“How did you know?” she asked, gesturing toward the nearest wall.
“When you agreed to join us, I called the Nain Rouge and asked him a few things about how to make you comfortable. He had no clue, but he put someone named Ada on the phone.” He shrugged.
“It’s this thing he and Rayna do. We’re like the freaking Brady Bunch here, but with more killing and blood drinking,” Sam said, and Ronan laughed.
“Well, I appreciate it,” she said to Ronan, and he nodded.
“Whatever else you need to feel more comfortable here, let me or Sam know, okay?”
She nodded. Sam left, then it was just Shanti and Ronan.
“Um. So I talked to Nain before I came over here. We worked out a new schedule. I’m going to work with his team on Wednesdays and Fridays. Will that be a problem?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. I’ll keep that in mind when we’re coming up with assignments for you.”
“Good. And you can still assign stuff for the nights I’m with Nain’s team. I’ll just handle it when I’m out with them.”
He nodded. “Your first few weeks here will be mostly about training and getting you used to living among your own kind. We’ll go out a few times together so I can see first-hand how you handle yourself, and then we’ll move on from there.”
“Great.”
“All right. I’ll leave you to get settled. Rayna will see you tomorrow night.”
She nodded, then Ronan left her room, closing the door behind him. She went over to the door and turned the locks, then she looked around. The bed was high off of the floor. Fluffy mattress, which was perfect. It had a black iron headboard and footboard, and the green walls played beautifully off of the wood trim and gleaming wood floors. One wall of the room had a long row of built-in bookcases along the bottom, with a flatscreen television mounted above it. There was a long, low dresser with a mirror. She smiled. That whole thing about vampires not having a reflection was crap. One of the many things that Normals got wrong.
She started unpacking, and her phone rang. Zero. She stared at her phone for a few seconds.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hi Shanti.” he said, and just the sound of his voice was enough to make her stomach clench.
“Hey.”
He asked how she was and she answered. She knew she was short with him.
“I’m sorry. Is this a bad time?” he asked her.
“I… I’m starting new job, so things are kind of crazy right now,” she said. “I’m not going to be able to go out.”
“Ever?” he asked, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
She took a breath. “Look, Zero. I like you. A lot.”
“Oh. Here it comes.”
“Here what comes?”
“This is the part where you say you don’t want to see me again, right?”
She sat down on the edge of her bed. “The thing is, I actually do want to see you.” She paused. “You know what I am.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I have enemies. And with this new job I just took on, I’m only going to have more of them. Things like what attacked you the night we met. Except that it won’t be random. They’ll come after you, to hurt me. And I can’t let that happen. You are very, very mortal, and I would hate it if anything happened to you.”
He was silent for several long moments. “Am I insane for thinking it’s worth the risk?” he finally asked.
“Yes. You definitely are.” She plucked at the fabric of her bedspread.
“You just started this job?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so you don’t have a whole bunch of vampires pissed off at you yet. We can see each other one more time.”
She shook her head. “Zero…”
“Shanti.”
“You’re not hearing me,” she said, getting up and starting to unpack her books.
“I hear you. There has to be a way to make this work. What if we were careful about where we went? Or what if we met up somewhere secretly?”
“We’re everywhere. And most of us can’t be trusted.”
He let out an irritated sound. “So we’ll sit in my apartment or something. Why are you so determined to believe this can’t work?”
“Why are you so determined to try to see me again?”
“Are you serious?” he asked, and the way his voice went kind of low and raspy made her take a breath she didn’t really need. “You’re gorgeous and you make me laugh. No one’s done that in years. I feel good when I’m with you, and I never feel good.”
She tried to ignore the way part of her melted at his words. Tried to ignore the way she wanted to hug him when he said that about never feeling good. “We’ve gone out one time, Zero. You don’t know me. Maybe you just have a vampire fetish,” she said, hating herself for trying to make him mad, for trying to hurt him. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Trying to start a fight with me isn’t going to work.”
Damn it.
“I like you, Shanti. I like the way you smile, and your laugh is even better. I like the fact that you were actually worried about whether it would hurt my feelings if you called me by my true name. I like the way you get all flustered, and then get mad at yourself for being flustered, and then just get more flustered.” He paused. “I like the fact that you kick ass without hesitation. If that’s a vampire fetish, then okay. That’s what I have.” He paused, and she didn’t know what to say. “Come on. We can do this.”
It touched her that he was so determined to see her again. And she wanted to give in. She wanted to pretend they could be friends and maybe more and no one would ever find out about him. No one would ever use him against her.
But she’d seen what had happened to Brennan, to Nain, because Molly loved them. There was no way in hell she was letting anything like that happen to Zero.
“Bye, Zero,” she said, then she turned her phone off.
“Vampires are nothing but trouble anyway,” she muttered to her empty room.
Chapter Five
The first week after Shanti said she wouldn’t see Zero anymore was frustrating.
The second week was depressing.
By the third week, he was just pissed off and short with everyone who was unlucky enough to cross his path. And it just kind of stayed that way. The last couple of months without her had made him feel oddly empty. All he knew was that she was so deep under his skin already that the chance of him forgetting about her was negligible. He’d never believed in that love at first sight bullshit. He truly didn’t really believe love was going to be part of his life, because of the way he was. Because of the way he never let his guard down around people, the way talking felt like more effort than it was worth.
Except with her. And he didn’t know how or why. All he knew was that she drew him out, and that he liked himself more when he was with her. There was a light, a goodness in Shanti that he’d never seen in anyone else. She was a warrior. Incredibly strong. And that, alongside her wit and her mouthwatering curves and warm chocolate eyes, ensured that he was a goner.
Zero and his buddy and business partner, Parker Rowlands, finished up one of their advanced self-defense classes, Zero just looking at the students who tried to chat it up afterward. Most of their students for these courses were women, and there were at least three in this particular group who usually tried to stay afterward and talk to him and Parker.
He would be relieved when this session was done at the end of the month.
Parker stood there, chatting, laughing. It never ceased to amaze Zero that the two of them were friends at all. Where Zero was quiet and generally uncomfortable with people, Parker was gregarious and smooth. He was a favorite among their clients because of his easy-going nature. That, and he looked like Idris Elba, according to a decent percentage of their clientele. He was the business and marketing brains, and Zero was the one with martial arts experience. They’d struck up a friendship at Camp Pendleton. The two Detroit
boys had started out talking about missing their hometown, and remained friends when they’d been shipped out to Afghanistan. They’d both been injured when the convoy they’d been on got hit with an IED attack, and they’d each ended up being discharged.
The leg Rowlands had lost hadn’t made him any less of a badass.
When they got home, neither of them had any clue what they were supposed to do. It had been Parker’s idea to open Punch, Inc., and with nothing better to do, Zero went along for the ride. He liked his work, and he knew Parker liked talking to all of the people that came through their doors, even if shit like that made Zero want to stab his own eyes out.
So he stood and waited with barely-contained irritation, until the three women finally seemed to take the hint and leave. Then he went behind them and locked the front door, pulled the blinds closed.
“Well, that’s gonna be great for business, man. Stand there and look at our clients like you want to kill them. That’ll work,” Parker said as he locked up some of the things they’d used as visual aids for this session.
“Fuck off, Rowlands,” Zero muttered. “You like that shit where they stand around batting their eyelashes at you. I’ll leave you to it next time.”
“What man wouldn’t like that, Zero?” Parker said, laughing.
Zero ignored him. There was only one woman he wanted anywhere near him, and she wouldn’t see him. He wasn’t even pissed at her. He was pissed at the situation, at the fact that, for once in his life, he was the weak one. He was the one who wasn’t strong enough. His weakness kept them apart. Her enemies.
All he could think about was her soft, sweet voice. Her warm eyes.
“What’s your problem lately? You’re even more ready to slug everybody than usual,” Parker said after a while.
“Nothing.”
“Right. You haven’t been yourself in weeks. And these past couple weeks, you’re fucking miserable to be around.”
“So go home. I’m not your entertainment.”
“All right. Fine. Let’s go, Antar,” Parker said, walking to the center of the training floor.
“I don’t want to fight your dumb ass. Go home,” Zero repeated.
“Are you backing away from a fight? Getting soft with civilian life?”
Zero shook his head, “Fine. Only because I know you won’t shut the hell up otherwise.”
He and Parker started sparring, exchanging jabs, kicks. After a few minutes, Zero lost himself in the fight, let go of everything else that was on his mind.
Eventually, Zero was sweaty, bruised, and his arms and legs had that agonizing, yet welcome, pain that came with pushing himself.
“Okay, break,” Parker said, and Zero backed off. Zero went and sat on one of the benches along the side of the room, and Parker came over to him, tossing a bottle of water at him.
Well, not tossing as much as aiming a fastball at his head.
Zero reached up and grabbed the bottle before it could do any damage. Parker sat at the other end, stretched his prosthetic leg out in front of him and guzzled his water. Both of them were still out of breath, sweat ringing the necks of their t-shirts.
“It’s gotta be a woman. I’ve never seen you this bitchy,” Parker said.
“Drop it, man,” Zero answered, leaning back. Then he glanced toward his friend. “What about you?”
Parker shrugged. “Holding on. I had a fucking panic attack yesterday. Me and Amanda were driving on 94, and this truck backfired next to us.” He shook his head. “I’m glad she was driving, because I just froze, man. I couldn’t breathe.”
Zero watched his friend. “Nightmares any better?”
Parker grimaced, shook his head. “You gonna spill now?”
Zero shrugged. “Still getting nightmares. Not every night, which is a good thing.” Part of him wanted to confide in his only friend about Shanti, about the night he’d almost died, but no matter how much like a brother Parker was, he’d sworn to Shanti that he’d keep her secret. “I’m just feeling all on edge lately. Pissed off.”
“Not the same as you usually are, though.”
“I’m just screwed up. Nothing new there.”
“If you say so. Stop snarling at our customers, though.”
Zero shook his head and watched as Parker headed toward the back office, then listened as he let himself out the back door.
He locked up and went out the back door a few minutes later. He still had that same moment of hope, every single time, that he’d walk out and she’d be there. But she wasn’t, and he was starting to believe her when she’d said he wouldn’t see her again.
If he could get her voice out of his mind, he’d be just fine, he kept telling himself.
Days and weeks passed by in a blur once Shanti began her life with the vampires. Her nights were either spent training or hunting with Ronan, and on Wednesdays and Fridays, she worked with Nain’s team.
Every day was pretty much the same for the first couple of months living with the vampires. She’d wake, and meet with the rest of the family. They’d go out in groups of three, usually, except for Shanti who always went out with Ronan. She liked the burly vampire. He reminded her a lot of Nain, but with fewer rough edges. She saw Rayna occasionally, though the queen was usually busy meeting with other vampires. She was slowly but surely gathering support, making it clear that she was the one in charge. The only problem was that vampires as a rule don’t especially like being told what to do. They’re not really the types of beings who band together for the common good. Ruthlessness was one attribute almost all of them shared, and trying to make them get along was a nightmare.
So she was keeping busy. She liked the vampires. They were all good people. Rayna and Ronan set the example, and their people followed it. They treated one another respectfully, watched out for one another. The rehabilitation team was made up of five vampires who were some of the nicest people she’d ever met. Patient, which was absolutely necessary in their role. She’d watched them in action more than once now, had seen them bring in new vampires fully into their bloodlust. They’d fed them, cared for them. They took their time, listened, suggested ways to control the bloodlust. How to watch out for it, how to anticipate it. Every new vampire they brought in was given a room in the mansion or in the guest house. A room with no windows, and locks that only opened from the outside, for their safety and everyone else’s. Learning to deal with the bloodlust was a long, sometimes painful process, and they were given all of the time they needed. That alone made working with the vampire queen worth it; it was nice to see someone trying to step in before these vampires had a chance to become problems.
Shanti didn’t take much time off, and, really, she didn’t want any. If she had too much free time, she spent it feeling homesick. Brennan’s son had been born about a month ago, and while he was cute, Shanti almost felt guilty every time she held him.
If Molly had been around, it would have been easier. Molly always made Shanti feel better about how insane their life was. Shanti was surrounded by people, but didn’t feel like she had anyone to talk to.
If she hadn’t shoved Zero out of her life…
But that wasn’t worth thinking about. After a couple of weeks, he’d stopped calling. He was never pushy or demanding. Usually he would check in and let her know she could call him if she ever needed to talk. And every time he did it, she’d stood there, staring at her phone, fighting back her urge to call him, to hear his voice again. And, pathetic as it was, she hadn’t deleted any of those voicemails.
It was for the best. He was the kind of man who could make her make a complete fool of herself, even if his mortality and her the danger her life presented weren’t there, keeping them apart.
Really, it was best for everyone if she just kept busy and stayed away from him.
So, she worked, and tried to forget about him.
Shanti and Ronan went out again, heading to Hazel Park where Ronan had gotten a tip about where to find one of the trouble vampires who’d been caus
ing problems. He’d been on the run, and they knew he’d been running wild, draining people for at least the last two years. It was thanks in part to at tip from Nain and Brennan that they had tracked him to this neighborhood at all.
This was one of the repeat offenders, one of the ones who had no interest in being rehabilitated. This was one of the vampires Shanti was being trained to hunt down and end.
They cased the neighborhood at vampire speed, and they both stopped dead, sensing him at the same time.
“He’s all yours,” Ronan said, voice almost impossibly quiet.
Shanti nodded. She headed toward the house she felt him in, walked around trying to get a sense of what room he was in. She could feel him more strongly at the back of the house. The room at the right, she thought to herself. She would have to make her move, before he felt her, too. The ability vampires have to track one another by searching out and following one another’s energy signatures worked both ways, unfortunately.
Shanti ran to the back of the yard, then took off at vampire speed, sprinting toward the back window. At the last second, she left her feet, her speed propelling her into the air and through the back window.
She jumped through, glass shattering all around her, and the sight that met her eyes was all she needed to get herself into full destruction mode. There was a man, not much older than herself, tied to a chair, terrified look in his eyes, the wound at the side of his throat still bleeding.
Apparently, she’d interrupted something. And everything she’d heard about this particular vampire was dead on.
The asshole wasn’t just draining his victims. He was playing with them, the way a cat toys with a mouse before going in for a kill. There was no need for a vampire to tie anyone up, ever. Most humans were helpless against them. Tying them up, drawing it out, that was just sadistic.
Shanti saw her prey fleeing the room, and she sprinted after him. If he ran out the front door, he’d run into Ronan. And it really didn’t matter which of them ended him as long as he died.
Forever Night: A Hidden Novella Page 7
