chapter Seven
There were moments when people did things they never thought they’d do. This was one of them. She would kiss a vampire.
It was her in-between time—after Felicity’s death, after she’d killed two men, but before the dreaded instant when she’d have to finally accept that everything she’d experienced today was real. And definitely before she lay alone in her bed and slept, only to live it all again in her dreams.
This was her moment to forget—no before, no after, just now. And what a now it was. Ethan wouldn’t kiss her gently. Not with the Second One lurking so close to the surface. But that was okay, because she didn’t want kind and understanding right now. She wanted a kiss that would obliterate her memories of the day.
He pulled her to him, and she savored the anticipation. He was sexy, masculine, and warm. Who knew a vampire could feel warm? His lips moved over hers—no attempt at seduction, just all hard demand. And she opened to him.
Let the sensations begin. Or not. Because something strange was happening. She’d prepared herself to absorb the scent, the feel, the taste of him. That’s what you did when you kissed someone. But instead, she fell straight through the hole that must’ve been in the bottom of her box of sensations and hurtled into . . .
What the . . . ? Darkness, heat, and emotions so strong that they shook her. No up, no down, just feelings—stomach-churning desire and a need that clawed her bloody inside. She was moving too fast, gasping for breath as everything gathering inside her expanded, threatening to fill her universe.
Every once in a while she’d catch a glimpse of reality in a flash of light seen out of the corner of her mind’s eye—his tongue stroking and tasting, his lips sensual and tempting. But then it would be gone.
Emotions. So many of them. All struggling to be acknowledged, to be felt. Finally she couldn’t stand it anymore. It was too much, too unexpected, too frightening. What the hell was happening? She opened her eyes.
For one terrifying second she stared into the reflection of herself in his glasses—wide-eyed, confused, scared. And then he turned his head away.
“Don’t look at me when the Second One is near. Not even if I’m wearing the glasses.” His voice was a raspy warning. “Unless you have a death wish.” He released her and stepped back.
Cassie swayed, not sure if she was about to humiliate herself by falling flat on her face. Taking a deep breath, she locked her knees and stood tall. It had just been a kiss. Right. Way to lie to yourself.
“I don’t understand.” Any of it. Not what he was or why one kiss felt as though he’d changed her on a molecular level.
“I explained before. You stare at my face and the Second One notices. It wants me to chuck the glasses so that it can reach you through my eyes. It wants to kill you.” He shrugged. “If it catches me at a weak moment, I’ll take them off.”
He’d misunderstood her, but that was okay. Her reaction to his kiss was too raw, and examining it would hurt.
“We need to go.” He sounded angry.
What did he have to be mad about? She was the one who had just discovered a whole new weird world inside her. Since Cassie didn’t trust herself to speak rationally, she simply nodded and followed him.
Zareb waited for them in his living room along with the three rescued vampires. He sat in a leather recliner, and the cat lay in his lap purring as Zareb idly stroked it. He speared Ethan with a hard stare.
“It took you long enough to get in here.” Zareb’s expression said he knew exactly why they’d made him wait. “Your friends will be staying here along with you and Cassie until we find our favorite undertaker and fit him for one of his own coffins. The bastards won’t get through my defenses.”
Left unsaid was that Ethan had been woefully negligent in not erecting a twenty-foot impenetrable wall around his house. Cassie noticed that Ethan didn’t argue about their staying with Zareb, so this place must be safe. And Cassie was all about staying safe right now.
“How much do we know?” Even as he spoke, Ethan stepped into a shadowed corner.
Cassie had to sit down before she fell down. The memory of what forever after would be known as The Kiss, along with everything else that had happened today, was finally taking its toll on her.
The three rescued vampires sat on the couch. They still looked groggy. After removing the knife sheath and dropping it to the floor beside her, she collapsed onto the only chair left. Cassie still clutched her purse with the gun inside. She never wanted to be without a weapon again.
“We still know almost nothing. Perhaps when their heads clear we’ll learn more.” Zareb glanced at the vampires on the couch as though he could force them into coherency by his will alone.
After being around him for a while, Cassie was almost willing to believe he could. “How were they captured?”
“They’ve been mumbling something about humans that moved too fast and creatures like nothing they’d ever seen before.” Zareb glanced at Ethan and Cassie. “Anything to add?”
Cassie nodded. “The humans that ran at us in the hallway moved like vampires.”
“The creatures they brought with them to capture me looked like someone had taken parts from different animals and glued them together.” Ethan spoke from the shadows.
One of the vampires on the couch continued in a monotone. “Big hairy bodies. Claws like some prehistoric raptor. Fangs of a freaking saber-toothed tiger and . . .” He paused before going on. “And the eyes of a vampire.”
Zareb frowned. “Disturbing.”
Another vampire joined in. “The creatures didn’t maul us much, just helped to subdue us so the human bastards could shoot us up with something that knocked us out.” He peered at Ethan and then at Cassie. He offered her a lopsided grin and a wink. “You look too good for Ethan. I’m Stark. When you dump his ass, look me up.”
Cassie swallowed her laughter. Now wasn’t the time.
The last vampire on the couch finally spoke up. “I heard one of the humans promise to reward the creatures when they visited the neighbors.”
Cassie remembered the torn bodies and shuddered.
“How did they get to Ethan’s house? I doubt they could parade their furry friends through the streets without anyone noticing.” Zareb stopped stroking the cat. It hissed its displeasure but didn’t leave his lap.
“A truck? They could’ve parked behind the house and gotten them inside without anyone noticing once it got dark.” Ethan sounded as though he was ready for the conversation to be over.
“Why are they capturing vampires and putting them in glass coffins? And what did my friend Felicity know that got her killed?” Cassie’s lids kept sliding shut.
They all thought about her questions in silence for a few minutes. None of them offered answers.
Zareb finally stood. He set the cat gently on the floor before facing his guests. “I have one thing to add. I was in the minds of the humans down in the basement before Ethan short-circuited their brains. One of them was thinking about someone called the Collector. I got the impression that this Collector was the boss, and that he wasn’t Garrity.” He motioned for the three vampires on the couch to follow him. “I’ll show you your rooms.”
She thought about mentioning that no one had introduced her to the other two vampires, but she was too tired to care. “Where will Ethan and I sleep?” Cassie didn’t want to think about the nightmares waiting for her tonight, but she couldn’t stay awake much longer.
Zareb paused. “I only have one guestroom left. It’s the one Ethan used when I first turned him. You can share it with him.” His smile said he knew his choice would upset her, but he didn’t give a damn.
Cassie narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together to keep from shouting at Zareb. He’d enjoy it too much. Instead she turned to Ethan. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Zareb didn’t even turn. He threw back over his shoulder, “Can’t. It’s a sofa bed and I’m sleeping on it. I wouldn’t usually give up my own bed to guests, but I want to be the one closest to the door if trouble comes calling. My three friends here are still a little loopy and Ethan’s Second One would overreact. You? You’re only a human. Sorry.”
He wasn’t sorry. She watched the cat leap onto the couch. It lay down and watched her from half-closed eyes. Cassie recognized the self-satisfied feline smirk it wore. The damn cat would get to sleep on the couch while she’d be sleeping . . . She glanced at the floor. Maybe with a few blankets and a comfy pillow it wouldn’t be—
“No.” Ethan emerged from the shadows, his hoodie and glasses still in place. “We can share my bed. It’s not far from dawn, so you don’t have to worry about me staying awake looking for my chance to pounce on you.” He strode past her, headed for the hallway.
And because she was so exhausted that her brain felt scrambled, she followed him.
He opened the door at the end of the hallway and stepped aside for her to enter. She had a vague impression of a large space, a massive four-poster bed, and furniture scattered around the room that looked as though it belonged in some ancient castle. No windows.
“This was originally Zareb’s room. He wanted to re-create the special feel of that last great castle he conquered.” Ethan laughed softly. “The one with the throne and the willing widow. My maker can be a nostalgic bastard.”
Cassie stared at him stupidly. “Huh?”
“But then Zareb decided he had to move into the modern era. His present room is metal and glass along with a big-screen TV that takes up a whole wall.”
She didn’t give a damn about Zareb. “Shower.”
Cassie didn’t really need a shower. Her last adventure at Eternal Rest had been a bloodless one. Ethan’s kills were terrifyingly tidy and her knife had produced no splatter. She could skip the shower. But even though there was no physical evidence of death, she still needed to wash the feel of it from her body. Yes, it was all in her mind, but right now her mind was running the show.
While she stood in the middle of his room and tried to keep her eyes open, he disappeared, only to appear a few seconds later with a nightgown and robe. Where had he . . . ? Then she remembered. The hall closet with all the extra clothes. When she turned to go back out the door to reach the hall bathroom, he stopped her.
“The room has its own bathroom.” He pointed to a door in the far wall.
A few minutes later, Cassie stepped into Zareb’s glorious shower. It could hold a small army. She made the spray hot enough to peel the skin from her body and then scrubbed and scrubbed. When she finished, she turned off the water and sank onto the stone ledge for a short rest. Yes, she was putting off the moment when she’d have to go back into the bedroom and face Ethan. She closed her eyes. It would only be for . . .
When she opened her eyes again, she was lying in bed staring at the clock on the nightstand next to her. Almost noon. She turned her head. Their bed.
Ethan lay on his back next to her. Asleep.
How . . . ? The last thing she remembered was sitting on the ledge in the shower. Ohmigod, she’d conked out. He must have gotten her out of the shower, dried her, and pulled on her nightgown. Then he would have had to carry her to the bed. How had she slept through all of that? The wet and naked part made her feel a little warm. Memories of the The Kiss tugged at her.
He wore a sleep mask, but no hoodie. She dared to look. After all, if he slept, then the Second One probably did too.
Ethan’s face left her breathless. Even without being able to see his eyes, she felt the inexorable pull that the Second One’s victims must feel. But at least she was able—with superhuman strength—to drag her gaze from that full lower lip, the lines and planes of a face that would bring humans to their knees in the streets if he chose to mingle.
She shifted her gaze lower. He’d pushed the covers down to his waist, exposing sculpted arms and a muscular torso that made her swallow hard. Sure, she’d seen it all before in Garrity’s basement, but this was the first time she’d had time to appreciate it. Cassie bit her lip, focusing on the pain to stop herself from reaching out to touch, to smooth, to rip the damn covers off to see if he slept naked.
Taking a deep calming breath, she wondered how she’d survive another night sharing his bed. Because only total exhaustion had kept her from lying awake thinking about him next to her.
But then she remembered Felicity. She hadn’t dreamed about her friend last night. She must have been too tired to dream. But the nightmares would come. And she didn’t want to be sleeping in this bed when she woke screaming.
She climbed from the bed. No need to tiptoe around. Ethan was deep in his day sleep. And if legends were to be believed, the place could collapse around him and he wouldn’t wake. Throwing on her robe, she went in search of coffee.
Cassie was lost in thought about Felicity as she walked into Zareb’s kitchen. What would her friend’s family think when they found out that she’d just disappeared? Felicity had never talked much about her family, and Cassie had never met them.
Her frustration grew. She couldn’t contact them, couldn’t tell them the truth. And what about her own family? When she finally called them, she’d have to pretend that everything was fine. She hated lying.
All thoughts came to a sudden halt, though, when Cassie looked up and saw two massive men standing by the sink. She couldn’t control a startled yelp.
They didn’t smile. Jeez, they both had to be at least six feet five with muscular everything. They must be brothers—same size, same hard features, same orangey hair and strange amber eyes.
She froze. Who were they? If they were the enemy, then she was screwed because a houseful of sleeping vampires wouldn’t be much protection.
Her weapon. She’d left her gun in her purse. The purse was still in the bedroom. Memo to self: gun goes everywhere, even to the bathroom.
No one spoke, so she finally broke the silence. “And you are?”
The one on the right answered. “I’m Ben and this is my brother Todd. Zareb hired us to guard the place during the day. You’re the human.” He still didn’t smile.
You’re the human. That must mean that he wasn’t. “What are you?”
The other man, Todd, finally smiled. “We’re the ones strong enough to keep you safe, little girl. Maybe you’d better hope you never have to find out what we are.”
Well, that solved that. Little girl? Jerk. At least they’d cooked breakfast. “Do you mind if I steal something to eat and some coffee?”
Todd shrugged and picked up the conversation with his brother that she must have interrupted. Sports.
She tuned them out. No way did she want to spend any quality time around these two. Cassie piled bacon, scrambled eggs, and a piece of toast on a plate, then poured a cup of coffee. She carried all of her food back to the bedroom. A sleeping Ethan made a better companion than they did.
She set her food and coffee on a small table tucked into the corner of the room and sat down to eat. Then she noticed that the cat had slunk in behind her. She’d leaped onto the bed and promptly curled up at the foot of it.
Cassie smiled. “We agree on something, cat.”
She stopped smiling as she slid her gaze the length of as much of Ethan’s body as she could see. Then she looked at that breathtaking face. Not too long at one time. Just a glance here and a glance there.
Finally she accepted the truth. She couldn’t sleep next to Ethan for another night. The attraction was too strong, her sensual thoughts too potent, and her willpower almost nonexistent. If she was lucky, they’d locate Garrity tonight and she could find somewhere else to stay.
Cassie forced herself to turn her back on Ethan and stare at the wall. She thought about the horrors of yesterday, grounded herself in what was important, and tried to ignore the vampire in her bed.
No, she definitely wasn’t spending another night sleeping next to him.