Page 48 of Roman

Except…surely Roman wouldn’t be satisfied with this kind of routine for long, would he? Hanging around the house, waiting for Danny to get off work. Accompanying him on visits to the care home, using his magical vampire powers to help an old lady remember her son. Cooking food for the both of them that he didn’t even need to eat.

It would grow old fast, right? Just like Danny would grow old fast.

Let’s not go there, brain. Happy thoughts.

Or at least, less horribly depressing thoughts.

Danny was brought out of said horribly depressing thoughts by the sound of the nurse’s station phone ringing, but his coworker Henry answered it before Danny could, nodding along to whoever was on the other end.

“Uh-huh. Yep. We’ll be ready.” The other nurse hung up and looked to Danny. “That was the transfer center.”

Looked like break time would be brief.

“What’s coming in?” Danny sighed, resigned to his fate.

“Thirty-five-year-old man with significant blood loss. Hypotensive and minimally responsive. They’re about ten minutes out. I’ll page the trauma doc and grab some fluids. Let the blood bank know?”

“I’m on it.” They both leaped into action.

Danny’s call to the hospital blood bank was brief, just a heads-up that they might be needing an emergent transfusion soon. He was just getting up to help Henry with the trauma bay setup when a shadow fell over his desk.

Looking up at the man standing in front of him, Danny had a strange sense of déjà vu, recalling his first meeting with Roman.

But the handsome man looming over him wasn’t Danny’s now familiar vampire lover. He had a shock of dark hair, lightly silvered at the temples. Not quite as tall as Roman but still much taller than Danny. He was well muscled, wearing a fashionable, formfitting black sweater and dark jeans.

And, Danny realized, his quick perusal returning to the man’s face—his eyes were black.

Danny felt a pang of fear go through him but made himself take a deep breath. He’d been spending too much time around vampires. Maybe it was a trick of the light. Maybe this was just a guy—a regular human guy—with really dark-brown eyes.

Brown eyes without any whites around the edges. Sure.

Except even as he was thinking it, he knew it wasn’t the case. He could feel it in the air, could see it in the man’s gaze.

Danny was in the presence of a predator.

Had he really thought Roman creepy in their first encounter? He had nothing on the vibes this other man was giving off. Danny could sense the menace, the violence, just under the surface. Goose bumps erupted on his arms, and he suppressed a shiver.

“Daniel Kingman.”

The man’s voice was deep, gruffer than Roman’s, with a hint of a French accent.

Lucien. It had to be.

“Yes.” Danny forced himself to keep his voice steady. “How can I help you?”

“So very polite. I like it.” The black-eyed man breathed in deeply. “And such a delicious scent of fear coming off you. I like that even more.”

So the other vampire wasn’t going to even pretend to be human. It seemed like they were starting off with all their cards on the table. “Well, you’re a bit intimidating, Lucien,” Danny reasoned.

“Ah.” Lucien’s black eyes gleamed. “So he’s told you about me.”

Danny nodded. “He has.”

“I’m touched,” the vampire said lightly, but there wasn’t a hint of friendliness in his gaze.

“Can I ask what you’re doing here? Roman isn’t around, if you’re looking for him.” Danny didn’t know what to do other than stall. He couldn’t run. Lucien would catch him in an instant. And Henry would be back any minute, looking for Danny, hopefully with some other personnel in tow.

Would that be enough to deter the vampire from violence, or would Danny just be placing his coworkers in danger?

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