With great effort, he takes a second, calms himself down, and looks back at me. “Okay.”
I tell him everything. How I agreed to claim the House, but not until after my birthday. How I didn’t let Jasmine manipulate me into anything. How I thought Lillian might be an ally if I needed one. How Markov brought everything I was giving up to my attention.
“It’s damn scary that you walked right back into that House,” Ian says. His eyes are open, receptive—not angry. “But it sounds like you know what you’re doing. Maybe like you’re even supposed to be doing this. I’m glad you’re not getting involved, but I think you would have been a great House leader. And that, coming from me, says something.”
And this just brings to light everything that’s doomed about our relationship. That hurts, so much because every time I look at Ian, I see everything that makes me okay with this new life. I see hope and excitement. Acceptance.
“We have three and a half months,” I say quietly. “That’s all I could get us. But it’s ours. They promised to leave me alone.”
Ian rolls forward and kisses my lips and everything in me craves more. Which just brings fear into my heart. “You just have to promise me one thing,” I say as I push him away an inch or two.
“What?” he asks, unsure eyes searching mine.
“You have to promise not to fall in love with me.” And when I say it, I’m gravely serious.
Because it’s my greatest fear right now. More than being killed by a demented king. More than knowing I will resurrect. More than a future of craving blood. My greatest fear is what I’m feeling now and how much more of it I’ll be feeling the longer this goes on. And then to have that ripped away…
Ian doesn’t answer me right away. He studies me, and I know the self-reflection that’s going on in his head. It’s the same story for me. “That’s going to be a hard promise to keep, I’m afraid.”
“But you have to make it,” I say, feeling desperate. I place my hands on his chest, but my eyes fall away from his. I can’t look at him. “Because we have an expiration. And this will have to end.”
Ian’s breathing grows slightly faster and deeper. Heat rises in his eyes. He’s angry about this and this situation that I didn’t ask for—the one that neither of us can do anything about.
“Three and a half months,” he says with hardness in his voice. “Those three and a half months are ours, and if any of them mess with a single day of it, I’ll kill them all.”
“I KNOW THAT YOU’RE PERFECTLY capable of cooking Thanksgiving dinner, Lula,” I say in exasperation. “But I just thought it would be nice if I helped you with a few things. I work in a bakery, I could do the rolls and it really would be no problem.”
“Girl, you get outa’ my house and stop tryin’ to impose on ma’ family,” Lula growls at me. She literally shakes a frying pan at me.
I turn to Ian, exasperation on my face. “A little help here?”
“I…psh,” he says with a shrug and a shake of his head.
“Really?” I say, completely and utterly annoyed. “Look, Lula—”
“I said get outta’ my house!” she bellows at me.
I raise my hands in surrender and walk out the back door.
“Liv, wait!” Ian calls as he follows me out into the backyard.
“Wait for what?” I yell as he jogs and stops in front of me. “Your grandmother hates me. She won’t even let me in the door most days. Thanksgiving is in two days and she keeps saying she has all week to buy the food. There’s going to be nothing left at the market!”
“Yes, I know she’s completely bat-shit crazy,” Ian says as he puts his hands on my upper arms. “And she sleeps through half the day most days and Thanksgiving won’t be any different. Let’s you and I go right now and get the food. She won’t know any different.”
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. “Why is your grandmother such a bitch to me?”
“Did you just call my ancient, wrinkly, half-crazy grandmother a bitch?” Ian laughs.
“Well, that’s what she is!”
Ian shakes his head with another laugh. “Yeah, she is.” He takes my hand and starts walking me to his van. “But honestly, I think she hates you because she knows what you’re going to be someday.”
“You told her?!” I gasp in horror.
“No, no!” he reassures me as he opens the passenger door for me. I slip in and Ian rests in the doorframe. “Lula has just always had this…vampdar.”
“A vampdar?” I ask in bored disbelief.
“A vampire radar,” Ian just says as a smile tugs on one side of his mouth. “She just knows when one is close by, other than that one time she slept through one breaking into her house. But she knows. Even if you aren’t a vampire yet.”
“Hm,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “Key word is yet.”
“Let it go,” he says as he leans in and presses a kiss to my lips. I try to glare at him as he backs up and walks around the van to the driver’s seat.
Over the past month and a half, Ian and I have become experts in going out into town together without appearing to be together. Because with him being an enemy of the House and me having claim over it and all, it won’t lead to any good, us being seen together by anyone.
So we go to stores together. We each take our own baskets, grab our own food. We pass by each other in the aisles, only slyly making eye contact. We checkout separately and one of us returns to the car and the other follows a few minutes later. That’s the dangerous part, when we drive together. Most days we don’t risk it.
We’ve gone to restaurants together, but separate. I manage to drag out Rath every so often—it’s pretty rare. Ian brings along Elle. We catch each other’s eyes. Smile knowingly and continue with our separate meals.
And most nights one of us sneaks to the other’s house.
It’s a weird, disjointed relationship. We both know our expiration date is approaching, but it doesn’t make it any less delicious before that day.
“ALIVIA, WAKE UP.”
My eyes squint open to find Ian lying right in front of me, his nose only an inch from mine. A smile is already splitting his face. The little wrinkles he gets around his mouth and eyes when he does so sends a wave of happiness through my soul.
“I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“What is it?” I ask, sleepily rubbing an eye.
“Don’t ask questions, just get dressed.”
So I do. It’s cold, even in the house, the last Sunday in November. I pull on a sweater and jeans. Barely able to contain his excitement, Ian takes my hand the second I’m done and drags me down the stairs and out the door. We pile into his van, and he heads down the driveway.
“Ian, where are we going?” I ask with a laugh. His excitement is contagious.
“I realized that in this town, I’m never going to be able to take you on a proper date,” he says as he takes one of my hands in his. He raises it to his lips and presses a kiss to the back of my hand. “So I thought we’d get out of town for the day. I wanted to go overnight, but I know you have to work tomorrow morning.”
“You’re making me think I should call Fred and tell him I’m sick,” I say as I raise an eyebrow at Ian.
“I’m thinking maybe you should,” he responds, a hungry look in his eyes.
We drive two hours north to Jackson. I flew into the city when I arrived, but immediately left it. It’s a city, much like any other. A mix of old and new buildings. Rolling greenery.
Ian pulls his van into a parking spot outside a restaurant and takes me inside. It smells like potatoes and eggs and bacon and every other amazing breakfast food.
“Table for two?” the hostess says. Ian nods and she takes us to a table toward the back, right next to a window.
After we order, Ian takes both of my hands in his, pressing my knuckles to his lips. He stares at me, studying me in the deepest sense of the word.
“What?” I say with a happy smile. “Why are y
ou looking at me like that?”
A small smile pulls at his lips and he shakes his head. “I just… I just wish that we could do this, all the time. Without hiding and being on our toes every second of the day.”
My eyes soften and his words melt all the female parts inside of me. “I know.”
And I imagine it for a moment. The two of us running away, leaving Mississippi. Going to…Nebraska. Surely there aren’t any vampires in Nebraska. We could live a normal life without kissing in the shadows or behind closed doors. We could just be…together.
But I can’t say any of those things. Because I made Ian make me a promise, and I have to keep it, too. And I will only do that by not daydreaming too hard.
“What do you want to do today?” he asks as the waitress brings us our brunch. “What could we never do in Silent Bend?”
“Um,” I take a moment to mull it over as I take a bite of the French toast. “All of those cliché first date things normal people get to do. A movie. A walk in the park. Ice cream.”
“It’s only like forty-five degrees outside, Liv,” Ian chuckles as he bites into a piece of toast. “You want ice cream?”
“I want ice cream,” I laugh at myself and him. I pucker out my lower lip in a pout for effect.
“Alright,” he says. “The woman wants ice cream, so she’ll get ice cream.”
I want to say that I only want to go out for ice cream with him, but that’s just too much for our very few weeks we have left. So instead, I simply lean over the table, and Ian meets me halfway. Slowly, softly, our lips linger.
As people walk by on the street outside that window right next to us. Here we are, kissing, being together, for everyone in Jackson to see. And for this moment, I don’t care who sees.
“I’M REALLY SORRY TO LEAVE you hanging last minute,” I say into my cell phone that night. I cough for effect. “I just don’t want to bring the plague into the shop.”
“Don’ worry about nothin,’” Fred says on the other end. “I’ll get things takin’ care of. You rest up.”
“Thanks, Fred,” I say. I feel bad for lying to him since he’s being so kind and understanding. “I’m sure I’ll be fine by Wednesday.”
We say our goodbyes and I hang up.
The city of Jackson is laid out before me. Our hotel room is on the seventh floor, which isn’t very high, but it isn’t the most vertical city. City lights twinkle in the dark and it’s just beautiful. Made all the more beautiful by the perfect beautiful day I’ve just had.
Ian and I did all those mundane, normal date things. We saw a chick-flick, took a walk through the freezing cold park after we got our ice cream. We held hands and kissed and cuddled for all to see.
I’m going to miss all of this when we have to leave in the morning.
A sliver of light cuts through the dark hotel room. I turn to see Ian walking out of the bathroom, a burst of steam following him from the shower he’s just taken.
He wears a pair of sweats I’ve seen him sleep in many times. But his chest is bare. And I bare no shame as I let my eyes wander over his skin.
Cut chest. Rising and falling valley of stomach muscles. Shoulders that beg me to touch them. Scars dot his body here and there, but they only add to the rugged beauty that is this man who I wish could be mine. Forever.
Ian’s eyes never once leave mine as he slowly crosses the room to me. And with every step he takes, I feel my temperature rising a few degrees.
Finally, an eternity later, he stops just an inch from me. “You’re so beautiful, Alivia.” His fingers hesitantly come to my sides, sending sparks racing through my body. His nose brushes mine, his lips just a breath away.
He smells like soap and heat and desire, and it leaves my head spinning. His still wet hair drips onto his shoulders, and my own wet hair drips down my back, soaking the oversized shirt I’m wearing over my underwear.
“I don’t want to leave tomorrow,” he whispers. He traces his nose over my cheek, and then his lips are brushing against my ear.
“Just pretend tonight is all there is,” I breathe. “It’s just us. Just tonight.”
His lips kiss my ear, and then they part and his teeth send an explosion of desire rocketing through my veins.
Suddenly, the inch of space between us is far too much and I am not in possession of my own body when I clasp my hands behind his neck and wrap both of my legs firmly around his waist.
It’s just Ian. Just me.
A FEW DAYS LATER, I’VE just woken up when there’s a quiet knock on my door. I squint my eyes open just as Ian lets himself in. A smile starts to spread on my lips. This is a habit he’s formed, one I greatly approve of. Without hesitation, Ian climbs into my bed and wraps his arms around me.
“Good morning,” I say sleepily. I press my face into his chest. And then my nose crinkles. “You just got off work, didn’t you? You smell like ambulance and blood.”
“I did.” And the tone of his voice instantly brings my eyes up to his face.
“What happened?” I ask. Because I’ve been in this town long enough to know that something did happen.
Ian sighs and holds me tighter. I place my head back on his chest. “There was a thirteen-year-old girl attacked the day we left for Jackson, on the edge of town. Her mom found her outside their house the next morning. She was almost completely drained of blood.”
“Almost?” I question.
“Yeah,” he says. He rubs his eyes. He’s tired, he needs sleep. But lately he comes here first after a shift. Sometimes he then goes home and sleeps, sometimes he just sleeps here. “And then there was another attack last night. You know Bella who volunteers at the library?”
“I’ve only met her once, but yeah,” I say, recalling the very unfriendly redheaded woman. The one who looked at me differently the second I asked for any info on the Conrath Plantation.
My insides are sinking.
“She was nearly drained, too. She was found at her house by the neighbor.”
“They were both nearly drained,” I say. The room grows colder and my future comes creeping up on me. “Too much blood gone for it to have been a House member feeding, too much blood gone for them to survive and be turned into a Bitten.” And that means just dead.
Ian rubs a hand up and down my arm absentmindedly. “I think someone was trying to turn them, they just didn’t have enough self-control. If it was just a thirsty vamp, they wouldn’t have left just a little blood. They always drain them. I think these two were a mistake—a mess up.”
“Whoever declared war on the House is back,” I say as I sit up and look down at Ian. “That’s how it started before. Someone went missing, and then they attacked the House.”
Ian nods, his eyes distant. “I don’t know what to do about this,” he says. “I can’t stop it if I don’t know who’s doing this. I’ve been patrolling at nights, but I’ve never seen anyone. I want to blame the House, but it’s clearly not them. People are scared, Liv. Half this town is fully aware of the vampire problem in Silent Bend. They never talk about it, but they’re going to start.”
And I can only imagine the chaos that is going to happen if the town goes into a vampire panic.
“I should go talk to Jasmine,” I say. “See if they’ve heard anything. I’m sure they’ve been on alert. They might have some leads.”
“No,” Ian shakes his head and his eyes grow dark with worry. His hand reaches forward and his thumb rests on my lower lip. “You’re only a month away from your birthday. You show up at their door now with all this chaos going on, Jasmine might decide she’s tired of waiting. It’s too risky, Liv.”
“You’re not my protector,” I say with annoyance as I stand and take a step away from the bed.
“But he’s right.” Rath pushes the door open and stands in the doorway with his hands folded. “Jasmine is a desperate, oftentimes unpredictable leader. If you go to her, anything could happen.”
I look between Ian and Rath, angry and conflicted.
; I’m not a little girl. I’ve survived on my own the last four years without anyone’s help. Without a father figure or an overly protective non-boyfriend.
But something is tugging on the back of my heart. Something soft and grateful that there are two men in my life who care about me and that I’m not alone.
It’s annoying. So I walk into the bathroom and close the door on them.
“WHAT’S BOTHERING YOU, ALIVIA?”
I look up from the display case to Daphne. She sits at a table, eating her cinnamon roll. It’s early, just after six again. She’s the first customer of the morning. Not every day, but I usually see her twice a week.
“How do you know something is wrong?” I ask as I slide the scones onto the display tray.
“I don’t need eyes to feel the frustration rolling off of you,” she says. “You’ve been quiet today. What’s on your mind?”
I sigh and walk around the display case and lean against it. I cross my arms over my chest. “Life is just complicated,” I say, because I could never explain what’s really bothering me. Four weeks, one day. A non-boyfriend who’s agitated and I’m afraid is going to do something stupid. Rath insisting I not go to the House. “I never thought I’d be involved in politics. All of adult life is just a game of politics, I’m learning.”
“Sadly, it’s true,” Daphne says with the nod of her head. “And it’s even more true when you live in a small, old town like this one.”
“Yeah,” I say. I stand back up and grab the baking sheet.
“You come grab these biscuits?” Fred calls from the back.
“Coming.”
AND ALL THAT WEEK, PEOPLE talk about the attacks. The fear and the speculation builds and builds.
At some point, it’s all going to explode.
ON DECEMBER NINTH, CORBIN, THE man who got all worked up at Fred’s the second he found out I was of Conrath blood, shoots an innocent man who is out too late one night, because Corbin was convinced he was a vampire.