Chapter 1 #4
“William,” I called out, knowing that no matter how massive the house, he’d hear me.
Within moments, a man was leaning against the doorframe.
At six four, he was a few inches taller than Belham.
His coarse-textured waves were shorn close to his scalp.
William presented as a man in his early forties; hints of gray were interwoven in his dark-brown hair.
Definitely the work of his barber. His clean-shaven face gave an unobstructed view of diamond-cut features.
Teak-brown skin contrasted beautifully with the pearl-colored shirt he wore.
Vampire conversion gave William molten brown eyes that could go from blade-sharp to gentle kindness in a blink.
His perceptive eyes roamed over the room, assessing Belham, the sword he held, and the witch scrunched in the corner, happy to accept me as his shield.
William’s amiable smile fell when he noticed how intently Belham’s gaze was set on me.
I appreciated and was cautiously aware of his unassuming power.
“Kara can never be a casualty of your anger,” William said softly.
Belham opened his mouth to speak. William materialized before him in a heartbeat, a finger placed lightly over his lips. Had it been anyone other than William exhibiting such behavior, they would have been left with a nub.
“It doesn’t require a response, just a nod,” he said.
Belham nodded. The fiery anger drained from his expression enough for him to show some semblance of humanity toward the witch.
William was the actual shield. I still didn’t know what I had done to deserve such protection that extended beyond the walls of their house, but far too often, I was grateful for it.
The guilt wrenched at me, but I knew what he thought warranted such protection.
They had more than compensated me for my one act of goodwill, but if he discovered what had happened that night, I might earn their wrath rather than a job and protection.
Belham and William had perfected the bad vampire and somewhat reasonable vampire roles they presented to the world.
Being their liaison, I knew it was just that: a performance, in which both easily slipped from the appearance of kindness to showing a ruthlessness that would make anyone wary.
William hid it better, often letting Belham be the face of unfettered violence and cruelty.
“Go. I will help Kara.” Skepticism passed over William’s face when Belham squared his shoulders and remained rooted in place. William appeared to doubt that Belham had full control of his emotions, so he escorted him out the door, closing it behind him.
William’s mild manner unnerved Jonah, whose short, ragged breaths filled the room.
“Do you want me to heal him?” William asked me.
“No. I just want to leave,” Jonah squawked, rising and taking hold of my shirt with his uninjured arm, positioning me in front of him as a shield.
“He’s not the one you should worry about,” I said, moving away from him.
William smiled, exposing his deadly fangs. “If Kara chose to protect your life, I will honor that.” The weight of William’s attention made the color drain from Jonah’s face. “For the time being.”
He’d shed his hubris from earlier.
“I’ll finish up here and leave,” I told William. Nodding, he started to back away. I nudged my chin toward the discarded stake. “Take that. It belongs to your house now.”
His smile widened as he picked up the new acquisition. “Rachel is scheduled to link your house to it,” I informed him.
“You always take such good care of us.”
No, I took care of the humans, lesser supernaturals who’d be victimized, and the world we’d devolve into if vampires were given full rein. I kept that to myself and smiled.
Once we were alone, I turned and glared at the injured witch. “You’re not part of the Nightshade coven, are you?”
Based on the illumination of the markings on his arm, he was using magic to manage his pain. I tried to determine what was causing the beads of sweat on his brow. Well, he was alone with a person who had just broken his wrist. He probably didn’t consider me a safe zone either.
He shook his head.
“Which coven?”
“Technically, we aren’t an official coven. Just a group of witches who practice differently.”
“Did they reject your petition to be a coven because you all go around doing reckless things like this?” I rolled my eyes. “Trying to kill a vampire in his own home? Stupid!” I barked.
“I had no intention of killing him. Corrine said she was bound against that. He would have been placed in a deep sleep that only I could break.”
“And you thought you’d just waltz out afterward?” I didn’t know if he was incredibly brave or stupidly arrogant. Far too often they were mistaken for each other.
“I have a spell that would have incapacitated everyone for a few minutes.” He pulled out a spherical object from his pocket and whispered an invocation quickly, giving me a small taste of the sound that emitted from it.
The half second of hearing it bothered my ears.
It would have been excruciating for vampires.
“That’s cruel.”
“It would have just been until I could leave. It was a safety measure.” The more he spoke, the less proud I was of sparing him the consequences of his actions.
“Give me your phone.”
Without hesitation, he retrieved it from his pocket. I held it to his face to unlock it and scrolled his call list until I found the contact I needed.
“You were successful?” the familiar chipper voice asked.
“No, he’s dead,” I said. Jonah’s eyes widened and his face grew paler.
As he retreated, his mouth parting in preparation of using magic to fend me off, I shook my head and held my hand up in a sign of peace. Since it still held the baton, it came off more threatening than intended. Eventually he got the message.