Page 85 of My Road Trip with a Vampire: Season One
“Because I have my own reasons for wanting Henry to be truly dead. Plus, Dennis knows I’m quite fond of him.” She lowers her lashes, then flicks her green eyes back to me. “The way one is fond of a lost puppy, of course.”
“And this Henry—he’s our boss?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you said he was a philanthropist.”
Marzanna cackles, heading back for her seat. Her stilettos click against the steps.
“A philanthropist with delusions about a world where vampires live out in the open,” she sighs. “It sounds like a nice plan, but it can’t work. There are too many ways for scared humans to hurt us; it’s much better to let us play in the shadows.”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with me.”
“I don’t either, yet.” Dennis strides toward me, closing up the space. He stops before we’re actually touching. “I still don’t know why he cares so much about the ghosts. When I first started, it was a form of parole. I’d spent a few years in silver and knew better than to question why he was sending me across the world searching for spirits. I was too numb to care at that point.”
I’ve been avoiding his eyes, but when I look up they’re soft and brown, and I know he’s telling the truth. He’s reliving a painful memory.
“Silver?” I ask, brushing the other details aside for a moment.
He shrugs, but Marzanna chimes in.
“Denny hurt a much older vampire, and Henry punished him for it. He likes to make sure baby vamps know their place.” She studies her sharp nails. “Luckily Marcel has been known to disappear for long periods, so no one will be looking for him. Not that anyone will miss him. He was incredibly dull at parties, especially when he leaned into some puritanical bullshit in the seventeenth century.”
She glances at me standing with my mouth hanging open and cocks her head to the side.
“You had to be there.”
Dennis' jaw tenses like he’s restraining himself. A blip of deep desire runs through the bond. He wants to touch me, but he’s holding back. I keep a slight distance between us. We’re not touching until all of my questions are answered, although I feel oddly compelled to press my cheek to his chest.
“That’s why I didn’t think twice when he sent me to find you. I thought he was trying to screw with me again. Breaking my solitude by pairing me with a human sounded bad enough. I didn’t consider there was more to it, and I should have. I need to pay for my mistake.”
“Are you saying it was a mistake to take me with you?”
I toe my way forward. We're close enough that I can smell his skin. If I take a deep breath my ribs will puff out and touch him.
His mouth tightens.
“At first I thought it was. I saw you and your delicate bones and remembered how fragile, how breakable humans could be. I considered compelling you and going back to Henry to refuse his command. He could punish me and find someone else. But when I looked back at you, there was something that stirred my curiosity. You were passionate about what you were doing. You believed in yourself, in your power.” He breathes in, studying my face, the curve of my neck. “So, I came back and watched you handle ghosts night after night just to be sure, and I started to make small deals with myself—that I could take you with me, and things would be ok as long as I kept professional boundaries. I couldn’t get attached.”
“How did that work out for you?”
“We were barely on the road for forty-eight hours before you completely kicked my walls down. I was absolutely fucked from the beginning.”
I bite my lips together to fight a smile.
“You think he won’t pursue my talents if you claim me?” I ask, folding my arms over my chest and taking care not to touch him by accident.
“Henry follows ancient vampire rules. He won’t steal you outright if you're mine.” I’m irritated by how my heart skips a beat when he says the wordmine. He must hear the shift in my pulse because he quirks an eyebrow. “He’ll find some loophole, but this will buy us some time to figure out a permanent way to stop him.”
He darts his eyes toward Marzanna, but she shakes her headno.
“There are other options. We’ll stay a step ahead of him,” he says.
“I don’t know. Claiming me sounds kind of official.”
“It is in terms of vampire law, but it really just prohibits any other vampires from touching you,” he growls as if the mere thought bothers him. “Unless you give them your permission, then I would honor that.”
Marzanna’s laugh crackles through the tension.
