Intertwined

Thank God. “I know you drink from humans, though. That’s not what I meant.” He thought back to the last few newspapers he’d seen, the last news at nine he’d watched. “There are no articles about recent attacks in the area. No news stations blaring stories about possible vampire sightings. Nobody but me seems to know you even exist. I don’t understand how that’s possible if you and your family are, uh, eating many meals.”

“There’s a reason for that, but you will have to trade me for it.” The last was said in a singsong voice. Seemed the vampire was using his own strategy against him. “Now it’s my turn. What do you mean, souls are trapped inside your head?”

Yep. His luck sucked. “Souls, personalities, other humans. There are four and they’ve always been with me. At least, as long as I remember. We’ve played with a bunch of different theories about how they got there, and the best we’ve been able to come up with is that I drew them into me. Kind of like how I apparently drew you, only I absorbed them inside my head. They talk all the time.” He hurried on before they could protest. “Each possesses an ability. One can time travel. One can raise the dead, one can overtake other bodies, and one can see the future. Usually when someone’s about to die.”

“That means you can do these things, as well?”

He nodded. “And now we’re even, question-wise.”

Her head tilted to the side, her expression thoughtful. “You are more powerful than we realized.”

And that was not a good thing, he mused, judging by her hardened tone. But she wasn’t running, wasn’t eyeing him as if he were nuclear waste. That was miles above what he’d expected. But then, she was a vampire.

“I wonder how my father will react to that.”

Aden wondered, too. The man had wanted to kill him merely because of the wind he and Mary Ann had created. This was a thousand times worse. “Maybe you should, I don’t know, not tell him.”

“You’re probably right. So, tell me more about them, these souls. You said they talk all the time. Are they loud?”

He shrugged, and the water rippled. “Most days, yeah. That’s why most of the world thinks I’m weird. Because I’m always telling them to be quiet or, worse, conversing with them. And now, you owe me.”

She reached out and threaded their fingers, almost as if she craved contact as much as he did. “People might think you’re weird, Aden, but they think I am evil. Maybe I am. I survive on blood. And at first, when I learned to take it, I was too eager, unable to stop myself, and hurt innocents.”

He heard the guilt in her tone, the sadness, and hated that she’d experienced the emotion. He only wanted her happy. And if that made him the wuss he didn’t want to be, well, he’d freaking be a wuss.

Which brought him back to the bodyguard Riley. Was Aden the only one who wanted her happy? Surely not. After all, Victoria had once told him that Riley was jealous of him. He hadn’t understood at the time. But maybe Riley was jealous of the time Victoria spent with him. Jealous, as a boyfriend would be.

Why did she need a bodyguard anyway? he wondered darkly. “Talking about how people view us is depressing. So let’s talk about Riley. Is he also your boyfriend?” Every part of him felt like Victoria was his. If she said yes…“You have to answer truthfully. Remember, you owe me.”

She laughed. “No. He’s more like a brother. He irritates me, which is why I sneak away from him whenever possible. What of you and the girl I’ve seen you with? Mary Ann?”

“Friends only,” he said, though he wasn’t sure the friend part was even true any longer.

Victoria’s thumb traced his palm. “What kind of person is she?”

Before he could stop himself—not that he wanted to stop himself—Aden brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Sweet. Kind. Honest. She knows about me. Well, knows a little about me. She watched me possess the body of a werewolf, so there was no hiding it from her.”

“Vampires and werewolves? What have you gotten yourself into? Werewolves are dangerous creatures,” Victoria said huskily. “Vicious killers.” Her gaze fell to his lips. “Beware of them.”

“I already am.” Maybe he’d go hunting, find that werewolf and get rid of it before it could hurt someone. Namely Mary Ann. Whether she liked him or not, she was a good person.

Closer and closer Victoria eased toward him, closing the small gap between them. “Before, you asked about the humans we drink from and why there are no reports of people being bitten. You saw the way my voice affected your friends, yes? Just as it affected you when first we spoke. Well, when we bite a human, we release a chemical into their systems that makes them even more susceptible to our suggestions. A drug, a hallucinogen, I guess you could say. Once we are finished with them, we send them on their way and they forget they were ever reduced to a meal.”

If he had to have strange powers, Aden wished they could have been more like hers. That voodoo voice would have made his life a lot easier; he could have sent certain people (cough Ozzie cough) away with no memory of him.

“Are you dead, like legends claim?” He’d lost track of who owed whom an answer. But then, trading information was no longer his goal. Touching her was. He wrapped his free hand around her waist and splayed his fingers on the small of her back. She didn’t seem to mind. “I mean, did you die and someone turned you into a vampire?”

“No, I am not dead. I live.” She lifted his palm to her chest and pressed. Her skin was as hot as before but underneath, he could feel the steady rhythm of her heart. It beat faster than his, faster than anyone should have been able to survive, racing to a finish line it would never reach. “My father, he was the first of us. You might have heard of him. Vlad the Impaler, some call him. During his first life, his human life, he drank blood as a symbol of his power. So much blood it…changed him. Or perhaps he simply drank infected blood. He has never been sure. All he knows is that he began to crave it until it became all that he could stomach.”

Talk about the ultimate punishment for his deeds. “How many of your kind are there now?”

“A few thousand, scattered throughout the world. My father is king to them all.”

King. The word reverberated in his head, making him cringe. “That means you’re a—”

“Princess. Yes.” She stated it so simply, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

A princess. Suddenly Aden felt even more inadequate. She was royalty, and he was poor, stuck at a ranch with kids too wild for civilization. She was the daughter of a king. He was parentless and considered mentally unstable.

“I should probably go,” he found himself saying. Why couldn’t Elijah have shown him this? Knowing what she was would have saved him the trouble of caring for her—only to lose her.

Confusion darkened her features. “Why are you leaving?”

Did he really need to spell it out? “I’m a nothing, Victoria, a no one. Or should I say Princess Victoria? Should I bow, too?”

His sneering tone had her swimming backward, out of his reach. “You didn’t care that I was a vampire, yet my station bothers you. Why?”

“Just forget it,” he said, turning. His hands felt like ice blocks without her fiery heat.

Before he could blink, she was in front of him. Back in his arms. “You are beyond irritating, Aden Stone.”

“So are you.” He knew he should release her, but couldn’t force his hands to obey this time.

“Because I am a princess, I have spent most of my life sequestered. Rules and regulations are mine to follow, more so than anyone else, for I must always act with the decorum such a title demands. I must be everything the people want me to be: polite, polished and above reproach. Then you summoned us and we came to observe you. I saw how you kept yourself separated from those around you. I saw the loneliness in your eyes and I thought you would understand how feel. And then, when you first looked at me, every time you’ve looked at me, really, I felt your excitement. It causes your blood to flow so swiftly.” Her eyes briefly closed, as if she were savoring the memories.

“Tonight,” she continued, “you asked me to stay with you. You’re the first person to want to spend time with me, to talk and get to know me. Do you know how irresistible that is? Riley is my friend, but it’s his job to watch me. And with him, I can never forget who and what I am. But with you…I feel normal. Like any other girl.”

Being normal. It was a desire he knew well. And that he made her feel that way was astonishing.

“You do the same for me,” he admitted. “But I’m—”

“Irresistible, as I said. I should stay away from you, but can’t. So now I will be the one to ask you not to