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Chapter Nine
Somehow, waiting for a vampire to answer his door felt oddly…normal. I’d always thought it strange when a vampire had a smartphone, like something didn’t fit. It was as if I expected them to always live in old castles, travel by horse and wear cloaks. It felt rude for Kase not to adhere to blatant stereotypes.
His porch was covered, the door set back so he wouldn’t risk becoming a crispy pile of ash if he opened it on a particularly sunny day—a necessary thing for a vampire to consider.
The door opened, and Kase lifted an eyebrow as though I were the last person he expected to find.
Which was an entirely stupid reaction since I’d called him first and he’d given me the address to his private residence.
He stepped backward and held his arm out like some grand gesture.
I nodded as I looked around his place. The townhouse was somewhat narrow and decorated in that minimalistic modern style. Black and white everywhere with a punch of red—a bit too on the nose for my taste. Still, it fit him. Rigid, everything in its place, nothing unneeded.
“This could have waited until nightfall,” Kase said as he closed the front door, locking it behind me.
A moment of fear made my heart stutter.
He stilled, remaining beside the door, coming no closer. “Are you afraid now?”
“Maybe being alone and locked in a house with a vampire was a bad idea.” I swallowed hard.
“If I wanted to kill you, Ava, I could have done so at any time.”
“Yeah, but I could have made you work for it at least. I might get killed, but I plan on making it as annoying for my killer as possible.”
That crease appeared in his cheek, the one that said he was amused even if he didn’t show it. “I assure you, you are perfectly safe here.”
“Not feeling hungry?”
“Not particularly. I fed last night, and even if I hadn’t, I have far more control than that.”
I had a flash of him sinking his fangs into a woman, of how her eyes would glaze over in pleasure. It didn’tseempleasurable to me, but I damn well knew vampires had a way to make victims think it was. I chalked that up to the same idiocy that made women want bikers, fixer uppers and stiletto heels.
Him talking about his control made me wonder about his age. Asking vampires how old they were was considered rude, yet the question perched on my lips. Kase didn’t strike me as all that young—especially with what I’d heard about him being the true power behind the coven. As vampires aged, they tended to gain better control and needed to feed less often.
They also tended to be far less human…
It was a toss-up on what was worse.
His gaze landed on my throat, on the bruises from Melinda, and that unnatural stillness took over again. After a long moment, he asked, “What happened?”
“Poltergeist.” The response came out softly, uneasy. I didnotlike being the focus of all that intensity.
He either noticed my discomfort or simply had moved on, because he nodded and walked past me. “I trust that was handled since you’re still breathing and here?” He gestured toward the couch before going to the freezer.
“Yep. Poltergeist is gone.” I took a seat where he’d indicated.
“How did that happen? As I recall, they aren’t all that easy to get rid of.”
“A friend was there.” I paused. Kase knew more about supernatural things than I did, right? “Do you know what can just disintegrate a poltergeist?”
Kase sat beside me, his movements unnervingly smooth, and pressed something to my throat. A moment of shock struck me as coldness soaked into my neck.
An ice pack?
Again, it surprised me how human he could seem.
“There are a few different ways poltergeists can be cast out. Holy men—”
