My cheeks burned. “Yes.”
He was quiet for another moment, and then that voice of command poured out of my phone speaker again. “Mia, go sit on the couch.”
My legs, without me giving them permission, walked themselves over to the couch, and deposited me there.
I still wasn’t afraid, but my mind was churning over the fact that hecoulddo this. Hewascontrolling my body somehow. My mind helpfully-not-helpfully spat out one word: Vampire. I growled in frustration. Leave it up to me to find the supernatural in a world with almost 8 billion people in it.
He laughed. “Did you just growl at me? Are you sure you’re not part shifter?” I heard a faint tapping on his end. Keys being pressed into a keyboard. After a minute, the tapping stopped.
Time went by, but my butt was still firmly planted on the couch, and my spine was still annoyingly at attention. I couldn’t move. And trust me, I tried to break his control. I still had all my own thoughts. I just couldn’t break the hold he had over my gross motor functions. I could still do small things on my own power, blink, purse my lips, clench my hands, so I figured his control was only lightly being applied to me.
“What I’m using on you is not generally used on another being,” he said, his voice soothing. “It’s not illegal, however, and I thought it would make my point nicely.” I didn’t need the soothing voice. I still wasn’t afraid.
“That you’re a vampire?” Funny, my question this time didn’t sound at all ironic. I think my subconscious was pretty sure this person was legit. I was fighting the thought, because if this was true, then a whole lot of other things might be true. And if those things were true, then what the heck wasIthat I could see them? That thought was both terrifying and exhilarating.
“I’m not afraid. You don’t need to pacify me.”
The pen tapping sound came again from his end of the phone.
“Interesting.”
Interesting? Well, okay, my reaction might be atypical, but that was only because I was getting such a powerful surge of peace from this guy…err, vampire, that I couldn’t help but believe that he was a genuinely good person. I trusted my instincts.
Before I could say anything in response, my doorbell rang, and the feeling of being taken over left. I sighed in relief. It was so nice to have my body back under my control. It hadn’t been a painful experience, but I didn’t think I’d ever take the control I had over my own body for granted again, either.
I ignored Mr. Leto’s humming and got up to answer the door. Through the peephole I could see the delivery boy from Michelana’s Italian Restaurant with a huge bag in his hands. Puzzled, I opened the door to tell him he had the wrong apartment, and to see if I could direct him to the right one, but he smiled politely before I could get any words out. “Delivery for Mia Durran?”
“I…”
“Just sign here, Miss.”
He shoved an electronic signature thing in my hand, and I scribbled my name while hastily trying to explain that I hadn’t ordered anything.
“Someone has already payed for it, Miss. Including tip.” And with that, he was off, and I was left standing dumbly in my doorway with the aroma of garlic breadsticks and meaty lasagna tickling my nose.
“I… What the heck just happened?”
Draven’s chuckle sounded from my loosely dangling phone. I put the phone back to my ear. “You sounded hungry. Your phone’s area code is for Manhattan. I just looked up the best Italian restaurant and took the chance that you’d ordered takeout through them before. Fortunately, they are a rare gem of a business and keep their customer’s addresses on file so they don’t have to bother customers by asking for them each time they order food there.”
Well, I ate there anytime I could scrounge together some money, so his story seemed at least plausible.
“Thank you.” I was both humbled by his kindness and embarrassed at the need for it. I hated being embarrassed, and I hated feeling exposed. I was also reeling over the fact that supernaturals existed. It was very cool, but also very sobering.
I set everything down on my kitchen table, put my hot hands up to my cool face, and covered my eyes. It was soothing, very, very soothing. I breathed in deeply, and out deeply, and repeated it several times before I picked my phone up again and said with a voice that wasn’t on the verge of a major freak out, “I’ll take those tickets, Mr. Leto. But, to be completely transparent, I don’t have my degree yet. I’m graduating next week. I was just starting the process of polishing my resume with the new information and looking for a secretarial job.”
“I understand. I can send the tickets for a flight in two weeks?”
“You’d hold the job until then?” I was flabbergasted. Why would he hold the job that long?
“Ms. Durran, I think you are operating under the mistaken belief that you are not a rare find.” He said this as though I knew what he was talking about. My eyebrows scrunched down as I tried to figure out what he meant.
“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to disagree with you; I’m just trying to figure out what you’re talking about. It says you’re based in Oregon. There should be plenty of people looking for an assistant job there.”
He was quiet for a few minutes, and, though I didn’t know how, I could feel his surprise over the phone.
“You don’t know what you are, do you?” he asked gently.
I clutched the phone tighter. And because I was uncomfortable, I resorted to being a smart alec. “An Earthling?” I said facetiously.
