The Vampire's Protector [The Protectors 4] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Doris O'Connor

  Ethel sighed and smiled at her.

  “Such a nice young man, Dimitrius is. I’m so glad he’s got you. I worry about him in this big house all by himself.”

  Oookay, maybe she doesn’t know then.

  “I wouldn’t say he’s young, Ethel, and he hasn’t got me, despite of what he just said. We’ve only just met.”

  Ethel smiled and took hold of Eva’s hand.

  “Ah, sometimes that’s all you need. When I met Mr. Gardiner, I knew right away, he was the one for me, and Dimitrius sure seems young. Everyone seems like a whippersnapper when you get to my age, dear, and those bits of gray suit him. Besides,” Ethel looked over her shoulder, as if to make sure he wasn’t around to hear them, and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “A silver fox knows his way around a woman’s body, you know. Those young ones are enthusiastic, but I swear half of them wouldn’t know where a woman’s clit is, let alone what do with it.”

  An amused chuckle from behind them told of Dimitrius’s return and Eva wanted the ground to swallow her up.

  “You’re all set to go, Ethel,” he said. “And I’m very glad you approve of my supposed abilities.” Eva knew her cheeks were flaming, yet Ethel showed no such embarrassment. Right now the human reminded Eva of Mrs. H.

  Maybe the ability to get away with saying the most outrageous things came with age, and had nothing to do with Mrs. H being a witch, after all.

  “Just saying it how I see it, Dimitrius, that’s all. Eva seems a bit reluctant. So I thought I would give her some encouragement.”

  Eva felt rather than saw the intensity of his gaze as Dimitrius stepped closer to her. For the life of her she couldn’t bring herself to look up at him. She needed to get away from him, so that she could gather her wits about her, and think. Her brain cells seemed to have turned into nothing but a big mass of horny take me now and make me yours goo. It was most disconcerting this effect he had on her.

  “Does she now?” He murmured the question and Eva’s skin itched under his intense perusal. “We’ll have to work on that reluctance, won’t we, myshka. Drive safely, now, Ethel.”

  “Oh I always do, my dear, you know that.”

  Ethel got up and smiled at Eva, and she, too, shot out her chair, and yanked the kitchen door open.

  “Yes she does, so there will be no need for you to run me home, Dimitrius. Ethel passes by my house on the way to the shelter, and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind dropping me off?”

  Eva held her breath as Dimitrius’s eyes narrowed and his displeasure hit her in the gut like a physical force, before he masked it and the polite smile was back in place.

  “Oh, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind, but there is no need. I was going to take you back to pick up your bike and to properly assess what the damage is,” he said, and Eva cursed him in her head.

  Fixing an equally polite smile on her face, she shook her head.

  “It will have to be collected by breakdown, and there is no need. I’ll call someone to get it done, and you did say you were busy today. I wouldn’t want to keep you from your appointment.”

  Amusement lit up Dimitrius’s black eyes briefly, and he ran a hand over his stubbly jaw.

  “Fine, have it your way, malyutka.”

  Eva narrowed her eyes at yet another pet name she didn’t understand, and judging by the way he was smirking at her it was probably just as annoying as little mouse. No one had ever called her little before him. They wouldn’t have dared. Eva had always been the tallest in her class and she was still taller than most women at just over six foot, so this rankled. No doubt he was trying to goad her into a reaction so that he could twist her arm into staying, but she had to get out of here, so she just inclined her head, and holding the door open for Ethel followed her out into the sunshine.

  They were having a lovely Indian summer, and the sun shone brightly out here, which was another step in her favor, because Dimitrius didn’t follow them out. He stayed in the shadow of the house, arms crossed over his chest, and leaned against the doorframe. The tip of his black leather shoes was in the sun, and a thin trail of smoke appeared from them, before he pulled his foot into the shadow.

  “I’ll just start the engine then. It takes a few tries sometimes,” Ethel said, and when Dimitrius’s attention swung to her laughed. “Yes, I know, I know, I will give that mechanic you recommended a ring. I just haven’t got round to it yet, Dimitrius.”

  The ancient vampire’s mouth set in a grim line and he nodded at Ethel.

  “Make sure you do. If not I will make that appointment for you, and pay for the repairs. I should have done that in the first place.”

  Ethel laughed and wagged her forefinger at him.

  “Oh, no, you won’t. You do enough for the shelter as it is. I couldn’t possibly let you do that.” The slam of her car door shutting brought an end to that conversation, and Dimitrius turned his annoyance on Eva instead.

  “Damn infuriating woman. I met her when the damn thing broke down in the first place. She was a sitting duck for…” He stopped speaking and scowled into the distance, and Eva had to throw his earlier words back at him.

  “Careful, you almost sound as though you care.”

  His full lips kicked up into a sardonic smile and he coiffed his finger to an imaginary hat.

  “Touché, Eva.”

  “Why?” she asked and glanced to Ethel just as she managed to get her car started. Dimitrius looked uncomfortable for all of one nanosecond and then his smirk was back in place.

  “I was bored, and it gave me something to do.”

  “Bored?” Eva asked, and mirroring his earlier actions crossed her arms over her chest. It was that or touch him and try and shake some sense into him in an effort to get a straight answer out of this infuriating man.

  “So, I guess you were bored when you rescued me yesterday, too, were you?”

  Dimitrius’s eyes narrowed, and she blinked when he towered over her in an instant. Unlike before this time round the smell of burning flesh assaulted her instantly. They were in the full glare of the midday sun, and it seemed it proved too much for him. No wonder he’d packed the food into Ethel’s car in record time.

  As quickly as he moved into the sun, he retreated back into the shadows, and while she couldn’t understand what he murmured to himself in Russian, she knew the sound of swearing when she heard it.

  “Not entirely invincible then?” she asked, and simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief when he grinned at her.

  “I need to feed, that’s all.” His gaze darted to Ethel who was patiently waiting in her car for her, and Eva moved to block his view.

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  This time his amused chuckle sent shivers of fear down her spine.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t, would I? A man’s gotta eat, Eva, and as you’re running out on me I will just have to find another willing source, won’t I?”

  “You know damn well I can’t let you do that.” Eva broke out in a cold sweat at the mere thought, and Dimitrius gave a short, humorless laugh.

  “Is that your way of telling me to get ready for the villagers with the pitchforks?” he asked, and Eva shook her head.

  “No, of course not, but—”

  “Do you really think your Protectors could take me down?” His dark gaze held her pinned in place, and Eva swallowed nervously.

  “I know you can’t go running around killing people,” she said.

  Dimitrius made a big show of inspecting his fingernails, and when he looked at her again his previous amusement had fled.

  “I’m not in the habit of killing the women I feed from.” He paused and then his smirk was back. “Not unless it’s the petit mort, of course. They tend to have a few of those.”

  He winked at her and waved at Ethel.

  “You best get going. After all I have an appointment to get to.”

  With that he gave Ethel another nod and disappeared into the kitchen. The heavy door shut with a resounding thud, and Eva bar
ely resisted the urge to throw something at it. Not that she had anything to throw at it. With a sudden fit of insight she realized that she had nothing of hers with her. Her bike was presumably still wrapped around that tree, her clothes shredded after her impromptu shift and her purse was lying in a ditch, or worse had been taken by someone. Shit, she would have to cancel her cards just to be on the safe side.

  Unreasonable anger at the highhanded vamp who’d saved her life shot through her system and made her scowl as she opened the door to slide into the passenger seat of Ethel’s car.

  “Oh dear, you two haven’t had a row, have you?” Ethel asked, and at Eva’s shake of her head put the old Cortina into gear, and they drove off. The gears crunched with every shift up and down, and Eva winced.

  “I know he’s a highhanded bastard, but I really think you need to get this car looked at, Ethel. It’s a minor miracle it’s still driving, from the sounds of it.”

  Ethel smiled and stroked the dashboard.

  “Oh, I know he’s right, and he’s not highhanded. Just a man used to get his own way, that’s all, and we rather like our men like that, don’t we?” She winked at Eva, who had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the old lady.

  “This old dear barely scraped through its MOT last time, and I couldn’t bear it if they told me I have to scrap her. I know to you it’s just an old car, but I have so many happy memories associated with it, and besides those new things they have no character.” Ethel sighed and affection welled up inside Eva. She could certainly understand that. Her old bike was…Shit, my bike.

  Tears of frustration welled up in Eva’s eyes and she hastily blinked them away, and concentrated on making Ethel see sense instead.

  “They also don’t break down and leave you stranded for anyone to come along and...well.”

  Ethel gave her a searching look, and pursed her lips.

  “You two did have a row, didn’t you,” she said, and Eva waved her hand in the air.

  “It’s nothing. Saying it’s a row is overstating things. He just seems to think that having sav…err helped me out yesterday means he’s got some claim on me, and can tell me what to do, and I’m just not...what is so funny?”

  Eva glared at the older woman, whose plump shoulders were shaking in silent amusement.

  “You, Eva, you. The lady doth protest too much. He’s really gotten under your skin, hasn’t he? Not that I blame you. If I was thirty years younger…though I give you, he can be a bit scary at times. To this day I don’t know where he came from the night I broke down. There was me trying to get the car to start, and in the next second he was there, looking at me through the window. I thought he was a ghost at first, and screamed. Imagine that.”

  Ethel laughed and Eva had a hard time returning that smile. She could imagine the scene all too well, that was the problem. Though the real sticking point was why he hadn’t simply drained the old woman there and then.

  As Ethel recalled the rest of that encounter, that question played uppermost in Eva’s mind, and still did when the old lady dropped Eva off outside her house. She had some serious thinking to do.

  Chapter Four

  Almost a week later, Eva was still no nearer to finding the solution to that problem, as she scowled at the computer screen in front of her. Part of her role as Protector was the upkeep of their records, and she was in the painstaking process of bringing their outdated technology into the 21st century.

  The Hastings’s had preferred paper ledgers for record keeping and while some attempts had been made to input the data on pc, it had been crude and not completed. Lewis Bernhard, the Bear shifter who had implemented those original changes, had handed responsibility over to her, when she had agreed to stay on in Middle Brook, following her degree in Computer Technology.

  Eva had designed a new and complicated, secure as can be program, which would make everyone’s life a hell of a lot easier, once she got all the data transferred, and she could actually concentrate on the words on the screen, and not see a pair of mocking black eyes staring back at her.

  The ring of the doorbell interrupted her thoughts again, and Eva pushed away from the desk with a frown. Before she’d even got out of the tiny box room, she used for an office, whoever wanted her rang the doorbell again. Impatient so and so.

  She yanked the door open, and glared at the guy dressed in a BMW dealership uniform.

  “Really?” She spat that one word at him, irritated beyond belief at having been interrupted for no good reason. “You’re practically standing on my doorbell, and then you’ve got the wrong house?”

  The middle-aged man looked puzzled for one second, but kept his professional smile in place as he consulted his electronic pad.

  “Eva Arnett?” he asked, and it was Eva’s turn to frown.

  “Yes, that’s me,” she said. “But I haven’t ordered anything from you and oh…”

  Whatever else she was going to say fled out of her brain when the man stepped to the side. He waved to a second man perched on a truck, next to the most beautiful BMW racing bike she had ever seen. Metallic blue, it looked brand new, and no doubt cost a fortune.

  She whistled through her teeth, when the guy in front of her said, “Unload her, Mitch.”

  He turned back to Eva and handed her his pad.

  “If you’ll just sign here that she’s safely delivered, we can be on our way. Made a special trip out, see, so now, we’ve got the rest of the day off.”

  He grinned at her, and the other guy, too, smirked, and then handed her the keys and owner’s manual and logbook.

  “Here you go, Miss, all bought and paid for. Special edition, too, someone likes you.” He winked at her, and Eva froze while signing her name.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? This is the insurance replacement, right?” The minute those words came out of her mouth she knew it wasn’t. How could it be? For starters she’d only just put in the claim, and as much as she’d loved her old bike, it was nowhere near worth as much as this mean machine which now sat in front of her house.

  Sure enough both men gaped at her and shook their heads.

  “No, this is no replacement, Miss. This here is brand new and shipped specially down from Scotland straight out of the show home. There aren’t many of these around, and Mr. Zolnerovich was very precise in his requirements.

  Bile rose in her throat and she took a step away from them. Of course—Dimitrius—the only question as ever—why?

  “In that case I can’t accept this. You need to take it back.”

  “We can’t do that, Miss. Like I said he was very precise in his requirements. If you don’t want the bike, and might I ask, why ever wouldn’t you? Then, you’ll have to take this up with the man himself. Our job here is done. Come on. Let’s go, Mitch. I spied a nice pub in the village on the way through, and I’m parched.”

  He took the pad out of Eva’s hands before she could stop him, checked off her half scrawl of a signature, and left the documents and keys on the seat of the bike.

  “Have a good day, Miss.”

  Arms on hips, Eva glared at the two men, as they jumped back in their truck and left the far too tempting machine in front of her. She shouldn’t, she really shouldn’t, but maaan oh man, it had only been a week, and she missed riding. In fact, Eva felt as though a limb had been cut off, and that was despite the extraordinary amount of time she had spent in her animal form, stalking a certain black-eyed vampire.

  How dare he tempt her with...this, but oh she was so pretty and mean looking. Without any conscious effort on her part, Eva stepped closer to the powerful machine and ran her fingers over the sun-warmed leather seat. It sure would make her job easier if she had this bike at her disposal. If only she could trust his motives.

  She laughed out loud at her thought processes. Never trust a vampire. Those were some of the first words Lewis had ever said to her, when he took on her training. Unlike most of the other Cumbrian Protectors, Eva’s parents hadn’t been Protectors themselves. In
fact they had mostly stayed away from the other shifters, preferring a quiet life among the humans. Neither one of them could shift, due to them not being pure-blood shifters for several generations on both sides of her family tree, but by some quirk of the fates, Eva could.

  It had come as something of a shock to all of them, when Eva had shifted unexpectedly on the morning of her thirteenth birthday. Her father, ever the pragmatic one, had reached out to the paranormal community to get Eva the help she needed, and Lewis Bernhard had been one of her mentors. He had recognized her potential and Eva the Protector had been born.

  What would Lewis do in her shoes? That was another question Eva asked herself constantly. And wasn’t it disloyal to his memory to even entertain the thought that any vampire could have a good side? They’d killed Lewis, after all, as well as Mrs. H’s Henry and countless Protectors before her, and Dimitrius…well, he was a walking, talking enigma.

  While he hadn’t killed anyone while she’d been stalking him from the air, he’d had plenty of encounters. At least he hadn’t had sex with the myriad of women he fed from, but it had still left the sour poker of jealousy to stab away at Eva’s insides.

  And then of course there had been yesterday’s moment in the alleyway at Carlisle. A gang of spotty youths had been tormenting a young female, who had been walking home on her own. Eva had swooped lower to intervene, when things took a turn for the worse, but before she could do so, Dimitrius had whisked the girl out their midst in a whirlwind of movement that had left those assholes looking at each other dumbstruck. By the time Eva had located the female again, Dimitrius had been in the process of opening her front door for her.

  Eva’s skin tingled even now, recalling his murmured instructions to the dazed-looking girl.

  “This never happened, and you will not leave the house again without the appropriate change for a taxi home—ever.”

  The girl had nodded, and Dimitrius had pushed her inside her house, shut the door, and then smirked up at Eva, perched in the branches of a tree. That look had almost made her topple off, but before she could blink he had disappeared in another whirlwind of movement.