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“Goddamn it.”
“Are you okay?”
The voice had her jumping, but she composed herself quickly under Diego’s quiet scrutiny. The vampire was leaning a shoulder against the open doorway—which was closed earlier—arms crossed and waiting. Suspecting the man to be there midway through her putting out the fire, she brushed off her excuses and narrowed her eyes.
“I will be if this little fiasco is kept in this room.”
He raised a brow at the sweetness in her tone, perhaps expecting a threatening snap. His lips quirked, disproving Riva’s obstinate insistence about his lack of charm.
“My lips are always sealed.”
It was as good a promise as she would get, so she took it with a nod and hastened out of the room. When he fell in step with her, she couldn’t help observing him, particularly the way his face and eyes revealed nothing.
“Can’t get enough of my face?”
“I was just wondering why you don’t look happy even if you smell of blood.”
“I am happy,” Diego countered. “And blood packs are just as good as blood jerky.”
Translation: it sucked.
“You can always sneak out and get a fresh source, you know. It won’t take long. If you wanted to get your clan here, they would have already been here yesterday.”
“No. I honor deals, and I don’t take blood from friends.” There was a touch of vehemence, then a pause. “And Edmund has the entrances and exits monitored at all times.”
“You mean entrance and exit,” Daria corrected with a grin. “I’m hungry.”
“Then eat.”
“I would ask if you want to have dinner with us, but you probably need a few hours of sleep after your very long night. See you around.”
She left the vampire to puzzle over the cryptic words and found the others on the makeshift dining table, where Alexa handed out takeout boxes and joined them for a while. Then the older woman excused herself in haste and was out of the room before the others could ask.
“Inspiration,” Daria declared.
“Inspiration?” Malifeskos echoed.
“It hits her like a lightbulb, and she just has to paint whatever it is. It’s the same for Edmund.”
The others shrugged and continued with dinner. She answered whenever she was asked and tuned the rest of the conversation out, the restlessness returning. Maybe she needed to find a more secure room with lesser fire hazards—or maybe she could just ask Edmund if he had a dungeon somewhere around here. The possibilities danced in her mind and tugged at her impatience, but a throat clearing beside her had her breaking out of her reverie.
“Yes, I’m listening,” she said automatically.
“I didn’t say anything. Yet.”
The familiar voice had her stilling. She faced Malifeskos, then the others, who were already waiting expectantly for Charlie to speak. She didn’t move, letting his voice wash over her as she held off looking at the one face that she wanted to see the most.
“I asked for some assistance to sweep the area surrounding this property, my home, Daria’s home, and the two warring clans. Daria’s and my abode are cleared. Diego’s area has settled as the fire didn’t reach there—which we already know when we landed there, but I had to double-check. Riva’s area, in the meantime, is quite abuzz. They are preparing for something.”
“Mine’s preparing for something, too,” Diego confirmed, alarming Daria that he was already here. So was Riva. “They won’t let go that prisoners escaped twice from their grasp. Three times if we are counting the airport. They are just being quiet about it.”
“Did no one attempt to contact you?”
The vampire shook his head, not elaborating. Riva watched him steadily, then looked away and pretended to find her dinner plate very fascinating. Daria did the same, arranging the cutlery until she felt the conversation dwindle and the crowd disperse. She stood up.
“Daria?”
The bracing was quiet and the slow motion of turning toward Charlie felt like a lifetime. But nothing could have prepared her when she finally took in his face, from the crooked tilt of lips, the thin nick in between an eyebrow, and the dark brown eyes that were the color of melted, tempting chocolate. He studied her intensely, sweeping over her face, pausing at her mouth, and eventually trailing back to her eyes. Her scrutiny was longer, gobbling him up like a greedy person and reaching out to touch the nick.
