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He grins, showing me his fangs. “Don’t play hard to get, Tegan. I’ve always enjoyed a good hunt.”
Adrenaline spikes through me, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t slightly exhilarating. Feeling brave, I bolt from the room.
Chapter Fifteen
The Sun Still Sets On You
Ethan’s in an unusually playful humour. I know this because he comes after me at human speed, rather than vampire. If he had used vampire speed he would have caught me before I even made it out of the living room. I squeal as he chases me, but I stop in my tracks when I get to the front garden.
I spot Delilah making her way over to Finn’s house. She doesn’t go in the front door, instead she sneaks quickly around the back. A second later Ethan has scooped me up into his arms and is hauling me back inside his house. I try to wriggle my way out of his hold.
“Put me down for a second. I want to go see what Delilah is up to,” I say.
Ethan raises an eyebrow. “Delilah?”
“Yeah, I just caught sight of her sneaking around the side of Finn’s place. Come on, let’s go do some sleuthing.”
Ethan sets me on my feet and I turn to walk across the road. He grabs my arm and pulls me back, clucking his tongue at me. I look up at him questioningly.
“My sister will hear you a mile off if you go by foot. Come here, I’ll show you how it’s done.” At this he effortlessly swings me up onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. “Hold on tight,” he says, just before he speeds off and my head feels like it’s inside a psychedelic dream where everything shifts too quickly and not in the correct order. All I can see is a mish mash of brick walls, glass windows and the black tarmacadam of the road.
Before I know it, Ethan has scaled the roof of Finn’s house and is crouched over the edge, allowing us to peer down into the garden. At the very back of the space sits Ira, deep in meditation. Delilah is standing silently by the house watching him.
“What’s she doing?” I whisper in Ethan’s ear as quietly as I can. I think he shudders a little when my breath touches his skin.
“It seems Delilah has found herself a new object of fascination,” he whispers back even more quietly.
At this I remember noting how Delilah always seems to find a moment to watch Ira when he isn’t looking, which is often because he can be so inside his own head at times. I don’t think Ira’s aware of this in the slightest.
“Object of fascination?” I probe.
“Delilah finds others appealing very rarely. So it takes a particularly special individual to capture her attention.” His eyes smoulder at me. “We are very similar in that way; when somebody turns our head we become fixated on them to the point of obsession.”
“Has anybody ever told you that you two are a weird family?”
He smiles. “Not in so many words.”
“So you’re basically saying that Delilah has the hots for Ira. Why doesn’t she just make a move then? If I were Ira and I caught her standing there looking at me like I’m a slab of meat she wants to sink her little dhamphir fangs into, I’d be well freaked out.”
“Take a look at the shapeshifter, Tegan. He’s no little waif. I doubt her behaviour would freak him out as it does you.”
I snicker at him using my modern turn of phrase alongside his olden times speak. “Did you just call me a little waif?”
“I believe I did.”
“Well, I’m not an orphan and I’m certainly not weak. Does anyone even use the word “waif” anymore?”
“I’m sure there are some. I favour it when referring to pixie-like outcasts such as yourself.”
“I’m not a pixie, I’m a witch. Get it right, vampire,” I say to him teasingly. I know some people would take offence to being called an outcast, but I kind of like the term, and I know Ethan meant it only in an affectionate manner.
It’s nice to be able to joke around with him, like we’re just two normal people. Then again, I doubt two normal people would be joking around while crouched at the edge of a roof in the dark, spying on a dhamphir and a shapeshifter.
He runs his hand over my thigh and squeezes hard. “Quiet, I think she’s going to approach him.”
My eyes wander back down to Delilah, where I see her walking toward Ira. She sits down on the grass a few
feet away from him and he opens his eyes.
