Her Warrior for Eternity (6 page)

“Yes, but we need to be made too.” But he wouldn’t tell her how.

The night flew by. She didn’t see Jeremy again, but she knew he hadn’t left. Her work kept her busy and she had no reason to go to the upper gallery. She decided it was for the best. She wouldn’t be able to concentrate on her work if he was watching, and she would only make a fool of herself.

She finished her duties swiftly at the end of the night, chiding herself for her eagerness, but unable to calm down either. She absolutely wanted to meet Jeremy. They were connected and she wanted to find out how.

She changed her clothes fast, donning a leather jacket and a scarf too, against the early morning chill. She exited through the side door and looked around for him. When she didn’t immediately spot him, her heart sank. Then a shadow detached from the wall and he was there.

“May I walk you home?”

Chapter Six

Meeting Corynn, and the prospect of walking her home, had completely transformed Jeremy’s mood. The night was wonderful and he couldn’t fathom how he hadn’t noticed it earlier. The beer was exactly how he liked it and the music only his favourites. Staying put and not following Corynn around wasn’t easy, his need to make sure she was really there pushing all other thoughts from his mind. If he had been allowed to, he would have maintained a scan that would have kept tabs on her. But it would have been difficult in the crowded club, not to mention it would have pissed off everyone sensitive to it.

His fellows shook their heads. “It’s not like you to moon over a woman like that,” Nick had noted.

“But if you have to lose your head over a woman, could you please choose one whose mind you haven’t wiped.”

He frowned, annoyed for being reminded about that. “Relax, Zach. She doesn’t remember me. I did a good job.”

“Then why not leave her be? Your presence might trigger her brain to remember anyway.”

“Just because.” He had met, dated, and bedded women more beautiful than Corynn; had declared to be in love with one or two more enticing females over the centuries, always to lose interest sooner rather than later. This felt different. She was different. “I shouldn’t have wiped her mind.”

His confession – heartfelt and true – failed to impress his fellow warriors. “Of course you had to do it. She witnessed you killing a renegade.”

“I know. But those renegades were interested in her for a reason. We should find out why. Maybe it has to do with the serial killer. She might be in danger.” The mere notion made his bones freeze.

The others understood that point of view and nothing else was said about it. But they all made kissy noises and jeered at him when they headed to the cars at the end of the night, leaving him to wait for Corynn at the side door.

He hid in the shadows, watching other girls leave in twos and threes. It was too early for the tubes to run yet, but they were most of them predatory shifters and could take care of themselves. The few humans in the mix were all accompanied by a two-natured. Grant took the safety his workers seriously.

Then Corynn exited the door and his heart began to race. She paused on the doorstep, clearly looking for him. He took a deep, steadying breath, more nervous about this meeting than he had been about anything in a very long time. He walked to her and her face lit up.

“May I walk you home?”

She smiled. “How do you know I don’t live across London? It might be a long walk.”

Stupid mistake. “It wouldn’t be too long with you.” Amazingly, she didn’t find his sincere statement cheesy, but blushed.

“Well, luckily it’s only a little over a mile.”

“We can take a cab too, if you’re tired after being on your feet all night. My friends took the car.”

“I can walk.”

He took her for her word and only gestured for her to lead the way. She headed for the Camden High Street, the straightest road to her home. They walked in silence. There was so much he wanted to say to her but couldn’t, so it was better not to say anything. It was enough to look at her.

She spoke first. “So, in what other life have we met before?”

Her question alarmed him. She might easily recall the events of that fateful night if he wasn’t careful. But he couldn’t lie to her. “You were a damsel in distress and I the knight in shining armour who came to your rescue.”

She laughed, delighted, and the sound pleased him so much he almost wrapped an arm around her so he could pull her close and just hold her. “I like that, although I’m hardly a damsel, in distress or otherwise.”

“Women of this age are very capable.” Only after he spoke did it occur to him that she might not know he was a vampire. But apparently she had been informed about his identity, because she didn’t miss a beat.

“And they weren’t before?”

He was from a different age, but he had adapted to modern ideas and wasn’t – he hoped – a sexist idiot. “They were, especially in lower classes. Life was hard and everyone had to pull their share. But in upper classes, women were seldom allowed to show what they could do.”

She nodded. “Sounds like you speak from experience.”

“I’ve centuries of it.” She was so much younger than him, young for even a human, but he didn’t feel old. Not with her.

“It’s odd to know that there are people among us who have lived for centuries yet they never talk about it.”

“They don’t?” Someone’s age was fairly easy for two-natureds to determine, so they didn’t have to bring it up among themselves.

“Well, the people at work never make their age obvious. And I have my friend Toby who’s a leopard-shifter, but he’s only seventy-two.”

“Boyfriend?” His sharp question surprised him, but she only smiled.

“Just a friend.”

He thought it best to leave it be. “So, tell me about yourself.”

“I’d much rather talk about what it’s like to be a vampire warrior.”

He almost missed a step. Had she remembered? But then he calmed. She must have heard about it at the club. “That about covers it. I’m a vampire and a warrior of the Crimson Circle. I’m more interested in you. Starting with your name.”

She cleared her throat, embarrassed. “It’s actually Corynn Sparks.”

“I had a notion it wasn’t Tiffany,” he teased her. “Do people call you Corynn?”

“No, they call me Cora.”

“Cora. I like it. Are you a full time waitress or … a student perhaps?” He had almost slipped again.

“I’m one term short of becoming a Bachelor of Computer Science.”

“That’s impressive. Computers are a bit of a mystery to me. I can use them, if I must, but I remember the time before them fondly.”

“And time before cars too?”

He laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“I was born to the world where computers already were everyday items.”

Jeremy tried to comprehend it. “I don’t think I’ve known anyone that young since becoming a warrior.” They walked in silence, trying to adjust their minds to their age difference. “Do you have other interests than computers?”

“Running.”

He smiled. “I’m not very good at that either, though I have to run quite a lot in my work.”

“Why?”

“Chasing the bad guys.”

She frowned. “What is it, exactly, that warriors do?”

“We protect the vampire race.”

“From what?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”

He feared he had offended her, but after a small silence she talked again. “So why me?”

“Sorry?”

She hesitated. “The girls at the club told me that Circle warriors are the most sought after and most difficult to get men that go there. I’m sure there were prettier girls at the club tonight, so why me?”

Her question baffled him. He hadn’t even seen the other women. “I think you are very beautiful.” She blushed faintly, but the look on her face stated she didn’t believe him. He sighed, trying to come up with an explanation that wouldn’t reveal the truth. “I guess you caught me at a weak moment. I was watching my brother with his girlfriend, wishing for what he has, and there you were. It felt like kismet. I had to come to you.”

She nodded, but he had no idea if she believed him. They had reached her hall anyway and had to stop. “This is where I live. Thank you for seeing me home.”

“It was my pleasure.” And he truly meant it. “I’d like to see you again. When’s your next night off?”

“Can’t you meet me during the day?”

He smiled. “I can, but I’d rather not cut the day short.”

She smiled too. “I have the next night off, actually.”

His blood quickened in excitement. He wouldn’t have to wait forever to see her again. “In that case, I’ll pick you up at two. That should give you enough time to rest.”

“Sounds great.” She opened the door, but he halted her. Unable to resist, he took a gentle hold of her face with both hands and leaned down to kiss her. It was a light brushing of lips, meant more as a gesture. But as their lips met, a jolt of energy, sudden and electrifying, coursed from her mouth to him and through him. She felt it too, and pulled back in surprise.

“That was odd.”

“You don’t say.” He gave her another kiss, deeper this time. “Goodnight.” She went in and disappeared from his sight. Only then did he let himself relax.

Fuck.

It definitely wasn’t a coincidence that renegades had been drawn to her. If he wasn’t much mistaken, she had the
promise
. She could be a vampire.

And that made her a target for the serial killer.

Corynn was too giddy to sleep. Her mind kept going over the walk with Jeremy, everything that had been said, and what hadn’t, the gestures, the looks – the kisses. That first kiss especially had been unique, its effect on her body electrifying. She could still feel it, could still feel him, inside her cells.

She tried to talk sense to herself, recalling everything her co-workers had said about warriors’ womanising ways, and Jeremy’s in particular. But how could she believe them when he had been so wonderfully attentive to her?

Then again, that was probably the secret behind his success with women. But even that thought couldn’t make her calm down.

Unable to settle, she powered up her computer. She needed to update her journal that she had neglected for weeks. Maybe writing everything down would help her sleep.

To her surprise, the last entry was newer than she remembered, from the night that she had been fired. Puzzled, she read it through, and the more she read the worse she felt. She hadn’t written about losing her job. She had written a long entry about a vampire warrior named Jeremy Grayson. How excited she had been about meeting him – and how he would come back to erase her mind.

When she was finished, she felt nauseous. Then she got angry. He had knowingly erased the memory of him and what he had done, and now he had the audacity to return to her. What did he want? To make sure she didn’t blab?

She should have known a man like him wouldn’t voluntarily woo a woman like her. Of course he wasn’t interested in her. She should have listened to her friends. And as for Jeremy Grayson, she would go nowhere with him tomorrow, or any other day.

Thoroughly disgusted with herself for being so gullible, she threw herself on the bed. But it was a long time before she could sleep. And when she woke up hours later from a fitful sleep, she was still angry.

Chapter Seven

Jeremy prepared for his date with Corynn with eagerness he hadn’t experienced in ages – outside battle, at least. Wanting to dress to impress was normal for him. He had always liked clothes, no matter the century or style, and the modern age had amplified his tendency. Ladies liked a well-dressed man and he liked ladies.

But never before had he stood in front of his wardrobe and thought he had nothing to wear. Partly it was because he had stayed the night in the Circle’s townhouse, a luxurious Mayfair flat where he kept the bare minimum of clothing. None of it would make him look like a man Cora might appreciate. She seemed like a no-nonsense woman, if her own clothes were anything to go by, a bit nerdy even.

In the end he put on a plain white shirt, its sleeves rolled up as it was a warm day, and jeans. He could have borrowed clothes from other warriors, but he didn’t want to add to the lie he had already given her by pretending to be something he wasn’t.

He needed a car for what he had in mind, taking her as far from the City as possible, but transportation wasn’t a problem. The Circle kept cars at the car park underneath the building. Until he discovered why renegades targeted humans with
promise
, he would make sure her path didn’t cross theirs again.

He arrived early to his date. Exiting the car, he opened his vampire sense and began to scan the neighbourhood for anomalies. Renegades might be tethered to the City, but they didn’t live there, and had to get there somehow. Some of them might come through here. One of them might discover Cora. Better to be safe than sorry.

Nothing alerted him, but that wasn’t good enough. He circled the large block that consisted mostly of university buildings. There were some people around, but most were still on Easter holiday, making the scanning easier. There were no renegades near.

Satisfied, he went to fetch Cora. The closer he got to her room, the faster his heart beat, until he was nearly breathless by the time he stood behind her door. Exercising never left him in this state.

He knocked on the door, having spied through the door with his vampire sense that she was in. He felt her pause in the middle of the room and then – nothing. She didn’t rush to open the door. Puzzled, he knocked again. “Please, open the door, Cora. It’s Jeremy.” Nothing happened. “Cora?”

She pulled the door open so fast that if he hadn’t possessed superhuman reflexes, he would have fallen in. “What?” She was so angry he could physically sense it.

His usual swagger disappeared. He had no idea how to react. “I thought we had a date.”

“You thought wrong.” She made to throw the door at his face, but he propped it open with his hand.

“What’s happened?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Could it be that you’re a LYING BASTARD!”