“How about sensei then?”
“No.”
“I’m the teacher of all things mystical and vampire. I should get a cool name,” he complained, slamming the trunk shut.
“Not happening.”
I slid into the car and buckled my seatbelt, before chancing another sip of the smoothie. It tasted surprisingly like strawberries and chocolate. Decadent and refreshing all at the same time.
I’d have to ask him what was in it before the night was over. This just might be the answer to at least one of my problems.
“Did you know he was coming back?” I asked with studied nonchalance.
Nathan shot me a look out of the corner of his eye before pulling onto the road.“You mean why didn’t I give you a heads-up.”
I shrugged.
“He didn’t tell us of his arrival,” Nathan said.“Just showed up last night.”
“I hear you’ve been giving him reports of my progress,” I said.
His lips quirked up.“That is true.”
I made aharrumph.
“Come on, you didn’t really expect me to do anything else, did you?”
I suppose not. Liam was Nathan’s sire in truth, not to mention his boss. Nathan’s loyalties would always lie with him.
“There are things going on that you don’t understand,” Nathan said, his face turning serious.
“There are always things going on that I don’t understand.” I propped my chin on my hand and stared out the window.
“I’m just saying maybe you shouldn’t be so prickly about it.”
My head snapped toward him as I gave him a glare.“Prickly?”
“If the shoe fits.”
I grunted and went back to staring out the window. I wasn’t prickly. Okay, maybe a little.
“You’ve been a very grumpy porcupine since he left.”
I gave him a look.“Thanks, Dr. Phil. I really appreciate your armchair psychology.”
“You know I have a degree in psychology, right?” he asked.
It was just strange enough to be true. Vampires were long lived. It meant they had more than enough time to pursue anything that interested them. They had vampires who’d attended medical school, why not vampires who’d attended shrink school as well? If nothing else, having a better understanding of a human’s psychology would make them more effective hunters.
Nathan might seem easy-going, like a really energetic puppy at times, but he was every inch the vampire that Liam was. He might hide it behind a charming smile, but at his core he was a killer. We all were. It’s why I fought my instincts as hard as I did.
“You have hidden depths,” I told him seriously. I would do well to remember that.
“As do we all, baby vampire,” he said with a meaningful glance.
The drive passed in silence after that, the city sliding past the window. In the end, I was grateful Nathan had stopped to retrieve me. It would have taken me forever to bike this far north of the city, past the outer belt to one of the suburbs. The road curved and winded as the flatter part of the city was left behind in favor of the dips and bumps of small hills.
The houses got further and further apart until we mostly drove on tree-lined roads. We had to be up near Galena or Westerville. I didn’t know the area well enough to tell which it was.
