Page 19 of A Vampire Bewitched
But she wasn’t done yet. “How exactly does this work? Do I have to invite you in every time?”
“No. Just once.” His patience was wearing thin. It was getting harder to resist the growing urge to “suggest” to her that she just invite him in already, dammit, in spite of what he just told her.
“Can I take the invitation back once I give it?”
Nik pressed his lips together, and then grudgingly admitted, “Yes.”
“Really? And how do I do that?”
Looking her square in the eye, he admitted, “You can rescind the invitation.”
“And you have to leave?”
“Yes.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he confirmed.
She hesitated just for a moment. “All right, then. Come on in, Nikulas.”
Finally!
Nik took a relieved breath as he yanked open the screen door and stalked over the threshold, forcing Emma to scramble back out of the way to avoid being plowed over.
Marching around her and heading into the house, he told himself this weird protectiveness he felt only stemmed from the fact that he needed her to help him save his brother.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he walked from room to room, checking the windows and looking in the closets.
Ignoring her, he continued to prowl around the lower floor of her home. When he reached the stairs, he didn’t hesitate, but started climbing them two at a time, paying no mind to her frantic “Hey!”
He tromped around upstairs repeating the same security check, until he heard her yell, “You’d better not be getting my rugs all dirty with those boots you’re wearing!”
He took a last glance around and then reappeared at the top of the stairs. “I just wanted to see your house. It’s…nice.”
He jogged down the stairs and walked right past her into the kitchen, where he pulled out a chair and nonchalantly sat down at the table, the picture of innocence.
Emma stared at him like he’d lost his mind, and maybe he had. Giving him one last unsure look, she went to the stove to make that cup of tea. Putting the water on to boil, she grabbed a cup and a tea bag, and then went over to sit across the table from him. “I would offer you something to drink, but I don’t have any bagged blood here.”
Nik held up a hand. “That’s okay, I ate before I came.”
“Oh.” The teakettle started to whistle, and she got up.
Leaning forward and putting his elbows on the table, Nik looked down at his laced fingers. “So! Now that you know about me, do you think you can tell me now what really happened that night your sister disappeared?” He listened as she poured the hot water into her cup, and then dunked her teabag a few times.
When she didn’t come back to the table, he raised his head to find her motionless at the counter. “Emma?”
He was about to get up to go see what she was about when she finally turned around. Her hands were shaking as she walked back to the table with her tea.
“I’ve already told you what I remember about that night.” Her tea sloshed around in the cup when she tried to set it on the table.
“Here, let me help you.” Nik jumped up and took it from her before she burned herself.
Emma gave him a funny look, but let him set the tea on the table while she found her chair. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Nik set her tea down and then went to get the agave sweetener out of the pantry. He grabbed a spoon and brought both over to her.
“How did you know I like agave in my tea?” she asked him suspiciously as she added some to her cup.
