a… a….”

  “A cheesecake,” I supplied.

  “A cheesecake?” Stefan wrinkled his nose as he slowly repeated the word. “I don’t know this. You would eat a pastry made entirely of cheese?”

  His confusion suddenly made me want to kiss this man, he was so adorable. I restrained myself, somehow. “It’s not what it sounds like. It’s amazing.”

  “Anyway… You are hungry and you see this cheesecake sitting in the open and unprotected, what would you think?”

  “Easy target.”

  Stefan smiled and nodded because I’d obviously given him the right answer. “Now what if you are hungry and you see this same cheesecake sitting in the open but it has the name of your enemy on it.”

  “I leave it alone.”

  “No,” he said sharply, jumping up from where he was sitting to pace away from me. “You are all the more tempted to take it. By taking it, you prove that your enemy is weak. That your enemy could not protect that which belongs to him.”

  “Yeah, but I’m a human being, not a cheesecake,” I said, rising to my feet as well. I walked over so that I was now standing in front of him. “You can’t treat people like that.”

  “And we are nightwalkers. We treat humans like that all the time,” Stefan said harshly, causing me to jerk away from him a bit. “I marked you believing that it would be unnecessary, but I did not want another to harm you if you should encounter another nightwalker.

  Sitting in the open after dark was like taunting them.”

  What he wasn’t saying was that it was a greater insult because the vampires viewed me as beneath them. I was a hamburger to them and hamburgers didn’t thumb their noses at the creatures that were going to eat them.

 
Stefan reached for me and I stepped away from him, walking over to the kitchen sink with my arms wrapped around me. The lie I had been telling myself, that vampires were still human deep down and respected humans, was crumbling before my eyes. On some level, I had always suspected that that was how vampires viewed humans, but to hear it straight from the mouth of a vampire was unnerving. My stomach twisted and for a moment I was afraid I would be sick. I’d been so careless during my lifetime — well before the truth came out — wandering around at night, feeling safe and in control.

  Stefan took a step closer so that I could see him out of peripheral vision, pulling me out of my inner musings about the past and throwing me into a new dilemma. Stefan hadn’t treated me like cattle last night. He might be more powerful than me, but I felt like we were equals on some level. Or maybe I had just wanted that to be true because I was attracted to him? Dear God, I was a delusional idiot?

  “I understand,” I said evenly when I could finally speak past my disgust with myself. “I’m sorry that I’ve caused you trouble with my carelessness.”

  “No, ma petite,” Stefan said with a sigh as he slipped back into his native French. I never heard him move, but I wasn’t surprised when his hand lightly settled on my shoulders. I still couldn’t stop myself from flinching at his touch. It wrung another weary sigh out of him, but he didn’t remove his hand. “You are afraid of me now and I never wanted that. But maybe it is for the best if it keeps you safe.”

  He pressed a light kiss to the top of my head and my eyes fluttered shut. Some of the tension eased from my shoulders and I tried to untangle some of my twisted emotions. This was all coming out of nowhere. Last night, a sexy vampire paraded around my Venice apartment in a towel and drank my blood. Tonight, I’m apparently on the cusp of causing an incident while the same sexy vampire is alternating between being annoyed and tender.

  A sudden thought jumped into my brain and my eyes popped open in horror. I twisted around to face him while he remained alarmingly close. “You said last night that you didn’t see me as a steak.”