Bad Blood

“If you’re trying to sweet-talk me, you might want to save it for when we get home.” But her smile didn’t disappear. And now the faintest hint of pink colored her cheeks. Was she blushing? This woman? At least she hadn’t slapped his hand away. Or staked you.

“So.” She blinked and looked back at the car. “What’s your idea, because I know you must have something cooking in that head of yours. Don’t say you’ll kill him either. That’s not an option we’re taking.”

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans to keep from touching her more. “I can persuade him to give up the position.”

“Persuade? As in use your power?” She shook her head. “I know you can do that with varcolai, but that doesn’t mean you can do it with fae. Their magic is completely different. You try that and fail and no bribe is going to protect you.”

“I can do it. I’ve done it already. With the smokesingers that stopped me on my way to meet you. There’s just one thing.”

“Always a catch, isn’t there?” Her eyes narrowed a little. “What is it?”

“Persuading a fae to tell me his name is one thing, persuading one into giving up a position of power is utterly different. It will take a lot of work and leave me drained afterward. I’ll need to feed.” Why he felt like he needed to justify his request boggled him. He was a vampire, she was a comarré. It was no secret to either of them how this worked. There was, of course, the complication of him not being able to drink from her vein and the extracurricular contact that necessitated. The hot, mouth-to-mouth extracurricular contact. Which she’d denied him earlier. He blew out a breath to keep a growl from leaving his throat. Drain her.

“Blood is easy.” If she was thinking about the kiss that would come after, he couldn’t read it in her eyes. “How are you—we—going to explain your weakness to Mortalis after seeing this guardian? He’ll know something’s up.”

“Will it matter if we succeed?” His entire body tightened knowing that she was so willing to give her blood to him again. The voices whined with fear and excitement. They loved her blood but hated the way it calmed them. “I’m not worried about Mortalis. If he finds out what I can do, so be it, but Amery…” Mal shook his head. “I don’t know him, don’t trust him. I don’t even like you knowing.”

She scowled. “You don’t trust me?”

“I trust you implicitly. I don’t like burdening you with information about what I can and can’t do. I don’t like the possibility that someone could use it against you someday.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s not a burden, and I can take care of myself.” She turned toward the SUV. “We should get a hotel room. I can drain blood there and we can ditch Amery. Maybe Mortalis, too. I can tell him I want to make the first attempt alone with you to guard me, that I want him out of it so if something goes wrong, none of the blame falls back on him.”

Mal checked the sun’s position. “We’re not going to make it back to Paradise City in time for Samhain.”

“We might, but it doesn’t look good. I hope Doc and Creek can keep everything under control.” She exhaled hard. “This is so much more than I can handle.”

“No, it’s not. You’re doing great.”

She glanced back at him and smiled weakly, her signum sparking in the sun. “Don’t read too much into this, but it helps that you’re here.”

He held his hands up in mock surrender. “I won’t read anything more into that than face value. Wouldn’t want to assume you like me or anything.” But she did. Right now.

She laughed. “Good, glad that’s all clear.” Her laughter faded and she went serious. “What do you think is up with Mortalis and his sister?”

Mal lifted his brows and shrugged. “Bad blood, that much is certain. Whatever his family’s history in this town, it isn’t good. At least not where it concerns him.”

“He seems wound pretty tightly since we left Loudreux’s.”

Mal nodded. “He’ll be all right.” He hoped. Having the fae blow a gasket was only going to complicate an already tangled situation.

Chrysabelle’s fingers landed lightly on his arm. Beneath the sleeve of his coat, the names writhed at her touch. “Let’s go get that hotel room and get you fed, shall we? The sooner we wrap this up, the sooner we can get home to clean up the next mess.”

At the thought of tasting her, his fangs jutted down, grazing the inside of his lower lip. He swallowed the saliva pooling under his tongue and nodded. “After you.”

He followed her back to the car, his mind on the one thing neither of them had mentioned. The kiss that followed her giving him blood. Did that mean she was going to deny him again? He hoped to hell not.

Aliza washed the last of the earth from her hands. It swirled down the drain of her kitchen sink. She turned the water off and stared out the window into the never-ending swamp surrounding her house. The house Evie had died in.

Burying Evie in the coven’s plot hadn’t been easy, but her coven had been there to help and to say their words of respect. A few had cast protection spells over the grave, and all had vowed to help Aliza get revenge. They’d taken the news of her turning better than she’d expected. Didn’t mean she trusted any of them not to do something wily, but at least there hadn’t been any sudden uprising against her. Vampire or not, she was still the leader of the coven, still the superior force and talent. More superior now that her new situation had amped up her powers.