Wicked Soul

Chapter 23

TWENTY-THREE

LIV

A large raven sat on the roof of my car when I stumbled out the office door, more than keen on putting as much distance between myself and the House of Horrors and its creepy PR agent some minutes later.

“I would get the hell out of here, if I were you,” I muttered at the bird, and shuddered at the memory of the dead lamb and all the other carcasses I’d gotten way too close a look at today.

It cawed at me and flapped its wings, lazily flying up to sit on the side of the gate leading in.

“Smart bird,” I said as I quickly climbed into my Fiesta and shoved the key into the ignition.

I drove out the gate, only breathing in a deep sigh of relief once I could no longer see the industrial estate in my rearview mirror. I could, however, see the raven following me, and managed a small smile. Seemed it’d taken my warning to heart.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in a jittery mess, and when my phone went off just after five, displaying an unknown number, I hesitated to answer.

You think you’re being phone stalked by slaughterhouse employees now, Liv? I snarked at myself before I pushed the answer button. Worst-case scenario, it’d be a determined telemarketer. And best-case scenario…

“Liv?” The voice on the other end was deep and smooth and automatically made my lips curl up into a smile. “It’s Warin. I’m calling to hear if you have time to see me this evening?”

“Of course,” I answered, hastily casting a glance around my once-again messy living room.

“Good. I shall be there in fifteen minutes.” He didn’t wait for my confirmation before he hung up.

Well, s**t. I glanced down at my attire—I’d changed into my most comfortable pajamas and a pair of fluffy pink socks once I got in this afternoon—and mentally calculated what needed a last-ditch effort the most, me or the living room.

I ended up deciding on the room, so when the buzzer by my door sounded fifteen minutes later, I’d just finished the pile of dishes by the sink. I hurried over to buzz Warin in.

I unlocked my front door just as there was a light knock. Vamp speed was so handy for getting around quickly.

“Hey, you,” I said when I opened the door.

“Liv,” he said, nodding in greeting.

I stepped aside, and he walked in without needing an invitation this time. I couldn’t help but smile when his eyes seemed immediately drawn by my painting of the sunset again.

Something about his presence in my small home seemed to ease all the tension that’d accumulated in my shoulders after the day’s excursion, his aura of calm projecting out in almost tangible waves.

“Oh! Wait here a sec, while I still remember it this time!” I hurried into my bedroom and grabbed the small pile of neatly folded clothes I’d borrowed from him in August.

“I’ve got the clothes you lent me this summer,” I said when I re-entered the living room.

“Oh. Thank you.” Warin turned from his study of the sunset, mild surprise clear on his face, and I realized he’d forgotten about the shirt and boxers completely. I supposed someone who lived in a mansion the size of Warin’s home wouldn’t care much about a couple of items of clothing, even if they were expensive pieces. I was pretty sure the cost of the shirt alone would have paid a month’s rent for me.

He accepted the items from me with a polite smile.

And then he bent his head to sniff them.

I froze, insulted. “I have washed them.”

He raised his head to shoot me a quizzical look, potentially at my frosty tone. “They smell of you.”

“They’re clean. But I can have them dry-cleaned for you, if you prefer.” I folded my arms across my chest, lips pinched in what was undoubtedly a decent imitation of my grandmother.

Warin blinked a single time as he took in my displeased expression, and then comprehension seemed to dawn across his beautiful features.

“Oh, I am sorry, Liv. It was not… That they smell of you is not a negative observation. I am truly sorry… I forgot humans don’t…”

“Sniff things?” My tone was still a tad curt, but it seemed he’d just had a “vampire moment.” I was pretty sure I’d done a lot of things that would be considered a faux pas in his eyes too. “Is it kind of like when dogs say hello to each other?”

Judging from his expression, I’d just committed one.

“I suppose you could compare the two,” he replied carefully as he placed the folded clothes on the coffee table. “Do you wish to continue drawing tonight?”

“Definitely.” I motioned for him to sit on the couch in the same spot he had last time, a genuine smile creeping back across my lips. I’d been looking forward to this all week. “Did you bring some blood for dinner? Want a glass?”

“I ate before I left,” he said. “It’s easier to be around you when…”

“When you’re not hungry?” I said with an easy grin as I plopped down on the sofa next to him and grabbed my drawing kit off the coffee table. “Does that mean I smell like dinner, then?”

His head snapped in my direction, blue eyes staring at me with incredulity.

“I mean, since you said the clothes smell like me,” I said, nodding at the small pile of fabric on the table. “Is hanging out with me a bit like chatting to a hamburger?”

I was perhaps entirely too calm about comparing myself to a hamburger around a vampire, but despite having seen Warin’s hunger up close and personal before, I couldn’t bring myself to fear him. Something about his aura felt too calm, too safe to allow my brain to see him as a threat.

Warin shook his head at me. “I… don’t think it’s comparable.”

I raised my eyebrows encouragingly

He sighed, perhaps not entirely keen on discussing his eating habits with one of his main food groups, but humored me nonetheless. “There are many nuances to a human’s scent. Only a part of it is the blood.”

“So what do I smell like?” I asked, intrigued.

I only got an arched eyebrow in response.

“Right,” I mumbled. Maybe there were lines you shouldn’t cross with your vampire buddy, after all.

I began to sketch out Warin’s face again, but despite his hesitance at discussing his food, I was still curious. “So… remember when you told me you mainly drink donor blood?” I asked.

“Yes?”

“How come? Is it more hygienic, or…? And where do you get it from? Hospitals?” I knew there’d been a major clamp-down on blood security across the country. Once humans had realized that vampires could and would steal their blood supplies, they’d been vamp-proofed. I wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed, but the spokesperson for the Department of Defense had seemed quite confident when he was interviewed about it.

“We Compel humans to donate. They believe they have given blood to the medical industry.” He sighed. “And I primarily feed this way to avoid… certain side effects of live feeding. This way, the human will go about their business with minimal interference.”

I really wanted to know what side effects he meant, but something in his tone kept me from asking. He’d been very patient with being carpet-bombed for information so far, and I didn’t want to push it too much. Who knew how much pestering he could take before he decided not to come back for another visit?

“So you’re kind of a vegetarian, in vampire terms?” I said, giving him a wry smile. “Or a free-range farmer?”

“You are remarkably calm, discussing such things with a vampire,” Warin noted, both eyebrows raised.

I shrugged. “I know you won’t hurt me. You kind of had the chance plenty of times already, you know? And it’s fascinating to learn more about your kind—it’s not exactly something you can just Wikipedia.”

He shook his head at me. “My kind is not fascinating, Liv. We’re dangerous.”

I shrugged as I drew the frown of his brows. “So are lions, crocodiles… sharks. Doesn’t mean they aren’t fascinating.”

“You’re—”

“An odd human?” I interrupted him with a grin. “So you keep saying. But you’re the one who’s patiently answering all my dumb questions. And letting humans donate blood rather than drink from them. I dare say, you’re an odd vampire too.”

He chuckled, a rumbling sound that vibrated through the room and seemed to warm the air and even my skin. “Perhaps that’s why I enjoy your company so much.”

“Yeah,” I said, unable to hide my happy smile as the warmth in my skin sank in deeper.

We sat in pleasant silence for a little while as I sketched the vampire on my couch, until the quietude was interrupted by a demanding growl from my stomach.

Warin shot my midsection a look. “Have you not eaten?”

I grimaced. “No.” I hadn’t been able to eat since the slaughterhouse.

“I don’t mind if you eat while I visit,” he said. “You should not go hungry for too long—humans need regular feedings, correct?”

I snorted at his phrasing. “No, I’m good. Don’t think I’ll be eating anything but veggies anytime soon, anyway.” I glanced at him and sighed. I’d been dragging my feed at bringing up what I’d spent my day doing, because judging from how stern he’d been about his whole “thou shall not investigate the local butcher” thing, I was reasonably certain he wouldn’t much appreciate me going to the slaughterhouse. But, I’d gone there to help with his investigation, so keeping what little I’d learned from him wouldn’t get me anywhere.

“Uh, so… remember the whole blood incident?”

He arched his eyebrows in question. “I do.” There was just the slightest note of warning in his tone.

“Yeah, so… I went and talked to my butcher, who confirmed that their supplier uses a different technique to harvest the blood now, due to vampires breaking into several butcher shops lately.”

“After I specifically told you not to get involved?” There was no mistaking the clipped disapproval in his voice this time.

“Yeah, well, free will and all.” I gave him a half-smile that ended more in a grimace at the sight of his narrowed eyes. Okay, so I wasn’t afraid of him, as such, but he could still project and awfully effective “don’t mess with me, human” aura when he wanted to.

“Anyway, the butcher gave me the number for their supplier, and today I went to speak with the people at the slaughterhouse,” I continued.

“You did what?” he growled. “Liv, do you not understand how dangerous this is? If you are suspected of being a vampire sympathizer, they will target you. Does your life mean that little to you? You experienced firsthand how easy it is for these people to hurt anyone they suspect of being on our side.”

“I didn’t think there’d be any harm in it. Though the PR dude made it quite clear that they definitely are using dead blood to w**d out what he believes to be the weaker vampires.”

Warin muttered what sounded distinctly like a curse, even if I didn’t catch the words. “You do realize that this is exactly the same information I have managed to procure? There was zero reason for you to risk your life in interacting with them.”

My shoulders slumped. “Oh. How…? I mean, you can’t exactly go there during the day, and they are quite on edge about vampires coming around.”

He arched an eyebrow at me. “I tracked down one of their employees at his local bar and Compelled him.”

“Oh.” Well, way to deflate the importance a girl’s detective-skills. “Did he say anything about any chemical they’d added? The PR guy made me look at all these formulas, but to be honest, I didn’t understand any of them. And he didn’t explain further.”

Warin frowned. “There’s no chemical added. There doesn’t need to be.” He was silent for a bit before his eyes widened ever so slightly. “Liv, what did these formulas look like?”

“I dunno, chemistry-like. Apart from one of them—it was pretty odd. Like a circle with squiggles. Why?”

This time, I was certain he spat out a curse. He got to his feet, agitation suddenly rolling off him in waves. It was such a vast difference to his usually so calm aura, unease penetrated my brain and sank into my gut.

“Warin? What is it?”

“And this circle—did it glow?” he asked, not bothering to answer my question. “Did you feel anything? A headache? Confusion?”

My eyes widened. “How did you know that?”

His angry snarl made me jolt, my pencil clattering noisily to the floor as I lost my grip on it.

“Witches!” he hissed. “Of course. I should have known.”

“Wha— witches?” I blinked up at the agitated vampire as he began to pace back and force in my small living room. “I’m sorry, did I hear you right? Witches?”

“Yes,” he said, still pacing. “I’ve clearly been too lenient for too long.”

“I’m… sorry, do you mind catching me up?” I looked at him, both eyebrows arched as high as they would go. “And can we maybe start with ‘witches are real’?”

“Of course they are real.” He stopped long enough to give me an incredulous look. “You thought vampires were the only kind of monsters to walk the Earth?”

I blinked. “Uh… kind of, yes. Er… and monsters? Isn’t that going a bit far, for humans with magic? Or is there something I don’t know here?”

He gave me a long look that made me think there was a lot I didn’t know, but instead of elaborating, he resumed his pacing, muttering to himself.

“So… do you mind telling me what it was about that formula that made you jump to the conclusion that honest-to-god witches are behind this blood contamination thing?” I asked.

Warin waved a hand, still deep in his own thoughts. “The circle—you described a sigil. He made you look at a sigil. I assume since you’re not dead, it didn’t reveal anything about your connection to me.”

He stopped then, a flicker of regret crossing his features as he looked at me. “I should not have come here. I’ve drawn you into the middle of supernatural business. And I’ve put you in danger.”

“What? No.” I got to my feet. “You haven’t done anything. If that PR guy really was a witch, he clearly didn’t think I was a threat. Calm your t**s, everything’s okay.”

“Everything’s not okay, Liv. If witches are involved with this, I am putting your life in danger just by being around you. I should—”

He didn’t get to finish before I’d taken two steps toward him and put my hand across his mouth. I hadn’t really thought my move through, so when he stared down at me—probably from sheer shock that I’d dared silence him so rudely—it took me a second to remember what I meant to say. It resulted in a couple of seconds awkward silence while we stared at each other.

“Er… what I wanted to say was—don’t even think about saying you shouldn’t be here, okay? I know we don’t know each other all that well, but I am not about to stop getting to know you just because some witches, of all things, have a grudge against vampires. I… I don’t have a lot of friends, and I’m not about to lose one over something this stupid.” I slowly lowered my hand, aware of the heat in my cheeks as he stared at me. “Sorry about touching you—I know you don’t like that very much.”

He looked silently at me for a moment longer. Then, slowly, he lifted his hand to place it on my shoulder, not taking his gaze off mine. It was still dark, pulling me into its shadowed depths. “I don’t mind when you touch me. I am… just unaccustomed to such gestures.”

“Oh. All right.” Despite his cool temperature, my skin felt warm underneath my shirt where his hand rested.

“I do not have many friends, either, Liv,” he said, softly this time. “But I would be a poor one if I let my selfish desire for your company jeopardize your safety.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Okay, then. How about this: If you do cut and run because of this, I promise you I most definitely will search out these witches and figure out a way to stop them. On my own.”

His eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed to mirror mine. “Are you attempting to blackmail me?”

“Little bit.” I shot him a sweet smile. “So, which is it? Are you leaving to ensure witches won’t catch on to our connection, and thereby guaranteeing I go seek them out… or will you stay, and in return, I promise I won’t get involved with any ‘supernatural business’? S’long as ‘supernatural business’ doesn’t try to kidnap me and throw me in a cage again, of course.”

Warin glared at me for a moment longer. Then his shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’m starting to think maybe you’re foolish, rather than odd,” he muttered as he walked back to the couch to sit down.

“It’s highly likely,” I said cheerfully as I sat down too, once more picking up pencil and paper. “Thank you for staying.”

“Don’t thank me,” he said, staring gloomily straight ahead. “If I could Compel you to forget me, I would.”

“Well, that’s not very nice,” I chided.

“It would be kinder. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Then tell me,” I suggested. “All I know about witches is what I see at work, and to be honest, they don’t seem all that intimidating.”

Warin froze, his head snapping in my direction. “What?”

“Uh… what?” I blinked, entirely taken aback by the sudden reappearance at his obvious anger. It rolled off him in waves, and this time I seemed to be in the direct line of fire.

“You work with witches?” he growled. “When were you going to tell me?”

“I… just did? What the hell, Warin? They’re just your garden variety tarot readers and black candle aficionados. They’re harmless people. Could you please stop staring at me like that? It’s pretty goddamn scary.” I pushed myself back against the armrest, silently reminding myself that the angry vampire in my living room was of the vegetarian variety.

“There is no such thing as a harmless witch,” he spat, the anger still plain on his face, but at least he’d calmed down with the growling.

I snorted, feeling mildly better now the snarly sound was out of his voice again. “You clearly haven’t been to Dark Dreams before. Pretty sure our clientele is just hippies, pagans, and general weirdos.”

“You work at Dark Dreams?” Warin narrowed his eyes again.

“Yeah? What, is that extra offensive?”

He shook his head at me, as if I were a particularly slow child. “You sell magic supplies.”

“In my defense, there’s a pretty awesome range of herbal teas there as well.” My attempt at lightening the mood didn’t change his tense expression, and I sighed. “All right, obviously I’m not getting what the big whoop is. Could you please tell me why you’re so worked up about the prospect of me selling a candle to an actual witch?”

He sighed too, running a hand through his dark, tousled hair. “Witches have always been our enemies, as far back as anyone can remember. They seek to destroy us, and due to their powers, they are a far greater threat than any regular human. Some who master necromancy have even been known to possess our bodies.”

For someone who was still wrapping her head around the fact that magic was apparently real, the idea of necromancy made me shudder. “Does that mean zombies are real too?”

“Yes,” he said. “But witches who are strong enough to control the dead are thankfully rare.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” I frowned as I took in what he’d told me. “Okay, I guess I can see why you’d be a bit antsy around witches, but… no offense or anything, I don’t see how they’re all evil because they’ve got beef with vampires. So do humans; we just lack the skills to actually win, most of the time. And not all humans are evil, so I doubt all witches are. Just like not all vampires want to tear the throat out of any human they pass by.” I gave him a gentle smile, but he just sighed and shook his head.

“You cannot understand the darkness of the supernatural because your humanity is so pure.” When he looked at me this time, there was no anger left on his pale features. Only gentle regret. “I fear if I do not separate our connection soon, your innocence will be tainted, Liv.”

I did my best to fight back the blush at the images his talk of “tainted innocence” brought to the forefront of my mind. Forcing a smile, I said, “Maybe my humanity will taint your gloom. Have you thought about that? You might end up all happy, losing your broodiness, and then what will all the other vampires think? It’d be a scandal!”

The rumble of Warin’s laugh sent warmth radiating from my chest into my arms and down my torso. When I looked at him, he was watching me with a mix of amusement and wonder that had my blush returning despite my best efforts to keep it at bay.

“You are truly a unique soul.”

I grimaced, trying to take the edge off the flutter in my belly at his words. “You mean ‘special,’ don’t you? Just trying to be nice about it.”

He just smiled softly, not confirming one way or the other. Then, the curve of his lips hiked up higher and he c****d his head as he looked at me. “There’s something… I would like you to experience with me. Are you afraid of heights?”