That poison fucked Simon up bad. Maybe it’ll wear off in a few days. Maybe it won’t. Until then, Simon needs protection, and there’s nobody else to take that job. If Simon knew another vampire who could do it, they would be here instead. Hunters and witches are out of the question when the assailant was human.
Cody might be a loner, but his pack instinct is still too strong to abandon someone in need.
So instead of calling to quit, Cody texts Tobias:About to inspect the system, will report any issues. Heads up, Simon hated me on sight. This is going to be a hell of a job.
Tobias replies almost immediately:Understood, I’ve got your back. Luckily, he’s not the client.
Warning his boss about a difficult principal is normal. Tobias’s reassurance is normal too. Cody’s thumb hovers over the screen. Then he shoves his phone in his pocket without sending anything else. Too fucking cowardly to ask how his own cover-up is going.
Tobias is handling that. Cody has to focus on his own job, even if he’d rather throw himself on the dusty bed and sleep for a week.
His tour of the downstairs is quick. No surprises.
Well, the bottles of blood in the fridge are a surprise, but they shouldn’t have been. This is a vampire’s lair, after all. Standing in the cold white light, Cody smells the faintest trace of blood. A subtly strange element softens the scent. Must be the weird herbs the bottlers use to preserve the blood while keeping it palatable.
Fuck. What would his old pack think of him working for a vampire? Working for a human company is already bad enough.
Cody closes the fridge. He’ll need to arrange a grocery delivery for tomorrow, unless he wants to hunt rabbits in the woods.
***
Seven p.m.
Cody is on his second mug of coffee when a door closes downstairs. Which means the opening wasn’t loudenough for Cody’s werewolf senses to catch from the kitchen—good to know.
Sipping his coffee, Cody leans against the counter. His view of the main hallway is clear, but Simon could still avoid him by staying below ground.
Surprisingly, Simon pauses in the kitchen doorway a few minutes later. “Where did you get that?”
“The coffee?” Cody asks. He’d found the mug in the cupboards, along with a twenty-year-old coffee maker still in its box. Lots of mugs and glasses, very few plates. Simon clearly drinks his meals.
Simon points at the sink, where a pan is soaking. “I smell eggs, too.”
“I had groceries delivered,” Cody says. “I brought the perishables and coffee in this morning, but there’s another batch I’ll need to bring in tonight.”
Waking up to meet the first delivery hadn’t exactly helped Cody’s exhaustion. Adjusting to nocturnal hours is rough. But he wanted to get a few weeks’ worth of groceries in at once. The fewer deliveries, the fewer strangers on the property. And he doesn’t intend to start a predictable schedule.
He made a point to avoid any food with garlic.
“I suppose you need to eat,” Simon remarks, neutral. “Did they come in?”
Oh. That concern makes more sense than any interest in Cody’s breakfast. “The drivers dropped everything off at the gate. I can show you the camera footage later, if you like.”
“No need,” Simon says, and maybe Cody is imagining the air of relief. The vampire clearly doesn’t want strangers in his lair.
Which is smart but unfortunately includes Cody. He needs to work a little extra to get on Simon’s good side, to make this job go more smoothly.
Simon doesn’t look like a vampire tonight. The soft blue sweater brings out his eyes in a disconcertingly pretty way. He could be any wealthy young man in need of hired protection. No sign of his true age, whatever that is.
At least the subtle bump of a hip holster is a reminder that he’s dangerous.
Cody, meanwhile, is in a simple t-shirt and jeans. He tends to run hot, and the house is comfortable. He would boil alive in a sweater right now.
“Do you need to… drink breakfast?” Cody asks. All his scripts for ‘reassuring small talk with principals’ are useless here. “I want to install the alarm on your phone, but it can wait if you’re hungry. I mean, thirsty.”
Apparently, his small talk game is good enough—a faint smile curves Simon’s lips. “We don’t drink every day. You can install your little alarm now.”
He sets his phone down on the table, taps until the screen brightens, then steps back. Cody has plenty of space to take it, no touching involved. Simon remains nearby, though, motionless and watchful.
