The Blood Bargain (20 page)

I cut him off. “I
’
m not dating him!” Well he hadn.t asked. “He offered me an out of marrying that idiot Zack, I took it. We.re just...” I threw my hands up in the air. “And what
exactly do you think we are you’
ve never mentioned any
thi
-”

He wrapped his big arms around me and kissed me so hard; I thought he may have broken one of my teeth. I tried to pull back but he held me in place.

Then Cole stepped back.

My brain couldn.t really process what happened. He was smiling at me like he had just pulled out some club and knocked me over the head for ownership. Is this how guys operate really? I had to admit even to myself, standing in that closed room with him raging like a

Neanderthal, it was kin
d of a turn on. Even if he wasn’
t
the guy for me.

There was a knock at the door.

“You guys okay in there?” Adam.

“Yeah.” I scooted by Cole and back into
Smittys
main storage. A couple of the guys were smirking; Cole gave them the
‘
I
’
m the man
’
smile.

I really wanted to kick him where it hurt. Make him think twice about whatever claim he thought he had just staked.

“If
Liv
thinks this bloodsucker will help us get some answers. Let
’
s do it.” Cole announced. There was a lot of nodding around the room.

“Thanks.” I smiled, meeting the eyes of everyone present. “I
’
m sure he will.”

“No.”

“That's it? Just no?”
Dimitri stared at me, his lips
pursed into a thin line. I had waited until after dinner to bring it up, figuring this would be an easy conversation.

“Oh come on D! Please? I know you can do it.” I flailed my arms around in a hissy fit.

“I never said I could no
t, I said I would
n
o
t.”

“Why not?”

He growled. “I do not to involve myself in the affairs of humans.”

“But you
’
re involved with me?” I crossed my arms.

“That is a private matter. With one human not plural.” He raised his index finger as though I were a child that had forgotten how to count. I took a deep breath. I
wasn.t a child, I wasn’
t thirty seconds away from stomping my feet and running off to my room and slamming my door. I was an adult I was going to handle this like an adult.

Or punch him in the gut. One of the two.

“So you are reducing our relationship to semantics?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Relationship?” He raised an eyebrow, looking down at me with that ancient gleam in his blue eyes. I felt immediately embarrassed and guilty, had I misunderstood his intentions? He was
thousands
of years older than me, a different species and pretty much perfect across from the

looks to education spectrum. Furthermore I had just got done screaming at my best friend that I wasn.t dating this guy...so why did I use the R word? I backpedaled.

“Well it is on one level or another, I mean, I live
here, I feed you, you’ve...kissed me.” He didn’
t speak.

“Whatever, maybe I am being human again.”

Dimitri ran his hands through my dark hair then brushed his soft lips on my forehead.

“You are mine.” He spoke softly, his lips still on my skin. A shiver ran down my spine, I found myself wanting his words to be true. We stood there like that for what seemed like ages.

“Why won.t you do this with me? Really? I don
’
t
buy the whole I just don
’
t care.” I muttered.

“What do you plan to do with this knowledge once you possess it? You cannot change the events that have transpired so far.”

“I think I have a right to know exactly why my
entire life, everyone’
s entire life, was ruined.”

“Change is not ruination.”

“Semantics!” I took a deep breath to calm myself. “If the government knew...if they did this to us...I...”

“Your government is gone.”

“Are they? Why do I find papers marked with their stupid seals in secret labs?”

Dimitri frowned and stepped back. “What did you say?”

I told him what we had done, what I had found.

“Stupid humans. They were not to bring the mindless within the colony.”

“What?”

“Our arrangement explicitly prohibited such actions that had the potential to reduce the human population.”

“Please stop talking about us like we
’
re cattle.”

“
’
.m sorry...it has been a long time since I have felt one among your kind.” He smiled at me. “Since I met you that has changed a bit.”

“Funny. I never feel ‘
one
’
with anything.” His statement made me uncomfortable so I shuffled my bare feet in the living room carpet.

“You are one with me.”

“
I’
m going whether you help me or not.” I crossed my arms. It was a half empty threat.

“You will get yourself killed.”

“If you help me I won’
t.”

“That is not playing fair.”

“I don
’
t want to play fair.” I had enough of him staring at me from a distance, from getting close and pulling away. It was my turn to be aggressive. I kissed him, pushing him back onto the
couch. I knew he felt something for me when he didn
’
t fight as I crawled up on his lap. I pulled back from him and tilted my head to the side. Offering my vein.

There was no hesitation. Only the quick strike of his fangs and the tight grasp of his hands on my back. The first time he had done this, I had cried. Feeling violated and used. Now as he drank from me I felt different, I was giving him strength. No. I was giving him life.

I thought about Zack's little fit at the wall. Perhaps I had become a bloodsucker groupie. I ran my fingers through his soft dark hair. Dimitri never judged me, never forced me into anything, never put me down and never made me feel anything but special. If I had joined the ranks of the fang fans, I didn
’
t care. He was the
best guy I had ever met.

Even if he was a vampire.

When he was done feeding he kissed the puncture marks on my neck, and then slid me off of his lap to the side. Dimitri slipped into familiar euphoria, basking in the gift I had given him.

“Like the ripe cherry fallen from a tree, your taste is wonderful to me. The fear and the bitterness are gone from your soul when you think of me, my
Althene
.” Such
sweet words, but that’
s how he always was. Sweet.

“I
’
m going to miss you.” I told him, my eyes fixed on the stitching details of the couch cushions.

“Why?” He asked, eyes still shut after his feeding.

“They
’
ll figure out soon enough someone was in there. Won.t take a rocket scientist to finger my
involvement. I’
ve been a wild card lately.” I pictured
fresh disappointment in my Dad’s eyes. I still hadn’
t seen him since he forbid me from leaving the house. I hated to admit it, but I really missed him. Dimitri captured my left hand in his olive skinned grasp.

“I will claim your actions as my own. As I have stated keeping the dead within the group is not allowed.”

“You’
re going to cover for me?” I whispered, staring into his blue irises.

“I do not want anyone to try to take you away from me.” He sighed, like he was having an internal argument. After a moment he spoke quietly. “If I help you...will you stop needlessly risking your life?” I snorted.

“That
’
s a loaded question if I.ve ever heard one.”

“What is loaded?”

“This world is dangerous. Our lives will never truly be safe.”

“The world has always been dangerous. Plagues, beasts, rival humans. There has always been danger, these walking
‘
corpse buckets
’
are just a new variation of it. Your kind got so secure over the centuries with your security systems, vaccines and urban sprawl that you lost track of the reality of existence. The instinct of your ancestors however was not to go looking for risk. You my

lovely Evelyn, go looking for it. It makes me wonder if you have a death wish.”

“Corpse buckets?” I snickered.

“Do not bring levity to a serious subject.” He was adorable when he was irritated with me.

“I don
’
t have a death wish. I wanted a life with proms and college. Kids, a fancy house, a husband with a good job. The normal stuff everyone wanted. However that world is gone. In this world, I don
’
t want any of that. I just want to know the reality I live in and keep on
breathing. Since the outbreak I’
ve felt...lost.” I swallowed
hard
. “Lost and angry.”

“Whatever you find will not rid you of those emotions.” He warned me.

“I know. But in order for our kind to not repeat this horrible tragedy, if we live through it, we have to know what it was in the first place. If we did this to ourselves...”

The thought made me sick to my stomach, what if this had been some attempt at a biological agent or an artificial flavoring gone horribly wrong. So many dead...and for

what?

“You get in, I’
ll get you out on the roof.” Dimitri begrudgingly agreed to help me.

My head snapped up. “Really?”

“We agreed to protect the colony, you walk back you
’
re going to bring the whole damned stream from downtown with you.” I threw my arms around his neck, startling him.

“Thank you.”

“Not every female has a boyfriend that would brave a undead horde to bring her home you know.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Is that not your term?” D tilted his head to the side slightly; obviously worried he had used the wrong word.

“You
’
re my boyfriend?” I smiled at him
, a smile of the thousand watt variety
.

“Thought you knew that.”

“You
’
ve never said it.”

“I just told you that you were mine...not moments ago.”

“A belt is mine, doesn
’t mean I’
m dating it.” I retorted.

“Your words are difficult to process.”

“If you just called me a pain in the ass, I
’
d have to agree.” I leaned my head on his shoulder. “Will you come with me to the
G
arage tonight?”

He snorted. “Patrol.”

“You wouldn
’
t even if you didn
’
t have to.”

“No. I would not. Many drunk humans lack intelligence and tend to be belligerent. I would end up killing a few.” On that note I made it a point to never tell Dimitri that Cole had kissed me earlier today. I got the feeling that my new boyfriend was the possessive type and I
kinda
wanted Cole to not end up dead. He was still a really good friend, even if he was romantically misguided.

“Fine. I
’
ll see you tomorrow night then?”

“I will find you when Antonia and I get back, I cannot wait till morning to see you.” As excited as it made me that he had to see me as soon as possible...he just had to have dropped the A word.

“Antonia...” I mumbled, my face must have revealed more than I wanted because his pleasant expression immediately fell.

“Stop that.” It was a quiet request, not a demand. I shuffled my feet, wrapping my arms around myself.

“I hate thinking that you...” I glowered, picturing that mean woman with her arms around Dimitri. With her perfect face and model figure...

“Stop. that. Antonia and I were centuries ago. Centuries.” I managed a half smile. It did seem silly to be bothered by something that happened before my great
great
great
great
-and a few more greats- grandmother was even born.

He nodded at me once, then was gone in a blur.

That was still a hard thing to get used to. Poof you
’re here, poof you’
re gone. Poof I bought back apples...