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“Sooo … do I add Mistress at the end of what I’m saying because you’re a girl and I can’t say Sire to you? Or do I need to say Mistress first before any other word is spoken?”
Alice leaned forward, gripping the recliner tightly on both sides of her legs while staring so intently I truly believed she was trying to use telepathy to force me to tell her the truth. I watched in fascination as the thick frames of her glasses started sliding down her nose. She’s been like this ever since we did that horrible ritual to try and remove the cursed pendant that was stuck around my neck. I was desperate to have it gone at the time, unlike now when I knew better. Regardless of my feelings about it, my human friend was convinced more than ever that she was a witch and could wield magic.
I didn’t agree.
There was more to Alice than met the eye—that was a fact, or she wouldn’t have been able to open the circle like she did. But a witch? I’d seen the witches forced to do the Syndicate’s dirty work, and she was nothing like any of them. Nor did the cloying stench of magic I was used to smelling every time I was around a witch cling to her skin.
Tilting my head to the side, I examined her closely like I’d been doing the last few days. Ever since we managed to escape the attack from the Syndicate with our lives by the skin of our teeth. It wasn’t easy running with Johnathan flung over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes while dodging Dominic’s attempts of taking him so he could carry the weight. It was as endearing as it was annoying.
We found the old vehicle Alice’s father had for emergencies with ease, and after a lot of praying and rattling of the rusted contraption, we left our troubles behind. Or so I hoped, anyway, at least for a while until I could think of what to do. My heart skipped a beat every time I thought about that night and what could’ve happened if her late father was not as paranoid as he had been before passing away. Thanks to the poor human’s distrust and fascination with alien lifeforms, the three of us were alive to this day.
I’d caught Dominic looking at Alice too, but surprisingly he was being very clinical about it. Clinicalandsuspicious, and much more than necessary. Not that I wanted him to look at her with interest or anything. Just that he was a male, and Alice was a very beautiful, albeit quirky and strange, woman. The shifter’s trust issues not withstanding, nature was bound to steer his hormones in that direction. Wouldn’t it?
“Well?” Alice prompted me, a line forming between her brows while she pushed the frames perched on her nose up with her forefinger. I was grateful she pulled me away from the silly thoughts swirling through my mind.
“Vampires are made up creatures the humans love to read about, Alice. We talked about this many times. My kind are called Atua, and we do not bite to turn humans into one of us. Also, blood itself is not what sustains us; it’s the lifeforce in it we need.”
The sign might’ve been unnecessary, especially because she didn’t really frustrate me with her insisting of my being a creature from fairytales. The Grimm kind of tales, if I remembered correctly, but a fictional one, nonetheless. I was just feeling the effect the daylight had on my kind down to my marrow as the early dawn slowly crept up the sky. Exhaustion tugged on my senses, and my mind was processing the exchange sluggishly. I should’ve slept, but I enjoyed talking to Alice too much to miss any opportunity to do so. In all the time I’ve known her, our exchanges were short and to the point. I did all I could to keep her away from the Syndicate’s notice.
“You drink blood.” The twist of her features told me she was not convinced that I was giving her the truth. “Maybe Atsua …”
“Atua,” I corrected earning myself a flat, pointed look.
“Maybe Atua,” she pronounced it slowly, which I assumed was for the benefit of my addled brain. “Means vampires only in your own language. You just don’t know it?” It came out as a question, and I answered only because I had a feeling she needed to talk and not think of the situation we found ourselves in. Or the dead shifter we left behind.
“What I believe is I know what I am since I’ve been the same being for centuries.” I just couldn’t help it with her, my lips twitched at the corners.
“You’re making fun of me.” She huffed, jerking on the recliner and crossing her arms petulantly.
I laughed.
Just a short outburst of sound, good-naturedly. She was curious by nature and obsessed with everything that wasn’t human, her kennel a large statement of that. I guess I fell under the same umbrella as all her cats and dogs because she was hell bent on figuring me out.Or she can sense if any creature is broken and she wants to heal it,a voice in my head pointed out, and I swallowed thickly, all the humor draining from me.
“Should I lie to you and say you are right only to spare your fragile feelings?” My left eyebrow pulled on my forehead when it raised. “I will give you nothing but the truth where I can, because the only reason I would not do that is if it will put your life in danger more than it already is. I will never lie to you Alice, but I can’t share everything for your safety’s sake.”
With lips pressed in a firm line, she just stared at me.
“You know this is the truth, do you not?”
“I don’t know, Brooklyn.” Flinging both her arms in the air in frustration, she groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Vampire makes sense to me. That’s the reference my brain can process. You drink blood, for goodness sake. Full on chomping with those pincers like a fiend, you know what I mean?”
Words muffed through her hands, she giggled uneasily. Very slowly, her fingers spread so she could peer at me through them.
“Say something, because I feel like I’m offending you but you’re being too nice to the little human with a monkey brain.” Uncovering her pretty face, she gave me a sheepish look. “Please?” For a second, the smudges she left on her glasses took my attention, but I shook it off. I had to catch a couple of hours sleep or I’d pass out on the chair I was occupying.
“Okay.”
“That’s it? Just okay?”
“If it will be easier for you to accept the fact I’m not human while giving me your trust so I can protect you, I will be a vampire.” A soft breeze gently grazed the skin on my neck exposed from the ponytail, coming from behind me. I fought the need to smile. “I’ll even be a shifter if it’ll help you process better. Just don’t ask me to purr while you scratch my belly, and I’m not good at hacking out hairballs.”
The owlish look on her face was priceless.
“You’re getting better at noticing my presence.” Dominic’s rasp as he entered the small room sent a shiver down my back. “I was being stealthier than usual.”
I didn’t point out that after our conversation, when he shared why he wanted revenge, I’d been too aware of him for my own well-being. His scent reached me just a moment before I felt the shift in the air. My every nerve ending was honed to him like a tuning fork. No matter what I was doing, including running for my life with Johnathan slung over my shoulder, I knew every move he made, every twitch of a muscle. If I was smart, I would’ve been worried. Considering I was on the run from the deadliest masters of the underground, how smart I actually was might be debatable.
