by Mia Bishop
His head cocked to the side, “With the bottom half.”
All she could do was nod. His hands went to her waist and slid up either side. He cinched each side lace, tying them off one by one. Next he went to the small stitchings that ran down the front of her top. Starting right under each breast he worked each one with a tug, pulling her up against himself. Her head was spinning by the time he’d finished with one side. The other side made her flat out squirm. Nico shook his head. “Would you hold still.”
“I can’t.” She bit her lip for a second and added. “How am I supposed to hold still when you’re yanking me all around?”
He stopped and met her gaze. She stilled in an instant. Nico stood at least a foot taller than her, she wanted to stay right there without words or movements. She just wanted that moment to seer into her memory. He was doing what he could to protect her, he was going to teach her how to protect innocent people. She was going to become a warrior. The silence stretched on, neither of them moved. She wasn’t sure what he could be thinking, why he was just looking at her like that, but she wanted to make sure he knew she would take her hunting seriously so she remained still.
When he finally made a move she had the air knocked out of her as he spun her around and gripped the lacing down her back in both hands. “Suck in.” He commanded and she obeyed. He pulled and she planted her feet like tree roots. Each yank threatened to pull her back against him, but she stayed still and didn’t move. Her strength outweighed his and her refusing to move meant that Nico lunged forward pressing into her with every tug. He gritted his teeth, she could hear it as he ground them together. “See, you can stay still when you want. Now bend over.”
Her cheeks burned red. “What?”
He gave another tug and actually groaned as their bodies collided. “Bend over so that I can make sure it’s snug enough to protect you and loose enough for you to move before I tie it up.”
“Oh.” She cursed inwardly at herself and bent over. Several seconds passed as Nico said nothing. “Well? Is it good?”
He coughed and began tying the laces. “Yes, it’s all very good.” He patted her shoulder and stepped back. “You’re ready. How do they feel?”
Abby stood up and turned around to see Nico dabbing away beads of sweat on his forehead. She ignored it and moved around in her new fighting clothes. “They feel good, really light weight. I like them. Thank you.”
He nodded. “Good. You’re welcome.”
She was ready to go when he headed for the bathroom. “What are you doing?”
He cast a narrowed glance in her direction and grumbled, “I need a moment. I’ll meet you out back with Lucy. Keys are on the table.”
She took a step toward the kitchen. “Lucy? Who is Lucy?”
He rolled his eyes. “My car, that’s her name.”
Abby covered her mouth to dampen her laugh. “You named your car? And it’s a girl?”
He snapped his fingers and point to the back door. “Go. Now. You can laugh about it out side.”
“Alright.” She was still giggling as he slammed the bathroom door and turned the water faucet on.
The night sky was bright, stars shone like beacons calling to her to follow them. She wanted nothing more than to go out and see the world, follow the stars. But instead she was climbing into an old Chevy Bel Air waiting for Nico to teach her how to hunt demons. When he finally came out his face was wet and still dripping. He slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “We’re going to Lobo’s.”
“That’s a bar, right?”
“Yep.” Nico pulled the car out of the yard and looked over at her for a second before turning back to the street. “We aren’t going inside, we’re going to the store-room behind the bar>”
She frowned. “Why are we going there?”
“He’s holding something for us. A demon, who happens to be your first lesson in how to decapitate a hell spawn.” Nico smiled at her and she felt the familiar quiver in her stomach. “Now, let’s go kill something.”
CHAPTER SIX
After her rocky first week in the desert, Abby settled into her nightly routine. Weapon training and hunting always started as soon as she finished showering and getting dressed. Nico would already have his car ready and waiting. 1957 Chevy Bel Air was the only thing Nico kept that wasn’t in shambles. It was old, but it looked like over the years he’d worked to slowly rebuild it. The green paint was newer, but the white needed a touch up. The engine knocked but still managed to get them where they needed to go, and there were small details like the car mats that were mismatched that gave the impression it was a work-in-progress.
Training and hunting were the highlights of her nights. The curse she suffered from made her exceptionally strong and fast. Both of which were blessings when it came to hunting demons. She refused to refer to it as a spell, what had been done to her was a curse, plain and simple. She imagined a spell could’ve been easily broken by the Striga, but a curse sounded much harder to break. In her eyes, she’d been cursed.
Abby stepped out of the shower, dressed in her leathers which she’d learned how to lace on her own over the past week, and readied herself for her nightly hunt and training. Exiting the bathroom with her bundle of clothes tucked under her arm she found Nico in a pair of track pants and an old t-shirt lounging on the couch with a beer in his hand. Over the past week there had been subtle changes in his attire. He no longer wore the Roman Collar. He never put it on after her first night there. His choice of clothing now seemed to consist of jeans, boots, a t-shirt, and a worn-out leather jacket. The shirts probably came from the Goodwill bin at the church. Abby guessed the jeans were a gift from Meri who seemed to have an eye for fashion, but she was certain the boots and jacket had been his all along. "Aren't we hunting tonight?"
"Not tonight."
She furrowed her brow. "Why not?"
Nico nodded toward the door. "Storm’s coming. Trust me, you don't want to be out there when Mother Nature decides to send a flash flood your way."
"Hmmm, never thought about that." She moved to the window and peeked outside to see the night sky darker than usual. "But it doesn't rain much, does it?"
"We get a monsoon season in the summer. It rains every day for weeks at a time. But this is just one of those random out-of-season times the desert is going to get a downpour." He took a swig from his bottle. "It happens." His gaze caught hers and a familiar spark ignited her body. "Might as well get comfortable, we're going to have a night in."
She nodded and was grateful for the excuse to run back into the bathroom. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and almost laughed. As a vampire she figured she'd have no reflection but Nico had done some asking around and found out a vampire not having a reflection was just a myth.
She waited until the blush on her cheeks had died down before slipping back into her yoga shorts with pink angel wings across the waist band and tank top. Folding up her hunting clothes she left the bathroom and tossed them back into the drawer she had in Nico's dresser.
She didn't know why her nerves had suddenly gone haywire over the notion of spending a full night in the house with him. They lived together, but it's not like they spent much time just hanging out. If they weren't hunting, they were researching. And if they weren't researching then she was pretending to sleep while he drowned himself in liquor. She spent a half hour fidgeting in the kitchen before Nico called out, "Just sit down you're making me nervous."
Abby let out a heavy sigh and moved to the living room. She gathered up one of the mismatched pillows and plopped down on the opposite end of the couch tucking the pillow in next to her as if it were a protective barrier.
Nico turned to her and smirked. "Am I that horrible to be around?"
"I'm just, well... Yes. Actually."
He lowered his head and his shoulders drooped. "Really?"
Abby’s cheeks burned. "Well, no. But it's just that..." she paused. There was no good way of explaining it without coming o
ut and saying it was hard to be around him because she found him attractive. Instead, she said the only thing that came to mind, "I'm not sure how we are supposed to act with each other." She ran her fingers through her hair. "This is uncomfortable, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is. But we've got to have some downtime. You need it whether you want to admit it or not."
She nodded and resigned herself to find some comfort in the impending silence.
Nico's old TV flickered and static replaced the news broadcast for a few seconds before recovering. "It's going be a long night if one of us doesn't say something."
Abby turned. "What do you want me to say?"
"I don't want you to say anything, I just—" His words trailed off as if he wasn't sure what he had been about to say. "What would make this better for you?"
"Well," She tapped her chin for a moment, "I don't know much about you, other than the fact that you're standoffish."
"And by standoffish you mean?"
"Aloof?" She shook her head. "I don't even know if there is a right word for describing you. You're sort of gruff, like the cowboys in those old westerns." She took a moment and something flashed in her mind. "You're like a mix of John Wayne and Dean Martin in Rio Bravo. You're stern and mean like the Sheriff, and you drink a bit too much like Dude." She stopped and glanced over at him, not sure if he got the reference. "You know that movie, don't you?"
He snorted a laugh. "Yeah, I know it. But I'm surprised you do. Did you remember seeing it or something?"
"Nope. It was just the first thing that came to mind. I don't know where I would have seen it. I have a feeling it's not my usual type of flick. But it sums you up. You're like the sheriff of this town, but you’re also a down on your luck, grouchy, drunk." His eyes widened, and she quickly covered her mouth. "I'm sorry, Nico. I didn't mean—"
He cut her off, but he didn't seem angry. "You meant it, and it's okay. You're not far from the mark. I know I come off as a dick. Meri won't ever let me forget it. It’s just who I am." He gave her a playful wink. "I thought I was getting better actually."
"Oh, you are. Really you are. I shouldn't have said anything." She turned away. At this rate her cheeks were going to be permanently stained red from all of her embarrassment. "Sorry."
"Abby, it's fine. At least we’re talking, right? And now it's not as uncomfortable. I'm fully aware of my ability to be an ass, and you can call me on it. That’s what friends do," he nudged her with his foot until she met his gaze. "We live together, work together, and we're in this whole apocalypse mess together. The least we can do is be friends, right?"
She nodded slowly, unsure if this was a setup or a joke. When he didn't hit her with any sarcastic remarks she smiled a little. "Friends? Okay, I'd like that."
"Good." He finished his beer and placed the bottle on the table. "Now that we've got that out of the way, anything else we need to sort out? You hungry?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, one glass coming up."
He made his way to the kitchen, and she could hear everything from him opening the cupboard, to rinsing off a knife, to the slight hiss he made as he drew the blade over his vein. Her stomach cramped, her tongue darted out in anticipation, but worst of all was the rush of heat through her body. She squeezed her thighs together which damn near made the situation worse. Everything inside her quivered. All she wanted was some relief from this tension building. Every time he fed her she wanted to put her mouth on him, drink directly from his vein, and have him fuck her until neither one could walk straight. The thought scared the hell out of her and she bit the inside of her cheek to try to think about anything else.
Nico clearing his throat brought her crashing back to reality. His brow was arched as he held out a small glass of blood. "What were you just thinking about?"
"Nothing." She practically shouted at him.
"Alright." He laughed as she took the glass from his hand and started to sip. "Don't tell me, but it must have been nice.” When she cocked her head and peered at him over the rim of her glass he nervously averted his eyes. “Your eyes are glazed over like you’ve just had a really good thought or a really bad one.”
While she nursed the small amount of nourishment, he slid back down on the couch. Abby had to change the subject fast. The night was about to take a terrible turn if he figured out she’d been imagining them having knockdown drag-out sex on the living room floor. "Tell me about Meri and you. Did you two actually date? Like you were a couple?"
"If by a couple you mean a one-night roll in the hay, then yeah. A long time ago. But we never dated. Not really."
"Why didn't it work out?"
He laughed and raised an eyebrow. She couldn't figure out why. Was it such an odd question to ask? "We were just wrong together. We were meant to be friends, nothing more."
Friends. There was that word again. For some reason, she didn't like the idea of Nico and Meri being friends if it meant sleeping together. On the other hand, she almost hoped he might extend her the same benefit if the two of them ever truly called each other friends.
She must have had the far-off gaze in her eyes again because Nico nudged her foot. "What else do you want to know?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Anything you want to ask me?"
"Well, there are a dozen things I'd like to ask, but we both know you don't have any answers so it wouldn't do any good."
"Right." She sighed. She'd almost gone half an hour without thinking about what a freak she was. There had to be something else to talk about, something to keep her from thinking about him in all the wrong ways. "Well, then why did you become a priest?"
"I made a deal with God," He added, "It didn't really pan out for me."
Abby finished her meal and placed the glass on the table. "You can't just leave it at that. What deal did you make?"
"Alright, settle down." He stood up. "I need another beer for this shit." As he made his way to the kitchen, he started talking. "I was twelve when I made the decision to join the priesthood. My mother died, she was my world, and I thought if I joined the church God might hear my prayers and bring her back to me."
"You had to know he couldn't do that, though, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I knew it. Doesn't change the fact I wanted him to." Nico came back to the couch and sat down on his side. This time he no longer sat tucked into the corner like before. "I was a kid, I was hurt, and honestly I felt he owed it to me."
"So you joined the church when you were a child? Is that even possible?"
"No, in normal circumstances it takes eight years after high school, sometimes longer to complete the studies and requirements the church demands in order to become a priest, but my circumstances were different, I had a little inside help. I had to wait until I was eighteen before I could start my training, which was overseen by a man known as one of the Hands of God. If not for him, I would’ve had to wait, but he’d heard my prayers when I made my deal with God. I kinda got fast-tracked through seminary school and everything else. I was determined to make it work out and fulfill my vow to God."
Abby scooted a little closer to him on the couch. "Can I ask what happened to her?"
"My mom? She was murdered."
She hesitated, stunned by his matter-of-fact answer. "I’m sorry, Nico. Did they ever catch the person?"
He looked over at her and suddenly she didn't want to be on the couch anymore, or even in the same town as him. His expression sent a chill down her spine. She knew before he even spoke who or more importantly what had killed his mother. “Thank you.” Nico's hand gave a little shake. "They never caught him. The police didn't believe me when I told them a vampire killed my mother." There was a long pause. "The therapists said it was trauma from being there at the time of the murder. They said my mind had created a monster to explain why something terrible had happened."
“But you didn't make it up, did you? You really did see a vampire." He nodded. Abby swallowed hard. There was no point in asking the typical 'That's why you hate m
e, isn't it?' question. Of course it was the reason he was hard on her, but asking that question would make this about her, and this was about him and his mom. Abby reached out and touched the back of his hand, surprisingly he didn't flinch. "I'm sorry for your loss, Nico." He nodded again. Abby bit her bottom lip. “What was her name?”
“Lucy, her name was Lucille Lynch.”
“Wait.” Abby sat up and leaned forward, “You named your car after your mom?”
A proud smile spread over his lips. “It was her car, that hunk of metal is the only thing I have left from my old life, the life I had before she was killed.”
She’d always assumed his connection with the vehicle was just simply a man and his car, now she could understand why everything else around him deteriorated and yet he worked on refurbishing the Bel Air. “Can I ask if you ever found him?"
“The vampire?” His smile grew tight. "Yep."
"Yes, I can ask? Or Yes, you found him?"
He grabbed her hand quicker than she could react and yanked her over to his side of the couch leaving only an inch of space between their lips. "Both."
If she had a heartbeat, it would be pounding right then. She did her best to pull away, but he pulled her closer. Just a hair’s breadth between them and all she wanted to do was lean in closer. "Nico?"
His chest rumbled with a deep laugh. "Am I scaring you?"
"Hardly," she barely breathed the words.
He must have expected her to say yes. Instead his eyes darkened with lust as he pulled her into his lap. The serious conversation was pushed aside as primal need took over. Abby's hand moved to his shoulder. Her fingers ached to play with the short hair that curled at his hairline. She could feel him harden against her which caused a rush of heat to spread over her. His hips lifted and his cock rubbed against her mound through their clothes. Abby's head fell back. Her lips parted, and the most satisfied moan came forth. She could feel his breath on her neck, lightly dancing against her skin. Teasing her but giving her nothing. "Nico..."
