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“No, but feel free to drink whatever you’d like, wine or blood. I just want you to be comfortable.”
He lowered the bottle and narrowed his eyes as he leaned over the table to give me a piercing look that made my skin prickle. “Your blood? That’s the third time you’ve offered it to me.”
“I didn’t mean my blood, just whatever blood vampires drink from glasses while they’re out to dinner. Vampires do drink blood from glasses, don’t they?”
He shook his head slightly and sat back. “You wore the dress. Don’t you find it ridiculous and objectifying?”
“Oh, no, it’s marvelously fireproof. Do you want me to give it back to you, or can I keep it?”
His brows came together. “You tried to burn it?”
“No, that was Pansy. He’s quite a handful and Anna agrees. Can I take your picture? Anna would love this.” I got up and retrieved my phone from the coat’s pocket, but when I turned around, he was standing very close to me, smelling like sandalwood with those dangerous dark eyes gazing into mine.
“I’d rather you didn’t,” he said in a low voice, taking my phone out of my fingers and putting it back into the coat’s pocket.
My heart beat erratically while he stood so close, gazing at me with more intensity than anyone had ever looked at me with. “Oh, if that’s what you want.” I swallowed hard.
“It’s most certainly what I want,” he agreed with a low growl that went through me in a ripple of awareness.
“Excuse me,” the waiter said, waiting for us to move away from the doorway so he could come in with the two-foot sailboat serving dish packed with sushi.
I almost gasped. It was that beautiful, pale pink and green mixing with darker seaweed wrapped rolls and red sauce. I sat down while the waiter bowed and left us, the Scholar once more taking time to make sure I was seated comfortably before he went around the table to his own place.
He’d never touched me, not a brush of skin in all of that maneuvering.
“You would be a fine waiter if you ever got tired of chopping off arms and watching them regrow,” I said, offering him a smile. Why did I say that? That wasn’t polite conversation, and I was trying so hard to be polite. Researcher vampires were much better socialized than assassins turned librarians. Apparently.
He only smiled at me. “Thank you, Miss Morell. You would be a fine star in the heavens if you should ever tire of throwing crayons at intruders.”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Ah, thanks? Do you have a favorite?” I asked, pointing my chopsticks at the sushi ship of happiness.
“It is all equally satisfying to me, Miss Morell.”
“In that case, Mr. Stead, I’ll get started.” I took the nearest sushi roll and popped it into my mouth. Ah. Heaven. Textures, flavors, all of it was a mix of artistry that made me feel almost disloyal to the Cat’s Pause. Their sushi was good, but this was art, culinary perfection. Maybe the mark could wait after all.
I ate with a great deal of focus until most of the sushi was gone, and I realized that the Scholar was watching me eat like I was a starving person instead of taking his share of sushi. Raw fish eggs would probably be as edible as anything to a vampire, and I’d seen them ingest normal food in small amounts. Yep, I was just being a pig.
I finished chewing and put down my chopsticks so that I wouldn’t be tempted. “Sorry. I got carried away by the exquisite sushi. Are you ready to talk about the mark?” I offered a hopeful smile.
He raised his glass of wine and swirled it around in a red whoosh that reminded me of blood. “I would like you to tell me something about yourself and your work as relevant as possible to this mark you are burning with curiosity about, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“You want me to tell you about myself?”
He nodded serenely. “As it relates to this mark.”
I took a deep breath while I considered what I could tell him that would be enough information to be as valuable as whatever he could tell me. I licked my lips. “That’s the mark written on my father’s body when I found him. He was dead,” I added, helpfully.
He frowned slightly. “You’re after revenge? I’m afraid that you’ll be dissatisfied. It is the mark of a demon of great subtlety and power sealed in the infernal realm, as he has been since the great war ended. He didn’t personally leave that mark on your father, but one of his agents did instead. I have hunted many of them over the years, but they are always shoots that sprout up from the root of the untouchable evil.”
“You’ve hunted his agents? You’re after him too?”
He raised a brow. “That’s right.”
“What’s his name? Do you know it?”
He nodded soberly and took a small sip of wine before he lowered it to the white tablecloth. He wore a ring on his left hand, a great ruby in a gold band that curled around the sparkling gem. His hands were strong yet graceful, hands that could rip someone apart with a scalpel or his claws. He didn’t answer me.
I took a shaky breath and tried to look cool. “What do you want for his name?”
