carry a gun, which speaks volumes about how you yourself might respond to some threats.”
That disgruntled her a bit, because it was true. “Okay. But here’s the thing. I was taught to try to defuse situations rather than escalate them. So if you use your powers, try that weird persuasion thing first.”
“The Voice,” he said. “It works perhaps ninety percent of the time. Not on you, evidently.”
She wasn’t so sure about that as she recalled how his command to those youths had seemed to tingle its way through her body. She hadn’t felt controlled by it, but she had certainly
“So,” he said, “do we take a walk or do I sit here trying to concentrate on a book that I can barely read because of the distraction your scents provide?”
“Some help you’re going to be,” she retorted.
“It’s my nature.” The words were in no way apologetic.
“Let’s go for a walk. Weren’t there some other stores to visit?”
“Moving from one confined place to another with you is hardly going to help,” he grumbled. “No car. Jude probably took it. Which may be the only thing that saves me.”
“How does it save you?”
“Good heavens, woman, have you no idea why I keep rolling down windows?”
The frustration he expressed, combined with finally understanding why he kept freezing her in the car, made her giggle.
“You think this is funny?” he demanded.
“Kind of,” she said, still giggling. “I just hadn’t thought about why you kept rolling down the windows.”
“Now you know. I really own no desire to turn you into an icicle. You’re driving me insane, so show a little pity.”
The idea of him wanting her to show a little pity amused her and kept her secretly grinning while she bundled up for the cold winter night. While the daytime heat from the sun, buildings and cars had melted away almost all the snow, at night chilly winds blew in the canyons between buildings, icy enough to be threatening.
But Damien donned no extra clothing. He hadn’t taken off his black leather jacket when they’d come inside, and he added nothing to it as they departed.
“You really don’t get cold?” she asked as she jammed her gloved hands into her pockets and bent into the wind.
“No. I don’t get hot either. At least in the traditional sense.”
That brought another secret grin to her lips. “Why not?”
“How should I know? I don’t even know how I exist. Of course, you really don’t either, if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty details. But to answer your question, I don’t feel temperature at all unless it comes from human contact. Hot or cold makes no difference to me. I could walk naked in Antarctica for a week and return to tell you how lovely it was.”
The idea both amazed and saddened her. “Don’t you miss it? I can’t imagine not feeling warmth, especially on a night like this.”
“You could give me warmth. As for missing it...” He shrugged a shoulder. “We’re adaptable, just as you are. We get used to it. The only time I think about it is when I’m touching a human and feel it again. Then it becomes so pleasurable, I ache for it.”
She fell silent, scanning the streets out of long habit, hunched within her jacket, the hood drawn tight. “I guess,” she said finally, “I don’t think about it much. The weather is the weather. When it’s cold, I turn on the heat. When it gets too hot, air-conditioning. But I can’t imagine not feeling it at all. Especially a good hot shower.”
A half laugh escaped him. “You humans spend a lot of money and effort to make sure you live in an unchanging temperature environment. You prefer not to notice the cold or heat. I simply can’t.”
That was an interesting way to think of it. But there were good things, too, like coming in from an icy day and warming up with a mug of coffee or hot chocolate. Feeling your cheeks and toes burn a bit as they revived. Minor things perhaps, but she doubted she would want to give them up—even though she sometimes came home from a shift feeling like a miserable icicle, or like something that had been steamed for too long.
“How far is this place we’re going to?”
“It’s over on West Bolger.”
She pulled up her mental map of the city. “If we walk we’re not going to have a whole lot of time to get you back before dawn, especially if we stay too long at this place.”
“Well, I could make it all happen faster, if you’d allow me.”
“How so?”
“I could carry you. You’ll get colder, but we’ll move faster than the wind.”
She had no doubt of that, having seen him appear to disappear and rematerialize out of thin air. But to have him carry her? Being that close to him was dangerous to her peace of mind. Worse, letting him carry her would leave her with absolutely no control of anything.
On the other hand, the streets were getting colder, the walk would be long and time consuming, and it seemed really pointless to waste all this time if they didn’t have to.
“So you don’t have a car?” she asked.
“No, I’m on a visit. I came because Jude needed help.”
“Help for what?” She was stalling and knew it, but she was curious, too.
“You may remember a few months ago there was a rash of what were called animal maulings?”
Her heart quickened. “We never got an answer to that. It just stopped. What was it?”
“A bunch of vampires. They want to rule the world, keeping humans as chattel. They were particularly angry at Jude because he drove them from this city and has driven them from others. He even formed a coalition of us who feel we can live in harmony with humans.”
“Wow,” she said, trying to absorb all this.
“It’s a long story, but Jude and others had to fight them off. To protect you and your kind. I came to help but arrived just as the battle was wrapping up. I should have gone home but was enjoying the company of Jude and his friends, so I lingered. Thus I am still here.”
Talk about tipping over reality’s edge. “A battle between vampires?”
“We never wanted you to.”
She had a lot to mull over and would have liked to do so, but then she spied something that awoke the policewoman in her, distracting her.
They had reached a corner, and a car sped by, too fast. Farther down the street she saw a group of boys or young men, out too late to be up to any good. How much did she want to deal with right now? They were most likely gang members and things could get real ugly, real fast if she tried to intervene solo or get past them.
“I’ll opt for vampire transit,” she said, making the decision abruptly.
“Wise decision. I smell trouble wafting this way. Drug-energized trouble.”
“You can smell when people are on drugs?”
He didn’t answer her, instead drawing her quickly around the corner out of sight. “Hang on” was the only warning she got.
The next instant she had been tossed onto his back and was clinging for dear life to his shoulders and hips as the world spun dizzily by, leaving her with no impressions but flashes of light and shadow. After only a few moments, she closed her eyes to keep from getting sick and pressed her face against his back to keep it warm as the wind chill seemed to drop close to absolute zero.
She guessed that must be why vampires couldn’t feel temperature. None of them would be able to move fast for very far if they were susceptible to heat and cold.
Her mind rebelled at how fast they reached West Bolger. When next she could see something, Damien lowered her to her feet and she looked around, recognizing the neighborhood. This area was at the outer reaches of her precinct and the kind of place cops expected to have trouble.
Damien’s hands lingered as he lowered her, but she didn’t brush the importunate touches away. Feeling a little dizzied, she focused on getting her bearings.
Trouble, she had learned, accompanied poverty like fleas on a dog. It wasn’t that most of the people here
