“No. I lay there, waiting for death to take me under. To stop the pain. That was when Vlad happened upon me.”
I sat forward. “Vlad made you?”
“Yes. He wasn’t even fully middle tier at the time, but he had a cunning insight, even then. He recognized what he saw, lying there in the mud. He carried me to his quarters below ground and kept me alive until he could turn me. I reclaimed my fortune.”
“And what about the girl?”
Darius’s face turned away. “I could not kill her. I could not. It wasn’t in me.”
“I’m sensing a pattern. Except the part where I sic a gang of people on you.”
Oh wait, I was thinking of doing that with Callie and Dizzy if he didn’t bugger off.
My gulp interrupted the silence.
Like a soft breeze, I barely heard his next words. “I didn’t feel a fraction for her what I feel for you. That should not be possible in my status of immortality.”
“It was a long time ago. I’m sure the memory has faded.”
“If there is one thing that hasn’t faded, it is the memory of that betraying witch.”
“Yikes. I stand corrected. Sore subject, clearly.”
“Yes. I haven’t spoken of it to anyone but Vlad, and that was directly after he’d changed me.”
“Dizzy said something about someone accusing you of being a vampire and trying to ram a stake through your heart.”
“Yes. What he spoke of was a misunderstanding. A friend of mine had drunk too much. Desmond has no idea of the true story. Of the depth of the pain that first betrayal has caused me.”
“Yeah, I don’t think Dizzy was talking about a girl.”
“It is always about a girl.” His sad smile made another appearance. “Our folly always has to do with a girl in one way or another.”
“That’s because men are dependent and can’t do anything on their own. You think you run the world, and then you get sick and everything stops while you mope and whine. Let this be your warning. Quit stalking me. Nothing good can possibly come of it.” I sobered for a moment. “I’m actually serious. Nothing good can come from hanging around me. I plan on killing every demon I see. If that’s going to piss off your daddy, you better walk away now.”
His expression darkened.
It was probably the daddy comment.
“Would you knowingly trap me to kill me, Reagan?” he asked, his eyes delving into mine.
I shook my head and shrugged at the same time, all the possible scenarios of how that might play out running through my head. “Maybe. I don’t know. If I need to get clear of you and can’t, sure. I might have to kill you. Like I said, you’ve been warned.”
Unbelievably, a smile graced his lips. “There, you see?”
I felt my eyebrows crawling up my forehead. “No…?”
“You are genuine. You are a fighter. A survivor. You would not play nice to my face and then stab me in the back. You are much too honest.”
“I really don’t think you should hang your hat on that conclusion.”
“There is something special about you, Reagan. Something…otherworldly.”
“Underworldly, you mean.”
“Yes.” He leaned his head on the back of the couch and looked up at the ceiling. His ankle crossed over his leg. “I did not elaborate on a vampire’s ability to kill demons.”
I yawned and glanced at the clock. Nearly six in the morning. The sun would be up by now, probably. Or ifit wasn’t, it would be soon. We needed to get the show on the road.
