Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1) (4 page)

“Do you truly believe that?”

“It’s like that every time you feed, right?”

Stefan gently placed a hand under my chin and forced me to look up at him. “No. My prey is usually unconscious the moment I feed. My prey also remembers nothing of me.”

“Oh,” I whispered.
Clearly the understatement of the night.
Obviously things were different with me, and that significant difference was potentially causing problems. Exactly who those problems were affecting I still needed to find out, but it was becoming apparent that this was a sitting conversation.

Stefan released me and stepped back so that I could walk over to the sofa. Kicking off my running shoes under the battered coffee table, I sat down with my legs folded under me. Sure, it wasn’t exactly lady-like, but I had a feeling that I needed to be comfortable for this. The vampire certainly didn’t seem to mind as he resumed his slow pacing in front of the sofa, his expression becoming grim as he focused on the problem at hand … which was potentially me.

“You said a woman was flaunting your protection,” I said, trying to give him a starting point. “Since I didn’t notice anyone else in the piazza, I’ll take it that you were talking about me.”

“
Si
,” Stefan said stiffly, drawing his gaze back to me. I was a little surprised that he had slipped into Italian. The only other language he’d used with me besides English was French, but he also seemed more than a little frustrated.

“Fine,” I said, matching his clipped tone. “Then how is it that I have your protection? Also, how could anyone else know I have it when I wasn’t even aware of it?”

The vampire’s anger started to fizzle here and I realized this was where he got himself into trouble, though it was highly likely that I made matters worse.

“I marked you,” he admitted after a lengthy pause.

My left hand immediately snapped up to the left side of my neck where he’d bitten me. “What do you mean? Where? What I saw in the mirror this morning was small. My shirt covered it up so no one would be able to see it.”

“It isn’t a mark you can see.” Stefan sat on the edge of the table in front of me and gently captured the hand pressed to my neck with both of his. “It is a scent and a kind of aura that only other nightwalkers and some shifters can pick up. It is a warning that if they should harm you, they will incur my wrath.”

“You marked your territory?” I demanded, my voice rising in anger as I jerked my hand from his. Jumping to my feet, I glared down at him, though I wasn’t tall enough to really effectively tower over him. “What the hell! What am I to you? Some piece of choice meat? Were you expecting to come back around for another serving?”

“After your response last night, I didn’t think you’d be opposed to me returning to doorstep,” he said with a sneer.

My mouth hung open on a gasp as I tried to think of a good way that would allow me to deny such accusations that weren’t an outright lie and save face a bit. I really wasn’t coming up with anything.

Stefan rose so that he could easily tower over me. “Please sit. And I’d close your mouth or I will find a better use for it.”

My mouth with a click of my teeth and I flopped back on the sofa, my cheeks feeling as if they were on fire. Yeah, I was handling all of this real well. With my arms folded across my chest, I scowled at the vampire as he returned to his seat on the edge of the table. We sat glaring at each other for several seconds, waiting for calm, rational thought to return.

“My mark was meant as protection. It was meant as a gift of gratitude,” Stefan said stiffly, still glaring down his aquiline nose at me. “Last night, you offered me shelter from the storm and gave me sustenance. You were also… different.” Stefan paused and his glare became a frown, but it wasn’t at me. I think he was frowning at himself as he carefully chose his words. “I’ve lived a very long time and it has not been often in my lifetime that I’ve encountered different. I counted that as I gift and I wanted to show my appreciation.”

All the heat and anger had left my fame and I stared at him in surprise. It wasn’t every day that a very old creature told you that you were unique. “Why didn’t you tell me in the note?”

“Because I didn’t think it was necessary. If you had heeded my warning and stayed indoors after sunset, it would have been highly unlikely that any nightwalker noticed you and the mark.”

I groaned and closed my eyes, cursing myself. I should have been paying more attention to the time rather than getting consumed with my work. Seven years had passed since the announcement that vampires really did exist. I had spent most of my life running around at night and felt totally safe with it. Seven years wasn’t enough time to adjust to the knowledge that I couldn’t leave my home after dark, even with all the horror stories filling the news each day.

“And my carelessness has created problems for you,” I murmured.

“I am sure it wasn’t intentional.”

“It wasn’t,” I said, lifting my gaze back to his face. “But I don’t understand why other vampires think I was flaunting your protection? And why would they care?”

Stefan’s brow furrowed as his gaze darted about the apartment, searching for something. When an idea finally came to him, he grinned at me, looking quite pleased with himself. “If you are hungry and you see a… a….”

“A cheesecake,” I supplied.

“A cheesecake?” Stefan wrinkled his nose as he slowly repeated the word. “I don’t know this. You would eat a pastry made entirely of cheese?”

His confusion suddenly made me want to kiss this man, he was so adorable. I restrained myself, somehow. “It’s not what it sounds like. It’s amazing.”

“Anyway… You are hungry and you see this cheesecake sitting in the open and unprotected, what would you think?”

“Easy target.”

Stefan smiled and nodded because I’d obviously given him the right answer. “Now what if you are hungry and you see this same cheesecake sitting in the open but it has the name of your enemy on it.”

“I leave it alone.”

“No,” he said sharply, jumping up from where he was sitting to pace away from me. “You are all the more tempted to take it. By taking it, you prove that your enemy is weak. That your enemy could not protect that which belongs to him.”

“Yeah, but I’m a human being, not a cheesecake,” I said, rising to my feet as well. I walked over so that I was now standing in front of him. “You can’t treat people like that.”

“And we are nightwalkers. We treat humans like that all the time,” Stefan said harshly, causing me to jerk away from him a bit. “I marked you believing that it would be unnecessary, but I did not want another to harm you if you should encounter another nightwalker.
Sitting in the open after dark was like taunting them.”

What he wasn’t saying was that it was a greater insult because the vampires viewed me as beneath them. I was a hamburger to them and hamburgers didn’t thumb their noses at the creatures that were going to eat them.

Stefan reached for me and I stepped away from him, walking over to the kitchen sink with my arms wrapped around me. The lie I had been telling myself, that vampires were still human deep down and respected humans, was crumbling before my eyes. On some level, I had always suspected that that was how vampires viewed humans, but to hear it straight from the mouth of a vampire was unnerving. My stomach twisted and for a moment I was afraid I would be sick. I’d been so careless during my lifetime — well before the truth came out — wandering around at night, feeling safe and in control.

Stefan took a step closer so that I could see him out of peripheral vision, pulling me out of my inner musings about the past and throwing me into a new dilemma. Stefan hadn’t treated me like cattle last night. He might be more powerful than me, but I felt like we were equals on some level. Or maybe I had just wanted that to be true because I was attracted to him?
Dear God, I was a delusional idiot?

“I understand,” I said evenly when I could finally speak past my disgust with myself. “I’m sorry that I’ve caused you trouble with my carelessness.”

“No,
ma petite
,” Stefan said with a sigh as he slipped back into his native French. I never heard him move, but I wasn’t surprised when his hand lightly settled on my shoulders. I still couldn’t stop myself from flinching at his touch. It wrung another weary sigh out of him, but he didn’t remove his hand. “You are afraid of me now and I never wanted that. But maybe it is for the best if it keeps you safe.”

He pressed a light kiss to the top of my head and my eyes fluttered shut. Some of the tension eased from my shoulders and I tried to untangle some of my twisted emotions. This was all coming out of nowhere. Last night, a sexy vampire paraded around my Venice apartment in a towel and drank my blood. Tonight, I’m apparently on the cusp of causing an incident while the same sexy vampire is alternating between being annoyed and tender.

A sudden thought jumped into my brain and my eyes popped open in horror. I twisted around to face him while he remained alarmingly close. “You said last night that you didn’t see me as a steak.”

“True,” he said with a hint of a smile.

“Do you see me as a pet?”

Stefan laughed, causing all the tension and worry to leave his face. The vampire had an amazing laugh. It was deep and loud so that it filled the entire space, leaving you feeling as if it were hugging you close. Every time he laughed when we were together, it was always so quick like he was surprised by it. I could only guess that he didn’t laugh often.

“No,
ma petite
. You are definitely not a pet.”

Leaning back against the sink, I frowned. “Why do you say that?”

“Because my pet would be far better behaved than you.”

“I think you are better off with me not listening to your every command. I might stop being so unique,” I teased.

“That may be true,” he whispered as he started to lower his head toward me.

My lips tingled at his gaze and I froze. He was going to kiss me. He might have kissed my neck and drank my blood while I writhed against his body last night, but we never kissed. This seemed like a dangerous new complication to an already complicated situation. My brain was shouting that this was a bad idea, but it wasn’t drowning out the screams of “Yes!” from the rest of my body.

Lucky or not, something stopped Stefan before his lips could touch mine. The vampire instantly straightened and his arms tightened around me, as if he were preparing to protect me with his body. He cocked his head slightly to the side, listening to something. I strained my own hearing, but I could nothing besides the usual creaks and groans of the old building.

“Someone is coming,” Stefan said before I could ask.

Grabbing my hand, he pulled me toward the front door just as someone knocked. I started to reach for the doorknob but the vampire held up a hand, stopping me. Wordlessly directing me to stay behind the door, Stefan opened it. While I couldn’t see who had arrived, I could hear him. Surprisingly, Stefan stuck with English rather than Italian as I would have expected him to.  Apparently I needed to hear this.

“I am sorry to disturb you, sir, but she has arrived. They are ready to begin the meeting.” There was something in the messenger’s voice that struck me as odd. His tone was subservient, but there was also a mocking undercurrent as if he knew Stefan was trying to hide me and he was purposefully calling attention to me.

“Fine. Consider your message delivered. I will be along shortly,” Stefan said in sharp, clipped tones.

“Will you bring the woman with you?”

Stefan snarled and it sounded like a tiger had been set loose in the tiny apartment. He lunged forward and grabbed the messenger by the neck, slamming him against the doorjamb. The violent act knocked the door wide open so I could see the other vampire. He was a small figure, reminding me more a teenage boy with wild hair the color of straw. He snarled back, baring his fangs while Stefan held him up off the ground by his neck.

“No one touches her. Not here and not at the Coven. Is that understood?” Stefan growled.

“Yes,” the vampire hissed.

Stefan gave him a little shake before slamming him against the doorway again. “Yes, what?”

“Yes, my lord.”

With a growl, Stefan tossed the other vampire aside with the same ease as throwing away a piece of paper. I gasped and stepped back as the vampire bounced once as he hit the floor and skid toward the stairs. Stefan slammed the door shut as the vampire was pushing to his feet, but not before I saw the mocking leer he directed at me.

Stefan reached for me and I backed away from him, my arms tightly folded over my chest. I didn’t handle violence well. I didn’t like to succumb to it and I didn’t like it in my life. “What’s going on?”

Dropping his hands back to his side, Stefan looked at the closed door with a frown. His expression was a painful mixture of frustration and helplessness that made me feel bad for stepping away from him. While he might look human, he obviously wasn’t. It meant that he had a culture, a way of interacting, that I knew nothing about and certainly didn’t understand.

“Knowledge of you is spreading through Venice,” he murmured almost reluctantly. “There was no need for a personal messenger. He was sent to get a look at you.”