"Reggie," Claire said sharply.
He blinked. "Uh… I didn't mean anything by it."
She smiled tightly. "We're going back inside now."
"We can leave for Toronto right now," Thierry said. "There's no reason to stay, and it's still early."
I shook my head. "No, let's go back to the motel and get a good night's sleep. Everything will be better tomorrow."
"Glad you think so," George said. "I'm leaving. I'll see you back in Toronto."
And we all went our separate ways. I guess biting George's neck canceled out what the
Red Devil had asked him to do—look out for me. Can't say that I blamed George much. If somebody had bitten me I wouldn't be hanging around for a potential second course.
I'd hoped that attending my high-school reunion would be a good way to remind me that, even though I was a vampire, I could still be normal.
Okay, so it hadn't exactly worked out as I'd envisioned it.
However, three glasses of punch and one bitten neck later, the ratio was still in my favor.
Barely. But I was very glad I wouldn't have to come in contact with Stacy McGraw again.
She was a witch with some serious issues to sort out. Preferably far away from me.
I guess it could have turned out a lot worse than it did.
After we returned to the motel room and locked the door behind us, Thierry turned to face me. He had this thing he did with his expression. I would assume it was because after six-
plus centuries of practice, he was able to give the ultimate poker face. No expression, no emotion, just a flat, bland look on his painfully handsome face.
However, he wasn't giving me that look at the moment. His dark eyebrows were drawn closely together, his mouth was set in a thin line, and his jaw was tight.
"I'm fine," I told him. "Seriously."
"You would tell me if you were feeling any different?"
"Trust me, I'm now paying very close attention to how I'm feeling."
He studied me for a long moment and then nodded. "I have come into contact in my life with those who practice dark magic, and it doesn't always end as pleasantly as this has."
I threw my purse down on the table next to the television. My stomach churned unpleasantly from what had happened earlier. "I think George might disagree with you on that."
"George will be fine."
"You've known witches before?"
"A few. I also remember a particular fortune teller I once met. At the time I thought that she was a fraud, but I have come to realize that she had admirable skill. Another witch I knew of specialized in creating curses for profit."
I slipped off my shoes and flicked them toward the door. "Do you think Stacy was trying to curse me?"
He was silent for a moment. "That was my first assumption. But since you've easily recovered from what happened, I believe it was simply a temporary spell. She is obviously not a powerful witch."
I shook my head. "I can't believe there's so much for me to still learn. Magic, witches, werewolves. Claire said she can summon demons. Was she serious about that? Why didn't
I know any of this when I was human? I just sailed through my life thinking anything remotely like this was fiction."
He crossed his arms. "How would you have reacted if you had learned that it wasn't fiction? That it is, in fact, reality?"
I thought about that. "I don't think I would have believed it."
"Most humans, when shown something out of the ordinary, a flash of fangs, for example, will not make the connection. They see what they want to see and assume that it was a human who had sharper-than-normal incisors. To believe anything else would require them to reassess their entire place in the universe."
"That's pretty deep."
"You've seen for yourself that vampires are not much different from humans."
I nodded. "Other than the fangs, lack of reflection, and immortality thing, we are human."
"And the desire for blood," he added.
I felt myself pale a bit. Right. The blood. "I think I'm going to get ready for bed. I'm tired."
He drew closer to me and put his hand against the side of my face. "You don't have to feel as if you've done something wrong. Vampires, especially fledglings, require blood. It's in your very nature to seek it out."
"Not when it involves chomping on one of my best friends."
His jaw tightened. "Better him than an unwilling human."
Vampires took blood where they could get it. I got mine exclusively at Haven, from the delivered kegs, but I could also put in a special order with the delivery companies if I wanted to keep some on hand in the fridge at home. So far, that hadn't been necessary, since I could do "takeout" from the club when I needed to.
I'd learned that a human's blood was the first choice. A fellow vampire's blood was a good second choice. Then there was animal blood, and the last resort, synthetic, which apparently had all of the nutrients but none of the zing.
I thought of it in terms of the human blood's being the main course, and the vampire blood's being dessert. Only some vamps, like Thierry himself, had more of a sweet tooth than others.
It was so bizarre.
Bottom line, I'd gotten off easy tonight. I should be thanking my lucky stars.
Thank you, lucky stars.
I glanced down at the beautiful ring on my right hand and then looked up into Thierry's eyes. A promise, he'd said. He hadn't exactly clarified what that promise was. A promise he'd help me? A promise he'd be around and wouldn't get any more stupid suicidal "I'm going to jump off a bridge" ideas into his vampire brain? A promise that after he had his marriage to Veronique annulled, we might have a real future together ahead of us?
All of the above. Pretty please.
He raised an eyebrow. "What is that for?"