“My pleasure.”
“Now, to business. Have you ever seen a black-and-white movie?”
Um…surely he had at some point. Tai skimmed his memory but could only come up with a single title. “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
“And?”
“That might be the only one.” He shrugged.
“Well, we are fixing that tonight. We’re watching one of my top five.”
“Favorite from childhood?”
“No, actually, I just found this one in the last year and fell in love with it.”
The film was calledLaura, which was about the least compelling title Tai could imagine, but pretty soon he was intrigued, trying to solve the mystery. It was part noir, part romance, overflowing with dialogue and sharp vintage clothes. Beside him on the couch, Claire clearly enjoyed every minute.
It wasn’t a long film. When it ended, Claire gave a bounce on the couch. “Well? Thoughts? Were you bored out of your mind?”
“No,” Tai said. “There was alotof talking, but most of it was interesting. The psychology of the characters, I mean.”
“I know, right?” Her smile beamed, and her eyes glittered, and she was just beautiful, basking in his enjoyment of something she loved. “Did you guess who the murderer was?”
“Well, yeah, but the cast is pretty small. What makes it one of your top five?”
“First of all, I’m kind of into crime dramas. I don’t like old movies just for the sake of being old, but there are some I like, and this one is a neat combination—old-fashioned melodrama plus murder mystery. I really like the dialogue, too, so snappy the way a lot of old movies are. And of course Gene Tierney’s gorgeous wardrobe. And also…” Her gaze flickered toward the TV, where the screen had returned to a grid of her purchases. “I like that she gets to live. She gets to be part of solving what happened, and she gets to see justice and be safe at the end. At the same time, Idon’tlike that the film uses the murder victim as a plot device. Her life should matter as much as Laura’s does.”
Tai’s instincts with people were sharp, but he hardly needed them to see the layers of story wrapped around Claire’s words. He drew her closer, and she let him.
“You want to talk about any of that?” he said quietly.
“I’m being transparent again.” She sounded put out, but she stayed nestled against him.
“You keep telling me you want to know me. Don’t you think it’s mutual?”
She was quiet a long time. At last she said, “It’s harder to talk about me. I’d rather hear about you.”
“Right. Exactly.”
She gave a quiet laugh. “Okay, I get it. And I guess…I guess it might be okay to tell you. I knew it might come up if we really got into the layers of the movie.”
He pressed a kiss to her temple.
After another minute, she stirred against him. “My best friend being human should have made me a lot more aware, as a young vampire, that there are predators in the world. Men who aren’t safe for women.”
He gave a low hiss, and Claire pressed closer to him.
“Exactly. But I didn’t fully get it, Tai. Ember and I are both forceful women, but not in the same ways, because wecan’tbe in the same ways, because I’m not vulnerable where she is. And I missed it.” She shook her head, and her hair brushed across his arm. “It was an article of Nova’s that finally showed me—cold hard numbers, statistics on the screen, and I couldn’t believe it tookthisfor me to know just how much risk human women live with.”
Tai hissed again. Maybe not helpful, but the sound escaped through his teeth before he could squelch it.
“Thanks,” she said. “I’m glad you care. None of us vampires can easily overpower another, but for human women like Ember, it’s so different. And it makes me mad. Since then I’ve watched way too many documentaries about putting predators behind bars. The anger sank in and became part of me.”She tilted her head up toward him, and her lips pursed with thoughtfulness. “You seem okay with it.”
“With anger? Big emotions don’t scare me, Claire. Especially as a response to evil in the world.”
“Hmm.” She pushed up to brush a kiss across his lips, light and soft. “I guess you’ve got some big emotions yourself.”
“Definitely.”
