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He made a soft sound that didn’t acknowledge what I’d said as he held out his hand.
I took one deep breath, reminding myself that as unnerving as it was, hecouldhave killed me whenever he’d wanted to.
And he still can.
Fair point.
I set my hand in his palm, and he held his other finger above. Fat droplets of blood fell from the mark on his thumb and onto my wound. It was cold, which was an incredibly odd sensation. I had always pictured blood as warm, and the thought of cold blood made me want to gag. I could only imagine it coagulating and clotting.
Even so, before my eyes, the cut in my hand knitted back together. It narrowed, the skin repairing itself, until only a faint white scar remained. It ached, but rather than the sharp pain that had been there before, one that would make me wince when I moved that hand, it reminded me of the day after a little-too-strenuous a workout.
The deep red remained there, like a stain, even after the wound had closed.
“What did you want, Ava? You didn’t come over just so I could heal your hand.”
Right.I’d asked to come over for a reason, hadn’t I? Funny how quickly Kase could drive us off topic.
I extracted my hand from his grip. “I want access to Olin’s place.”
Kase blinked slowly, spaced out as though he had them timed. I got the sense it was about hiding his annoyance with a topic he’d already discussed with me and felt over. “Getting involved in vampire affairs is unwise. You did as you were hired to do, Ava, and you were well paid for it. Now is the time to take a step backward and accept this is no longer your problem.”
I shook my head, wanting him to understand. “This isn’t a vampire affair. I’m not getting involved in vampire politics. I don’t care about your secrets or your plans or anything like that.”
“So why? You’ve stayed out of such things for as long as I’ve known you. Why are you suddenly interested in involving yourself the games of supernaturals?”
“Because this ismyworld. I said I don’t care about the vampires and I don’t, but something that is happening is affectingme.Something appeared in my living room—this dark, shadow—and when I looked for Rachel? This shadow was inside me, had to be pulled out. Whatever happened to Rachel isn’t over—everything inside me says it isn’t—and the vampire is my only lead.”
Kase didn’t move, only stared at me as though trying to work through what I had said.
He finally nodded and rose, reminding me that he was quite a bit taller than I was. He gestured for me to follow as he went down his hallway and into an office. From the desk he pulled a set of keys, then jotted down an address on a scrap of paper. “This isn’t official, of course. The coven would not care for a human to go traipsing through a vampire’s liar.”
“So why are you helping me?”
“Because you would do it no matter what, and I’d prefer this need for answers you suddenly have to not kill you.”
“I didn’t think you much cared if I kept breathing.”
He caught my hand, the movement quick enough to make me jerk back. Still, with his grip, I couldn’t go far. He dragged his fingers along the bruising at my throat, the chill from his touch almost as nice as the ice pack he’d given me. “I believe I do care, so go only during the daylight hours and be very cautious. Other vampires are not as trustworthy as I am.” His gaze skirted down my body, and for once, something about him didn’t seem so cold. “You have proven yourself detrimental to even my self-control.”
The moment he released me, I all but leapt two feet back.Thatwas the last thing I’d expected.
What the hell was wrong with men in my life suddenly? They, as a group, had ignored me most of my life and in the past week deemed me irresistible?
I swallowed hard at the heat in Kase’s eyes, though he remained back, as if proving he wouldn’t give chase.
Fuck that, though. I still ran.
I had answers to find, and I sure was hell wasn’t going to find them if I got tangled up with a vampire like Kase.
* * * *
Olin’s lair reminded me that vampires were as different as anything else. Whereas Kase’s had been modern, understated and entirely human-appearing, Olin’s was anything but.
I’d entered with the keys Kase had given me to find it dusty and full of mold. Light streamed in through boarded-up windows, highlighting the dust that hung in the air.
He couldn’t have been there any time in the last few weeks.
There was furniture, but it was all old. Not well-loved or cared for, either. A few pieces reminded me of things one might find in the older areas of the south, where grandmothers kept rocking chairs that had belonged totheirgrandmothers.
