The Blood Bargain (18 page)

Prince Zack Graham.

Why was he just so...stupid?

I cut through four yards on my way to my new home. I didn
’
t want to risk Prince Charming following me so he could stake my new roommate.

That was, if the stake thing worked.

“Where are you hurrying off to?” By the time I realized someone was talking to me I almost ran into a tree.

Councilman
Shive
was glaring at me from a deck.

I had cut through his yard. Oh boy. I had two choices at this point. Apologize or act like the spoiled little twit he thought I was. Well, I was soaking wet and irr
itated, so I wasn’
t in a friend making mood.

“Where ever I want to go.”

He took a step toward me, which was humbling even though I was armed. The look in his eye made him seem like a loose cannon. Maybe I shouldn
’
t push him too far. Although he woul
dn’
t dare harm me right? My father held the same clout he did in this town.

Not that my father cared much for me at the moment.

With a
n
angry hiss he spoke to me, looming at a distance.

“Look girl. I don
’
t care who you think you are.
We’
ve already made the deal with the devil to keep on living. That
’
s enough of a burden every
day without you digging up the past with your stupid ideals and misconceptions. Put these people
’
s lives in danger again in any way shape or form and I will personally gut you. That
’
s not a threat, it
’s a promise. We’
ve sacrificed too much to have you ruining this colony.”

I was green, positively green when he was done speaking. I did not doubt for one moment that he was serious. A strong urge to be respectful to the giant overwhelmed me, if only out of fear for my skin. I nodded then ran off tucking my tail between my legs.

The little house with green shutters welcomed my approach, despite the lack of extra feet running around on the inside it was already starting to feel like home.

Snagging my key from my pocket, I made quick work of the door. Flipped the deadbolt, snuck inside, flipped it again.

I exhaled. On my next breath in, I caught a familiar scent.

Turning around slowly I saw my roommate.

Dimitri was lounging on the ratty couch reading a comic book. He looked amazing; all masculine finesse sprawled across the sofa like a cologne ad. What really completed the effect though were his eyes, fixed on the colorful pages in front of him he looked almost human. I

blushed as I entered the room, not sure how to greet him.

“
Ah..hi
.” He waved not missing a word in his reading.

“I did not know it was raining outside.”

“It’
s not.”
I didn.t want to get into Zack’
s
cleansing attempt or the big sca
ry Councilman’
s promise or even the thing that tried to eat my foot. No way. I glanced up quickly enough to gauge whether I had planned to elaborate. When I didn
’
t speak he did.

“Are your quarters comfortable?”

“Yeah it
’
s a nice room and I slept like a rock. Hey. Oh, thanks for getting rid of the cats.” I forgot to mention it the night before.

“You are welcome. I trust it is better?”

“Oh man.” I laughed a little. “Much less creepy.”

“Creepy?” He raised an eyebrow.

“No
no
not
creepy because
it.s
you and your place, just a million little eyes staring at me all grandma style creepy.” From the look on his face he was not following at all. I covered my own with my hands. “Ugh! Just forget I said anything. Can I go outside and come back in?”

“You.re already inside.” I peeked through my hand to find him looking at me like a third eye sprouted out of my forehead.

“Sorry. It’
s a figure of speech. You make me nervous.”

Dimitri was off the couch and in front of me in a flash. “Why do I make you nervous?”

“Because you do that.” I said, staring straightforward into his chest.

“That
’
s not why.” There was a confidence in his answer.

“Then why is it?” I whispered my retort, even though I knew the answer. He tilted my chin up with his left hand, and then ran his thumb over my lower lip. Looking up into his eyes I
s
topped breathing. That endless sea of ice blue heaven that bore into my soul, making me forget about everything in the world. There was no plague, no colony, nothing but just him and me in

this little living room.

He leaned into me and I closed my eyes. He kissed me, lightly brushing his lips against my own, so gentle that I barely felt the contact. It was electrifying.

“Dimitri…” His name was like velvet on my tongue. I leaned into him and he wasn
’
t there. I opened my eyes to find him standing a few steps back from me, his fangs extended down over his lower lip.

“Do you want to be injured
Liv
?” His eyes were cold, their lovely blue they felt like ice on my skin.

“You won’
t hurt me.” I didn.t know if I was reassuring myself or him. At the moment he looked deadly as hell.

“That is not something one can say in confidence.”

“If you wanted to kill me, you could have a thousand times and a hundred ways by now.”

“I am not one of your kind.”

“So?” I crossed my arms.

“You should fear me.”

“Then why did you ask me to move in with you if y
ou want me to fear you?” I wasn’
t following his sudden demand for screams. He frowned.

“I do not want you too...however you should.” I sighed, having no idea where all his
self-loathing
was coming from. This was obviously going nowhere. I tried to think of when I had seen him the most relaxed.

“Do you have any board games here?”

“I have some.” His demeanor changed, I saw a glimmer of interest spark into his eyes, the corner of his mouth kicked up slightly.

“Would you like to lose to me again?” I got a low chuckle in response to my offer. That deep baritone seemed less scary the more I heard it, regardless of how scary he told me he should be.

“How about Sorry?”

“Sounds good.”

We lit a few more candles and settled into the little square board and our colored pieces. A couple rounds in I noticed his fangs had pulled back. Visibly, he relaxed after the first game. Maybe up close like that he got hungrier? I didn.t want to ask now that he was in casual mode.

Three games later I had a smile stuck to my face that was interrupted the occasional yawn. He had asked
me about my childhood, I’
d given him the drama of when I fell of my bike at eight to my broken wrist when I was eleven. He
’
d listened without judgment to my ramblings, offering the occasional insight or a smile. It just felt so easy.

Another yawn interrupted my current four spot move across the game board.

“You are overtired.”

“Am not.”

“Go to bed.” I was not one to usually be ordered around. Still I agreed. My lids drooping even as I nodded.

I told him goodnight and sashayed down the dark hallway to my room.

Chapter 10

It was three weeks before we got news from Sammi
e, and none of it was good. She’
d had no luck,
Tommen
was meticulously clean and thorough. Her little strawberry blonde curls had danced as she furiously shook her head in apology, with Ben comforting her that she did her best. What a sweet guy. He asked her to try again. To keep at it. We all had nodded and carried on
p
atiently waiting.

Three more weeks went by, a return to living my normal life back on the wall. Well almost normal. I went home at night to D.s, not to m
y room with Dad and the
Russells
. While the house was mostly quiet at night, D made time before patrols to break out some boxed or card
based entertainment and spend a few hours with me. He never spoke really of himself and asked plenty about my life what it had been before and after the outbreak. Our time together was both
enjoyable and tormenting. It no longer pained me to feed him, but I found he kept me at a certain distance. Like a chocolate lover on a diet, I saw the yearning in his eyes but his form resisted the temptation. In the end I was always alone at night, which was both comforting and hollow.

I didn’
t have any more close calls during my day shifts, which was a good thing. I found that grabber had rattled me more than I wanted to admit. For the first time, I found myself
q
uestioning why I had insisted on such a hazardous occupation. The more I thought about it -and

trust me, I had plenty of down time to think about it-the more a singular word formed in my mind.

Guilt. It was guilt. I knew it.

I protect
ed those here, because I couldn’
t protect anyone when shit hit the fan. I was just a kid, shoved in a car and drive
n to safety by my dad. I couldn’
t warn
anyone, I couldn’
t help anyone. I was useless.

Now I was the farthest thing from the word.

Probably also reinforced why I hated Zack Graham so much.

Zack, the annoying anti-groom who had three times now tried to get to me with Father Flannigan. At my work, outside of my old house on my way back from visiting with Zoe then by the square. Talk about emb
arrassing. The brat just wouldn’
t get it through his head that I was here I was because I wanted to be there.

I
’
m sure it would have been four run ins, but I saw him lingering around the square on my way my last meeting at
Smittys
.

When we met yesterday, now six weeks after her offer to help us, Sammie still came up blank.

At that point I was tired of waiting.

I grabbed Cole after we broke ranks and asked him to help me do something brash and crazy.

Forcibly raid the meat locker.

I was not the slightest bit surprised that he agreed.

He had been more vocal in his feelings for me. As awkward as that was at times, it still beat him being pissed off.

He was all smiles as we walked to the locker the next day. Making horrible pun
’
s about the weather. Cole was armed, having swapped to a morning shift on another marker to give them the free time with daylight. I was not.

I had time to run home and drop off my stuff before I met him on the south side. I figured if we were both armed to the teeth it would set off red flags to anyone we passed.

This colony loved their gossip.

The building was as we had seen it previously, secured and apparently untraveled. Full of who knows what.

In my great display of toughness, I picked up a rock and hurled it toward the window above the door. I missed by about three feet.

“Now the question is who taught you to break windows? Watch and learn.” Cole grabbed one of the large rocks that had been set in front of the building for display.

Then chucked it straight through the pane. With a loud screech it broke through the glass, and then knocked something over on the other side.

“That was loud enough!” In a panic I looked left then right, hoping no one had heard the sound.

“It worked didn’
t it?” Nobody was running at us. We were still very much alone on the edge of town.

“Someone is
gonna
notice we
’
ve been here now.” I grumbled, yes I realized it was ironic I tried to break it first and now I
’
m complaining that he did. My logic engine sometimes takes a while to catch up to my actions. Maybe I needed to upgrade my internal operating system.

Never the less, Cole looked at me like he was thinking the same thing I was.

“Do you really care
Liv
?”

“Probably not.” Even though there was no probably about it. Six weeks was long enough to wait and see inside this place.

“Then get on in there and unlock the door.”

As he lifted me back up I was mindful to avoid the edges of the razor sharp glass that had stuck to the frame. Last thing I
needed was to end up in
Tommen’
s
clinic with a nasty infection do to a series of unexplained cuts. The guy hated me enough as it was. Not to mention that pretty much made me the worst spy in history since that guy from Get Smart.