Page 19 of Vampires Don't Give Hickeys
This was my new favoritetime of day. Eight forty-five p.m., after the sun had set and night fell, was the hottest, at least in the vampire nest’s kitchen. Because that was when Jacek and Eddie stumbled in with bedhead, sexy, sleepy smiles, and with morning wood. All of it—the whole, ahem, package—drove the air form my lungs. That feeling should have dropped me to the ground with oxygen deprivation. Which would require mouth to mouth...
“Belle?” Jacek had his hands posted on the table near my biology homework. He leaned in, dressed in nothing but boxers, and peered at me with his amber-colored eyes, his customary grin firmly in place. His short, dark hair stuck up on either side like devil horns, which snapped me back to reality. I’d had enough devils to last me a lifetime, both the real and the unnamed ones.
“Where did you go just now?” he asked.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about”—morning wood—“how this is my favorite time of day. Right now when you guys wake up.”
“Mine too,” he said on his way to the refrigerator. “I could get used to seeing your pretty face right after I get up.”
I could get used to it too. It felt so right being here that I hadn’t even let myself feel guilty when I helped myself to the coffee pot and buttery waffles from the freezer when I’d awoken midafternoon completely refreshed from sleep. I hadn’t had to work today, which was lucky, so I could focus on recovering from last night, checking in with my online classes, and catching up on some homework.
Eddie wandered over from the refrigerator, sipping from a coffee mug that carried a coppery scent. His white button-up shirt only had one button done but was in the wrong hole, and his blond hair stuck out in all directions. I suspected he’d been reading while attempting to get ready. He hadn’t had a whole lot of time to read last night because the kinky black scarves had made an appearance a second and third time. The vamp was a stallion. Not that I minded. Not at all.
He leaned in to catch a quick kiss. “Sleep well?”
I nodded, suddenly struck with a powerful sense of home, not just in Eddie’s lips, but here, in this nest, with three vampires, one of whom I still hadn’t really talked to. The feeling expanded within my chest, growing so immense that the backs of my eyes burned. I hadn’t felt this way since I lived with Mom ten months ago. I looked away from Eddie and Jacek to hide this rush of feelings as footsteps sounded outside the kitchen.
Sawyer appeared, his deep, orange-yellow gaze powerful enough to touch my soul. His black hair curled around his ears, the color accentuating the golden tan of his skin. He stood a full head taller than Jacek and Eddie, and his wide shoulders almost touched the sides of the doorway. Intricate sun and moon tattoos swirled up his arms and across his pecs and even dipped down below the waistband of his jeans. He reminded me of a warrior, all except his kind expression.
Tears filled my eyes as I stared at him, because these feelings...this sense of home... It emanated fromhim.
“You’re a house,” I choked out, feeling like a fool because that wasn’t exactly what I’d meant. True, he was built like one, but... “You’rethishouse.”
I gave up speaking then, because even though it didn’t make sense, I knew it was true. He was what made this house a home, gave it a heartbeat for three undead vamps and a haunted slayer who really would live in just their bathroom if they let me. For now, I was fine with weeping silently at their kitchen table because I’d thought I wouldn’t ever feel that feeling of home again. Of having a family who actually cared about me.
Sawyer swept past me, but his silent domination of the room crowded out any thoughts that his wordlessness had anything to do with me. That was just how he was. No words needed to figure that out.
Jacek settled in next to me on a stool, his thigh flush with mine, and he squeezed my hand reassuringly on the tabletop. Eddie sat across from me, far enough away so I wouldn’t touch him but close enough that I could feel the caress of his concerned gaze on my tear-stained cheeks.
Sawyer came back to the table with the rest of the pot of coffee I’d made myself and topped off my mug, the nearness of his naked skin wrapping me in a pleasant chill. “Belle, you need to tell us what happened last night.” His voice was rough, yet soothing, full of demand, yet patient.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid their questioning looks any longer, but the truth about last night frightened me, made me feel weak, the exact opposite of how a slayer should feel, especially since I didn’t know the truth myself. Slayers didn’t typically stake themselves, after all.
Expectant silence blanketed down as they all gazed at me.
It took a moment to find my voice and then to be sure it would hold under the barrage of memories. “There was a...man named Paul in the cemetery last night. I know this because he wore a bowling shirt that said so, but he wasn’t a man. It was the dark something the demon spoke about. He just gave off a very unnatural vibe, and... He repeated something over and over, and when he did, it was like...the world blurred the two of us. It seemed like he was drawing closer to me, uncomfortably close, but standing at the exact same distance as he had been at the same time.” I sank back into my chair and stared imploringly at the ceiling at how insane that sounded. “He was moving toward me and he wasn’t. It was the strangest thing.”
“And you tried to stake him?” Sawyer asked.
I nodded. “I mean I must have...but I don’t remember making the conscious decision to do so. And I failed spectacularly by staking myself.”
Eddie held his mug in midair, forgotten. “What did he repeat over and over?”
I didn’t know how I was supposed to tell them that. Even now, that static noise started like a throb in my temples, threatening to consume me, and I was only thinking about the phrase, not the phrase itself.
I must’ve made a suffering sound, because Jacek threaded his fingers through mine into a tight, unbreakable ball. “It’s okay if you can’t remember.”
“No.” I swallowed hard. “I remember exactly. It’s just I can hear the static already, a warning, like what I imagine chewing on aluminum foil would be like.”
Jacek dipped his chin to look me in the eyes. “Okay, we need to get you a new imagination.”
“Stop joking around, Jacek,” Eddie snapped.
Jacek shot him a warning look. “I’m trying to help put her at ease, Smiley.”
Eddie grimaced. “I’ve never been smiley in my life.”
“Until today. After last night, you’re glowing instead of your usual sulking over your books.” Jacek grinned. “Be a big boy and just accept it.”
