He arched an eyebrow at me. “I tracked down one of their employees at his local bar and Compelled him.”
“Oh.” Well, way to deflate the importance a girl’s detective-skills. “Did he say anything about any chemical they’d added? The PR guy made me look at all these formulas, but to be honest, I didn’t understand any of them. And he didn’t explain further.”
Warin frowned. “There’s no chemical added. There doesn’t need to be.” He was silent for a bit before his eyes widened ever so slightly. “Liv, what did these formulas look like?”
“I dunno, chemistry-like. Apart from one of them—it was pretty odd. Like a circle with squiggles. Why?”
This time, I was certain he spat out a curse. He got to his feet, agitation suddenly rolling off him in waves. It was such a vast difference to his usually so calm aura, unease penetrated my brain and sank into my gut.
“Warin? What is it?”
“And this circle—did it glow?” he asked, not bothering to answer my question. “Did you feel anything? A headache? Confusion?”
My eyes widened. “How did you know that?”
His angry snarl made me jolt, my pencil clattering noisily to the floor as I lost my grip on it.
“Witches!” he hissed. “Of course. I should have known.”
“Wha— witches?” I blinked up at the agitated vampire as he began to pace back and force in my small living room. “I’m sorry, did I hear you right? Witches?”
“Yes,” he said, still pacing. “I’ve clearly been too lenient for too long.”
“I’m… sorry, do you mind catching me up?” I looked at him, both eyebrows arched as high as they would go. “And can we maybe start with ‘witches are real’?”
“Of course they are real.” He stopped long enough to give me an incredulous look. “You thought vampires were the only kind of monsters to walk the Earth?”
I blinked. “Uh… kind of, yes. Er… and monsters? Isn’t that going a bit far, for humans with magic? Or is there something I don’t know here?”
He gave me a long look that made me think there was a lot I didn’t know, but instead of elaborating, he resumed his pacing, muttering to himself.
“So… do you mind telling me what it was about that formula that made you jump to the conclusion that honest-to-god witches are behind this blood contamination thing?” I asked.
Warin waved a hand, still deep in his own thoughts. “The circle—you described a sigil. He made you look at a sigil. I assume since you’re not dead, it didn’t reveal anything about your connection to me.”
He stopped then, a flicker of regret crossing his features as he looked at me. “I should not have come here. I’ve drawn you into the middle of supernatural business. And I’ve put you in danger.”
“What? No.” I got to my feet. “You haven’t done anything. If that PR guy really was a witch, he clearly didn’t think I was a threat. Calm your tits, everything’s okay.”
“Everything’s not okay, Liv. If witches are involved with this, I am putting your life in danger just by being around you. I should—“
He didn’t get to finish before I’d taken two steps toward him and put my hand across his mouth. I hadn’t really thought my move through, so when he stared down at me—probably from sheer shock that I’d dared silence him so rudely—it took me a second to remember what I was meant to say. It resulted in a couple of seconds awkward silence while we stared at each other.
“Er… what I wanted to say was—don’t even think about saying you shouldn’t be here, okay? I know we don’t know each other all that well, but I am not about to stop getting to know you just because some witches, of all things, have a grudge against vampires. I… I don’t have a lot of friends, and I’m not about to lose one over something this stupid.” I slowly lowered my hand, aware of the heat in my cheeks as he stared at me. “Sorry about touching you—I know you don’t like that very much.”
He looked silently at me for a moment longer. Then, slowly, he lifted his hand to place it on my shoulder, not taking his gaze off mine. It was still dark, pulling me into its shadowed depths. “I don’t mind when you touch me. I am… just unaccustomed to such gestures.”
“Oh. All right.” Despite his cool temperature, my skin felt warm underneath my shirt where his hand rested.
“I do not have many friends, either, Liv,” he said, softly this time. “But I would be a poor one if I let my selfish desire for your company jeopardize your safety.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Okay, then. How about this: If you do cut and run because of this, I promise you I most definitely will search out these witches and figure out a way to stop them. On my own.”
His eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed to mirror mine. “Are you attempting to blackmail me?”
“Little bit.” I shot him a sweet smile. “So, which is it? Are you leaving to ensure witches won’t catch on to our connection, and thereby guaranteeing I go seek them out… or will you stay, and in return, I promise I won’t get involved with any ‘supernatural business’? S’long as ‘supernatural business’ doesn’t try to kidnap me and throw me in a cage again, of course.”
Warin glared at me for a moment longer. Then his shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’m starting to think maybe you’re foolish, rather than odd,” he muttered as he walked back to the couch to sit down.
“It’s highly likely,” I said cheerfully as I sat down too, once more picking up pencil and paper. “Thank you for staying.”
“Don’t thank me,” he said, staring gloomily straight ahead. “If I could Compel you to forget me, I would.”
“Well, that’s not very nice,” I chided.
“It would be kinder. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
“Then tell me,” I suggested. “All I know about witches is what I see in work, and to be honest, they don’t seem all that intimidating.”
Warin froze, his head snapping in my direction. “What?”
“Uh… what?” I blinked, entirely taken aback by the sudden reappearance at his obvious anger. It rolled off him in waves, and this time I seemed to be in the direct line of fire.
“You work with witches?” he growled. “When were you going to tell me?”
“I… just did? What the hell, Warin? They’re just your garden variety tarot readers and black candle affectionados. They’re harmless people. Could you please stop staring at me like that? It’s pretty goddamn scary.” I pushed myself back against the armrest, silently reminding myself that the angry vampire in my living room was of the vegetarian variety.
“There is no such thing as a harmless witch,” he spat, the anger still plain on his face, but at least he’d calmed down with the growling.
I snorted, feeling mildly better now the snarly sound was out of his voice again. “You clearly haven’t been to Dark Dreams before. Pretty sure our clientele is just hippies, pagans, and general weirdos.”
“You work at Dark Dreams?” Warin narrowed his eyes again.
“Yeah? What, is that extra offensive?”