Chapter Thirty-Four

Finally Discussed

I woke up curled on top of Ira’s blankets, the vampire himself nowhere to be seen. Joints crackled and popped as I stretched wide, my jaw opening in a wake-up yawn. I swung my legs over the bed and stood up, but a wash of dizziness made me sit down just as quickly.

“Take it easy,” came Ira’s voice.

He was coming in from the hallway. “I took more than I probably should have, so you might not want to move too quickly.”

At the mention of our activities, I felt the ache in my wrist for the first time. I looked down at it, surprised at what I saw. My wrist was mottled with mostly-healed yellow bruises. The bite itself was still red, but not a scar. It was a wound, but a closed one.

“Wondrous, huh?” I said, rubbing the fingers of my other hand over the mark.

“My saliva can open wounds and close them,” he said.

Ira had stopped by the door, and was now leaning against the frame, just watching me. His scrutiny was strange and intent.

“What time is it?” I asked to avoid the tension.

“About six,” he answered. “You slept for a good chunk.”

I shook my head, dropping my eyes back to the wound. A vampire’s claim right there on my wrist. This wasn’t the first time I’d been bitten, but it felt different now. It had always been for a job before, and this was personal.

“What are you thinking?” Ira asked softly.

“I don’t even know,” I said, voice quiet. “What was with the snuggling?”

“Habit, mostly,” he said easily. “Physical contact helps the bond.”

“I see,” I murmured.

He hesitated, and then added, “And I wanted to.”

I looked up at him. “This should wait. Let’s focus on the mission for now.”

“Let me just get this out okay?” He seemed tense, his eyes tight as he watched me.

Finally, I nodded. “Okay.”

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his hair. “Okay. Here’s the thing. I was starting to like you, a lot, and then this whole hunter thing came out, and your friend, and killing Zo, and now I don’t have any damn clue how I feel about you.”

Since that was pretty much how I was feeling I nodded again.

“When we were just being us before it worked,” he said. “Before all this complicated crap I liked being with you, and it felt good to be around you. But now…I don’t know. You’re a hunter, I’m a vampire. That’s just a bad idea on several levels. Not to mention all the other shit we’re doing right now.”

“So, what?” I said.

“I’m saying we should just focus on getting you into and out of the House alive.”

There was something about this tone. I met his eyes again. “And then?”

His gaze softened, but there was sadness in it. “And then I think we should go our separate ways, no hard feelings.”

It made the most sense, really it was the only thing that made any kind of sense, but it hurt. Rejection never feels good, even though I’d had a feeling it was coming, even though I should have been speaking the words myself.

“I agree,” I sighed. “It’s just too complicated to work through for something that may not work. Not to mention our respective people would hit the roof.”

Tension went out of his body. “All right then. So we do what we have to fool the House, with whatever physicality it may entail, and then that’s it. No harm, no foul.”

“No harm, no foul,” I echoed.

We were silent for a moment. Then, “You hungry?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“I’ll order something,” he said. “And then we can start working out the details of vampire culture. Sound good?”

“Perfect,” I said.

After that little exchange I figured it would be best to chill in Ira’s bedroom for awhile as he busied himself outside of it. I lay on his bed zoning in and out, not exactly dozing, but getting the last vestiges of sleep out of my system. Once, I heard the door open and the low babble of voices, and figured it was the food he’d ordered.

I’d assumed he meant Chinese or pizza, but when I finally mustered the motor skills to shuffle to the kitchen, there was a rolling cart with silver-lidded dishes on it like something from the movies.

Ira was taking lids off, and putting out silverware.

“Where’d all this come from?” I stared at the array in something that must have been disbelief.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked,” he said. “So I just had the cook bring over a little of everything.”

“The cook,” I said blankly.

“Yeah, the House cook.” He went blithely on, “If you just want some fiber or whatever to get your strength up, there’s some oatmeal and salads and stuff. As far as actual food goes, there’s some grilled chicken if you want something lighter, and a steak or two if you’re into heavy.”

“Rare, I bet?” I said, grinning lightly.

It was meant to be a joke, but Ira tapped one of the lids. “This one’s medium, I think.”

“I like chicken better anyway.”

“You’re so gay.”

“Bite me. Oh, wait.”

He rolled his eyes.

The banter made me glance down at my wrist, at the red outline of his teeth. Like most vampire bites it looked more or less like a normal human set except for two oddly shaped, almost star-burst holes where the fangs had gone in. Actually, they weren’t that different from gunshot wounds, looking at them. Unlike in the movies, real fangs weren’t knives, they were teeth, and they did not leave perfectly round piercings behind.

Ira misinterpreted my study of the wound. “Having seconds thoughts?”

“No,” I said instantly. “I’m still in this. Are you? Having second thoughts, I mean.”

“No.” He shook his head. “This is the only safe way for you to kill Zo and come away unscathed, and I’m still in this for that reason, if nothing else.”

Canting my head, I asked, “Then what’s with the parting ways speech?”

“I think we’d be a bad match, romantically,” he said. “Doesn’t mean that I want to see you dead, or that I don’t like you.”

I tipped a shoulder. “Thought so, just checking.”

He snorted.

“What?” I asked. “You thought I’d really think our—our break up, for lack of a better term, would lead me to believe something like that?”

“And yet you asked the question.” He arched a brow.

Taking on a self-deprecating smile, I spread my hands. “Hey, I’m only human.”

“Not any more,” Ira said. “Until Zo is dead you are the Beloved of Ira Greer, Elder Vampire of the Iriy Hills House.”

There was suddenly a feral authority to him, like in the park when I’d broken the news of my true identity. I was standing in the presence of the monster once again.

“Are you up to that, hunter?”

“Yes.” My voice was as calm and even as I could make it.

“Good,” he said, imperial. “Eat up, we’ve got work to do.”