Chapter 9 #3
“But isn’t that a normal thing for vampires?”
“Yes, but I’m not your normal vampire, Devon.” Kohl’s stomach churned. But not from hunger. This was not a conversation he wanted to get into right now.
“You keep saying that, but you’ve yet to explain what that means.
” She set down the knife she was buttering her bread with.
“So, what does it mean, Kohl?” Her eyes bore into his, waiting for an answer, and if he didn’t know better, he would swear she could see right through to the beast inside of him.
Fuck. He wasn’t getting out of this, was he?
“And don’t even think about trying to blow off my question again. I want to know who you are.” She waved her knife at him. “Dammit, I deserve to know.”
Nope. Not this time. “Devon—”
“Kohl, don’t do that,” she said quietly.
He was confused. He’d barely said anything. “Don’t do what?”
“Don’t patronize me. I can hear it in your voice and read it on your face. Just…don’t.”
She was right. She was absolutely fucking right. Kohl took a deep breath and gave her a nod. “I’m sorry.”
Picking up her knife, she resumed buttering her bread. Every few seconds, she’d shoot him a look while she ate, but she didn’t ask again.
Lacing his fingers together on top of the table, he leaned forward.
She sat back and waited, eating her bread with a bored expression.
Kohl took a large drink of wine and tried again. “I’m only half vampire.”
“And what’s the other half? Human? Werewolf?”
“Kind of like that.”
The bread landed on her plate so hard the knife fell off and landed on the table with a thud.
“Kohl!” Glancing around, she lowered her voice.
“Please. Just tell me. I’m not going to run away screaming.
I know all about you guys, remember? Hybrids are rare, but they’re not unknown to me.
” She took a deep breath and covered his hands with her own.
“Please. I just need to know. I want to understand you.”
The words began to pour out. “I can’t fuck with your head because I’m only half vampire.
My father was—is—a vampire. I don’t know him.
My mother…my mother came here from Iceland after she was publicly shamed for being with him.
She got pregnant, and rather than drinking the herbs to rid herself of an unwanted child—a child she had no idea would survive or if it would be disfigured, or worse—she fought to keep the child and was banished.
She came here to the states and the coven I now live with took us in.
She had an old friend here.” He paused. “She died when I was young.”
Devon was staring at him with something akin to amazement lighting her features. “What is your mother, Kohl?”
He only hesitated a moment. “She was a shifter.” And she’d died before she could teach him how to deal with that side of his nature.
“From…Iceland.”
“Yes.”
Devon released his hands and sat back in her seat, staring at him in awe and something else he couldn’t read. “Oh my God. That’s not possible.”
Kohl chugged down the rest of his wine. This is why he didn’t tell anyone what he was. The only ones who knew the truth were Hawke and the Master. All of the others only knew he was a hybrid. They probably assumed it was wolf. He let them think what they wanted.
“Truly?” she whispered. A dawning look of understanding came over her face, and she sat up, her excitement washing over him. “That explains what I saw at the lake last night. Your eyes. And your skin.”
“My skin?”
“Yes! On your arms. Like jewel-colored water rippling from your shoulders down to your hands.” She suddenly stilled. “Oh, Jesus. Your skin…Kohl, you were turning.”
“But I didn’t,” he said quickly. “I controlled it. I would never put you in danger by letting the beast out if you’re anywhere near me.”
Devon gave him a strange look. “The beast? Why do you call it that?”
His upper lip lifted in a disgusted sneer. “Because that’s what it is.”
She was shaking her head before he finished his sentence, her loose curls flowing around her face.
“No. No, Kohl. Not a beast. A dra—” She cut off what she was about to say when the waiter returned with her soup.
But as he set it down in front of her, she paid no attention to the shell of an actual onion sitting in a bowl with the soup inside, not even when he lit a lighter and flambéed it.
Instead, she stared at Kohl through the top of the flames, and something about the sight of her, seen through the fire, seemed rather symbolic to him.
But then they burned away, and the feeling was gone.
Uncomfortable being under such close scrutiny, Kohl smiled his thanks to the waiter as he presented her spoon on a tray. “You should try the soup. I hear it’s really, really good.”
Devon blinked. Taking the spoon from the tray, she smiled her thanks at the waiter. Perhaps sensing he was uncomfortable, she blew out the last lingering sparks and then dipped her spoon in for a taste. “Mmm. This is really good!”
Kohl relaxed as she dug into her food. Half of it was gone before she seemed to remember what they were talking about.
“I want to see it.”
Kohl couldn’t have heard her correctly. “I’m sorry?”
“I want to see it, Kohl.”
Ah, if only she were talking about something other than the beast. “That’s not possible.”
“Why not?” She set down her spoon. “Kohl, do you realize how rare you are? I mean, come on. A dragon. You’re a fucking dragon.”
If there was one thing that would stay with him about this night and make him glad he’d told her, it was the fact that by revealing what he was, he’d managed to suppress the ever-present layer of melancholy that enveloped her spirit and saw—really saw for the first time—the strength of the light within her.
His skin fairly burned from the intensity of it.
And he despised himself for having to be the one to distinguish it again. “No, Devon.”
She opened her mouth, no doubt to try to talk him into it, but then she paused, and really looked at him.
Her eyes fell to the table and the animation left her face.
With a sigh, she picked up her spoon, took a sip of her soup, then set her spoon down and sat back.
That look was on her face again. The stubborn one. “Why not?”
Kohl leaned forward, closing the distance she’d created between them. “Because it’s not safe for you. The beast has a mind of its own. I can’t control it when it’s released. The only thing I can do is try to keep it buried deep down inside where it can’t hurt anyone.”
“That must be difficult.”
“More so when I was younger. The vampire side of me, now that’s a little harder to hide. It’s so easily stimulated.” He smiled, showing her his fangs.
After a pause, Devon laughed, the melodic notes soothing him more than the music. He wished he could always hear her laugh.
“I really am sorry. I wish I could show it to you, if only to bring back the light in your eyes.”
Her food came, and the conversation came to a halt for a few minutes while Devon ate.
Kohl refilled their wine glasses, enjoying the sight of her pleasure with each bite of lobster wrapped in a flaky pastry.
After a while, he changed the subject, talking about anything other then the thing inside of him.
He asked her about her family, and found out her parents were both deceased.
“They were older when they had me. I was kind of a surprise, or so my dad liked to remind me. He said I was the best anniversary gift mom ever gave him.” She smiled at the memory.
“What about brothers or sisters?”
“Nope. It was just me.” She took a sip of her wine. “I was in college when my dad passed, and mom followed him a little less than a year later.”
“I’m so sorry.” And he meant it. Kohl had lost many people in his life. People he cared greatly about.
She gave him a sad smile. “Thank you. But I believe they’re still together, wherever they are now.
It’s comforting. And I’m glad they weren’t around when everything went down at Parasupe.
My father would’ve been so furious. I would’ve had my hands full trying to keep him from trying to take out the entire company. It would’ve put all of us in danger.”
“Your parents sound great, Dev.” He reached across the table and took her hand, and as they stared at each other, the easy companionship they’d enjoyed throughout dinner was replaced by an electric tension that shot straight from their hands, up his arm, and straight down to his groin.
It slammed into him with unexpected force, taking his breath and feeding his hunger.
Kohl was suddenly ravenous.
And by the way her eyes darkened and her lips parted, she felt it, too. “Are you sure you’re not hungry?”