“Do you know him?”
“No clue who he is. None of my coven know him either. Your description to the police doesn’t ring familiar to any of us, but we’re still catching a heap of shit for his actions. People think we’re murdering those women, but we aren’t. We’re just trying to get through a rough year.”
“Umm…your king works for the fire department. He’s in the newspaper sometimes for saving people.”
“Yeah, he’s a good one. There is a lot of weight on his shoulders since he took on our coven. He’s given us a moral compass, I suppose.” Evan had a faraway look in his eyes.
“Do you like your king?” she asked, curious.
“Yes. I didn’t at first, but now I see his value. I see his vision for our coven. It’s a good future if we can stay out of trouble.”
“Is that why you want to find the monster?”
Evan nodded.
“How do you plan on finding him?”
“With the right bait.”
Her blood went cold. “Aaaand what is the right bait?”
His charming smile leveled her. “You.”
For three full seconds, she stared at him before she responded. “Hard pass. I’ve had a rough enough week. I think it’s time it improves.”
“Play bait, and then I kill the man who’s after you. Then you can go back to your life. No fear. I’ll even let you watch me kill him if you need the closure.”
“You would kill something that easily?”
“Something evil? Yes. Guess how much sleep I would lose?”
“Uh, do vampires even sleep?”
“Kind of. Guess.”
She sighed. “Zero sleep?”
“Bingo, bango, you clever human.”
“Have you killed before?”
The smile faded from his eyes first, and then from his lips. “You’ll be safest with my coven. Not hiding in an apartment that any vampire can get into.”
“I don’t understand that part. Tanya had to invite the monster in, but he just came into my home uninvited. So did you.”
“Because it’s not your home. You rent it. I’m guessing Tanya owns her apartment.”
“Well, yes. She owns the whole building. She’s my landlady.”
“The power belongs to her then. All she had to do was invite him into the building and then again into her apartment. The rest of the apartments, though? They were wide open.”
“Wait…how did you get in tonight? Tanya is still in the hospital.”
Evan cleared his throat and looked away, but not before she saw a flash of something in his eyes.
“What?” she pushed.
“Tanya has fed me before. In her apartment. I was invited in last year.”
“Holy shit.” That blew her mind. Tanya? Sweet, responsible, businesswoman Tanya? Feeding Vampires? “But…she’s normal.”
Evan laughed. “I don’t know what you have in your head about feedings, but I think it would be entertaining to hear about it.”
“Don’t you have sex when you drink a woman’s blood?”
His laughter echoed through the creepy cemetery. “If I like a woman and she likes me back, maybe. Shane would fuck a fencepost if it gave him a compliment, but I don’t feed like that. I just eat and then pay.”
“Pay?”
He nodded. “Tanya was having trouble making bills on the complex last year. It was a symbiotic relationship.”
“Oh, my gosh, that’s why she had the stake! She knew how to use a stake! She had one in her hand when she dragged me into her apartment.”
“Yes, and thankfully she never felt like using that little skill on me. I’m guessing she learned how to shank in the beginning when she didn’t trust me yet.”
“Huh.” She blinked hard and shook her head. “I guess you never really know people.”
“More people feed us in this town than you would guess,” he said quietly. “Most people are scared of us, or hate us. But there are some who see feeding for what it is.”
“And what is it?”
“A meal. Survival. Just like you eat a hamburger, we have a diet, too.”
This man was very open about his life and, and it shattered the misconception she’d been trained to think from the media.
Nicole wrapped her arms tighter around herself to ward off the cold. “Did you choose this?”
Evan watched her movement and then leaned forward off the fence, peeled his brown sweater off, and handed it to her. “Here.”
“But you’ll be cold,” she said, staring at his perfectly defined pecs.
“Do you see gooseflesh on me?” he asked.
She saw broad shoulders and smooth alabaster skin, a muscular throat, a line between his pecs, abs flexing with every breath, but no…no gooseflesh. She shook her head.
“It’s because I don’t get cold. Or hot. I don’t feel much anymore.”
And there was tragedy in that. “You can’t feel the first warm spring day after winter?”
Sadness washed through his eyes. “No. This wasn’t my choice.”
She pulled on his sweater, but it wasn’t warm like it would’ve been had a human man given it to her. It felt like it had been sitting outside in the cold, but it did smell good. Smelled like cologne. Like yummy-boy cologne. She sniffed it twice and ignored his chuckle.
“I think I’m traumatized,” she admitted. “I should not be okay right now.”
“You’re a tough woman. I can tell.”
“I don’t know about that. I keep thinking about the other night. Randomly. The memories just pop into my head.”
“That’ll fade with some time. And if it doesn’t? My king can get rid of those pesky memories for you.”
“What do you mean?”
His dark eyebrows lowered, and then he stood. “I don’t know why I just said that. Come on.” He offered his hand. “It’s late.”
“Your king can get rid of memories?” she asked, slipping her warm hand into his strong, cold one.
“Forget I said that.”
“Um, where
