Sinjin (9 page)

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped from my mouth, but
I silenced myself just as quickly, feeling completely irritated for losing my cool. Laughter could and would only encourage the vampire, and that wasn’t a good idea. Not when I wanted nothing more than to get rid of him.

“Whatever, Sinclair,” the larger of the two weres replied as he started for the door with his friend right behind him.
“You think you’re soooo much better than everybody else, but someday, you’re gonna git yourself a rude awakenin.”

“Perhaps; perhaps not,” Sinjin responded, apparently unperturbed by the man. Before they both walked out, Sinjin added, “Au revoir, my much esteemed colleagues, au revoir.” The weres continued grumbling, presumably about Sinjin, but when the vampire closed the
door, their voices were lost to the wind.

“
Your ‘much esteemed colleagues’?” I asked. “Really?” I raised my eyebrows as I faced Sinjin and shook my head. “I’m surprised no one’s attempted to stake you in your bed yet.”

“Perhaps, it is just a matter of time.”

I cocked my head to the side and nodded. “We should only be so lucky.”

Sinjin chuckled and faced me with a smile in his eyes, which soon vanished from his lips. “
Perhaps I was too hard on the dear pups?” he asked. 

“Perhaps you’re j
ust too impressed with yourself?” I snapped before starting toward my bedroom. I’d had enough of Sinjin for one evening. Or possibly ten.

“Perhaps,” he responded as he followed me down the hall,
his footfalls making no sound at all. He paused at the threshold of my bedroom. “Am I to understand then, that you prefer to be locked in your bedchamber all evening?” he inquired and I could tell he was disappointed at the idea.

“Yes,” I answered immediately, enjoying his displeasure with the arrangement.
It was a small victory, but at the rate I was going, I would cherish any victory I could get.

“Very well,” he replied as he unlocked my door and pushed it open for me. “I shall attempt to keep myself otherwise occupied.”

“Good luck,” I responded with little interest. Stepping inside my room, I turned around and reached for the doorknob, intending to close the door behind me, but Sinjin stuck his foot between the door and the jamb.

“I do wish you had allowed me to glamour you earlier, my little heathen,” he announced.

“Why’s that?” I answered, immediately regretting the question as soon as I asked it. Encouraging him would only prolong this Ping-Pong of a conversation that I wanted nothing more to do with.

Sinjin shrugged as if the answer were an obvious one. “I should have liked to see your eyes glazing over with passion, and hear the breath catching in your throat as one orgasm after another
seized your lovely body,” he finished. He made a point to take me in from head to toe, while his gaze lingered on my breasts, as usual. I realized his response was meant to jostle me, or take me by surprise and make me uncomfortable. I was finally beginning to understand how Sinjin worked.

But instead of becoming shocked, I simply frowned at him. “That’s the best you can do?” I asked, shaking my head. Then I yawned again. “You’re losing your touch, Sinclair.” He didn’t answer so I continued, while yawning widely again. “And on that note, I’ll say good
night.”

For the first time
in our acquaintance, the vampire was speechless.

###

A few hours later, I lay on my back in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, and wishing I didn’t suffer from insomnia. My sleeplessness wasn’t helped by the constant sounds that came from the rest of the guesthouse, courtesy of Sinjin. First it was the television, which was so loud, I could have mistaken my vampire roommate for an eighty-year-old deaf woman. Next were his incessant footsteps on the hardwood floors. And on this subject, I knew he was being loud deliberately because he was usually as light as a cat on his feet.

Groaning, I pushed myself out of bed and plodded to the chair nearest the bed where I’d draped the pile of clothing Sinjin purchased for me. I grabbed a pair of black workout pants, a sports bra and a hoodie sweatshirt.
Because I didn’t possess any pajamas, I’d slept naked, which made getting dressed again a little bit faster. I pulled my yoga pants up my legs and threw the sports bra over my head. I had to wrestle my breasts into it because they were a bit too large for the bra, but I managed. Then I pulled the sweatshirt over my head and started for the bedroom door. Even though I figured it would be for naught, I tried the doorknob anyway. I couldn’t deny my surprise when I found it unlocked. Hmm, so apparently Sinjin wasn’t exactly careful when it came to ensuring his prisoner was … imprisoned. Opening the door, I stepped into the hallway. “Okay, I give up! You win!” I called out.

“What have I won, little tempest?” Sinjin inquired from where he was sitting on the couch in the living room. I heard the pop of the television being turned off. Moments later, he stood before me, wearing a big grin.

“I can’t sleep,” I complained with a frown. “Which I’m sure has been your intention since I went to bed.”

Sinjin shrugged. “
While I pity all your sheep that, unfortunately, remain uncounted, I must admit that I find it difficult to keep myself amused.”

I shook my head and sighed. “A vampire with ADD, th
is is classic.”

Sinjin
didn’t respond, but instead took stock of me in his customary fashion. He started at my head, pausing for a long moment on my bust before glancing down to my legs and coming back up again. “I must compliment you again on how well you fill out the attire I procured for you,” he said at last.

“Thanks, I guess,” I grunted.

Sinjin chuckled. “Perhaps it should be I who is thanking you,” he remarked as a libidinous smile curved his mouth and he looked me up and down again. “And the rear side of you?”

“I’m not showing you my ass,” I spat out at him. “And I wasn’t thanking you for the clothes either,” I continued, throwing my hands on my hips.

“Interesting. Then what were you thanking me for?” he inquired, his eyes narrowing as he studied me with a smirk.

I paused for a few seconds because I wasn’t sure what it was that I’d been thanking him for.
“I was, uh, merely saying thanks for your compliment about how I filled out this outfit,” I said at last, going for the first idea that occurred to me.

“Well, you are quite welcome, my beautiful little heathen,”
Sinjin responded. “Had I known you enjoyed compliments so much, I would have showered more upon you.”

“No,” I said abruptly. “I don’t enjoy compliments…I mean, I don’t care about them,” I corrected myself, feeling frustration burning me. “T
he truth is that I really don’t care what you think or don’t think about me.”

“Oh, rest assured that I
do
think about you, my little fury. Quite often, as a matter of fact,” Sinjin chuckled as he clapped his hands together. “Well, now that we have that little subject all cleared up, perhaps we should move on to the next one.”

“
Which is?”

He didn’t reply, but simply held up his long index finger, indicating that I should stay where I was. He, meanwhile, disappeared into the bedroom, which was beside mine. He returned within moments, holding my dagger that I always kept strapped to my thigh. He extended his arm with the dagger in his hand, but I didn’t reach for it right away.

“You’re giving me my weapon back?” I asked, frowning as I wondered if this was some sort of test, or worse, a trick.

“I am returning your dagger to you for the immediate future,” Sinjin replied as he pushed his hand f
arther into my face, insisting that I should take the thing.

I narrowed my eyes on him, but reached for the dagger all the same. Once I felt the cold, hard metal in my hand, I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of the blade and pulled it away from him. I held it, with the blade pointing downward as I looked up at Sinjin again. “Why are you returning it to me?”

He smiled and his eyes seemed to glow white in his face. He looked like the devil, come to riddle my soul away. “I was reminded of a conversation you and I had earlier, little imp, in which you complained that it was unfair of me to spar with you when you were unarmed.”

I swallowed hard as I realized what his intentions were. “So you’re expecting me to fight you?” I asked,
to which he nodded. “Now?”

“Is that not obvious?”

I studied him for another few seconds to discern if he were being completely serious. Then, once I realized he was, I decided I was game. Knowing I wouldn’t do well trying to fight in my sweatshirt, I pulled it over my head and walked into the center of the living room, draping it over the side of the couch. “We’ll have more room out here,” I said as I eyed my surroundings. We still wouldn’t have much space, but it was the biggest room in the house.

“Very good,”
Sinjin responded.

I rotated the dagger in my palm and slowly brought it up into fighting position. I spread my feet so they were shoulder-width apart and slightly bent my knees. “Don’t get mad at me if I kill you,” I said with a sarcastic smile.

Sinjin chuckled. “Go for the kill, my little assassin, go straight for the kill.”

With that, he simply disappeared in front of me. I closed my eyes for a split second as I tried to detect him on the air. When vampires materialized or dematerialized, there was always a slight but detectable current that disrupted the otherwise still
ness of the air. Feeling it, I spun around on the ball of my left foot and opened my eyes as I jumped backwards about a foot. Sinjin appeared in a split second, right in the exact place I’d just been occupying. “Not bad, princess, not bad,” he said with a licentious smile.

Taking a few steps back, and keeping my feet at shoulder-width distance, I didn’t respond. Instead, I just watched him. I watched his body, and how his movements were so fluid, he almost seemed to be one with the air. I was sizing him up, trying to judge how best to approach him. When it came to dagger fighting, speed was of the utmost essence. I had to get my weapon in and out as
quickly as possible, so it was imperative that I devise some sort of plan. If the truth be told, the fight was already stacked against me, owing to Sinjin’s superior height, but so was life. All my attacks on Sinjin had to be below shoulder height, which was just as well, since his most sensitive area would be his heart …

“You are very observant,” Sinjin said with a nod of his head as if he approved of my approach. “Any good
combatant must first take the time to determine her enemy’s strength.”

I didn’t answer because my focus was entirely on him. Sinjin was a master vampire, which meant he was the strongest of the vampires. His speed, strength and agility w
ould be no joke. He would be a lethal opponent in a true fight. And that thought exhilarated me because there was nothing I enjoyed more than a bout that challenged all of my training and skills.

Sinjin struck out with his right hand, but I knew he was simply testing me. I didn’t duck out of the way, but merely stepped back. The first rule in dagger fighting was never to duck because you’d most likely get a knife in your face. It was always best to maintain an upright posture.

Deciding in another split second to go for the high guard position, I held the dagger in my right hand, up high and forward in the air, with my left hand held back, at medium height. I decided to go for the feint, a move to trick the vampire. It was one of my best defenses, and I could only hope Sinjin would fall for it.

I brought the blade down to Sinjin’s left side, pretending to go for his obliques, but at the last second, I turned the blade and brought it to the right, intending to cut across his stomach. The vampire leapt backward in a split second and disappeared into the air. I closed my eyes, detecting him right behind me
. I opened my eyes before wheeling around, and thrust the dagger out directly in front of me. It was another feint. As soon as Sinjin appeared again, he started to reach for my dagger. I grabbed his right wrist with my left hand and slammed it as far to my left as I could. At the same time, I struck out with my right hand, in which I still held my blade. I managed to cut him across his stomach just as he jumped back.

He released himself from my hold and stood about six feet or so away from me. He briefly glanced down at the remains of his expensive, black, button-up shirt. There was a sizable slit in it that was maybe five inches long. He stared at me, and for a split second, I was afraid he might be furious not only because I’d destroyed his shirt, but also because he’d underestimated me. Sometimes men didn’t respond well to women who bested them. But, in contrast to my worries, Sinjin simply grinned at me.

“Very good, my little heathen. I am much impressed.” Then he started to unbutton the first few buttons of his shirt, and when the opening was large enough to fit over his head, he pulled the shirt off and tossed it on the floor.

My
breath caught in my throat as I inadvertently stared at his naked chest. The slice I’d made in his stomach was already healing, although a few drops of crimson blood stained his otherwise tan skin. His muscles were clearly defined and he was a true vision to behold. His pectorals were large mounds in contrast to the flatness of his belly and the gentle slope of his abs. His biceps, traps and shoulders were well rounded and showed sinuous muscles. But the light dusting of black hair that started beneath his belly button and led into his pants was what I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes from staring at.