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His eyes go even more intense, and I almost expect them to glow again. “I want you to enter a specific contract. With me.”

I squeak in surprise. I guess him calling me a mouse all the time is apt. “With you?” I repeat. “What does that mean?”

“I want you to be my exclusive host for the duration of the contract. You will be my source of blood, no others.”

“How long will the duration be?” I ask.

“For however long you need a bodyguard,” he responds.

I think about this for a moment. “Then, if Colton stops bothering me and I don’t need a bodyguard anymore, we’ll be done?”

He nods again. “Yes, we’ll call the contract complete, then.”

“What if he never leaves me alone?”

“There are things we can do if it gets to that point. But, I should tell you, ma souris, I’m being very generous. Our bodyguarding services are sought after the world over and are very pricey. CEOs of huge corporations and heads of state are our normal clientele, and they can barely afford our protection. I’m treating your blood as if it were gold, you know.”

That makes me suspicious. Any deal that is as good as the one that he is offering then is too good to be true. “Why?” I ask. “You don’t know me. Why give me the bargain of a lifetime? Shouldn’t you be wanting me to indenture myself to you forever?”

Julian bursts out laughing at my words. If he’s good-looking normally, he’s devastating when he smiles like this, without a trace of mockery or sarcasm. When his laughter dies down, he quirks a half smile at me. “You are a terrible negotiator, Andi. You should never say that you don’t deserve a good deal. But I will tell you why I am being generous. First, I want you badly. Your blood, that is, and your company. I have been more entertained this evening than I have been in a while. I want you to say yes to our deal. Second, Gaspard has already negotiated on your behalf to get you an audience with me this evening. He now owes me a giant favor, and so I am in the mood to be generous. But last, and I hope you do not take offense, but when you are a vampire, an immortal being, everything eventually loses its savor. Nothing can stay diverting for long, so I expect that I shall grow tired of you and won't need your hosting services for the rest of your life.”

I’m not offended. In fact, I’m relieved by his words. If he’d only been complimentary, then I would have still worried that he was hiding something, but his reasons ring with the truth. Plus, it makes sense that an immortal would get bored with things eventually. I am easily bored by things; jazz and singing are the only exceptions. But maybe if I lived forever, I’d eventually grow tired of them too.

“How often do you need to feed?” I ask, content with his response.

Julian grins like he’s won, and most likely he has. I’m probably about to sign whatever contract he puts in front of me, unless he says something truly objectionable. “Once a week, for survival’s sake. More for pleasure, but I wouldn’t want to over-tax you. Should I need to feed more than once a week, I’ll call for one of the general hosts.”

Hmm. So I’ll be exclusive to his use, but he can go feeding on whoever he likes. Typical man. That makes me think of something. “If you feed from someone with a disease and then feed on me, will I catch it?”

Julian snorts. “Like I’m the same as a used needle? No, ma souris, it doesn’t work like that. Vampires are immune to all diseases and cannot spread diseases to others. We wouldn’t be very good symbiotes if we did, would we?”

Ok, that answers that question. “So, you’ll feed on me once a week, but you’ll provide a bodyguard every day for as long as I need one and keep Colton away from me? And it’ll only be blood, nothing sexual. Is that right?”

“Unless you want it to be, ma souris.”

I blush at his words. It’s impossible not to. The man is very pretty. But I won’t be mixing business with pleasure. That’s a recipe for disaster.

A thought occurs to me, and I pale. “Wait, you said that Colton was your rival. Does that mean that he’s a vampire, too?”

“No, of course not,” he replies, but my relief is short-lived as he continues. “He is a warlock.”

“A warlock?" I squeak. “Like a male witch? Like he does magic?”

“Right in one,” Julian says. “Very powerful. I can’t imagine why he didn’t bind you to him with magic, but then, your will is very strong. You resisted an ancient vampire’s compulsion. Maybe you resisted his magic when he tried. That would explain his obsession, though; powerful men always want what they can’t have.”

My mind is spinning with what he’s telling me. Colton can do magic? Probably tried to use it on me? Suddenly, all those times where he showed up out of nowhere, finding me in the middle of a vast city, make sense. I just thought his PIs had found me again, but what if he was tracking me through magic?

“But why would he use PIs at all to find me, then?” I wonder out loud.

“I doubt they are PIs,” comments Julian. “Most likely, they were members of his coven, tasked with tracking you when he was busy with other things.”

“His coven?”

Julian shrugs. “The Circle of Nightshade. It is like my Fraternity, I suppose, but instead of a league of vampires, it consists of witches looking to gain more power by combining forces. They truck in dark magic and move forbidden spell ingredients and artifacts into the city to do their magics. Curses are their stock-in-trade. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was one on you, and that’s why he keeps finding you.”

My eyes widen in alarm. “How do I get rid of it, then?”

He smiles at me, again looking like a cat that got the canary. “One benefit of a symbiotic relationship with a vampire is that we remove spells and curses alike when we feed and cannot be affected by magic either.”