Finding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 1) (7 page)

She did find the will to meet his eyes to read his reaction to her blunt statement. He didn’t appear to look guilty, but at least the news didn’t make him happy either.

“You could’ve killed me so easily so many times now. All I have is your word that you won’t. I met you last night. I have no reason to believe anything you say.”

He remained silent and let her continue. “You want me to help you with this…” She stopped to look at the company that surrounded her, which was mostly unfriendly. She continued, “With this…little project of yours. You want me to help you do this to some man or thing that I’ve only seen once for a few minutes fifteen years ago. Hell, I only have your word that it actually is the same person. I still don’t know what he did with my father.”

“What can I do to convince you I’m being truthful?”

“That’s something my friend helped me to realize. One of the reasons I’m so scared is that I have no control. You’re bigger, stronger, and scarier than I am, and I have no way to double-check the information you’re giving me.”

“I can’t help any of that,” he responded.

“I know. I think I have a compromise though.”

“I can’t wait,” he said sarcastically.

“Let me talk to the, well, the one ‘that we both seek’ before we do anything rash.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “Talk to him? Who exactly do you think you’re dealing with? He’s not going to let us talk to him and then allow us to leave alive if you have a sudden change of heart and can’t bring yourself to kill the bastard.”

“Well, I can’t just take your word for it. I need more. I’m sorry.” Anna went to push herself up, but his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t go yet.”

Anna stared at his hand on her skin. It was so big, it looked as though it would swallow her hand whole. She felt tingles of warmth spread through her body, all centered on the point their skin touched.

She sat down and slowly pulled her arm away from his grip. He released her arm. She watched his beautiful hand as it went back to his glass. “That was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What?”

She steeled herself and met his eyes. “We need to talk about sex.”

Anna could feel the blood rush to her face as he laughed out loud, causing a few heads to turn. He dropped his voice a little. “Sweetie, we can talk about that whenever you want to.”

She’d been dreading this part of the conversation on the whole trip back to the city. “We need to talk about the fact that we’re not going to have any.”

He wasn’t laughing anymore. “Are you kidding me?”

She glared at him. “Yes. This is my favorite thing to joke about,” she said sarcastically. “I’m dead serious. We can’t do anything.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut before any sound came out. Instead, he took a long swig of his drink.

Anna looked at the glass and tried to decipher what was in it, but the sides were too dark for her to make out much. “What are you drinking?”

He handed it to her. She looked inside, but it was too dim to make anything out. She tilted the contents toward the top of the glass and took a small sniff. Immediately, she gagged at the coppery scent.

“Why would you hand that to me?” she asked, so loud it was almost a shout.

He didn’t answer her. His eyes were focused on something over her shoulder. She glanced behind her and saw two big, beefy men talking with the two vampires who had moved earlier.

She diverted her attention back to Nicolas, and he appeared to be trying to listen to what the group of men was talking about.

Anna snapped her fingers in front of his face. His attention immediately reverted back to her and she waved his dark glass in the air. “What the hell?”

He shrugged. “I wanted to see your reaction.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Jerk,” she muttered under her breath.

His smile stayed in place, but his eyes seemed to get serious. “You have no idea.” Before she could ask him what he meant, he said, “I think you might’ve been right about coffee.” His eyes once again looked beyond her.

Anna turned around and saw that the two muscle-bound men Nicolas had been watching now approached their booth. The closer they got, the more she saw how big they really were.

They weren’t quite as tall as Nicolas, but they were still around six feet. The sleeves on their t-shirts could hardly fit around their biceps, and Anna had a feeling they purposely bought shirts too small for them. They walked intently toward her and Nicolas, but he didn’t seem concerned. Instead, he finished off what was left in his glass. He set the drink down just as the two big shadows fell over the table.

The one on the left said, “You should leave.”

Nicolas calmly looked up at the one who’d spoken. “We are in the middle of a conversation. You may speak to me when I’m done with her.”

Anna groaned as Nicolas patronized the man. The two men didn’t appear too happy about it either. The second man picked up Nicolas’s glass and slammed it into the table. The glass shattered.

Anna jumped back as shards of glass shot toward her.

Quicker than her eye could follow, Nicolas was on his feet. He had one hand on the back of the offender’s neck and had his face pressed onto the table, against the broken glass and blood.

The other man took a step back, shaking his head. Apparently he wasn’t willing to actually get hurt.

Nicolas seemed to press his captive harder into the sharp shards. “Apologize to the woman.”

Anna’s gaze jerked up to Nicolas. His face was stone cold and his fangs protruded from his top lip. His eyes were jet black, just like she’d seen once before. When the man at his hands remained silent, he pushed his face harder into the glass on the table. Anna saw blood start to pool around his face.

“I-I-I don’t—I don’t think that’s necessary,” she stammered out.

He turned those black eyes on her. She moved to get out of the booth and could feel his eyes bore into her. She didn’t want to see what Nicolas would do to the man at his mercy but couldn’t bring herself to run.

Nicolas looked her over and the intensity of his gaze caused goose bumps to break out over her skin. She crossed her arms in discomfort.

“I think this is very necessary.” Nicolas squeezed the man’s neck, and he let out a scream. Nicolas shouted over the scream, “Apologize!”

Anna’s gaze was caught by a movement out of the corner of her eye. A blur approached Nicolas. Acting on pure instinct, she jumped between Nicolas and the blur, which hit her at full force and sent her body flying onto a table in the middle of the room. Her momentum carried her off the table, and she tumbled to the floor.

She tried to push herself up to see what happened, but a hand reached out and grabbed her neck. She wheezed as the strong fingers cut off her air. The second man, the more cowardly one, stared down at her. Apparently his style was to go after weaker prey who couldn’t fight back.

His breath went into her face as he whispered, “This is what happens when you side with traitors.” She closed her eyes as she waited for the bite to come. Suddenly, the hand was no longer around her neck, and she once again collapsed to the floor.

Anna scanned the room and took in the damage. The man Nicolas had pinned to the table was also in a heap on the floor. One of his wrists was bent at a strange angle, and he was trying to crawl away with his one good arm.
Why didn’t he get up to walk?

A commotion behind her drew her attention. Nicolas punched the man who had just pinned Anna down. Even though he appeared half unconscious, Nicolas kept on hitting.

Anna tried to yell and stop him from killing the man, but it only came out as a whisper. Even so, Nicolas stopped and looked at her. Anna tried to drag herself up with as much dignity as possible under the circumstances. Nicolas was suddenly there beside her and pulled her up.

He let her lean against a table as he walked past the wreckage of their booth to grab her bag. When he came back, he braced one arm around her back to help her walk.

Anna allowed him to assist her out of the bar. She noticed that all of the other patrons now stood behind the cash register.

When they reached the cool night air, she pushed herself away from Nicolas’s warm body. “I’m fine,” she said.

He shot her a disbelieving look. “I could take you to a hospital if you’d like.”

“It’s really nothing. I fell, that’s it.” He raised an eyebrow at her downplaying of the incident and she continued, “A forceful fall, but a fall nonetheless.”

He didn’t comment, and they walked for a couple of moments in silence. Once she got tired of the silence, Anna asked, “Were the two meatheads friends of yours?”

He shook his head. “I’ve never seen them before tonight.”

“Really? You didn’t do anything to piss them off? I find that hard to believe.”

“They seemed young. They weren’t skilled fighters.”

“They seemed skilled from my point of view. Did you see how big their arms were?”

“Our strength is so great, muscle mass will not affect it much. It’s skill that decides the victor in a fight. I’m good, but it was two against one. They never landed a blow on me.”

He studied her, and she tried not to show the aches that were becoming more and more apparent.

“I wasn’t skilled enough to help you. I’m sorry for that,” he said softly.

Anna tried to read his expression. He seemed genuinely sorry. “Don’t feel that bad. I’m the one who jumped in front of him.”

He stopped in his tracks. “You what?”

“He was coming at your back. Kind of cowardly, if you ask me.”

“Annabelle, you can’t get in between vampires fighting. It’s dangerous. Just one wrong blow could kill you.”

All she’d done was try to protect him. Stupid man. If she’d stood back, and he died, she had a feeling she’d have had more than a few bruises.

Shaking her head, Anna started to walk again. He eventually followed. When he was at her side once more, she said, “They might have started it, but you sure had no problem finishing it.”

“They were disrespecting the both of us in the middle of a public establishment. I had to let them know it wasn’t acceptable.”

“Not acceptable? I’m nobody. In their eyes, I’m just a weak little human. Them disrespecting me is perfectly reasonable if I have to choose between that and a fight.”

“They treated me as if I had no right to be in there, even though Aleksander’s ban on me was lifted decades ago.”

“Some fights you walk away from. He hurt your pride, and you wanted to hurt him back. You don’t work for a king anymore. You can’t go off fighting for your honor whenever it’s offended,” she said.

He said nothing to defend himself. Was it because he was unused to being accused of acting rashly?

“How long will it take to find Aleksander?” she asked once they’d turned a corner.

“I’m not sure. I’m thinking it will be three nights of driving. I have to double-check on his current lair, to make sure he hasn’t moved recently.”

“If we’re going to be together for more than three nights, you can’t get into pointless fights.” He looked as if he was about to reply, but she continued before he could. “You can handle yourself in a fight. Honestly, I know a bit about self-defense and can handle myself as well. But your kind are so strong. I need you to think about my safety when you’re considering rushing into something.”

“Says the foolish woman who rushed right in front of a charging vampire.”

“Just agree, Nicolas,” she said irritably.

He gave a slight nod. “I agree to consider what would lead to the safest result for you before rushing into something.”

She had doubts he would actually follow through if push came to shove, but at least he was willing to consider it. “Thank you.”

“Why would you put yourself in so much danger if you know your father is probably dead anyway?” he asked.

Because she needed to know for sure. A life looking over her shoulder, and learning how to pick locks so she could have the best one, wasn’t much of a life. “It’s something I have to know. Why go through all of this trouble for a king who’s already dead?” she countered.

He was silent for a moment. It reiterated that he wasn’t telling her everything. She supposed it was only fair, but it still bothered her.

“When my king and I were at our peak, young vampires like the ones we saw tonight would be too afraid to even look at me, let alone openly challenge me. It might seem petty to you, but it is very important to me.

“I fell so far in only one night thanks to Aleksander. I’ve been slowly working my way back up. Twenty years ago, I would never have even been served a drink in that establishment.”

“You asked me why I was willing to put myself in danger. Is it worth dying just to assuage your hurt pride?” she asked.

“I lived for centuries for one purpose: to lead. We were monsters when Kirill took leadership. Together, we brought order and civilized behavior to my people. There was no more sleeping in coffins. We could interact with humans. We could feed without killing. Instead of living like scavengers in the woods, we could buy homes and become members of a community,” he said.

“Why would anyone want to overthrow Kirill if what he was doing was so good for your people?”

“Before Kirill came, we were scavengers who were slowly being hunted to extinction. When he united us, we could finally organize and integrate into society. That’s all I ever wanted. I think Kirill was killed because someone wanted to go further than integration.”

“What do you mean by ‘further than integration’?”

“I mean that they would want to subjugate. They want to take their place as a master race,” he said.

The idea of having vampires in charge was terrifying, but humans were not exactly defenseless in this day and age. Sure, in a one-on-one fight, vampires would have the advantage. However, humans had strong militaries and numbers on their side. “There would be a massive war.”

“Exactly,” he replied. “There’s even the possibility we could be hunted to near extinction once again. Then everything we worked for all those centuries ago would be for nothing. Besides, there is nothing wrong with what we have now. We are comfortable, have money, and there’s plenty of blood to go around. What these radicals want is pure greed.”

“So you think Aleksander took over so they could begin this ‘takeover’ of humanity?” asked Anna.

“He’s had sixty years and so far has done nothing. I don’t know what he plans. Whatever he wants to do, I refuse to sit back in my exile and watch. I spent four hundred years helping Kirill. I will not let Aleksander undo all we did.”

They approached her apartment building and slowed. Anna didn’t want to go inside. She was learning so much from him. A vampire over four centuries old! She got dizzy just thinking of all the things he could teach her. But there was only one question on the forefront of her mind. “Are you sure that it’s not pure greed telling you to kill Aleksander?”

He looked into her eyes. “You think I’m greedy?”

She felt guilty for the implication. “I was asking what you thought.”

“I’m sure that a large amount of greed is motivating my decision.” He began to advance on her. She instinctively backed up. He continued until her back pressed against the wall.