That, of course, was when I remembered to breathe.
By the time she pulled up into my garage, she was pale and looked a little nervous. I stared at her, confused.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Her forced words said one thing, her mannerisms another. I could see her sitting as close to the car door as she could, looking at me as though I’d grown horns.
“Still want to go for that ride?” I reached out my hand, curious to see if she would take it, wondering what I had done that had scared the bejesus out of her. I hadn’t done anything other than sit and call out directions.
“Love to.” Again, her words said one thing, her tone another. She hesitated and then took my hand.
I loved the feel of the smooth, warm, mortal skin in my hands. She was fine boned and though quite muscular, still a delicate creature. I ran my hand over her knuckles, struck by the life held within its warm confines, and smiled.
“Okay, let me just grab a helmet, and we’ll be off.”
She looked down at herself, sweaty hand firming around my grip as she relaxed slightly. “Like this?”
“You were thinking of taking your clothes off? Novel but rather cold. Yes, like this. Trust me?”
She froze and gaped, obviously fishing for a witty reply.
Okay, so she didn’t trust me. I didn’t mind. I wouldn’t have trusted me either. I knew why I didn’t trust myself; the real question was why
she
didn’t trust me. Curious, I leant forward.
“Boo.”
Bronwyn squeaked and jumped out of the car. I admit it—I’m an arsehole, so I’m afraid I laughed.
“C’mon, you’re perfectly safe around me.” I got out of the car and held out my hand again. I could see her fighting with herself over whether to take it or not.
Finally, curiosity won out and she took it. “C’mon.” My voice was soft and gentle. “The bike can wait.”
I kept a firm grip on her hand and led her into the house, shivering as the light of the moon touched me, washed over me. I left her standing in the living room, knowing she would not move, as I went to the CD player and put on some soft music. I turned to her.
She stood in place, arms moving as she fidgeted and fought with the idea of running away as fast as she could. The moonlight, softened by the slightly tinted windows, lit up her face, which was pale and expressionless, green eyes with their now familiar wariness, watching me closely.
I held out my hand. “Dance with me.”
She shook her head, trying to keep firm and to keep me at arms length, as though that would protect her. Nothing could protect her if I put my mind to hurting her.
“Dance with me.” I held out my hand, my eyes locked onto hers, as I willed her to relax a little. She hesitantly reached out and took my hand.
I pulled her in close to me and slipped an arm around her waist.
I took her around the room, whirling and moving in time with the music, careful to keep her ensnared in my calm gaze. Her muscles remained tense as her body molded to mine.
A tiny smile teased the corners of her mouth. “MynameisBronwynHunter. What’s yours?”
Once again I found myself by the side of the road with a five-year-old girl.
“Carlisle Crowley. My friends call me Crowley.”
“Can I call you Crowley?” Her smile came out of hiding.
“Are you my friend?” My gentle smile matched hers.
She frowned, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “You’re my friend.” Her voice was so soft even I had to strain to hear it.
I knew what was going to happen next and wanted to let her down as gently as I could. “You can’t stay with me. I’m a complete waste of time.” Our lives were so different I could not see how the two could ever meld, even if I were of a mind to do it. I was also rare for a vampire—I did not take humans in thrall and use them as servants, as Sembur once showed me how to do.
“Please? No, you aren’t.” The question in the liquid green eyes was painful to see. She was young enough to think that there was such a thing as living happily ever after and that there would never be any problems. How wrong she was.
“I will bring you nothing but trouble. My lifestyle does not have room for you.” Though the words were harsh, I made certain my tone stayed gentle. I had never been blessed by tact.
“I’m eighteen, and have only two months of school left. After that I’m out of your hair.” She sounded so desperate.
I remained expressionless, studying her. She really was begging me. Could this work? No, I didn’t think so. If she stayed with me it was only a matter of time before she found out what I really was. For now, she appeared to have some glorious childhood image of me as her savior firmly planted in her head, and the truth was so far removed from this concept it was embarrassing.
What would happen if she found out? Would she try something exceptionally stupid like hammering a stake through my heart as I slept? More importantly, could she keep her mouth shut about what she saw when she was with me? I didn’t know the first thing about her, and quite frankly her reputation had preceded her. I didn’t trust her any further than I could throw her. I could not afford to trust her with my secrets.
“Do you trust me?” My voice caressed her.
We continued to dance, and not once did she lose her firm grip on my body. In fact, her fingers gained confidence and traced the outlines of my hard muscles moving under my cool skin as we danced around the living room.
“I think you’re an animal.”
I laughed. “The feeling’s mutual.”
Her face became expressionless as she absorbed the implications.
I took pity on her. “So, BronwynHunter. Still want to stay with me, given that you’re terrified of me and you don’t trust me?”
She smiled. “Given that I have no real choice, I’d still like to stay with you. Besides, I can’t help thinking you’re not the fucking bitch you sound so much like. It’s in your eyes, Crowley.” She sucked in a breath. “Are you still going to kill me?”
That was it. I laughed outright, spun her around, and dipped her. I leaned forward so our lips were almost touching and planted a quick kiss on the end of her nose.
I moved so suddenly she gasped, and equally suddenly she was upright in my arms as I whispered into her ear, “No, I’m not going to kill you.” I looked deep inside myself and knew this for the truth. I had two firm rules. One, if the gut hesitated about killing someone, then it was usually quite wise to listen to the objec-tion, and second, don’t kill anyone you know. “As for my being a bitch, well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Much to my intense surprise, she slipped her arms around my neck and gave me a deep kiss on the lips, pushing her whole body into mine. Shock prevented me from stilling the hungry hands that roamed all over my body. “I could be dead tomorrow, and if I die then at least I want to be able to say I kissed one of the hottest chicks alive. Does this mean yes?”
That was it. I was gone, laughing like a complete loon. I fell over backwards onto my sofa. “It means yes.”
“Thank you.” She stared at me in amusement, then more seriously as I recovered some of my self-control and raised an eyebrow. In one swift movement, I stood facing her.
“Don’t thank me too soon. My house does have some rules. I get up in the evening and go to bed at dawn. End of story. Not negotiable.
Stay out of my room at all times. Do as I say when I say, and do
not
tell anyone about me. And above all, clean up after yourself. I’ll leave it to your imagination to find out what happens if you break any of these rules.”
As I enunciated each rule, I took one step closer to her until we were so close our bodies were only a hairsbreadth apart. I gave her a cold, feral grin.
She gulped, and went pale. “I can do that.”
“Was that ‘yes I agree to these rules’ or ‘yes I can imagine what you’ll do to me if I break them’?”
“It means ‘yes I agree to these rules.’” She forced herself to meet my fiery eyes, so I would see the truth. “I don’t intend to break them.”
“All right, then, let’s see how it goes.”
“My princess.”
“Trust me, sweetie, I am
no
princess.” I grinned and swept her into my arms, and we continued to dance late into the night.
In the predawn hour, I picked up her sleeping body and took her to the master bedroom. I placed her in what was now her bed and covered her over with the colorful doona.
As I walked downstairs and into my own bedroom, locking myself inside, it occurred to me that I actually liked the girl. I could feel fire in her, her youthful energy. She wasn’t stagnating as I was. She was intelligent and challenging and had a spirit that matched mine. She reminded me of what it was to live, and not be alone and lonely. She was not afraid to stand up to me, although I clearly scared her badly at times.
Could this work?
Not in a million years. Something would happen, and I would have to leave.
Did I want it to work?
Yes. Yes, I think I did.
I woke up the next evening, hungry as always. I dressed and made my way upstairs to see what my young charge was doing with herself.
I opened the door to the basement, and found her amusing herself in the kitchen. I sniffed. It was quite an event to actually see my kitchen being used. She had not heard me, and leant over a chopping board, cutting up something I barely recognized.
“Good evening, sunshine!” I said.
She started and hissed as she nicked her finger. I winced. I smelled the blood, and I was hungry.
“Hey, Crowley,” she said, turning and sticking her forefinger into her mouth. I was by her side, gazing at her finger before she could blink.
She stared at me.
“Let me see,” I said, gently extracting her damaged finger from her mouth.
The droplets of sweet blood from the cut made my stomach grumble. The hot, metallic scent of the blood was almost more than I could bear.
I tried a smile. “Careful.”
“I know,” she said, extracting her hand and taking a step back from me. She gave me a wary stare.
“I won’t hurt you,” I said softly. “I thought we got that sorted out last night.”
She was silent for a moment. “We did. You’re just so . . . so . . .”
“Sexy? Attractive?” I asked, a grin tugging at my lips.
“You have no idea,” she said, shaking her head and tearing her eyes away from me.
“All right.” I shook from the hot, animal blood that still teased my starving senses. My stomach grumbled. “I’m going to go out for about half an hour. I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Wait!” Bronwyn said as I strode out of the house on shaking legs.
“Don’t you want something to eat?”
“No! I’m fine.”
I dug in my pocket for the keys to my car. I saw Bronwyn’s silhouette in the doorway as I pulled away and tried to erase it from my mind.
I didn’t have time for my usual leisurely hunt in the city, so I went to the local train station and waited for one of the young men I knew would go into the city for a night out on the town.
I didn’t have long to wait. I grinned when I saw him, a young man in his early twenties, handsome and well-dressed. I stepped out of the bushes and smiled at him.
“Are you all right? Can I help you with something?” he asked, walking toward me.
“Yes.”
I pounced on him, pinned his arms, and sank my fangs into his neck. I willed him to relax and to forget all about me. Once I was pleasantly full, I nicked my wrist and carefully dribbled the blood over the marks I had made.
He would live. I had not taken all his blood. He would be weak when he awoke, but that was all.
I made my way home again, seeing by the clock in my car that my timing was perfect.
By the time I arrived home, Bronwyn was settled at the dining room table, happily demolishing a steak.
“Hey,” she said as I walked in. “Where did you go?”
“Out.” I sat down at the chair close to her and watched her eat.
“Okay,” she said. “Um . . . I hope you don’t mind, but you have an awful lot of change lying around. I kind of helped myself. Did you know you have nothing to eat in the cupboards?”
I laughed. “Yes, I know. I eat out a lot.”
“Why?”
“Because I can. You said you noticed all the change around the house. I don’t have to eat here if I don’t want to.”
“So when are you going to take me out on a date?”
“A date?”
“Yes. You know, one of those things where you pay for dinner and kiss me good night?”
I leaned forward and kissed the edge of her jaw. “You just don’t give up, do you?”
Her arm brushed against my breast. “No,” she whispered in my ear.
“I love you.” I felt the heat from her skin as she blushed. “And I don’t care how much you scare me sometimes.”
I tilted my head. “I promised you a ride on my bike last night, didn’t I?”
She cut another piece of steak and put it into her mouth. “Yes, you did.”
“Then finish up and I’ll take you out.”
She smiled, and it transformed her beautiful face into something that was elegant and stunning.
“I’ll just go and find you a helmet.”
I got up from the table, feeling her eyes on me, and went to the hall closet and dug around.
“I got it,” I said triumphantly as she put the last of her dishes in the dishwasher.
She grinned. “Okay, then, let’s go.”
I led her out to the garage, and backed the bike out. I got on and turned to her. “Usual rules. Stay with me. Lean with me. It’s easier if you hold on to me and not the bike. I’d say nothing personal if you happen to slide into my back, but I know with you it would be.”
She snickered and got on the bike. I shot down the driveway, feeling her weight shift in the pillion seat as I headed into the city.
Bronwyn was a natural pillion. She did hold onto me—not groping me as I half-suspected she would, but simply enjoying the cool, night air.
We headed down Park Road and turned left onto Darlinghurst Road.
“You want to go to the Kings Cross Hotel?” she asked. “I love that place. That and the Test Tube Factory.”
I shrugged as I took us down a side street. “Sure. Let’s do the Test Tube Factory.”