Suddenly hungry, Quinn dug into the mound of pancakes and bacon on his plate.
Chapter Seventeen
It was fifteen minutes past sunset when Craig woke slowly to the feel of a hand on his chest. The hand was small, feminine and very familiar. He smiled in the darkness and tried to stretch, only to discover there wasn’t enough room for him to move, let alone stretch.
Beneath him was smooth porcelain instead of a mattress. Towels under his head instead of a pillow. Why were they lying in a bathtub instead of on a bed?
As though a switch had been flipped, he remembered everything, including his frantic run through the city streets to be with Evie when the dawn arrived. He had a vague memory of falling on top of her. Not exactly a graceful entrance.
“Here.” Evie sat up and reached over the side of the tub. He heard ice scrunching together as though she was pulling a container out of an ice chest.
He smiled when she handed him a bottle.
It wasn’t filled with wine, as the label suggested, but blood. The smell of the rich liquid made his fangs explode from his gums. He was ravenous.
He tipped the bottle back and drank deeply. Last night had depleted him in more ways than one.
The image of a dead man flashed in his mind, but he shoved it aside. He would not dwell on the murderer he’d been forced to destroy. He consumed half the blood and licked his lips. The life-giving liquid flooded through his body, refreshing his cells and replenishing his strength.
“Tell me what happened.” Evie was curled up on the opposite end of the tub, watching him. Her hair was half out of her braid and her eyes looked slightly bloodshot.
He frowned, worried about her health. Hadn’t she slept?
“Craig?”
Craig shook his head, not wanting to share his nightmares with her and add to her own. Evie glanced away, but not before he saw the hurt in her eyes.
Relationships were complicated things and he hadn’t had much practice with them.
“It’s not pretty,” he warned her.
“Not much of this situation has been.” Her quiet, calm reply settled him.
“Not here.” He stood and climbed out of the tub. He held his hand out to her and she took it, allowing him to help her.
Holding the half-full bottle in one hand, he opened the bathroom door and peered out at the mess. The daybed was still intact, although the covers and pillows were strewn on the floor. Her bookshelves had been toppled and her chair and coffee table were in pieces.
He led Evie over to the one unbroken piece of furniture and urged her to sit.
“Where did this come from?” He hefted the bottle and drank some more.
“Damek had his people deliver it.
He called after you fell asleep.” Evie pushed back on the daybed and leaned against the wall.
“And you were awake?”
Evie nodded and grinned. “Seems the daylight sleep doesn’t really affect me the way it does you.”
Now that was interesting. What other differences existed? The fact that she could be awake during the day was a tremendous advantage.
She licked her lips, her gaze on the bottle in his hands.
“Did you drink?” He held out the bottle to her as shame filled him. He should have offered it to her first.
“Yes, I had some when I brought the chest inside.” She pushed the bottle back toward him. “You need to finish that.”
Craig settled beside her, close but not quite touching. If he touched her, there would be no talking. He wanted to feel her naked body under him, her hands touching him, her lips and tongue on his skin.
He shuddered and finished the last of the blood before setting the bottle down on the floor. “The day sleep doesn’t affect you?” This was a power he didn’t have at all and he was fascinated by it.
“Not so much. I get a bit sleepy, but it’s no different than the mid-afternoon slump I’d get when I was fully human.
Back then I could drink coffee. Now I can just push through it. Drinking blood helps too.”
“Amazing.” Craig reached out his hand to touch her face, but she moved just out of reach. He tried not to let her reaction hurt him, but it did. He sighed and let his hand fall to his lap.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted.
His eyes widened. “Why are you sorry? You did nothing wrong.”
“I ran. From you. From your friends.” She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her hands around her knees. He noticed her tendency to do so when she was stressed, as though she were trying to make herself so small no one would notice her. That habit, long ingrained, came from her childhood.
Fury raced through him like a runaway train, which he barely managed to contain. The thought of some adult hurting Evie as a child angered him deeply. How could anyone hurt her?
“It’s understandable.” He leaned forward but didn’t touch her. “You were frightened. No one blames you for that.”
“I do.” She buried her face against her knees for a moment before raising it again. Her green eyes glowed like emeralds. “Thank you for everything you did. Thank you for fighting and for defeating Vladimir.”
“It was a group effort.” Damek probably could have done it alone, but he hadn’t been there at the beginning. It had taken all of them to hold the other vampire off until reinforcements arrived.
Evie tipped her head back against the wall. “Your friends put themselves in danger. I don’t understand them at all.”
Unable to resist any longer, Craig scooted closer until he was sitting next to her. His much longer legs hung off the mattress, his feet touching the floor. “I know you don’t, but you will.”
“What happened after I left last night?”
Craig pondered his options, but knew he could be nothing less than truthful. If Evie was going to turn away from him because of what he’d done it was better to know now than later.
“I stayed at Haven and helped them clean up the worst of the damage. Isaiah and Michael were off disposing of Vladimir’s body and head when we left.
Damek and I went to Vladimir’s home first. We have to go back tonight and destroy anything that might lead anyone to suspect he was a vampire. No one can know.”
Evie nodded. “I understand.”
“There was a minion there. A man who’d been enslaved by Vladimir. Not an overly smart man, but a good one.”
Evie reached out and took his hand.
He folded his fingers around it and held it tight. “What happened to him?”
“Damek took most of his memories of the time he’d spent with the vampire.
He’ll always have blanks in his memory, will have nightmares for the rest of his life, but he’s alive and free.” Craig paused and plowed forward, wanting this done. There could be no secrets between them, not if they hoped to have a future together. “The vampire hunters killed most of the minions and Damek took care of those they missed. They weren’t good men.” He left it at that.
Evie squeezed his hand. “What happened then?”
Craig peered across the apartment. It was past dusk, casting the apartment in shadows. They had a lot of work to clean up this place. Most of her belongings were broken or damaged beyond repair. Garbage.
She’d definitely have to move. It wasn’t safe here, and he didn’t like the idea of Evie on her own.
“Damek discovered there were vampire hunters in the city.” He raked the fingers of his free hand through his hair. “They’re a deadly bunch. They kill vampires, sometimes those humans who like to dress up and pretend, humans they think might have aided vampires, minions and sometimes innocent bystanders. They don’t usually take the time to differentiate between vampires who are good and those who aren’t.
They kill them all.”
Evie swallowed hard. “That’s… that’s horrible.”