by Amy Boyles
“Probably not.”
His gaze sharpened.
I really needed to stop talking. But I just couldn’t. This wine really had loosened my lips. “I mean, what do you expect? You’re going to call my mother in for questioning, and Frankie willed me a talking skull that my mother struck a deal with.”
“A skull?”
I lifted the chain that dangled around my neck for him to see. “This guy. He talks but he isn’t talking now because I told him to be quiet. If I get stuck with him, this fire ward will bond to me and then poof! I’ve got all four elemental powers and magic is screwed forever. Forever. Do you understand that?”
I scoffed. “Of course you understand that. You’re a vampire. You deal with eternity on a daily basis. Well, witches don’t, so they freak out.”
Thorne rose.
“Where are you going?”
“To make you something for your hangover tomorrow.”
I rose, my knees wobbly. “I am not going to have a hangover. I am perfectly within my realm of togetherness. I know what I’m saying.”
Thorne’s voice drifted from the kitchen. “You’re talking about a skull that can speak.”
“That’s correct, and his name is Eugene.” I lifted Eugene until he was eye level. “It’s okay. You can talk. Let Thorne know you exist.”
Thorne’s head popped into view. “What’s it doing?”
I frowned. “Not talking. Very annoying.” I slapped my thigh. “Now you’re going to think I’m crazy.”
“No more than I already do.”
“What?” I fisted a hand to my hip. “Do you think I’m crazy?”
Thorne brought me a glass of brown liquid. “Drink this. It’ll take the edge off what you’re experiencing now and keep you from feeling bad tomorrow.”
“It looks horrible.”
“Tastes worse,” he teased. “But it’ll help.”
I stared at the swirling chunks of goop in the water. “Is this an old vampire recipe?”
“No, it’s an old family recipe.” He took my hand and cupped it around the glass. “Drink. I promise it’ll help. And no more wine. At least not tonight.”
“Yes, Dad.”
He scowled.
I cringed. There was no one on earth who could make me want to curl up into a hole and hide with a simple look like Thorne.
He had real talent.
The liquid smelled like dirt. As Thorne promised, this was not going to taste good. But I sucked up my hesitation, threw back my head and downed the liquid.
When I finished, I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and handed the glass to Thorne. “That was disgusting.”
“You’re welcome.”
I smirked. Thorne placed the glass down. “So. I would say that we salvaged the evening somewhat.”
I smiled. “You’re a lot better when you’re not telling me what to do.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that I’m trying to keep you out of danger?”
“Nope.”
“Well it should.”
I leaned forward. Well, swayed forward was more like it. The horrible drink hadn’t completely taken effect yet. I kinda wished it wouldn’t.
“Why is that?” I asked breathlessly.
Let’s face it, I was moving in for the kiss of a lifetime. Yes, lifetime. I didn’t think Thorne would be a horrible kisser. He would be great—the best. I knew it.
“I’m trying to keep you safe because maybe I think too highly of you to let you go home drunk.”
I squinted. His face was all hazy. “You have four eyes.”
“Not the right time to have an actual discussion.”
That perked me up. “Yes it is! Yes! Let’s have a real discussion. Why do you want to keep me safe?”
Boxes ticked in my head. Ideas congealed and a realization, as fuzzy as it was, firmed up.
“Are you saying you care about me?”
I think Thorne rolled his eyes, but it was hard to tell. “Yes. I’m saying that. I’ve asked you out on two dates. We run into each other all the time. I’ve asked you to stay out of dangerous things because I don’t want you to be hurt.”
A lazy smile spread across my face. “The vampire cares about me.”
He frowned. “Is that all I am too you?”
“No!” I flung my arms around his neck, which was really hard because Thorne was tall and wide. I rose to my tiptoes and grinned. “Of course you’re not only a vampire to me. You’re a big hunky man who revs my engine. You annoy the holy heck out of me, chafe my rear end and often make me want to throw things.” I tapped his nose. “You want to know a secret?”
“I’m dying to,” he said dryly.
“I. Adore. It. You. I adore you. I never thought I’d like a vampire because, you know, you drink blood and you could drink my blood.”
An idea popped into my head. “Do you want to drink my blood?”
Thorne stiffened. He pulled my arms from around his neck and took a step back. “I think maybe this night is over.”
I didn’t understand what I’d done. “But I don’t want it to be. We’re having so much fun. Don’t you want to drink my blood? I thought if you liked me, you’d want to. Is there something wrong with me that you don’t?”
I sniffed my wrist. “I can’t smell my own blood, but surely it tastes like other peoples.”
Thorne’s jaw clenched in anger. “You need to, right now, stop talking about drinking blood.”
“Why? But I thought that you like to.”
His voice hardened. “You don’t know anything about what I like.”
“But you like blood, don’t you? You’re a vampire.”
“Enough!”
I jerked back. Well, I guess someone was a little touchy about the whole blood thing.
“Sit down,” Thorne commended.
I started to sit where I was standing, but he led me to the couch. I sat straight-backed, staring into his face. “Yes?”
He sighed and slowly lowered into a chair across from me. “You are drunk, so—”
“Excuse me, I’m not drunk.”
“Your eyes aren’t even focusing on me.”
“That’s because I don’t want them too,” I said pointedly.
“Right. Speaking about blood with vampires means walking a slippery slope. If someone offers their blood to a vampire, the temptation to resist is almost impossible. That’s what happens when a vampire hunts a human. There’s something in the seductive qualities that my kind possess that means when we get ahold of our prey, a human will almost always willingly offer their blood to us.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that. How fascinating. So when you hunt, a woman would just pull her collar down like this”—I demonstrated—“and then say, ‘Drink my blood’?”
Thorne rubbed his eyes and sighed. “That’s right. Please don’t do that.”
I released my collar. “I let it go.”
He uncovered his eyes. “So like I was saying, if someone offers themselves, it’s almost impossible for a vampire to resist.”
I scoffed. “Even me? Come on.”
His silvery eyes hardened to flint. “Especially you.”
I swallowed an Easter egg stuck in the back of my throat. “Oh.”
Not a great response but the best I had given the circumstances.
“You need to understand that you, of all people, cannot do that. You can’t offer your blood to me. Once a vampire starts drinking, it’s incredibly hard to stop.”
I considered this. “But what about when you’re making another vampire? I mean, doesn’t there have to be some sort of exchange of blood?”
He nodded slowly. “There does. But there also has to be a conscious effort to stop. If I’m focused on feeding, there’s no other conscious effort. All I want is blood and…I don’t stop until it’s gone.”
“Ew. Okay.” I made a check mark in the air. “Note to self. Do not talk about blood.”
He rose and crossed to an ottoman with a pillow top. Thorne lifte
d the top and pulled out a blanket. “Now that we’ve got that settled, I don’t think you should go anywhere tonight.”
“Of course I’m going somewhere. I’m going home.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Why? You can’t keep me captive.”
He shot me a scathing look and dropped the blanket on the couch. “I’m not keeping you captive. I’m afraid if I let you loose at your house, you’ll wind up outside looking for Frankie’s killer.”
I had to admit that did sound like a good idea.
“I wouldn’t do that,” I lied.
“Right.” Thorne took my hands and lifted me from the couch. “I’ll call your mother and tell her where you are. In the meantime I’ll show you to my bedroom.”
“I can’t stay in your bedroom. Where are you going to sleep?”
“On the couch so I can stop you if you try to leave. I don’t actually have to sleep, remember?”
He started to lead me up the stairs. Like an idiot, I resisted. Who else but me would resist a hunky vampire leading her up the stairs to his lair—I mean, bedroom?
“But don’t you have a guest room?”
“Yes, but my bed is more comfortable.”
I stopped, forcing Thorne to turn and look at me. His eyes were filled with an emotion I couldn’t place—frustration? Anger? Resentment? Or was it simply Thorne resigning himself to the fact that I was a drunk handful?
Yep, that was probably it.
I sighed and shook my head. “Lead on.”
Thorne deposited me in his room, showing me the bath and a closet with a bathrobe and any other creature comforts I might need—mouthwash, an extra toothbrush.
He pulled back the covers and patted the mattress. “You’re all set. I’ll call your mom.”
He crossed to me in a great swoosh of air. Next thing I knew the vampire loomed over me. I leaned back, woozy from the movement.
“Steady.” Then Thorne picked me up and deposited me in the bed before I could grunt even the tiniest of arguments.
He brushed my hair from my face. “So violet, those eyes.”
Then he grazed his lips over my forehead. Next thing I knew, he was gone.
I laid in the bed for a moment before getting up and opening his drawers.
“Why are you peeking through his things?”
“Oh, now you talk, Eugene. You made me look like an idiot downstairs.”
“I didn’t have to do anything. You did that by yourself.”
“Shut it.”
I rifled through the drawers until I found what I was looking for. Pulling out a white undershirt, I shucked out of my dress and shimmied into my nightgown for the evening.
I lifted the collar to my nose. It smelled of Thorne—musky and wonderful. Satisfied, I brushed my teeth and drank some water from the tap before gliding back under the covers.
The room spun and I placed my foot against the wall, an old trick I’d learned to keep the world from spinning. Within minutes my eyes were closed and I was out.
Chapter 17
The next morning, as Thorne promised, I didn’t feel bad at all—at least not physically. Though I was dealing with a healthy dose of regret that kneaded itself in my head.
“Uh, why did I have to say such stupid things?” I moaned.
Eugene was kind enough to answer. “Because, as you said, Thorne’s wine had more alcohol in it than you were used to.”
The skull sat on the table. It must’ve wiggled off my neck during the night because I didn’t remember laying it there.
“Thank you for the commentary, Eugene, but it was a rhetorical question.”
“Rhetorical?”
If the skull didn’t know what the word mother meant, why did I think it would know rhetorical?
“Never mind.”
I rose, stretched, and tried to figure out the best way to sneak out of Thorne’s house without being noticed by him or any of his neighbors.
Even if I did manage to escape unnoticed, I didn’t have a ride home. Thorne had picked me up from my house. Crap. Looked like I’d have to see him, apologize for being an idiot and pray he asked me out again.
Wow. Our dates really weren’t going well at all, were they? Maybe it was a sign, a big fat sign that meant we weren’t supposed to be together.
No way. I didn’t buy that.
I washed my face, slipped out of his T-shirt, though I admit I almost smuggled it home in my clutch, and readied myself to face Thorne.
After I made myself look as decent as possible without a shower and wearing last night’s clothes, I headed downstairs.
“Well, it’s about time you woke up.”
I stopped in my tracks. That voice didn’t belong to Thorne. My stomach folded over. That voice did belong to a vampire, but not the one I wanted to see.
By the time I made it downstairs, I found Peek, one of Thorne’s deputies, waiting for me in the living room.
The vampire took one look at me, folded his newspaper and set it beside him.
“I would say you don’t look worse for the wear, but that would be a lie.”
“What are you doing here?” My gaze darted around the room in a desperate attempt to locate Thorne. “Where’s Thorne?”
“Busy, though he left you breakfast.” A sneer spread across Peek’s face. “But if I were him, I wouldn’t have left you anything. You’d be breakfast.”
I did my best to hide the shiver that started at my head and zipped all the way to my toes.
I lifted my chin in defiance. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“No.” His eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t. I care about my friendship with Thorne too much to sacrifice it over a witch.”
“How kind of you.” I reached the bottom of the stairs and tapped my fingernails on the bannister. “What are you doing here?”
“I suppose,” he said dramatically, “I’m here to take you home. Make sure you get where you’re going safely.”
My stomach rumbled. I pressed my hand against it, hoping Peek hadn’t heard, but a nasty smile spread across his face.
“Looks like breakfast needs a little breakfast for herself.”
I glared at him.
He picked up his paper and flicked it open. “Take your time. Eat all you want. I’ll be here waiting until you’ve finished.”
I held my head high as I stepped past him into the kitchen, where Thorne had left me stuffed French toast. What was he trying to do? Make me fat.
“Smells like a delicious meal,” Peek commented from the next room. “If I didn’t drink blood, I’d eat it myself.”
I grabbed a drink and set at the counter. Absolute heaven hit my taste buds. What was Thorne, a chef on the side? I guess it made sense he’d know how to cook. Vampires had a world of free time on their hands.
Okay, maybe not free time but time nonetheless. He didn’t have to sleep, so he could stay up all night learning trades.
I tried not to wolf down the cinnamon and creamy cheese stuffing that Thorne had pumped the toast full of. No point, really, because it wasn’t like I wanted to spend time with Peek.
I also didn’t want to call Mama and deal with her attitude about me having spent the night at Thorne’s house even though I spent it face-deep in his bed.
But the quiet of my breakfast apparently was too much for the vampire in the next room.
“So…what do you hope to accomplish by dangling your living flesh in front of my friend?”
I wiped my mouth. “I’m sorry?”
His voice drifted into the kitchen loud and crisp. “What I mean is—do you hope to see him fall? Want to experiment with what it’s like to have a bloodsucker boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Then why are you here?”
“That’s…none of your business.”
I heard the paper get tossed onto the couch. The air blurred, and suddenly Peek stood right beside me.
My eyelids flared, but at least I managed not to gasp in surprise. P
eek opened his mouth wide enough for me to see his fangs and understand that this was a warning.
“I came to this town because I believed my friend was wrongfully punished. He allowed a woman to become one of us—a woman who should have been instructed on our existence before she was at the point of dying.”
He meant the woman his father had loved. Thorne turned her into a vampire so she could live forever. The problem was, the rule his father, Leopold, had set was that no person could become a vampire without their membership, so to speak, being voted on.
Thorne had committed the deed so Leopold could be with the woman he loved. In doing so, he’d worked expressly against Leo’s wishes and wound up sentenced to serve in Witch’s Forge for the foreseeable future.
To a vampire, I’m pretty sure that meant forever.
I wiped my mouth. “You want to protect your friend. I get it. But I’m not the enemy, Peek.”
He sneered.
“You don’t like witches.”
“I tolerate witches. Witches and vampires have never gotten along.” He pulled a stool toward him and sat, never taking his creepy eyes off me. “I remember a time when witches experimented on us. Used our blood in potions. Tied us up and cut us to see how much pain we could take. How much blood we could lose before we expired.”
I grimaced. “I’m sorry.”
“So you see,” he snapped. “I’m a little bit unsure of you, if you must know the truth.”
“For good reason.”
His gaze darted over me, and I could feel every inch of it. Peek staring at me felt like small pinpricks dancing across my skin. I shuddered.
“But you should know,” I said after shaking off my discomfort, “that I’m not here to hurt Thorne. I didn’t even like him when we first met. I have my own problems with vampires—my own issues. Your kind isn’t exactly high on my list, either. But”—I elongated the word, making sure Peek knew it was important—“Thorne is an upstanding person. He fights for what he believes in, and that means something to me.”
Peek smiled but there was no warmth in his eyes. “Just make sure he’s fighting for what’s right and not for someone who will stab him in the back.”
His words spread through me like poison pulsing in my veins. I narrowed my eyes and filled my voice with ice. “I’ll have you know that I have no intention of stabbing Thorne in the back. If I were him, though, I’d be watching my so-called friends. It seems one side is intent on not getting along with the other.”
