Nova winced.
“I feign being just impaired enough. I let them come on to me. I pretend their stupid and/or vulgar pickup lines aren’t offensive. I pretend they don’t smell.”
A full-body shudder seized Nova.
Claire gave Nova’s hands a gentle squeeze, then let go. “See why the best way foryouto help is to keep reporting with all your passion for information and words?”
“Yeah, I…I think so.” Nova shuddered again. “Oh gosh, Claire. That description sounds like a nightmare.”
“I’m not an introvert with extra-heightened vampire senses, so for me, it’s just unpleasant. Whereas sitting in front of a blank screen and trying to create sentences into articles into exposes into passionate calls to action would be one ofmynightmares.”
Nova laughed. “You’d get so antsy.”
They sat a moment in the quiet again, but now the stillness was soft, comfortable.
“I guess you want this to stay between us,” Nova said.
“Philippa would just freak out.”
“Gosh, yeah, she’d be so worried about you.”
“And she would insist on helping no matter what I said.”
Nova shook her head. “She’d want to go with you, identify the dangerous ones, but…”
The image of gentle Philippa in any proximity to Verena the Vigilant’s work brought an icy flood of protective rage coursing down Claire’s arms. She fisted her hands and shook her head. “I can identify these guys just fine on my own. There’s no reason for Pippa to give herself empath migraines.”
“What about Leslie?”
Claire shrugged. “I trust Leslie, but she’s still pretty new.”
“So am I the only person who gets to know? Ever?”
“I don’t know, Nova. In my head until tonight, I was on my own with this, and it had to stay that way.”
“Yeah. Okay, I’ll give you a minute to process.”
“Thanks.”
“But, Claire… I’m just going to say this. You never have to be on your own. If you give our friends a chance to show up for you, they will.”
“I know that,” Claire said, but her spine stiffened against Nova’s words. They felt risky, threatening though she didn’t know to what. She did trust her friends, but she didn’t lean on them. That would threaten…everything. Independence, strength, the core of who she was.
Nova wasn’t an empath, but she could read a person as well as the next vampire. She was quiet for the rest of their fourth loop, always willing to give a friend her space. This time, as they reached the tapas restaurant, she pulled in and parked.
“Ready for food?”
“Definitely,” Claire said, but as they headed inside, she put a hand on Nova’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“Anytime, friend.”
“While I’m opening up and all, maybe I should also mention I’m going with Tai to one of his work events Thursday night.”
Nova stopped statue-still in the entrance, then stepped aside to let a human couple go ahead of them. “Tai. As in Kristiansen.”
“Unless we know another Tai.”
“You despise him.”
