Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
SHE’S GOT ME BY THE CHEESE STICK
Ideposit Casey on the couch and Bruno immediately circles him, a low growl in his chest.
One whistle, and I’m usually surrounded by canines, big and small. A fact I learned the hard way while attempting to surveil a certain violet-eyed girl at a dog park. I went in with a shelter dog as a prop and left with a pet.
Now the stubborn mutt is guarding a dying man, and I suppose he has his uses after all.
Bruno gives the human-almost-vampire a growl, then a sneeze, but Casey doesn’t move, the shift well underway and having taken its toll on his human body.
A cold stillness fills my gut as I take in how pale his skin has become. The skin around his closed eyes is sunken, papery, and his breaths are shallow whispers of the life he has left.
Stark’s orders were to keep her calm, not to make her panic. But looking at Casey’s waxy skin, I know he was wrong. Keeping her in the dark isn’t kindness. It’s a betrayal, and there’s more happening to Casey—more she has a right to know.
I’ve never disobeyed my Sire’s orders before, but Kallie is different.
She’s worthy. She’s special. She’s mine.
And I know this as surely as I know I’m a vampire. With any other human, the hunt sings in my veins. With her, something else rises—a need that quiets the thirst. Her blood, her scent... it calls to a part of me I thought was ash.
I want more than just her blood.
I want her heart too.
Which is absurd.
Impossible.
I’m a bloodthirsty monster, after all. Not some storybook prince.
One without a heartbeat.
And yet—a beat. Mine. A strange, phantom thud echoing in time with hers, a pulse where there should only be silence.
Making me feel more human than I have in decades.
Mind made up, I will find my little flower and tell her everything.
I will answer her every question and earn her trust. And hopefully she will allow me to remain in her orbit, even if it’s just for a short while. I shall count myself lucky.
I turn toward the bedroom, my resolve hardening into a plan, but Stark is already there, emerging from the doorway as if summoned by my disobedience.
Daisy is resting. Do not wake her and do not let her leave until I return.
What happened, Boss? What’s the plan now?
In a rare show of hesitation, Stark pauses, his eyes dropping for half a second before meeting mine again.
That hesitation—Stark does not hesitate.
Seems I'm not the only vampire acting strangely since meeting Kallie.
She… did not handle vampire speed very well. We both needed a clean up once we got here.
Her name is a magnet. My gaze finds her in the bedroom, a small shape lost in the vastness of the bed, the slow, peaceful rhythm of her breath a quiet counterpoint to the silence.
“She’s different, Boss.” I speak the words aloud, and it feels right to give them sound, to let their weight settle between us. “She’s not like everyone else. She’s…” The words fail me.
I fall silent, but Stark’s expression gives nothing away. He already knows.
He nods in response, headed to the door.
“And that’s why you must keep watch while I go beat some answers out of a particularly troublesome leech.”
It’s my turn to nod. “There are two more waiting outside. I couldn’t deal with them on my way in.”
He responds with a growl and flies out the door at high speed, shutting it so softly it doesn’t click.
Soft breaths drift from the bedroom. In the kitchen, Bruno laps at water. And from a chair in the corner comes the tiny, persistent scratching of a kitten's claws.
A smirk pulls at my lips. I picture Stark’s face when he finds the shredded velvet of his armchair—the quiet fury, the utter inability to blame the creature that reminds him of her.
I briefly consider chastising the kitten, but decide Stark can deal with the consequences. He’s the one who brought the small menace home.
Seems the Boss quite likes furry creatures too. Especially ones that remind him of Kallie.
I chuckle under my breath but get interrupted when the steady breathing coming from the bedroom changes, a soft gasp and groan punctuating the rustling of the bed sheets.
A low groan escapes her, her first sound a question mark of pain.
In a blur, I’m by her side, returning from the kitchen with an ice pack in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
Beautiful amethyst eyes meet mine, and my chest squeezes, hard, my non-existent heart thudding once, twice, faster.
It’s uncomfortable, yet… I can’t get enough.
“Where am I?” Her voice is raspy, raw, and it sends a coil of heat straight through me.
Except now is really not the time.
“Back in the city, safe. In Stark’s condo.”
She looks around, blinking rapidly and taking in her new surroundings, until her eyes widen, the pupils swallowing the amethyst as her whole body goes rigid with a single, sharp realization.
“Wait…Casey!” She jumps out of bed, a frantic movement that sends her toward the living room before I can react.
My thoughts stall. She’s wearing absolutely nothing.
Stark stripped her.
The sight of her—dark skin, curves, the flower birthmark over her heart—hits me with the force of a physical blow.
A part of me I thought long dead stirs as her scent, unbound by fabric, floods the air.
I inhale once. Then inhale again.
And force my fangs to stay hidden. Now is the worst possible time to remind her of the creature I am.
I cannot make her feel more vulnerable than she already is.
Except… she doesn’t seem to notice or care that she isn’t wearing anything. Not while she checks on Casey, wiping the sweat off his face and whispering comforting words.
I should feel the sting of jealousy, but there is no room for it. Not when I am the only one in the universe who gets to witness this.
How lucky I am to see her like this, with her love and empathy on full display, and the rest of her… unintentionally so.
As she kneels beside the couch, the lamplight catches something on her thigh—a mark that wasn’t there before. Purple, shimmery with magic that doesn’t belong to any mere human.
What is my little violet doing with a Guild mark? It could explain why she smells faintly of their magic.
“Alek? How long will he be like this? He looks so much worse!”
Her voice shatters the trance. I’m still on the bed, a fool holding a forgotten ice pack and a glass of water, a useless statue.
“Where are his glasses?”
I clear my throat, shaking off the thoughts invading my being, and speed to her side, offering the glass as water sloshes over the rim.
Stupid clumsy idiot.
She stares at it for a half a beat then chugs it down, grabbing the ice pack to press to her temple. A large bruise is already darkening there, and the guilt sits heavy in my chest when I see it. She hit her head in the Jeep when I was trying to evade the feral goons.
I should have been more careful.
As for the glasses… they were left behind, probably melted in the inferno after I crashed the Jeep to mask our scent.
Not that he’s going to need them anymore.
I’m still busy cursing my stupidity when she repeats her question, this time reaching out to grab my hand.
Her hand in mine is a perfect, impossible fit. A smile touches my lips until I remember she asked about her human friend.
“There’s something we didn’t tell you… something you need to know.”
Her violet eyes blink up at me. I’ve counted her freckles before—forty-seven, scattered across her nose—but I count them again anyway.
I raise one finger to trace them, but stop myself midair, my eyes widening in shock.
Just because she initiated contact does not give me the right to touch her any time I please. Especially when she isn’t wearing anything, like this.
My treacherous eyes follow a downward path, tracing the peaks of her breasts, pointed in the cool air.
I swallow, a dry, human sound. My gums ache.
My fangs push, needing to graze the curve of her neck, to taste.
Her scent deepens, warming with a lust that answers my own, and it is all I can do to keep myself rooted to the spot.
It is not enough. I want more. I want all of it.
I take a step forward, closer, my nostrils now solely filled with the smell of my little flower, and I inhale greedily, like I may suffocate if I don’t. Which is a ridiculous notion considering I don’t even require oxygen to live.
And yet… I now know with complete conviction that I have absolutely no desire to continue to exist without Kallista in my life in one way or another.
That if she chooses to walk away, this strange flicker of life she’s awakened will leave with her.
But I hope she won’t. I hope she can find a use for me. Some purpose in her orbit. Fangs and all.
I tear my gaze from her rubbing thighs to meet her large purple eyes, and what I find there stops my breath.
There is heat in her gaze, yes, but beneath it is something stranger—not fear, but a sharp, unnerving curiosity, even as my predator features are on full display.
She is different. She looks at a monster and does not flinch. I do not know if that means she is meant for me, or if she is more dangerous than I am.
I pull a white daisy from my coat—an old, half-forgotten gesture for a new, unforgettable girl. It’s fitting for Kallie, in more ways than one.
Her eyes widen, then brighten with the delighted smile that reaches them, making the purple turn a shade of lilac that is breathtaking.
“Thank you, Stud Muffin. That is very sweet of you.” The nickname sends that phantom beat hammering against my ribs, foreign and odd. Her next words silence it completely.
“Now, tell me what I need to know about Casey.”
I take a step back, giving her some room and giving myself a chance to clear my head of the sheer want that is invading my every sense, but she doesn’t let go of my hand, her grip firm and confident.
“He needs blood to complete the shift.”
“Okay… So I’ll give him my blood.”
I shake my head, the heat in my veins turning to ice.
“He needs vampire blood. From a vampire Lord.”
Kallie processes my words, her brow furrowed in a way that tells me she hasn’t grasped the full implication.
“Are you a Lord?”
I shake my head again.
“Is Stark a Lord?”
“Yes.”
She huffs in frustration at my short answers. I’m struggling to find the right words, to soften a truth that has no soft edges, all while knowing she’ll pull her hand away the moment I say them.
I also hate leaving her in the dark.
“Stark made it clear he will not be the reason your friend becomes one of us.”
“What? So… he’s just going to let him die? Just let whatever this is… run its course? Where the fuck is he, I’d like to have a word with him.”
“Out. Getting answers. He’s out of range. I’ve already tried.”
“So you can… talk in your heads? I thought so. Well. How much time does Casey have then? Before he… before he…”
She swallows a sob, angry tears making my every limb ache to comfort her, but she lets go of my hand and steps away, leaving my fingers still curled around the shape of her.
I step forward, wanting and needing to do something, anything to make the sadness go away, but she puts up a hand, shaking her head and wiping at her eyes.
“No, please. No. I need a minute. Alone,” and I stand there, helpless again, watching her beautiful body as she walks back into the bedroom, disappearing in the bathroom and shutting the door.
She’s only a room away, but the closed door is a chasm that has opened between us.
The door opens again. Her voice is flat, final. “Don’t let him die before Stark’s back.”