Of Blood & Consequence (Book 2 of The Blood Bond Series)

13. Premier Paus

Michael had taken a half-day off from work the next week in order to get his idea ready. It wasn't going to be any AMC theater gig, but it was close enough—right down to the movie theater popcorn that Delia had mentioned missing after her transition from human to vampire.

While food was not a necessary staple of a vampire's diet, they could still chew and digest it when needed. It just held no nutritional value for them, so they usually passed on it unless otherwise necessary. Usually in front of humans.

And if they happened to served a bloody steak, all the better for them.

With all the ingredients needed for the popcorn and fresh blood in the fridge, Michael decided to pop in the Blu-ray version of Impulse, the first—hopefully of many—of Cassie's films. Even Michael had to admit the cast was impressive and full of A-list actors—and the reviews were certain to be just as impressive.

Smiling, he grabbed his car keys from their place in the glass bowl near the door and twirled them around his index finger before dropping them into his pocket. He whistled as he locked the door of his condo behind him and started to make his way down to the elevator at the end of the hall. He passed by one of his younger female neighbors as she was coming home from a shift at the hospital.

Or at least her scrubs looked like she might work there. They were blue and bland and shapeless, though he was sure many wore them and still had a fine figure underneath the soft material.

He bet Delia would look downright sinful hidden away in one right before he—

"Hi!"

The chirpy voice stopped him in his tracks as he wondered if the woman was speaking to him. He turned when he could smell no others in the immediate vicinity and nodded to her, still intent on getting to his car to pick up Delia from work. "Hello, Miss..."

"Evangeline," she supplied, looking much too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for someone just coming home from work. "But my friends call me Eve."

It was like an unwanted offer to be too familiar with her, and his curiosity waned as she stepped closer to him. "Nice to make your acquaintance, Eve. If you don't mind, though, I was just on my way out to pick up my m—girlfriend from work."

This was part of the reason he normally didn't interact with the other residents of the high-rise condominium building. Words slipped out of his mouth unintended when he was relaxed in his home and not on the clock.

That, and he'd been propositioned a number of times in the elevator or on his way out the doors.

Her brows knitted together in confusion. "Girlfriend?"

"Yes, she lives with me." His voice was a little more abrupt as he looked down at his wristwatch. "And I'm going to be late to get her if I don't head out now."

He started to move toward the elevator again, giving her a nod 'goodbye' before he heard her mumble something under her breath. It should have been too low for him to hear if he was human, but he still couldn't help responding.

"Never seen him with a girl in there," she muttered before he could hear the jingle of keys as she selected the one that would let her into her apartment.

"Don't get out much, if you know what I mean," he called back and smiled.

He decided he'd let her think about that a while.

Let the meaning really sink in.

***

He slid into his car seat as easily as he slipped in between cars on the city streets heading toward SecurElite's headquarters. He was excited—more excited than he'd been since meeting Delia. This was something he could do for her that hardly anyone else could, and it warmed the once-icy cockles of his heart like timber being set aflame.

Giving Eli a silent 'thank you' as he pulled into the underground garage of SecurElite, he parked in his usual spot in a dark, secluded corner.

His phone pinged a message, and he slid it out of his pants before letting the facial recognition software unlock the screen.

One missed message.

He opened it.

It was a foreign number he didn't even have stored in his phone—or at least not yet.

Michele, you must answer your phone when I try calling. It's completely childish that you...

Shit. It sounded just like his mother, the tone just Italian-mom guilty enough to set his teeth on edge.

But it couldn't be his mother, right? That woman texted as often as she donated to charity—which was pretty much never. Then he read the rest of the message and—well, suffice it to say that if he'd still been technically alive, his heart would have stuttered to a stop.

We'll be coming to visit you and your mate...

Hell, no she wouldn't be.

I expect a call back before I have to dig into where you live. I mean it, Michele. Call back ASAP or I'll do what I do best and intervene in every way with your life in America.

Fucking cunt.

He was erasing the message but saving the foreign number as simply Mom just as Delia hopped into the passenger seat. As always, she leaned into him and gave him a kiss, though his mind was distracted with the threat on his phone.

"Hey, baby."

He supposed he grunted in response, and caught a glimpse of the frown on his mate's fallen face.

"What's wrong?"

He shook his head as if dashing away all his worries and smiled at her. "Nothing, fiore. Just a little surprised I have back at the condo for you has me a little distracted."

"A surprise?" Her face lit up. "What kind of surprise?"

He tried to bite back all his worry and found the will the give her a tight-lipped smile. "You'll see when we get back home."

Delia chattered on as they drove back to the condo, babbling ninety to nothing about her dull day but how she was convinced that Lee and Desiree were doing the nasty on the regular now. He listened and murmured his responses, still trying to ward away his mother's words.

I'll do what I do best and intervene in every way with your life in America.

It was no useless threat. She'd do it, and he knew she could. Still, he tried to make that a worry for another day, and he opened the door to their condo twenty minutes later to an exciting and new ambience as Delia bounced on her toes behind him.

He watched her walk in and sniff the air. She looked around to see if she could figure out what was different, what this surprise he had in store for her was.

"Okay," she murmured slowly, finally making eye contact with him. "I smell popcorn. Is that the surprise?"

She looked a little dubious. Yes, she had mentioned missing out on hitting the movies and eating her weight in buttery, salted popcorn, but she was convinced there had to be more to it.

Michael walked into the room and started to head towards the kitchen. "That and something else," he told her as he stepped toward the kitchen. "Take a seat on the couch and wait. I'll get you some blood and some buttery delicious movie-style popcorn."

He grinned as he started to open the fridge and pulled out a bag of blood. At first, he could only hear Delia's mumbles as she turned on the television. Before long, another episode of Friends was playing, and she quieted down to watch.

He popped in two bottles of blood and then a whole stick of butter to melt before pouring it over and adding salt to the pre-made popcorn. Once he brought the drinks out, he walked back into the kitchen to grab the popcorn.

They had settled into the couch before Delia turned to him. "Alright, what's with the movie popcorn? We opening up a movie theater or watching One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest again?

Michael chuckled, remembering the time he had watched that with her. He'd never seen it before that, and she had crowed about it. The damn Indian dude was her favorite, and that b***h didn't have a line in the whole f*****g movie.

He was pretty sure it was because of the ending. How he'd conquered all with one swing of his meaty arms and escaped the insane asylum.

Michael had doubted he was insane at all but was being hospitalized for just being mute.

Juicy Fruit.

Well, maybe not completely mute.

Or maybe it was because he'd made Delia cry at the end, and there was nothing better than a good, cathartic sob at the end of a movie.

"Nope. Something even better." Michael pulled the remote from Delia's grasp. "Watch and be amazed."

It was too soon for them to have actual credits up at the beginning of the movie, but once the first actor came onto the screen and said the opening line, Delia squealed and manhandled the remote away from him. Putting the movie on pause, she launched her body at him before giggling into his neck.

His arms circled around her, holding her against him. "Good surprise?"

She drew back and caught his lips in a quick kiss before responding. "Are you kidding? This is the best surprise! Are we the first ones to see it? It's not due out for months! How did you get a hold of it? Has Cass seen this yet? Oh, I wish I could call her and ask, but she's at the beauty parlor with Lee and Ellie while Eli's babysitting with his brother and Crane. Should we wait and see if she wants to see it, too? I mean, if I were her—"

He halted her babble with a kiss. "They've both already seen it—being filmed and after. This is just for you. This is your premier to see, no one else's."

Delia's excited grin widened as her arms wrapped even tighter around him, her lips less than an inch from his. "I love you, okay? For this, for being there for me—for everything."

"Tu sei il mio cuore, amore," he told her, reiterating what he'd told her many times over the past several weeks. In bed. Out of it. Anytime he felt it in his heart and it welled up so loudly that he needed to speak the words to her.

Her gaze softened, and she pressed her lips to his.

"You're my heart, too."

***

Delia had wept and laughed her way through her own personal premier of Cassie's movie, sighing when the end came and the two lovers in the story were finally reunited. A new family—or at least well on their way to becoming one.

She sat back and pressed a hand over her chest where her heart was. "That almost hurt me it was so sad at times."

Michael had to admit that it was indeed sorrowful. He'd watched the whole thing with her, the two of them feeding bits of popcorn to each other and drinking blood. "It ended well though," he remarked. "Happily ever after and all."

"Yes, well there's more to the story than that." Delia sat up again, leaning forward as if to tell him a huge secret. "Cass is working on a sequel."

His eyebrows rose high on his forehead. "Sequel?"

"Yup." She nodded sagely. He supposed it made sense that she was in-the-know. Cassie probably bounced ideas off anyone that would listen. The woman was full of them. "She's going to try to spread it out into a trilogy."

"Like those awful, glittery vampire movies?" He scoffed, wincing when she slugged him with a tight fist.

"They weren't that bad, honestly. Just a little YA for my tastes."

"Dear Lord—you've seen them?"

"Of course," she replied. "Even people who proclaimed they read the books and hated them have seen them, if only just to see what all the hype was about."

The average Americans were a strange type of human to Michael. They seemed to thrive on complaining loudly and unending whining, whereas he would have never been able to sit through anything that held no interest for him.

Like sparkly, brooding vampire teenagers.

Even if he was at his limit, it would be a hard pass for him.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the world's public's first glance at the movie. And to answer your earlier questions, only Cassie and Eli have been the one's to see it—outside of the editing process, of course. I asked a favor of Eli, and he just so happened to have a hard copy at home. The popcorn was all me. I made it and poured disgusting amounts of butter all over it. You like it?"

She stared at the half-empty bucket of popcorn, amazed they had eaten so much of it between them. After studying it for longer than he'd anticipated, she looked back over at him, dewy-eyed and soft. "I loved everything about today. Even work sounds loads better after a treat like this."

He chuckled. "I know you're bored at SecurElite, amore, but with the way you handled the human situation last week, you are well on your way to curbing your bloodthirsty little appetite."

She groaned and sliced her eyes over to the bucket of buttery goodness again. "It doesn't seem so little. I think I ate most of that huge bucket you prepared for us."

While that might have been true, Michael didn't particularly care. All the worry that he'd focused on had been encapsulated and set aside to watch the movie with his mate, and it didn't even phase him when he heard his doorbell ring.

He rolled to his feet and chuckled, shaking his head as he walked toward the door. He supposed it could have been his neighbor, Eve, or whatever her name was, but he certainly didn't expect who he found on the other side when he opened up.

"What are you doing here?" he asked when his eyes slid from saucer-shaped to narrow slits on his face.

Apparently, his time was up. 

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