Page 21 of Night of the Vampire
But what if she was damaged?
I watched as his eyes blinked open. He stared up at me for a moment before his tongue fell out of his mouth and he started panting happily. Before I could make up my mind about whether I should do the same for her, Lizzy came back into the room. As soon as he saw her, the pup tried to sit up, so I sat on the bed and helped him get his stubby legs beneath him. "It looks like he's coming around," I told her.
She rushed over to us. The confusion was gone from her face, her eyes once again sharp. "Oh, thank God!" Running her hands all over him, she searched for other injuries as he licked her face with enthusiasm.
I laid my hand over one of hers, stopping her frantic movements. "He's all right, Lizzy. He's not hurt. Just took in a bit of smoke, like you. Luckily, your bedroom door was closed. And I was able to get to you both before the fire spread." Wiggles lived up to his name, wagging his back end and twisting around to lick my forearm.
An unfamiliar warmth filled my chest at this unexpected affection. "You're welcome," I told him quietly.
Lizzy glanced up at me. She'd taken my advice and washed the soot from her face, but her eyes were still red and her voice still raspy. She also smelled like a campfire.
And yet I couldn't keep from taking in every inch of her I could see like a male starved.
She sat down on the other side of the bed and I put Wiggles on the floor with his water bowl. He had half of it gone by the time I straightened up.
"Um, don't take this the wrong way," she told me. "I'm very grateful to you for getting us out of there. But, what exactly were you doing at my apartment? I never told you where I lived."
My answer, when it came, was honest. "Do you think that would keep me away from you, Lizzy?"
Chapter 9
Lizzy
Somehow, I knew it was true. This man had me on his radar, and by the way he was looking at me, I didn't think I'd be coming off of it anytime soon.
I should have been scared. That was the normal reaction, right? If a man I barely knew basically told me he was a stalker, I should be breaking out into a cold sweat and feeling around for my phone to call the police. Except that my phone was probably a puddle of melted plastic and glass right now.
But if it wasn't, that was what should be happening in a situation like this. But with Killian, my reactions were far outside anything that was normal. I still had a brain in my head, though, even if it was a little hazy right now. "I appreciate you risking your life to save us. I truly do. But I need to go to the hospital. Or home. I have a home." I lost my track of thought as his black eyes caught mine.
"Not anymore. Lizzy, your entire kitchen was nearly in flames by the time I got you out. And the fire trucks were still blocks away. I don't see how they could've gotten there and put it out before most of your place was lost. I'm sorry," he said after a pause, but it didn't feel sincere.
It struck me then, at just that moment, that he was probably right. My apartment and everything in it was probably gone by now, and the only thing keeping me from freaking out was the fact that Wiggles was here and alive, and that I didn't really own much. I had left my life behind in NYC, and that included anything that held memories of my past. The little bit of furniture I'd had was second-hand. Just something to sit on. My bed had been cheap and uncomfortable, and I could replace my clothes. But I couldn't replace my best friend.
"But, I still don't understand. How did you get in?" My throat burned and my lungs ached with every breath. Talking was like trying to force words through a cheese grater. But I had questions. Questions I needed answers to now that my brain seemed to be coming back online. "The only way to get upstairs is by elevator, and you need a code. The stairway is also locked. And why didn't you wait for the firetrucks?"
I took in the bedroom I was in as I thought of questions. It wasn't huge, but it was luxurious enough to let me know we weren't in some tiny apartment. The huge painting of a green countryside on the wall above the bed probably cost thousands of dollars alone. "Where are we? Is this where you live?" I fell into a coughing fit, effectively ending my line of questioning as I bent over and tried to hack up a lung. Or maybe both of them.
"This is my home," he told me when I finally stopped. I noticed he'd stood up, one hand reaching toward me as though to try to help. I waved him off as I caught my breath, and his hand dropped back to his side, clenching into a fist as he took a step back. "But it's empty at the moment. I've been staying with my friend, the one who's sick. I'd like for you to stay here until you're recovered."
It wasn't an offer. It was an order.
Killian took off his sweater and laid it on the bed. "I can find you something clean to wear if you'd like to shower. And food. You're going to need food."
I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or himself with that last part. "You're not going to answer my questions?"
He studied me, his brow furrowed in thought. I noticed he was wearing all black again tonight. Standing the way he was, in this room, his obsidian eyes so intense, he seriously could've just walked off of the pages of a men's magazine.
But I would not let myself be swayed from my course. "Do you need me to repeat them?" I was sort of being a bitch. It wasn't really like me. Or hell, maybe it was and it had just taken me until I was almost forty to find this out about myself.
"No." He sighed. One hand absently rubbed the front of his right thigh. Then he proceeded to answer my questions in the order I'd asked them. "I got in through a window around the back of your building. Broke the glass and climbed through." He shrugged. "Nothing anyone else wouldn't do. I didn't wait for the fire trucks and ambulance to get there because I wanted to take care of you myself."
That last statement took me aback. But before I could think of anything to say, he continued on.
"As I said, this is my home. We are still in the Quarter. It's a...family home that is currently empty, and it would ease my mind greatly if someone were here. And if that someone had a killer watchdog"—he smiled at Wiggles, who wagged his butt when he noticed Killian's attention on him—"then that's even better. Um, let's see. What else?" He put his hands on his narrow hips, his head dropping forward in thought.
"I asked how you knew where I lived," I reminded him quietly.
His head came up. "Mmm. That." He took a step toward me. "I watched you go inside the night I walked you home."
