“Gustav, there’s a body where you park your crappy car,” he grumbled. Muffled yelling came through on the other end of the phone. “Just take care of it.”
The more she thought about this whole situation, the more frightened she became. Here she sat in a car with a killer. Okay, so he had saved her life twice, but he’d just killed a man with his bare hands. That might be a normal, everyday thing for a vampire, but it had shaken her, badly.
And if he truly was a vampire, then what other creatures were running loose in the world? And was her attacker part of that mythical group? People didn’t have red eyes, and Soren’s eyes weren’t red. What did he kill? “His eyes were red,” she said aloud, still looking out the side window.
“I know.”
“His eyes were red,” she said more firmly. If he was avoiding it, it meant something.
“Faith—”
She smacked the dash. “Damn it, Soren, why were his eyes red?”
“It was a demon,” he said, not meeting her glare.
She stared at him, her jaw slightly unhinged, then nodded slowly. “Of course he was. Why didn’t I think of that?” The pitch of her voice rose several notches. “Great, there is a hell.”
“There is, but these creatures didn’t come from hell. Demons are simply another species of human, the same as vampire.” A smile turned his lips upward.
“Right, and how many species are there?” Her fingers tapped the armrest.
“Four. Human, vampire, demon, and wolf.”
“Wolf? As in Werewolf? I didn’t see that in the brochure.” Faith glanced out the window, and muttered, “While in Paris, be sure to see the damned.”
“None of us are damned. Well, the Wolves are, but that’s what you get for pissing off a witch. What’s left of them reside somewhere outside London. We tend to stay away from your kind. Humans are unpredictable at best,” Soren explained, his focused stare glued on the road.
“Then why do you live in Paris?”
The car was creeping to an intersection. What the heck was he doing?
“I don’t exactly live in Paris. We have to feed, and we’ve a better chance of being forgotten if we take what we need from tourists. Tourists get a thrill and we get the nourishment our bodies require for proper healing. This is the city of love, after all,” he said in a tight voice.
“So you romance them, suck their blood, and then leave? Good God, no matter what species they are, men are pigs.”
“You won’t hear an argument from any one of them,” he said, taking the car carefully around a corner.
“Hey, I’m arguing here.” She waved her hands at him, but he didn’t look away from the road.
“Yes, but if I romanced you, you’d change your mind.”
“Right, let me just scoot over and make room for your male ego,” she said, fixing her gaze out the window.
What would it be like if he romanced her? She’d never been truly romanced, at least not by her standards. Could she hold her ground? She watched him from the corner of her eye.
Not a chance. With him, she might as well throw in the towel from the beginning. He was handsome, in a refined manner, and considerate. He’d held the car door open for her. Okay, so he’d shoved her in after he opened the door, but still, he got two points for the effort. And another two points for those muscles.
She liked the way he made her safety his personal mission. When he’d let his inner barbarian free to kill the demon with his bare hands, she hadn’t been afraid for herself.
Traveling in silence, the scenery passed at a slow pace. He drove like a grandpa with his hands precisely at ten and two, hunched over the wheel as if reading some fine print on the windshield.
She stifled a giggle, disguising it with a cough.
He couldn’t have been going over forty miles per hour. Better than walking, but nearly a joke when behind the wheel. With no other cars in sight and the city far behind, driving still seemed quite the feat for him. His white fingers wrapped around the wheel tenaciously. Poor guy.
This was the first touch of insecurity she had seen from the vampire, and it wasn’t much. He remained in complete, slow control. “Do you want me to drive?”
“No,” he said sharply.
She didn’t try again. He could have his macho trip, and burst a blood vessel in the process. His call. At this speed she would have plenty of time to relax.
Chapter 4
Soren left the car at the edge of a dense forest, and led her to the entrance of a very narrow path hidden in the trees. He pushed through the thick foliage ahead of her, clearing a crude trail. They stepped over trees, some fallen, while the roots of others reached above the ground. This entrance must not be used often.
“I thought we weren’t going to walk,” she complained as she pushed another branch away from her face.
“It’s not a long walk,” Soren said, weaving around a sapling that almost reached his height. “You’re keeping up fine.”
“I know I can keep up, I’m just worried creepy things are lurking in the forest.” She copied him, dodging the tiny tree.
“There are no demons here, I promise you.”
“I meant spiders, but thank you. Now I can’t decide which is worse, eight legs or red eyes.” The hairs on her nape prickled as if something followed her, and she quickly closed the gap between them.
He laughed quietly at her sudden skittishness. “Like I said, there are no demons here.”
The trees thinned, and as the path ended, Soren stopped. Down a gradually sloping hill ahead of them lay an old chateau. This was not her idea of a vacation hot spot. The chateau had no aesthetic appeal. It was a fortress with high walls and narrow windows. A tall structure, its squared center rose higher than the rest of the block-like architecture.
“Wow, you live here?”
“I do,” he said with pride. “This is my home. This is Balinese.”
He took her hand, helping her to keep her balance. The descent was steep, and she wasn’t used to this kind of terrain, but his sure footing and confidence chased away any concern.
The ground leveled out, and Soren settled his hand across the small of her back, guiding her. It was for the best. She couldn’t stop staring at the chateau and wasn’t paying attention where she walked.
“Faith, my world is not like yours. Keep quiet and stay close,” Soren warned in a whisper.
She nodded, still lost in studying the large and looming chateau. Soren pulled her through the arched entry, the door deeply inset to shelter visitors from the weather.
He didn’t open the door, instead turned his face toward the dark corner to his right. “Steffen,” he said with a short nod.
A man came out of the shadows in a single step, his sad blue eyes peering through stray pieces of long, straight hair. “Shall I request an escort to lead her to the dungeons?” he asked, his fangs visible.
“No, she stays with me.” He pulled her closer to his side.
Steffen’s eyebrows shot upward, his curiosity clearly piqued.
“Is there something you want to say?” Soren challenged.
“No, sir, absolutely not,” Steffen said, but his gaze remained on her.
“Wise choice, but if you do not stop looking at the human, I’ll correct the problem for you,” Soren ground out, low and