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Watching Eden’s expressions change, the way annoyance flipped into disbelief and then into fear had been fascinating; added to the already beautiful package Eden was. Alric wanted to touch him; to brush the stray lock of hair that fell over Eden’s stunning blue eyes away. Wanted to drag his nose up the column of Eden’s neck, chase the scent of his blood as it circulated around his body and soak up the aroma he’d only been able to catch from afar. Twenty-five years of its tantalising smell carried through the city on the faintest of breezes. Tempting. Teasing. Worth the wait.
Twenty-five years he’d waited hidden out of sight, but always watching; always protecting Eden. Albie’s men never far from Eden’s side and it had allowed Alric to watch him grow from a cheeky young boy into the beautiful, confident man he was today. Yet a little of that confidence slipped as Eden began to realise the creatures of myth and legend he studied may be more real than he thought. All of them. And Alric would be happy to introduce Eden to the heads of the various packs, clans and covens that made Silverdale City their home. Though maybe not tonight. It might overwhelm Eden, not missing the nervous glances he was now throwing at the bar’s patrons.
But he hadn’t fainted. Hadn’t run screaming, forcing Alric to hunt him down. And he’d take that as a win.
“No. No. You can’t be,” Eden hissed as denial dug in, blinding him to truth right in front of him. “They aren’t real... you can’t be real. Folk tales. Stories told to scare children... entertainment. Nothing more.”
“What aren’t real, Eden?” Denial came before acceptance and Alric was more than happy to speed things along. “You know we are... you’ve studied us... know that there has to be truth behind the myths, the stories that are told.”
Alric grinned, lips stretching back in a predatory grin to reveal his fangs once more. Flicked his tongue across them, delighted at the heat flaring in Eden’s eyes as he tracked the movement.
“Twenty-five years... you say you’ve been waiting-” Hesitancy. Curiosity. Alric’s patience wearing thin when he had other more exciting ideas on how to celebrate Eden’s birthday – the whole weekend if he had his way – and staying here in a bar hashing out whether his existence was real, was not it. “Why? Why...me?”
He brushed the hair from Eden’s face; dragged his thumb across his beautiful cheekbones as he tried to compose an answer. But in the end, the truth was the best one to give. “Because Eden, you are special to me...precious. I waited twenty-five years... no, I waited so much longer... two-thousand years of waiting, wondering when you’d appear in front of me; for you to exist.”
Eden stared at him, eyes going blank unable to comprehend at all what he’d said. Laughter bubbled out of Eden, a hand pressing hard on Alric’s chest until he was forced to step back. This wasn’t how he expected the night to go... or maybe Alric had spent twenty-five years too long thinking about only the romantic outcomes. He’d gotten caught up in the fantasy of a fated lover meant only for him and Alric hadn’t given any thought to Eden not believing it; not accepting his words as truth.
“Mr Drayton, I don’t know who’s put you up to this, but you’ve got to stop. Your pick-up lines are corny, cringey and have they ever worked before?” Eden kept pushing him back and slid from the bar stool. “And in my professional opinion, vampires? They aren’t real.”
Alric steeled himself, fighting back against the pain blossoming in his abdomen, refusing to let it severe the fragile bond still connecting him to Eden. But it was the pain in his heart that hurt more as he stared at the angry hardened eyes of Eden and realising his denial came laced with the assumption someone was playing a trick on him. A humiliating cruel joke and it made Alric wonder what had happened while Eden was away at university, the only time Alric didn’t have people watching over him not wanting to encroach in another’s territory or signal just who Eden was to him. Eden shoved him harder and stormed toward the bar’s exit. Alric could only stand there watching him leave, stunned at the turn of events. Two men stepped forward to stop Eden, but Alric shook his head knowing that it would only push Eden further from him.
It still wasn’t easy to let him go.
He took a deep breath and pushed back against the pain Alric couldn’t afford anyone to see. Stared at the other patrons with a feral grin that belied the fear travelling like shards of ice down his spine until they shirked back. But Alric had no qualms that by the time dawn arrived, rumours of his rejection would have spread throughout their world and he strolled out the door, head held high.
His phone rang as he stepped out of the bar. “What?” he barked, glancing down the street wondering which way Eden had gone, his scent not easy to pick up amongst the drunken revellers lurching from one bar to another.
“Hit and a miss.” Albie chuckled.
“Shut it, Albie. Did you have him followed?”
“Of course. I do plan for everything including Eden leaving the bar without you. And if you look to your right–” Alric shifted his vision as Albie spoke and soon spied the vehicle hidden in the shadows, Albie leaning against it waving.
Alric shoved his phone in the pocket of his suit jacket and strode across the street toward his friend. He slid into the backseat of the executive series car, heavily modified to meet his needs: windows tinted against the UV rays and a chiller filled with specially fortified red wine. He took the glass Albie offered him, eyes fluttering shut as the scent wafted under his nose; sighed at the delicate notes washing over his tongue and it took the edge off his sour mood. It wasn’t what Alric had wanted to drink tonight, but Eden wasn’t working to his plan.
Another scent filled the car as Albie opened a second smaller bottle. Pure. Unadulterated. Alric snarled, ready to tear Albie’s throat out if he didn’t explain why and how he’d gotten his hands-on bottle of Eden’s blood.
“Easy now.” Albie passed him the uncorked bottle and held his hands up in surrender while trying to put distance between himself and Alric’s anger. Hard to do in the confines of a moving car. “There is a good reason... I promise-” watching Alric cautiously. “-his guards noticed him turn up at the blood donation’s centre and I didn’t think you’d want anyone else getting it.” Albie dropped his hands as Alric’s anger eased back. “I spent a good couple of hours with our inside person trying to secure it for you.”
It had been hard not to snatch the bottle from Albie, desperate to get it away from the other vampire’s clutches even if Albie was one of Alric’s oldest friends. Harder still to move past his anger knowing someone other than him had taken blood from Eden. It didn’t matter that it was through an organised blood drive that benefited human and vampire alike – wasn’t feasible to drink from the source all the time. His anger growing murderous as he realised other vampires had come close to Eden’s blood transporting it; transferring it from the bag to the more socially acceptable container, a bottle. They were men that could be trusted, Alric knew that, but he couldn’t help the possessive need to protect Eden.
He gripped the bottle tight, the sweet-spicy notes that had caught his attention twenty-five years ago spilled into the air, matured to perfection. Heady. Intoxicating. Alric couldn’t stop his bodies reaction, eyes changed, fangs lowered desperate to sink into Eden’s warm flesh – the sweet spot at the juncture of his neck and shoulder or his hip – like he’d intended to do tonight. But this offered Alric a taste of what awaited him and one he planned to savour even if it made Eden’s absence harder.