I could never get a real read on how Jack felt about Leif. Jack didn’t seem to trust him, but I think that was only because he couldn’t figure out what Leif’s deal was with me.
If I were him, I wouldn’t get it either. Leif and I had some kinda connection that I couldn’t explain. As soon as I had met him, I had felt it. But it wasn’t sexual or inappropriate. It was just a bond.
Jack went outside in his suit, and by the time I followed him, he was already rolling around in the snow in it. Matilda barked happily at him, her thick fur packed with dirty snow. As soon he’d come out, she’d lost all interest in Leif, I’m sure. She might be the only thing on earth that loved Jack more than I did.
“You’re dressed up,” Leif said, looking me over. He stood off to the side of the house, barefoot on the stone patio.
His brown hair was damp from melting snow, so he slicked it back a bit, as opposed to its normal wild look. His eyes were large and deep brown, reminding me of Milo’s, and I think that’s why I’d always liked him. I couldn’t help but trust anybody that looked like my brother.
“Um, yeah, we were at a funeral.” I rubbed at my bare arms, not because I was cold, but because talking about it made me uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry,” Leif said sincerely. “I hope everything is alright with you.”
“I don’t know if it is,” I shrugged. “But it will be.” He smiled at me, and Jack stopped playing with Matilda so he could stare at us.
“Would you mind if I used your shower?” Leif asked Jack, and he nodded. Ezra had already okayed it for Leif to shower here as often as he wished, but Leif always asked Jack anyway.
“You should wash your clothes too,” I said as Leif walked towards the house. His jeans and sweater were little more than rags at this point. “Or borrow some of Ezra’s. Yeah, do that. Just throw those and take Ezra’s.”
“Thank you,” Leif smiled again.
As soon as he walked into the house, Jack brushed the snow off his clothes and walked over to me. Matilda ran circles around him, not realizing that he had finished playing with her.
“You didn’t really wanna play with Matilda did you?” I asked, looking up at Jack.
“What do you mean?” Jack tried to pretend like he didn’t understand what I was getting at.
“You just wanted to come out here and take Matilda away from Leif. You’re always marking your territory around him.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “I should probably be happy that you don’t pee on me.” Jack laughed, and it sent warm shivers through me. He had the greatest laugh of all time, and it still got to me.
“Maybe.” Jack’s smile faded a bit, remembering that I was sad. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have worried about that as soon as we got back. I’m kind of a jackass.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m fine, mostly.” I forced a smile to prove it. “Will you spend the day with me anyway?”
“I wanna spend every day with you.” He looked down at me, his blues eyes soft and adoring, and kissed me gently. His lips were cold from the snow, but I loved the way they felt on mine.
When he stopped kissing me, I rested my head against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me. If anything could make me feel better again, this was it.
5
The icy wind whipped through my hair, and at this altitude, it was much colder than it was on the ground. The windowed walls of the nearby buildings were like mirrors, reflecting the city lights around us. The skyscraper jutted over fifty stories in the air, and we towered over most of the other ones in Minneapolis.
The iron bar running around the edge felt like ice in my hands, and I gripped it tighter and leaned over the edge of the building. Olivia hated it when I did this, because if I landed wrong, I might not survive a fall of this magnitude.
For me, this was just an extension of my training. I wasn’t afraid of heights exactly, but I had to overcome something. My stomach twisted, and I hated how disoriented they made me feel. Headlights dazzled the roads, and people looked like tiny dots walking below us.
“Alice, will you stop that?” Olivia said tiredly.
“In a minute!”
Olivia was a stunningly attractive vampire aged well over six-hundred years, but she didn’t look a day over forty, and a very beautiful forty at that. She owned the vampire club V located below the building we were in, and she lived in the penthouse suite on the top floor.
Before she retired and bought the club, Olivia used to be a fantastic vampire hunter. A handful of vampire hunters work to keep rogue vampires in order. Some vampires can be particularly dangerous, both to humans and other vampires, and a hunter is necessary to contain them.