Can’t race through the prairie anymore anyhow.Most of the great prairies have been turned into wheat fields.
Like a bear to honey, I am drawn to the bar at the inn.Shadow was right.The place is pumping.There’s an atmosphere of excitement in the air.We are all waiting for the first batch of guests to arrive.
Ben and Amelia wave to me as I come in.They’ve got a table for four with Mikey and Fallon Farmer.Celia and Harry Heiner are chatting with Carson the mechanic and Vince Pruitt.Jerry Steele and Dan Elliot are slamming back the shots, waiting for Jaecar to finish his game of pool.
Looks like everyone has paired off.
Aila’s behind the bar in Luna’s spot.She’s leaning on the counter having a quiet conversation with Rundas.
A jealous beast roars inside me, forcing my muscles to pop and bulge.My fangs slide out, getting me ready to fix my jaws on flesh.
Twisting sideways on his stool, Rundas reads my expression and begins to back down immediately.
“Hey, brother.Wouldn’t you know, but Miss Aila here was just telling me she hadn’t gotten to know me yet.We’ve been chatting about how many skyquakes we get around these parts.”
The adrenaline prickles in my fingers and face as the urge to fight recedes.
Sitting down next to them, I try acting real friendly.The last thing I need right now is for Aila to get put off by my hair trigger reactions.
“Fuck the skyquakes.What’s this music you have playing?”
Aila looks a bit perplexed by my black mood, because she is clearly in a good one.
“It’s a jazz-rock-folk inspired peyote song ‘Witchi Tai To’ by a band called Everything Is Everything.They recorded it in the late sixties, but the song is so hippy dippy crazy, I love it.”
For some reason, none of this is cheering me up.I remember the rhythmic songs our shaman would mutter as he beat his reindeer skin drum while dancing around a campfire.The tribe would ingest fungi and chant with him.The sparks from the fire would trail brightly colored patterns in the night sky.
It is enough to remind me that Aila and me have fuck-all in common.I should let her go and live her modern life in peace.
I gotta get out of here.
“Stupid song.”
I leave the bar without saying goodnight and without looking back.
ChapterNineteen
Aila
Watching Theron stride out of the bar forces me to ponder: how deep down this rabbit hole am I prepared to go?
If Theron’s a vampire, and I am in no doubt about that being true, then his long-term loyalty is to his coven.Which means I could be in danger.
He’s a killer.They all are.Even now, I can feel the side effects from the blood loss where he sank his fangs into me.Dizzy when I look up and bend down, lack of concentration, and lots of confusion.Even after forcing myself to eat some of that black stuff called Bovril.
Or am I sick because I’m fighting so hard not to fall head over heels in love?
Pushing my emotions aside, I need to know if I will survive my second encounter with this ruggedly handsome, ever-so charming psycho bloodsucker.
The more I try to rationalize it away, the less sense it makes for me to stay here.Theron was not trying to shine me on when he told me how his tribe bred all the compassion and weakness out of the males.
But deliberately breeding men to be warriors and hunters doesn’t necessarily make them predators.There’s a huge difference.And I just don’t get predator vibes from Theron.
I get the feeling that he likes to be with me as an equal, not as a victim.
Or is that just the schtick he tells me to stop me from running away?
There is no question that my stormy vampire lover has a serious case of the green-eyed monster regarding me.I don’t need to be psychic to see he felt red rage when he saw me trying to be friendly with Rundas.But he was able to pull it back long enough for the red rage to turn into the blues.
