Chapter 13
Lola
“So…Can we come in?” Kai asked, hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels.
“It’s daylight outside,” I remarked, eyes now focused anywhere but on him. Kai. Kai was a safe place to look at.
He arched a brow. “It is, yes.”
“But he’s a vampire.”
I could feel all eyes on me, like I was somehow the one losing my mind, when there was a Vampire on our doorstep. During day time. He was a fucking Vampire. The first one. How?
“Vampires can’t be out in the sun,” I continued, stating facts. Stalling.
“We’re not technically out,” the one I didn’t want to look at mused. “Although I suppose we were as we strolled from the City Hall to here.”
“First of his kind, like you. More powers than the ones who came after him.”
Kai’s eyes widened as they landed on Marcus, probably remembering he wasn’t supposed to tell people about who I was. But Marcus didn’t react. He already knew thanks to my own slip-up, and was obviously too busy freaking out about our new housemate—his mate—to even care.
“Shit, I—”
“He knows, it’s fine,” I assured. “I—Yes, you can come in.”
I stepped to the side, bumping into Marcus who was clearly still out of it. My whole body tensed as Vlad walked past, casting me a predatory smile.
There was no way he recognized me. No. Fucking. Way.
“Vlad arrived early this morning,” Kai explained as they stopped in the living room.
The Vampire stood next to the couch, looking around the small room, studying it.
“I figured he’d fit right in with you guys.
After all, he’s about as old as Lola, the first of his kind too, and the girls will be happy to show him where vamps can get what they need. ”
“I already spotted a few tasty little treats,” Vlad crooned, and I was ready to bet that his eyes lingered on Marcus for a heartbeat. Did he feel it too? Or heard what my friend had whispered?
Kai chuckled, slapping his shoulders playfully. “No biting unwilling townies.”
“Of course.” Vlad inclined his head in mock curtsey. “I’m nothing if not respectful and a sucker for rules.”
The asian demon narrowed his eyes, gaze darting between the three of us.
“Want me to show you to your room?” he offered, but the Vampire shook his head.
“I’ll manage to find it. Next to Lola’s, you said?”
Kai smiled. “Yes, the one next to it.” Fucking great.
“Perfect then. I’m gonna stay here with my new roomies. Exciting, getting to meet new people.”
Yeah—no. I was so out of here. He didn’t remember me, and that was for the best. Better not give his memories the time to come back. Damn me for always keeping my daily physical appearance mostly the same and close to what I looked like before I sold my stupid soul.
“I—” I started, unable to figure out any excuses to come up with. “I have something to do today.”
Marcus’ wide eyes turned to me, pleading, screaming, “Please, don’t leave me alone with him right now.”
“And Marcus has a meeting with Carrie, I think. Right?” I searched his clueless, panicked eyes. “About switching shifts?”
“Uh—Yeah. Yeah, I do. Can’t work night this week, there are, uh—things I need to do.
” My palm hitched to slap my own face. “You know how it is, right?” He chuckled awkwardly, looking at Kai.
“Sometimes—things come up. And then you have to change a whole week of plans. Really annoying, but what can we do, huh?”
If awkwardness had a leader, that would be Marcus right now.
I couldn’t believe how different he was from when I first met him.
Like he’s been encasing himself in layers after layers of ice for years, protecting himself from whatever he thought people might cause him, only for them to melt as the weeks have passed, opening up to me, and leaving him completely unguarded right as his fucking mate showed up.
At least I had a chance to win my fucking bet.
“That’s fine, I can go with you guys. Get a chance to talk for a bit,” Vlad tried, probably smelling the lies. If he knew why we both wanted nothing to do with him right now, it didn’t show.
“Actually, I—”
Another knock on the door. Damn, what is it with this morning? I thought as I said, “I’ll get it!” and rushed over there, happy to extract myself from the situation.
Only to end up face to face with someone else I wasn’t particularly eager to spend time with.
I gasped. “Carter?”
He smiled, the motion slightly forced and unnatural as he lifted his hands, holding two to-go cups.
“Hi, I—I thought I could walk you to the Archives. To get started on this whole friends thing.” He winced at the word. “I brought coffee. Got it from Aymeric’s on the way, he said this is your favorite.”
The living room was dead-silent, and I could only imagine what was going on inside Kai and Marcus’ minds. Their fucking bet.
But Carter had just given me the perfect excuse to slip out of there; I did still have a job, working in the Archives. And today was apparently the day I was finally allowed to go back. I hoped Maggie wasn’t annoyed with me anymore…
“Thank you,” I said, my smile barely even forced. “Let me just slip some shoes on, and we can go.”
Carter gave a sharp nod and stepped in as I turned to pick up some sneakers.
I was still unsure if I could get another boost soon, and even though that blowjob gave me a strong one, it wouldn’t last long.
Dimitri had a point when he’d explained how all this worked to Arc; actual sex was the most effective and durable energy I could get.
But sleeping with Carter was not a step I was ready to take.
“Oh, is this another housemate?” Vlad happily asked from his spot near the couch, his cold stare contradicting his kind tone.
“Oh no, that’s Carter,” Kai pointed out with a breathy chuckle, oblivious to the hostility dancing in the Vampire’s eyes. “Although, I’m guessing he’s kind of Lola’s housemate. From her other house.”
I cursed under my breath, hands shaking as I tried to lace my shoes properly. Maybe using some shifting power would have been the smart move after all…
“Oh.” Vlad’s head tilted to the side, glaring at Carter, but his tone was still deceiving. “A boyfriend?”
“No!” I blurted out, a little louder than I intended to as Carter grunted the same word. “We’re…friends. Right?”
Kill me now. “Yes,” he clipped, teeth grinding, the muscle in his jaw twitching. “Friends.”
At least he went along with it…
“We gotta go. I’m going back to work today. Nice meeting you—Vlad.”
I gave one last apologetic look to Marcus before following Carter outside, hurrying out of the building. Why was he even scared to stay alone with him? He said he was his mate…Although, maybe my terrible experiences with my own mates might have made him reluctant to find his own…
“Who was that?” Carter asked as we exited the building, our pace slow toward the City Hall.
“Not sure yet,” I answered with a shrug. “Apparently he's our new housemate. Vladimir Maartos. Have you heard of him?”
Carter nodded, focusing back on a spot right in front of him.
The first Vampire had been created by Divines.
I sometimes felt some of them regretted their implication in this, as Vlad had been particularly active in turning thousands of humans into blood suckers over the decades, who then in turn, were able to turn even more people.
Their population was a nightmare to regulate, and Vampires had been hunted the most since they first appeared.
After all, unlike demons who could only be chased and killed by actual demon hunters, Vampires were an easier target; all people had to do was lock them under the sun, or poison or fatally wound them with copper so they’d bleed out without having a chance to heal.
Humans knew that.
“Is it me, or did he look at me weird?”
I turned my face to him as we kept walking, bringing the cup to my lips. Damn, this coffee is the best. Almost good enough to prevent my brain from freaking out.
“Did he?”
Damn right he did. But the last thing I needed was for Carter to get involved. Not before I knew what was going on and what the Hell he was doing here.
“Maybe it’s just the lack of sleep,” Carter said, but the frown didn’t ease from his face.
“You didn’t sleep?” He lifted a brow in my direction. “What? I didn’t leave that late.”
“It’s not that,” he grunted. “I have…nightmares. It’s not every night, but they keep me up sometimes.”
To my surprise, he climbed the stairs to City Hall with me. Even more strange, he didn’t turn to the corridor where I learned a little over a week ago his office was. No, he followed me all the way up to the Archives. Entering after me. Sitting on the armchair closest to my desk.
Okay…
“These nightmares,” I said, breaking the heavy silence. “Are they related to the…voices?”
He didn’t explain exactly what he’d meant when he frantically mentioned them. I guess we had other things on our minds.
But it had kept me up too, last night.
“Not really. They’re back to being silent, thank you for that.”
I shrugged, turning my computer on. “You’re welcome, I guess. What were they…saying? Why do you hear voices? You were terrifying when you came into the kitchen.”
He seemed to ponder it for a moment, seemingly unsure if I was worthy of the information. Or, like he was ashamed of talking about it.
“Us Fallen are forced to hear the voices of our peers as punishment for our sins. They’re constantly in the back of our mind, judging every action, every thought. They become white noise with time, only getting louder if we do something particularly bad.
“But then, you showed up. My mate. Demon mate. They didn’t like that.”
My throat bobbed, mouth opening and closing without allowing any sound to pass through.
“I’ve been trying to tamper them down with Datura. It worked—for a while. The effects allowed me some peace for a few hours at a time. And then I bit you.”