His hand had come up and stroked her cheek. “I’m always amazed at how you look at things. You seem so young in many ways, then you say things like this and I think you have more wisdom than vampires who have lived for hundreds of years.”
Cheeks warming, she’d glanced up at him and saw a tenderness that she never expected to see shining in his eyes. Her breathing had accelerated at the thought that he might kiss her. But he’d nudged her head back down on his shoulder and they’d fallen into a comfortable silence, sinking into sleep before Leisha’d returned.
“Please stop sighing like a moonstruck puppy and help me get these things ordered.” Leisha was looking at her with a bemused expression, a frown tugging at one corner of her mouth.
Blinking her thoughts away, Samantha lightly stroked the mattress in front of her. “Sorry,” she mumbled and set her mind to staying on task.
Sighing, Leisha sat on the mattress and met Samantha’s gaze. The vampire’s face was tight, with no sign of emotion showing.
“You have something unpleasant to tell me,” Samantha guessed.
“Look, Samantha, I’ve never tried to replace your mother. We act more like roommates than anything else, so I realize it may not be my place to say anything.”
Samantha’s shoulders tensed. “We also tell each other everything. So go ahead.”
Leisha interlocked her fingers as she spoke. “You and Nikita are a bad idea. He’s hundreds of years older than you, and has done things that would curdle your blood.”
Speaking through stiff lips, Samantha did her best to keep her voice calm. “I know who he is and what he’s done. But I also know that there’s more to him than that. I think I may be the only one who’s looked past the assassin side and seen his true depth.”
Nostrils flaring slightly, Leisha stood and stepped closer. “I don’t discount any of that, Samantha. And I won’t stand in your way since you’re certainly old enough to make your own decisions. But you should know that, along with his depth, is a darkness. And it will drag you down if you allow it.”
Samantha blinked rapidly as Leisha turned away. She doesn’t understand. The thought made her stomach sink. Her friend had always agreed with Samantha on just about everything. Samantha realized that they would never see eye to eye on this, and she could already feel the rift it caused between them.
Two hours later, they had finished buying all the furniture they’d need and grabbed a bite at the nearest restaurant. She’d noticed Leisha’s appetite seemed insatiable lately, but chose not to say anything—she wasn’t sure if Leisha would be amused or insulted.
“After this, I need to find a maternity store.”
Samantha dropped her fork full of noodles. “Already? You’re not showing yet.”
“Well, you haven’t seen me naked.”
Samantha laughed. “No, and I don’t plan to anytime soon.”
Leisha chuckled with her, then grew serious. “But really, I can’t even zip my pants anymore. I’ve been wearing long shirts to hide it.”
Samantha shook her head. “At this rate, do you know when he’ll be born?”
Leisha shook her head. “I’ve no idea. All I can do is hope that we don’t get ambushed.”
On that note, they paid their check and drove to a small shopping mall that had maternity clothes. Leisha bought enough for the duration of her pregnancy.
The sun was setting when they got home. Nik came up the stairs and gave her a small half-smile. “It’s too bad we’re not further up north, then we’d hardly have any daylight to contend with.”
“The nights are still pretty long here,” Leisha commented. “Do you need to feed anytime soon?”
Nik took a second to answer. “No, I think I’ll be alright for another week.”
“Good.” Leisha said. “Speaking of food, we didn’t go grocery shopping yet. Do you want to come with us?”
He nodded. “And we should get some board games or something as well. I have a feeling time will go by rather slowly while we’re here.”
Once in the car, with the heater blasting, Leisha spoke as she drove. “I’ve looked into homeschooling for you, Samantha. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to attend public school since Nikita and I can’t assure your safety. But you can still go out occasionally on field trips with other homeschoolers so you don’t have to feel stifled all the time.”
“Sounds fair enough.” Samantha watched the snow covered trees they passed. “Maybe I should get my G.E.D. and not worry about this stuff anymore.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” Leisha promised.
They drove into town and spent time picking out food at the local grocery store. Once they were back and had put away all the groceries, Nik treated them to some of his cooking. He didn’t have any himself, but seemed pleased at the appreciative mmm that escaped Samantha’s lips every now and then.
After dinner, they got out a deck of cards and played a few different games. Leisha’s eyes were drooping by the end and she went off to bed.
Samantha looked after her in concern. “Leisha used to only need a couple of hours of sleep per day, if that. Now it seems like she needs a full eight hours, maybe more.”
Nik tilted his head in the direction of Leisha’s bedroom. “Don’t worry about her. Pregnancy can wreak some crazy changes to a woman’s body.”
A smirk came to her lips. “Yeah? And you’re an expert on the whole process?”
He shrugged. “When I was human, I was the oldest of twelve children. There were several births I had to assist with. Plus, I’ve been reading about it online so we’ll be prepared when Leisha pops.”
She giggled at the last sentence. “You don’t talk much about your life when you were human. All I know is that you’re from Russia and were a hired assassin. And now I’ve discovered that you had a huge family.”
“Well, only four of my siblings survived childhood, so not that big of a family.”
Frowning, she grabbed his hand. “Only five out of twelve? That’s terrible, Nik.”
He squeezed her fingers. “It was simply the way of life at that time. My mother was strong as an ox and always recovered, though you could tell when she was thinking of her kids that didn’t make it. She’d get this look of sorrow on her face and wouldn’t respond to anyone for a while.”
Shaking her head, she murmured. “I can’t imagine.”
He smiled at her. “You won’t have to, not these days. When you have children, I’m sure they’ll be strong and healthy.”
Samantha tried to summon a smile, but couldn’t. If she and Nik stayed together, they would never have children. “We could always adopt.”
His hand jerked in hers. “What?”
She hadn’t realized she’d spoken out loud. Her face flushed. “Nothing. I was just… thinking about something else.”
Nik studied her face for a while, his lips downturned. On anyone else, it would look like a stoic expression, but Samantha could tell that he was thinking hard about something. He opened his mouth as if he would say something, then closed it. Laying down a card on the pile, he lightened his tone. “So, do you want to keep playing, or are you afraid I’ll beat you again?”
“Hey,” Samantha protested with a soft punch to his shoulder. “I won two games so far.”
“Yes, but I’ve won four. I’d say the odds are in my favor.”
Lips compressing in concentration, Samantha turned her attention to their card game.
Two weeks went by with little incident. Samantha was beginning to sleep in later and later in the day so she could stay up and spend time with Nik. Leisha never said anything, but her disapproval could easily be felt through the scowls she threw at Nik and her compressed lips when she was around them.
Leisha had been getting rather moody lately as well. The vampire would say she felt “cooped up” and go out for a walk or a drive to “clear her head”. She was also definitely showing. She easily looked like she was four or five months pregnant.
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��I can’t hide my state anymore,” Leisha complained to them one day. “What if the vampires find me now that it’s obvious to anyone I’m pregnant.” She paced in the kitchen, the muscles in her cheeks twitching with agitation.
“This is an advantage,” Nik argued. “No one is expecting such accelerated growth and will still be looking for you as you were, not with a rotund belly.”
Leisha sighed and pressed her lips together into a flat line.
Taking Samantha’s hand, Nik stood and gently tugged on her. “Let’s go into the front room. We have some long overdue practicing to do.”
Eyebrows knitting together, Samantha followed him, not sure what he was referring to.
Once in the main room, Nik let go of her and proceeded to move all their newly purchased furniture against one wall.
“What exactly are you thinking, Nik?”
Stepping in front of her, he waggled his eyebrows playfully. “What do you think I’m thinking?”
Blushing, Samantha giggled nervously. “No really. What’s going on?”
“Well, you need to learn self-defense.” Hands on her shoulders, he looked mildly concerned. “I certainly hope you’ll never need to use it. But since there are all kinds of dangerous people looking for us, I thought it would be prudent to educate you.”
Snorting, Samantha pulled out of his grasp and walked to the middle of the room. “I think ‘all kinds of dangerous people’ is putting it mildly.” Without looking at him, she counted out on her fingers. “Vampires with crazy abilities, my father and his super-soldiers, not to mention the immortals with all their special powers, too.” She turned to look at him. “How exactly am I supposed to fight people like that?”
Nik stepped close to her again. “I know the vampires and your father’s soldiers have heightened strength and speed, but you should know a little about fighting anyway. If Leisha and I aren’t there to protect you, I need to know that you’re not completely helpless. Besides, self-defense covers the way you think in an emergency. I can train your brain to be resourceful when the bad guys come around.”
Raising her eyebrows, Samantha opted for a light tone. “You didn’t mention the immortals. Is that because you think them beneath you?”
Shrugging, Nik explained conversationally, “Well, immortals are basically like humans. You’ll have less trouble with them.”
“Wait, I thought immortals were almost the same as vampires, except for the blood.”
Giving a half smile, Nik pushed a stray hair from her face and behind her ear. Samantha hoped he’d ignore her fluttering heart. “No,” he said. “They have some of the same psychic abilities as vampires, but physically, they are like humans. They simply heal quicker than anyone else. And they don’t age or get sick.”
Samantha didn’t think she’d be fighting immortals anytime soon. They may hold a grudge against her for betraying them, but she felt they wouldn’t actually seek her out and attack her. Nevertheless, she met Nik’s hazel gaze and nodded her assent.
He started by showing her the proper fighting stance and basic punches and kicks — stuff that Leisha had tried to teach her several months ago. At that time, Samantha hadn’t been interested and wasn’t very good at it. She would accidentally turn a swipe kick into an arabesque.
But Nik was a lot stricter than Leisha had been. He was relentless, and after doing the fundamentals twice a day for a week, she was getting pretty good.
Once she’d gotten the basics down, Nik progressed to more detailed scenarios. “Now, if someone gets you in a grip from behind,” Nik was saying as he wrapped an arm around her waist, pinning both of her arms to her sides, and placed his other hand around her throat. His natural scent and body heat surrounded her. “You have a few options. You could head-butt me, but I’m taller than you, and you don’t want to give yourself a nasty headache. You could stomp on my feet or try to kick back and dislocate my knee.”
Trying to stay focused on the conversation instead of Nik’s proximity, Samantha glanced at the wall a few feet in front of them. “If we were closer to the wall, I could try to walk up it and flip over your back.”
She could feel his chuckle vibrate through her. “It’s a great thought, Samantha, but you may not always be in front of a wall, and you’d have to have more training to accomplish something as advanced as that.” He gripped her tighter. “Try to think of more basics. Stuff your brain will remember when it’s in a state of panic. Nothing fancy.”
Sighing, Samantha tightened her core and raised her leg. She kicked back and down, trying to push Nik’s kneecap off. Her foot barely grazed the inside of his leg.
Sudden laughter caught Samantha by surprise and she started like a skittish animal. Both Samantha and Nik looked over at Leisha, who was struggling to compose her mirth.
“Sorry,” Leisha said. “It was too funny to not watch.”
Samantha avoided making friends with her home school group. Everyone thought she was shy and let her be. She met some people that she would have liked to befriend, but knew that she didn’t want to have to say goodbye to them, so she kept to herself.
The home schooling wasn’t merely a front, either. Leisha gave her homework and had her looking up tutorials online so she wouldn’t fall behind in school when she went back. That was, if she went back.
“The way my life is going now, do you really think school is high on my priority list?” Samantha asked one day.
“Look,” Leisha said. “I know that being around me has changed your world completely. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to have an education. Take it from someone who’s walked this earth for over two thousand years.”
Samantha didn’t argue that point, but felt she could study online and get a GED. That was good enough for her.
The next week found Samantha coming home from another home school group activity to find Leisha napping. The teenager shook her head. That woman slept at least twelve hours a day.
She walked into the dark basement to see if Nik was sleeping. His scent hit her as she descended. The uniquely clean smell was a comfort to her now.
It was so dark and quiet that she couldn’t tell whether he was awake or not. She thought about calling out, but even a whisper would wake him up.
As she turned to go back up, he called out. “Did you need something, Sam?”
Smiling, she turned back to where his voice had come from. “I thought I might hang out with you. I wasn’t sure if you were sleeping, though.”
His hands reached hers in the darkness and he steered her towards his bed. “I think Leisha is doing enough sleeping for all of us these days.”
Chuckling, she sat back against the headboard. When he was next to her, she was immediately aware of the heat emanating from his body. Samantha marveled at how comfortable they’d become with each other. Nik would put a hand on her back or squeeze her hand at times, but they’d never actually held hands, or cuddled. The one kiss they shared in the sewer came back into her mind.
“Your heart is really starting to go up a few notches,” Nik murmured. “What are you thinking about?”
Even though it was dark, Samantha could feel the flush burning up her neck and face. She gave herself a mental shake and tried to be flippant. “Well, we are on a bed in the dark together, Nik.”
The vampire stiffened beside her.
“I mean,” Samantha started, but couldn’t think of how to finish. “Well, um. Never mind.” She moved to stand, but Nik’s large hand grasped her arm. Samantha waited, her fingers beginning to tremble.
Slowly, Nik’s hand trailed up to her shoulder. Then he gently pulled her down next to him. Samantha ended up resting her head on his chest with one arm resting on his torso. Nik’s toned muscles were surprisingly comfortable and his pleasant scent overwhelmed her. After a moment, they both relaxed into their more intimate position.
It was quiet for a few moments, then Nik broke the silence. “So how was the school session?”
Smiling into his body, Samantha wa
s glad that there wouldn’t be any conversations about determining what this new step meant. As he stroked her hair, she told him about her day and how easy her studies were for her. He would murmur here and there, but mainly listened. The conversation grew into a comfortable lull after a while, and before she knew it, she’d dozed off.
It was a few days later that Samantha was with her homeschool group and saw another girl looking at Facebook on her phone. She watched as the girl scrolled through pictures of friends at dances and hanging out.
Thinking about it, Samantha realized that prom had already taken place at her old school in Cincinnati. Maybe Spencer went with someone. A sudden desire to look up her friends and see how they were doing overwhelmed her.
When it was time to leave, she turned to the girl with the smartphone. “Do you mind if I use your phone to check Facebook?”
“Sure.” The girl tucked her dark hair behind an ear as she reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone. “Let me log out of my account real fast, then you can log in to yours.” She quickly swiped a few commands across the screen and then handed it to Samantha.
Hesitating, Samantha chewed on her lower lip. She had an account, but wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to log into it. It’s not like they can trace my account, right? And I’m not using my own phone or anything, so no one could track me. Convinced, she quickly typed in her information and looked up Spencer’s timeline. He had changed his profile picture to one of himself in a tux. He was smiling and looking into the camera as if he hadn’t a care in the world. Using her finger to scroll down, Samantha saw that he’d taken a girl from her history class to the prom. The pictures posted portrayed a couple who had had a great time with their arms around each other in almost every one.
If I’d been an ordinary human, that would have been me. Samantha waited to feel the regret and sorrow that usually accompanied those types of thoughts. But she felt nothing. In fact, she was glad to see Spencer had moved on and looked happy.
“Are you done?” The girl’s eyes were narrowed in annoyance.
Defiance Page 14
