Chapter 31 Vampires Do Burn
Long after Jill has left and the alarm has stopped, I keep Gray cradled to my chest while Nate clears up the mess. Emma left him hanging high and dry on the dance floor the moment the fire alarm went off. She must have booked it after Jill.
“I’m so sorry,” I say, running a hand along Gray’s back. It’s not just for him, it’s for Nate, too. “I had no idea.”
“It’s not your fault,” Nate insists. “Witches are great at concealing themselves.”
For as long as I’ve known them, I’ve never suspected a thing.
“Millie, are you okay?” Gray’s voice is weak as he pushes himself to a sitting position. We’ve moved from the floor to the equally soaked couch.
“A little dizzy, but I’m fine.” Red eyes search my face, concern pulling his handsome features taut.
He’s worried about me when he was the one on fire.
Still, after some blood, he looks pretty much untouched.
Even his hair, which is only singed at the tips in a few places, is still perfect, even if it is all wet.
“Nate?” Gray calls for him.
“I’ll get some towels.” Nate dips out of the room, leaving us alone.
Without an audience, I can’t stop myself from crying. “You almost died!”
Gray pulls me into him, covering my sobs with his lips as he kisses me so deeply it leaves me breathless.
I cling to him, pulling at his shirt, his arms, anything that I can grab to bring him closer than he already is.
The relief I feel at knowing he’s still there, solid and healed, is enough to break me.
Watching him go up in flames like that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever witnessed firsthand.
“Still here,” he mumbles, moving on from my lips to my jaw. I’m sure he’s going to go lower, but he’s stopped short.
“Fresh towels,” Nate announces as he returns. I turn on the sofa to see that he’s brought a few more vampires with him. They look the same as the men at the doors coming into the club. Same black dress suit, same dark sunglasses to cover their red eyes.
Gray stands and takes them, bringing them quickly to me.
“What about you?” I ask as he drapes a big, fluffy towel over my shoulders.
“I’m fine.”
He probably doesn’t feel the chill setting in the way that I do, so he hands me a second towel, and I take it gratefully.
“Now what do we do?” I ask, looking at both Gray and Nate.
Nate rubs at the back of his neck. “I called Tannis to let them know what happened. Then I checked upstairs. Their car is gone.”
My eyes widen. “That was fast.”
“Tannis told me to let them go,” Nate admits.
“Because they’re my friends?” I ask, my voice threaded with concern. Gray looks just as skeptical as I do.
“No,” Nate says, “because they don’t want to fuck with the witches any further.”
That’s ominous. I ask. “Why?”
The other vampires part, as two more drag a man in by his arms. He falls to the floor at our feet, and at first, I’m horrified, but the minute I see that he’s a vampire, too, the answer is suddenly obvious.
“This one caught your friend Jill at the bar and tried to… proposition her. When his efforts to compel her fell short… well, you can guess what happened next.” Nate looks down on the man with irritation and disgust. Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t break the rules.
“How was I supposed to know the bitch was a maj-hag?” The man grunts. One of Nate’s guards zips forward and pulls his head back by the tail of his ponytail. It’s enough to nearly rip his head clean off his shoulders. I draw back and turn my head away. I’ve had enough torture for one night.
“Take him out of here.” Nate orders. His guards make quick work of the rule-breaker, towing him out until the sound of resistance is long gone.
Gods, of course she was fired up.
Reasons aside, I’m relieved that a horde of vampires won’t be hunting down my friends any time soon. I may still be processing what I witnessed, but I won’t allow anyone to hurt Jill or Emma for what I know is a misunderstanding. If I can just talk to them, I’m confident that I can clear this up.
“I’ll talk to Tannis when we get back,” Gray says, as if reading my mind.
Nate claps his hands together, drawing our attention. “And in the meantime, the two of you should get going. I’m sure you don’t want to remain here soaked to the bone.”
“Probably for the best,” I admit. My towels aren’t as much help now that they’re as wet as my dress.
Gray offers me a hand and I take it. He pulls me to stand, and I wobble. I didn’t think he took that much blood from me, but I guess I was wrong. He wraps an arm around my waist and holds me steady.
“You can take the car.” Nate produces a set of keys and tosses them over to Gray.
“What about you?” Gray asks, pocketing them.
“I’ll get back, don’t worry about me.” Nate places both hands on his hips while the other guys behind him get to work with mops and buckets. It’s the most mundane thing a vampire in an expensive suit could be doing, and yet, it somehow makes the situation we’re in a little less grim.
“Is there a back door somewhere?” In a flash of speed, Gray scoops me into his arms and holds me tight to his chest. I grip his wet shirt with my shaking hands. “I’d prefer not to go the way we came.”
“Sure.” Nate nods. “Service elevator behind the bar. They’ll let you through.”
Gray doesn’t waste a second more. He blurs down to the dance floor in a blink, dipping behind the bar we were at earlier, with me clinging to his frame like a shaking leaf.
The elevator is a short ride up, much quicker than our original descent.
Instead of the laundromat, we wind up inside a cooler fridge full of beer and liquor.
Another hidden door innocuously located inside of a 24-hour liquor store.
“Could’ve warned us about the cooler.” My teeth chatter as Gray hunts down the car.
Conveniently enough, the laundromat is a block away from the liquor store, and the car is already parked out front for us. Nate must have had someone pull it up in anticipation of our quick exit.
“Don’t worry”—Gray winks as he slides me into the passenger’s seat—“I have some ideas about warming you up, but they’ll have to wait until we get back.”
“Can’t wait.”
Before I know it, the heat is on blast, the radio is pumping out late night tunes, and we’re on the move again.
Safely away from the club and any danger, I still can’t help but worry.
Torn between Gray, who could have died, and Jill, who has been a witch this whole time.
With Dante already a threat, we don’t need to add two of my closest friends to the list of our current enemies.
I uncurl myself from the seat long enough to twist myself toward Gray. He looks rigid as he drives, white-knuckling the steering wheel with a look that could kill.
“Phone?”
“Nate stored them in the glove box,” he says tightly, red eyes flicking from the road to me. “Are you going to call her?”
“What other choice do I have?” I open the compartment and snag my phone. The same sense of dread I felt toward Dante now simmers low in my belly as I pull up Jill’s name. I swallow a lump in my throat as I hit ‘dial.’ With a steadying breath, I bring it to my ear and wait for the connection.
Ring, ring, ring.
Seven times I tried calling. Seven times she ignored me.
“Millie, if she hasn’t answered by now…” Gray trails off, his voice soft in the darkness.
“I know.” The phone sits in my lap, staring up at me as the line goes dead again.
Resigned to silence, I lean back and look out the window.
A few more lights pass before we turn onto the long drive that leads to Tannis’s place.
Gray winds around the manor to the very back of the estate where a big garage sits in waiting.
I saw it earlier when we left, and it astonished me then, as it does now.
Tannis’s manor isn’t just a party-house for vampires, it’s a compound.
We edge closer and the doors open on their own.
Gray rolls in and parks us in an open spot.
“Home sweet home,” I say, taking a deep breath.
Next to me, Gray turns the car off and holds the keys limply in his one hand. “Millie?”
“Hm?”
“What happened wasn’t your fault.” Red irises peer up from the shade of his long lashes. “Messy business aside, I did enjoy myself.”
“You mean before my friend set you on fire?” A hoarse sob escapes me, covered quickly by a forced laugh. The tears that follow flow freely down my cheeks, unstoppable now that we’re alone.
Gray leans across the middle console and turns my reddening face to look at him.
“I’m fine, Millie. You stopped her before any real damage was done.” His voice pleads with me, low and desperate.
Without thinking, I twist my fingers roughly into his damp hair, pulling him in until our foreheads press together.
He lifts me partway into his lap as my legs awkwardly tangle together in the middle, dress riding up as the towels are forgotten.
I’ll feel the cold once the shame and embarrassment have worn off.
“I don’t want to feel that way again,” I say, pressing into him.
“What did you feel?” Gray’s thumb runs along my cheek, lingering beside my lips. I look into his eyes. There’s a sort of softness to them, shimmering as though they’ve glossed over completely.
“Afraid.” I swallow, my chest swelling with emotion.
“Afraid of what?” His throat bobs, lips partly open. I can feel my own breathing grow more shallow as I realize what I’m about to say.
“I was afraid of losing you… because… because there was a very real possibility that I might have missed the chance to tell you how I feel.” I lift myself slightly to see him better. My heart stumbles, fluttering as I stutter, “I… I love you?”
“Is that a question?” he chokes.
“Sorry.” A blush creeps up my neck to my ears as I drop my gaze to his shoulder. “I haven’t done this in a while.”