stared. I wasn’t sure why I was so mad. I mean, things came up at work all the time that made me late for our dates. It wasn’t entirely fair of me to be pissed at him for putting his responsibility to his pack first–but I could not let go of my anger.
About five minutes after I sat down, I heard a brisk rapping. I remembered the Chinese food I’d ordered that felt like a decade ago, and my stomach growled right on cue.
“One sec, be right there!” I jumped up and hurried to the door, snagging up my purse on the way to pay the delivery guy.
I pulled open the door, and was met by the glowing red eyes and bared fangs of a very pissed-off-looking vampire.
I screamed and backpedaled as the vamp reached out for me, tripping over my own feet and landing on my ass as he was blasted back by the shields Arnold had thoughtfully installed for me.
“Fuck!” the thing exclaimed, bringing singed, reddened fingers to its mouth to suck on.
I couldn’t help but stare, open-mouthed, wondering where the hell this guy had come from. Supernatural power aside, he was built like a linebacker and looked like he could have snapped me in two without breaking a sweat while he was still alive. Trying to contemplate how strong he must be now with added vampiric strength was terrifying.
“Who the hell are you?”
He looked up from his injured hands to glare at me, his eyes still glowing that fierce red. I flinched when he raised a fist the size of my head to send a shockwave through the barrier as he punched it. “Come to me!” he demanded, staring right into my eyes.
I couldn’t help but bark out a short laugh. “Are you crazy? I’m staying right here. Well, not right here.” I struggled up to my feet with as much grace as I could muster, backing up a bit more from the door for good measure. I trusted Arnold’s skills, but I wasn’t sure how much physical force the barrier could withstand. This would be the first time it had been put to the test against forced entry, so I wanted to have some distance between us in case the thing gave out. “Get out of here! Leave me alone!”
His face twisted in confusion, some of the anger dwindling out of his eyes. “I said come here. Why aren’t you obeying me?”
“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because I think you’re a freaking lunatic?”
His shoulders slumped, his eyes turning a warm, chocolate brown, a slightly darker shade than his hair. His hair was short, but he ran his hands through it in a nervous gesture, like he was used to it being longer. “Well, that’s never happened before. Uhm. Look at me! That’s right, look right into my eyes. Now–come here!” he demanded again, this time with a touch of desperation.
It’d be sort of funny and corny if I hadn’t realized he was trying to use a very illegal black enchant to get me to do his bidding. All praise for the good luck charms given to me courtesy of The Circle, bless their magic little hearts.
“No,” I said flatly, regaining some of my confidence since both the shields and my charm looked to be holding up just fine. “Who are you? What do you want?”
He scratched the side of his head, looking puzzled. I started edging toward the table with my cell phone and the gun on it.
“Well, shoot. I really didn’t want to do this. Thought this was just gonna be some quick smash-and-grab.”
Exasperated, I repeated myself. “Hello? Who sent you? What do you want from me?”
“Max Carlyle wants you. I’m one of his assistants, Peter. He sent me to come get you.” He brightened up some, sounding hopeful. “Don’t suppose you’d come along willingly, would you?”
My God, this guy was dumber than a box of rocks.
“Not after that little show of temper,” I said.
“Damn!”
“So, get the fuck out. Go away. If Max Carlyle wants to talk to me, tell him to just call my fucking office to arrange an appointment like everybody else,” I said, grabbing my phone. “If you don’t leave in the next ten seconds, I’m calling the cops.”
“They can’t do anything to me. No human is strong enough to take me on.”
“Good for you,” I muttered, shaking my head at his naïveté. He must be newly turned. Like within the last few days newly turned to be this stupid. Guess he hadn’t heard that it was now standard issue for cops to carry crosses and holy water with the rest of their equipment.
I could practically picture a dim lightbulb buzzing to life above his head, his look suddenly going sly. His voice turned sickly sweet, cajoling. “You’ve got to come out of there sometime. Why don’t you come along now and make this easier on everyone?”
Yeah, like he could possibly sweet-talk me after flashing fangs. “Give me a break. Look, fang-boy, I’m not interested. If you hadn’t gone all vampire-y on me, maybe I would’ve listened to what you had to say. As it is, I’ll be calling the police now.” I started dialing, staring at him, free hand braced on my hip as I waited on hold for an operator to pick up. It didn’t take long.
“Hi, I’ve got a vampire who’s threatening me and trying to break into my apartment.” The angry epithets and pounding sounds followed by pained howls must have sounded awfully funny to the operator on the other end of the line. “Could you guys get here quick? I could really use some help. Here’s the address …”
I hung up while the operator was still sounding completely frazzled, telling me to “stay calm” and that “help was on its way.” I was more interested in what Peter was up to. Tilting my head to the side, I examined the vampire, who was alternately cursing the pain in his hands and still trying to find a crack in the defenses around my door.
“Not the brightest crayon in the box, are you?”
He glared at me, a glimmer of red returning to his eyes. “Shut up! Max said you were a troublemaker, not a bitch.”
“Guess he didn’t hear I’m a New Yorker.”
Peter was abruptly jerked backward off his feet, out of my line of sight. I shifted to peek into the hall and see what was going on.
“What is the meaning of this?” came Royce’s smooth voice, warm with anger as he held the much-beefier-looking Peter by the back of the neck. He picked him up like he weighed as much as a housecat and flung him down the hallway. My brows rose to my hairline at that little display. I knew Royce was strong, but I’d never seen him use that strength so blatantly. Except when we were fighting to the death that one time–but I digress.
“You presume to touch my property without permission?” My eyes narrowed at that. Property, was I? “Go back to Max and tell him I want recompense for this grievance. Immediately!”
Peter growled out something I couldn’t quite hear, then audibly lumbered off toward the stairs. Weird. Never heard a vampire that tromped around so loudly. Usually they were light on their feet, quiet and swift like cats. Like predators.
Royce, for example, could move with a speed and
