Campbell started to run his fingers along her face, only to realize he was still cuffed. What the hell was he doing? As if he hadn’t put Olivia in enough danger already.
He pulled back. “I need to go.”
She hesitated but finally shifted away. Without meeting his eyes, she unhooked his cuffs then stood. He wanted to reach out to her as she headed for the door, but he refrained. He needed to leave before either one of them went too far.
Damn it, he’d already gone too far. He’d kissed her, tasted her, had gotten himself invited into the sanctuary of her home. He followed her into the kitchen, wishing things could be different.
He spotted Mindy at the far side of the kitchen and smelled her fear. She had a firm grip on one of those wooden mallets that were used to tenderize meat. Sometime during the day, she’d shaved the handle down to a sharp point, a very effective stake. Hoping to somehow put her at ease, he nodded. “Thank you.”
She pointed the makeshift stake at him. “I know you saved Olivia, but I still don’t trust you.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“You need to leave and never come back.”
“Mindy,” Olivia said from behind him, part scolding and part embarrassment.
He held up his hand. “No, it’s okay.” Campbell made the mistake of meeting Olivia’s bright eyes. In them he saw a yearning that matched his own, her unspoken plea for him to stay. But he couldn’t. Refusing to allow himself to speak any words that would even touch how he was feeling, he gripped the knob on the back door.
“Goodbye, Livvi” was all he managed before he fled into the coming night. Fled before his willpower abandoned him totally and he gave in to temptation and did more than simply kiss her.
* * *
One moment Campbell stood in front of Olivia and the next he was gone, literally in the blink of an eye. He’d pulled the door closed behind him, and she knew as she approached the door it was no use looking into the alley behind the building for him. He wouldn’t be there. That damned protective trait she so admired about him was now standing in the way of them seeing where they could go following that kiss. That and the knowledge she had to give him up for good. She bit her lip to keep it from trembling.
Remembering the kisses they’d shared, she lifted her fingers to her lips and thought she could still feel his coolness there. It should have freaked her out to kiss someone who was technically dead, but it hadn’t. He had felt very far from dead as he’d allowed himself a moment of indulgence. If nothing else, she could hold on to the fact that she was certain he wanted her for something other than her blood.
“Olivia?”
It took a moment for Mindy’s voice to penetrate the haze of memory, but when it did, Olivia locked the door before turning toward her friend.
“You didn’t have to stay,” Olivia said.
“I wasn’t going to leave you alone with him.”
“If he’d wanted to hurt me, he would have done it the moment I took his cuffs off. He could have killed me and you before we even had time to say a word. But he didn’t.”
Olivia glanced toward the back door as if Campbell would magically appear there again. After her staring did nothing to bring him back, she shifted her attention back to Mindy. “Looks as if you’re stuck staying here again tonight. I’m sorry.”
She knew Mindy wouldn’t get a wink of sleep knowing she was in a building that was no longer vampire-proof. Granted, Campbell was the only one who could enter, but that was one too many.
“Come on.” Olivia led the way up the stairs, flicking the lights off in the diner as she went and trying not to think about how much she wished Campbell was the one following her.
Once they were in the apartment, Olivia closed and locked the door at the top of the stairs. She glanced at the balcony but found it empty.
“If I hadn’t been here, you would have invited him up, wouldn’t you?” Mindy asked.
Olivia couldn’t lie to her best friend, but she didn’t want to hurt her either. So she said nothing. But she didn’t have to.
The momentary flash of disgust on Mindy’s face was enough to tell Olivia that Mindy knew more had happened between Olivia and Campbell than Olivia had admitted. Only days ago she would have felt the same way at the thought of a vamp’s lips on hers.
“We had this dog, a black lab named Renfro, when I was a kid,” Mindy said. “Best dog you’d ever want, until he wasn’t. He’d never shown any hint of viciousness, but one day he lost it and attacked Mom, bit her badly. Nobody knew why he turned like that, other than the fact he was an animal. We had to put him down. I cried and cried, but Mom wouldn’t risk him hurting Jess or me.”
“Campbell isn’t a dog.”
“No, but he is an animal who can turn with no warning.”
“You don’t have to worry about it anymore, okay?” She knew she sounded curt, but it had been a hell of a day.
Mindy didn’t look convinced, and Olivia didn’t have the energy to try to convince her. She wasn’t sure she’d find enough to convince herself.
* * *
When Campbell returned to the cave to change into clothes that didn’t smell like burned flesh, Sophia met him at the entrance. The strained look on her face put him on high alert.
“What’s wrong?”
“There are Imperium representatives here to see you.”
“Really? I figured it’d take them longer to get back to me.”
“They’re not here because of your inquiry about contacting the NYPD.”
It took him a moment, but the truth sank in. They were here because he’d killed two humans. His heart sank at the knowledge he might very well never see Olivia again. Probably wouldn’t live to see another day. Damn, damn and double damn. He hated the idea of having to give up his life because of two lowlife pieces of scum like the men who’d attacked Olivia.
But he hadn’t drained them. Maybe that little technicality would be enough to save him.
“What happened?” Sophia asked. “We called Olivia’s diner today, but she wasn’t there and we didn’t dare ask for you. We were afraid you were dead.”
“I very nearly was, as you can probably tell from smelling me. But you might as well hear the story with everyone else. I only want to tell it once.”
After hesitating for a few seconds, Sophia turned and headed down into the main room. There Campbell spotted a trio of familiar faces, the Lex Legis of New York. If V Force was the law enforcement arm of the Imperium, the Lex Legis was judge and jury. He’d had dealings with Annabelle Light, Henry Fowler and Chin Lee Wan before, but he’d never been the one on trial.
“Legisters,” he said respectfully. “Sorry to appear before you in such a state.”
“It seems you had a run-in with the sun as well as the two dead humans,” Fowler said without preamble.
Campbell forced his expression to stay neutral. He’d never liked Fowler, and that was why of the three, Fowler was the only one Campbell didn’t think of by first name. The guy just seemed to glory in his job a little too much. “Unfortunately,” he said simply in response to the guy’s comment.
“You know why we’re here?” Annabelle asked.
“I’m assuming because of the dead humans.”
Annabelle looked genuinely saddened. That sent a surge of concern through him. Would they really execute him? If they did, they’d be stretching the law beyond what it said.
“You know the punishment for killing humans,” Fowler said.
“Yes, I do. It says that vampires are to be executed when they kill a human by draining him. I didn’t even fang them. I broke their necks.”
Fowler started to speak again, but Chin stopped him by simply holding up his hand. Chin was the head Legister and so always had the right to speak before the others.
“Why did you kill them?” Chin asked.