by AJ Myers
For maybe the first time since I was a little girl, I actually breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of my driveway—empty of my parents’ cars, as I had expected. That meant Nathan’s time was up and our weird conversation was over.
“Well, what do you know, dead boy! You’re not going to have to keep your promise, after all,” I said, pulling to a stop in my usual space and cutting the engine. “Time’s up. Get out.”
But he didn’t move. I turned to look at him and was blown away by the tenderness and intensity I could see in his eyes. And there was something else there, something I couldn’t name—or didn’t want to name. It was something deep and beautiful and just…Wow. And behind that beauty was this wonderful heat that made me feel weak and tingly all over.
I reminded myself for the tenth time that he wasn’t technically among the living as he leaned closer to me, bathing me in that skin-tingling scent of his, but it didn’t do any good. He was just so yummy. When he spoke, his voice was almost a whisper, and I was swept away by the emotion I could hear behind his words.
“Do you really want me to go?”
Yes, you’re scaring the hell out of me.
No, I want you to stay and talk to me and look at me that way for the rest of my life.
I don’t know! You’re too much for me!
All of those answers went through my head at one time and I didn’t know which one to choose. Therefore, I chose none of them. I hadn’t gotten any of the answers I wanted, and I had to admit I was dying of curiosity, so I figured I might as well invite him in. I got out and stood there waiting for him to join me.
“Well? Are you coming or not?” I asked when he just continued to sit there.
He shook his head, smiling at my less-than-pleasant invitation, but got out of the car and joined me on the walk leading to the door. Just thinking about the fact that we were about to be all alone in my house was enough to make me blush, and I could have sworn he knew what I was thinking when he grinned and took my hand.
It wasn’t like when he had brushed against me getting out of the car. This was full skin-on-skin contact, and the surge of electricity that shot through me because of it was almost scary. His hand was cool against mine, his skin so soft that I couldn’t help but wonder what those fingers would feel like against my cheek, my neck…and various other places I don’t really care to mention.
When I tried to snatch my hand away, he tightened his grip and I looked up to see that his hypnotic eyes were smoldering beneath his thick lashes.
“Please let go,” I whispered, trapped in his gaze. Too long looking into those eyes, and I would lose myself in them. That thought alone was terrifying to me.
“Do I make you nervous, Ember?” he asked, his lips curving in a supremely confident smile.
“No,” I lied, choosing to pay no attention to the warmth spreading through my body and the way my heart was trying to jump out of my chest. “I just don’t like being pawed by strangers.”
“Uh-huh,” he said softly, pulling me to a stop. There was a teasing glint in his eyes and I found myself having to force down a smile. “I guess I’ll have to try a little harder then.”
I tried again to pull my hand free and put a little distance between us, but he wouldn’t let go. Instead, he twisted our hands until mine was facing him and brought them to his lips to press a cool, lingering kiss to my knuckles that made me feel weak in the knees—and very, very, nervous. The second he released my hand I backed away from him, blushing like crazy.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no! My mind screamed at me. Dead guy, idiot! I can’t see a real future here.
Agreeing with that more-than-half-hysterical voice one hundred and fifty percent, I turned and led the way to the door. It took three tries to get my key in the deadbolt, my hands were shaking so bad. I only managed it then because Nathan’s hand closed around mine and helped me slide the key into the lock. It didn’t really do much to steady me though, as I’m sure you can guess. Electroshock therapy isn’t really conducive to calm nerves, after all.
“Are you going to turn it?” he asked when I simply stared up at him.
“Oh, um, yeah.”
Tearing my eyes away from his, I turned the lock and opened the door. I nearly tripped over the threshold and could have melted into a puddle of shame when he caught me before I could crash to the floor. I suddenly wasn’t so sure satisfying my curiosity was a good enough reason to put myself through this. Every time he touched me, I felt like I was riding lightning. And that voice, those eyes, that body…he was just too much for any girl to have to deal with without backup.
I turned to look at him only to find him leaning against the door frame, watching me with a look I took to mean that I was the most amusing thing he had ever seen. Irritated, I planted my hands on my hips and met that amused look head on, pretending not to notice that it made me feel warm all the way down to my toes.
“Are you coming in or not?”
“Am I invited?” he asked with a smile that nearly turned my legs to rubber, arching one perfect brow.
“Just come in,” I growled, turning and heading for the kitchen.
I didn’t see him follow me through the house to the kitchen, I felt it. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a diet soda and another regular one for Nathan and slammed the door harder than necessary when I closed it. When I turned around, Nathan was leaned against the counter watching me with a soft smile. For one long moment our gazes locked, and I wondered in that moment what he was seeing. I had been running late that morning, so I hadn’t exactly dressed up. My black v-neck sweater and jeans were flattering, but not exactly sexy. My hair was a mess, my makeup was smeared, and I was blushing like crazy.
But, then again, he was dead, so why should I care?
“Pull up a stool,” I told him, placing the can next to him on the counter and moving away from him as fast as I could before he decided to touch me again. “I want answers.”
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
“Just start talking,” I groaned, rubbing at my forehead where a distinct throb had begun in my temples. “Start with what you meant about Jack and his family.”
“He’s a demon,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t know if he’s compelling them or if they simply don’t realize that the monster living with them isn’t their darling little boy, but I intend to find out.”
I stared at him for a full minute before I started laughing. Of all the things I had expected to hear, that one hadn’t even been on the list. The cartoon image of a devil I’d seen as a kid suddenly flashed across my mind, complete with pitchfork, tiny horns, a tail that looked like there was an arrowhead at the end of it, and a little red bow tie. That picture didn’t help much with the laughter, as I’m sure you can guess. Nathan just arched an eyebrow, though, not even cracking a smile.
He was crazy. Absolutely certifiable. Then again, I guess you couldn’t look that perfect and not have some pretty major personality flaws. We’ll call it Mother Nature’s way of evening up the balance. I added insanity to the whole dead thing to give myself as reasons not to drool over him.
“You don’t believe me,” he said, frowning.
“Did you really think I would?” I asked, trying to stop laughing and failing.
Considering I had more dead friends than live ones, I’d be the first to admit that we shared the universal plane or whatever with other things. But demons? In Moonlight, Missouri? Really? What was next? Angels and fairies? Unicorns, maybe?
“Seriously, how did you think I was going to react when you told me a guy I’ve known my whole life was a devil?” Sure, Jack was a hot-headed asshole, a scary one even, but that didn’t make him an evil minion from Hell.
“A demon,” Nathan corrected, his expression very serious, pretty much verifying that he was crazy. Ironic, considering when I laughed even harder he looked at me like I was the one who should be committed. “Think about it, Ember. Is Jack the same guy you’ve known all your life? You haven’t notic
ed anything…different…about him? You feel just fine when you’re around him?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my laughter dying so fast I nearly choked on it. Somehow, I didn’t find the conversation all that funny anymore.
“When you’re around him, do you experience anything you find odd?” he asked, his eyes narrowing on mine.
“Like what?” Like feeling like you’re choking on smoke every time the big ape looks in your direction? a sarcastic little voice asked in the back of my head.
“You feel like you’re on fire when you’re near him, don’t you?” Nathan asked quietly. “You’re choking on smoke and you can literally smell flesh burning, can’t you?”
“How did you know that?” I asked before I could stop myself. I’d never told anyone that, not even Kim.
“I knew a girl once who used to have the same experience,” he said, his expression pained.
“And where is she?”
“She died,” he said softly, staring down at his hands where they had clenched into fists on the countertop, “A couple of times. I don’t intend to let that happen again.”
My eyebrows shot up, and I found myself trying to figure out that little riddle. How did someone die a couple of times? What was she, a cat? Dead was dead, right? Either you went on or you stuck around and haunted the living until you found your door or whatever again. At least that’s what I had been able to deduce from my years of playing with the dead.
“Okay, I don’t have the first clue what you mean by that. Are you trying to tell me that this amazing Cat Girl keeps dying and then coming back? Like, reincarnation or something?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you,” he said, giving me an intense look. “Souls come back over and over again until they attain a level of enlightenment that allows them to move on to the next level of consciousness. My, um, friend is on her fourth incarnation.”
“Poor girl. Guess your friend isn’t all that bright if she didn’t get it the first three times, huh?”
Nathan threw back his head and laughed. “I’ll let you ask her yourself one of these days.”
“I’ll pass,” I muttered, the idea giving me a chill for some reason. “Let’s move on.”
You would have thought I’d had my fair share of freaky for the day, huh? Well, you’d be wrong. What can I say? I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.
“What are you?” I asked when he simply tilted his head and waited for me to continue my interrogation. “I know you’re not technically alive, Nathan, but I’ll concede to the fact that you’re not a ghost. For one thing, everybody can see you.”
“No, I’m not a ghost and I’m not technically alive,” Nathan agreed with that sexy little smirk of his. “What do you think I am?”
A blinding flash of insight hit me and everything began to fall into place. There was no way he should have been able to walk away from that wreck without a scratch, but he was sitting there looking more than perfect without even a bruise. No human being could have done that. Pale skin that was cool to the touch. The fact that he wouldn’t—or was it that he couldn’t?—come in the house until I invited him. The fact that he was dead and yet he wasn’t…
The unopened soda can on the counter behind him took on new significance as I worked out everything in my head. Suddenly, I knew what he was. I knew it like I knew the sky was blue and grass was green.
Oh. Shit. I thought, staring at Nathan with chills shooting up and down my spine. I just invited a vampire into my house!
“Shouldn’t you be, like, ashes right now?” I asked nervously even as I started calculating my chances of making it to the door before he caught me. Somehow, I didn’t think they were good. “I thought you guys had some kind of allergy to the sun or something. It would be a real shame to have to vacuum your cute little behind off that stool.”
“Myth.” He leaned back on his stool, a really cute lopsided smile on his lips, and linked his hands behind his head. Muscles bulged. My imagination went haywire. Nathan laughed. “Concentrate, Ember. I don’t think you were quite finished trying to discredit me.”
“You don’t look anorexic enough to me to be a vampire,” I told him, trying to play off the fact that I had just had my mind turned to mush by the muscles he was showing off so well. “I thought all vampires were Romeo clones. You know, all skinny and shit. You look like you could play for the NFL.”
“Stereotyping,” he said with a lopsided grin. “Immortals come in all shapes and sizes.”
“Do you drink blood?” I rolled my eyes.
“Why? You offering?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“You only wish,” I muttered. “What about the whole garlic thing?”
“Great on pizza and better in spaghetti, which, before you ask, I actually can eat.” He was laughing at me again. “What else do you have?”
“Holy water?” I asked, frowning as I tried to come up with something new.
“Will get me wet,” he said, shrugging. “It’s water, Ember, not battery acid. Don’t believe everything you see at the movies. ”
“I think I have a cross around here somewhere,” I told him, taking a mental inventory of my jewelry box. No, on second thought, I probably didn’t. He didn’t know that, though. “What are you going to do if I go get it?”
In answer, he reached beneath his sweater and brought out a beautiful gold Celtic cross on a leather cord. The design of it was unique. In the center was some kind of intricate knot that looked like a heart and a trinity symbol combined. I stared at that symbol for a full minute, startled to feel like my chest was collapsing as a terrible feeling of sadness and longing hit me. My eyes started stinging and my heart started to pound and I suddenly found it hard to breathe.
I wanted that necklace. No, that doesn’t even describe the terrible need I felt. I had to have it. It sounds crazy, I know, but I was pissed that he was even wearing it. That necklace belonged to me. It took everything I had in that moment not to reach over and rip the damn thing from around his neck.
Nathan gave me a sweet smile when I tore my eyes from the strange, three-part knot and glared at him. Then, in a move that shocked me so much I just gaped at him like a fish out of water, he pulled the cross over his head and leaned across the counter and dropped it over mine, reaching back behind me to lift my hair so it could lie against my skin. There was something so sweet and tender about the action that my mind went completely blank for a second.
Until the necklace I had been so possessive about touched my bare skin, that is.
The second that gold cross came to rest against my skin, I felt an odd tingling that swept through me from my head to my toes. Though Nathan’s skin was cool to the touch, that little bit of gold was suddenly very warm, almost hot. I smiled, feeling content and much more at ease now that I had it. It was like…like the thing had finally made its way home.
“Why did you do that?” I whispered, hoping he wouldn’t try to take the necklace back. Because, seriously, he would have to remove it from my cold, dead body to get it.
“Because it looks much better on you,” he answered, looking very happy about something. He reached out and arranged the cross just so, his fingers brushing the skin above the v-neck of my sweater and lighting my nerve endings on fire.
I frowned again, trying to remember what I had been doing before I went crazy over a necklace. I reached up to move his hand away from me before I started to hyperventilate and he sat back, his lips twitching up in a slight smile, and gave me another one of those warm looks.
“Anything else?” he asked again, softly, “Or are you ready to give up so we can move on to something I think is much more important?”
“Yeah, because that’s going to happen,” I told him, rolling my eyes. “You might as well know, buddy, I don’t know how to give up.”
“I’m counting on that,” he breathed, his voice so low I almost missed it.
I didn’t even want to know what that might mean, so I didn’t bothe
r to ask. My fingers reached up automatically and wrapped around the cross as I frantically searched for my next argument against his insanity, and I felt an instant sense of calm flow through me. Letting that peace center me, I went back to my mission of trying to deny Nathan was a vampire.
“Wooden stakes?” I asked. I already knew he was going to shoot that one down, but I felt a need to distract him from the cross resting above my more-than-ample cleavage before I turned into a puddle of goo and started sliding off my stool to pool on the floor at his feet.
“If you stuck me with a wooden stake, all you would do is give me splinters and piss me off,” he said as one corner of his mouth turned up in a smile. “I’m sure I’ll probably regret telling you this, but if you want to kill me, Ember, cut off my head, set me on fire, or drive something made of silver through my heart so it won’t heal and you’re good to go. Other than that, good luck.”
“What about the whole invitation only thing?” I asked, not even pausing.
“Well, for the most part, that one’s actually true,” he said, leaning back again and giving me a look that had me wanting to melt like butter. But I stayed strong. Yeah, I know. I’m proud of me, too.
“What do you mean, for the most part?” I asked, trying to sound stern and becoming disgusted when my voice came out all breathy instead.
“Let’s just say there are loopholes to every rule,” he answered quietly, his eyes flickering to the cross he had given me before returning to my face.
Scowling at that vague answer, I went back to racking my brain for vampire arguments. Proving that he was a complete nut job was harder than I’d thought it would be. I had gone over every last thing I could remember from every vampire story I had ever read and he had shot down all of them one by one. But there was one thing he couldn’t get around. If he was really a vampire, shouldn’t he have…?
“Fangs!” I cried out triumphantly, sure I had finally found a point he couldn’t get around. “You don’t have fangs so you can’t be a vampire.”
