I glanced to its dark shape waiting a few dozen feet farther down the hall. “You don’t have to–”
“Of course, I do,” he cut me off. “I was responsible for its damage.”
“I’m sure it can be fixed,” I lied. It was possible it could be fixed, but I’d seen the crack. I doubted that even the most skilled luthier could fix that. I had waited tables for the entire summer before I started college to purchase it. It was the most expensive thing I owned. I had no hope of getting a seat on the orchestra without a full-size, professional cello, or even securing the Reed Fellowship. The realization splintered my heart. Everything I’d been working for was gone.
I looked up, nearly straining my neck in the process, to see his eyes narrowed and wary. At the same moment, we passed by a sconce and I glimpsed their bright blueness for the second time. My heart stuttered like the first time I’d found myself in his sights.
“If that is the case, I will see to it. If not, I will ensure a replacement,” he said, leaving no room for further argument.
This time I wasn’t going to be polite. He was right. He had caught me off guard and made me drop the cello. The least he could do was help me repair it.
“Your friend,” I said, still trying to hold his gaze, which was quite a feat considering he had to be well over six feet tall, “he was a little weird.”
“Giovanni Valente is not my friend,” he warned me, “and you should stay away from him.”
“I was being polite,” I said defensively. Actually, I hadn’t wanted to go with the man he claimed was a vampire. I felt like I had to.
“Being polite is an excellent way to get yourself killed,” he said as if he’d read my mind.
“You sound like a true-crime podcast.” I rolled my eyes. “It wasn’t like I was going to climb into the back of his van or anything.” Nope, I’d nearly let Julian carry me off, though. This Valente guy had exercised an uneasy charm over me. Julian had just acted like I was a lost piece of luggage that he’d happened on. What was going on tonight?
“A true-crime what?” he asked, looking down at me with a curious expression.
“Really?” He couldn’t be serious, but the curiosity remained. “A true-crime podcast where they investigate old murders.”
He blinked before rearranging his face into disinterest. “I’ve been away...on business. I’ve missed a few things.”
“Where? 1999?” Everything about him was strange. He was missing a few pieces, and he swung wildly from insane caveman to perfect gentleman. But how had he never heard of podcasts?
“Is it on these things?” He pulled a cellphone from his pocket.
“Um…” How was I supposed to answer that? “Yes. You need an app.”
“An app,” he repeated. He grimaced at the phone like he didn’t trust it. “Would you call these things life-changing?”
“Phones?” I barely restrained a giggle. “Try living without one for a day.”
“I might.” He responded with a stiff smile. “I believe you needed the ladies’ room.”
Looking around, I realized he’d led me to it. “I did,” I said in confusion. I hadn’t told him that. He had been following me.
“I’ll wait out here and then return you to your peers.” He took a rigid stance next to the door, looking like a really beautiful statue of an ancient warrior. Except for he was wearing a tuxedo and alive.
I reached for the knob, casting one more look over my shoulder at him. He was still doing his impression of a bodyguard. Stepping into the bathroom, I waited for the door to close behind me and pressed my back to it, taking a deep breath. My life was busy. Hectic, even. But exciting? No. I wasn’t sure if that was the right word for what I felt pulsing inside me.
I hadn’t actually needed to use the toilet. That had been an excuse to get away from Giovanni. But, right now, sitting down for a minute seemed like an excellent idea. I took a few steps toward the stalls. Pushing open the first door, I gasped as I interrupted a man and a woman pressed against the side of the stall.
“Sorry!” I blurted out, whirling away, as something hit me. I turned my head back instinctively as I realized I recognized the strapless black gown puddling at the woman’s feet. “Carmen?”
Could tonight get any weirder? Maybe I needed to take a few days off. But she didn’t respond. The man she was with didn’t move either.
I took a step toward the door, averting my eyes from the kiss. “I’m sorry. I’ll leave you two to…”
I was not about to finish that sentence. But before I could back out of the room, the man lifted his head to reveal two completely black eyes. Not a sliver of white iris was visible. A single red drop dripped from the side of his mouth. Carmen slumped into his arms like she was drunk.
I opened my mouth to scream, but he murmured, “Silence. Wait there until I’m finished with this one.”
My scream lodged in my throat and my body locked in place as if gravity had been turned to its highest setting. I couldn’t move my feet. I couldn’t lift my arms. It was as if I’d been frozen. I couldn’t call for help. I could only watch as he lowered his lips back to Carmen’s neck.
The only part of me I had any control over was my brain, but I could only think one word.
Vampire.
CHAPTER SIX
JULIAN
I’d lived centuries and somehow I found myself lounging against a yellowing plaster wall waiting for a woman I barely knew–a human woman. I felt its slight orange-peel texture through my tuxedo jacket and shirt. My sharpened senses were still in overdrive. I tapped a beat on the wall to dissipate my energy, surprised at how it absorbed the sound. Then again, theatres were known for good acoustics. No one wanted a flushing toilet to interrupt a performance. I glanced at the door of the ladies’ room, wondering how long she could possibly take, and began devising a three-step plan for dealing with my colossal fuck-up.
Step one: Get Thea away from the vampires here.
Step two: Compel her to forget everything that had happened tonight.
Step three: Fuck if I knew.
The problem was that I’d already tried compelling her. She resisted me entirely. If I hadn’t already used it on the bartender, I might have been worried that something was wrong with me. The last time my compulsion had failed was...never.
It had never happened to me, not once in all my centuries. And the fact that Thea could resist me made it even harder to get rid of her. I wanted to know why. What was so special about the petite human? Yes, she was breathtaking and played the cello with a passion I hadn’t experienced in ages. But she was also approximately the size of a teacup, and just as fragile.
