Chapter 7
I’d never been to any event like this. Of course, I’d never visited the Cibola Vampire History Museum before, either.
The converted Victorian house with its shuttered windows, dark and dramatic decor, and gentle, romantic lighting made for the perfect setting for a vampire affair, almost verging on stereotypical.
I only just managed to hold back the shiver up my spine when Virgil and I walked through the arched doorway beneath a curved double staircase in the foyer where vampires looked down on us from above.
The open museum space offered plenty of room for tables and chairs, a dance floor where a live band played, and a curtained stage.
I clung onto Virgil’s arm as I studied the room for exits while it was still relatively empty.
His eyes were on me, so I gave him a nervous smile.
“Thank you so much for coming. I couldn’t be here without you.
” He glanced at our surroundings. “But also, how dare you wear that dress? Any time I look at you, I get hot under the collar, and all I can think about is kissing you.” He’d moved closer to my ear the more he’d spoken, until the last part was murmured low.
I grinned when he came away looking bashful but ecstatic.
“Can vampires blush? Because I think you might be blushing.” He laughed, but a realization hit me a couple seconds too late. “Sorry, guess I should cool it on the vampire jokes on this occasion?”
“Vampires have very good hearing,” he whispered, and he took both my hands to massage his eagerness into the bones. “Just keep that in mind.”
I smiled up at him and forgot where I was. This was fun. I wanted to tell him that, wanted to continue with silly jokes and private giggles, but Virgil’s attention was pulled away when another man approached.
“Mr. Miller. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The voice was familiar. My heart sped off like a startled horse before my brain could place it. I twisted my body around and was met with matching shock on Lazaro Reyes’ face. “Fallon.”
For a few impossibly long heartbeats, the entire room fell away, blank and silent, except for Lazaro and me.
My body screamed to run away or to stake him, to do anything but stare back at him in unspoken conversation.
Virgil’s hand was cool on my bare back, and classical music and sparse chatter flooded back into my ears as everyone around us moved again.
“Do you two know each other?” Virgil asked.
“No,” we answered in perfect unison, and I glared at him. He smiled.
“I’m Lazaro Reyes.”
“Reyes?” Virgil repeated as they shook hands, and the muscle in the side of his jaw tightened.
Lazaro offered his hand to me next with a playful glint of cruelty in his eyes that Virgil probably didn’t even pick up on.
If I hadn’t been here as his date, if I hadn’t promised myself to be on my best behavior, I would have spit in Lazaro’s hand, or likely much worse.
Instead, I accepted the handshake, flashing a brief look of hatred when he clutched my hand longer than necessary against my effort to pull back.
Any time I’d seen him, he’d been well-dressed, and tonight’s perfectly fitted black suit was no different.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the name associated with my father, Santos. Perhaps you and I can find the time for a private chat this evening, Mr. Miller.”
As if Lazaro had anticipated it, a woman coordinating the event made firm eye contact with Virgil to pull him away for something important and official, likely related to the speech he would be giving later that night.
He offered me an apologetic smile and shook Lazaro’s hand again before allowing himself to be pulled away.
To my intense annoyance, Lazaro stayed in front of me, looking me up and down with a smirk intended to intimidate.
“Good choice on the green. My fiancée would want to rip that dress right off of you and wear it for herself.”
I frowned at the distasteful image, and for the simple fact that he was attempting conversation with me, as if it wasn’t a few short months ago that I’d shoved a stake through him. I should’ve just finished him off when I had the chance.
“Oh, she must be a gem. Where is she?” I folded my arms and scanned the crowd.
“You’ll see her. She’s my perfect match.” He raised his eyebrows. “Not sure I can say the same for our righteous little Hunter and her vampire boyfriend. A bit May-December for what I imagined for you. Or May-Next Decade? May…Dead?” He chuckled viciously.
As a waiter passed, Lazaro plucked an elegant champagne glass from his tray and held it out to me. I begrudgingly took it just to hurry this interaction along.
“And how old are you?” I sneered. “I’d guess too old to be jealous over my dating life.”
“Jealous? Is that what you’re hoping for?” He rumbled with a laugh. “You’re the one keeping secrets in your relationship. I’m hurt you didn’t tell him about me.” He put a hand over the place his heart would have been if he had one.
“Lazaro, don’t take this personally, but I much preferred fighting you to talking to you.”
He leaned in closer to my ear, invading my personal space and making my heart thud. “Get some of that power you promised me, and I’ll make your dreams come true.”
I resisted the urge to shove him away with both hands to his chest. “And I’ll make you a pile of ash.”
His smile was likely cool and charming to any observer, but it was a wordless threat.
A pair of dark, intense eyes caught my attention from halfway across the room.
Lazaro had been right. The beautiful woman in a black dress was a perfect match for him, in a goth princess way.
Her round lips were a permanent pout, and her brown eyes, framed by loose pieces of her dark hair, were bored.
“I think your girlfriend wants you back.” I looked up at Lazaro to make sure he’d heard me, because he hadn’t moved or spoken. “Lazaro?”
He rolled his eyes and walked away from me without another word.
“Well, that was annoying,” I mumbled against my champagne glass before taking a drink.
When I glanced out of the corner of my eye, Lazaro and his fiancée were putting on a public show of affection.
She was tiny next to him, and he dipped down to capture her lips in a kiss that was technically chaste, but made me look away from the bright, hot intimacy.
She must have been insane. And human, too?
What a hypocrite, criticizing me for dating a vampire.
I tipped my glass and was shocked to find it empty.
“Sorry about that,” Virgil said, tapping his hand to my elbow when he returned. Though we’d been among the earliest arrivals, the space was getting more crowded, and the music had picked up. Virgil took my empty glass and handed it off to another member of the wait staff. “Dance with me.”
My head started shaking before my lips could move. “Oh, I don’t dance. I don’t know how.”
“Follow my lead,” he said with a level of confidence I’d never seen in him before.
I nearly lost my balance just following him to the dance floor, as I wasn’t used to heels, but his strong arm supported me enough that I only wobbled.
Virgil looked like he was in heaven while he organized my shaking hands and held my body, leading me through slow, simple steps.
I looked up at him, wide-eyed. “This is my first real dance.”
His face melted even more with happiness, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead.
The string instruments poured out romance in the softly lit room that spun around me in slow circles.
Fenton had accused me of being in love again a few months ago.
Is this what it felt like to be in love?
I was dizzy, and I couldn’t decide if it was vomit or laughter that was edging up my throat, and either way, I didn’t have the power to stop it.
After another half-circle, a lancing pair of eyes tugged at my attention, but when I looked at Lazaro, he was looking away again.
I focused on Virgil, and he slowed into a gentle sway.
The weight of his gaze was getting hard for me to bear, like it might drag my dress down and expose me in front of everyone.
My throat was dry when I swallowed, and I wished I had more of that champagne.
I was practically begging for relief from Virgil when some realization shored up and tightened the muscles on his face.
“I love you.”
“You do?” My tongue launched the question like a bowstring released by accident, propelled by shock. That’s not what you’re supposed to say, Fallon! My body had stopped moving as I got a front-row seat to the emotions that played out on Virgil’s face.
“I do.” He sealed the declaration with a kiss to prove it.
A promise of gentleness and care that I couldn’t return.
I breathed again from the relief of amusement coloring his expression.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to say anything.
I just wanted you to know. I wanted to thank you.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel this way again. ”
He held me to his chest and picked up with the softly rocking dance. I laid my cheek on his lapel, needing a rest and a neutral view to reset my slurried thoughts.
Lazaro’s girlfriend was in the same place, entrancing a different man now, but the vampire who seemed eager to ruin my evening was nowhere to be seen. I searched for those dark waves of hair that would have towered over most everyone else, but he’d gone.
* * *
Lazaro Reyes
What a bizarre twist of fate. My Hunter was here at a charity event for the vampire population, attached to the arm of one of the men I was enduring this gala to speak with.
My dear little brother Peter had given up so much to pursue the girl, and yet here she was, with another vampire. I couldn’t wait to tell him.