Chapter
Seven
Elliot
Everything else is falling into calmness inside me, my new reality, everything apart from Lucian and how he affects me.
My hate, my need to emerge like a blood-soaked butterfly, are still there simmering beneath the surface. I can just control them better. My tether to my human life is finding my friend—and how Lucian makes me feel. Which is strange since there’s nothing human about him.
But there is a part of me, some small part that still clings to the hope of being cared for by him. More than as an employee and now a responsibility.
Love? I’m not sure if a vampire is capable of such an extreme emotion. IfIam capable of it.
I don’t know. Lucian sure did seem to love Nell. And a part of me craves that, too. That hope is enough, as stupid as it may be.
I try to concentrate on the insanely good-looking ice-blond vampire with pale green eyes and a narrow face in front of me.He had strolled right over to me, as if he’d been seeking me out, and something tells me there’s a reason for that.
He must know Lucian.
I’m just not sure that’s a good thing.
This vampire is elegant, beautiful, and, I think, powerful. That fact seems to radiate from him like it does from Lucian.
I smile at the strange, charismatic vampire with a heavy accent I can’t place.
“I’m Elliot,” I say as an introduction. “And you are?”
He kisses my hand again. “Santiago Angelus from Sanguine.”
Ah, shit. The Santiago Angelus from the emails and the one Lucian warned me about.
I pull my hand away quickly.
“And here I thought Lucian had lost his lust for life, had dulled his fangs, not sharpened them on a pretty little morsel like you.”
My heart pounds. I’m not sure if I should stay and pry some information out of him or run. As usual my curiosity wins out, so I play dumb. “You work for him?”
“Not exactly. We’re…” he says carefully but pauses.
“Friends?”
“More like brothers,” he replies with a grin, and I almost choke on my next breath.Brothers?Lucian never mentioned having family. “He’s never spoken about me?” He sounds a bit hurt.
I shake my head. “No, sorry.”
“Hmm, yes, well, decades do lie between us, and we haven’t seen eye to eye for a while…” His gaze drifts over my shoulder, and before I can follow it, he takes my wrist and gently tugs me outside the glass doors that lead to a small patio area. A firepit is lit, casting the night in fire flickering light, and above us, the sky rumbles with thunder. There are a few guests outside, all mostly human and more drunk than sober. “But I’m tired of talkingabout me,” he goes on. “Tell me more about you. Lucian doesn’t turn many, so I’m intrigued. What makes you so special?”
Besides me and Vittoria, I’m not sure who else Lucian’s changed. Maybe that other vampire that runs errands for him? Andrew? If there are more, they probably left VMR to live their lives without all of his strict rules.
“I’m not special,” I say. “I was stupid.”
He raises one blond eyebrow. “Oh?”
“I jumped in front of a bullet, thinking it would kill him, and it ended up killing me instead. He must have felt obligated after that. Maybe pity.”
“I very much doubt that,” he says. “Lucian likes humanity, but at a distance. Or should I say hetoleratesit. He wouldn’t give you his blood if he didn’t want you around.”
“Maybe he just needs another employee to cover the night shift.”
