Chapter 14 #2
I lifted my head and bestowed a grateful smile upon Leo, only to see Alric standing there.
The difference between the two males was astounding.
Every vampire was deadly, but some wore violence around them like a shroud.
Maybe Leo was better at hiding his predatory nature and putting people at ease, or maybe Alric didn’t care to pretend.
He was the Prime, revered and more powerful than any other. He had no need to hide his true self.
My heart knocked against my rib cage. The Prime’s hand fell away when I stepped back.
Magic beat against my senses, but that wasn’t what overwhelmed me. Alric in a tuxedo was… my mouth went dry.
Every inch of his tux was cut and molded to his body, but he wasn’t wearing a bow tie or any tie at all. The crisp white shirt he wore underneath his jacket was open, the first two buttons unbuttoned, exposing the toned marble of his chest.
He was freshly shaven, his jaw sharp. The scent I’d come to associate with Alric floated around us, the brisk, sharp smell of cedar and balsam. His blond hair was swept back from his face, a careless style that must have taken hours.
Our gazes locked until I blinked and looked away.
I cleared my throat. “Thank you. I misjudged the steps.”
Alric tilted his head in acknowledgment. “You’re not the first. I’ll have the step looked at.”
“No need. My mistake.”
Alric’s gaze lingered. “You look stunning tonight, Miss Damona.” My blood ran cold.
How did he know my real last name? I’d gone by the last name of Cole for most of my life.
My mother had insisted on me learning it when I was young and had quizzed me over and over again to ensure I wouldn’t screw it up.
She’d even gone so far as to legally change the name, and I never understood why.
Alric continued like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on my head. “The dress suits you well. I trust everything was to your liking?”
I took a moment to respond. “Does it matter?”
A faint smile tipped his lips. “Of course it does.”
“Everything is acceptable.”
A soft, shocked noise from Leo. Alric turned, but not before I saw the flicker in his eyes. “Thank you for your service this evening. I will call if I require you again.”
My eyes narrowed. “He’ll call. I’ll need a ride home.”
Alric’s eyebrows flicked up.
“Thank you, Leo,” I said softly.
Leo nodded and slipped outside, allowing the door to click shut behind him.
We stood in the foyer, surprisingly warm decor surrounding us.
The walls were a cream-colored stone, dotted with paintings of all shapes and sizes.
Landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and abstracts depicting strange, fantastical scenes rose high above us, all the way to the ceilings looming far over our heads.
The floors were stone, old and pocked with scars, though sealed to smoothness.
Alric’s house was in strange juxtaposition to the cold-looking but handsome man who stood before me, watching me with a glittering gaze.
“I hope you like Italian,” he said. “The chef has prepared a wonderful selection of pasta. Since many natural witches are vegetarian, I’ve ensured there are at least two options without meat, and one in case you prefer vegan.”
I wanted to hate Alric. I should hate the Prime for what he’d done.
This vampire had left me bleeding to death in a dark, dirty alley, alone and cold.
He had no idea who I was, my hopes and dreams, if I was important to society—though none of that would have mattered to someone with a sense of morality.
A good person, human or paranormal would still have tried to save me that night.
Or at least I hoped they would. While he’d obviously done his homework on other things, as any Prime should, he’d also made a calculated decision, he and the Shifter King, and decided to play God, not that I believed in an all-seeing, all-knowing deity.
Angels were bad enough. The thought of someone with an even larger ego gave me the shudders.
Yet Alric had sent me a stunning dress and chosen jewelry he knew I would like, knowing his choice would not properly reflect his status if anyone saw me.
Alric was a man whose company wore diamonds and platinum, not prehnite and comfortable shoes.
He’d also chosen food he knew I would eat and sent a driver who was warm and kind, at least on the surface.
“I can almost hear your thoughts whirling.” Alric held his elbow out. “Shall we?”
I curled my fingers around the crook of his arm and allowed him to lead me down the hall. “Are you really the landscaper?” I wasn’t sure if Leo had been screwing with me earlier.
“If I am?” His voice held a curious note, almost as if he was self-conscious about his gardening abilities.
I slid a look up. “Have you always liked flowers?”
He shrugged. “I like beautiful things. Flowers are unpredictable. Wild. You never know how one will grow.”
“People are the same.”
A faint smile. “True. Though flowers are far more predictable than people, aren’t they?”
“Sometimes. Though I think people are creatures of habit and rarely surprise me. I’m surprised you don’t believe so. You’ve had plenty of opportunities to observe their behavior.”
“Mmm,” Alric said as we turned the corner. “Are you a creature of habit?”
“Sometimes. I like what I like and can rarely be swayed from that path.”
We stopped before a large room with a single rectangular table in the center. A large bouquet of flowers sat in the middle—peonies, roses, and lilies of several different varieties in the vase. There were two empty chairs, one at the head of the table and the other to the left-hand side.
Two place settings had been laid out at each seat.
It really was just the two of us. The Prime was always featured with a gaggle of people around him, adoring sycophants who hung on his every word. Where were they now when I desperately needed them?
Well, shit.
Alric held out the chair on the left. I hiked up my dress and settled down, smoothing my skirts around my legs once I was in my seat. He took the chair at the head of the table.
“You like gemstones,” Alric said, “colorful ones. Prehnite, amethyst, citrine, sapphire, labradorite, and occasionally topaz. Not diamonds.” He cocked his head. “Never diamonds.”
I swallowed hard and said nothing. True.
Diamonds were made of suffering and cruelty.
They were a rich man’s stone, designed to show off wealth and privilege, no matter that their gathering came at great cost to the person barely paid slave wages to mine them, not to mention the damage those operations caused to the environment.
Millionaires didn’t wear prehnite or quartz or labradorite—they were the gems of a lesser person.
“You shop at thrift stores and like natural fibers and handmade items. Your style is eclectic yet cozy. You run cold and like sweaters.”
“Don’t be creepy,” I snapped. “I’d be a fool not to realize you’ve been watching me, but you don’t have to rub it in my face.”
Alric held up his hand. I turned to see several people holding trays frozen in place.
“A moment,” he murmured.
They turned as one and disappeared into the next room.
My lips thinned. “You can call them back. I didn’t mean to interrupt them.”
“No. You find me disturbing. I wish to dissect this.” A lock of golden hair fell onto his forehead, giving him a boyish air. I clenched my fists in my lap to keep from brushing it away.
I didn’t respond to his statement. I found him disturbing because he thought he could lay out a dossier on me and assume that meant he knew who I was. “You’re the Vampire Prime. Why am I here?”
“How did you survive?” His gaze was steady, but his eyes burned with curiosity.
“Luck. No thanks to you.”
Alric flicked his fingers. The servers returned once more. Someone poured wine in my glass. Another set a steaming bowl of soup before me. Yet another snapped a napkin and laid it across my lap. Someone else brought a crystal glass filled with water.
Again, they disappeared as one.
“Please,” Alric said. “Eat.”
I glared and waited for him to pick up his spoon. Alric’s lips twitched. He dug into his bowl and took a mouthful.
I had no idea what I was eating, but I hated that the soup was delicious. Smooth and savory, I tasted butternut and carrot, with a touch of cinnamon and allspice. The flavors seemed a little off-season—we were in spring, not fall—but autumn was my favorite season.
I hated that Alric seemed to know that about me too.
When my bowl was clean, I set my spoon down and dabbed at my mouth with the napkin.
“Luck,” Alric mused. “Your pulse was close to zero when we left you.”
“I’m aware,” I said dryly.
“Even as a witch, you shouldn’t have survived.”
There was no way in hell I planned to tell him about my unlikely rescuers. “Maybe you should have finished me off then.”
Alric sighed and set his spoon down. “Miss Damona, you must understand the predicament we were in. Silas and I are on opposite sides politically. Being seen in that alley with you in your state at the time would have destabilized the entire country.”
“I don’t care.”
Alric blinked. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t care about your politics. What I do care about is that two men, two supposed protectors of this city, left a witch to die.
I don’t want to be here, Mr. Methinas. I’d rather never see you again as long as I live.
I assume I’m here for you to threaten me into submission, but you don’t have to worry.
As I’ve told you before, I have no plans to reveal anything about either of you. All I want is to be left alone.”
Alric’s lips thinned. “You don’t like me.”
I snorted. “What was your first clue?”
I was saved from more conversation by the second course coming in, a salad with spring greens, pears, toasted pine nuts, and parmesan with a delicate olive oil-based dressing. We ate in silence.
“For what it’s worth,” Alric said when we finished, “I have not stopped thinking about what happened that night. I will live with the regret for the rest of my long existence.”