Melted By The Vampires: A Paranormal Menage Romance (11 page)

"Harper, don't. You can't. If you say a word to Daniel about who you really are, he will kill you without a second thought."

CHAPTER EIGHT

Even with Abbott’s hand clamped over my mouth, I still managed to utter a single word, which was
what
, and clearly enough that I knew he could understand me.

He still didn’t remove his hand from my mouth, though, and in fact, he tightened it, making sure I couldn’t say anything else. “Not one more word, Harper. Do you understand me? Not one more single word.”

Heart pounding, I nodded, making a muffled sound that was meant to be the word
okay
.

“Good. Now, if I take my hand from your mouth, do you promise me that you’ll remain quiet? Do you promise me that you’ll just listen, and make no more attempts to call Dan?”

I nodded again, this time silently, with my gaze on the doorway, which I now hoped Daniel wouldn’t be striding through anytime soon.

Sitting up in bed beside me with one arm around me, still restraining me, Abbott waited a long moment before finally removing his hand from my mouth, slowly. “You promised, remember? Keep that in mind. No more calling Dan. Just listen.”

I looked into Abbott’s deep gray eyes, startled by their intensity, almost as much as I’d been startled by what he’d said when he’d first muzzled me. “Okay. I’ll just listen.”

He glanced over to the doorway before returning his gaze to my face and speaking in a hushed tone barely above a whisper. “All you need to know right now, Harper, is that I know everything about you. Your past, why you’re here... everything. Dan does, too, but he
can’t
know that I know. He cannot find out. He’ll kill you if he knows that I know, and he’ll kill you if he knows that you tried to tell me yourself. And I won’t be able to defend you. Not yet. So, you can’t say a word. When he comes back in the room, you just have to pretend that everything is normal, and we never had this conversation. Your life depends on it, and you’re just going to have to trust me about this. Am I completely crystal clear?”

Although still miles beyond shocked and confused, I found myself nodding. “Okay. But, Abbott, Daniel cares about me. I don’t think he’d seriously—”

“Yes, he seriously would. You don’t know him that well.”

“But he’s seemed so warm and genuinely affectionate with me tonight.”

“Yes. He’s a sociopath. That’s how they are. They’re often charming, but it’s all an act.”

“Well, please explain to me how—”

“Later.”

“But—”

“Later, Harper.”

Just then, I heard what Abbott had heard first. The near-imperceptible sound of bare feet padding down the wood-floored, darkened hallway.

Within a second or two, Daniel pulled open the half-ajar door and poked his head inside with his luscious full lips twitching. “Do you have another request to add to your order, Harper? I thought I heard you call for me.”

I’d never before in my life been so conflicted or confused. Not to mention that I was still shocked by what Abbott had told me. It just didn’t make sense. Nothing about Daniel struck me as killer-like, and in fact, the opposite. During the short while I’d been in New Detroit, he’d certainly been warmer to me than Abbott had. At least up to the point minutes earlier when Abbott had told me that he’d fallen in love with me.

However, I knew that what Abbott had said about sociopaths was true. They could be charming, lulling their victims into a false sense of security. But then again, I realized,
Abbott
could be the sociopath. For all I knew, he could have been lying through his teeth to me when he’d said everything to me that he had. Maybe
he
was the real villain; maybe he intended to kill me because I’d been sent to kill him and Daniel and he just didn’t want me to come clean to Daniel and become any closer to him, because maybe Daniel didn’t want me to be killed and would try to defend me against Abbott.

My head was spinning. I didn’t feel in my gut that Abbott
was
deceiving me. I felt actually the opposite in my gut. I had a sense that I could trust him. Although that still left me reeling, wondering why Daniel would want to kill me if he were to learn that I’d tried to come clean with Abbott. It seemed that at most, if I explained to Daniel that I was sorry for misjudging him and Abbott and blaming them for the murder of my coven, he’d possibly be mad at me for a few days. Unless he really
was
a sociopath and would take any betrayal as a cause to kill. Maybe he’d even killed in cold blood before. It suddenly dawned on me that while I’d come to feel reasonably certain that
Abbott
hadn’t been behind the murder of my coven, that didn’t necessarily mean that Daniel hadn’t been.

I knew I had to get more information from Abbott, had to hear him out and then process everything and decide what I believed was the truth. I also knew that obviously, that time wasn’t the present. Like he’d told me to be, I just had to act normal and pretend that the conversation we’d just had hadn’t happened. Daniel had already been waiting in the doorway for a second or two while I’d been doing lightning-fast thinking, and I knew I had about a quarter-second left to give him a response before he’d know something was up.

So, I gave him a smile, realizing that my acting days around him and Abbott weren’t quite over. “Sorry to make you come all the way down here again. I was just wondering if I could add a tall glass of milk to my order.”

Without missing a beat or giving any indication that he thought something was up, Daniel smiled in return. “Anything for you. I’ll bring you ten glasses if you want.”

I made myself smile again. “Well, thanks, but one should be fine.”

“All right, then. One turkey-and-Swiss sandwich, one bowl of oatmeal with a dollop of grape jelly, and one tall glass of milk, coming right up. And, now, with that glass of milk, do you want the barbeque sauce already stirred in when I bring it to you, or would you like it served on the side so you can do it yourself?”

With my mind still reeling from what Abbott had told me, I just stared at Daniel, sure I was missing something, but too preoccupied to think very hard about what it could be. “Say what, now?”

“The dark brown liquid that humans sometimes stir into milk to give it flavor. That’s barbeque sauce, right? Isn’t that what it is that makes this special kind of milk a favorite of children everywhere? ‘Mommy, Mommy, please pack a carton of barbeque milk in my lunch!’ Isn’t that what kids always say? Although I know this special treat isn’t just for kids; adults can enjoy it, too. Which is why I thought
you
might like it with your meal. Just tell me if you’d like the barbeque sauce already stirred into your milk, or if you’d like me to bring it in a little cup so you can do it yourself. I imagine that’s half the novelty, isn’t it? Getting to watch the milk change color and turn into tasty barbeque milk?”

It was only then that I recalled his teasing from earlier, his teasing about food and certain disgusting sandwich combinations. Now he was just teasing again. And, completely in spite of myself, I laughed out loud, and it wasn’t acting. I really couldn’t help it. Daniel genuinely just tickled my funny bone sometimes.

After a long burst of laughter that brought tears to my eyes, I wiped them with the back of my hand, trying to fix Daniel with a serious look. “I hate to make you feel idiotic for the second time this evening, but the drink you’re thinking of is actually
chocolate
milk.
Not
barbeque.
That
would actually make most people vomit.”

He frowned, the golden glow from my bedroom lamps illuminating his seemingly-sincere expression. “I’m so sorry. Once again, I’ve revealed myself to be a complete ass. But... are you positive about this? The dark liquid humans use to flavor milk is actually chocolate, and not barbeque sauce?”

Again in spite of myself, I smiled. “I’m pretty positive. It’s chocolate syrup. Which I don’t think I even have any of in the apartment. So, although I appreciate your very considerate thought, a glass of plain, unflavored milk will be just fine, Daniel.”

He gave his head a little shake, still frowning. “Well... okay. Though to me, as an individual who hasn’t tasted human food for hundreds of years, I have to say that the idea of barbeque milk doesn’t strike me as
that
off-putting. No matter what the norm is, it seems like something you might want to try. But whatever you say. I’ll just bring you a glass of plain, unflavored milk, then. But I do have to insist upon one thing, Harper.”

“And what’s that?”

“Please start calling me Dan.
Daniel
sounds so formal for someone who plans to nibble on your earlobes the very second you finish your sandwich.”

I giggled with a rush of warmth in my stomach. “Okay.
Dan
, then. Hold the barbeque sauce,
Dan
.”

I’d kind of started to think of him more as
Dan
anyway, just because that’s what everyone else called him.

With his pale blue eyes twinkling in the dim light, he gave me a sexy half-grin that turned my insides to jelly before turning to head back down the hallway. “Be right back.”

I watched him go, giggling again. “Barbeque sauce in milk. Absolutely disgusting. As if any child would ever want that. As if any human being of any age would ever want that.”

“See what a brilliant actor he is? He’s got
you
genuinely laughing now, not acting. I can tell.”

Abbott had whispered near my ear, making me jump. I’d forgotten he was still in the room. I’d forgotten I was actually still in his arms. I’d honestly forgotten he even existed.

Leaning back against the polished oak headboard, he pulled me even a bit closer to him and whispered again. “He’s the ultimate deceiver, Harper...the ultimate manipulator. Don’t feel bad that you’ve fallen for his charm yet again, though... I’ve been deceived by him for hundreds of years.”

Suddenly tired, suddenly bone-weary, actually, I looked up at Abbott’s face with a sigh. “Look. You’re going to have to explain all this to me a little better. Because right now—”

“Because right now you’re having a little trouble accepting that Dan is who I’m saying he is and that he’ll do what I’m saying he’ll do. I get it. Most people capable of murder aren’t exactly so jovial. You’ve got to understand, though, that that’s part of the danger. And I
will
explain everything to you a bit better. But I can’t now, obviously. Not with him so close and soon to return. Just promise me that for right now, you’ll trust me. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say your life depends on it, Harper. I’m not strong enough to defend you right now.”

“But when—”

“Soon. I’ll explain everything to you very soon. I’ll try to get away when Dan and I are leading our men out on patrol tomorrow. The Saints are now constantly giving us problems, and I expect we’ll be sweeping the outskirts of town for their spies all day. I’ll try to get away during the afternoon, though. Maybe meet you somewhere in town. Keep your phone on you so I can get a hold of you. In the meantime, tonight, just eat your food when Dan comes back, and then try to go to sleep. Do those things, and just act normal around Dan, which doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a problem for you, and trust me. Okay? Please?”

Stifling a yawn, I nodded. “Okay. I will. I’m tired and confused, and I’m... I’m vaguely scared because of—”

“You shouldn’t be ‘vaguely scared.’ You should be outright terrified any time Dan is near. Don’t forget that.”

“Oh, well, thanks for making me feel so much better right before going to sleep.”

“I didn’t mean to, and I’m sorry about that, but you need to take all this very seriously. For the time being, I can’t fully protect you, although no matter what, I promise I’ll always protect you to the very best of my abilities.
You
need to stay on your toes around Dan, though.”

“Well... I will. Until you can explain all this to me, I promise I’ll act normal around him. I’m trusting you about all this, Abbott.”

Right then, looking up into his smoky coal-colored eyes, I couldn’t imagine
not
trusting him. His eyes didn’t hold the same mischievous twinkle that Dan’s frequently did, but instead, there was some look of unmistakable sincerity in his eyes that I just couldn’t deny. It was a look that made me feel in the core of my being that he was telling me the truth and that I was right to trust him. Although at the same time, I did need him to do a lot of explaining. I hoped he’d be able to get away and meet me sooner rather than later the following day.

In response to what I’d said about trusting him, he planted a kiss on the top of my head. “Good. Now, no more whispering about all this tonight. Vampires do have slightly increased hearing abilities, and if we talk any louder than we are, Dan might be able to pick up a few words from the kitchen; but if we keep whispering how we are, he’s going to start wondering why he’s not hearing sounds of normal conversation. So, let’s change the subject right this second. Just say anything. Maybe tell me a joke and then laugh. Or better yet, why don’t we kiss. That way, when he comes back, he’ll think our mouths have been occupied with non-conversational activity this whole time.”